Dave Fleming

Not so much the same company as Special Hobby did the tooling for Ffrom Azur. Not sure if this is still the case with the Battle.

It was the NF10 to T11 transition - even the early T11s with the framed canopy had the higher sills and wider cockpit. The T11 framed canopy differs form the NF10 one. I recall John Adams saying you basically needed two separate pods and canopy sets to do a NF10 and a T11

Perhaps I should have said 'can't easily make an NF10 from a T11' (and I suppose it depends on your own preferences) - the cockpit was widened to enable side by side seating, and the canopy raised as a result (hence the more prominent fairings on the T11). That also meant more room in the cockpit, so the top of the canopy on the framed T11 has less of a 'bulge' on top than the NF10. The nose shape is more subtle, but quite different

There's no photos I know of showing a 767 Sqn aircraft on Ark Royal but it was mentione don here in 2018 that XT868 was borrowed by 892. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235034060-phantom-fg1-767-squadron/

Moving the seats side by side wa sone of the reasons why thet11 had a wider fuselage pod (and why you can't build an NF10 from a T11!) There is a surviving NF54 in Italy, there might be some pics on line https://flic.kr/p/8uxejv

The 1/72 FR9 Club kit boxing of the Meteor has the rockets, albeit on the rails, so separating them might be interesting! I suspect an RAAF boxing is coming soon

TBH any DH125 version is welcome, trying to do anything with the Domine beyond a n early T1 involves clots of carving and chopping and doing a 400 needs the underside fuel tank from the MB 600 (It's self rare avis)

The shot from the Wingleader book I originally mentioned, taken a few seconds before or after that one. Now we don't know if this was reproduced from a negative or a print, and I've done enough B+W printing to know that can make a big difference (to say nothing of dodging or burning) , but the overall sharpness and reproduction are excellent and the comparison to the corner pic are interesting. Still not convinced the Bf109 band is red! IMG_4636 by DaveFleming68, on Flickr

It was till quite common, but i don't think that is - more likely pan, possibly with a filter - there was a certain combination that rendered yellows as a darker grey (cf RAF roundels) but I can't recall what it is!

Also note the presence of the Do335 W Nr 240112 in USAAF markings - perhaps indicating thsi photo wa staken at Neubiberg. What version of the 109 is it? I'm thinking Erla-built Bf109G-10?

Not seen the plastic, but looking at the instructions and screenshots, the nose with the light isn't there - although it could be the light is a separate part i haven't noticed. the clear parts for a HAR 3 are there, and the extended cabin is already there (There is an extra cabin bulkhead for the AS variants. Can't remember off hand how different the cabin layout of the HAr3 is compared to the HU5

Don't think so, they still have some stock, I'd emailed them earlier in the year and they had one or two things I was looking for

Aha! I’d never noticed that before! Also looks bigger (squarer) than the ones on RN aircraft. Looks like Indian ones are the same. Thanks !

If I had any artistic software, I'd paint the legs red

@John B (Sc) XV696 and XV699 were Prestwick based at one time I think (696 was a HAS6 with 819, but 699 was a HU5 with the SAR flight ’699 - notice it has exactly the same side codes as XV666 in the kit! https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000479563.html this also shows nicely that the underside of the MSG 5/6 Sea Kings was a lighter shade. just new tail codes and the saltire to add

It should have all the parts, at least for the early ones- the mk 50 was basically the same as an RN HAS2, which was (externally) a HAS 1 with the 6 bladed tail rotor. Antennae and other external bits and bobs changed over the years (e.g. the long fillet along on the port tail, composite main rotors), so worth choosing a particular airframe you wnat to modle and seeing what's needed.

And the fact that the sponsons are on a separate frame (Those and radome on the same sprue also points to a HAR3)

Thanks, that does look nice (and comprehensive). They do need XV666 as a Falklands era HAS2A to complete the set

Nope, but it did get a bit messy for a while

He's slightly obsessed with X - his first company was X.com (which now redirects to Twitter), SpaceX, even his son is called X (Several of his other children have X in their names)

People are strange. It's a sense of entitlement - 'Why aren't you doing something I would be interested in?' 1/48th isn't my scale, so I won't be getting one, but i think this is a great choice for Airfix (and the price point isn't too far ahead of what the Hasegawa kit retailed for when it first came out!). There are plenty of room for optional schemes (Hopefully the HAS1 rotor blades are included, as that enables the early export versions too). A Falklands kit would seem an ideal option. There are one or two nit picky points you can see in terms of the details (as Luke says in the launch video, the airframes changed so much during their lifetime that it's bound to be not perfect in some respect). And the aftermarket can go to town with weapons, add-ons (underframes for a HAS2A, MAD sponson for HAS5, the different sensors carried by some of the export types(e.g. Indian mk 42B), AEW2/ASAC7

The presence of the rear fuselage window in this shot suggests a HAR 3 might be forthcoming (Or an HC4 ) -(although the Revell Sea King kit had a window opening that wasn't on any Sea king, only S61s)

Try these IMG_4562 by DaveFleming68, on Flickr IMG_4563 by DaveFleming68, on Flickr

Actually, that looks like a fairly major short shot - mine has the properly defined shape and an extra shelf above. (It also has a little extra bit sticking out that needs removed.

Do you get the impression someone lost a case of the little clear moulds? The Basset was used not too long ago for the Kitstarter First one they re-tooled was the Islander, but that was back in 2005/6