Col Walter E Kurtz

Most welcome WP! When I discovered it I was rendered almost speechless! It's an ongoing project I understand, the digitisation of these paper records. Some are not yet available. I think it's pretty easy to get a Reader's Ticket to visit Kew. and request specific documents to view. Enjoy! Regards, Andy

Have you tried The National Archives? Pick a known squadron which operated PRU Spits and look up the Operational Record Book for that squadron. You'll find some amazing detail including exact Aircraft Registrations,pilots, exact details of sorties and of course the ALG operating from. I found everything i needed to know about my Uncle Peter's service with 56 Squadron from the available ORBs and quite a lot for other people's relatives too! Have a browse of these https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2505061 AIR27/2423 https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7490084 AIR50/22/289 Kind Regards Andy

Thank you for the compliments on my modest work Mark . For the Rozzie Geth baseboard i did the shadows using 3B soft lead pencil, thinned down Black primer over Grey primer. I marked out each paving 'block' with 3B pencil. and a ruler. Using a wetted finger I smudged randomly some of the pencil block lines. Using the fine 0.4 needle in my airbrush I sprayed the shadow lines using Black Valejo Primer thinned about 75% paint + 25% thinners. i sprayed at 30lbs and tried to get a mist effect spraying close up following the block lines and then a second pass over each line from about 10 cms. also randomly selected blocks had a spry in the centre. i got some thinned down red+ brown poster paint and added this to some lines using a large artist's brush Rubber marks and oil stains i used a 5B lead pencil and smudged them with wetted finger. Final Highlights were oversprayed using Valejo Grey Primer to tone down anything i thought was too dark. It took half a day to make. Glad you like it! The key to the above method is a gradual building up of the shadows and a general 'random-ness' Regards, Andy

Thanks Roger. it's coming together very nicely so far.

Yes mate! it could be fixed I guess. The bottom 'hinge' is correct. it's the top one that is about 7mm too low. You would have to cut out a new hinge recess and fill the old one. It's not a bad kit at all IMHO though. the front air intake on mine went together very tightly and sanded down so there is no line visible at all! Elliptical wing tip assemblies are very good as are the tail elevators. They fit together tightly and locate in the tail nicely! Thanks mate. yes thought i'd crack on with this one!

Wow! This looks amazing. I like the camo scheme and the superb diorama. It's unusual to see a Sunderland in this scheme too. Here's a contemporary colour plate from a book published in 1940. Now i'm told they were also painted in this green/ brown cammo scheme too!

A lot of progress on this over the weekend. i'm always amazed with a spitfire-once you see that beautiful elliptical wing take shape! Breathtaking Problems encountered so far The Tail for the Late Mk iXc 'doesn't fit the tabs on the tail- so I elected to use the early MKiXc tail instead. The Starboard wing top half left a 1.5 mm gap at the wing root. The rest of the kit seems to be pretty much ok so far. I'm posing this on the ground with flaps retracted. I've read this is correct. Pilots who left their flaps down on parking were fined a round of drinks for this infraction.. so i've read! lol The canopy i'll set closed and unlike my usuual method i will glue it in place then mask it for painting. The Progress so far.

yes .. sadly i'd already glued the seat in before i'd found out from another thread it's not in the kit. Not too worried about this.. live and learn for next time. thanks for pointing this out though.. much obliged. cheers, Andy

Thanks Dennis. Ys i thought i'd go for a RAF subject again rather than my usual USAAF fare! Hope this one turns out well! Andy

Thanks Chris! added some pics now lol

The Carpet Monster had had it, as a starter to it's meal! Looking great so far! Box Art can be quite confusing sometimes for colours. I say go with what you think best to your eye. Personally i've tried lots of different paints to get the effect i wanted. There are fewer colour pictures of WW2 aircraft compared to B&W. It's worth considering that paints on aircraft always got weathered by a number of factors e.g. UV light, dirt, Temperature and moisture. Repaints in the field were often done locally with the only paints available mixed on site. There seems to be a lot of variations to the standards. Probably the most contentious colour is USAAF Olive Drab. So many many variations . It starts out a factory green then ends up brown with purple tinges in some cases! Regards, Andy

Fellow Modellers, It's been some time since i've done any aircraft models. Lost my modelling mojo a bit during the very hot Summer and been having a lot of physical problems this year with my hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders. oh well! guess this is just age, but at times i can't grip any small things without a lot of pain! Arghhhhh! I did manage to do the Airfix 1:72 USAAF Airfield Bomber Re-Supply kit, but it took me since April until now. I'll do a RFI post for this soon. btw i thought this kit was excellent! I found working at this scale at times quite painful so... my thoughts have turned again to larger scales. I got this kit some time ago for about £22. I can't really afford the excellent Tamiya offering in 1:32 - maybe one day! The Revell kit has it's known limitations and errors and omissions so i understand. I've added a bit of plastic in the cockpit behind the pilot's seat for the missing armoured plate (this was the spare doors from the USAAF tanker cut to size) You will hardly see it of course but thought i'd add it for good measure! I've not decided if i'll do this OOB or pick another Spitfire as i still have some unused Xtradecals 1:32 RAF decals I can use. I'm always partial to a 56 Squadron aircraft as my uncle flew Tempest Vs with them in combat. I will have to do some research to see if i can pick a suitable a/c from 56. It may turn out that it was never flown by them? Any suggestions for a famous pilot\squadron combination for this Mark of Spit would be most welcomed! I'll add some pics for this thread very soon of course. i've only done the cockpit initial assembly though so not much to show yet! Here's a couple off progress so far. Cockpit almost ready.. Fuselage halves ready to be glued! ' Here's the pilot's seat armour plate modificatiion i did. It's not correct in the pure sense but you won't see the back of the seat when it's closed up.

My Pleasure Sir! Here's the Link to my P-47 Thunderbolt. in a diorama. I hope you like it! It's quite simplistic compared to your excellent efforts! Regards, Andy

I think this is excellent. To my mind you've caught the essence of the reference picture exceptionally well. It looks absolutely realistic.. i can almost smell the seawater and the seaweed. I've done a couple of dioramas for aircraft posing.. quite simple stuff really. nothing as good as this though! Thanks for showing this. It's exceptional in my humble opinion. Regards, Andy

Brilliant! I would love to do this 1;32 scale Lanc one day! Really think you have done a great job, Thanks for showing it. Impressive indeed! Regards, Andy