Wez

I think Model Art also did a set for French glass nosed A26's, it was a while back but its another option. Regards Wez

You're right about those engine work platforms - there's a couple of stays on those to support the platform that swing out from the platform interior and lock into a couple of points just below the platform on the exterior. Most important to have those in otherwise you can either get tipped off backwards flat on your bottom (not too bad out in the field - infinitely more painful on a concrete pan), or tipped into the undercarriage bay - very painful full stop! I've had both happen to me when the pip-pins have popped out, the slightest movement sends you tumbling. Regarding the walkways - you're correct, the anti slip does etxtend forwards to the sides of the forward pylon - you need to stand there when opening the forward work platform - if it wasn't there you'd be on the pan (specially if there's a leak on the head). Regards Wez

I think Jabba may be on about the cockpit seats - those in the kit and as far as I can tell, those in the detail set are nothing like those in the Mighty Wokka. They look more like comfy chairs compared to the real thing - I know plenty of frontenders who'd have killed for a nice comfy seat like that compared to what they really have. Wez

Do the Canadian Hawks have the SMURFS, I mean is it a standard feature of a 100 series Hawk? SMURFS - dunno for some reason I read that and thought of SCMODS. If you've ever seen the Blues Brothers you'll know what I mean (sorry if I hijacked the thread momentarily). Anyway, I quite like the Airfix Hawks - bit dissapointed the RA version only comes with thos markings and no stores other than the smoke pod but otherwise a neat little kit - now, where's those Modeldecals??? Wez

David, Depends whose Chinook you want to make. I've got the Revell boxing - it and the Italeri share the same basis although I haven't seen the Italeri kit. The Revell kit is for an RAF Chinook HC1, as such you can make an HC1...ish. The kit features composite blades which is fine for all but the very earliest HC1's (but they were all retro-fitted by 1986 anyway), it doesn't feature any of the SDS which was fitted late in the HC1's career from Gulf 1 onwards. If you wanted to make the RAF version and didn't know very much about the beast you'd probably be quite happy with the kit. For those who do know about the Wokka, the aerial fit is ficticous as are the colour call-outs, the pilots seats bear no resemblance to those fitted to the RAF's cabs (the real ones are nowhere as near as comfy as those featured in the kit), a couple of other details are just plain wrong. I could go on but actually the basic kit is actually pretty good and would serve as a good basis for anybody elses composite-bladed 'C' model. Hopefully somebody here has had a good look at the Italeri kit. HTH Regards Wez

Chinook EAPS Modules and Rails for the engines Chinook Self Defence Suite Proper RAF Chinook cockpit seats All in 1/48th please Wez

Yes, actually, the RAF's Support Helicopter Fleet! But of course totally unglamourous so often overlooked but used worldwide ever since we started using helicopters to transport troops (Suez, Borneo, Aden, NI, Belize, Falklands, Gulf 1, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Kossovo, Afghanistan, Gulf 2 to name but a few). So I'd like to revise my top 5 - 1. Chinook 2. Wessex HC2 3. Puma! 4. Whirlwind 5. Depending on my mood Hunter/Canberra/Lightning/Javelin/Vampire/Venom/Hornet - or is that cheating? Wez

In no particular order... 1 Billy Bunter aka the Hawker Hunter 2 Canberra - all marks 3 Vampire 4 Meteor 5 Lightning by way of a contrast, my least favourite 1 Swift (corpulent Hunter wannabe) 2 Tonka (any mark of Tornado - carn't stand 'em) 3 Jaguar 4 Beverly 5 Lincoln Running for cover now... Wez

I think there's more to it than that and its all down to tax. I think as an unrestored item it is merely so many pounds of aircraft grade aluminium of value £X, restored it becomes intrinsically more valuable of value £XXXXX! As an unrestored item it remains part of the stock of the scrapyard and as such can be loaned as an exhibit to a museum or sold on at market value for the weight of the metal. As soon as any restoration takes place the owners either have to take it back (and therefore store it), or request the museum pay a fair market price for the item - this way HMR&C get their pound of flesh. This would probably financially cripple the museum and put the scrapyard at a disadvantage regarding the cost of storage and the accountancy - hence its better left as is. I wonder what a fair market price for a Brigand would be? I'm no tax expert and this is based upon some vague recollection of something that occurred when I helped out with Southampton ATC who in turn helped out with the Hall of Aviation (now Solent Sky here in Southampton), many years ago. If any of our members is a tax inspector perhaps they could comment. Regards Wez

John, Thanks for the links - very useful. Regarding the use of tip tanks, the only photo I've seen of WH666 shows it without them - but as you say, there is no norm with the Can!! Thanks again Best Regards Wez

Thanks Colin, There's also a pretty good profile of a T4 in the Model Alliance book on the Canberra. I was hoping for some photos 'cos the one photo I've seen of WH666 shows it without tip tanks, I wondered if this was the norm, that and the fact that I like to have a photo of the aircraft I'm attempting to model. I'm sorted for decals thanks to Phreak (cheers again Rich). Best Regards Wez

I want to model this aircraft for the Canberra GB but I can't seem to find a good clear photo of WH666. Does anybody know of a decent pic of this specific aircraft on line or has anybody got one they can post. Also, as this aircraft was used as a target tug but without the Rushton winch system, does anybody know whether it had a banner attachment lug on the rear fuselage, if so what does it look like and where exactly is it? Thanks for any help. Regards Wez

I believe the Phantom ones were approach lights - can't remember the combination from top to bottom but basically they allowed the Flight Director to detect whether an aircraft was high of, on or low of the the glideslope when landing on a carrier. Others will know for sure. Wez

PM sent to Tornado 64 Wez

Lightning F.1/F.1A/F.2 - Short (small) fuel tank, rounded tail, straight leading edge wing. The F.3 has the same wing and tank but the square cut tail. Lightning F.2A/F.6 - Long (big) fuel tank, square cut tail, compound leading edge wing. For your F.53 you need the F.2A/F.6 kit. HTH Wez

If its Matchbox re-pops then Piston Provost, Fury, Siskin and that funny little Boeing bi-plane they did early on (yes I know its not British but I haven't seen one of those since the 1970's!). New stuff: Vampire (all marks please) Venom (ditto but especially the FB.1 & 4) Gnat Balloil JP3/4 I'd even go as far as saying the Swift and Attacker - best make sure you get the canopies and intakes right though. Sycamore AEW Gannet I think I'd better stop there! Wez

Ooooh Rich!! You've gone and made dig out my references now (fortunately in the loft where it's warm and the books were accessable). Right, using the Aerofax book as the prime reference ('cos it's written by Yefim Gordon who kinda specialises in Soviet stuff), there are several pictures in that book which show the elements running almost the entire length of the canopy. This means that they could be heating elements - the point is not to keep the cockpit nice and warm and cosy, its to stop frost forming on the inside of the canopy and thus maintain visibility especially important in a dogfight as rapid changes in altitude and thus ccockpit pressure can cause the rapid freezing of condensation within said cockpit to freeze on cold surfaces - usually the canopy. This phenomenum has been documented on several occasions. However, just as likely, they could be the sense elements for the ADF system which for want of a better description is a Radio Compass. An ADF system detects a radio beacon using a loop antenna however, to resolve which direction the beacon is it needs a sense aerial, this helps the system resolve the relative strength of the beacon and stops the indicator pointing down the reciprocal (180 deg out - very important over Siberia, you wouldn't want to be going the wrong way there). Sense aerials take a number of forms - the commonest being the towel-rail type however, this would be drag inducing whereas sensing elements on the inside of the canopy wouldn't. The MiG-17 had the ARK-5 Amur ADF system, in the absence of an external sense aerial, the elements in the cockpit could easily be the sense aerials for the ADF. Are Squadron wrong? Could be, wouldn't be the first time but then again they could be right. There's some narsty splinters on this fence! Doe's anybody out there have a MiG-17 tech manual? Best Regards Wez

Like I said radio-compass - knew others would know! Saves me going into the cellar and digging out my MiG-17 references. Wez

Thanks for that snippet Chris, hopefully I won't need tanks for the model I'm planning but if I do I now know what the solution is. Regards Wez

Giora, Without consulting my references as to what they actually are, they should be there. They're either heating elements for the canopy or far more likely, antenna elements for the radio compass. Others will know for sure. Having said that they do look a bit on the heavy side - will have to do something about that when I finish mine off. Regards Wez

Chris, Why are you using the Belcher Bit tanks - what's wrong with the Airfix ones were OK unlike the CA ones? Wez - living in blissful ignorance!

Ian, I don't care whether it saves me money in the long run - I'm buying an aftermarket decal sheet so its an added expense anyway. It puts the emphasis on the modeller to get that bit right. Some might not have the skill, some might have the centre spot positioned just right and it shifts/wrinkles at the last moment and its all wrong, or, if you're not looking at it square on you might not have it concentric and therefore out of register anyway. It's typical of the bloody RAF! They had their pound of flesh during my time in and they still want me to carry on paying now grrrr! Wez

Out of register roundels is one of my big bugbears! I have got sheets from both MA and Xtradecal with out of register roundels which is not on when you're paying good money - e.g. the price of a new kit in some cases, for a decal sheet. However, in fairness to both MA and Xtradecal, they're not the only ones with out of register roundels. Roundels that the modeller has to make up themselves by layering one coloured circle on top of another is not on and is not the answer either - I'm paying for a specialist decal manufacturer to do this for me and I expect them to get it right or offer a correction sheet when they don't. I use the old Modeldecal sheets as my benchmark - not only for printing but for the information contained on their instructions too. I've never had a duff roundel on a Modeldecal sheet. On the plus side, since the demise of Modeldecal, MA seem to be the only ones bothering with modern British subjects on a regular basis (e.g. giving us the updates of Squadron markings when they happen a la Modeldecal). I also prefer it when they print the Squadron markings as one image, not requiring the modeller to overlay the detail with another decal. Regards Wez

Bex, Got any details of the bomb aimers position, the Nav's position looking port and the Nav's position looking forwards please? Best Regards Wez

I picked up an AZ Spiteful at the Salisbury show last weekend with a view to some Whiffery. I fancied doing it as a post-war Aux AF aircraft but of a ficticious squadron so I started looking at unused RAF/AuxAF Squadrons. The only ones that fitted the bill were 505 to 509 Sqns inclusive. I thought "great, these fit the bill", after all 504 Sqn was an Auxiliary so logically 505-509 could be too but then I read that these squadrons were allocated but never raised - what does allocated mean? Does it mean that the number was allocated to the AuxAF or the RAF? If it was the AuxAF were the numbers 505-509 allocated to a specific county? If so what counties? I don't want to go having a build thread on here saying "here is my Spiteful of XXX Sqn AuxAF based at RAF Wright Upham in Wessexshire" for instance only for somebody to come along and say "actually XXX Sqn was the Auxiliary Squadron for Rutland", I know it's only for a what if but I think these things work best when there's some historical credibility behind it. Any of you wise people know the answer to this one? Best Regards Wez