JohnT

Anyone know when this is scheduled for release and have any more info on quality of product ? Hobby boss seem to have mixed reviews but seem to be improving with each release from what I can see

The undernoted news item was sent to my office as a daily "funny" along with the other more serious stuff AND FINALLY.SWEDISH AIR FORCE HAS WINGS CLIPPED AFTER CHICKEN MASSACRE The Norrbotten wing of the Swedish air force has agreed to pay Bohmans Hönseri AB the sum of 6,100 kronor (£487) to compensate for the loss of the hens. The hens were crushed to death in a panicked mêlée when the Jas Gripen fighter aircraft flew at an altitude of 50-100 metres above their coop at the farm in Jörn near Skellefteå in the far north of Sweden. Farmer Åsa Karlsson, in her complaint to the armed forces, confirmed that the hens were scared out of their wits by the roar of the low flying fighter jets overhead. The brood ran towards a wall of their enclosure and 31 birds fell victim in the surge. The sum was agreed between the parties based on a calculation that the hens had a further seven weeks to live and would have been expected to produce a harvest of 14 eggs per week

very true nice work I have got one of these tucked away so I am watching and learning. I got the Beltcher bits revised resin engines - was that a worthwhile investment? "Copying is the only sincere form of flattery" Can't wait to see more regards John

Thanks for the well wishes. I used to say my Mum destroyed more RAF aircraft with her duster when I was wee than the whole of the Luftwaffe put together. Used to drive me nuts at the time. I'd be happy if she could still remember it but thats life. I confess Susan is brilliant and has even paid for me to go up in a Tiger Moth so I have a real diamond. If cloning ever takes off I will bear you in mind !! Oh and she is younger than I and very good looking too - gloat !! Now if only I could stick a decent bit of plastic together I'd be a truly happy man !! John

Thanks for all the advice and information guys. Sorry I have been tardy in replying but my elderly mum went through a bad patch and has had to be moved into a care home that caters for folks with deteriorating dementia problems. Hellish thing but consoled when the hospital consultant advised that while its not great for the relatives Mum is quite happy in her own wee world. He may be right but I'd still prefer the heart attack from the man in the sky when its my time. Anyway my wife, bless, has allowed me permission to get a CA, Hasegawa and an Airfix one and have a go to see how they all compare ! Must have done something right but God only knows what !!! Thanks again for the advice and inspiration ! John

I'd stand in line outside all night in winter in my socks to be first in line with cashafter selling the house, dog, car, .......................

Can I ask for advice from Hurricane experts? I want to do an early Mark 1 and have all the references inc the SAM publication but unfortunately it does not tell me about the Classic Airframes model. On looking through the site I see that some have commented favourably on the CA model but others have queried the nose profile but not said what troubles them. Any thoughts and anything else I might need to look at? I gather the Hasegawa Hurri Mk1 is a nice kit too if you can find one ! The reviews I found on the CA model suggested it was just as good though. Over to the Hurriexperts !!

Looks like Classic Airframes are doing a sort of BOGOF sale -- buy one and pay $5 for the second one - to clear stock out http://www.cybermodeler.com/news/news090513a.shtml

No Problem have sent you a pm with update

hi Shaun I have this model tucked away at the back of the garage. I am off on holiday tonight for a week but if you can wait till I get back I'd be happy to scan the intruction sheet and send it to you. regards John

Hi Bill yes - sorry to give a bit of a bum steer Got home and pulled out Wellington at War and Ken Delves book on the Wellington. No helpful pics and have not read through the text What might help is an old copy of "Flying Wartime Aircraft" A collection of ATA pilots handling notes. In Part 1 Headed Mechanical Details common to most marks under Flying Controls it says :- "Dual Controls Dual controls are not normally fitted, but can be installed when required. The equipment is not normally carried in the aircraft." The notes start with a general note on matters common to all marks in Part 1. Part 2 deals with "Flying particulars applicable to most marks" and then there is specific further notes in Part 3 for the differences within the various marks. Happy to copy the pages at work and post to you if you want them along with a b & w photo of pilots position taken from the wrong side for you purposes sadly. Don't know if this helps or hinders but there you are for what its worth. The author of the introductions - Hugh Bergel - says the notes are exactly as first issued to ATA pilots. He liked the Wellington as a lovely plane to fly - all except the Mk VI which he says "was the only nasty Wellington. The pilots view was so restricted taxying was a misery and in the air it was as if one was wearing blinkers. .....On my only flight in a Mk VI I was unhappy from before take off till after an excessively bad landing." Otherwise he calls the Wimpy delightful and brilliant. Good luck with the research John

Hi Nick I found these 2 pics which rather indcate that while there might have been a co-pilot there was only one seat ! http://north.iwm.org.uk/server/show/conMediaFile.7351 http://www.spitfirespares.com/SpitfireSpar...struments3.html hope this might add weight to the one seat/two seat query on operational types. When I get home tonight I'll pull a book on "Fflying Wartime Aircraft" and pilots notes to see if there is anything on the Wimpy that might confirm things regards John

The Scotsman newspaper today carries a big article confirming 43 squadron disbanding with the best and most servicable a/c from 43 and 111 going to 111 who will continue meantime at Leuchars MOD say that there is a commitment to place 3 Typhoon Squadrons at Leuchars in future but no guarantees as to numberplates Thanks 43 - You will be missed. Haste Ye Back John T

I'd say Interesting isn't the word ! Our local museum had one and they were not that big as I recall. Quoted length 35 feet and diameter only 48 inches. Makes the V1 look like a 737 by comparison. No idea how you would shoehorn anyone into one or who would be daft enough to climb into one. Big bang at the end of the ride though ! Reminds me of the film Dr Strangelove with Slim Pickins Also I gather they ran on fuels that were not the most stable and that QRA away from base presented "challenges" The range was decidedly first generation - 150 miles - so thats why they were of limited value when the Soviets were able to beef up the depth ot their air defences and the RAF desperately wanted the American Skybolt. It was cancelled, we got Polaris (probably the right decision) and the rest is history with the dark blue looking after us thereafter John T

People who make simple human errors, that anyone of us could make, should not be sent to jail, period. You can train a lot of competence into a capable person, but you can't make them invulnerable to being a human being. Well argued post I thought. But you dont have to be an aircraft techie to run this risk. Everone of us does now that we get behind the wheel of a car. Until recently if you made a simple mistake/error while driving and it had unforseen but catastrophic consequences and someone died you would be prosecuted under S3 for careless driving and be fined/banned etc. The law accepted that the sad result of a death was an unintended and unforeseeable consequence of the error and that the driver should not be punished for such. Now you can go to jail. That means losing your job, home and maybe consequentially your family too. Remember we are not talking about death by reckless driving. That always was a more serious offence following on something more than an "honest error" mistake. The problem was that sometimes a "wee" mistake made millions of times a day without anything more than a minor bump - if that - ended unexpectedly in a death. Famillies of the deceased were not concerned about the driver only making a small error and wanted jail time. Politicians just couldn't say no and changed the law leaving it to judges to sort out the "hard cases" and be lenient. But make no mistake, if you get involved in a low speed accident and someone dies you can be looking at jail time even for a split second lapse of concentration. So if we accept that as a rule for the road in principle where do we draw the line? Personally I think its bad law but I don't get to make the rules ! There would be more holidays for starters and at least 1 free model per household every week JohnT

Ditto seem to recall that the Luftwaffe was mostly geared to what we now call Mud Moving and most historians agree that it was not a balanced force and that contributed to its failure to achieve its goals despite the quality of the opposition and its own traing and kit. A lesson there perhaps?. Also its a wee bit difficult to "mud move" when the other side have air superiority assets all over you. Until we find the guy with the crystal ball who accurately predicted Korea/Vietnam/Falklands/Gulf1 and a dozen others in time to build the appropriate assets and train the crews to deploy them then maybe we might just be better having a balanced force structure through the three services? Unless we retire our foreign policy to the borders of the Channel Islands we will need adequate force structures for all three services. And that means having the right kit in adequate numbers. Frankly I doubt that Typhoon will be aquired in sufficient numbers. Remember its supposed to have a swing role with some being optimised for air to ground and not air - air. "Numbers have a quality all of their own" Josif S Of course we can just disarm altogether, save the cash and take our chances. I don't see the point in spending good money on the services knowing we are not supporting them enough to do the job. Thats immoral. We either find the cash or accept that its not fair to ask the guys to go out on a limb because we dont tell our political masters it is not good enough. John T PS Have a great Easter and hope you all get a 1/48 "egg" from the family

That would seem likely but how many re-open after being on c & m ? And given the amount spent on bailing out the banks what chance does the next tranche of typhoons have - or the carriers for that matter. Voters don't vote on defence !

Early retiral of the F3's would seem unlikely. Who would fly out of Leuchars then ? Close 43 and 111 and bring a squadron North or just close it/ civilianise it? The latter would seem unlikely. I recall they did an effective cost efficient upgrade to the Jaguar just in time to retire them and why exactly did they retire the SHAR again? As for 50 Typhoons maybe being enough to defend us against whatever - 3 points 1 I don't know the total inventory but it would be how many servicable aircraft then? Whats the norm? About 30% non availability at best? 2 Typhoon is supposed to have a swing role so how many optimised for air - air and how many for air- ground ? And whats their capability in their non optimised role? I recall that we get the under developed early tranche and for money reasons the Saudis get the fully developed jobs before we do. Or has that changed? 3 No idea who we might have a problem with next but not many of us saw the Falklands coming several weeks in advance, nor Saddam invading Kuwait nor etc etc. We don't always get the luxury of a Hitler type telling us for several years what he intends to do so we have the luxury or time to re-arm appropriately. Anyone recall the so called crash priority programmes of the 50's to get Hunter and other types up and operational for the cold war when the opposition were looking forward to having a field day with their Migs against our state of the past Meteors and Vampires. Historical footnote - not many RAF aces in Korea and RAF Canadair Sabres hastily bought for RAF Germany. Are we condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past ? I suppose we can always re-gun the B of B flight in an emergency John T

Hi John B For what its worth I don't like ambulance chasers either though in reality most of these guys are not lawyers but a new "profession" of claims firms that punt on cases - at a price - to law firms after milking them for a turn first. Won't touch it myself and I never have an empty desk ! At the risk of over simplifying I worry we are becoming too "American" in our outlook as a society and that ambulance chasing is just one symptom of that. ( and my sons godmother is a US citizen so I am not anti US !) These claim firms wouldn't do it if Joe Public didn't call them. Just get hacked off a tad at my profession being a soft target most of the time when just about everyone I know are decent hard working guys etc often for modest bucks and we never really see the types that get so much prominence in the public eye. Getting back to the thread though I have much sympathy for overworked mechanics struggling with complex work and out of date or incorrect manuals ! How can anyone expect them to get it right in that scenario? No legal liability on them in that situation though employer/ manufacturer or supplier of manual might be in trouble. Very interesting thread guys - deserves a wider audience and more appreciation by our "masters" John T

My point is that lawyers, from the safety of a courtroom, should feel capable of judging this man's actions and view him as criminal in his actions. That to me is unreasonable and does nothing to advance air safety. Sorry but can't really let that bit of lawyer bashing go ! I should declare an interest as I am a litigation lawyer to trade and not just a plastic hacker. I am afraid too many folks don't really understand what goes on in a law court and thats probably a fault with our education system that does not really teach people about the legal system and what it does - or more importantly what it does not do. All too often the public perception comes from tv and film which is about as true to life as your average Hollywood flick. I have yet to watch a film or tv series or read a book thats remotely like what happens in a law firm. Firstly its not the job of the Court to advance air safety - Thats the job of the authorities investigating the accident and who will recommend the design and practise changes to prevent the accident happening again. The Courts function is to determine whether there has been death caused by gross negligence and to call those responsible to account. I do a lot of professional negligence work. That does not make me an expert in medical matters, surveying, architecture or whatever the subject happens to be. I just ask those witnesses recognised as experts in their field whether what was done was negligent or not. They tell us and assist the Court to make a decision accordingly. And yes I have seen factors such as stress of the moment taken into account in determining whether or not there was negligence. To give a neutral example a mstake was made in an A & E Dept of a busy city hospital with serious consequences for the patient on a Saturday night with staff hopelessly overstretched with an unexpected crisis. The decision reached was if it been quiet there would have been a case for to answer but in the circumstanes the error was forgivable. Pilots and engineers are subject to the same laws that require prosecutions for death caused by gross negligence in every other walk of life. Corporate manslaughter is becoming a developing area of law allowing prosecutions where manufacturers and service providers are grossly negligent to the point where life is unecessarily lost. I am always saddened at the loss of a flyer. The old adage that the pilot is the first on the scene of the accident is always true. Due allowance must always be given for the heat of the moment. But the situation is totally different where an airline takes short cuts in its maintaining of aircraft for economic reasons only that not only prejudices air safety but the public and aircrew whose lives are put at risk and sadly sometimes lost as a result. Please don't blame lawyers for providing access to justice for people who need it. We all might need one one day. And for the guys out there some free divorce advice - dont - you cant afford it !! regards John

Really nice work. I have one in the box on the shelf glaring at me beside the Sea Vixen and Scimitar. I bought them because I heard that Dynavector were really good models but have always been to afraid to start them as I have not done a vac form before. Your Javelin is superb and maybe just the kick up the behind I need to get the dust of mine ! If I get half as good a result I'd be over the moon regards John

Great work - watching with interest and learning ! I had an idea about the problem of fixing the Mossie to a base and hanging it. Might be tricky to space exactly but I did wonder about the possibility of inserting two/three small screws through the base from behind and into the underside of the wheels to give three fairly robust attachment points that would never be seen. Tailwheel might be too small but the main wheels should be ok. A potential problem might be the strength - or lack of it - of the undercart legs and fixing points to the wings but if white metal ones used? No idea if it would work as never tried it but just a thought? Looking forward to seeing more John

worked it out and pm sent !

Thanks Darius now being a newbie I just have to work out how to send a pm ! on it ! John

Yes I am still wondering how Ben Affleck will fly his B 17 ( He's done the P40/B25 already nice to be so talented, fighter jock and bomber pilot and stud too) off the Hornet, take out Galland and the Abbeville boys, destroy the Dams and retun to the arms of Kate again while showing Chuck exactly how you break the sound barrier. I am eating too much pop corn, too much pop corn !!