JohnT

Well some Monkey Model rear fuselage parts arrived last week so its the Beaufighter. In a way I am glad as while it means re-scribing the panel lines as they are raised on the Beaufighter the electronic bits on the Ju-88 are a tad nightmarish or so I've read. One issue is the parts from Model Monkey are superb and detailed but wont be seen once the fuselage is closed up. Even I leave the hatch open you would still need a borescope/endoscope (?) to see very much that's in there. . I have spotted a panel line that might permit a larger section to be removed in order to get a peek in. Sort of a "lift off" section. Might consider the same for the cockpit too as the kit clear parts are somewhat distorted Any suggestions fellow BM'ers? I suppose Id better start a topic too come to think on it.

Having read about His Majesty's senior service aircraft recognition and their tendency to bang away at anything bigger than a sea gull when during hostilities (only to be outdone by their USN allies) I am mildly surprised they didnt paint the whole thing yellow and supply an excess of Very flares with colours of the day

Perhaps one might say the first carrier landing of a practical in service twin engine military aircraft type? The Potez rightly claims honours as first to do it and the Lockheed as first with tricycle undercarriage. neither are military types (apart from a secondary transport applications) and would not have troubled any opposition. I think the first two were more to see if it could be done while the Mosquito arguably was the first attempt at getting an operational state of the art fighting machine onto a carrier with minimal modifications. Either way all very laudable in their own way.

@Lord Riot and you forgot to mention still looking ever so gorgeous even after all these years.

you are gonna offer to build all my Fonderie Minatures models blindfold sitting in a darkened room in the next Blitzbuild?

All right then - which one do I start first ? Ah ha ! Got you

Struggling to choose between 1/32 Revell JU-88 (problem its the teckniks version I picked up cheap so know a load of tricky extra work and might be well beyond me). A very nice chap on BM here gave me a 3d decal set for the cockpit or 1/32 Revell Beaufighter with Model Monkey cockpit and observers station - early nightfighter - The resin looks great but really frightening to get out of cages , fit and so on. Plus the observers station will need to have some way of managing how to get a peek inside Happy to take suggestions as to which beastie I should go for Anyone saying "both"

Well a 109 K ! I assume from the Kotare Spitfire mould that this will be an exceptional kit. Assuming a price point of £100 or so it’s just about double the older Hasegawa/Revell kit. What I liked and said so about the Spitfire 1 was that there wasn’t one done by anyone else. The 109K misses out on novelty in that respect. I also think the Spitfire 1 with its Battle of Britain history is arguably the mark to have if you only have one Spitfire (just 1 who am I kidding) Again for my money the right 109 is the E and after that it’s all downhill by Willy. So again I’d suggest a K is just ever so slightly off the pace. That said we do have lots of 1/32 “E’s” but not necessarily to Kotare’s standard. So for me their Spitfire hit the bullseye dead centre while the 109k is a good inner ring. And while it would probably have been unwise commercially for Kotare to venture outside the standard options so early in the life of the business I can imagine their debate resulting in a decision “OK it has to be a 109 but let’s go to the end of the line - we do the K.” Mainstream with a twist. Ah well maybe a 1/32 Defiant one day

@Work In Progress No British Civilians - thank for the pointer though. I have in mind a crashed 1/32 old Revell Ju87 dio. I can maybe put some cheese in the cockpit

I must be overly tired @tony.t because when I read the first line this popped straight to mind. Must be half a century since I heard this or thought of it

@Mike did a review on this plus the dairy guys as I recall. Actually I do rather wish that someone would do civilians in 1939/1940 attire. Why? Think of the dioramas relating to downed 109's, 110's Hurricanes and Spitfires that could get done plus Home Guard scenes on exercises with civilians passing by/looking on. 1/35 is smaller but people were then anyway

By chance I was reading up on the North American F-100 Super Sabre and came across a photograph in the Osprey Air Combat book of the factory production line. Next to the line hangs a very large notice stating for all to see :- "Quality must be built into a product. It cannot be inspected into it." Maybe Boeing need to run off a few ! Production line, design office, sub contractors etc

Nah I meant 380. It came out at 390 cos I have a problem with my computer set up. The interface between the keyboard and the chair often creates incorrect stuph I'd agree with that. Having said that I found photos of other Stirling where they had definitely used black paint. I suspect they grabbed the nearest tin to hand or followed whatever they were told to use on the squadron. The white edge bothered me too - sealant put on later after painting on that one window maybe? Replacement?

One of my books suggests that the experience of the cockpit crew was like driving while seated on the top of a double decker London bus. Now all in a days work to 747 and Airbus A390 pilots

"I had thought the other "hole" was a blemish on the negative...or where the key to wind the spring went!" knowing what Arthur Harris thought of the Stirling and Shorts that's not wholly impossible I looked at my Stirling references and when you see the cockpit from the inside the window is down on the left as well as a corresponding one on the right. I suspect its an aid to looking out and down or perhaps to throw some daylight onto nearby instruments. I'd forgotten that flying the Stirling was a two man job unlike the Lancaster and Halifax where the Flight Engineer got to double up if required.

Explanation found !! In one of the Wingleader publications they state the black surrounds are painted on not just those windows but at times around the rear cockpit area to reduce light spill from around the edges of the black out curtains. On sample page 27 https://wingleader.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/StirlingIVandVsamplepages.pdf I've got that photo in a book with quite good reproduction. The photo is not as cropped as the one above and it shows a little more of the fuselage behind the cockpit glazing back past the radio mast and ahead of the cockpit as well. The windows seem over painted certainly but inside or outside and what colour? The black and white tone of the window paint is rather similar to the camouflage immediately above them but remember the caveat about interpretation of colour from black and white photos. There is a colour photo of Stirling on Key Aero site. There the same pattern on the windows on the starboard side are painted black in the same pattern. Caption - Photographed at RAF Waterbeach, Cambs, Stirling Mk.I N3676/S was assigned to 1651 Heavy Conversion Unit. Secondly a good look under magnification shows curtains behind the windows. See especially the shading on the window on the right. Over painting as well sounds like overkill. Also if you look at the lower edge of the first window on the left the paint seems also to be on the fuselage skin as over painting suggestive of paint on the outside and not inside. And just for fun - what purpose does the small circular window right under the windscreen serve?** Same question for the hole in the skin under the middle window? Lastly if you want a nice weekend away and are a Stirling fan then this might be your ideal mini vacation Douneside House https://www.themacroberttrust.org.uk/about/ Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert (1884 – 1954) Quite some Lady ! ** just found a cockpit shot and when on the ground you don't see much ground out the window. I suspect it was an aid to downward vision when required !

That I will do - might even have to see if I can source one - it does look quite nifty

Yes Mark - treated myself to one of those those. There are two options. In one you have the MG FF mounted inside the glasshouse front and that was the set from Profimodeller. Very nice and you get to see the whole set up through the "window". Sadly as @Shorty84 said its hard to get. Kicking myself in not picking one up a while back now..... The alternative is a mount through the front of the bomb aimers gondola. In that case the glass bomb aimers window was plated over and the gun barrel comes through a metal plate. That might be the way I have to go. It has the advantage of not embarrassing myself with my non existent scratch building skills. The rear guns in the gondola are removed if the canon is placed in the front. I assume, it was sighted and fired from the cockpit but am reading u as we go along! Thanks for the pointer.

Thanks chaps - really appreciate the steer. @Shorty84 as soon as I saw the picture I realised that's what I was trying to remember. The chap that owned Profimodeller passed away last year and it looks like the business has closed rather than being taken over. It look like back to the drawing board unless there is something lurking on an Eduard set. Time to see what a few bits of gash plastic and either a master or Aber brass barrel looks like when stuck together.

Thanks @europapete. I had a look on their website but didnt see a 1/32 MG FF 20mm. Thanks for the suggestion though - I will just have to keep looking or maybe scratch one if no such animal exists. I do recall seeing a conversion for the JU 88 ventral gondola with the canon out the front or is my memory playing trick with me I wonder ?

Anyone know where to get a 1/32 MG FF 20mm? I've had a look round the internet and Googled a bit. All I can find is a very had to obtain resin one from L'aresnal and the picture on the website was a bit rough looking. I was sure I'd seen a conversion set for the front end of a JU 88 gondola a while back but not sign when try to find that again tonight. Any pointers would be helpful as it might determine what version of the ubiquitous 88 I go for. Thanks in advance JohnT

Yes indeed

From what I’ve read there is a bit of conjecture required. Almost certainly the Conningsby Wing would have acquired Skybolt. Reading on Ive seem comment that Blue Steel was starting to lose credibility in the deterrent role due to increasing effectiveness of War Pac defences. Had the Americans continued with Skybolt it looks very possible that we would have seen a Vulcan B3 which was mooted. Larger with 6 crew - this time everyone gets an ejection seat - reversion to a larger wing with a straight leading edge. 6 Skybolts, three under each wing. Much longer duration and if dropping war load to 2 Skybolts a mix of B3’s with 6 missiles and with 2 would mount a SAC style round the clock V force in the air at all times with Skybolt deterrent. However Skybolt was cancelled just as one launch worked perfectly, Prime Minister MacMillan turned down the American offer to pay half of development costs to take the project forward, then the offer of Hound Dog missiles (not much better than Blue Steel) and accepted Polaris. The rest is history If doing a model of an operational Skybolt Vulcan B2 I’d go for a Conningsby Base squadron though on one view the Scampton wing could also have converted in due course and its a Whiffy anyway

Very nice. Not a kit you see that often methinks. You can be well chuffed with that one

Another Boeing problem on a 737 cracked window. I imagine anything will get reported so no respite for Boeing https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67968526