NG899

Hi Jeff, I didn't want to say it as it would be a hard fix but yes, the intakes on this SHAR, as with all others in EDSG/W or overall EDSG should be EDSG. You could always make removable FOD covers! Sadly, Airfix have made a good few clangers on the painting instructions in the build notes... Some changes are needed to the colours given in these stages of the instructions; using Humbrol references… 1. The seat frame should be Dark Admiralty Grey, use Dark Sea Grey 164 with a small dash of white added. 2. Use the 164 mix for the cockpit tub, instrument panel and control column below the handgrip. The centre of the seat headrest is matt black but its top should be Dark Green 163 like the seat cushions. As the kit’s pilot wears WW2 vintage flying gear I won’t mention the colours needed there, they are the least of his problems! 3. The colours of parts 2A and 3A depend on the scheme being modelled: for A and B paint them 123 overall, for C use Light Aircraft Grey 166. The same applies to parts 14B and 15B in stage 8, except that for scheme B the white undersides overlap up into the intake by approximately a scale 4 inches (10cm). 4. Brand new heat shields should be a bright steel colour, but they soon tarnish and take on a sooty appearance. Use a base colour of 11 and dry brush 33 over them. The same applies to the rear nozzles in stage 6. Regrettably, all that nice detail on part 39B needs cutting back to just above the airbrake bay floor. 10. The inside colour of the airbrake part 38B depends on the chosen colour scheme: A - 123, B - 130 and C - 164. All undercarriage legs should be Ghost Grey 127 as should the wheel hubs for schemes A and B. For scheme C the wheel hubs are 130. The upper section of part 47B should be 130, the lower is 11. The airbrake bay stains badly but not the inside of the airbrake. Correcting the undercarriage option drawings… i) For a parked SHAR with the engine shut down, as would be the case if you’ve used parts 10B and 11B in stage 8, the main undercarriage doors, parts 16A and 17A, are usually shut; unless ground crew have opened them for maintenance reasons. However, the front u/c doors, parts 18A and 19A should be open. The airbrake will be open in both this and the next option… ii) For an aircraft in the hover or one on the ground with pilot onboard and the engine running then the second u/c positioning option is fine; the only problem is that all the auxiliary intake doors would be open so you’d have to modify the lower doors on parts 10B and 11B to look like their dropped upper doors. iii) This is fine for an in-flight SHAR, providing you keep the nozzles back. 11. As above for the wheel hub colours, though the inside of these mainwheels contain the brakes so their insides can be liberally weathered for brake dust, while their outer hubs can be liberally weathered for the debris they get coated in when in the hover. 14. AIM-9L bodies should be ghost grey 127. 16. The twin Sidewinder mountings should be 164. 19. The yaw vane part 48A should be painted the airframe colour with the rear of the pivoting vane (the larger bit!) 11 and the front ‘stick’ bit 18. Note 1: neither of the small black IFF aerials - by the yaw vane and ahead of the Doppler panel - are supplied in the kit. They are shown on the colour drawings and are easy to add. Note 2: on the fuselage centre-line just aft of the forward nozzles the two holes are shown for the centre-line pylon, which is missing from the instructions but is provided on Sprue A, Part 28. However, the green gunpods and the kill markings are all fine for XZ457/14 as she returned to the UK on Hermes - she'd clearly acquired the guns from an RAF GR3, while the kill markings were applied after the war finished. I hope that helps and makes sense! Nick

Hi, I do have photos (both sides) of a 'pointy nose' GR.3 in wraparound arctic camo in March 1976 - XW923/23 of No.1(F) Sqn. However, I need to get the owner's OK to post them here or send them to you. A 'pointy nose' GR.3? Yes! The early GR.3s with the Pegasus 103 did not have the Phase IV LRMTS thimble nose mod fitted. You can tell a GR.3 from a GR.1 because the GR.3 does not have the two parallel vents on the forward engine covers ahead of the GTS/APU inlets and outlets that the GR.1s and 1As had. So, from your GR.1 you'll just have to cut them off. Hope that helps, Nick

Hi Jeff, Coming along nicely... Just one small thing - the demarcation line ebwteen the black and EDSG on the radome, you have it on the radome joint/hinge line, which is too far back. If you look at the coloured decal placement sheets you'll see there's an EDSG portion ahead of the join line. Sadly Airfix have missed the panel line off the radome piece that would have helped everyone with this. HTH, keep up the good work! Nick

Hi Bob, I can help you with the code letter for this one... From info about this a/c from the DH Mosquito site's serials listing... NS856 FBVI 107 Shot down by P-51 S of Dieppe 28.3.44 So, you have a blue on blue story. Now it gets interesting! Checking that date on page 86 in Vol 1 of 2nd TAF by Chris Shores and Chris Thomas, I find under the losses listed... e1640 107 Mosquito NS856 T F/O J A Glenn (K) W/O T Davison (K) sdb P.51 S Dieppe The text then says... "During a sortie over the French coast in the mid afternoon, a Mosquito of 305 Sqn was obliged to force-land in that area, while another of these aircraft from 107 Sqn was shot down in error south of Dieppe by a P-51, apparently from the US 8th AF's 4th Fighter Grp." In Vol.2 of 2nd TAF there's a nice side illustration of 107 Sqn's NS855 OM-Q flown by Lt DD Button and FO L D Mellor from A.75, Cambrai-Epinoy on page 330, with on p331 some history and photos of the a/c Q-bitch. The illustration and photos are useful as they show the size of the Sqn codes - the 30" size also used on Pickard's HX922 EG-F rather than the larger sizes - 32" or 36" codes used by say 21 or 464 Sqns. Interestingly, laying a straight edge along the top of all the code letters in the photo of OM-Q's stbd side, the level of the top of the code letter Q ahead of the roundel is a few inches below the level of the tops of the O and M aft of the roundel. Hope that helps, Nick

Good clarification Jonathan. Yes, I mean the colours as colour-printed. Cheers, Nick

Hi Goose, It all depends on which aircraft you're making a model of! 123 is fine for the EDSG overall SHARs, e.g. XZ457/14 as per the new Airfix kit. DO NOT imagine that the COLOURS of the colour instructions / decal placement colour sheets in the Airfix kits are the RIGHT colours - the references for paints ARE correct. So yes to 123. Personally, I'd mix a few good sized blobs of white (130) into it for "scale effect". But you are probably aiming for only 3%-5% white in the tin max. I suggest you make a few mixes up and see what you think based on photos. For the MSG/BG SHARs then its Humbrol 165 for the MSG and 167 for the Barley Grey, e.g. ZA177/77. For more info on ALL the Falklans SHARs - see incoming e-mail Alun... Cheers, Nick

Welcome back to the Stickin' Bits of Plastic Together Brigade! I hope you enjoyed the adventure. Agree with Walrus on the sticky-out bits, they always attract the sort of FOD attention you don't want them to have! (Irrespective of scale.) Always good to see a Falklands SHAR. Have fun with the next one! Cheers, Nick

Dave, To quote Blackadder - No gloaters! Steve, Before you finally go with the lichen green I'd best say that our Warton correspondent has qualified his comments about the green as follows... "I would say overall Lichen Green (although the back end is a bit grubby) with a MSG fin cap. That is just a guess on my part! Definitely too light to be DG, but not sure what NATO Green looks like, compared to Lichen. Don't have access to a painting chart on this one either. Plus if I ask the Harrier guys, the best response will probably be 'it's Green'! Doesn't appear to be any demarkation on the pylons in this shot:" http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Air/Br...013bf59a0308fc5 To me and considering the pic is 2005, I'd say the fin tip and tank are both Dk Camo Grey. I've asked our friend to do some more digging... More to follow, in due course... Cheers, Nick

Nice photo! The light on the fin hides the names of significant names from the USMC's and Squadron's history - The Banana Wars, WWII, Desret Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom on the port side, with on the stbd side - VO-1M, VO-8M, VMS-2, VMSB-231, VMF-231. Cheers, Nick

No decals as yet but, I'm sure there will be! Nick

Hi, Quoting from the latest Harrier SIG Briefing (newsletter), info provided via Dave Fleming by Staff Sgt Dave Roof of Flying Leatherneck Decals and Orion Scale Models... "The USMC has recently begun painting its AV-8B fleet in the latest incarnation of the Harrier Tactical Paint Scheme (HTPS). Having experimented last year with removing the FS.36118 Gunship Grey ‘saddle’ on a couple of aircraft leaving the aircraft in FS.36231 and 36320, the Corps has now decided on a darker scheme with FS.36118 on the upper surfaces and FS.35237 on the undersides. A number of aircraft can now be seen sporting these colours, including at least one TAV-8B." Dave Roof produced a special scheme for the CO of VMA-231 'Ace of Spades' aircraft 164552, which looks very nice indeed, in fact one of the best USMC schems I've seen... Hope that helps. Cheers, Nick

Hi chaps, The SIG's Warton correspondent reports that the plane is currently at Boscombe but, he believes it to be Lichen Green overall with MSG fin tip and no demarcation lines on the pylons or strakes. Confirmation to follow... Cheers, Nick

Hi Chris, Does it give the codes for HR366 in the FlyPast Special? If yes, please tell me! I haven't found them in all my other Mossie refs but seem to remember it's only recently I saw them in a new publication and they're not in Dave Brown's new book on the FB.VI. Many thanks and good luck with your big Mossie - I've one in the stash too... Nick

Hi Chris, There's a stbd side in-flight photo of her in the Scale Aircraft Modelling Combat Colours book on the NF and FB Mossies, p33. All refs show spinners as roundel red similar to the codes, but from that photo it's hard to say how much of a shine they had. There's a colour profile of HR118 3-W on p38 and a profile of it in the Warpaint Special on the Mossie on p47. Early 1945 colour photos ofWg Cdr Max Aitken's 235 Sqn FBVI HR366 (somwehere recently I came across the code letters for this a/c but, of course, cannot find them now!) show its spinners as dull roundel red but quite glossy, especially in the pic of him standing by the port one. Now that could be because they were newly polished for the photo shoot - he was the Banff Wing's OC! - so his a/c may have had special treatment. Having said that, on my 248 Sqn FB.VI RF610 DM-Z with black and white spinners I finished the spinners with a thin coat of Klear as pics of 248 Sqn a/c show them with shinier than matt spinners. Photos of another Banff Sqn - 143 - shows its spinners to be fairly shiny too when compared to the falltness of the airframe. Personally, on HR118 I'd give them a light coat of Klear and then get someone to prove you wrong. If you are, its only a quick coat of matt varnish to rectify the problem! Hope that helps. Nick

Hi, Apologies with the dubioud Xtracrylix refs, I was just following their normal "same numbering sequence but with XA at the front" line. I'll admit I don't use Xtracrylix myself, excpet for their flat and satin varnishes; and, 99 times out of 100 use Humbrol enamels rather than any others. I'll go and do some more on the P.1127 as penance! Cheers, Nick

Hi, Xtracrylix XA18 and XA24 should do the job for you as they are the stated colours - NATO IRR Dk Green and Lichen Green. If using Xtracolor, then X18 and X24. Good luck, Nick

Hi Andy, Good to see your Harrier on here at last, The Trophy was well deserved. We'll be happy to have ZD410 on the SIG's display tables anytime, if you can spare her! Cheers, Nick

That'll do nicely sir! Nice backdrop too, the top one that is. Cheers, Nick

AOK with that Dennis. I was aiming to reproduce that photo of yours in 48th scale myself but I'll keep working on the 1127 and Kes and if I get the time get round to G-VTOL. Cheers for now, Nick

Hi Dennis, So, G-VTOL doing a Farley Climb in R/W/B, that'll be a 'what-if' then, yes? Nick

Thanks Dave, check. Nice and white! Now to work out which station they were carried on... C/L or outer pylons? Cheers, Nick

Thank you all for the info so far. So, it's possible that RN ones used by the SHAR Sqns were white - as per SHARs' original white undersides - while any RAF Harrier Sqn ones would be Deep Bronze Green, yes? (Off to trawl through my umpteen Harrier books for Hermes deck shots. The problem's been I've been looking out for a dark shape rather than a white one!) Cheers, Nick

You never know until you try it Dave. I'm not sure I can do this one yet, but I'll put 100% into the attempt. Nick

Hi, Despite seeing several black and white photos of these flares being carried on early Development Build Harriers, I've never been able to track down what colour they actually were. Black, dark green or dark blue seem the likeliest options but can anyone please confirm for sure? Many thanks, Nick

Hi, I think it appears in the recently published "War Diaries of Neville Duke" but cannot confirm as my dad has my copy some 100 miles away just now! It's a great read and lists all his aircraft recommended. Hope that helps, Nick