paulj

Yes, looking forward to this one, weather forecast is good for Thursday, but that can change. Still buzzing after seeing the two lancs start up in front of me last Wednesday, awesome sight and sound. Paul

I was there by chance, annoyed the visitor centre left me barricaded in the shop for well over 20 minutes in the second half of the flight; I missed the end of the display, landing and taxiing, which I really wanted to see having arrived at the centre about 10-15 after the start. You would think that would be for the number of people there, but there were no crowds or queues, apart from about 16 of us behind this barricade. That's after driving over 3 hours to get there, anyone without a ticket had no problems was able to view behind the perimeter fence. Anyway, I managed to catch about 10 minutes of the first display; I waited and they did a second flight a couple of hours later, and caught that one in full, lasted over 40 minutes. The pilots and a member of the canadian support team came over to us after wards and I shook their hands and thanked them. Looking forward to Clacton to see them with the Vulcan. I was booked on the 3 lancs to Paul Some of my photos:

I am fussy over kit boxes, although do buy a few kits in poor boxes. The main reason being, if I decided to sell the kit on in the future, although I have only sold just over 1% of all the kits I have bought. I always intend to build kits I buy, but have too many kits, and have very little spare time to build. So have realised that I will only build part of my stash and have become a accidental collector for the others. Also find it easier to store kits that are in undamaged boxes. Generally, I like to take good care of my possessions, and that goes for all of my hobbies. I don't expect many on here to understand the collecting side, but I do get some enjoyment out of those. Particularly some of the kits that are now difficult to find, or have become too expensive to acquire. But for the kits I want to collect and keep, I usually have duplicates which I intend to build. I do really love some of the box art, particularly the older kits, airfix, matchbox, tamiya, amt, ertl. I don't like a lot of the modern box art, particularly revell and italeri. After building, I would keep boxes with box art I like, I think that would be somewhere around 15% of my stash, mostly older matchbox and amt kits I bought a while back. I wouldn't buy a box, but would like to get boxes to replace damaged boxes for kits I have, or to box a re-issue in a older box style (not to profit from). Paul

Absolutely stunning build and finish of an unusual model. Well Done

That is a great shuttle build, let alone your first build, well done. The paint finish is really good, it is difficult to get the colour/texture of the external tank right, and your looks very good. Paul

Thanks for the post, promptly ordered my copy. I remember first watching this back in the eighties when I was in a dingy flat with poor tv reception on my 14" inch sony portable tv. Amazing film, and didn't catch it again until I bought the dvd in 1998. Paul

Hi Rob, I can't comment on modelcars, but used to buy a lot of kits from the states. I don't do it anymore, because I found the price of shipping them from states these days far outweighs any savings you make on the kit. Just make sure you ask them for actual shipping costs before confirming your order. Some places would only use the premium shipping services, which were extremely expensive. If the kit you are after is not available in UK, I found McLarens Models web site keep stock of a small range of US based kits at prices which would be hard to beat importing yourself, even when they are heavily discounted: http://mclaren-models.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=16 I have only used them once, and they were ok. Paul

That came out very well, the weathering looks great Will inspire me for when I get round to building mine. Paul

Really love the build, the mud makes the model stand out, well done

stunning, weathering is awesome. Interesting vehicle

What a beauty, another awesome build The things that really stands out for me, are the wire wheels, works of art in their own right Paul

Thanks for all the replies, Great suggestions there and will be following many of those up. I have decided to just focus on a Canada trip, to make arrangements easier, will mean no Blue Angels, but I'm sure I will catch a show with them in the future at sometime. The Snowbirds look like a great team to watch, will try and see if I can find one of their shows on this trip. I wanted to see the B29 flying from the Commerative Air Force, who usually attend Hamilton (possibly Reading) airshow in June. Looks like this year they are not attending with the B29, which I was gutted to find out as this is very high on my list to do, I am waiting to hear if they will be attending next year with the B29. Does anyone know what the situation is with the Mosquito, I know it will be flying at Hamilton in June, but it that likely to be the case next year? Best Regards, Paul

Hi, I am in the planning phase for a Canada trip this summer to visit the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, and looking for any tips or other things I should go and see. Probably looking at two week long holiday, but can extend that if needs dictate. I thought about doing a combined Canada/US trip, but I think that maybe a bit too ambitious, as I tend to go over the top when planning holidays in the past. It will be my first big break since 2008, which didn't go to well. I had tried to plan a holiday 3 times since, but there has been some spanner in the works in preparation. I have always wanted the see a Blue Angels display, or take a flight in a small seaplane. Maybe I could fit one of those in. Paul

awesome build, still can't get over how well that silver finish has turned out, really stands out, particularly in these latest pics.

That looks superb with the lights, have a few of these in the stash, and would be very proud if I could turn one out to this kind of standard. Paul

Hi Roy, Regarding the working roof, I think the problem is down to how the fabric reacts to being folded at the smaller scale. The fabric is scaled down, but how the fabric reacts to being folded is not, it is just different because the fabric is thinner. Thin soft tissue paper should react more closely to how fabric would fold at the lower scale. I am wondering if a lining of soft tissue paper to the inside of the cloth you have would improve how it folds in this scale. Just a suggestion, not sure if this will be viable, will need some experimentation. Paul.

I think the new price is £69.99 for the launch tower only, it used to be sold as a separate kit as well. If it is the combo, I think the price is acceptable, but not good value; If it is for the tower alone, I think it is overpriced. I feel a fair price for the tower alone, having seen it in the flesh, would be around £30-£35. I don't understand Revell's pricing when they turn out kits like the SCA for £19.99 and they are asking another 50 notes for this kit. Paul

Superb build for an unusual car How on earth did you get the white lettering on those decals to look so sharp on a gloss black finish ? Paul

Thanks Roy, Right that one kit sorted for the for sale list, need to sort out another 199 kits on the list Paul.

Great scheme, very different, and an excellent build. The paintwork on the canopies really stands out. Paul

Thanks very much for posting that, likewise my modelling is not up to the standard seen in the posts on this site. You are progressing with your airbrush, which I still have to make a start on. My first build back in to the hobby was the revell ISS, and my painting was a disaster. Managed to get replacement parts to make another attempt. Paul

Please could anyone let me know what price you would expect to sell one of these, I have the original riko issue in very good condition. Having to consider selling a chunk of my stash, and this is on the list to go. Paul.

Hi Roy, I can't stop admiring how well that silver finish has come up on the bonnet and mudguards in the recent pics you posted. How close is that to the silver birch finish on the Bond Aston DB5 ? BTW, I think I have got some recent pics of one of the movie cars which was for sale last year, would you be interested in those? I'm sure if you get a big enough ruck sack, you can get some more use out of that jacket, all is not lost. Paul

I like the look of that, awesome stuff

Looking forward to the build thread, I'm sure you'll turn this out to be a stunner like the RR The price is a lot of money, but at least you can see you get a lot of kit for that. Packaging is top rate, I wish hornby would take a note and improve the packing of a lot of the Airfix kits. Paul