johnd

You may need to shop around to find a good odourless white spirit. The ones I tried were poor, even for cleaning brushes. It's why I'm now using acrylics. John.

apologies, but now I know how to get you interested in threads .

As I understand it, the Airfix propeller was good for a Mk.XIV/XVIII but too small for a 22 and therefore too small for a 24 also, whatever the size of the latter. John. PS Forgive me if I've missed something/got hold of the wrong end of the stick. It's not uncommon.

Thanks for the Colourcoats info, hadn't noticed that. My tin doesn't have a Union Flag on it... John.

My local shop still has it so don't give up just yet. I just checked the tin, it has the same colour of lid as the old one, i.e. matched to Light Mediterranean Blue so don't disregard it on that score. The only difference I could find between old and new pots was on the sticky label on the bottom, the old one said A1701, the new one AA1701. I don't know if this is significant. John.

Words fail me. However, there's still stock out there and there are good alternatives (Colourcoats and Xtracolour) so it's not a disaster. John.

Yes, I believe at least one of the BMers petitioned Humbrol and they changed it. It was a year or two ago (I think it may be documented in the thread I linked to) so it should be readily available by now. I bought one about six months ago. Not all modellers found it to be good news though, as 157 was replaced with the new recipe rather than add it as a new number. Therefore, we lost Light Mediterranean Blue which I don't think is available elsewhere. John.

Humbrol reformulated 157 to be a closer match so if you have a recent tin it'll be right. There's a thread here that contains a photo of colour chips for Azure Blue and Light Mediterranean Blue so you can check. John.

I don't believe so. Lucas said that there was no stores reference for it. A patchy matt black finish would do the job, I guess. Special Night wasn't noted for its durability. John.

Paul Lucas, in "Battle for Britain", said that the 'black' on the early scheme was Night while that on the later Sky and Black undersides scheme was, in fact, Special Night. This was a true sooty black rather than the dark blue-grey of Night. John.

Very nice, that takes me back to my youth. When they say 28mm, are they just being honest about the old 25mm label now, or are they even bigger these days? John.

Apparently, the SBS nacelles are no good without their engines, which makes them too pricey (for me, anyway). Does anyone know why this is, surely the Airfix motors can be bodged to fit? John.

I don't believe the resin nose is still available. It was by Heritage Aviation Models (aka Kits for Cash) but has now disappeared from their website. I had my eye on their Tempest metal undercarriage set and when that disappeared from the site I enquired by email: sadly, they'd not only discontinued them but melted them down. I fear the same fate befell the Battle nose. There was an article in one of the monthly mags on updating the kit and the author sorted out the wing chord by sandwiching a piece of plastic card between the two halves and building up the wing thickness with plastic and filler. John.

I know, I have two already finished and two more ready to go . Are there pictures of @rs2man's example? John.

I look upon this kit as a bit of a disappointment but not a total disaster. To play devil's advocate a little, my fairly decent supply of Spitfire spares will provide a propeller unit, wheels, oil cooler, exhaust stacks and canopy and therefore it should build up into a reasonable Vb. The only real problem is what to do about the upper wing cannon bulges. I'll probably stick to just one, though, unless the price is right. After all, the basic shape of fuselage and wings is sound. Regarding a Vc, there's no reason why Revell couldn't release one as the next in the line... John.

I have this kit and it is a new tool, based on the recent Mk.IIa. Some of the problems of the Mk.II are still with us (odd wheels, awful canopies and incorrect oil cooler) but there aren't any strange square plates on the wing. The lower wing is a new part and has fewer ejection ports but still, I think, too many. The underwing cannon bulges are present. Additional areas of concern are the upper cannon bulges and the propeller unit which are too thin/too far back and odd respectively (both as above). A bonus is the two slipper tanks, so not all bad. John. PS Sorry about the quality of the pics, only my mobile to hand at the moment.

Talking of Pavla, there's another option as they do a resin Vc wing. It's not cheap, though, and is designed to fit the old Revell Vb fuselage, which comes with its own problems. John.

Erm...Sword. Otherwise, you're cross-kitting. John.

Are these the ones you meant? John.

The Defiant has been around a couple of years now in both standard and starter set form. Airfix have sold their production run of the original pressing (some to retailers such as Hannants). They are now producing a load more, maybe with different markings, maybe not. The plastic will be the same either way. Just make sure you order 02069 (standard) or 55213 (starter set) and you'll be fine. John.

Hannants have a large warehouse in Lowestoft and keep their own stock. You'll be able to get one from them. I don't know if Airfix are planning different markings for their reissue though. John.

The basic kits are the same, different markings. Regarding best kits, I'd say Eduard is best for a 110. John.

I remember that. Didn't it use a Tamiya motor from one of their motorised 1/35 tanks? John.

My question was badly worded, I was wondering if the different colours equated to different grades. John.

Good tip, thanks. Did you mention the colour of the pad because they're available in different grades? John.