Steve Collins

Strangely enough, I was sitting here, picturing a Whirlwind with "a completely new wing, with the engines further apart so a new centre-section, a taller undercarriage, bigger radiators" and the Welkin was the first thing that popped into my head. Steve

Personal anecdote time, here. I was talking to a gentleman at an airshow in San Marcos, Texas, USA one day almost 20 years ago about a Mustang we were both leaning on. He said he'd been a crew chief on Mustangs in WWII. I asked him about the wings. He said that they did indeed come with the panel lines filled from the factory. After D-Day, they took the stripes off the tops of the wings. He said they did it with avgas. Guess what mostly came off with it? Yep, the filler. He said they did not bother to replace it, either, since the average life expectancy of the plane and the potential gain in airspeed was not worth the extra effort of puttying in all the lines and repainting the wings in aluminum paint. For what it's worth.... Steve

I, too, have used Alclad several times without anything looking like that (all my problems have been my own doing - loverly spiderwebs). I've found that temperature and relative humidity can both have a large effect on the paint, with humidity causing more problems. I've been lucky never to have had to paint in the cold, but I would think that it would have as great an effect as high temperatures (but perhaps on the other end of the scale - slower drying as opposed to faster drying in high temps). As the humidity level goes up, the more the potential for moisture to mix with the paint. I suspect that's what is the majority of your problem. I know circumstances may prevent it, but the closer to 20-25 degrees C and 30-60% humidity you can get, the better you'll be (would be the perfect place to live, too, wouldn't it?). Cold and damp and warm and damp both make for difficult painting. Hope you can figure something out. As to the pressure being part of the problem, I usually paint at 12-15 pounds. If you think the first burst of air is part of the issue, try making the beginning of your pass off the model and move onto the model after the paint flow starts. You'll waste a bit of paint that way, but it may help. Steve

Looking good so far, Shaun. You see what I meant about the fit of the tail boom to the fuselage. Be careful of the windows, as I had one pop into the cabin as I was holding the fuselage to work on the seam. Had a devil of a time getting it back into position. Mr. Surfacer and an alcohol-wet cotton bud will work a treat on the tail boom/fuselage seam. Looking forward to the next update. BTW, still working on the pencils. Steve

Right off the top of my head, I want to say it's FS 36237. If that equates to light ghost grey, it's the way to go. The kit builds pretty well, with minor niggles at the top of the engine cover where the grills are and where the boom meets the back of the fuselage. A bit of rescribing at the front and Mr. Surfacer cleaned up with an alcohol-dipped Q-tip (I believe you guys call those cotton buds) at the tail boom do the trick. Steve

Paddy, They make several different finishes of the foil, from flat aluminum (not at all shiny), to chrome (very shiny). Use with confidence. Steve

Thanks, Dave. Nice and succinct. John, that's a beauty. Just what I was thinking about. Steve

Troffa, Try the old Monogram 1/72 F-4 kit, either the F-4J or the F-4C/D kit (the same one Accurate Miniatures has recently released. I know it has the SUU-23 gunpod in the kit and something tells me it has the centerline pylon for it, too. Steve

As long as we're hijacking John's topic here, the Hunters that were stationed in Malta (?) for Musketeer were F5s, yes? Gotta do one with those yellow and black stripes. Steve

Yeah, I noticed the nose there. Thanks for the heads-up. Steve

Just what I've been waiting for, John. By the way, do you have a good, active US distributor? Steve

Excellent, Jonathan. Very much appreciated. Steve

Derek, Thanks. Looks like I'll be using parts from my old Matchbox kits, then. I've got markings for an Israeli 7.5 in a couple of different schemes. Steve

Haven't been able to get my hands on the kit yet, but I was wondering if it actually has the parts to make a T.Mk 7.5. Does it have the Mk.8 tail unit or the Mk.4 tail? Or, joy of joys, both? Steve

Cool. I'll do that. Just wanted to make sure I didn't cross any boundaries before I did that.

I'm on the verge of starting a Lightning and thought I'd give a go at modifying the back end of mine rather than going the aftermarket route as I usually do (sorry, chaps). I went and looked under the old topics and saw Bill Clark's work and Pappy's pics, but when I looked at Drewe's entry (here - linkish spot), I didn't see any pictures. I could have sworn they were there before. Did I miss something? Does anyone know what happened to them? Am I treading on ground upon which I should not step? Inquiring (and sometimes feeble) minds want to know..... Steve

That would be the Takara kit. Not bad, but put to shame by the Hasegawa kit. Steve

Shaun, 'Beautiful plummage!' Nice Ford, mate. Steve

To Mike Reeves - You're ugly and your mother dresses you funny. Happy Birthday, dude! Here's hoping for many more. Cheers. Steve

Not trying to prove you wrong, but I've just got to ease that itch. I'll do some digging and see if I can find where I read that they were changed to the spade grips at the MUs when they were received. I'll get back to you. If you're right it would certainly make things easier, since I don't think I have a single Mustang kit with a spade grip in it, even the ones marked as RAF. But then, I only build 1/72. Steve

Gents, I may be wrong, but something scratching at the back of my head says that all RAF Mustang Mk IIIs had the 'spade grip' control stick instead of the original 'pistol grip' stick. Can't get to my references right now, but.... Physically, that and the radios are the only differences that I know of. Steve

Julien, If I remember correctly, they're tape over rivets or screwheads in the leading edge flaps. Steve

A real beauty, Anthony. Now I have a target to shoot for when I build mine. Steve

Alex, I think it's a beauty. Nice detail in the wheel wells. As said before, I wouldn't worry overmuch about the preshading. I've worked on and around aircraft for the last 35 years and they don't look that way. It's just the way the modeling world has come to expect the paint job to look, because that's the way the 'modeling experts' (whomever they may be) say they should. I'm trying to work on my British version of the shared language that separates us and I'll just say you've done a cracking job. Merry Christmas to you. Steve

I recognize a few of those, Paul. Good looking work there. STeve