The original Kit Builder

Marco, PM me. I might be able to help you. Chris

I'm thinking of ordering Penguin's decals for the mk I male, as I quite like the idea of doing HMLS Daphne. Does anyone know of a UK supplier, or am I going to have to order them direct? Thanks in advance, Kit

I mentioned the problems with Humbrol paint since the manufacture came back to the UK, to the guys on the Airfix stand at Telford. They were surprised that there was a problem, as they'd not heard of it. They were concerned enough to ask if it was limited to a particular colour and suggested I check the batch numbers. When I said it wasn't and I had, they asked me to email Hornby about it and said that if I heard of anyone else with similar issues, to get them to do so, as well. I've used Humbrol almost exclusively for over 40 years and never before had issues with the chemistry of the paint, though some of the shades have been off at times. I have found that one needs to add significant amounts of enamel thinner, just to make many of the new tins' contents thin enough to draw into a pipette for transfer to the mixing cup and that's a bug-bear to start with.

During his time on Camels, Biggles served with 266, not 226. The fact that it was a squadron in the 200 range, would indicate that if it had been real, it would have been 66 sqn, RNAS until 1 Apr 1918. On the creation of the RAF, all former naval squadrons were incorporated into that service with the addition of 200 to the existing number. 266 as described in the Biggles books was entirely fictitious, though the events portrayed in the stories were, according to W E Johns, based on real events.

PRU Blue is much too dark and grey to be a match for the blue used on US trainers, imo, unless your chosen scheme is unusual. I used True Blue, as produced by Hannants in their xtra colour range and it is as close as anything I've come across.

I know rhey used aft facing seats in 111's, but am unsure about 737's. Jessica may well be right. Can you recall the engine configuration?

You'll probably not find it in the current 1086. All reference numbers are now seven digit and have been for quite a few years. All the old four digit numbers have been converted.

BAC 111, I suspect. Dan Dare was the last operator of the type and bought most of them secong hand from military operators.

Berets became standard issue at least as long ago as the 1950's. Who remembers the series "Get some in", which was set in the fifties?

Polished aluminium is one of the three or so items in the range that you can't use setting solutions on. They are also less durable. Alclad themselves do a water based sealing coat for these finishes, which you apply thinly before decalling or handling. Whilst this does diminish the effect slightly, it is not so bad as Klear, or any of the other clearcoat possibilities, as it is specifically formulated for use with the polished finishes. You can use mild setting solutions with it and you can also mask and apply paints over it, though I'm not sure whether there are any that will affect it.

Accurate colour schemes and decals for some of their existing kits might be nice. Still, a new 1/48 scale range of Macchis might be nice, as would a group of Schnieder Trophy racers.

One P-51 C was given a second seat and used as a taxi for Eisenhour. Tom Neil had a Spitfire, which he'd "obtained" whilst attached as fighter liaison to the USAAF and which he'd had the paint stripped from in order to hide it from its rightful "owner".

A-36

In this instance, based on what you provided in the way of symptomology, you can ignore anything to do with paint, thinners, or input pressure. If you can trigger airflow with a toothpick applied to the air valve, then your problem is higher up than that. The likliest explanation is that something between the trigger and the air valve hasn't been assembled or aligned properly, so focus on this area first. If you have a parts diagram, it might and I stress might help you work out the correct assembly procedure. If not, see what you can turn up via Google, or contact the manufacturer.

I don't know the specifics, but they had Vickers Mk IV light tanks in 1940. These were replaced with A9 and A10 cruisers early in 1941 and by November of that year, these had been replaced with Crusader MkI's. On and around the 21st Nov, they fought an offensive action against DAK Panzer IV and seem to have lost all but two tanks. It was after this action that they were reformed on Stuarts in India.

Given the difficulty of landing the 109 anyway, he did well to get that down in one piece with all that oil on the screen.

Looks much better in the phot than when I saw her.

Thanks for the correction. Sometimes text is better than old photo's for this sort of thing.

After I saw it, the fin and tailplanes were used in the restoration of another Sabre. It was definitely beyond further service when I saw it.

This machine was used by ARDU for sidewinder trials having served at Butterworth and Ubon. The high vis areas were applied for the trials. I remember seeing this aircraft, badly corroded, at Moorabbin when I was a kid and I'm pretty sure that the coloured panels were red. As I recall, the were more like post office, or signal red than dayglo. Mind you, after forty-odd years, there's plenty of room for faulty memory.

The bird itself was black and the circle a dirty brownish yellow, as if insgnia yellow was put on quite thinly over olive drab. As to the original question about the colour, you could do worse than Revell 42, which is slightly greener and a little less dark than Humbrol 66. That said, of all the OD's available, I've yet to find one that doesn't need some adjustment to make me feel happier about it.

It's important to note, too, that this particular aircraft was still almost new when Gentile crashed it showing off to the official photographer covering his tour completion. It's in the back of my mind somewhere that it was something like six weeks old, so wouldn't have been excessively faded.

Another thing you could try for stripping, in future, is Tesco's basic line multi purpose cleaner. It'll even shift well cured enamel eventually.

All modern automotive metallic paints will dry flat, as the colour coat is intended to do nothing other than colour. The clear coat provides all the shine and durability and seal the colour coat, which is actually porous.

5's had the nose strakes and roughened leading edges, which was actually a thin skim of something that always looked like concrete to me, whilst 5a's had no strakes or concrete, but carried tip tanks. I've never heard any reference to any 5b.