John R

I always find that the 'best' place to be is somewhere else! One reason for going to Totterdown is that many years ago I witnessed a dynamic Mirage display that seemed more like an insect cavorting in the distance and left me thinking that there must be a better place to be. Totterdown has its downside in that a lot of the time you can be looking into the sun and hoping that the a/c will come far enough north to get that elusive topside shot. Sunday was not a particularly good day as many of the topside views involved a/c between me and the airfield and led to some speculation that the pilots has been briefed to avoid Totterdown because of the number of people there. It certainly seems to be more popular than it used to be. Another snag is that the campers, for some reason, have a penchant for erecting flagpoles which have a habit of getting into your pictures. Apparently there has been a lot of spirited(!) discussion about this on websites. I just arrive in the morning. I come from Sussex with a friend and we leave at silly o'clock to avoid the traffic and it makes a long day. Another reason is that to go to the show you have to book months before and if the the weather is awful it is a lot of money to waste. Last year we booked for the Friday and though the weather forecast was appalling we turned up and this is what happened... John

Not an easy day photographically. Lots of grey a/c far away against a grey sky with occasion sunny patches. Starting with the Eagle which made the day for me regardless of anything else CF 188 Leonardo T346A Master Spanish Harrier Finnish 'Midnight Hawks' One reappeared later for a solo display RAF Typhoon RAF F-35B German Typhoon Danish F-16AM Swedish Gripen John

Great shots, Shaun. Wish I had been able to make it. ( Actually I was expecting part two to have been Duxford on Sunday in the sunshine. I would have loved to have seen what you made of that) John

An interesting subject nicely done. Did 'waterborne handling techniques' include take-offs and landings or was it just used for manoeuvering on the surface? John

I'll drink to that!

Dennis, Grovelling apologies. I had failed to acknowlege this and say 'Thank you'. I didn't do so right away and somehow it slipped of the radar, possibly because work has come to a halt on the model (life got in the way) Thank you John

That's a really nice model. The dust is very effective and gives it a 'real' look I have built a couple of High Planes kits and whlst they do need some(!) tidying up they do seem to get the shape right, which is not something that can be said for quite a few manufacturers John

Wish I had taken those. So you spent a day chasing Merlins across Dartmoor then went all the way to Bedfordshire on the Sunday. Clearly a man with stamina or else a complete nutter! Or perhaps both. John

Apart from the Shuttleworth Spitfire, that is. I was not alone in being disappointed. Someone on the UK Airshows site said that he was now very familiar with its underside. I met one of the Shuttleworth pilots, Peter Kosogorin, in the paddock just afterwards ans had a moan to him about it. I thought that it was all high speed zoom across the field, pull up high and then descend in a turn showing the underside then pulling up. Repeat until time was up, no decent shots for the photographers. I thought that the Spitfire XIV was going to do the same but its display finished with some lovely topside passes. John

I will start at the end of the show with a couple of special visitors Hawker Fury Spitfire XIV The Jet Provost appeared in place of the promised Vampire Blenheim Swordfish Bristol Scout The Red Kite was an unscheduled visitor Some of the usual suspects Spitfire and Mew Gull. Un fortunately I was too far back from the crowdline to get a better picture Mew Gull alone A strong crosswind meant that some of the more susceptable a/c like thw Sopwith Pup had to land on the short runway. The telephoto lens gave some 'interesting' aspects to the pictures Miles Trio. Speed Six and two Magisters Avro 504K Avro Anson Parnall Elf Primary glider Slingsby Petrel Quite a lot but if you reached the end I hope that you enjoyed it John

Are there any details/drawings of the pylons which carried the Firestreaks or were they mounted on the standard pylons? John

I found that the wet, sticky finger works well. I wonder if the difficulty in picking things up and the tendency for the PE to zing off into space it is something to do with static electricity which is not present when a wet finger is used. I tried a version of the Micro stix idea by using a blob of Blue Tack on the end of a toothpick. I didn't quite succeed but got close enough to think that with more patience than I had at the time it could work. Thank you for the idea. John

I wish I had thought of that As I said to JamesP above you are still worried about breaking the end off at a later date A big part of the problem would be getting them into the tweezers in the first place. All my efforts to pick them up with tweezers or other methods ended up in them pinging off into space and it was amazing how far they went. One chap did a WIP of the FD2 and he managed to attach all 4 of them. My mouth is still wide open in amazement

Thank you for the compliment. I have seen your P1a and it looks like a more thorough build than mine. That comment about keeping the sprue attached is most interesting and helpful. I would still be worried about breaking the whole thing off at a much later date. I usually replace all plastic pitots with one made from brass tube.

Were you allowed to handle the controls ? (but not at 30ft, I think). I was and was struck by how easy it was to fly. I remarked on this to the pilot and received the slightly terse reply that it was a fighting a/c and had to be like that as you would spend most of your time looking out. John