John R

What was the rest of the show like? We left after the aerobatic glider as the weather was rubbish and we didn't feel lke being trapped in the rush for the exit. I'll like to see what your pictures are like. A combination of a troublesome new camera and the grey sky meant most of my stuff was rubbish. John

You really ought to have 'Photoshopped' those supports out of the last shot! John

I built this one many years ago. It was the Minicraft version of the Hasegawa kit. It went together quite well except that it required a lot of filler on the underside. One thing to check is to see if it has fences or slots on the wing. The prototype had fences which were replaced by slots on the production version. My kit had fences. John

I, too, missed this one first time around. Might have been something to do with that little show at Telford. It's interesting to see that your modelling skills haven't improved over the years What happened to the wheels when it landed on water? Could they be retracted? I couldn't work it out from looking at the model. Anyway a really nice job. John

Did you lengthen the u/c? That caused some head scratching when I built mine. John

Nice work! Makes my YF-104A look positively drab. I certainly do not have the patience (or skill?) to do a scheme like that. John

I'm inclined to agree, especially if the comment is not very relevant to the actual model however, as the perpetrator, is does give me a warm glow seeing the numbers of hits it has had. I have either helped many builders or put them off from having to wrestle with it. John

I'm not sure what you mean as it was finished over five years ago. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234949577-avro-arrow-a-corrected-version-of-the-original-hobbycraft-172-kit/ John

Andre, PM sent regarding availability of a kit. I don't think that it was ever issued over here as I never saw it on Hannant's site. Maybe it was too expensive. If my (dodgy) memory is correct it would have retailed at £60. John

What's next Ed? John

That looks a fine job. Especially with the decals. How were they? I have found old Hasegawa decals reluctant to leave the backing sheet. After seeing that I really musr get around to doing mine. I started but put it away when I found the rear part (strakes?) before the elevator was warped and reluctant to straighten. John

Nice work on an interesting a/c Seeing your reference to the YF-96A. Did you know that I had built one. It's here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/63662-republic-yf-84f-ex-yf-96a/ John

Don't know what happened there but I have reloaded it John

Well the flying was excellent and the weather was good for flying but no so for photography as it was grey all day with just a few shafts of sunlight in the evening. Flying went on until after 9pm which made photgraphy of the Edwardians challenging, to say the least as it nearly dark when they flew. As if that wasn't enough it was the first time out with my new camera - one of those that needs some sort of qualification to operate. However the Bleriot and Deperdussin flew, something I have not seen for some years. The day started with a couple of passes by a BBMF Spitfire Then we had the Lysander pair. The ARCO one was making its first public appearance. For some reason they couldn't seem to synchronise the bank angles Next a Hurricane leading three Spitfires Shuttleworth Sea Hurricane Mark 1 Mark V Mark 1X Miles Magister and Avro Tutor The Eon Primary glider The English Electric Wren amazed us by flying several circuits The Fauvel AV36 glider was supposed to be fitted with smoke generators on the wingtips but these did not function - no explanation as to why not. There was a three ship formation of the Comet, Mew Gull and Hawk Speed Six but ,alas, no decent photos but here is the Speed Six taking off The show ended with the Edwardians. The blueish haze in the background was caused by the smoke left by the previous act, an Extra 300, that lingered long enough to make us wonder if the old timers would be able to see enough to make their runs Bristol Boxkite Blackburn Monoplane Bleriot Deperdussin - by now it was VERY dark - the camera said ISO 12000! Hope this wasn't too many John

A&A models Ye-2a needs a little but there is plenty of room behind the nose cone John

Amodel Alexiev I-211 lots

Another one wrestled to the ground! Well done - can't be many (or any) of those about. John

I was going to say much the same things. I would not have liked to have been he pilot with the exhaust that close but maybe it kept him warm. Do we have any idea of a typical flight duration?

I built one of these many years ago before AMS was first mooted so have no views on its accuracy. Mine went together without much trouble. The only things that spring to mind are some thin plastic around the air intake and the decals which were very thin and not very accurate sizewise. Good luck. John

One of the 'must haves' for my collection but in the 'couldn't face the hassle' building department. Wonder what the Dora Wings version will be like when, or if, it appears John

Lovely model but it did make me feel old when you said that it had been in service for twenty years as I was involved in the design of the software used for stress checking prior to it entering service. John

I didn't know (or forgot) that you had done a Venom. We could have pictured the two together.

Nice model and a fascinating story. I love the way these aeronautical 'unknowns' turn up on Britmodeller. Thank you. I wonder if Moa is thinking 'wish I had thought of that'?

With some kits I feel that the only sensible course of action would be to buy two and build the first in order to find out how to make a decent job of the second but as you say... Regarding lifespan I'm approaching my acturial limit so I may soon be in a position to offer some personal experience. John

I like it but my first reaction was that it was a control line model aircraft John