John R

Thanks to all who posted the links and photos. There is something wrong with model regarding the missiles and their mountings. Either the missiles are too small or the mountings are in the wrong place. Here is a picture of the model as it stands. It has problems with the finish and with the attitude (too nose down). After all the problems getting it to this stage I am wondering if I am strong enough to deal with them... John

Will, Mine came direct from Prop and Jet. Delivery is about 3-4 weeks. You can also get them from Linden Hill John

Not a very significant a/c. It first flew in 1948. Powered by the Russian equivalent of the RR Nene it lost out to the Mig 15. This kit arrived just after Christmas. As I had spent some time struggling with an A Model La 250, and knowing how good Prop & Jet kits were, I decided to give myself a present and leave the 250 whilst I built this. The parts are beautifully moulded and the surface finish is excellent with a complete absence of pinholes. They fit together well and very little filler is required. One part that gave a little trouble was the u/c bay which has to be fitted into the fuselage before the halves are joined. Something didn't quite fit and since the mating parts can't be seen when the halves trial fitted this gave rise to a certain amount of frustration. This resulted in a major error as once I got the halves fitting I quickly applied the glue and then realised that I had forgotten to put in the 4 grams of balance weight which has to be put behind the cockpit! I then had to drill a hole in the bottom of the fuselage to add it. One other thing that I did wrong was to assume that as the fuselage was moulded in grey I wouldn't need to paint the inside. Big mistake! It looks almost white when the model is finished. The amazingly thin wing fences are moulded integral with the wing which saves a lot of fiddling. The wing leading edge needs a little cleaning up and whilst the wing to fuselage fit is very good a there is a hardly noticeable mismatch on the underside. I found that the leading edge of the fin projected a bit too far forward but a little sanding brought it back into line. The kit says to use transparent tape to cover over the landing light in the intake but I used a folded piece of plastic from a drinks bottle. Two canopies are supplied. They are strong and of excellent quality. You should only need one. The main u/c legs are intriguing as the tops are moulded in such a way that, when fitted, they automatically fit at the correct angle. The kit instructions for fitting the u/c jacks are not very clear and the ones fitted to the doors are a little too long but I believe that this will be corrected. This is a delightful kit and thoroughly recommended especially if it's your first resin kit. John I don't think that they are available in this country but if you want one contact Musa Zekoreev at propjet@yandex.ru. 25 euro plus 8 euro packaging

Somebody just sent me this John

Thanks Pin. I should have started this topic earlier as I have just finished it. However they could be a great help to someone else. Dimitry - Ihave just mounted the missiles where your picture shows them and the missile fins line up nicely with the strange excrecences on the underside of the wings. I wondered what they were for. John

I wondered if that might be the case but the photo didn't have enough detail to be sure. Thank you John

Thank you both for the quick replies and invaluable information. The problem now is where were the other two mounting points? I'm quite happy with the black and white as my interest is prototypes and experimentals Regards John

EDIT: A better picture here: http://www.secretpro...33.msg7400.html This link worked but there were no pictures - only a few comments The first link had some drawings that matched those in 'Soviet Heavy Interceptors' which appear to show the pylons much firther forward on the wing.Maybe they were moved at some stage in the development program. 04 didn't have radar and I believe only caried missiles for test purposes. John

I'm just finishing an A Model 1/72 La 250 and the kit instructions for mounting the missiles on the rails seem to be at variance with the drawings in the Red Star book ' Heavy Interceptors'. To get the missiles in the right place according to the drawings they need to mounted so far forward that the attachment point is right at the end of the missile body, which doesn't seem to be right for aerodynamic and balance reasons. Is the kit rail in the wrong place? Are the drawings wrong? The photos I have seen are inconclusive. Do the missiles have red noses as I have seen on some models. The kit says that they are white. Can anyone please help? John

Musa Zekoreev, who runs Prop & Jet, says 'The prototype Yak 15 was grey ~ FS-36463' Hope this helps John

I don't know but I know of a man who might however it might take a while. I used alclad aluminium for mine. John

A while ago I tried to order a Lavochkin La 25 from this guy. after a long delay he came back with a price which I paid via PayPal. Back in October I queried when it might arrive and he said he was sending stuff to the UK next week. He claimed to be very busy working morning, noon and night at a steelworks. Since then I have received nothing and my latest email has gone unanswered. Has anybody had anything similar happen and can anyone please help? John PS. Is this the best place for this query?

How did you manage to convert an F18 to a YF17? I thought that the YF17 was a much smaller a/c. John

Did you get any of the Hawker P1052?

Beautiful job! I have had just had the dubious 'pleasure' of building a couple of their kits and have no wish to touch another. Several people have commented ' how did you manage' after seeing them and said that they had partly built Halifaxes that did not stand much chance of being finished so congratulations on even finishing it let alone doing such a superb job. John

Thanks for that info. I had read all about the tribulations with the radar and missiles and knew that some missiles had been flown and ballistically released but not from which a/c. As to the kit...it is well up to expectations. The initial discovery was that although the cockpit components were to be fitted to the floor there was no real indication of 'where' so the floor was put into a fuselage half and then the bits added to that. John

I an trying to build the A model 1/72 version of this a/c. The instructions show it carrying missiles but the a/c in the kit '04' had a metal nose as it was not fitted with radar. Did this a/c ever actually fly with missiles attached and, if not, which of the various prototypes did? John

Surely you mean FJ-4. The FJ-1 had a straight wing. I thought that it was a pretty awful kit John

Bet it doesn't stay that quiet for long! congratulations John

The finished article is here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=234928458 One more question - does anybody know of any books or articles about this a/c. It would be nice to know what is was like and whether it was considered successful. John

Thanks for the compliments. Semak - I have found very little about this a/c apart from few pictures. I too would like to know if there are any books or articles about it. I picked up the kit at ScaleModelWorld a couple of years ago. I have not seen any since then nor have I seen any on Ebay. John

The Nord 1402 Gerfaut (Falcon) was a French research a/c which first flew in 1954 and was the first a/c to achieve Mach 1 in level flight without afterburner or rocket boost. Does anybody know of any books or articles about this a/c. It would be nice to know what is was like and whether it was considered successful. After my experience with the FM Griffon (http://www.britmodel...topic=234927844) I toyed with the idea of doing something less challenging but then I thought that if I didn't get on with this now I might never face it! I also decided not to get sucked into trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and just get it finished. This is actually nowhere near as bad as the Griffon. The main problem was that the wing was full of bumps and hollows which could not be ignored. The canopy is also much more substantial than that of the Griffon and was actually usable. The only problem was that it comes in front and rear parts and the rear is very flexible and difficult to shape. There was a problem with the tail in that the two halves were of different shapes. I didn't realise this until I had fitted one. Luckily that was the correct one. The biggest problem was self-induced. The exhaust cone, supplied as a resin moulding, was not supposed to fit inside the fuselage, which is what I had done with it, but is actually the rear portion of the fuselage. It was only after assembling the fuselage and wing that I realised that something was TERRIBLY WRONG with with length. It was too late to separate the fuselage halves so I had to make a completely new aft section. Urrr! RTFM! The kit was supplied without roundels for the wings but apparently the a/c flew with and without them so its a matter of choice. Hope this is of interest. John

Thank you - now my problem is getting hold of some French decals! John PS The second photo also shows that the front of the canopy has a transparent section which the kit shows as solid and guess who has already painted it!

Did this a/c have roundels on the wings? The kit instructions indicate not but the box art shows them. The only photos of the a/c that I have seen were taken were taken from the side so you can't see whether they were on the wings or not. John

Thank you all for the kind remarks. I have edited the main thread to remove the vitriolic comments which were a bit over the top. My excuse is that if you take the sort of time that I spent you ought to end up with something superb but this one, in my opinion, is barely OK. This results in feeling flat and glad that it is over rather than being pleased with my efforts. I have also edited the main thread to point out another fault. The parts forming the 'nostril' over the intake are far too long. John