John R

It's now ready for inspection along with lots of comments about the build http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=234927844 John

This is the sort of kit I find infuriating. It’s got added resin and photo etch parts so you can incorporate a fully detailed cockpit but the basic kit is poor. The finish is rough, the decals are poor and the vacform canopy is awful. Now for specifics… Fuselage and wings. Fitting the resin cockpit inside the fuselage requires carving away bits of the fuselage to get it in. There is not much room for nose weights but I found that filling the nose halves with ‘liquid lead’ and keeping it still with CA until I glued them together was adequate. I then fitted the fin but it didn’t look right. If it was OK from the back it looked wrong from the front and vice-versa (????) I then realised that the cause of this was that the axis of the elliptical intake was not horizontal. I decided that nothing could be done about this. The next problem was the tailcone. It wasn’t conical and looked wrong so it was sawn off; slots were cut in it from the rear so that when squeezed together it gave some taper. To produce the slight lip at the rear a piece of thin plastic was glued across the end and cut away until a lip was produced. Next the wings. These were supposed to fit into slots in the fuselage sides but they didn’t and there was much fiddly carving until they did. It was then found that the L and R wings were at different angles of incidence so more fiddling was needed until they were OK. There is no nose probe. You are invited to make your own. I made mine by using a 5mm tube as a base and building up the shape roughly with CA and bicarbonate of soda and then sanding to the final shape. This made be very nervous for the rest of the build as it is very long and vulnerable. One really fiddly bit concerns the 'nostril' over the intake. The parts supplied are far too long, about twice the size! Much filling and sanding was needed to produce a smooth surface for painting. After painting bare metal foil was used around the intake and the ring next to the tailcone. Canopy. I couldn’t use either of the supplied canopies. It was like working with clingfilm and I made my own. I tried masking to produce the framing but looked like rubbish so I cleaned it off and used bare metal foil instead. I am not happy with the result – it looks too bright. Some experiments indicate that I might be able to use decal film instead but I am not sure if I have the motivation to do it as it might ruin the whole model. Landing Gear. These parts are white metal. The main gear legs were too long and needed trimming. They also have a fitting, presumably the retraction strut which appears to be 90 degrees out. The nose gear is very fragile and easily bent. I thought that the mainwheels were undersize and glued a strip of plastic around the perimeter and faired it in to increase the diameter. Decals. The decals are poor and out of register. There is no proper decal for the rudder, only the white stripe. Presumably you are expected to paint the red and blue. I made a red and blue decal using clear decal sheet, applied this to white decal sheet, trimmed it to the correct size and applied to the rudder. I then cut the bit with black markings off the white stripy decal and applied this to the rudder. What a palaver! The ‘go faster’ stripes are supplied as ‘S’ shaped strips that I couldn’t get to meet under the fuselage. Appendages. Things like the pitot tubes, aerials and control horns are supplied as photo-etch but are two-dimensional and look wrong so have been omitted. At this point in time I do not have the patience and motivation to create replacements. How did I get that shiny finish? It is Alclad Polished Aluminium over Humbrol Gloss Black then Aluminium powder is rubbed in. How did I get involved in all this? I grew up (surely not?) in the early supersonic era and this sparked an interest in the weird and wonderful aircraft of that time, particularly those from France where the creation of supersonic interceptors seemed to be almost a cottage industry, so when I saw this on Ebay I had to have it. Buy in haste and repent at leisure! Depressing postscript – there is an FM Gerfaut (the Griffon's predecessor) in the stash awaiting my attention! Sorry to have gone on a bit but I had to get something out of my system and someone might find this useful if it hasn't put them off. John PS. Many thanks to the General/Andy for his help and encouragement whilst building and to those who answered my query For anyone else thinking of making one there is a walkaround here http://www.mct57.org...u-bourget-(93)/

This is its current status. I was hoping to get this here yesterday but a female hand on my collar reminded me that there were more important things to do than play with my toys John

Thank you all. Hopefully it should be appearing in the 'Ready for inspection' during the next week with a list of its many problems. The fuselage length is the least of its many shortcomings, Stuart. Great photos Andy. The first puts the u/c question to bed. I couldn't make the decal do anything like that in the photo and to add insult to injury it has cracked and the lower part has broken off - can't be seen from up top however. Patrick - Oh how I wish that I seen that walkaround before I started. Thanks again John

I'm near to finishing the FM 1/72 kit of one of these ( or should I say it's near to finishing me!) and have a couple of unanwered questions 1. There appears to be a circular 'something' in the front u/c cover. At first I thought that it was a landing light but closer examination of the photo below, and others, seems to indicate that it was possible to see through it so was it a hole or was it glazed. does anyone know why it was there? 2. The 3v and photo show a 'something' under the centre fuselage. Was it a missile rail. like the Trident, and does anyone have any pictures? 3 The fancy decoration running from near the intake to the underside of the fuselage. Does anyone know what it looked like from the underside as I could not get the decals provided with the kit to end up looking sensible. Could anyone please help? John

I had read that the YF16 was a few per cent smaller than the production version. Did this mean all over or just some dimensions? If the former then the replacement fin would have been too big. I built the Hasegawa version a couple of years ago. anybody know if this was the right size? John

Albatros DV - a replica being displayed a few times before being going to the RAF museum RE8 - another replica destined for the RAF Museum 'Never Again' not a great picture but an event which may not be repeated Sopwith Triplane Storch 'hanging in the sky' Comper Swift Primary glider some usual views of the BoxKite - normally it hardly banks John

The Hawk has given us some topside shots this year showing off the latest colour scheme. I have some other views if anyone is interested. John

Not the best day for a show with low cloud that caused cancellation of some items The show started with two gliders behind one tug - which looked rather dodgy to an ex glider pilot like myself. guy Westgate had to limit his display due to the low cloud but ended spectacularly (and safely!) Two Pitts Specials put on a good display the Hawk has introduced a topside pass into its routine this year .. but the Tucano hasn't - this was just a roll Peter Teichmann flew with his usual verve in Hurricane and Mustang Swordfish The WW2 scramble didn't provide many decent photo opportunities The Matadors The Bucker Bestmann gave a lively display ..as did the Jungmeister The Tornado display was limited to a couple of high speed passes John

Thanks for the kind words - the Hunter landing is my favourite. Interesting thing about the Mustang/Spitfire pair is that if you blow it up you can see that the pilot of the Mustang, Alistair Kay, has a big grin on his face! About traffic management - My escape procedure is to move my car nearer to the exit during the second motoring session. John

'Outstanding quality' I hope so as I have built their Boulton Paul P120 and Fairey FD1 and am reluctant to touch another! John

Meteor T7 Hawk - a topside shot for once! Jet Provost T5 Spitfire and Mustang flown with verve and precision by Brian Smith and Alististair Kay Hurricane IIB Hunter and Sea Fury Hunter on finals John

Nice work - as usual. Obviously a man without a garden to tend! Have you ever tried using the Alclad sealers instead of Klear? John

Jonathan Whaley brought Miss D past Beachy Head very low, very fast and very close John

Friday from the pier Saturday from the Head

You must have been standing very close to me! I've got all of those. Wasn't it a great day? John

Oh Dear! Another one to add to my 'must have' list. Nice work John

Have a look here http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/vautour2n_3v.jpg John

Yes plus Airfix wings and tail I've a few photos of WG760 at Cosford if you need any more info. John

I made one of these in 1/72 a while ago I was going to ask what you intend to do about the decals for registration and placards. If you are planning to make your own I've got some Jpegs if you would like them. You would have to rescale them to 1/48 Regards John

'Lavochkins last jets' Red Star vol 32 has a lot of pictures and details of the La 15 including several of the cockpit John

Bill, Click on 'This review' in post #29 by stevehnz John

1. In the three view drawings I have seen the canards as seen have anhedral and they are drawn this way in the Airfix instructions but the kit parts have a tongue which gives dihedral. Is this an error or did the prototype have dihedral? In the Hasegawa kit of the prototype the front view shows it having dihedral 2. The nose cone is a very poor fit being too great a diameter where it joins the fuselage. It also looks a bit long. Should it be shortened or faired in? I was trying to treat this as 'Straight from box' but certain issues keep getting in the way. If anybody could point me at a picture of the prototype I would be grateful John

Another question regarding the Airfix kit. In the three view drawings I have seen the canards as seen have anhedral and they are drawn this way in the Airfix instructions but the kit parts have a tongue which gives dihedral. Is this an error or did the prototype have dihedral? In the Hasegawa kit of the prototype the front view shows it having dihedral John

I've just had a look at the build on ARC and it looks like the new one has problems too. Something to add to the list of aults on the original tooling is the shape of the intakes and the bottom of the fuselage. They need to be more rounded on the bottom. It's a bit early to tell but the new kit may have these faults as well. John