markjames68
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Posts posted by markjames68
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Not so sure about it being 'perfectly legal' - as you are importing a product into the UK, and that should be declared for the purpose of duty and taxes. Failing to do so may not be punished in every instance but, as many will testify, sometimes the duty has to be paid (along with the annoyingly high and mostly unjustifiable "handling/administration charge"). Avoiding paying the importers, distributors and retailers is, as you say, perfectly legal - but, as I said, this is one of the factors that may be driving our smaller model shops out of business.
I've bought from Europe and the Far East for many years, and have paid duty (on ocassions). But I would concur with you about the cost savings that can be made using this route. I know that I was, at one stage, buying some Revell AG models from a retailer in Germany for LESS than one of my local model shop owners could buy it from the Revell UK distributor - and that's an appalling state of affairs! But it's also part of living in the UK.
Kev
when you order from abroad, as perfectly legal to do so, one must expect to pay whatever duty is levied obviously, wether the model slips through customs is not 'our' problem but can be too our advantage duty wise.
what i was getting at is tax evasion is illegal, tax avoidance is not, (just sensible, tho care has to be taken so as not to cross the line) and buying model from China is often cheaper and as quick as ordering them here
i suppose it is at the cost of LMS but look at it this way, going off what some of us spend/have spent on whats in the stash, i reckon im better off by 700-1000 quid by ordering from abroad and as harsh as it sounds, id rather my money was in my pocket and not spread around retailers and importers, sounds harsh really i guess but hard to deny
mark
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Andy
Your math is okay, but I think you just misread him. He's saying that the price TO the shop is £45 + VAT, and therefore they will sell it at £79.99, giving them a margin of around 50% on the Nett price. This is, I believe, a pretty typical margin for models - mostly because they can sit on shelves for a while, which messes with cashflow. The big problem with buying in the UK is the middleman factor - Importer (who has to pay duty), Wholesaler (who has to buy bulk) and retailer (who has to pay his rent/rates) all of whom have to make something out of the deal and that just keeps shoving the price up. This is, I suspect, why so many small shops are struggling - now that the Internet gives buyers some tax-evasive options.
Kev - glad he has enough of a stash to last his lifetime... though I know I shall still buy more
Buying directly from abroad(China America) to circumvent paying retailers or importers is perfectly legal and not tax evasive ( tax evasion being illegal, tax avoidance being perfectly acceptable) its not just the tax you are avoiding, its the importers distributors and retailers ha'porth you are also avoiding.
Its a sad fact but in this modern day and age of cutbacks and belt tightning it is a sensible and viable option
I can buy a Trumpeter mig 27 from China and when it arrives at my door i will have paid anything from 10-20 pounds less than buying it in uk and it talkes almost no longer to arrive.
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Hi there
looking for some help/ suggetstions..
Am currently building a 1/32 English tug and have kind of taken a bit of a what if approach... Basicaly i have made it an (lightly) armed vessel, the story behind my thinking being that it was armed defensivley as it was employed to go out into the Channel in 1940 and rescue damaged/crippled ships that had been attacked by Stukas, i
The model is mased on the caldercraft Imara and i have 'borrowed'(been inspired by) a few features from armed tugs in WWII
Basically my question is this, Was splinter/ Dazzle camo in use in the channel in during or before the BoB or could it have been (in an effort to legitamise my build) Or were there any interesting camo jobs on similar tugs around that time
thanks in advance
mark
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Hi there
looking for some help/ suggetstions..
Am currently building a 1/32 English tug and have kind of taken a bit of a what if approach... Basicaly i have made it an (lightly) armed vessel, the story behind my thinking being that it was armed defensivley as it was employed to go out into the Channel in 1940 and rescue damaged/crippled ships that had been attacked by Stukas, i
The model is mased on the caldercraft Imara and i have 'borrowed'(been inspired by) a few features from armed tugs in WWII
Basically my question is this, Was splinter/ Dazzle camo in use in the channel in during or before the BoB or could it have been (in an effort to legitamise my build) Or were there any interesting camo jobs on similar tugs around that time
thanks in advance
mark
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Does anyone have a fairly accurate idea of when the Revell He111 (1/32) and Wingscale B25 (1/32) are released ?
cheers
mark
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A10A was Robert Shaws aircraft serial was N3310
Mark
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Mark,
You may want to take your email off here and get people to send you a PM through the site. Better to be safe than sorry...
AHH ok Will do thanks
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Does anyone have a set of hull lines or formers etc thet they could email me for either the Prinz Eugen or the IJN Nagato, any scale is good as i could enlarge them no problem, by return, i could supply the same of the Tirpitz or Bismarck
Many thanks
Mark
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I have the latest issue and they addressed NONE of the shape issues . All they changed was some of the surface details , it's a great kit but requires a lot of. Chopping and filler to make it look like a C-17
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Hi there, have just started doing the same kit, , going to scratchbuild the interior too carrying, i think, a stripped Chinook inside
I have moved the wing back and reprofiled the nose, but there is another thing that requires doing...
the profile of the fuselage spine immediately infront of the wing root is also way out, it needs bulding up about 5mm at that point and then feathering off toward the cockpit
If you look at the fuselage in side view on the kit it has a very strange 'dip' on the top between about an inch behind the cockpit and the wing root leading edge, the real aircraft has a gradual slope all the way
i will post a couple of pics as soon as i can figure out how, to show it better- also have come up with a very crafty fix to use the original glass on the now thinner fuselage front to save a lot of messing
Mark
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Hi Chaps, just about to embark on the 72nd Anigrand c17(with the necessary mods etc)
Have had a look on tinterweb and found a few pics but was wondering if anyone knew of any really interesting (aircraft) loads that the c17 has carried for a diorama,
dont necessarily need photographic evidence as long as the load was definately carried on one occasion, if therese nothing interesting aircraft wise then any military load is good,
i wanted to do one that was positivly crammed with partly dismantled aircraft but need to know what machines and how much they could actually cram in,
will run a build thread if anyone is interested
regards
mark
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Hello chaps , I was wondering if one of you might be able to render assistance, I'm looking for a nice fairly large and accurate set of drawings for a hawk. They would need to include former stations for fuselage etc as I'm intending on a scratchbuild in a large scale
Thanks
Mark
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Déjà vu - Defence industry and services crippled by short-term economic decisions and then the need to consider obtaining US aircraft off-the-shelf to fill the gaps. And still it continues, the lessons of the past forgotten or ignored, the hubris and complete lack of humility shown by the custodians of the nation state. Napoleon was right - we are a nation of shopkeepers and grocers. None of the idiots currently pretending to run things has an iota of imagination, sense of destiny or concept of responsibility for the future. We might now be small, insignificant and empire-less but does that mean we have to embrace complete stupidity in our planning?
Wow i could not have put that better or found a more similar point of view to my own, have the idiots running things not looked at past, fairly recent even, history and what their short sighted and silly decisions have cost in the long run???
Well written Nick
mark
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Hi Chaps
am building a Spitfire but a largeish rc one, but figured the best place to ask this question is here as the knowlegde base on here is my personal fave place on the tinterweb...
i would like to know if there are direct RAL colour numbers to use for a BoB camouflaged Spitfire, specifically the modern BBMF Spits ( i dont know if there is any difference at all in modern Spit BBMF colour and the original BoB Spits)
i would also like to start with gloss paints as i would on a plastic kit, the colours im looking for are Dark earth Dark green, (dare i say-) Duck egg blue, roundel blue, red and yellow
cheers
mark
The RAL colours i refer to, i thought , were a standard modern range of colours such as pantone as we use them in the graphics industry (pantone numbers will do i guess ) Car body shops mix to ral specifications and its car paint i require as i need a litre of each not hunmrol tinlet sizes am afraid
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Hi Chaps
am building a Spitfire but a largeish rc one, but figured the best place to ask this question is here as the knowlegde base on here is my personal fave place on the tinterweb...
i would like to know if there are direct RAL colour numbers to use for a BoB camouflaged Spitfire, specifically the modern BBMF Spits ( i dont know if there is any difference at all in modern Spit BBMF colour and the original BoB Spits)
i would also like to start with gloss paints as i would on a plastic kit, the colours im looking for are Dark earth Dark green, (dare i say-) Duck egg blue, roundel blue, red and yellow
cheers
mark
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a fair point, i was referring to the dagagaga spit that he bounces the youngster with , amongst other scenes
a fair point, i was referring to the dagagaga spit that he bounces the youngster with , amongst other sceneser sorry that should have been dagadagadaga
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It was mk297 for sure you might even be able to find it on net
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I did hear of the possibility of a Fighter Collection V (I think) getting one, but I don't remember seeing one. With regard to the V, the tank, too, was very high behind the pilot's seat, and couldn't be fitted unless the 170 gal ferry tank was also carried, and ; I don't know if the same caveat would have applied to the IX. Of course, a conversion to a VII would enable a solid bulkhead at frame 12, hiding everything behind it, but would also have to include a retractable tailwheel.
Edgar
now that is an interesting suggestion, i will look into MKVII, thanks again
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It probably never happened, certainly as far as the high-backed version was concerned. In December, 1944, as mod 1335, a leaflet was issued, but it didn't get embodied into factory production (short range probably wasn't such a big issue, by then.) Extra to that, if the tanks were fitted, it was mandatory that the Spitfire had to be fitted with metal elevators, a la Seafire. If you have your gear behind the pilot's seat, I fear that you're stuffed, but, if it's further back, maybe a radio tray, complete with gear (or a rendition thereof) might act as a screen?
Edgar
This is what they were supposed to look like:-
Edgar . many thanks for the info, the radio tray idea is a good one but will necessitate a lot more detailing between frame 11 and 13 which i was hoping to avoid (weight wise really tho workwise too haha), however, if the tanks werent fitted then that may have to be the case as the tank in your reference pic is higher in the fuselage than i was expecting or would like as i also wanted to incorporate the voltage regulator.
would you know if perhaps any post wartime restoration Spits might have had any tanks fitted. i am probably mistaken but seem to remember seeing a Spit with a rear tank (tho as i said that could well be age and bad memory playing tricks)
thanks again for taking the time to help
mark
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Well, I guess the first question is, what's your purpose? That is, do you have a subject in mind that definitely had the rear tank fitted? Because if you don't, there may be little chance that the tank was in fact fitted. Pretty much certain for wartime.
I have some documentation of the "background" to the rear tank, but don't know what I have that would help you replicate the installation. I imagine the tank would be somewhat visible from the cockpit looking aft, or through the rear (fixed) glass. The filler point would probably be more obvious- on low backs it was on the port side, inside the canopy. On high backs I'm not clear offhand.
As the saying goes, "No doubt Edgar will be along to help you out..."
bob
bob many thanks for taking the time to reply
The reason is a litlte odd actually, i dont have a scheme in mind yet but it is a radio controlled model at 1/3 scale . it has an extensively detailed cockpit (so far) and i want to put the rear tanks in partly to hide radio control gear within and partly to obscure the view down the rear fuselage whilst looking in the cockpit, so as not to be able to see non realistic balsa structure and ruin the effect
cheers
mark
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Hello chaps, was wondering if someone out there might be able to help. im building a largeish scale Spitfire IX and would like to incorporate the rear tanks, definately the bottom one and possibly the top one (assuming you can have 'either or' ) i m refering to the tanks that sit behind frame 11 .
i have the montforton book but it does not reference the tanks at all, perhaps someone has a couple of photos or an old drawing they could post here to help
many thanks
all the best
mark
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thanks for taking the time to reply gents, some of themasters are made of wood, some from resin( polyester body filler), all solid, its looking like it might be worth doing a run of say 15 each maybe
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hi there,
i am in the midldle of finishing a set of moulds for vacforming ,namely, a 1/24 hawk ,and a 1/32 buccaneer,
i would mention them on here fre two reasons, firstly, i anyone has access to a vacforming machine with say a 2ft x1 ft and secondly to see if there is sufficient interest to do a run of kits of both,
i could make use of a homemede one for a one off each but to do a small production run of say 25 of each would need to use a proffesional machine but would need to kee the costa as low as poss for obvious reasonsa
feel free to let me know your thoughts or if anyone is interested am not takin any orders yet but might well if theres enough interest, might well post some ics of the prototype builds and scratchbuilt parts as i do them
regards
mark
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Just a tip tho , let it get to room temp before using it as cold( refrigerated) supreglue isn't very super! It has a poor 'grab' time
Please Tell Me That Price Is A Typo?
in AFV WWII
Posted
Its definately because of the internet and everyone wanting a bargain, and im all for people doing what they want to do to make a living , certain things tho, as history shows ( miners, - gone, no requirement for coal, aircraft industry, car industry) become untenable or too costly to be worthwile, as a member of the public , generally, there is no minimum order, tho it would add to the cost of a tin of paint if you ordered them one at a time.
I enjoy a mooch round my LMS on occasion ( local 25 miles away) but do i value it or miss it enough to keep him in business at my expense? I think not, partly because if i shop on the internet i have a choice of absolutely any kit or manufacturer, if i go to a modelshop, i only have a choice of what they deem profitable, or worthy of stocking, a choice which often doesnt coincide with mine.
It is, i guess, all a bit of a moot point tho as all of us in this hobby are keeping someone in business at our expense for our enjoyment( airfix, Trumpeter, Hasegawa etc) i just dont like the idea of handing out hard earned to two or three middlemen( importer, trade supplier, retailer) , if i can minimise it to a max of one and preferably none