neilh

Just bought on from Antics in Bristol as they arrived through the door.

might be worth a look at the latest supplement in the Airfix magazine on the Hellcat there were some photos of phot recce Hellcats in that.

I found the same with mine for the Airfix Seafire. There have been numerous threads on this on various forums but the general upshot is they are stuffed. You could either fill them with a suitable plaster of paris/resin and smash mould a few copies from a sheet of PET plastic that will not go yellow, or contact a guy on Hyperscale ( Hofnerbassman - trades as 109ace on Ebay), who is currently specialising in remaking these for people form various kits. He may already have masters for yours, if not, you send him the canopies and he makes a master and moulds you a few.

Have you tried a personal message to Artie via Britmodeller - has always worked for me.

I think the way in which they tried to use Ebay and Paypal was almost crowdfunding. Basically, you wanted what they were advertising, paid up front on trust, and waited for the goods to turn up in the post. As you rightly point out, eBay is not geared up for that process.

On my way home I passed numerous WW II Jeeps, trucks and classic cars of all ages. There was an event just down the road in Bicester called " Sunday Scramble" held on an old bomber airfield so maybe the Spitfire was part of that event?

Yes, I'd agree. Nice venue with plenty of free parking, lots of food options locally. Was good to see a few traders new to me and I think getting Copper State Models and Hannants to attend was a coup, but whilst I am grateful to the organisers for getting us in, I did expect a much larger show given the statements beforehand. Having said that it was a nice friendly atmosphere, plenty to see and buy, and supporting a worthy cause. Hopefully as the club get used to the venue they can space the tables out a little. There was not really enough room between the tables for people to sit and man the tables at each side ( to be fair, some of our modelling fraternity are a little larger than others but the space was a bit tight). Good effort though for a totally new start up venue, and I hope it was a financial success for both the club and the Hospice they were supporting. I certainly saw plenty of people donating their change from the wristband price to the Charity bucket!

Take a look over at Hyperscale - Brett Green has already built one. Looks very nice indeed. The characterisation of the figures is excellent - so realistic.

Can only comment on the Bobcat kit ( and not on it's accuracy - check Rumourmonger forum for lots of discussion on that- overall view of the Bobcat kit was positive). Its well moulded, beautiful in the box, and overall the parts fitted very well. It's quite fiddly, with several parts to make up an element that maybe someone like Tamiya would have made in one part, but it does allow for great detail. I would recommend test fitting and the use of plastic card tabs in a few places to ensure a putty free build. I only used a few smears of Milliput on mine. The instructions are also pictorial but quite confusing. I made a few mistakes I had to correct as a result. The cockpit is nice but the seats are a little bare. I don't think there are any aftermarket ones yet but I think I managed to dress mine up with lead foil, wire and odd pieces of etch using on line images as a reference. Overall it was a lovely build, and on that experience I bought the second release with the glazed nose. Just be aware, its longer than you might think so you have to watch catching the nose or tail when working on model. Here is my completed build. http://www.ipmsavon.org.uk/photo-page.php?page_id=96#Class 2 - Aircraft e.g. 1/48-1

The IPMS Avon Posse had a realty good time as usual. I did think at first that the attendance might have been down a bit, but on reflection the change in layout over the last couple of years has opened out the aisles nicely so the " choke points" don't appear any more, which may make things feel a little more open. Despite the space, there are still have some people not thinking about the trajectory of their rucksacks though! I thought there were quite a few bargains to be had - Antics stand opposite us halved in height within just a couple of hours - shame that my stash has pretty much everything I want at the moment. I did pick up a Percival Proctor in 1/48th at a decent price. I was selling a box of 1/72 kits for someone else, and although I had priced them at the low end of completed E Bay prices, few went, despite me being very open to offers, so maybe its just that funds are tight and expectations of prices are a bit too low. Shame the Airfix Spitfire wasn't in the country yet as I suspect that would have moved a few. The coffee and tea are a tad expensive but that's pretty standard for a Museum/attraction and actually I've seen much higher prices. The quality is pretty good and they certainly know how to make Macchiato or a Cappuccino. The food on offer is also quite decent for a Museum. Long may it continue - one of my favourites.

When I built mine, I also added the vastly detailed Neomega cockpit. Whilst great, this added a lot of complexity to the fit in that area and in the end, probably only the seats could be seen. I think simple replacement of the seats is all that's needed. I agree with Tony re the folding of the wings - you need at least 3 hands. The only other area I recall being tricky was the fit of the wing pylons near the wing joint. Suggest trial fitting before any painting is done as I had to enlarge the slots to stop the missiles sloping upwards too much. Here is the finished article. Lovely kit to build. http://www.ipmsavon.org.uk/meetings-gallery.php?year=16#20160518-8

Team IPMS Avon looking forward to this one as usual. Hope the weather picks up. For such a big popular show, seems a bit quiet on here?

Anyone seen any more news on this - must be close to release now?

I had a look at the images on the Thunder and Lightnings web site and although relatively small images, there seem to be few stencils anyway, certainly less than the Sea Vixen!

maybe that's what it had- it didn't look like a Museum repaint to me? Could you call them and ask? I have heard they can be helpful.

Worth a trip just down the road to look at the full size one at Yeovilton?

looks like the Classic Airframe decals from their F8. I may have those spare ( I build the Australian one) so PM me .

Yes please for the Finnish Example!

The Academy kit has nice raised rivet detail on the inside of the doors but on both the ones I built deep injector pin marks meant much of the detail was at risk of loss. Doesn't explain why Airfix did not mould it but my one concern with their recent releases is the placement of the knock out pins in the mould and how deep some of the marks are in very awkward places to fill ( sidewall inserts of the P-40, wheel wells of the PO being recent examples). For some reason Airfix does not use the methods of some other manufacturers such as Hasegawa who design some of these in " off" the part and joined to the part by a normal thin sprue gate.

The Academy fuselage construction is quite different to the Airfix kit, so even if the dimensions around the forward fuselage are the same, you will likely need to adjust the inner intake faces or not fit them at all and fabricate some FOD covers. Airfix do not seem to have the volume of spares available that they used to. They used to retain some full kits from the production line to supply spares. The message I got from them was they only have spares when they have a kit returned. I still need a windscreen for my 1/48th Hurricane and although they have released it in a new boxing I am still unable to get one after 6 months +. Having said that they are usually fast to respond so try re contacting them via the link on their web site.

Looking at the IPMS Stockholm site ( https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/urbans-color-reference-charts-part-i/urbans-colour-reference-charts-united-kingdom/) there are no direct matches in those ranges ( Revell excepted ). Can you get Colourcoats by mail order? Alternatively , try mixing by eye using the a decal sheet as a guide ( but that's not easy - I've tried).

they now have a web based application system- whoever was your contact person last year will have got an email ( I got mine on 14th December).. Web site here: https://www.tankmuseum.org/whats-on/trade-exhibit?goal=0_4e32ec8129-49399a5240-80587623&mc_cid=49399a5240&mc_eid=8416de6d8f

I use " stick stuff remover" which is available from several sources such as " The Range" , art shops etc. It smells of citrus and removes glue residues and also shines up the plastic. I apply using a cotton bud.

I got mine - out of the blue . Send a PM to Artie- think one of the key guys is back on manoeuvres.

Bring your coats, hats and wellies - weather not looking too pleasant for the weekend.