Sisaphus

They opened a massive store here in Birmingham a few years back. God knows what the the rent must be - astronomical given its prime position (Lower Bull Street), but I have always had the impression on my visits that while there are plenty of people browsing few were actually buying. Hopefully the administrators will be able to salvage something from the ruins, but it will be based on the accounts and returns of the individual stores and I suspect a great many will disappear if they cannot be made profitable PDQ. I would certainly be sorry to see the Brum store close especially as the manager and staff have been a good supporters of Midland Expo.

Hi and welcome Pedro My best guess and in the absence of firm reference material that is all you can do, would be Dark earth/Middle stone. Based on the unit having been in theatre for some time and the need to protect the aicraft on the ground during daylight hours. Unless someone can come up with definative evidence to th contary you have to go with what would seem to be the most logical solution. Roland

I find Maskol useful for masking sharp compound curvatures where tape tends to ripple and leave gaps. In theory you can trim round it with a sharp scalpel to obtain straight edges for the likes of canopy frames, but I have always found that at some point this will tend pull the film away. Usually I use thin strips of Tamiya masking tape to outline the frames and then infill with the Maskol. I have a couple of other uses for Maskol; 1. Temporarily mounting small items on card while working on or hand painting them. 2. Making shallow moulds to cast small items in resin e.g. undercarriage doors & instrument panels(N.B. this does not work with PU resin - I use Davids Isopon) Roland

The trouble with breaks in clear parts is that they usually have a network of very fine fissures and stress marks that are just about impossible to eradicate, filing/cutting them away results in a gap. I go along with the "obtain a replacement from Revell" as first choice. Second would be seek a vacform replacement e.g. Falco or Squadron. If all else fails how about useing some tissue adapted to look like canvas spread over the canopy to protect it, a common practice. Roland

A couple of tips I would give, having built around a dozen Hasegawa Hurricanes of various marks. The kit comes with separate forward forward fuselage sections, rather than assembling the main fuselage and forward section as sub-assemblies (As per the instructions) join each forward and rear fuselage piece together first so that you have two complete fuselage halves which you can then glue together. This will allow you to align the joint between each forward and rear section so that you don't end up with a step between them. The representation of the fabric rear fuselage is a bit overdone so a light sanding of the stringers followed by a coat or two of primer followed by another light sanding will tone it down nicely. Another point to note is that on some kits (but not all) the wing to fuselage joint can be a bit problematical, careful fitting with dry runs and if the worst hapens the application of good old Miliput followed by rubbing down with wet&dry is the only answer. Roland

The Italian Misterkit range of acrylics has RAF (FAA) Sky Grey Product no. MKRAF16 Aeroclub were UK stockists of Misterkit but given the current uncertainty of their contining here is the Email addr for Misterkit: info@misterkit.com

One addition to those already mentioned - Classic Airframes/Special Hobby Anson (the Classic A/F Early Version has pre-war decals). Why are there so few kits of interwar aircraft? Perhaps because major manufacturers don't see them a comercially viable most being biplanes with struts and rigging from a period with no major conflict - to put it crudely perceived as difficult to build and they didn't drop bombs or shoot at people! Roland

Hi If you can get hold of a copy of the Mushroom Monthly book by Alex Crawford on the Fury & Nimrod (ISBN 83-89450-41-0) there is a section on the Spanish Furies and a good pre-delivery photo of one of the aircraft at Brooklands (page 44). The position of the sliding U/c spigot appears to be slightly above dead centre, the cockpit is empty and they were delivered with no armament fitted so it would have been fairly lightly loaded. There are also photos of Yugoslav Fury IIs with the same U/c arrangement in service, which look to be pretty much centred on the ground. Hope this of assistance. Roland