John Aero

Of equal interest the gun is a Beardmore Farquhar 303. John

The cutaway is from Air Reserve Gazette by Roy Cross c1947. John

Not the best but a Dove seat.

G-ACAB was the first DH 80 to be fitted with a Gipsy Major as most had Gipsy III's. My prop btw is off a Gipsy III from the D of W's machine G-ABBS. I had a feeling about the Green letters. Remember they also have a dark outline which depending on the type of film used could be Black or even yellow (Ortho) I'm sure there is someone who could do the letters on a computer for you in Alps printing. By the way the fin and rudder would be the larger type and not the original small type as on my kit. Easy enough to make. John

Shell colours by the way were Yellow bordered by Red and I think Castrol were Green and White. John

As far as colours are concerned and if nothing concrete is going to turn up it might be worth looking at the sponsors,. It's just possible that Shell Aviation or Castrol colours were used. The registration letters have a dark outline by the way. Also AJ was fond of Green and many aviators had their particular superstions. The Civil Air Ensign was carried on either side of the rudder. i'm fairly certain that the wheel centres were probably Black John

Yes the fuselage of the Venom does have a subtle bulge at the engine bay. The Ghost was of larger diameter than the Goblin. My vac Sea Venom was made to modified commercial drawings (Not the Warpaint ones) and later I produced some more accurate drawings which I made available to Classic plane. I don't have their kit to hand so I can't comment on how the Czech's interpreted them. John

I flew in the second dickies seat in the Cosford Devon out of Upavon c1963 and I seem to remember the interior upholstery was grey/blue. John

Andy I have a Pussmoth vac to hand with White metal prop and wheels plus some suitable strut stock. Yours for £10. It's not the highest technology but buildable. John

Give me a couple of days and I am sure I can find enough parts, including struts ,prop etc to make a kit. As far as I know ,the only vac Pussmoth is the one I produced and there are probably a couple of dozen in general circulation. I have quite a bit on the Pussmoth including a real propeller off a very famous one. John

I hope that you have drawings because there is no commonality whatsoever between the biplane Moths and the monoplane types and then again there's none betwwen the monoplane types let alone the RWD 13. As far as the colours go, I can't source a photo of G-ACAB at the moment but many of the record aircraft were overall Silver as this is the lightest paint finish. John

I presume that you wish to do "The Hearts Content" The first vac kit that I ever did was a Pussmoth one of my favourite a/c. It was not issued on general sale. The mould still exists though there are no glazing parts, it's virtually all flat panels. I may well have a moulding somewhere. PM me direct. John

Don't go away on this one guys, as I am getting some vibes on different lengths on fullsize stuff. John

Not a good photo but I do have others somewhere, John

Copied across Here's one I did earlier. It's a 3rd Aerobrigata G.91 at Treviso St Angelo c1973. John Which resulted in this. Later I did this on a Mirage IIIe. Which led to this.....

See my posts and photos in Chat under "Zapping" John

Hi Brad, If you are happy with near as dammit measurements then the length is 28.5" tip to backplate and a dia at the backplate of 24.5" John

Again you would be better using the Heron as a basis for a conversion as the fuselage is quite radically different to the Dove. The moulds for the Rareplanes Dove still exist but I doubt if the masters do, due to the technique used by Gordon Stevens to produce his detailled moulds. John

It was quite common for inter Sqn rivalty in the 60s, and I was personally resonsible for artwork on G91;s and Mirages later on. I do have photos but I can't post at the moment as my main computer is in dock. John

The Dove and Heron also have different cabin heights. John

Hi As far as painting the aircraft the main markings would have been factory applied and any further markings would be done with a brush and serials sign written. Only larger biplanes normally used a scaffold to erect them. Small biplanes and especially two bay types such as the Gauntlet would have their wings "boxed" by rigging them with the leading edges on pads on the ground. They were then turned and lifted onto trestles by a crew with some on step ladders to do the top spar root bolts. the whole cellule was then trued up using clinometers. Small single bay types were done the same way, often with jury struts at the roots. I do have pics somewhere but at the moment I can't scan as the big computer has thrown it's dummy out. So painting of markings would probably be done when the a/c was in bits. I believe the markings would be laid out in chalk lines applied by the signwriters string technique. So come to think on it any top wing markings wouldn't be easy. Cheers John

It's a Bulldog IIIa with a Townend ring cowl. Modified Airfix. John

Humm, I will look into this. John

Either side at the back of the cowl (like a Chipmunk) John