airbus320

Thank you gentlemen for your kind words! Further progress update: I've got the wings and engines attached along with the landing gear. The fit has continued to poor hence the filler you can see in the photos below! The canopy has been consigned to the scrap heap sadly. There was a deep internal flaw running all the way through it. Revell are unable to supply a replacement and my spare canopy from the Airfix XVI is way too narrow. I have ordered a vacform canopy for the Tamiya kit from eBay, having confirmed from my FB.VI kit that the cockpit widths are broadly compatible. I've started building up the forward coaming with plasticard in advance but it will probably be two or so weeks before I can get hold of the new canopy. Here is how she looks now, I think my mods to the gear and the ultracast wheels have improved the sit somewhat: There are are plenty of little jobs to keep me going while I wait for the new canopy so updates will continue but maybe at a reduce pace. I will shortly have the bits I need to finish my Airfix/Hasegawa Frankenfire XII plus I'm going to start a Tamiya Beaufighter as side relief from this kit! Cheers, Chris

Another cracker! That scheme really suits the XIX Chris

Great job!!! She's a beauty!

Great models and very interesting history!

There's also this photo: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205188544 which shows the blue a little better. Definitely not sky in this case so does that leave Azure as the most likely candidate? With regards to the third picture I think I can see a demarcation on the underside just aft of the code letter N. Is this a replacement tail section with sky undersurfaces? Or possibly the front edge of the yellow ID markings? I completely missed the date on the IWM photos which shows it to be May 1943 and not August '42 as I thought. Looking at the ORB this makes 'N's registration X7819. Not that she appears to wear it! Anybody have any ideas about the nose camera fitting? It looks very different to the examples fitted to the later Mk.Xs. It also appears to be painted a fetching shade of blue!

Hi Graham, thanks for the reply and apologies for my own lateness in replying. I found some plans I had stashed away that show both features in detail. Thanks again, Chris

Hi everyone, I've always loved this photo: It seems to sum up what a beast of an aeroplane the Beau was along with the rugged nature of the environment it was required to operate in. I picked up a Tamiya Beaufighter a few days ago on a work trip and I have this aircraft in mind. There are a couple of other shots taken around the same time as this one: According to the IWM photo albums they appear to have been taken in late 1942 or early 1943 and show Beaus of 252 Squadron. Going back to the first/second images (the aircraft I wish to build), it looks to me like the aircraft letter is D. I did a search of the Operational Record Book for 252 in August '42 which showed a visit by the photographic unit. Searching July's ORB shows an aircraft coded 'D' being delivered with the serial T5032. Interestingly the August entry shows aircraft 'N' as having force-landed at an LG with combat damage, this could be the aircraft undergoing repair in photo 3? I'm a bit new to this detective work but I think the aircraft config would be as follows: Coastal Command Beaufighter Ic with no D/F loop, flat tail planes, short carb intakes Cut down rear blister with Vickers MG installed Not sure about the exhausts, probably hedgehog style? Strike camera (F14?) in a modified nose cone Serial T5032 in black, aircraft letter 'D' in MSG Temperate Sea Scheme with Azure(?) blue undersurfaces, red cannon dope, blue MG dope and nose cone. Yellow undersurfaces to the horizontal tail? I've heard this was applied to desert Beaus and might be visible in the second photo Evidence of earlier style underwing roundels having been partially over painted Can anybody shed any further light on this aircraft? There are a number of uncertainties regarding camouflage, serial number, exhaust config, camera installation and the yellow tail undersurfaces, if anybody can point out where I'm going right or wrong I would be most grateful. I should probably just build a nice easy UK based aircraft or night fighter but I find this subject fascinating! A rod for my own back...! Thanks in advance, Chris

What a beauty! Love those markings and the weathering is very realistic too. You've finished this at an appropriate time, the real thing should be up and flying this year after her rebuild!

Ok so I managed to get the back half attached to the front without too much trouble and the horizontal stabilisers attached. So far so good. I've hit a major stumbling block with regards to the canopy however. On removing it from the sprue a section of the windscreen delaminated completely! I've managed to sand it back, polish it out and give it a coat of quick-shine but it's touch and go on this one. I've sent a replacement request to Revell and anxiously await a response... Chris

Thanks for the encouragement gents! It's been a week of bad weather in the desert so I've made a start on this kit. As Drift hinted above, the fit is terrible! The interior parts needed massive amounts of material removing to get them to fit inside the nose. I managed to get the nose together eventually as well as fill some of the sink marks but test fits of the rear fuselage show further choppy waters ahead... Here's how things look so far: Should hopefully get the fuselage finished this this week some time. Chris (currently wishing he had cracked open the Tamiya kit instead!)

I believe a lot of post-war Mustangs lost the lacquer on the wings along with the putty during overhauls. In addition, later Australian built a/c didn't have the putty at all. I suppose it is easier for Airfix to provide panel-lined wings and require us to delete them than it is to provide smooth wings and us to add them for a later machine.

I have this kit in the stash but I've never really felt inspired to build it. Seeing yours has changed that. Great job on the paintwork and weathering!

Great job, very tidy!

Fantastic pair of Mossies! Especially like the great job you've done with the Airfix one - that kit is a dog!

Oh that's a corker! Great finish and weathering! I've got the SH kit in the stash, if it turns out half as good as yours I'll be a happy man! Chris

Hi folks, I've had the Revell Mosquito B.IV sitting in the stash for a good few years so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get it built. To correct the kits flaws I've bought some ultracast wheels, extended the main gear using the Tamiya kit as a reference (adding the tyre guards at the same time) and sanded the spinners to a better shape (although they remain too short). I hope this doesn't classify as jumping the starting gun?!?! I've got a set of Eagle cal decals and I plan to build DZ415 of 627 Squadron in 1945. Looking forward to getting started on this one! Chris

Very nice! I like that a lot. I have this one in the stash, how was the fit of the clear parts?

Thanks for the kind comments everybody. I can confirm that the ICM kit is a bit of a pig! Shape-wise it looks OK to me but I've never seen so much flash on one set of sprues before! I had heard that newer editions had solved this problem so I picked up a brand new one a few days ago only to find that it was even worse!

Beautiful Seafire! Very convincing weathering and nice job on the wing fold too

Hi all, I'm thinking of building a Beaufighter X from the Tamiya kit as NE825 of 404 squadron RCAF. From the photos I've seen it seems to be fitted with Universal Bomb Carriers under the fuselage and the under-nose projecting ASV aerial. Does anybody have any information of the UBC and ASV installations on the Beau? Specifically as to how their mounting points attached to the airframe? Thanks in advance, Chris.

Hi all, a slightly misleading title in that only one of these Spits is a desert bird but the meaning will become clear momentarily! I used to post here until about 5 years ago when I took up a new job in the middle east and modelling had to take a back seat. Having recently moved into a bigger place and my stash grown to excessive proportions I decided it was time to get building (and posting) again. Here are my first few across the bench! Eduard Spitfire IXc early (weekend edition), EN354 of the 4th FS, 52nd FG based in Tunisia 1943. What a beautiful kit, so good I went out and bought two more IXs and three VIIIs! Built OOB. Hasegawa Spitfire VI, BS111 of 616 Squadron 1942. A nice kit but not the best fitting. I added some Eduard seatbelts, scratch built pressure bulkhead and DV window. Since the canopy on this version was removable and did not slide I had no idea where to put it(!), so I tacked it to the wing with some white glue as if the erks had placed it there. ICM Spitfire VII, MD187 of 131 Squadron 1944. This one fought me a lot of the way! Scratch built pressure bulkhead/canopy rails, Falcon transparencies and decals from the spares box. Spare Eduard elevators and Airfix tailwheel plus shortened oleos to improve the sit. Had a lot of trouble painting the invasion stripes, I'm passing their resulting roughness off as being hurriedly applied!!! Tamiya Spitfire I N3290 of 92 Squadron, May 1940. What else to say about this beautiful kit? OOB with Xtradecals markings. And I should have removed the crowbar and the seat should be green and not plastic! Academy (Hobbycraft) Hispano Buchon, Spanish AF. Have to say I love this scheme! Looking at photos these aircraft seemed to be immaculate hence no weathering. I added a Eduard Bf109 cockpit set. Paints used were a mix of Vallejo, Tamiya and Model master. Flat finish by Windsor and Newton. I've decided to build one last Spitfire before I decide to change subject for a while. I've never been a fan of the Airfix Spitfire XII, to my eye it seems too chubby and does not capture the hot-rod look of the real thing. I had a spare Hasegawa IX fuselage in the spares box so I corrected the length and grafted the Airfix nose onto it, reduced the Airfix wing chord using an Eduard wing as a guide and added a spare Eduard rudder. Although I still wonder why I did this (especially as the Airfix bits fit together so well!) the result looks OK to me. Its currently waiting on some paint masks for the codes, which I should receive this weekend. I am at the end of a fairly long supply chain!!! I hope you've enjoyed looking at these as much as I have enjoyed looking at and being inspired by the work on this site over the last few years. Please do let me know what you think and also any constructive criticism is most welcome! cheers, Chris

Wow! That certainly looks the part! Very realistic NMF.

Many thanks to John for offering to supply the parts needed and also to the other individual who emailed me, but whose email I managed to irretrievably delete! My gratitude goes out to both of you. Chris

I picked up the Esci 1/48 version of the above yesterday at waddington airshow for £11 thinking I had got myself a bargain. On getting home I found that the clear sprue and one half of the radome are missing! I don't have a receipt nor any details of the trader so a refund would be nigh on impossible. My question is thus - does anybody know of an aftermarket source for the high-back canopy or underbelly radome? I have searched the Internet in some depth and found nothing. I have also posted in the wanted section of 'buy and sell' to see if anybody has the original kit parts. If anybody can help I would be beyond grateful. Thanks in advance, Chris

Thank you for the kind comments all. That's an interesting point about the spinner Doug. The second I matched up the occidental example to the fuselage I could see it was a non-starter. I happened to have the otaki spinner left over and it seemed to fit perfectly! Shape-wise it looks a lot better too.