Victor K2

Glad to have been of help, I am sure that given the quality of your build so far that a scratch built acc is within your capability. It would surely give an added dimension to any diorama with ground crew poised in action. ( I may even try this on one of my 1/24 scale stash ).

With regards the wiring problem, a trolley acc could be simply scratch built with possibly watch batteries installed and then attached to the model via the ground power point. Just a thought.

WH453 U16 (Mk8 convert) had Derwent 9's fitted as did WK800 both flew with narrow cord intakes untill the late 90's when they were fitted with the wide cord intakes, I think that WK800 became an engine test bed at the end of it's flying career minus it's outer wings. I remember Derwent 8's were fitted to R.A.F. snow blowers for snow clearing of the runways during the 70's and 80's ( I left the mob 1985 ). Incedently the wide cord intakes came off a T7 (WK669 I think?) which was used as a station hack and pilot conversion to the U16. It was white overall and had a blue cheat line and now resides at Doncaster aero venture. Please correct me if my memory serves me wrong. Bob

WH453 was an ex LLanbedr U16 that I have worked on and is most likely the scheme I will eventually do in the not too distant future I hope.

I never had the pleasure of serving on 208 whilst in uniform but I would have liked to have worked on Buccaneers, still I did work on the finest aircraft ever to have graced the skies, the Handley Page Victor.

Great start on your Meteor, my only smallish observation is that the seat belts look so pristine compared to the "used" look of the cockpit. I have worked on the U16 (Mk 8 conversion) and the whole cockpit had a "lived in" look to it (even though it was a drone it still flew with a pilot when training drone operators). I like the look of the extra dimension that the etch gives to the Undercarriage wells so I have convinced myself to buy a set. I will not wait for Alec of Alleycat to do a U16 conversion as I have done this before on the Aeroclub Vac form Mk 8 and having had the real aircraft and A/P's to use as inspiration, I am sure that I can manage it. Alec will no doubt produce a better conversion and I look forward to buying it as I plan to do a few of them as by the time I get round to doing mine I could use the time saving that it would give me. I am looking forward to seeing more of this build, if only to see the use of the etched sets and how much they add. I applaud you on this fantastic build.

Indeed the 208 Squadrons Hawk's shut down their engine for the last time today. Three aircraft (Mustang formation) took off for the last official sortie today and were met on landing by a small group of the remaining staff. The Boss invited all remaining Squadron personnel to a "last supper" get together in the Aircrew crew room for Pizza and KFC a few Beers and a "closing" speech. A fond farewell to all the Instructors and the many students who were fortunate to have flown on what was arguably the finest of fast jet training Squadrons. To all the ground crew who kept this 40 year old plus aircraft safely flying for the 22 years 208 has been Premier Flying training Squadron, of which I have had the pleasure of 13 years (tomorrow) maintaining 208's Hawk's. We who are about to be made redundant, salute you To the Single Hawk Instructional Training Squadron, (what great initials ably suited to you) you will always lag behind.

Just as a chef adds seasoning to a dish, it is down to taste. If you are standing 60 feet away from the aircraft and hold your model 12 inches from your eyes, then the detail you can see on the real aircraft is what you can see on your model (as a rule of thumb). On most full size aircraft there are gap tolerances between panels so as to allow the elimination of fretting due to aerodynamic stress. usually these are kept as small as possible. Hope this helps. (I like subtle panels lines as it gives the model extra depth).

Rumor has it that 208 is to re emerge as a JSF Squadron and poor old under performing IV ® Squadron stuck with T2's for the next 40 years,if we still have an Airforce ??? most probably this government will have sold them to Panama to evade yet more tax.

I thought that it was the Sandys report that spelled the end of the of the TSR2 and that the Tories had already cancelled the project before the Labour government had taken office and that they only endorsed it to balance the books. Something this government has history of ( Nimrod/Harrier ). The world was changing fast in the 50's and the U.K. was still paying for the victory of WW2 and British commerce was taking advantage of the rich get richer and sod the workers.

Some of the last graduates were fish-heads (last Friday).The last 2 students finish their course this week and then a few "farewell flights" up to the 13th April. The aircraft are already being dispersed or mothballed as they wind down. I doubt that 4 Squadron will match the success of 208 in the training role.

208 Squadron is laying up it's colours. A fine squadron is to finish no later than 30/6/16. It is due to fly it's last official sortie next week. Most of the staff (pilot's) have had their postings and the ground crew (civilian) now face redundancy. I leave it to others to think of the logic as to why a highly successful squadron has been closed ahead of it's official 100th anniversary. Victor K2

Saturdays and Sunday guys still need the R.A.F. to fly them into action. Wonder what Squadron will be given the task? Victor K2

Great start on this build. I hope to get one at Cosford this weekend. keep up the good work. Bob

Whilst flying in my VC10 when much to my surprise, a Victor tanker passed me by about one half my size, It lowered down it's HDU and rammed it up my nose I wont bother you with the rest of this ditty, needless to say that 10's should stick to transporting cargo/passengers and leave the Tanking to Handley Page's finest Seriously, great build so far. As a techie (Rigger/Sumpy) I can appreciate the need to strip down to the dirty bits, Bob '74 to '85

Looking good.

Though this kit has it's flaws, I can honestly say that I never experienced too much bother with the joints along the fuselage or the mainplanes. The worst fit for me were the landing gear doors ( I posed mine in flight as it shows off her magnificent lines to great effect ). Keep up the good work and remember, as a good friend of mine once said "it's only plastic" ( not a modeler, what would he know ). Bob.

I have picked up some great tips following this superb build, especially the yellow spinner. I have a started 88 waiting in the wings and now I will be seeking it out to try to emulate this fantastic build. I look forward to seeing the finished model in all her glory. Bob

Here in the u/k we have a series popular car home maintenance workshop manuals by Haynes, they have produced a series of workshop manuals on aircraft as well, the Lancaster is one of these and I can whole heartily recommend this book to you. It has detailed drawings/schematics and a plethora of photo's. You may have to look for a stockist on line where you are but they are still in print and readily available here in the u/k. However, looking at what information you have amassed so far, I doubt that you will need it. (still, like all good/bad modelers, we have to have all the info we can get and then some). Bob.

Love the Varga girls montage amongst the sprue layouts. Are the Lancaster photo's of the B.o.B. flights aircraft or of "Just Jane"? Looking forward to this build as you progress. Bob.

Hi Fritag, yes that is why the air brake droops a little, the hydraulic pressure is dissipated after engine shut down and a non return valve in the airbrake package is meant to stop the oil returning therefore the jack should hold the airbrake up. However, over time this has been known to allow the fluid to return and the airbrake begins to droop. As for the flaps, they should always be in the fully down position when parked (unless for some maintenance task). It is the pilot's responsibility to lower them prior to engine shut down. Again however, the odd student pilot has been known to forget to do this and the poor liney has to use the hand pump to manually lower them during the turn round or after flight servicing. Oliver's Hawk could be deemed as having been left by a student pilot. bob

Hi Oliver, the airbrake would droop fully if the hydraulic package or airbrake jack had developed a leak, then we techies would have to rectify this. A small droop over night was deemed acceptable. Also when parked the flaps would have been in the fully lowered (landing configuration) position. Bob.

Hi Oliver, great work so far, looks every inch a Hawk. Just one point though, you have depicted the sealant around the canopy as yellow when in fact it is a pale cream'ish colour with a hint of a green hue to it. I resorted to using my own method of enlarging a colour photo of the real canopy and cutting out the piece I needed and pasting it using Klear or similar product to the kit's canopy and blast screen (worked for me and it was the correct colour as well). Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the completed model soon. Bob (soon to be made redundant 208 sqn Tech)

Hi Kirk, in answer to your questions, 1. the revell floor needs raising by about 3 to 4 mm so that the seat head box is at the right height in relation to the canopy when installed in the cockpit (front and rear) the seat pan is modeled at it's fullest height in the parked position. 2. Hpru is a tad too small but not too much in scale 3. the psp is molded in a yellow fiber glass 4 Drogue gun looks about right 5. the hoses/comms cable, firstly one hose is for the anti "g" suit and it runs from the anti "g" valve which is connected to the port side wall to the underside of the PEC and the oxygen hose runs from the bottom of the PEC and under the seat going to the starboard side to the main oxygen inlet pipe at frame 6 and 10. The comms cable runs from under the PEC to the port sidewall of the cockpit. Incidentally, the "teddy bears ears" (air con cooling air intakes) are way too small, Heritage make a resin replacement and the grill air intake for the apu is missing on the starboard fuselage half, the Eduard exterior P.E. has both grills part number 28 on the fret that will correct this. I could go on but in reality this kit is a decent one and like most if not all kits suffers from it's fair share of inaccuracies and most of this kit's minor errors have been dealt with by after market replacements. In essence, it's down to personal choice and skill levels of the modeler. Hope this is of help, Bob

Sorry to butt in, the seat is raised after the cockpit is vacated and carried out by the liney (ground crew) and lowered approximately by an inch then are the straps are tidied as described by Kirk. The leg restraints that you have depicted as red are actually blue, but hey, who will notice except those who work on or fly them. Great work on the cockpit, it looks good enough to put on the flight line. Bob