3DStewart

It wasn't until I read Middleton's book on Force Z that I became aware that the Japanese had been fighting the British in Malaya for four hours (Zulu time) before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Their amphibious assault was constrained by tide times and they accepted the small risk that the British would alert the Americans before the attack on Pearl Harbour commenced. With the more primitive comms of the time and very long chains of command that didn't happen. The prior assault on the British is often overlooked because of the differences in dates.

Richard Franks I associate with SAMI, though his editorship was a couple of decades ago. He's now Series Editor at Valiant Wings. https://www.valiant-wings.co.uk/about-us-22-w.asp

A nice bit of fun. I assume a Mk IX?

I love what you've done in this scale.

I'm not familiar with this particular variant. Nice work. If you get a can of compressed air you may be able to put its thin tube into the intake or nose gear bay and blow off the dust.

Very nice. I hope Academy gave plenty of cockpit detail, because that large canopy will certainly let you peer in.

Very neat, very nice.

That's a shame. I didn't know it was up for sale. I presume it's because he wants to retire.

I'm surprised the squadron codes weren't AC-DC!

@Enzo the Magnificent I'm sorry you had a bad experience. You shouldn't have been left waiting so long on been spoken to with a degree of discourtesy. My experience (at least with Staffordshire Police, where I live) is to report non-urgent things through their on-line service. At least you aren't inconvenienced and you have a record of what you've said. My experience was that they followed up politely and efficiently within 24 hrs. It resulted in no further action, but they explained why. However, I have to say, and I have two sons who are officers in another force, that they are very stretched. My oldest was saying that if he has to break up a pub fist fight, the normal approach is just to stop them fighting and then get them to all go home. It's only if they don't do that, or if there were injuries, of if they used a weapon that further action is taken.

30/04/25. Further information added.

My greatest peeve is the unnecessary overcomplication of modern kits. This results in kits that are more expensive than they could be and kits that take longer to make. I model almost exclusively in 1:72. By choosing this scale I am in effect saying I'm not bothered if not all the small features of the original are modelled. I don't want multi-part ejector seats or individually articulating track links (Trumpeter's FAMO). I also don't like contradictions in models. For example, Trumpeter's Mig-29s have the upper intake FOD guard bypass vents open, but no pilot is included in the kit. The bypass vents only open when the engines are running, so except for exceptional circumstances there has to be a pilot or a technician in the cockpit.

There were definitely more scale model clubs and SIGs than last year, and more kits on sale, though I didn't see any second hand traders. The gangways are wider than at Telford, and the lighting is better, especially as there is natural light coming through panels in the roof. Being an exhibitor I didn't need them, but the dedicated seating areas looked popular. I thought as a venue it was better than Telford, but car parking is much more expensive and the NEC has an effective monopoly on it. The train service is much better though. I liked the mix of modelling genres. As well as model trains, there were us scale modellers, radio control trucks and cars and I thought I saw slot cars somewhere. It seemed as busy as last year, but there appeared to be more exhibitors in a larger space, so comparison is difficult. There were definitely more kids on Sunday than I would expect to see at Telford, and I thought the average age of the adults was a little lower on both days. It was a good weekend. I hope it goes from strength to strength.

It's all set up and looking good. I look forward to seeing folks on the West Midlands Police Scale Model Club stand tomorrow. It's stand C27 I believe, though it was C25 until a few days ago.

I don't know why people keep on posting about such scams. Sadly, they are now unremarkable events, about as newsworthy as speeding.