AntPhillips

Or a Zero, Airfix do seem to like an adversary for their kit subjects.

Going back to the late 90's early 2000's, Fine Scale Modeler ran a survey for most wanted kit and for several years on the trot, in the 1/48 scale poll the NA Vigilante came top, about the same time Trumpeter came on to the scene and jumped in and produced a kit, they must have thought it will sell like hot cakes, but apparently it didn't do that well, just goes to show that not every modeller is prepared to put their money where their mouth is.

A few years ago I thought it possible, as they seemed to be following the excellent and much missed Dynavector vacform kit range and turning out injection moulded alternatives of kits like the TSR.2 and then the Sea Vixen, Trumpeter stepped up and did the Wyvern followed on by Airfix with their Javelin, and then Trumpy with the DH Hornet, most recently ClearProp have done a SkyShark, so that only leaves the Scimitar and Gannet from the Dynavector range. Personally I would love to see one, but although us FAA modellers think its a no brainer, as you point out it is a little bit niche especially for companies that need to sell thousands of kits to make a return on their investment. I live in hope, especially as the Dynavector kit is now as difficult to find as the proverbial rocking horse poo (I'm excluding he Classic Airframes Gannet as thats equally as difficult to find).

After transitioning from the Phantom to the Tomcat in 1975, the Ghostriders were first assigned to CVW-6 (Tailcode AE) aboard USS America, they did 3 cruises with CVW-6 between '76 and '78, before transferring to CVW-7 (tailcode AG) aboard the then brand new USS Dwight D Eisenhower for its initial 6th fleet deployment in '79, this cruise also coincided with the tone down orders and they ditched their bright yellow markings for the more subdued hooded skull Ghostrider marking.

There is of course, the all encompassing "List of Ship Kits" >>>HERE<<< , I'm not sure how up to date it is but it has served me well over the years

I'm in the same boat, I did contact John at Aeroclub qiite a few years ago about mine, he thought he might have some spares hanging around, but I never followed it up with him. Thinking about it logically though, if the ones in our kits have yellowed then any spares he might have had would probably also be yellowed.

Hi Jeff, Back in the early 80's, Airfix Magazine did an article called "Cats & Cathedrals" detailing the conversion of the Airfix Leander into both Type 41 and Type 61 Frigates. DaveCov has a pdf version of the article here: https://www.davecov.org/modelling/reference/airfixmagazinearticles/warships/pdfs/January_1982_Cat_and_Cathedral_Class_Frigates.pdf

The only problem is that the 48ers has a €160.00 minimum order value for UK customers

Wow Dan, I remember that visit very well, you and Chris ( @stringbag ) relieved me of a fair bit of the stash that would certainly never get built in my lifetime, I reckon it must be getting on for 12 years ago now as the funds raised went into our wedding fund and me & Gill celebrated our 11th Anniversary earlier this year. It doesn't look like you're using too much of the original kit though, I'll be sure to follow along as it's always good to see one of my ex's getting the treatment (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, if you know what I mean) Happy modelling Ant

I'm pretty certain that they didn't have the airframe mods (salt water resistant materials) required for shipborne operations, so were limited to land based operations.

That looks fabulous David, she is really taking shape now

Fabulous build and finish, those hull plates really do look very effective, I'll certainly copy that when I get around to building my Dad's ship

Whilst Lockheed Martin may be the prime contractor, the actual minisubs are built by MSubs here in the UK in Plymouth.

I know the feeling, impossible to concentrate indoors in this heat, so I took my 1/35 Thales Goalkeeper kit out to the back garden to give it a primer coat, big mistake, one of the photoetch footsteps decided to come unstuck (possibly heat related) and promptly headed to the floor, you thought the carpet monster was evil, just wait till you meet the gravel monster I've gone cap in hand to RPG Model to explain the predicament and so far their response has been excellent

AFAIK there is no difference, the Trumpy kit is a straight reissue, they've also reissued the USS Wasp/Iwo Jima LHD kits and the USS New York LPD kit too, my understanding is that Trumpeter and Gallery are both owned by the same company,