AntPhillips

Theres a few RAAF Mirage shots >>>here<<< Might be worth taking a look over on LSP too.

Its a classic 1970's Revell kit, great in basic outline but sparse to non existent details. There is some aftermarket available however : MatterhornCircle do a lovely Atar jet pipe & nozzle and some nice decals, and are rumoured to be working on a cockpit set.

They've been displaying down over Swansea, I was out front earlier today just before Wales Rugby match and heard an obviously military but surprisingly very quiet jet noise, looked up and saw my very first Typhoon, (not so common in this neck of the woods), it passed overhead at about 1000 ft and there then followed a crescendo of noise as it went into afterburner, I wondered what was the occasion but thought no more of it. Just about an hour and half later just as the Rugby was finishing I heard more jet noise, took a peek outside to be greeted by the Reds going over the top of one of their loops, we are across the bay from Swansea and the display line was over the seafront in Swansea. Did a bit of a search and found this : Swansea Bay Summer Festival Seems they'll be there tomorrow too, weather forecast is excellent, so guess where I think I'll be tomorrow lunchtime

Like I said over the other place Kyrre, you have an eye for it, if you weren't doing ATC I'd say you could have a career as an aviation photographer.

PM inbound

Hi Graham, I finally managed to get to my mum's place to check out the stash and to dig out the Airfix F3 today, I'm checking it to make sure its all there will be back to you shortly. Cheers Ant

Hi Hunter, The Flightpath set is very photo-etch orientated, thats not to say that its not good, it's bloody excellent, but you might find it a bit daunting if you have no experience. I've got a couple of sets at home, I'll try and post some pics sometime. The Paragon seats are highly recommended and the flap set too, heres a pic of the one I'm currently working on, the instructions are pretty self explanatory, and if I can do it then anyone can. Hope this helps Ant

We're not criticising the US here, we're not even criticising the UK Customs and Excise people, what we don't like is the Royal Mail's excessive handling fees when applying the duty.

Hi Gary, Thats the risk you run, especially when its just a little over the £18.00 customs limit, the thing is the duty is only 17.5% (VAT) and I don't mind paying that its the Post Office handling charge that knocks the price up and makes me mad . I very rarely buy from the US now, even with the strength of the pound, because US retailers usually fill their customs forms in to the letter of the law, they're easily picked up by the PO our end. I tend to buy from the Far East now, they are usually a little more "flexible" with their customs declarations except for HLJ that is.

Hi Derek, Could it be a Boeing P-8 Poseidon MMA, based on a Revell 737-800 ??? Ant

Airfix are actually back now under Hornby ownership The Airfix Tornado F3 was always in seemingly short supply compared to the GR.1/GR.4 boxing of the kit, it was rereleased a few years ago with new decals and a reworked upper fuselage, that oddly had engraved panel lines whilst the lower fuselage retained its raised panel lines BTW Graham, I'm going to PM you shortly, might have an offer you'll find hard to refuse.

In 1/48 its Airfix or ESCI, of course there is also the Heller release of the Airfix kit with a French weapons fit and decal sheet. The Airfix kit is generally accepted to be the better kit as the Jag was one of ESCI's earlist releases way back in the late '70's early '80's.

I second that emotion. When you said you were going upstairs I thought you meant into the tower And that has to be the understatement of the Millenium so far

Hi Graham, Thats the fabulous thing about this hobby, you con=tinually learn new techniques and strive to make you current build better than the last, but the most important thing is as the late great "Modeler Al" used to say "Build what YOU want, the way YOU want to, and above all, have fun". Great looking Typhoon BTW

Hi Graham, Model Master is Testors own brand of paint and Italeri list them due to the tie up with Testors in the US market, they are more common in the US than on this side of the pond, I've never tried them, but some of our US cousins swear by them and the Metalizer range is supposedly excellent. Theres an excellent comparison chart over on the IPMS Stockholm site : IPMS Stockholm In time you'll probably find the brand your happiest with and stick with it. Happy modelling Ant

Having got one of these in the stash, I'm going to follow this with interest, keep those photos coming. Cheers Ant

Hi Merv, David Parkins is a great guy to deal with, and a gentleman of the old school, he particularly dislikes rude abrasive customers, I have bought direct from him on several occasions, and bought one of the old PP Firefly kits from him, it came with the wrong white metal parts, a quick pleasant phone call got it sorted and the right parts with me in the next post. I've got 2 of the Tornado detail sets and can assure you its some of the best photo etch around with etched detail parts for the seats, instrument panels, jet nozzles, weapons, undercarriage and more, the set also gives you replacement resin inner wing pylons with options for both single and twin Sidewinder rails, and white metal parts for the seats, undercarriage, the underfuselage line scan hump for the GR.1A/4A and the FLIR pod for the GR.4 plus more. It's a super detailers dream and you could stretch one set to more than 1 kit I'm sure. If you do contact him, ask about the F.3 conversion set, the last correspondence I had with him it was stil planne but on the backburner, would be interested to find out if there's been any progress. Ant

There are a few posted over on ARC somewhere, but checking it this morning I realised it's been a work in progress for over a year, it was originally going to be an RAF bird, but it changed to a RSAF bird fairly recently, it seemed to give me a bit of motivation. I'll try to take some fresh pics soon and post them in the WIP section. Ant

Lots of lovely shots of the camo scheme on the BOZ pod too, now I can set to work on finishing my beastie. Hi Rich I'm crrently building a 1/32 scale one using a combination of the old Superscale decal sheet that has Saudi national markings and code letters for a Tornado and F-15 Eagle and a Tiger Wings set for the RSAF data markings. Not sure whats about in other scales, but the Saudi camo sure does suit the Tornado.

Depends on the retailr, I always used to buy from HLJ in Japan but HM Customs & Excise started catching me virtually every time, didn't mind the duty it was the Royal Mail handling charge that gets me. However I then discovered LuckyModel in HK and have very rarely been hit for duty, even on big kits like the Tamiya 1/32 stuff, has a lot to do with the creative invoices that you can request I guess.

I've got an 'E, and I'm contemplating getting a Zactomodels correction set, even without it it looks fab in the box and the ones I've seen built look great. Look >>>here<<< for Michael Benolkins review of the 'D including a scan of the decal sheet.

Point taken , still think it wasn't a bad effort from you though

Not a bad crack Gary off the top of your head, I'll try to fill in a few of the blanks Gary left and go back as little further RAF Air Defence: Meteor F.3 to F8 Meteor NF.11 to NF.14 Hunter F.1 to F6 Lightning F1, 2, 2A, 3, 6 Phantom FGR2/FG1 Tornado F2- F3 Typhoon F2 (Hawk T1a - point defence role 1980's) RAF Ground Attack: Vampire Venom Sabre Swift Canberra - various versions. B(i)8, B6 etc Hunter FGA9/F6 Vulcan B2 Victor B1, B2 Valiant B1 Harrier GR1 -GR3 Harrier GR5, GR7, GR9 Buccaneer SB2 Jaguar GR1 - GR3 Tornado - Gr1 - Gr4 Fleet Air Arm: Attacker Sea Hawk Sea Venom Sea Vixen Scimitar Phantom FG1 Buccaneer S1- S2 Sea Harrier FRS1 Sea Harrier FA2 Might still be a couple more but thats pretty close now.

That is the one, incredible photo, testament to Martin Baker too, that the seat saved his life from that altitude and angle.

Hi Darkflyer, No the aircraft that flew against the Bismark was the Swordfish, this is an Albacore, it was intended to replace the Swordfish, but didn't, although it entered FAA service, the Swordfish continued in service and actually outlived its intended replacement. To the untrained eye they do look similar, the Albacore has as you say an enclosed cockpit and shrouded undercarriage legs and a larger cowling than the Swordfish. Nice build Wolfpack