AntPhillips

I used to use Zap, but had a couple of bottles (1 Gel type and 1 medium) set solid in the bottle, these days I just buy smaller tubes of Loctite medium from my local B&M and I've also using Lidl's own brand gel type (can't recall its name right now, but it's of German origin), I'm getting good mileage out of both.

It was one of the decal options included in the Dynavector kit: https://www.dynavector.co.jp/airmodel/english/e_f_1.html Although Dynavector owner, Taro Tominari San, does acknowledge that: "The sample images are the Royal Aircraft Establishment's high speed test aircraft. Its distinguish pale blue colour seems to be paler than this sample model. After we displayed this at model shows, an ex-pilot of the very aircraft told us the real colour was much paler". Hard to believe that the Dynavector kits have been gone since 2010 now, and yet some of them remain the best kits of the subject matter.

Hi David, As a previous very happy customer of your's there was no offence intended, I purely thought it might be connected to you, after all you did take on and improve the PPA Firefly kits Happy modelling Ant

Ooh, gotta love a bit of "Double Four Valve" engine work. Somewhere in my library I have "The Power To Win" book by John Blunsden, plenty of good info in there. Just found it:

Judging by the part number I'd say it was made by PP Aeroparts, I do know that DJ Parkins took over a few of PPA,s sets and kits and they do still sell a EE Lightning detail set in their Flightpath range that includes a "laser plotted instrument dial film".

I'll sign up for this one too if I may, just received this in the post this morning: I started one of these a few years ago but it never got finished and got disposed of in a house move, I remember it being a good build so hopefully I'll get this one finished. I also have some Caracal decals on the way to enable me to finish it as a "Happy Hooligan" of the North Dakota ANG. (I'll update with a pic once they arrive)

Lovely build, I've got the Trumpeter version along with a Bronco Independence class LCS on the shelf of doom. I believe it's only the first couple of ships in both classes that are being decommissioned, as the early ships were very much development examples with many changes being made to the design as time elapsed. The newer ships incorporate many of the lessons learned the hard way with the first and second of class.

May have to contact the Oxford English Dictionary to give them a whole new definition of underwhelming

Lovely build and the finish is one to behold, you just cant beat a nicely presented Tomcat.

Fantastic build and finish, the AW-101/Merlin really does loook good in SAR colours

Airfix have tweeted this morning that they are doing an online Advent Calendar again, and are promising "an incredible aviation experience, sneak peak, giveaways, competitions & more, this is not to be missed!" Hopefully we might get some teasers of whats to come in '22

What a Phabulous Phantom! Loved the build, and the weathering is fantastic, a well worn warrior indeed.

You could try brushing some Klear (Future or whatever its called these days) onto the canopy it might help to restore some clarity. Lovely build and finish

Another pet peeve, one of my previously mentioned daughters also uses 'K' instead of OK, why on earth do you need to shorten what is already one of the shortest words in the dictionary

I have three step-daughters, two of them continuously use the "Should of" phrase, I've given up correcting them now, as I'm pretty certain they do it just because they know it irritates me, unfortunately divorce is not an option

Thanks for responding Bob, that confirms what I thought, I did have some correspondence with Bullseye directly a few weeks ago, they did say they might have to look at a UK distributor. I'm sure they would shift lots of Phantom decals if they were more readily available here in the UK. Great work on the Phantom by the way

Hi Bob, can I ask where you got the Bullseye decals, I wanted to get some but as they are only selling through the 48ers in Europe or Sprue Bros. in the States, but it's my understanding that 48ers have a €160 minimum order for the UK and SprueBros aren't accepting orders at all from the UK due to post Brexit UK Tax rules, its proving rather difficult to get them.

Don't forget the RN FG.1 has an extra oleo scissors link on the front undercarriage leg, as they had a doubly extendable nose leg for extra angle of attack during take-off from the Ark Royals slightly shorter catapults, clearly seen in TonyG's second pic above.

Those MicroMaster and Black Cat sets really do make a massive difference to the level of detail in the basic Trumpeter kit.

Now that the Airfix Workbench feature is going weekly, and reading between the lines of last weeks edition plus the fact they arent going to Telford , I have a feeling that there might not be a grandiose announcement of new items but more a drip feed of news (both new & retooled items) throughout the next few months, very much along the lines of last weeks piece on Sea Harrier planned for early next year.

I sincerely hope you're right

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.