stevehnz

I can see my Academy P-40M/N boxings being moved on as a result of these. Steve.

Probably as good as it gets with this old girl, what did Airfix think they were up to releasing this in a red box. I think your title is the best part of this kit. Steve.

They've never got over Kiwi Red in 1988 at Richmond. Steve.

This website has colour calls for Humbrol paints from the Heller kit which you might find useful.Those colours for the French version are a little hard to spot but basically Hu27 & 102 for the top side colours 64 for the underside. Flick me a PM with your email address if you like & I'll scan the colour plan for the Heller kit I have, maybe slightly later than the one in the website refered to. Steve.

All you ever needed to know. Simple answer appears to be yes. Steve.

The RNZAF didn't operate many Lexingtons & those they did were supplied second hand from USAAF stocks & were apparently in pretty grotty condition. RNZAF ground crews rectified the worst faults, canniblising some airframes to right others as necessary but afaik, the B-34s were only used to do local patrolling around the New Zealand coastline & training. A little later on they received PV-1s from USN stock & went on to use these in the Islands, by all accounts to pretty decent effect. I've all these kits but haven't begun any yet, as Graham says, Tony O'toole is the guru on them here on BM. Steve.

Yes, true, BUT, once he was in the air, unless there is something in the report that points to aircraft serviceability being a causitive issue, then it all comes back to the pilot & his decision making & experience or lack thereof. As far as the general public are concerned, that is about all that will matter to them. To the airshow industry the greater depth of the report & the contributing factors listed therein will be of much greater long term relevance. To the man/woman on the street, the issue is whose fault is it? To me, simple answer for possibly not so simple reasons, is it was the pilots fault. Steve.

I'll not argue with your points Steve as I haven't read the whole report & don't intend too. I do think you're being a little tough on the Telegraph in that they appear to have distilled the essentials that most lay people will want to know & as I see it, for what ever reason, if Andy Hill hadn't been too low or too slow, had aborted the manouvre at the top of his loop ( half roll & exit stage left?) etc, then there would be no need for this report. Imho, all the other findings re Maintence, Airshow location etc are somewhat incidental to that particular bit of nitty gritty. Steve.

Use your Clear coat as a bedding agent for your decals too, its all I ever use & it works great. I dilute mine a bit 30-40% & float the decal onto a small pool of it, use a stiffish brush (#4?) to position decal, wick the excess away with the corner of a paper towel & roll it down with a Q-tip. Try it on a smaller less conspicuous decal first till you've sussed it. X20a is a thinner & I would expect paint needs to be very cured before using it as you are though I have heard of this before. Steve.

Those hexagonal sprues sure have an Airfix look too them. Scalemates seems to think so too. Steve.

Those look really good Grant, it sure was a nice weekend for it, damn shame I couldn't make it. Steve.

I bought a couple of the recent DH Moth family & whilst I've yet to build one, the initial impression is that of well moulded, flash free components with good detail. Steve.

Hi Tony, this is looking good indeed, I'll be happy to do mine with the SH kit in 1/72 though. I confess that I'd always thought the "strengthening strakes" were actually cable runs back to the rear cockpit, in which case your lightning bits would have been appropriate. Either way, they look as though they'll do the job well. Steve.

Nice topic Adrian. I too did a lot of my early modelling on Frog kits & have a very soft spot for them. I still have a few in my stock & although some won't get made the Swordfish is one that will, still a nice kit & miles ahead of the Airfix one of similar era. Steve.

I'm a bit late to this one, not sure how I missed it but its a good look, I'm keen to see the final reveal. I've one of these in stock & will build it in spite of the forthcoming Airfix kit. Your paint choices look good on it. Steve.

I'm liking the look of this Rob, I've an extra Airfix Rescue Launch in stock exactly for this so it'll be good to get a guide through the pitfalls of a build like this. Steve.

Very interesting & poignant. Thanks James. Steve.

To my eye, you've made a beaut job of that. Any hassles you had are only visible to you I reckon. Choiiiice! Steve.

For anyone not familiar with David's stuff, as I wasn't up till a year or three ago, I've bought the F-8C conversion from him to use with some Microscale decals to do the flame breathing VF-84 bird. I was impressed with the fineness of the casting & usefulness of the instructions. It is getting closer to the top of the heap David. Steve.

Looking good, your tan paint finish looks really good to me. That paint scheme looks like an Iranian one, also a US Navy aggressor in same scheme, just different national markings. I think it is a great scheme for one of these. Steve.

Hi Andy, seeing as you're using photobucket, I'll share what I do with it which seems to work for me. After I open the picture in PB, I left click on the Direct link to the right of the picture in PB, it should go yellow & then right click & paste into my thread reply panel after using the return key to drop down to a new line. Seems tidier that way. Pretty much job done at that point. I'm using Firefox but that also works in Chrome too. I hope this helps. Steve.

Nice that, really takes me back some. The Alan Mann Escorts were pretty exciting, even when all one could do was read about it weeks later. I do like what you've done with the rear end, a bit non standard like, front looks dodgy too. Steve.

Very nice & thanks for the story with it, not an era I'm very conversant with. Steve.

Nice one Dennis, its on my World Tour of Aircraft Museums list. I'll enjoy watching your builds come together, I've a P-59 but no P-75. Steve

HMS Terror, 1941. Steve.