Nigel Bunker

Also check your references. In some cases, the area around the serial number on the fuselage was not overpainted, leaving the serial on a rectangle of Dark Earth or Dark Green paint.

Well if they are not in them (Like Microscale, Modeldecal, etc) I transfer all my decals into zip lock bags, then store those in sealable plastic containers. This seems to keep them usable.

I always wondered what happened to him after that. Presumably he's now flying tourists around the world.

Thanks Richard.

Thanks Mark

Now before anybody tells me about the wonderful Accurate Armour conversion kit, I have a problem with it - the price. Not that it's unreasonable (and if I had the money I'd buy one), but I was made redundant in February so money is tight. However, I have bought a 35th scale Challenger 1 kit from the Works (a bargain at £5.99, made by Lee)) and I have plastic card, microstrip and filler and obviously lots of time, so I fancy building a Challenger ARRV. I have found pictures on the net, but am looking for some plans I can use - can anybody give me directions to any web site where I might find them?

They have them for £5.99 in the Works - though stock varies from shop to shop.

The outer wing panels were fitted correctly but painted "in reverse" - underside colour on the topside and vice versa. Everyone has made a mistake when modelling, it's just that most of them don't get published.

What - no track?

Excellent kit - goes together nicely. Almost no filler needed. I enjoy building them.

Almark did a 1/72 sheet for it years ago - it came with a RN Phantom and Wessex as used in the Daily Mail Transatlantic Air Race of 1969. I believe it was sheet S2 - an advert in the wanted section here might bring a copy to light.

My guess is that it was not an American operated one but an RAF or RN one used during Operation Torch (North Africa invasion) when a lot of British aircraft had their roundels overpainted with stars. I believe the Classic Airframes 48th scale kit comes with these markings.

What Jennings - no model vendors or book vendors? Oh dear - part of the joy of airshows here in the UK is staggering back to the car at the end of the day and sitting there looking at the items you've found; kits, decals, books and then feeling smug if you've got a bargain. Somehow it makes the day complete. And it's a good reason to take the wife - generally all other pack animals are banned from the shows.

I believe the Trumpeter one has shape issues (or so I'm told - not seen it myself) whilst the Revell one is pretty much correct. It also has the advantage of being about half the price of the Trumpeter version. I built the Revell one and it's a good kit.

Dave, I made the Qinetiq decal, along with the serial numbers (fuselage and underwing) and also the fin number. It was done using Corel Photopaint putting the white text on a black background and printing it on white decal paper. The roundels and fin flashes came from the new Airfix Hawk 100. Rest from the spare decal box.

The description of that photo in the IWM archives is: "Ground crew loading a dinghy into a Supermarine Spitfire Mark IIA, P8131 'AQ-C', of No. 276 Squadron RAF at Warmwell, Dorset, during an air/sea rescue exercise."

Phil The decals fitted where they touched. The Fujimi kit has a taller fin and a narrower wingspan - I had to trim the fin decals and touch in the wing ones where they failed to reach the tips - just millimetre or so in each case. But the Fujimi decals were a joy to apply - the background paper is slightly coloured so you can see the white decals, and there is spave to cut around them easily - Airfix please take note! Nigel

Following the issue of the Airfix Hawk kits, here are some I have made recently. Airfix Red Arrows Hawk in kit markings. Airfix Red Arrows Hawk kit in Saudi Hawks markings (taken from Fujimi kit - lovely decals by Cartograph) RoG/Italeri Hawk kit finished as one of the Finnish Air Force 'Midnight Hawks' team. Roundels are oversized, but were the smallest Finnish roundels i could find - I'll change them if I can find replacements. Airfix Hawk 100 finished as RAF Hawk T2. Airfix Hawk 100 finished as a RAAF Hawk 127 LIFT using Model Alliance decals (Wing decals missing as I'd already used the ones in the set for a RAAF Hawk in standard markings - it does annoy me when a decal set has insufficient non-standard roundels to do all the options). Italeri Hawk 100 finished as CAF CT-155 using Model Alliance decals And now the cuckoo in the nest! Airfix AlphaJet (Heller boxing) finishedas Qinetiq AlphaJet from Boscombe Down (finished using a mixture of spares box and home made decals to represent the latest paint scheme)

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Scale Aircraft Modelling, Volume 5 No. 1 (October 1982)

Shopuldn't this be in the Chat section?

Original Hawk colours were BS 381C 437 Very Dark Drab, BS 381C 222 Light Bronze Green and BS 381C 627 Light Aircraft Grey. They now wear a grey schems of BS 381C Dark Sea Grey upper surfaces and BS 381C 637 Medium Sea Grey lower Surfaces. I hope this is of help. By the way - watch out for Wing fences - there are 3 types of wing fitted to Finnish Hawks as they are upgraded, the most noticable difference being in the wing fences fitted. Do try and work from a photograph to ensure accuracy.

The wing being too high occurs in the Frog kit, both Matchbox and Airfix are about right (and interchangable with a little fettling).

From ARC (http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=187432&st=0&p=1751331entry1751331) “In October 1989 a Syrian pilot flew a Mig-23MLD to Israel. Israeli modeler Yoav Efrati had a chance to examine the color scheme of this aircraft and published an article about it. According to his analysis, the aircraft was painted in colors equivalent to British BS381C/388 Beige (approx. FS13523), BS381C/450 Dark Earth (approx. FS 20095) and Green FS34098 on the topsides, with the undersurface painted FS35622 on the forward part of the underside and wings and FS35526 on the aft section of the fuselage. The radome was painted FS26152 gray.” I hope this is of some help.

You appear to have become the Britmodeller expert on these.