Nigel Bunker

We all enjoy modelling but there must be one bit that makes your heart sink when you get to it. For me, it is etched brass. I find the finished item can be very flat looking and invariably the bits can be so small they are a nuisance to apply. And so many bits have either been dropped, pinged out of tweezers or shot away when being cut from the surrounding sheet that when I change the carpet in my modelling room, I'll take the old one to the scrap metal merchants 😁. Well that's my grouse - what's yours?

Shouldn't they be known as Mumbai doors these days?

At least give him his proper name, Henry Patterson. He wrote as Harry Patterson, Martin Fallon, Hugh Marlowe, Jack Higgins & James Graham.

I came across the first edition of Flypast in the early 80s and have bought it ever since - until now. I tried the 'new improved' version but didn't like it so I've stopped buying it. What with no longer buying SAMI & MAM I must be saving over £16 a month - that covers some of the energy cost increases.

Why, oh why don't MoD check to see if there's a 1/72 kit of the aircraft available before ordering them? 😉

I have found the 1/72 Hasegawa F & G versions to be very good. I haven't built the E as the RAAF don't use it but as it's based on the same mouldings it should be comparable.

Looks like the two which were at £7 have gone, but they were there Sunday night.

The biggest physical change to check for is the size if the under fuselage fairing in front of the wing, which needs shortening and the number and position of the windows. The Airfix Dominie can be converted to a Series 1, Series 3 or Series 400. For the Series 600 and Series 700 you'll need to base it on a Matchbox HS 125-600 kit and for the Series 800 and Series 1000 you'll need the Sword C-29A/BAe 125-800. I recommend "Hawker: the Story of the 125" by Bill Gunston as a reference - available on Abebooks for about £7.00 + p&p, not bad for a hardback. It includes GA drawings in one of the appendices.

Modellers block reminds me of the scoring drought often suffered by forwards in football when they couldn't buy a goal, let alone score one. I remember when this came up on the 'Saint & Greavsie show' when Ian St John asked Jimmy Greaves if he'd suffered from a scoring drought to which Greaves replied that he had, and it was the worst fifteen minutes of his life.😆 (If you don't know who Ian St John & Jimmy Greaves were, ask your granddad😉). Anyway, if you have modellers block, try what I suggested in my previous post or wait for it to pass, which it will.

I agree with this. Go to your model shop and buy a type of kit you'd never usually build. If you build aircraft, try an AFV, a car, sci fi or whatever takes your fancy. Follow the instructions and build it, no after market, no research books, no spending hours on the internet studying it. Having a model quickly built and on the shelf always helps me to regain my mojo.

I wanted a 1/72 kit of the F-35C and from hunting around there were two optionsas to where to order it from, China or Australia. I opted for Australia and purchased the Orange Models kit. When oh when will Hasegawa get around to adding the F-35C to their F-35A and F-35B offerings? Order was placed on 2nd March and on 3rd March was advised it had been shipped. This morning (17th March) my local postie delivered it. Delivery time (I chose the cheapest delivery option) was better than I've had from some UK model suppliers. For anybody interested, costs were: Kit £26.11 P&P £8.83 UK VAT (charged by BNA) £4.40 Total £34.95 I complain about bad service so time to praise good service.

Kings Cross actually.

As well as a Javelin you aso get decals for: Bristol Blenheim Mk.IF L8617 YP-K RAF Wittering 1940 Dk Green/Dk Earth black/white undersurface Douglas Havoc Mk.I BJ495 YP-W Overall matt black RAF Ford 1941 de Havilland Mosquito NF.II DZ230 YP-A RAF Luqa, Malta 1943 de Havilland Mosquito Mk.VI HJ675 YP-V Italy 1943 BAC/EE Lightning F.3 XP759/J 1966 or F.6 XR725/A 1968 both RAF Leuchars McDonnell-Douglas FGR.2 Phantom XV423/E RAF Wattisham 1980; XV463/E Pt Stanley, Falklands 1983 Panavia Tornado F.3 XE967/EU RAF Leeming 1990 Which is not a bad selection for £7.99 - works out at about £1 per aircraft.

Aerocraft Models do a set. They are designed for the Airfix FG.1/FGR.2 kits but it shouldn't bee too hard to fit them to the Hasegawa kit. Link is https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/unarmed-inner-and-outer-wing-pylons-for-airfix-phantom

Hello Cees I got it from Flightpath Models (D J Parkins) and the link is https://www.djparkins.com/home.php?cat=245&page=1. Regards Nigel

Thank you.

Any chance of a link?

Scale Aircraft Modelling, April 1995 (Vol 17 Issue 2). Hope this helps.

Lynx 7 did a conversion using the Revell kit. The build is here and the RFI is here.

I thought Rosewood was banned under CITES? Or am I wrong?

No, as the Sword kit is based on series 800 aircraft, whereas the Matchbox kit is a series 600. You can make a later RAF aircraft after they were re-engined by using the Matchbox kit and adding the Sword engines but you will need to make new pylons.

I picked up a set of VC10 wheels from Kev at the model club last night. They are excellent quality and far superior to those supplied in the Amigrand kit.

Oh for a 1/72 C-17. There have been promises but no plastic.

The set of Henry VIIIs armour at the Royal Armoury, Leeds weighs 92lb but this is jousting armour so fighting armour probably comes in at 50 - 70 lbs. Only in movies. On the battlefield if a knight needed to remount there were no winches so he climbed up or was given a hand up.

"New Year's Resolution 2022" Never make one then you won't be disappointed by breaking it.