Nigel Bunker

The day I see a made up model kit floating amid the plastic waste in the oceans is the day I shall seriously giving up modelling as it's a danger to the planet. I shan't hold my breath waiting.

The trouble with the old Airfix rivets was if they were scaled up to full size, they wouldn't have loked out of place on a battleship.

I felt in many ways Wolfpak decals were the spiritual successor to Modeldecal in the way that each sheet carried a variety of aircraft. And on the few occasions I had to e-mail Mark he was both polite and responsive. He and his products will be missed.

Well more progress made. Engines reduced in length to 38mm and thrust reverser mechanism cover removed. Then a piece of plastiv tube added to represent the part visible at the rear of the engines, which I presume is usually hidden by the thrust reversers on the U125A. Reinforcing around observation windows on both sides sanded off. Starboard side front two windows faired in with putty. Port side has theobservation window reduced to regular cabin window size. Now just undercarriage and aerials to be added, To be followed by priming, filling, sanding, priming, filling, sanding, priming, filling, sanding, etc.

Well one advantage of being retired is you have plenty of time during the day. After a hunt through my spares I came up with half of a droptank from the Revell/Italeri 1/32 Mirage III. THe end was cut off and fettled to length. The part was too high and not wide enough so I squashed it with some pliers until it was the right height and width, then the internal edges were chafered so ot would sit on the plasticard fuselage insert which it was then glued to. A little filler was used to blend it in, though this may need reworking once the model is primed. That's it for now. more information as the job progresses.

I've started a topic in Work in Progress here on converting a U125A into a C-29 and I suspect it will work equally well for a U125 or any of the Hawker 800 series. Other military operators include South Korea Air Force, Pakistan Navy, Nigerian and Mozambique Air Forces plus a plethora of civilian operators.

Well this is my attempt to make a USAF C-29 from the Sword U125A. First step is to make the fuselage as in the instructions, leaving out the extra 4 seat section, having first removed the stengthening from around the observation windows (the two big ones). Then add the wings and once thoughly dry. cut away the extended fairing and underside radome. The gaps are then filled with plastic card, that for the fuselage gap rolled until it is the same diameter as the fuselage. Tedious but worth it. Once glued in place, let it dry thoruoughly and then fair in with filler. Next step will be to biuld the new fairing. I'll return when I've worked out how to do it.

Wel you can't use the Airfix Dominie or Matchbox HS 125 kits as the 800 series has different wings, tail empennage, rear fuselage and engines. I am currently building a C-29A from the Sword U125A kit. As TheJammedKenny! says, the front fairing and the underfuselage radar must be removed and replaced with a shorter fairing. I've done the cutting away and am now rebuilding the missing fuselage. I'll post some pictures once I've worked out how to do it. Why Sword didn't make a plain series 800 kit then add a new sprue to enable a U125A to be made I'll never know.

If there was a problem with the internet, such as it crashing or a power cut, my son's standard cry was "Dad, you've got a problem with the internet". Strange how I was always given ownership of any problem - it was just like being at work.

Plenty of Jaguars to be found at Heritage Jaguar, Cheltenham

Many years age (in the last century) I accompanied my MD when we were showing a prospective customer around the factory. "How many people work in the factory?" asked the visitor. "About half on a good day" replied the MD, causing the visitor and myself to laugh uproariously. We got the contract.

The only picture I can find is in "The Secret Years: Flight testing at Boscombe Down 1939-1945" by Tim Mason which shows an XP-51F FR409 in three colour camouflage (I am guessing Dark Green, Ocean Grey & Medium Sea Grey as it is a B&W photograph). No mention of a P-51H. Beaten by Phil - oh well.

That is correct - the HS 125 book by Bill Gunston has a picture of a camouflaged C-29A carrying a UK 'B' registration which means it was being tested or delivered. Also, as in most countries, painting contractors will paint to FS colours, BS colours, RAL colours or any other international standard the customer requires so I think it unlikely they were painted in anything other than FS colours. As note, it is not unknown for USAF aircraft based in UK to be repainted here - I remember when BAe (or whatever they were named then) got a contract to repaint the F-111s in the UK rather than fly them back to the US..

Thank you Murph and Georgio. I have ordered the decals from Fantasy Print Shop and once they arrive I'll take it from there. I thought the grey looked like 36118 but combining the colour correction on a PC screen along with my colourblindness, the chances of me getting the colour right right are approaching zero, if not less than that.

I intend to build one of these by converting the Sword U-125A kit. From the pictures I have found, they were in 3 colour camouflage. Now I have found port and starboard side pictures, which gives me the fuselage camouflage pattern, but I don't have any for the wings and tailplane. Does anybody have these, or can they point me towards where they might be found? Also, can anybody confirm the three colours? I think they are 34079 green, 34092 green and 36118 grey but being colourblind, I'd like them confirmed before I start applying paint to model.

Whatever Airfix make, I'd like to see a better layout on the runners to allow for other versions of kits. For example, their 1/72 A-4 Skyhawk is a lovely kit but if they'd put two fuselage halves and two intakes on a single runner, they would only have had to replace this runner to be able to kit any single seat variant (except the A-4M series). And don't get me started about the lack of interchangability on their 1/72 Spitfire kits.

He told this story about being picked for England: Charlton had turned 29 when he made his England debut in a 2-2 draw with Scotland at Wembley in April 1965. He was so surprised at his call-up he subsequently asked manager Sir Alf Ramsey why he had picked him. Charlton revealed Ramsey's deadpan response was: "I pick the best team for my pattern of play, Jack - I don't always pick the best players." A modest man who will be missed.

Never trust a museum aircraft for colour finishes.

As I recall, the pilot's ejection seat was generally the latest version in production, and was changed pretty regularly. Might I suggest you go to here , and ask Martin Baker directly?

| suggest that the artist did their best but they are human, not infallible.

I have used Berna decals and have had no problem with them. Just my observation.

We have a problem in this hobby as most modellers are either middle aged or older, and we need to encourage younger modellers into the hobby. To this end I would like to see at least one model build per article that is built to the instructions, brush painted, uses just readily available Humbrol/Revell/Tamiya glue, no aftermarket resin or decals and readily available paint like Humbrol ot Tamiya. I.e items that can be picked up from somewhere like Hobbycraft which, like it or not, is the only country wide chainnow selling kits. Anyone coming into the hobby will start with the basics, and will not be buying their first kit along with an airbrush, weathering kit, resin updates and all the other paraphernalia. Too many builds use paints glues or extras only available from (one of the few) well stocked model shops or mail order. Just my views.

The last list I had was (all Martin Baker unless specified otherwise), sory no pictures. Aeroclub Ejection Seats EJ001 Mk 2 Canberra, Meteor , CF-100, Hunter, Attacker, Wyvern, Sea Hawk, Venom, Swift, SR.53 EJ002 Mk 4B EJ003 Mk 5 EJ004 Mk 7 EJ005 ACES II A-10, F-15, F-16 EJ006 EJ007 Mk 10 EJ008 Mk 3 EJ009 STENCILAV-8B, F-20, Alphajet (Luftwaffe) EJ010 Mk 4 EJ011 Mk 10 EJ012 ESCAPAC EJ013 VS-IBRI EJ014 GRU-7 EJ015 Mk 10 EJ016 Mk 1 EJ017 SJU9-10 F-18, CF-188 EJ018 Q7-A F-104G/S.F9F EJ019 SK-1 Mig 21 EJ020 MiG 15/17MiG 15/17 EJ021 Mk 8 TSR.2 EJ022 HS Gnat EJ023 F9F Panther EJ024 Hispano Mk 4 Mystere EJ025 EJ026 Mk 5 T-33 (Luftwaffe) EJ027Mk 6 EJ028 EJ029 F-101 EJ030 Convair F-102, F-106 EJ031 Lockheed F-104 F-104 (USAF) EJ032 Republic F-105 EJ033 Mk 8LC EJ034 Mk 12 EJ035 NACES Mk 14 F-14D EJ036 K-36 EJ037 KM-1 EJ038 Mk 9 Jaguar, Harrier EJ039 North American OV-10 Errors and Omissions Excepted

Years ago, when I worked for a lighting company, I had on occasions to accompany a photographer who would photograph any particularly good or prestegious lighting scheme that had been installed. As most of the installations were fluorescent, he would look at the tube colour (warm white, cool white and a host of others, including other light sources) then consult a chart and apply filters to give a true colour rendering. He gave me a photocopy of that chart (it was 40 years ago and has long since disappeared), but it really was the only way to get true colour rendering. I remember that every time somebody says they think a photograph of a model is not quite right or has a colour cast.

I'm waiting for the Eduard 'Weekend Edition' kit, which will hopefully be cheaper and have aftermarket items, like teriyake sauce.