Andy Young

Nice paint job, some great subtle shading there, and nice to see a “full house” of underwing stores & weapons. I’m always amazed that these aircraft can fly with such a load. (I suppose the answer is - “with a lot of power”!). Lovely model. Cheers, Andy

Nice work with the decals. This has turned out really nice - a very impressive DC3. I have a couple of Minicraft DC3s and I think I need to get a Roden one now (for comparison purposes of course!) Cheers, Andy

Very nice!. Not often you any Ilyushin in bright colours like that! Definitely looks like a “Britanniaski”!. Lovely model. Cheers, Andy

That’s a lovely Trident Einar. Just goes to show that these classic kits can be made into something really good. It’ll be interesting to compare this with the new Eastern Express kit due out soon, although I think it may be a fair bit more expensive than the Airfix kit! Cheers, Andy

Sorry to hear about your Dad, but your Britannia is a wonderful tribute. I bet the props took a lot of patience! Cheers, Andy

Some cracking shots there! Especially like the Buchon and DH88 - lovely views. I bet they are pleased the show wasn’t on Bank Holiday Monday! Many thanks for posting these. Andy

Just been looking at the S&M Models website. At the top is the very sad news that Mel Bromley has passed away. Understandably they are not taking any further orders. Mel was always a "must see" character at many model shows and always great to have a chat with. A fair number of my models were bought from Mel - he always had stock that was very interesting. He'll be sorely missed on the model show circuit, a true gentleman. Andy

Just what Black Knight says. When you put it back in, fix the negative last. Negative is first off and last on again. Good luck! Andy

Thanks SAT69, Another mystery solved! That does make sense - I don’t think I’ve seen these areas marked out on any civil aircraft. Not surprising really, it seems that the military versions of most aircraft seem to have a lot more functional features marked out and more obvious than civil equivalents. Thanks also John for the link to the walk around photo. cheers, Andy

Absolutely superb, a brilliant demonstration of traditional modelling skills! It just goes to show what can be done with a starting point that has faults and a what a creative mind can do with it. I must admit it’s the first time I’ve really noticed the white markings at the rear of the wing roots, presumably escape markings? Andy

Test posting of picture https://www.flickr.com/gp/188984355@N02/E4L6JV another try D711D1A2-E426-415D-8832-0088EAA38C30 by Andy Young, on Flickr

I quite agree, this is one of the best civil threads going, and all about the Comet! - fantastic!. It’s great to see all your posts of measurements, thoughts and comparisons. You have all given me the impetus to get stuck in again. I did some measuring of Airfix, Amodel and an AA 4C kit that I bought at Telford last year. The Amodel one went into the “I’ll think about that another day” pile, but having seen some of the excellent work posted here I might bring it back nearer the front of the bench!. The thing that I always felt was the most difficult part to get right on the Airfix kit is the intakes area. Looking at pictures of the full size shows a lot of subtle details in this area that would be good to replicate at least in part. I also did some measuring and comparing with a RugRat resin 1/1A kit, but in reality, the early Comets were very different to the 3/4 series in full size and that’s apparent in the kits too. Andy

Another useful source of metal rods, although in slightly larger sizes, is old knitting needles. They used to be made from aluminium (maybe some still are) and come in a whole range of sizes. A good location for these is charity shops where you can pick up a few very cheaply. I wouldn't risk taking any from any of our long suffering partners in case domestic harmony is disrupted!! Be aware though that the particularly larger sizes are mostly made of plastic - although they could be useful too. They are particularly good for making things like engine mounts, roll over bars and pylons etc. Cheers, Andy

Me too, I made my second call about the October issue this morning and was told it was sent last Wednesday. Andy.

Over the years I have been building a collection of classic airliners in 1/144, and for pretty much the reason you state (ie comparison of sizes etc) I've just stuck to the same scale. Visually I can't appreciate the comparison of say a 1/72 DC3 alongside a 1/144 Britannia, but when they are both in 1/144, it's there in front of you to see directly what the differences are without trying to mentally "see" one of them in the others' scale. Just my opinion though, I'm sure other people have the mental processing power to make cross scale comparisons easier!. Andy.

Thanks Keith, I don't know how I managed to miss finding their website, I must be losing my marbles!! All the best, Andy.

Are the Contrails resin noses still available?, I've had a look round and couldn't find anyone with them in stock. Cheers, Andy.

I think that most readers would accept some errors in syntax and grammar, you can find those in any magazines. What the issue here is more about the duplicate publishing of whole articles. To pick up on another point made, I think it would be great if there were some conversion or scratch build articles included. I learned a lot from some of the excellent articles in 1970s/80s issues of Scale Models, Airfix Magazine and SAM where there was less reliance on after market, and a bit more on traditional model making skills. Ah - nostalgia!! Andy.

The same thing happened last year too with a Tarangus Saab Safir review in the March 2015 issue being repeated identically in the June 2015 issue. A tad frustrating when I'm paying to read the same thing twice!. Andy.

Brilliant stuff!. For anyone interested, Zoe Quilter has scanned many old Aeromodeller magazines (and other titles too), they are available here: http://www.colinusher.info/model%20aircraft/images.html Andy.

The March 2016 issue arrived this morning, and whilst reading the editorial, I thought "this all sounds familiar", and on checking with the February 2016 issue, it's exactly the same, word for word!. I'm glad it wasn't just me losing my marbles!. Now I'd have thought that there would be something new to write about given the diversity of subjects in the magazine. However, there's a good build article on the Roden 1/144 Britannia by Huw Morgan including some good modelling skills - nice model. Andy

Hi Chris, It's quite a good kit, once you get past the rivets and the odd scale. I built one 25 years ago (can't believe it's been that long!) and finished it with some 1/128 Eastern Airline decals from a company called Big D-Cal. If the technology works, there should be a picture of it here!. I'm currently working on one of the new Revell 1/144 kits, and a Minicraft 1/144 Constellation - you can never have too many! Cheers, Andy

The RAF Museum are Tweeting that it's due to be lifted tonight at about 9pm (beacuse of the tides?). They are saying that it'll be broadcast live on the BBC news channel. Well worth watching I'd say! Andy.

John, Great to see that you are doing a good job to help 1/144 scale fans. The previous kits you did in 1/144 were all gems and I'd certainly be interested in some Islanders. Maybe there's an opportunity to do civil and military options like the Defender and I think there was even an AEW version at one time. The Red Devils parachute team used one that was all red (no surprise!), but with I believe, a Daily Express logo on the tail. So, from me, definite interest in Islanders (and Trislanders), and I'd also go for a Rapide or two as well. Cheers, Andy.

Well, You can never have too many Guppys, so here is my one!. This is from the Revell version of the kit and finished with SnJ Spray Metal, treated with their polishing powders on different panels. Cheers, Andy