tc2324

I wish I could take credit for the base but it was bought from Coastal Kits which have a great selection of bases.

Thank you all for the kind comments.

Can`t recall why it happened but everyone survived and was ok. I was told Rich Lepman climbed down and exclaimed `that was awesome....` before retiring to the bar. WIP link below and the base comes from Coastal Kits.

On the 18th May 1988 Rich Lepman, a US exchange pilot assigned to the Tigers, was lined up on the runway at the annual APC at RAF Akrotiri with his back seater Steve Smyth. They were part of a pairs take off for the sortie flying F-4J(uk) ZE362/V with a standard gun pod fitted. The start of the take off sequence went smoothly and as normal, but just as the Phantom went into V1, the front canopy detached much to the surprise of the crew. They then had to flying around for 20 minutes Phantom Cabriolet style until the runway was cleared of debris and a normal landing was made. Thanks for looking.

Pretty much got this done today with the finished shots being taken tomorrow. For now I`ll leave you with this teaser trailer.......

I`m starting a series of builds within the next few months covering aircraft based at Horsham St Faith through the ages. Now I have selected the air frames I`m building and while I`ve had a good Google to find references for them, I`m coming up a little short. So what to do? Well why not make use of the resources available to you and ask you guys for some help? If any of you have any information, pictures or profiles on any of the aircraft listed below it would be greatly appreciated. Bristol Blenheim IV R3843 WV-F 18 Sqn Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.1 L6973 PS-A 264 Sqn De Havilland Mosquito Mk.IV W4069 GB-M 105 Sqn (Happy to see photo`s of this or it`s sister ships W4064, W4065, W4069, W4071 and W4072 which took part in the first ever raid on Europe) Any photo`s or refrences of B-24`s from 458th Bomb Group and/or P-47`s of the 61st, 62nd or 63rd fighter squadrons when based at Horsham. A big ask i know, but any help or extra information would be great.

After a 3 week break it was time to get back stuck into the `Cabriolet` dio. The challenge last night was to place and drill a single hole that would give it the model the right `nose up` altitude but also not get in the way of the gun pod that will be placed on the center line pylon. Not an easy task, but after a lot of measuring up and a good measure of Jack Daniels, I took the plunge....... Think I nailed it.......

Thanks and I have to say, hand on heart, no. The Airfix kit is and has always been for me a complete joy to put together, but the Sword version just didn`t have that same feeling of ease for want of better wording. Saying that, as always, it very much depends on the skill of the modeler and the time expended on the kit. For me personally, I won`t be getting another one anytime soon.

Recently completed build of 74`s T.5 when based at Leuchars. Kit is 1/48 scale and by Sword. Thanks for looking.

As noted in the text of that post. I was told by some the the Tiger guys out in Tengah that their T.5 did have the training stripes, but I have yet to find photographic evidence of it. I matters not as the subject of the build and references are based on the photo in the OP and that question has been answered. Thanks all for the comments and input, greatly appreciated.

I can only answer this question from 74`s point of view in that they operated their T-birds with stripes. These following pictures show their T4 and I know that their T5`s out in Singapore also had the stripe. (EDIT; or so I was told....?) It just seems to be their T5 while still based in the UK that is the enigma?

Thanks for the input Dennis.

Hi all, Using the following picture as a reference for a build. It was taken during the 1966 Tiger Meet at Leuchars and would like opinions as to if we can see any evidence of the yellow Training stripes on the wings and rear fuselage. I can`t see anything but always handy to get a second opinion. Ta in advance.

Again thanks for the kind comments all. Forgot to add the `J` which I wasn`t expecting to complete until the new year. Tiger Trails

Thanks for the kind comments chaps. It`s a Hase 1/48 kit and to obtain this shade I simply used Tamiya Light Ghost Grey. In certain light it can appear to come across slightly duck egg blue with a tinge of green like the real J`s had. My advice to you on colour and which is in effect what I do, is look at a reference picture of the aircraft you want to recreate, mix some paints up and match it the best you can. In effect no F-4J(uk) left the paint shop in the US the same shade, so no one is ever going to be able to definitively tell you the correct shade of grey to use. It just didn`t exist as it was all mixed up in the San Diego in an effort to the RAF scheme requirement. If however that seems more trouble than it`s worth, some J`s went through St Athens maintenance and came out the other side in standard RAF air defense grey, ZE354/R and ZE356/Q being two examples that did. Hope that helped?

Delivery of the F-4J(uk)`s to the RAF started in the Autumn of 1984 with the first three arriving at Wattisham after a trans Atlantic flight named Tiger Trails 1. A further 4 Tiger Trails were flown before December 1984. Individual tails codes were not supplied until arrival in the UK and this model depicts the standard scheme each `J` wore on arrival. The only exception being ZE363 which gained a partial spray painted Black Tail after a technical fault led to a stop over at Goose Bay.

A pre-Christmas update on these two J`s. First up is the one being built for Norwich. First picture is posed in a similar style to the second photo which I`m using as reference. The `Cabriolet` build is also coming along. The model has been posed in a rough `V1` position which is when the incident occurred. This shot was the only blurred one but after seeing it it gave that sense of movement so I`ve posted this up instead of the clearer ones. More soon.

Unlikely to get any of the F-4J builds completed before the year is out so it seems like a good time to give the annual run down now. In no particular order; 1. South Atlantic Shoot Down 2. Testing Times for the TSR2 3. A-6 SEA Experimental Scheme Bomb Drop (Try saying that quickly after a few beers.....) 4. 15th September 1940 5. Taking the Barrier 6. High Speed, Low Level TSR2 7. Head On Attack 8. Anti Shipping Strike 9. Tiger Hurricane ........ and my modelling claim to fame for this year ended with my 74(F) Tiger Squadron collection going on display at the Norwich Aviation Academy last Friday. Thanks for looking.

You could say I have a vested interest.....

With the Hurricane completed and ready to `ship out`, it was time to get back to the F-4`s Here`s how they stand with the F-4 on the right sprayed in the colour I wish to display these both in, ie, that weird looking blue/green/ hue. More soon as it happens.

Recently built to replace my first attempt of a 74 Sqn Hurricane when they were based in Iran circa 1942-3. This particular machine crashed on 30th January 1943 killing it`s pilot Bobby Waugh. Airfix 1/48 scale.

I`ll see what I can do........

Thank you very much all for the kind comments.

A little 1/72 scale something I`ve been working on the last couple of months with a fair amount of that time trying to choose an appropriate paint scheme! This is most definitively within the realms of `what if`, although some of it can be traced in fact like say, the serial numbers and red tail, which tended to be the scheme of choice for most test establishments. So here we have TSR2 air frame XR229 test dropping a Red Beard dummy bomb which IIRC would initially have been the TSR`s nuclear weapon of choice. A fun build and something a little different from the white or camo versions often seen on the net. Possibly not so much a `what if`, but more a `could of been`? Thanks for looking.

Just a quicky to show you what I`ve done so far and the reason for the question. Scheme is a hybrid of test types for the period and there`s plenty more work to do.