Mattlaker

Thanks for that! That's awesome! Matt

Hi all, I have the following for the Italeri GR.1 Tornado, and I want to use them to enhance the kit for the GB: Front Fin Correction, Flaps and Slats, Burner Cans, Weighted Wheels and Ejector Seats. I was wondering if anyone has used these before, and if so, would they be able to share some tips for how best to fit these parts for the best results? All advice greatly received. Even simple things such as the Front Fin Correction, do I fit this to the two halves first before fitting to the fuselage, or fit as two separate sections? What is the easiest way to fit the reverse thruster mechanism as part of the burner can assembly? And any other advice would be fantastic! Thanks in advance! Matt

Thanks guys! I appreciate the advice! Have been unable to find the aftermarket ordinance, so think i will be adding an additional fuel tank under the fuselage.

Hi all, Just a quick one- did the RAF use the GBU-24 Paveway III in Desert Storm? I am starting a Granby GR1, and wanted to give it a LGB payload, and wanted to know the most appropriate one? The aircraft in question is GK- Gulf Killer, from the Italeri decal sheet. I have the Airfix GR4 kit, and wanted to try to use the ordinance for the Tonka. If there is a better loadout available, what would that consist of for this particular airframe at the end of the war, and where could I get it from? Thanks for your help! Matt

Ok- I have one question... Why did you have any trepidation when posting these? They're superb!!! Thanks for posting those!!!

That's great thank you very much for your help everyone!

Thanks for the advice guys! The actual airframe i am looking to build is 'Barfly', but i can only find one image of this one, and i cannot see if the camera ports are there or not. Does anyone have any further info? Thanks! Matt

Hi all! Now the stringbag is complete, i am thinking something nice and simple would fit the bill, however, i want to build a P-51K mustang from the Tamiya P-51D kit. As i want to build one from the 118th Tac Recon, would this have been fitted with cameras? If so, where would they have been located? Also, where would i be able to get a 1:48 P-51K mustang prop from? Thanks for your help! Matt

Nah! All constructive criticism greatly received! i do appreciate it- well, once i had got over the frustration of it anyway!!!

The Red and yellow things on the wings are flares, next to the smoke bombs- not a silly question at all Peter, I really appreciate all criticism, i mean, without it, how do we learn? I did check the Swordfish in profile article somewhere in the depths of the internet (i can't remember where now) to double check the colour scheme, and on re-checking, it appears that the roundels on mine, and the fin flashes are the later version, when they should have been the earlier ones with the wider white middles and yellow surrounds. I didn't notice this when building her- i think i relied too heavily on the 'research' by Tamiya, and have paid the price. However, that said, i am not going to risk replacing these, and will leave them as is- partly because i am happy with the overall look, and also, to serve as a reminder to check my references in future. Thank you for pointing this out! I really appreciate it! Daz, you are indeed correct! Esmonde is buried in the cemetary at Gillingham, not far from where he washed up in the River Medway- a touching fact in itself, in that it appears even the tide conspired to bring him home. The story of the channel dash is indeed a remarkable one from start to finish- i did write a brief summary of this in my UKAR post. I think the most remarkable fact from this was when the tailplane of Esmonde's Stringbag caught fire due to tracer rounds, PO 'Clints' Clinton was observed climbing out of his position, where he crawled along the length of the fuselage to extinguish the fire with his bare hands. Sadly both PO Clinton and Lt Williams, the Senior Sqn Observer were both killed shortly after in an attack by a FW190, as a shell blew the lower port wing from the plane. Esmonde fought hard against this, bleeding profusely from wounds to his head and back, and managed to raise the nose, and release the torpedo, before taking a direct hit. It is a well known fact that the ratio of Non-commissioned aircrew to officer fatalities was heavily skewed, in that the officers had the engine as armour, compared to just wood and canvas for the NCO's. This makes the bravery all the more poignant. That is all part of my motivation behind this build. Thank you all for your comments- all very much appreciated!

She's gorgeous! Shame sthe real one doesn't look like that now tho!

Hi all! Here is my latest- the Tamiya 1:48 Swordfish mk.1, finished as Lt Cdr Eugene Esmonde's Swordfish from the Channel Dash- a true symbol of heroism in the face of certain death. I built this for the WW2 Allies GB over on UKAR. I used the Eduard PE cockpit set, which really brightened things up inside, together with the Tamiya Rigging set. All the control wires were Aeroclub Stretch thread. Other than that, this was OOB, the only main alteration was the bomb racks were drilled out to make them look a bit more realistic, if a little out of scale! Weathering was with the Tamiya mascara set B (snow, rust and soot), and some panel lines highlighted with 4B pencil. Thank you for looking!

Hi all, Haven't taken part in a BM GB, and would like to be part of this one if possible? I would like to jump in with a Tornado GR.1 although i may not be able to start it for a couple of months yet... Would this be ok? Matt

Hi Mike! I am thinking that it may be the perfect opportunity for me to have a go at spraying markings... I'm looking at the instruction sheet now, and will have a go at enlarging it to scale so i can use it as a template to cut masking. Thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep you posted!

Hi all, Inspired by Mike's cracking build of EN830, the Messerspit, i have ordered the Fusion engine conversion. However, this conversion set no longer includes the decals. Is there anyone who knows where i can get them from? Thanks! Matt

Injection moulded sex mate

That looks superb matey! Weathering looks spot on!

Thank you for for your comment! You raise an interesting issue there- I'm certainly not taking it as a criticism!!! As I'm not a paid up member of the rivet police, i have no idea, however, it would be interesting to know! I initially started this with a view to building it as Tom Blair's Mk Vc, and only decided to change it at the last minute when i started decalling, and didn't think to look at the cannon arrangement! It would make sense that only 2 would have been fitted, having been flown in it would have saved weight and aided fuel consumption. Personally, had i been there, i'd've wanted as many cannon as possible to pack as big a punch as possible, and hopefully come back in one piece! I personally find the Malta campaign a truly fascinating one, and having been there, and tried to imagine what it must've been like, i can only have the upmost respect for the pilots (and indeed the ground crews working tirelessly to keep the pilots in the air with minimal supplies) and wanted to build something to kind of commemorate their bravery. As it goes, I am over the moon with this one, from what turned out to be a challenging kit in parts, and now i have a Vc to go alongside my 303 (polish) Vb. As to whether the cannon arrangement is correct, i don't know, but will definitely bear that in mind should i (and i probably will) build a future one!

Thank you!

Thank you for that! The finished article is posted in Ready for Inspection

She's done! I decided i would have a go at post-shading with my AB on this one, so elected to go with a ww2 theme-. I went for the main scheme as used in JG891, and that is apparently (according to the decal sheet at least) JK879, operated by Flight Sergeant Jack Hughes, from 249 (Gold Coast) sqn, based at Ta'Qali in Malta. I have heard that apparently, according to his log book, Jack Hughes never flew this particular airframe- I wonder if the confusion has come from the fact that JG891 is Tom Blair's plane, and he does like his initials on them! Anyway, according to the decal sheet, Jack Hughes flew this airframe as a Spitfire Bomber, with a couple of in-the-field adaptations to allow it to carry 2x 250lb bombs. After some advice from Graham Boak, I found that one reference source stated that these were made using a beaufighter bomb rack, and dropping the whole lot on target, leaving about an inch of raised metal that the bombs were attached to. I have seen a reference photo kindly posted by John M who had an image of Jack Hughes standing next to his Spitfire, and you can see the bomb racks on the wings. These were further elaborated on by Edgar, who pointed out that they were indeed bomber shackles, made to fit. I have used the 2 spare 250lb bombs from the Italeri MkIX as they are not needed, and have a very simple shackle arrangement on top. Anyway, what i am left with is a Maltese Spitfire bomber, heavily weathered, and loaded, waiting for its pilot to go and bring the fight to the enemy. Thanks for all your help, guys!!! and with her Vb cousin Thanks for looking!!! WIP can be found HERE

I read somewhere last night that they modified Beaufighter bomb racks and that said that the whole lot went down on the target, leaving about a 1" section that the bomb had been attached to. Would make sense tho! i found in the extra bits on the Italeri IXc kit a pair of 250lb'ers that have 2 very simple attachments moulded on. I have used these and hoped for the best! I'll post these on here later on today! Thanks for your help!

Thanks for that! Much appreciated! Interesting that it isn't in his logbook as having been an airframe that he flew in- i wonder if the confusion has something to do with the restored Vc is owned by Tom Blair, hence the T-B?

Hi all, This is a question for all of you spitfire buffs on here- I am currently building the above listed spitfire, and according to my references, this one was locally modified to carry 250lb bombs under the wings. I can't find any images of this anywhere, and wondered if anyone could help? Thanks in advance! Matt

Right- time for an update, and where i am at is the airframe is now sprayed. I had issues with every paint i used... Humbrol Azure Blue was too dark, so had to respray with Xtracolor, which took an age to dry. Then the mid stone- i over-thinned it and got a nice marble effect as the paint and thinner separated. So i washed it off, dried it, and reapplied. This time i didn't thin it enough, and got loads of splattering, and pretty much obliterated the panel- lines. These were rescribed again, and a light touch up was applied. I then noticed that some of the fibres of the kitchen roll i dried it off with after cleaning the over thin coat had stuck to the newly applied thicker coat, and so had to start again. I then masked off and sprayed the dark earth, which was fine, only i missed a couple of parts leaving a beautiful misted coat, but not what i was after... so reapplied and got some overspray, which is a pain in the butt I think i am about there with it now tho! All unmasked