Paperback writer

Tamiya 1:48 Military Miniature series - love them. I have all of them 1 to 105 and always have one on my desk alongside an aircraft build. Number 105 is the British 2 Ton Ambulance that was done within a couple of weeks of it arriving. A great kit and surprisingly big next to the Tamiya Abram that was my previous build. The Tamiya 1:48 Jeep would almost fit inside the back of the Ambulance. 1:48 is a great scale for comparing armour to aircraft size-wise. The Tamiya 1:48 F-35s are huge next to the modern tank. I have built 15 of these kits and as a sign of possible insanity, I buy a kit to build AND one to keep the sequence complete. Looking forward to Tamiya announcing the next one - fingers crossed for the overdue addition of a Leopard to this series. Slightly mad Alan

Just picked up (nearly put my back out) Paul Crickmore's new Lockheed Blackbird book from Osprey. 520+ pages, bigger than A4 and full of amazing information, much of it new and stories from past aircrew, ground crew, etc. If you are a Blackbird fan, put one on your Christmas list. A bargain at £60 and I'm not kidding. - Alan F

I'm told that the Tamiya F-35B is due in the UK towards the end of next week, around the 7th December.

I would have put good money (well, no more than a fiver) on Tamiya releasing a 1:48 F-4J by now. When the F-4B was released, Tamiya produced a 'Detail-Up' decal sheet to go with it. It was headed F-4B/F-4J and had areas of stencilling identified as belonging to one or the other. Tamiya are a tease!

Did someone airbrush away the controversial RAM panels on the F-35A in the opening picture? The F-35As that can be seen trundling around the Lakenheath taxiways don't seem to have visible panels either. Kit designers have made a meal of these, even Tamiya seems to have been a bit heavy-handed. Very odd.

I echo Pete F's comments above on the shop in Malton. I passed the shop a couple of weeks ago on my way to see the new Bond film and did a double take, couldn't believe my eyes!! After seeing the film called into the World Wide Shopping Mall and was amazed at the range and quantity of kits on sale. A room dedicated to Revell kits and the other space full of Tamiya, Trumpeter, Airfix, etc. etc. I've asked my friends at IPMS Cleveland and IPMS North Riding and no one has heard of this amazing shop. I can't understand their lack of marketing and advertising. They have a great model shop, why not shout about it? Puzzled of Cleveland

There was something on the news only a couple of days ago about the container ship that closed the Suez Canal for a couple of weeks. Although it had been moved out of the way, the Canal authorities impounded the vessel until a payment, I guess a hefty fine, had been paid before it was allowed to leave the area. It has only just been allowed to go on its way.

Hello Steve I bought some from Hiroboy at Staverton, between Gloucester and Cheltenham. I've just looked at their web site and they are showing xero stock. It is one of those products that someone is trying to protect us from. Hiroboy stock an amazing range of paints and modelling stuff, have a look. They maybe produce their own equivalent if the Tamiya original cannot be imported any longer. Good luck, Alan

Maybe DX would think about hosting a model show on one of those slow Saturdays in February/March to liven things up a bit. The show at Cosford is one of the best of the year with traders and clubs scattered amongst the exhibits. Duxford is no more remote than Cosford with lots of modellers down the M11. Shuttleworth's little model show in early spring is a good day out and generates extra revenue for the museum. The Fleet Air Arm Museum's Saturday shows in mid-February and October all produced good attendances with then times the number through the gate compared to a usual day, bringing in good revenue at door, in the shop and the cafe. Their show stopped when someone realised that they were paid just the same on a quiet Saturday in February as they were for enduring all the extra work that the model show generated - shame!

Tamiya started holding back new kits from Japanese retailers 3 or 4 years ago to give sellers around the world a fair chance of selling their kits. At the time Japanese sellers such as HLJ, selling at much lower prices, were killing off demand elsewhere. Distributors were obviously not happy with that situation. I believe the plan is that kits such as the new F-4B will be on sale everywhere at about the same time. I remember buying Tamiya kits from Rainbow 10 located about a mile from Tamiya in Japan and paying about two-thirds the price even taking into account postage, etc and having the kit a month before they were available in UK shops.

Also try Blackbird Models - Glen has some Hunter sheets in his range - blackbirdmodels.co.uk

I use Humbrol's Maskol. Quick, easy and easily removed afterwards.

Not surprised and disappointed in equal measure by that news. Whatever the situation in this country, we have to remember the large number of participants and visitors from over the sea where their restrictions could very well force them to stay away. Surely, we will be back in 2022???

Unless things have changed recently due to the Corona Chaos, in this country Surface Mail is a generic term for low priority post and does not go near a ship, Items for a destination will be left to accumulate until a container is full enough to depart by air. I used to get complaints from the subscriber to a specialist scientific journal who would receive half a dozen issues at the same time. He lived in a remote village up the jungle in New Guinea and the local post office only delivered when a worthwhile amount of post had accumulated.

Those interested in the whys and wherefores of the above comments might like to look at the entries for Sam Publications Ltd and the new owners of the magazines, MA Publications Ltd on the Companies House web site. Very interesting and many of your questions will be answered. I have worked in Royal Mail Mail Centres and in normal times the late and night shifts are swarming with people, all working in close proximity to each other. I suspect that keeping people distanced from each other is a big issue in such work spaces. Adding more staff will not work. I have posted a few letters recently and 1st class appears to be working as usual.