Merlin

The cockpit would appear to fit together well. I would add that its incomplete though, the Kuvi 2 LARGE aiming sight for the pilot is totally missing, as is the LARGE cockpit heater trunking , the oxy regulators are crude, and missing one, its missing seat belts, an incredible omission by Revell, and Radu Brinzan (spelling ?) were the best until he handed over the range to his mate who broke the business I read, The floor is plywood , look at the Norwegian Ju88A1. The side skirt is a light coloured canvas with brown leather edging, not dark grey as I keep seeing modellers do, as they dont bother to even look at the german cockpit image diagram available on the www. Medium blue pipes run along the stbd wall for oxygen feed , additional to the rubber hoses missing for the crew oxygen pipes, Other items benefit from detailing,, study Ju88A1 pics Norway. Guttorm had placed many large images on LSP. I have them all. I also know Guttorm. Its also needing a different tail fin and rudder ! The fin is a jet fin lacking the chunky rounded leading edge. Revell visited the Ju88 yet were blind it seems as it also needs the mainwheels replacing wiith correct ones. I only add this for anyone reading this thread thinking it was about what the cockpit entailed. It might prove useful. New book out by Richard Franks on the Ju88A1 and after, though the 1/32 kit gets a clean bill of health despite the corrections needed etc. The tail fin and wheels and cowlings are bad Revell errors. Finally rlm71/70 was a VERY low contrast scheme, I keep seeing what looks like 71/02 fighter high contrast, as in the LSP link given earlier. Wish modellers would look at a paint chart or even WW2 pics rather than make the thing look wrong after all the build work. Beware GS (the usual culprits) , and other paints. Use Colorcoats or Xtracolor. from makers who care ! Merlin

Hi, As Piotr notes, there are no photos of the canopy anywhere, most odd and suspicious perhaps as reviews always show canopy, essential and key focal point. I then find this :- https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/kp-172-supermarine-spitfire-mkiia-lr-raf which says beware bit warped. So what is the canopy like on the Mk 1 kits mentioned ? Has anyone bought one and has anyone the ability to take a decent photo ? What are the optics quality like and what is the structure and shape like ? Is it also a Mk1 fwd framework as such changed from the Mk V onwards. Just how does this compare to the Tamiya Mk 1 or the Airfix Mk 1 with its trenchlines (by comparison to Tamiya) and canopy I couldnt get to fit in. Thanks Merlin.

Hi, I am not sure Scampton is going to disappear, exciting proposals over £3million to be spent, museum etc (I wonder where the Lanc will come from ?) https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/developers-say-plans-transform-raf-8265094 though signing this attack on that plan might help. https://chng.it/mc7JgNjN pass it on, else Scampton , our most famous bomber station, may as well be lost, hate to be the sleepy local village with that lot let loose. Might mess up the tourism for the area as well. What scale is the diorama going to be ? One can get aerial photos from a national resource I think its in Swindon, I managed to get such for RAF Kenley. Such will give a good plan view and better ideas on peri tracks, paths etc. A lot of RAF buildings were built to a standard design, so a trip to Bicester and Linton on Ouse might help. latter also escaped refugee plans so do get distributing. That new plan and our most famous Bomber station needs that new plan and not the home office one ! sacriledge. Pass it on ! Merlin

Hi, The fabric patches over the gunports, I also have seen footage on a Battle of Britain station with the erks peeling off self adhesive patches, so yes self adhesive was used. This Czech footage would on the original have been without the ghosted edges and artefacts, its a shame that someone has despoiled it, nothing worse than misuse of the quality compression slider, youtube doesnt require such compression, so maybe one day we will see it in original quality. Merlin

Hi, I have need to insert junior hacksaw blade (6inch x 6mm) into a hole and saw, so need handle on it. I see those for its larger variant the 10 inch or so long ones with holes in the ends, such for the 6inch long blades are wanted, bit I cant find one, or another means of inserting a metal cutting blade into a 6.4mm square hole and start sawing the metal (thin steel PC case). How do we use the smaller hacksaw blades to cut through items when the end needs placing into the item ? Merlin

I hope you refer to a data transgression, as Night Bombers and the Narrator is one of the best documentaries ever, The Narration is just right. It is rare nowadays to have such narration, I could watch and listen to it again and again, perfect for the film. Jack Curry 'The Watchtower' was also of the period and perfect. What a shame someone didnt think to do a film on Fighter Command. Hendon have colour footage Battle of Britain , but are not releasing it as they are uneasy about how to do so, so no one has ever seen it ! so I am told by someone who knew one of the chaps 'within'. William Woollard was also a great Narrator. BBC The Secret War, superb docs as well. Merlin

Hi, using the view port oblique fwd, chap standing on wingroot, another over at hedge taking photo, sampling in photoshop the horizontal bar of the 4 then the same sample crawling ants moved across to the horiz bar of the cross left of centre, I get rgb 68 68 68 for the 4 and 93 93 93 for the cross, after doing filter>blur>average. As 0 0 0 is black that puts the 4 a bit darker than the cross. ! any thoughts of it being red are unfounded, even allowing for a fade off of brightness the shot with the 1 and devil in, and the diagonal line, clearly the devil is a notable grey less on a greyscale. also the sampling of the line is further proof. (well done JackG) ITS BLACK 14. I wouldnt be off saying red 14 started with Michael Payne, and how he had 14 as red we will never know (my 'hero' also) Also Clint Mitchell says so in Iron Cross magazine (seen in WHSmith on June 14 ) , I dont recall the reasons. Can anyone quote what he says ? he also corrects myths on Bartells and Heinz Wolf. Merlin

Nice job, on the figures, also WAAF stockings correct look, why the guys at Airfix decided to put groundcrew into battledress though is odd, for Battle of Britain era certainly they wore tunics. a tip..Bike and trolley acc though far too an electric blue, RAF blue grey was same colour as the tunics, or thereabouts. see the Tallboy bomb trolley (Type E) at Brooklands which is looking as pre war blue grey. http://www.sbap.be/museum/brooklands/brooklands.htm scroll down a few times to see the green/white large bomb and the trolley. Best references are original quality colour pics.... https://www.rafmuseumphotos.com/charles-brown-colour-photographs/waaf-tractor-driver-707906.html?prodid=73043 is a genuine colour photo note the tunic and also the Trolley colour immediate aft of the tractor. These colours and the photo are very representative of the true colours in fact. Never go bright on the blues. If you give them a mild translucent spray of mid grey it will make them more as tunic colour, just dont squirt the flesh areas ! I would ditch the bases and glue brass wire pins into the heels, make them belong to the grass . Merlin

Hi, Two compressors, same sort of vintage, both hardly ever used. 1990's super silent 15a 1.5 L tank, fridge motor, oil type, open ended box deVilbis Aerograph logo and bright yellow box with handle on top, . Also seen as Werther on internet looking today. I gather they are all Werther, just rebadged etc. In use maybe once a year since I had it, few years ago, the usual pop at end of the recharge, sounded louder, inspect it, a splat of oil (a brown greasy substance) is on inside face of the box. Coming from (apparently) a small brass tube on side of the on/off switch unit. Not having taken the lid off every so often, as no need to, first and last time was to replace the rubber seal around motor when I noticed oil puddle in the base tray, just in time to avoid carpet damage...phew ! lid inside was clean at that time. If what should be clean air is splatting a brownish gunk, has the unit had it, is this burned oil getting down the outlet tube from motor, and being visible to the outside world when 'pop' occurs ? crucially is the tank also getting some of this ? Is the moisture trap on the front enough to stop this going any further, ? oil in air hose and airbrush WOULD BE TRAGIC. I do have an inline trap at end of hose as well. Compressor No.2 Super Silent 50 bought 1986 for our graphics office at work, used maybe 5 times or so, I was awarded it 30 yrs later as a 'walking the plank' item as opposed to a carriage clock. used it at home once a year since, for 5 years or so. Had not drained the tank, did so yesterday (not under pressure) and out pours a dark brown liquid, enough to fill a few egg cups, stains fingers, kitchen paper towel in tray under the stream, take on a substance of that colour, in it are brown speckles, which smear when rubbed. to help clean it all out I gave it internal squirts of distilled water, in the results of the enema are dark orange flaky bits, BUT on the surface of this are little floaty islands, moving around, OIL ! Its still a mid brown colour with some substance in it. Now did I displace such with the powerful squirts up its jacksy , are such to be expected on the tank walls with an oil type compressor, OR HAVE I A SECOND DODGY COMPRESSOR . Why with such little use is this happening to both compressors, does lightning strike twice in the same place, I am feeling somewhat unhappy and singed . Dare I use either now ? I was just about to do airbrushing after 3 years absence. Merlin.

Hi, There is no section on Britmodeller at all, not after a searching through carefuly twice, on the subject of acquiring models , fees, Brexit etc. I am interested in a resin AFV kit, rare and I have found one in France. Not wanting a terrible price shock, just what costs get added and removed after Brexit when buying such from France ? I have a vague recollection of Parcel Farce charging £8 to deliver, having paid the custom fees UK border slap on, not sure what the customs fees are in a model resin kit. Do they go by price or weight ? Is there VAT added on at UK border, the shop talks about removing the French TAX, so if its £50 inc the French tax, how does all this pan out ? We modellers need a section on what the costs could be, perhaps we shouldnt get so frightened of a nasty shock. With help here it may be better than we fear. Merlin

Hi, Just received this and a worthy cause to sign. Think of the worthless thing they will put on it. https://www.change.org/p/southampton-city-council-save-the-original-spitfire-flight-shed-from-demolition-southamptoncc?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=7992b841-2a49-43d4-8852-0fabfc6c2daa email the link to friends etc. Merlin

Hi Jack, so its for tanks interiors then, thanks. Merlin

Hi, So cab interiors as external. Pump Compartments Elfenbein. as per AFV. It does make sense, and that photo does seem to suggest so. RAF pump compartments were white, visibility in dull conditions and ability as you say to spot problems. I see Colourcoats has a tank interior colour of an off white, so presumably that. I do have a tin of Wehrmacht Interior Blue-Grey ARG13 thinking the cabs were same as the wehrmacht. Where would that have been used then ? Luftwaffe equipment colour, I carried out extensive research on this and found it was not the claimed colours but was the same colour as the Luftshutz helmets, and the flak guns. I then found an unused fresh out of the box unissued gunsight and it also was the same colour as the Luftschutz helmets, neither being the usual colours quoted for the Luftwaffe. One might say okay flak had its own greyish colour, but I found that other vehicles and remnants also had that colour, so I established my own mix. No manufacturer of model paints has ever created Luftwaffe early war blue-grey as they just dont go into research in the way I had to. Merlin

Hi,.... as I also said, and showed pic to illustrate. No kit has replicated this, or even got the 'nostrils' correct, except Airfix 1/24, though iI think the Special Hobbys have, or so I hope, three on the way. Note paint around bullet holes flakes off in semicircular ways, not zig zag, upon both entry and exit. Do scale holes, everyone seems to use a large drill and the realism is gone, by avoiding a current fad, and with thought and observation, something very good and realistic can result. Avoid neat silver, add some grey in, avoid coarse pigments, sparkly metallics is ancient modelling now, etc, The fact that you are using Colourcoats is an excellent stage. Those rivets are very clever manufacturing at 1/72 BUT would not be seen at all, I just bought the kits for the shape, having overcome my excitement over the rivets I will mute them down, and certainly dark washes a no no, even panel lines are tricky to see at that scale, no dark washes either on panel lines, all except cowling lines and other gaps as such perhaps, Stitch dashes on fabric surfaces, rub down, would be hardly visible but dont erase, consult WW2 pics, the best reference we have. Asisbiz site loads of pics and also of this aircraft. Reduce the raised gun trough edges, again they were flush with a visible line. Thin the prop thicknesses down towards tips, something few ever think to do on any prop a/c. Also note the demarcation line was SOFT on Luft and not dead straight and HARD on RAF, again sheep mode sees the opposite happen. Luft was a tad wavy as hand applied on the skins I have studied up close. The demarcation line on the cowlings was often as such and may well be for red 14., ref Asisbiz. Just google red 14 JG52 Asisbiz and that should get you to his page. Luft decals I wish were printed in a very light cream/ivory as their Weiss was such and not arctic white, the black was a very dark grey, not jet black. Drill out the trestle hole at Spant 8. The cream colour ring around tail wheel inner rubber area would be a nice touch, many had this but check with red 14. Me109Es had an RLM02 interior , though instances of RLM66 exist and that also was the inst panel in 02 as well as 66 and it makes for a clearer view of the bezels, check with pics. I intend to hand paint mine as such. Do you intend to add figures, as they can make it or break it, us aircraft modellers find figure painting a mystic art as its a different approach with blending of highlights midtones and shadows, BUT use oils, apply to a piece of car, let the oil wick out, and you have 3 days to blend, no tide marks, undercoat in a good matt enamel paint of a similar shade of colour, doesnt have to be exact, let cure HARD, then apply midtone and wipe off as much as you can with a clean flat brush, seems odd but essential, the colour will remain, but then is thin, vital for the blending, and apply the highlight (midtone + white, or whatever the sutable mix is for the highlight) in MINUTE amounts, and twizzle the 000 brush tip to blend, you can always add more, can't do any of that with acrylics, they always seem to have a notable change from midtone to highlight, tide marks ! Ditto then the SHADOWS, it will blend as if you have a minute airbrush in use with a pixie operating it. Dont use white for eyes and a dot, use grey or even flesh and a dark blob for the iris cropped at the eyelids. Teeth ivory not white. 5 o'clock shadow a minute amount of black into the mixes. Oils will in fact dry matt ! Get more tips from an oil painting figures forum. BMSS for example. Some good books exist on oils. Shep Paine did one many years ago. Its all about Highlights midtones shadows properly blended, no tide marks, thin layers of oils is the most easy and realistic way I still reckon. HTH. Merlin

Hi, As Jamie says, the correct colour is in the back of RAF museum series Vol 3 British Aviation Colours of WW2. Its just a question of which model paint matches that. Simple as that. Jamie matches to that by the way. Rather than try and spin three plates on three sticks, I will refer you to the thread on RAF Dark Green:- I aim to spray out all Model paint Dark Greens I have, compare them in north light, cloudy sky, using grey card with holes, at midday to the MAP paint sample in RAF British Aviation Colors of WW2 RAF museum series Vol3 book 'the bible', and post the results using photos taken technically correct, as spectro scan numbers etc dont mean much unless one can create colours from such, but all my colour cards laid together in best match order will be meaningful. Then I will do Dark Earth, then sky, and so on, many days of work if not weeks. Merlin

Sounds great, I rarely see BOB crash dioramas, Not aware of the kit and it looks good so will get a few. It looks like you get a correct main cowling for once, make sure you thin out the interior at the nose vents and allow the true shape to occur, see WW2 photos of which there are hundreds, the aft edge is NOT an arc, it is straight then a curved 'corner' and then it arcs downwards , a sort of semi flared nostril look, or shallow otters ears ! Ignore restored White 14 and the next one, consult Hendons. Also the kidney blister at top rear edge , the sides of that feather down, see hendon or this pic , and note the gap genuine and on all emils :- You also get an Emil fin edge, straight all the way to the aerial post, unlike the entire Eduard range which have a Freda/Gustav fin ! (Eduard were told but said its right, it isnt !)..silly to be defensive and not then realise the mistake and correct it. A good make of static grass applicator should pull the straw upwards, needs good power, Koch a good one, see the you tube video comparing them. Do apply some wear to the wingtip edges as that straw will strip paint. Colourcoats have the correct RLM colours, matched to Merrick/Kiroff the bible, apart from Phoenix Precision paints I have not seen correct Luft RLM colours anywhere as yet. Hannants might have so, as they are a bit more careful what they match to. Would need to consult my samples. The rlm65 light blue though only Jamie has that correct, repeat ..only Jamie at Sovereign Hobbies Colourcoats has that correct ! Dont go doing washes on those rivets or even panel lines, Messerschmitt rivets were almost impossible to see, so at 1/72 they would be invisible, so no black dots please, and it will look far more real. I may well feature it in my planned website of BoB aircraft and scenes, if its realistic. Merlin

Hi, Data wanted on differences INSIDE Lancaster B1 Special compared to standard Lancaster please. Also anything different than normal on the exterior of the fuselage fwd of wingspar. Obviously with a heavy bomb such as Tallboy or Grandslam anything to reduce weight may have been removed if surplus to function of aircraft, but it is doubtful it was originally designed as a standard Lanc with unnecessary weights anyway ! Perhaps the rest bed went. They removed nose and mid upper turrets, that we know of. Was the framing wood or metal I wonder. Did the armour plate for the pilot get removed ? What was added special for the aircraft ? Any known plans, drawings, manuals, paperwork, all required please. If costs are involved I am sure they can be covered but liaise before any committal. Thanks Merlin

Hi, What colour were Luftwaffe vehicle cab interiors in 1940 ? RAL number or colour name if possible, any rare colour pics...pigs might fly...wreckage being restored... restorers... museums...paint for modellers or restorers, as if such might even have been thought of ... whatever ! Also pump compartment interiors. Cheers Merlin

Hi, I also did a scale colour test over a 72ft long test distance in my garden, midday etc, the distance for 1/72 aircraft held 1ft from the eye. I painted out a 2ft x 2ft sheet with RLM02, then a swatch with rlm02 and steps of increasing white added, ending at the Monogram book suggested amount for 1/72. Took a grey card with hole and placed over the swatch with a second hole immediate above that for viewing the 2ft square, and at 72ft from the test sheet mounted vertical, I started at the suggested white mix, way off, crazy in fact, I ran it along until I got a match, found one, removed card, it was the neat RLM02 ! I have all the RAF Greens, Browns, Skys etc now after many ££££ and will spray each one out, then lay all against the MAP paints in Vol3, see what matches best, photo in north light midday cloudy sky, no blue influence as blue sky gives, and post results here. Ditto Luftwaffe on a new thread I will make. Each day sees an unforeseen task or ten take over ! My gremlins can be little bast&^%s at times. Its going to take some time. The main problem is manufacturers are matching to BS381C and not MAP, except Jamie., if they even match to anything., and as I have now found BS381C DOES NOT MATCH MAP. There are far too many models appearing made in an orangey brown and not so dark olive green , more a yellowy hint to it, looking just WRONG compared to MAP colours and even restored aircraft known to be in the right colours, and as Steve of Warbird Colours says, Vol 3 is the bible, so lets see which brands are at fault. Merlin

Hi, oops yes its in the combo kit version. Merlin

Hi Troy, ok sorted I assumed it was like email addresses no gaps. Merlin

Hi, I also would like to hear back on that. However the Matador is on the scene when AMO's A618/41 had already existed talking of Khaki Green No.3 and Nobels Dark Tarmac Green No.4 as disruptive pattern over former, whilst the Albion would have seen camouflage applied under the following guidance :- quoting Mike Starmers words from his article in MAFVA, In 1939 A.M. issued instructions that all RAF vehicles were to be disruptively painted but no documents thus far confirm the colours used, but presumably as the army, 28 March 1939 RAF have decided to use the same colours as the army in ME.. looking then at Mikes Army data:- 1939-41 – Bold horizontal/diagonal patterns of two greens following M.T.P.20 diagrams of June 1939. The usual basic colour was Khaki Green G3 with a disrupter of Dark Green No.4 or rarely Light Green No.5. Plain G3 is an alternative. May 1940: Dark Tarmac No.4 begins to replace both Dark Green No.4 and Light Green No.5. This seems to be the first measure to conserve chromium oxide stocks. 1941-42 – Standard Camouflage Colours (S.C.C.s) from BS.987c come into use alongside, and then supplanted the greens and Dark Tarmac, but in the same M.T.P.20 patterns. The base colour was changed to S.C.C.2 brown with S.C.C.1A dark brown over it. S.C.C.14 black was an alternative. This change was brought about due to a severe shortage of vital chromium oxide green pigment necessary to produce strong green colours and a degree of infra-red immunity. Coming back then to continue Mikes section n RAF colours :- Odd disjointed file notes from TNA have the following:- 28 March 1939; R.A.F. have decided to use the same colours as the army in ME, but RE & Signals Board not yet decided on colour for Iraq, Palestine and ME. 6 February 1941. Camouflaging of MT in Overseas Commands. Colours specified in CWD Specifications are Dark Sand and Middle Stone. The sample of painted lorry cover that we received… ‘was much darker than the earlier colour’. This follows G.O.370 of 1939. This situation remained officially till August 1941. Nevertheless instructions had been issued in Britain during 1939 to disruptively paint transport. Photographs of some R.A.F. vehicles in France during early 1940 and on some airfields in the South of England from June 1940 onwards show that disruptive painting on ground vehicles deployed on airfields within reach of enemy aircraft or observation. No accurate colours are known for these vehicles but in France, British army colours may have been used but the possibility of French colours must be taken into account. A TNA file has a note dated 19 November 1940; ‘…camouflage paint has not hitherto been included in R.D.M.T. Specifications for M.T. vehicles for the R.A.F. and units have, we understand, obtained their own supplies by local purchase’. Followed by ‘The canvas tilts of those vehicle leave the manufacturers dyed khaki and unpainted…’. So there was authority to camouflage vehicles prior to the next known AMO. In England, army colours is possible by local arrangement or a range of green, brown, black or grey building paints may have been used in random striped type designs similar to army applications. So from this it is likely the Albion was subject to other choices. I have seen colour footage of a Brockhouse 450 gallon Zwicky Bowser towed by a tracked Fordson and it is in a lower contrast green and brown than the Khaki Green No.3 and Nobels dark Tarmac Green No.4 would give. Mike says Khaki Green No.3 and Light Green No.5 for the bowser. As the Albion would have been camouflaged about the same time as the bowser, both being in use in 1939 and 1940, this might be more likely. Ot has also been said that erks just went to stores and took out aircraft Dark Green and Dark Earth. There is a photo in colour from LIFE magazine showing an Albion front view beyond a Spitfire but it is tricky to see if the Browns and Greens match. It was a sequence filmed but if only the photographer had shot the Albion side on ! Ground Equipment never gets the glory. I feel that the contrast of the green on the brown on the towed bowser is a little less than the aircraft green/brown gave. There is a little more green in the brown on the Albion 3 boom refueller studying what little there is to see below windscreen and below radiator and on windscreen frame. @Mike Starmer Mike Starmer might be able to tell us what he thinks the brown is on the Albion. Merlin

Jamie, @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies dont let the tail wag the dog, I am fed up of seeing modellers spend months on a model only to paint it the wrong colours so please advertise your wares more, saying why spoil it at the very end, stating the actual target references matched to, saying 'unlike others' ! Others never state the research and colours matched to, that tells me everything. Merlin

Hi Troy, Just revisiting this thread but see the conversation hasnt continued. I will try what you suggest. however not once as I typed the name did MikeStarmer prompt appear, so this may not work. It picked up on Jamies no problem. @Mike Starmer did Jamie's Khaki Green No.3 match your works ? @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies I wish Jamie did Nobels Dark Tarmac Green No.4 and Light Green No.5 to go with his other British Military vehicle colours, especially as the RAF vehicles also used the colours. Merlin

Hi, The flare rack makes an appearance IN THE MK 1 SPITFIRE, with the all metal seat (colour interior grey-green) that was the seat for all Mk1's, though some digs have found the fibre one, later marks it ceases to exist. So dont go deleting it ! Some very careful painting is required, they have both rectangular pressure gauges in yellow yet all spitfires have a red and yellow. Eduard not perfect ! Spitfire Blind Flying Panel should have a larger radiused corner top left, I cant quite see if it has from the photo. Flaps gauge to left of gunsight ceased to have an instrument in it from may 1940 onwards. sometimes a circular blanking plate was fitted over the hole. Instrument panel was a fine emery paper finish except for the Blind Flying Panel which was smooth metal , the main panel was chemically blackened as looked matt black, the BFP was painted Matt Black so kill any sheen with a non whitening matt varnish. All fasteners were a shiny stainless steel. Sutton seat harness was not the Eduard colour but a biscuity brown, with BRASS eyelets, a stainless steel locking triangle and dull grey other steel fittings so more careful painting. I see a thread on the top cowlings follow the non straight Mk IX contours, so some filing to be done. I am getting this kit, so may spot a few more errors, I hope not, I know the Spitfire Mk1 in great detail. I hope the lemon yellow roundels are a screen colour happening and not reality. BS381C 356 is near the colour but the only true reference is in the RAF Museum series book British Aviation Colours of WW2, with the MAP colours in the back as actual paint chips. (ref Peter Vacher Hurricane book findings) They have gone for the darker blue and red roundels I see when in fact many BoB aircraft had a bright red and not so dark a blue. ref Neil Robinson/Paul Lucas book on RAF camo and a thread on Britmodeller. Studying the roundel from the beach wreckage for Casenove's aircraft also showed such. I have some notes showing a flattish top curve at Frame 12 (first frame after rear glazing) and aft for an Eduard Mk 1 , I hope thats not this kit. The appearance of both types of rivets, and different panel lines, is a milestone in modelling, the mattress effect on panels such as the Lancaster would be the next realistic move and done accurately and not over emphasised would simply be a game changer, realism, as long as correct paint colours are used, and thats where a lot fail, all the structural work then grabbing paint brands assuming they are correct, when almost all are not. For RAF refer to the Ministry of Aircraft Production colours in the RAF Museum book mentioned, or simply buy Colorcoats which are matched to those and not the BS381C, as most of the MAP RAF colours do not match 381C and never did., whilst paint companies are matching to BS381C. The figure though is not 1940 and cannot stand next to the Spitfire !, Bader is wearing later war gear, a 41 pattern mae west with electricals, in pouch on wearers right, and many strap ties, should have two down the back for passing under the crotch and tying at front, its missing the manual inflation tube though. If all the differences between the 32 pattern and the 41 pattern are removed then its ok. Trousers are also overdone in the folds and creases dept though. Merlin