Patrik

Mach One Manuals - Matt Savage. Used to order Air Publications from them (PDF per download), always immaculate service. This time ordered, paid (one month ago), and since then nothing. Emails keep bumping back as undeliverable, phones are answered by answering machine and messages that I left produced no reply. Does anyone have a clue what's going on down under?

Have both of them. Send me a PM with your email and I am going to scan them for you in the evening.

The fuselage has rather original solution, quite surely dictated by economy. You get just the port half in the kit, and you have to construct the starboard half by cutting the fuselage of Fairey IIIF and combining it with an extra front insert. However, the fit is flawless. And even with the new fuselage half, the fit of the cockpit decking is very good as well.

No magic, just careful masking and brush painting with Humbrol 28.

After completion of the Hawker Hart, my attention has turned to another interwar workhorse, Fairey Gordon. The successor of Fairey IIIF, named after the famous officer killed in Khartoum in 1885, could have been either of Ramleh or of Amman, as I am going to build it as K3992 in service with No. 14 Squadron, which was divided between Ramleh and Amman for most of the 20 years of its patrol duties in Palestine and Transjordan. K3992 is well-documented airplane, one of the final series of 24 Gordons (K3986 – K4009), referred as Mk.II and delivered in 1934. It also belongs to the few Mk.IIs that in fact made it to the regular RAF squadron service. Most Mk.IIs were held in reserve, 14 (some sources list 13) of them were transferred to RNZAF in 1939. The kit was introduced here, around two years ago. Mk.IIs differed from the standard Gordon. The most obvious change was a taller rudder with a horn balance merging into the upper part of the fin (same as Seal) and other less significant changes to rear fuselage and the empennage. Furthermore, both wings were equipped with Frise-type ailerons. Some of the differences are represented in the kit by alternative parts (blue above), some of them are left for the poor modeller to take care of (yellow arrows). The balloon wheels are cast in resin. The same for the AS Panther engine. However here I can't help but notice rather significant differences from reality, which I do not like. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there has been no direct replacement available on the market since the white metal Aeroclub engine, which is now a hard-to-find-rarity. Nevertheless, I am still looking for solution. As there is no ultimate book on Gordon, the pile of the reference literature is higher than usual.😀

The nice thing is that both the rear MG and the oil cooler are included in the box, so no aftermarket needed. You bet😀. The kit is so good that the extra attention and care seems just natural. Thanks a lot to all of you for the nice comments!

Completed. RFI thread here:

After rather protracted finishing steps, finally completed and presented here as K-2091, one of the Hawker Hart (India) series of 50 (K2083 – K2132) in the livery No. 11 Sqn., Risalpur, North West India, late 1938. The build was posted here, … … and I enjoyed every step of it. The kit is small wonder. I never thought I would live to see kit of this important interwar airplane is such a quality as offered by AMG and I hope AMG plans to release other members of the family come to fruition because they will mean a dream come true for (I dare say) all interwar RAF aficionados. Built more or less out of the box, with some modifications related to Hart (India) and adding a few missing details in the interior. Seat belts by Eduard, front gun by MiniWorld. Brush painted with enamels by Humbrol, Model Master, Revell and Tamiya, roundels by Xtradecal, squadron markings from Modeldecal set 108, serial numbers from various Modeldecal sheets. As usual with me, no rigging.

Despite repeated efforts of my fellow Britmodellers to convince me otherwise, I am notorious non-rigger. I am sorry, I can't help it.😉

Interestingly, many ground photos of the Harts (India) show the rear cockpit fully equipped (meaning with rear gun installed) and with the compensating weights as well (one ring each side).

With the most critical part of decal placing (fitting of fuselage stripes from a decal sheet from 1990 on a kit from 2022) successfully over, I think I can safely assume that I will see you in RFI soon. Thanks a lot for the supporting words to all of you!

Best on eBay, directly from Ukraine. Which may be tricky, depending on your country of residence. Now I mean especially custom fees and VAT, the postal service in the Ukraine is otherwise flawless, according to my experience.

Another short leave from hospital allowed minor progress. Fortunately, it looks like I should be back home permanently by next weekend.

Hart is alive, although with my modelling it is not so great right now. Working hard for my own company has brought me back to burnout after some eight years, and even though I've been bouncing back from the bottom for the last week or so, and my fingers start itching again, I'm not able to take my workbench to the hospital with me. However, having a walkout today, I can show you some progress. I'm just before applying the decals, but those will have to wait until I'm home for at least a few days in a row.

Nope. Audax is very similar in appearance to Hart, with some modifications, like exhaust system or message pickup hook. And for sure other minor differences depending on the theatre of operations.

On demand, a few more pictures.

Now don't be hasty, Master Max ...😀 Next week, I will try to make a photo session.

Easter update. The fit of the interplane struts was flawless. The central section struts required some trimming, especially the rear ones, however nothing dramatic.

The captions say Bloch 210, so no, definitely not Battle.😉

Coming back from vacation was not easy. Neither to work nor to modeling. But I am finally back on track.

Face to face to a tone reserved for small kids and village fools, I am afraid the first reaction was less bold.😉 However, we ended up writing each other and exchanging useful information on the interwar aviation with the Kora guy in question, and the relationship has survived until today.

Ian Stair.

I am afraid we would need a good photo of the Hart Trainer wing from above to cofirm that without any doubt. By the way, @JWM, I am the guy who asked Kora many years ago and got the mentioned answer accompanied by rised eyebrows.😀

Kora has not taken care of the wing sweepback change. Picture below shows the Kora Hart Trainer wing compared to AMG Hart wing. By the way, Air Publication says top plane span 37 ft 3 in. Kora wing is 36 ft 9 in, AMG 37 ft 3 in. Then the Aviation News drawings show this. Looks more like extension of the rear spar. I know, drawings are drawings, but they seem to be confirmed by the photo below. Unfortunately, I have not found better picture of the Hart Trainer upper wing in the short time, but some of you may have more luck.

Thank you! However, at least half the praise must go to the kit manufacturer. I never thought I'd live long enough to see 1/72 Hart in such quality.😀