RJP

The PR-mooted Blenheim was L1348. There's a few tidbits in Profile 93 on the Blenheim I. To wit: "Its dorsal turret was removed, nose and wing tips specially faired, Rotol constant-speed airscrews fitted, bomb doors and other joints carefully taped over, and its standard camouflage finish replaced by a well-primed low-drag finish." There are also a couple of small B&W photos taken at Staverton in 1940. The photo above seems to show a very straight joint where the wing tip had been. The Staverton pictures show a clipped but more rounded plan view. I suppose it was something similar to the mod applied to the Spitfire? The reference to a smooth finish is seductive for there is no indication of the colours used. One could suppose Dark Earth and Dark Green. L1348 carried Type A1 roundels on the fuselage, no fin flash. It retained its underwing serials (in black?) on a light finish - Sky? painted Aluminium? The faired nose seems to be NMF. I expect others know more. I hope so, there's a Frog kit calling to me.

Interesting shot of the Valetta. Not Pegasus but Hercules powered of course and often fitted with very large spinners and cooling fans.

What a nice neat build. Am I right in thinking this kit is a close relative of the Ki 67 from the same maker? I had the Ki 67 when I was a kid and remember it as a simple, problem-free build.

I had this kit when it first came out about 1966. Mine had the big black stand. The kit is enormous compared to, say, the Lancaster, so big that Airfix put it in a new Series. The kit announcement in Airfix Magazine had a photograph of a completed example being held by a youngster just to emphasise the point. I suppose that kid could be a grandfather by now. Did you notice the third piece of the stand? It's a cradle that slips over the upper end and gives the model a bit more stability. I don't know about the transparencies being fragile. They always seemed a bit thick, especially the gunners' sighting blisters. Nothing that can't be worked with and Falcon has the cockpit transparency in one of their sets if necessary. One thing to watch out for - the main undercarriage hangs perpendicular to the wing, meaning the outer tire doesn't touch the ground. A bit odd but easy enough to fix. I have an example in my stash and do intend to build it. It will take some work to refine but there's nothing too difficult about it. Skill, patience and Humbrol, as the magazine ads used to say.

Agreed re: the wings. As luck would have it I have an upper wing off one built by my brother way back when it was new. Better than that, in those days we hadn't yet discovered model paint so it is pristine-ish. It will be going on a Demon one day but first I need to get a machinist's file to fix the lower wing.

It's hard to imagine the need to make changes so late in the design's service life. With a few exceptions out of front line service, a few left in met. flights.

There were only three built, all modified from N models. The various improvements pushed the design over 400 mph for the first time but by then later designs had been acquired. One of them, 42-45722, survived in civilian hands as NX300B (polished natural metal finish with yellow wings) only to crash at 1947 Cleveland Air Races.

I have a downloaded copy of the same photograph. Provenance is unrecorded but wherever I got it, it was labelled as JS875 of 1849 Sqn aboard HMS Ruler. That can't be entirely right. There are scant details available online and they are inconsistent with the caption. JS875 was a Corsair III (Brewster F3A-1) and 1849 NAS trained up on Corsair IIIs in the US. Their machines were traded for Mk IVs before their traing ended and their old aircraft transported by HMS Ruler as cargo to the UK. 1849 never went operational. The decision had already been taken to disband the squadron before their departure form the States and their Corsairs were hangared the whole trip. Ruler did embark Corsairs operationally and was active in the Atlantic in late 1944 and eventually got to Tokyo in September 1945. So it could have been aboard Ruler, or not, but if so not with 1849. With the roundel presentation in the photo, I guess it wasn't in the Far East. Could it have been during 1849's training period, August through October 1944?

CASPIR has a - poor - copy of the crash card. Not much detail but the wording "gasoline stoppage" seems to imply a mechanical fault rather than operator error. https://caspir.warplane.com/crashcards_pdf/0006/00000035.pdf

Nice work on the masking! Oh, that Revell scheme takes me back. My older brother subscribed to RAF Flying Review (anyone else old enough to remember that title?) and they illustrated The Millie G (as The Millie P) in a colour side view in the 1950s. The artwork was said to have been based on one of the group's ground crew's recollections. Then Revell copied it and we're off to the races.. It's easier to check these things nowadays but we sure did have fun.

As I understand it, damaged boots could tear away and flap about, causing more damage to an aircraft already in trouble. Late in the war it seems this led to cost/benefit decisions to remove them. A good googling reveals examples and especially have a look at the famous A Bit O' Lace. It was delivered in NMF with the boots installed but they were removed after major battle damage and replacement of some components. It was photographed before and after the repairs, just as the European fighting ended. The area under the boots was in NMF. I suspect (but do not know) if camouflaged machines were painted first and the boots applied afterward. Certainly there are pictures (alas in black and white) of camouflaged F models with the strips removed, revealing what looks like NMF. Seems like a lot of masking would have been involved at the factory. . . BTW, if you find the colour (ie. original colour) photos made by Charles Brown of A Bit O' Lace there is a wealth of colour and airframe detail to be seen.

After a search of CASPIR I believe there were 10 conversions in total, so more a rare mod than one might think. The nose extension wasn't the only modification for the 10AR - see also the heater intakes above the wing, under nose radome, camera fit and others. Don't forget the nose mod also included two different observation treatments in place of the turret. A man could go mad . . . Some of the survivors went on the be displayed as gate guardians and such and became subject to further modification by their new owners. KB839 apparently did 26 trips with 405 Sqn pre-VE-Day and was pictured at Scoudouc on arrival home in June. Years later and after Mk.10AR service it was displayed at CFB Greenwood during which time it lost its nose extension, but not the other mods. Note to the wise etc, etc. I wonder if we aren't making the nose mod more difficult by assuming you need to replicate the 40 inch plug? Might it be simpler to saw the nose off a second kit and stick it on the front of the model? One cut line to fill rather than two. Much filler would still be needed but there would be no need to contour too dramatically. The Matchbox kit has a separate nose section, the separation just at the assembly joint. I have often thought it would be a good start for a Lancastrian, so justifying the expense. It's tempting to think of the extension as a simple plug, similar to what (I think) the Australians did with their late Lincolns but that isn't what happened here. The linked picture of KB882 in service illustrates the curvature.

I know nothing about ex-Canadian Venturas going to the States. On the other hand, where you stand often depends on where you sit. The purchasers might look on these projects as bringing them home. Sorry to see them go? Sure, but they are getting a home.

I should have mentioned that 1557 was built by Westlands as V9358 and re-serialled 1557 when it was taken on RCAF charge. Just one of those tidbits ("bits of tid", as my wiseacre daughter says) that makes the story complete and gives it texture.

Re: 1557 at Patricia Bay I have found out it is one of the Westland-built Mk. III, shipped to Canada and erected (and converted to a TT) by Fleet at Crumlin (ie London Ontario). So implying that any differences that might exist from a UK-standard TT ought to be present. Also, it was issued to Western Air Command and sent to Patricia Bay within 6 months of conversion; it seems never to have been used by any other unit. That bright trim colour sure looks like white, can't imagine what else it might be. It certainly adds some zip - as if that were needed - to what I have heard called the Oxydol scheme.

Don't forget that target tugs of all types often (usually? always?) had cables running above and below the tailplanes to prevent the drogue cable from fouling the control surfaces. Basically, high on the fin to tailplane tip and back to the fuselage ahead of the tailwheel. I imagine contending with trainee gunners was dangerous enough, better not to include self-inflicted wounds in your logbook.

There used to be a segment of this hobby that took on tasks like that. Airfix Magazine (June 1965) pictured a DH Hornet made from Airfix kits: Mosquito for the rear fuselage and wing, Me 110 for the centre fuselage, props from a pair of Mustangs. The canopy was donated by a Hunter. It didn't look bad! The idea was not unrelated to the Alan W Hall articles in the same publication, the ones that got many a teenaged modeller on the track to using their imagination and not just what came in the box or off the resin rack.

The key seems to be whether the finish yellows over time. Future used to be sold on the basis that it won't but I have no experience with others. Remember too that the name changes from country to country. And within the same country from time to time. It might - or might not - be the same product you think you are talking about. It's a good idea to try it before committing to a large project. I have heard good things about artist's acrylic varnishes too. I intend to try them, one day. As for me, I haven't bought any acrylic floor stuff since I took up the no-wax floors and laid ceramic tile. It's backbreaking work but the result is vastly better. 🙂

Interesting scheme too, as a prototype (note the circled P) I guess it had yellow undersides? And the mixture of Type A underwing roundels and Type C fin flash.

Search under Short Stirling. The manufacturer's name trims things a bit. A Google search gave me 28 million hits, or so they said. I didn't count.

The masks might be superfluous if you have a good reference to work from and patience enough. I have had success just using a soft (HB) pencil to lay down the pattern. The pencil line doesn't need to be more than dark enough to follow and won't show under enamels. Can't say about acrylics. If you do use masks, a supplement to them: trace around the masks with the pencil and then remove the masks and paint freehand up to the lines. Any pattern error can be fixed with an artist's eraser. For that matter, there really isn't a need to paint the entire surface in the first colour. The pencil also works well on bare plastic. This way, you don't end up obliterating surface detail with too many coats.

I'm curious as to why you say that. Accuracy? Fit?

I've only ever heard that the gull section was the error. Oh, and the wing has the long ailerons of the Mk IX but gives the option of the Mk,.VIII tailwheel. The rest seems to be a matter of season to taste. If detail is simplified, the modeller has a clean slate to work from. Of course, it doesn't say "Eduard / Hasegawa / Tamiya / etc / etc" on the box. A deal breaker for some.

I've always liked that kit. Hawk (whose kits morphed into Testors) made good clean kits without a lot of fussy parts, though the patch of water is a lot of fun.. I particularly like the way they handled the fabric wings. The Ryan was released in - drum roll - 1965: it gives the lie to equations of old kit with bad kit. There are many pictures on the 'net of preserved machines and warbirds if you are looking for details. The polished ones can be really bad for the eyes if you are up close on a sunny day! Edit: By the way, the radial-engined versions had wings swept back some, I think caused by a shift in weight, so it's not just an engine swap. Odd too is NC17305, a Menasco-powered ST with a fake radial engine and cowling installed. It was used in the movie Dive Bomber as a "British fighter". Some fun and I have ogled but not tried doing that one from time to time.

Scalemates does list this as a re-release of the Accurate Miniatures kit so a search of reviews under that name?