RJP

Best to be aware that late Wirraways had a plain flap whereby the upper surface was attached to the flap and came down with it when the flaps were lowered. The original variants had a split flap (the upper surface stayed stationery while the lower surface was lowered). Early machines also had a triangular cutout next to the aileron. When the changes were made I do not know but photographs are available on the 'net.

Relic was one of my favourites. Sitting at the counter in Molly's Reach, staring at the new hifalutin menu. "Quickie Lorraine! Who's Quickie Lorraine?" I have now lost any possible excuse for passing on the Airfix Lancaster II.

Civil Aviation Authority lists G-AIFV as a Mk 21. Certainly the interior shots used were a freight carrier, not a Wayfarer.

I have a copy of that photo (also a download) in my files. The caption says they are Monica aerials. I'm not quite sure why a day bomber flying in a large formation would need a tail warning radar though I suppose it could have had other uses. Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, says the USAAF used Monica as a radar altimeter to drop Little Boy on Hiroshima. I suppose that makes sense though I claim no actual knowledge!

You might have a look for the 1957 film starring Jack Hawkins The Man in the Sky (released in the U.S. as Decision Against Time). It appears on late TV sometimes and is available on DVD. Much of the movie takes place aboard G-AIFV on loan from Silver City posing as a new experimental transport. Hawkins plays a test pilot struggling to bring the prototype back safely after an engine fire and there is much cockpit and cabin footage. My question is this - how much of it is studio set and how much real interior? If it isn't the real thing, Ealing went to a lot of trouble. . .

If you have the serial you can find the block number on Joe Baugher's site: http://www.joebaugher.com/ Lots of good stuff there.

It's worth remembering that serials were applied at the factory so with few exceptions were of uniform presentation. Standards for construction and finish - read contractual obligations - had to be enforced, how else can the factory deliver a proper product? Codes are a different matter. They were applied out at the squadrons, several steps removed from the factory. I am not suggesting there were no controls but units exercised a good deal of discretion that wasn't available to the manufacturers. Some Lancaster examples: 12 Squadron machines could be seen with the squadron and individual letters grouped aft of the roundel, 44 Squadron used small squadron letters and larger individual ones. Not all machines, apparently, and not forever. As always, photos tell the tale.

I'm wondering about those crew members. The original Airfix pilot blobs weren't that good, especially back in 1957 or so when this kit first saw daylight. These guys look more like the mid 60s ones and I wonder if the moulds were retreaded as time went by? The rest of the parts seem as I remember them, sixty years (!) on. I must have had one of the very early bagged ones - 29 cents at the time - because I remember painting it Pactra yellow with black blotches to match the bag header.

Because it was the serial number that counted, really the surest way to keep track of an airframe. The code letter, while interesting after the fact, would not have had much relevance to getting the work done. This is not limited to air force units either. My wife has just finished tracking her great grandfather's service in WW I and she noted the wide variation in the paperwork detail between battalions.

I'd like to see more on this, if possible. I've never given it a lot of thought and always supposed that they were standard machines diverted after completion but before delivery to a mod. shop. Then on to trials and finally the squadron. Apart from the disproportionate effort involved, setting up a separate line would seem a sure way to attract unwanted attention?

The country was called Burma back then, so anyone searching for Spitfire references will be more successful using that name.

A link to one: http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK-Air-Force/Hawker-Hurricane-Mk2C/1454370?qsp=eJwljTEOwjAQBP%2BydRoiCuQOeAAUfOB0d4ojILbORsSK8ncuoRvNrnYXcJqqzvXRsiKgKBlHdMhk9C4IC57avsnEGfFjNjJNuhViqulKVYdkDaE/dSjJ6sUZ4vrMrLmq4O9vJmpbpIX3%2BcHvDg5q953RH93LWPKLtg0mE6zrD58CNfw%3D

That certainly brought me up short, a long forgotten detail from the 1950s! My older brother had a Revell (B-29?) that had that impossible contraption but he (and I when I was old enough) early on decided stands didn't help the realism and from then on they were binned as soon as the box was opened. Airfix kits had stands of varying sizes, I suppose to match the size and weight they had to support. The completed models were prone to falling over at even the suggestion of a feather duster and by the time their 1/72 B-29 came along it was simply no longer question. Memory is whispering there was a stand, perhaps big and black. Airfix kits that came to North America in various re-boxings had black teardrop shaped stands with a textured surface. For its new 1/72 series of biplanes Monogram opted for little domes with truly vertical vertical bits. They attached through a small circular hole in the belly - much easier to fill and a lot less prone to having the AMT body putty of the day come dislodged. What a ghastly thing memory is!

Warpaint has the same picture captioned as X8559 of 809 Squadron on Victorious in 1942.

An attractive scheme but I think you'll need to do some more digging for details. The serial given in the artist's caption seems to be a Waco Hadrian. I wonder what information he had for that? Without a name to duplicate, you might be in luck for the scheme though. A white undercoat for the mouth and stripes, some gentle work with masking tape and the red goes right on.

To be clear, it's not the engines in the MPM kit that are the problem, it's the cowlings. I have the MPM Hudson I/II (but not the IV/V) parts laid out in front of me. Both the Wright R-1820s for the Mk I and the P&W R-1830s are provided and from reviews this seems also to be the case with the Mk IV/V kit. The cowlings in the I/II are only for the Wrights and in the Mk IV/V kit only for the P&Ws. The I/II has a number of parts evidently meant for other variants including the later exhausts and, it seems, intakes.

Unless there's another, I think you will find it is NX32CS, a T-6 that's been hacked about rather than a real Boomerang. It flew in the States for a number of years prior to going to Europe.

Belcher Bits also have 1/72 Lancaster wheels but be aware the tires are treaded and intended for late war / postwar machines operating from paved runways. Smooth tread for grass so they mightn't be appropriate for your build. http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/172conv/bl4.htm

The paint on those machines sure has seen better days. The nearest in the first shot seems to have some pretty ugly patches, just asking to be reproduced. The X looks like it is backed with fresh grey, and what about the rectangular thing below the cockpit? And is that some sort of emblem on the nose? More likely it is really just a very rough negative but if anyone finds out for sure I for one would like to know.

An appropriate Christmas build - the Sunderland was the Airfix Christmas kit in 1959. Back then they issued one high-series kit timed for the Christmas season, always a hit in our house. It was moulded in a very appropriate white so a failure to paint the camouflage was not so out of place but the model pretty well disappeared when I landed it in the backyard snow. I've had one in the stash for many years. The fuselage aft of the cockpit has some non-lethal warpage but is otherwise as remembered over 50 years later. I'm looking forward to your build.

The bush pilot portion of Captains was filmed on Lake Nipissing at North Bay Ontario. Ottawa had some scenes, outdoor stuff around Parliament Hill, the Chateau Laurier and the War Memorial. Uplands made an appearance and so did Trenton and Jarvis. I believe the ranges on Lake Erie (near Jarvis) were used for the bombing training scenes. When James Cagney and Alan Hale reported to No 1 Manning Pool that really was the Canadian National Exhibition grounds with the grandstand visible in the background.

Captains of the Clouds was shown occasionally on late night TV when I was growing up, special dispensation from mother for late night viewing and not on a school night. Television was all black and white back then and it was years later I discovered it was actually shot in Technicolor. I guess the family B&W TV didn't help either. It featured much gorgeous footage of bushplane activity on lakes in northern Ontario. Then they did a lot on active BCATP bases. Ansons, Battles, Harvards and Yales, Douglas Nomads and Finches. The Hudson sequence was indeed the climax, a delivery of Lend Lease machines over the Atlantic. The Hurricane from Yarmouth or Debert stood in for a 109. There is a story the pilot decided to beat up Halifax before he went back to base, causing much consternation. It is available on DVD and well worth the price.

Falcon makes what you want, a whole set of Spitfires of many manufacturers including an assortment of Tamiya early marks: http://www.falconmodels.co.nz/clearvax/set41.html

Since this seems to be a postwar question, could it be that the increased size of the intake was intended to accommodate a tropical dust filter? Not to subvert the topic too much but there have been references to enlarged rads on postwar machines as well. Same reason, tropical use? I have looked but never been able to nail it down.

Some time ago I did some digging around about 42-97976 Bit O Lace illustrated by that sheet. It was featured by both Airfix (their original kit ca 1962) and Hasegawa in the 1970s. Both kits had the Cheyenne tail like the original but both also had staggered waist guns, unlike the original. Bit of a kick in the pants, that. I was all set to do one from the new kit, but haven't got the energy to do the work to fix it. Foiled again.