At Sea

As above really. Kinetic for the Harrier Family, and they will surely bring out a GR.3 some time soon. Kitty Hawk or Revell / Airfix for the Jaguar. advantages and disadvantages to both it seems. Airfix Javelin & Lighting are excellent and I really enjoyed building mine. Airfix's Gnat is great and amazingly little! Hasegawa / Revell Phantom FGR.2 / FG.1 (43 & 111 used the FG.1). Airfix for the Canberra. I'd wait for Tan-Model's Buccaneer personally. Someone needs to make a good Vampire, but Trumpeter do an FB.9 that looks like an FB.5 from a distance. Tamiya make a very very good Meteor. Not tried Airfix's. Someone needs to make a Jet Provost in 1/48. It would suit Airfix's portfolio. Airfix for the TSR.2 with issues, but if you are going down THAT road why not build an F-111K. On the subject of trainers Airfix do an okay Hawk T.1 and there are loads of aftermarket decals and parts about to make one of the 'combat colours' versions. Think that's my thoughts exhausted.

Thanks again chaps, very useful info and I will try and find that Sea King book. @MarkdipXV711 straight from the proverbial horse's mouth is always the best source, so thank you. I'll bear what you say in mind, and as with most of these things it's very Airframe specific. An early HAS5 as part of the IFTU (700S?) would be an interesting subject for a build. Living in Somerset the rumble of the mighty King is missed.

Excellent! Thanks for that.

@Ex-FAAWAFU @junglierating @hendie @MarkdipXV711 and any other knowledgeable Rotor-heads I couldn't think of at the time... I came across these pictures of a Sea King HAS.5 (I think) and the sponsons are definitely not your average Westland ones and look very similar to the ones used by the USN on their ASW Sea Kings. Given I have a Revell Sea King in 1/48 then these sponsons could allow me to build a FAA Sea King 'on the cheap'. I'd still have to remove the flare dispenser from the port side ones and find a HAS.5 radome (unless these were used on HAS.2) but the Stbd. one is a dead ringer. Question is, why did they use these for what appears to be a short time before reverting to the conventional sponson? Early and Late FAA Sea Kings don't look like this AFAIK. Happy to be educated. NB: Credit to original photographers and images only reproduced for educational / illustrative purposes.

Looks right. If Tanmodel don't hurry up I may be embarking on one!

Thanks, the Polar Grey is the bottom half of the fuselage, basically Barley or Camouflage Grey.

I'll play along. Want: 1/72 Vulcan 1/72 Lincoln 1/48 Westland Seaking 1/48 RN Merlin 1/48 Chipmunk 1/48 Scimitar 1/48 Gannet 1/48 Tempest Bonkers ideas which I would buy: 1/24 Lightning 1/24 Spitifre XIX

Thanks Chaps.

Fabulous build, Fabulous pictures & a Fabulous story!

Brilliant work!

As mentioned in my 92 Squadron post earlier I planned to build a 1/48 Lightning in a Grey scheme. Here it is, 5 squadron from 1987, one of the last of the Lightnings in service. Built using the Airfix kit, out of the box, painted using Halfords Ford Polar Grey, Humbrol Dark Sea Grey and Humbrol light grey 27 (under the wings which looks much darker in the pictures). Flory wash and a satin varnish. Xtra Decal squadron markings and kit stencils etc.

Good evening all, I got a bit of a steal on eBay and found this started Lightning F.2A/F.6 for £15. A real Mojo restorer! There were some parts painted and built and the decals were unuseable as they were water damaged, so having an F.6 which I intended to build in a grey scheme I hatched a plan to use the 11 squadron stencils and some Model Alliance decals to build the 'King Cobra', Flagship 92 of Wing Cdr Mitchell. Humbrol metal cote aluminium was used for the undersides with some panels picked out in Bare Metal Foil (Matte Aluminium). Topsides were Humbrol 163 aerosol with a Flory wash and tonal variation was acheived by using matte and satin lacquers on different panels. Enjoy.

The Vulcan is salvageable... but when I have a lot more enthusiasm.

I take back everything I have said about this kit. I had got to the stage where the upper and lower wings were joined, the cockpit was in and the lower fuselage was going in. It seems that it is not the same length, so spent a long time glueing a bit, then working along and getting the shape right etc etc. I have also built the tail cone and once the fusealge-wing assemble was dry I test fitted it... ...No where near the right shape, to scale the thing is out by feet! Why am I buggering about with this when I have so many nice new modern kits in stock? It's a horrible kit, you may as well get a tub of P38 filler and carve a Vulcan out of it. I am ashamed to say that I have placed it in a big box and put it on the shelf of doom. All is not lost though! I will complete this GB with some British Flying Heavy Metal in the form of my 1/72 Airfix Victor B.2. Coming shortly!

Stunning work as usual! Very impressed.