At Sea

2x Typhoons very low over Poole just now. very unusual place to see them. Wonder if they have been doing a spot of affiliation with the Tank chaps?

I wonder if the GR.3 (or to be more precise the laser nose bits as GR.3 refers to the airframe not the nose I think?) sprue is included? If so XtraDecal did a great GR.3 sheet in 1/48 they could upscale. I hope the 1/24 Harrier is out there to test the market. Thinking of equivalent sized British jets kitted in smaller scales by Airfix a 1/24 Hawk or Lightning could be a possibility if there is sufficient uptake. I would love a 1/24 Folland Gnat. I don’t know if the 1/24 kits make much money for Airfix or a prestigious loss leaders. But I am pleased they are aiming high.

In 1/48 to complement Eduard’s excellent Spitfire Vc would be welcome too!

Not just by me! I confess I forgot the Manchester.

I have 2 on pre order. Not only that but having resisted 1/24 for years I am going to buy a cabinet just for them, so will end up probably doing a Typhoon and Hellcat as well. The modular construction of the rear under the tail certainly allows for a Mk.VIII. This is the best news for Airfix as I think I can't be the only one who will use this as a gateway drug into Airfix's other 1/24 kits. My wish lists are being full filled with alarming regularity... 1/72 V-Bombers. Completed. Tick! 1/72 1970's FAA. Buccaneer & Phantom, waiting on Wessex, Gannet Sea Vixen & Scimitar. 1/72 Bomber Command. Whitley, Lancaster, Wellington, waiting on Hampden, Battle, Stirling & Halifax. Keep it up Airfix. Wonderful work.

Because it’s a Spitfire and they do that! No such thing as a ‘standard spit. On a more serious note the original 2 bladed fixed pitch was replaced with a variable pitch 3 blades ‘small spinner’ Rotol. The Mk.II early on in production got a constant speed DH prop which has a short but fulsome shape spinner. The Mk.V got a Rotol constant speed unit which has thicker blades & a much larger spinner more commonly associated with the Mk.V. Given that there is a degree of interchangeability & either local repair or inconsistent naming of equipment (See Mk.IX.LF.B MH434 discussions) it’s quite the minefield. I thnk the spreadsheet for that one would be quite the undertaking!

Notwithstanding my above comment; An excellent build of a beautiful ship, such a shame she can’t be saved, even as Jeff Bezos’ private yacht would be better than a seagull roost!

No she wouldn’t. I have never seen any Class or Flag requirements like that. Items like life saving equipment & fire fighting installations would need updating but ships are allowed to remain ‘as built’ as regards visibility.

Superb.

Yes. Good point, but given the construction of the Eduard radiators it could be simple to ‘deepen’ them. No! Stop it! by the time I have got all the bits sorted out and started to do the conversion an Eduard Griffon kit will be out! Given a Mk.XII is just a fuselage, prop & exhausts away from a V. And a lot of the IX could be recycled into the XVI, the fuselage sprue could incorporate the new rad parts, it’s only a matter of time. Add to that a D wing sprue incorporating deeper oil tank & a new transparency moulding allows a XI or an XIX from the IX or XIV kits it’s too obvious a progression.

If you take the spare fuselage from Eagles Call & add it to the spare E wing I have left over from my Royal Class IX then add in a resin Griffon engine (which negates any cowling issues) and a spare 5 bladed prop from the spares box you get an Eduard XIVe high back… …this could get out of hand.

Beautiful finish, my refernce build for the one I am currently plodding though. Nose gear landing light noted. Sorry for your loss.

Fleetscale sell the hull for this vessel. As I am currently Captain of it I have a full set of drawings on a memory stick. 1GB and 400 files. The poor old girl is being sold I see no commercial issue with making these available to anyone who wants to build this model. PM me and post me a blank stick & I’ll return you a full one.

Hi there, I know you guys aren't RAM Models but you did print the decals for their excellent Early British Phantom sets in 1/72 and 1/48. May I request ever so humbly that f these are ever re-issues that you add a couple of Silver RR Rolls Royce intake cowling badges as per airliners for the XT857 airframe and also add the decals for XT596 as she stands at Yeovilton. XT597 has been done many times, but XT596 is the only original YF-4K in existence and is essentially just a standard EDSG RN Phantom with the addition of the below logo, just aft of the port roundel. Thank you.

Threw some paint at it: Tamiya AS-9 RAF Dark Green = RLM71 Tamiya AS-29 IJN Gray Green = RLM02 Tamiya AS-5 Luftwaffe LightBlue = RLM65 I think the RLM02 on the topsides looks a little too pale, but really happy with the finish & the masking so may not mess with it.

Nothing is dampening my enthusiasm for this kit. Checking my kits & washing some mould release agent off is a lot easier than filling & rescribing!

It’s probably the launch of the Airfix Vulcan clearing the shelves!

Ford Frozen White is a White White, if that makes any sense. BMW Alpine White is also pretty pure. For a V-Bomber Transit Standard Ford Diamond White is too cream & will not do.

Stunning work. There are some very good pictures of downed B-17 in Heinz Knoke's I flew for the Fuhrer. This captures the feel of the picture very well,

I think it works brilliantly, would have been a good alternative to the Skyraider. Some of the stuff used in Vietnam looked no less bonkers to be honest; Bronco's, Super Connies, Cessna Skymasters, bendy helicopters (Piasecki H-21), Helicopters with 99% of them missing (S-64 Skycrane) etc etc. The Do335 would have fitted right in!

Looks at his brushes. Looks at his hands. Sighs. Fabulous modelling and really superb skills.

The FG.1 bits are in quite high demand as they allow someone to convert the Revell (Hasegawa re-pop) FGR.2 into the very hard to find FG.1. So if you aren't going to do that yourself I would suggest that you could raise a reasonable sum of money on a well known auction site with them. Same goes for the kit decals.

Regarding the intakes the way I have done it on my Victor (which has a similar assembly) was to pre paint the parts in Halfords White Primer, I then assembles using Tamiya extra thin, the glue that squidges out of the join mixes with the paint and hides the joints pretty well. Using the same technique on the Airfix Phantom resulted in no sanding or extra work required at all.

Sorry for no step by step updates but this just falls together so delightfully! A real Mojo restorer of a kit! In this last picture the stepped panel line is the joint between fuselage and wing, the straight one to the left is a poorly moulded panel line. I'm staggered by the fit of this kit and have built a few Eduard Spitfires. Am a fully paid up Eduard 109 fan now!

Ahh, my lack of knowledge seeping through. I presumed that the B.1 shared nose and tail, which would have made it simple to do. So very typical of a British manufacturer to make a updated version of something that shares nothing with the Mk.1!