tomkil

Top scheme. Makes a change from the usual RAF colours.

You can never have enough Lancs and this is a lovely build of what is now a rather ancient kit. And I can remember building one when they were first released and I couldn't imagine models could get any better.

Superb. And absolutely first class presentation!

Brilliant. Love the wood effect in particular.

Cracking job. Echo previous comments: that looks 1/48 at least!

Looks like you could step in and fly it!

Stand-out display!

An utter gem!

Yes, this gets the award for the best modelling of a FROG kit I've seen.

Great scheme!

Top job and as ever the backstory really brings it to life.

Excellent. Israeli schemes always impress.

Yes, superb. I have to get me one of these French jobs! And why did Airfix never have a go at one of these back on the day? It was as if the French aircraft industry never made anything between the SPAD and the Mirage.

Only slightly off topic, and I may have mentioned this before but I am sure I remember Revell running a competition back in the 70s to win a flight in a Lancaster. It was the usual 'collect the ends of box-tops' kind of thing. In my part of Birmingham, Revell kits were as rare as Frog so I couldn't collect the required number by the deadline but I sent in my entry anyway together with a pleading letter explaining my situation. Unsurprisingly I never heard anything back...

Just in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar position, I thought I'd let you know how I got on. I sourced a Sparmax needle from GraphicAir but it hadn't registered that I'd also need to replace the jet (I should have read your post more carefully Bonhoff!) and found the Sparmax needle wouldn't fit. Anyway, I thought I'd order the Sparmax jet but GraphicAir tell me that it wouldn't fit the G35. I'm not sure they're right but I'm loathe to order one on the off-chance because you're paying half the value of the item for postage alone and if you're having to return items it soon gets ridiculously expensive. As it is, the cost of postage and packing combined with the cost of returning the item for a refund is going be as much as the value of the needle itself.

Superb modelling and it looks a peach in that scheme.

And of course there was the move away from anything that suggested aircraft might be used for any purpose other than simply flying around in - which led to the neutering of much of Roy Cross's superb Airfix box-top art.

Nice to hear people's reminiscences about not seeing FROG kits around very much when they were younger. There was an empty shop in a terrace back in the early 1970s on Rookery Road in Handsworth in Birmingham that must have sold the kits at some point because there was one of those banners across the top of the shop window advertising FROG kits. It always prompted a wish to be able to go back in time - even though I'd imagine the shop had only closed down a few short years before - to see what it would have been like in its prime. I imagined it having a huge stock of kits of all kinds carefully selected by an old fellah who'd served in the trenches during the First War. FROG were just so quirky in their choice of subjects compared to Airfix. I'd see the odd FROG kit around but I guess by the time I was really getting into modelling they'd already had their day. Like for so many us, Woolworths was my shop of choice and of course it seemed they only did Airfix. Still remember coming across Tamiya kits for the first time though in Arthur Penn's wonderful little model shop on College Road. Ah, the nostalgia! What a fantastic thread this is.

Thanks for the advice gents. I've gone down the Sparmax route.

Managed to bend the needle while cleaning my airbrush - I know! The UK supplier has none in stock and is unlikely to for several weeks. I don't suppose anyone knows of a dealer that's likely to stock spares?

Nice job! Just wondering, how did you do the star on the turret? Paint or decal?

Hey, whatever happened to this?

Super model. And I would have thought that front gunner would have needed a head for heights even on the ground!

Super work. I have one on the shelf and your work is an inspiration to get it down and start on it. I especially like the camouflage effect you've achieved - often the definition between the earth and the green seems too pronounced and doesn't reflect the look of the aircraft in photographs. You've got it spot on. And I agree with others above that the Hercules engines look more 'businesslike' somehow.

Thanks gents. Yes, I've tried posting in Wanted but no joy as yet. Your idea makes sense Pigpen, though the mirrors are very conspicuous - I'm not sure whatever I could do would ever look quite right.