sanguin

There are quite a few pictures on the internet. If you use the links at the bottom of this site: http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/buccaneer/survivor.php?id=110 you will find plenty of them. You have quoted the serial number as XT897, that is/was a Phantom, the Bucc is XX897, you will find a lot more images if you do a search on that number. Your Matchbox built kit/spare nosecone is probably the easiest option to go for, the Airfix Bucc isn't the best starting point but when I have cornered the market in the The Kit That Nobody Wants i have to do something with them. Mrs Sanguin has mentioned a tree and tinsel, so it would seem that a visit to the loft is now imminent. John

The Buccaneer was XX897, it had the early 'high demarcation' EDSG over white colour scheme and large roundels/fin flash in red/blue only. Like the other Buccaneers that tested the Tornado GR and F2/3 radar and systems, the radar nose was tilted downward (as in the Tornado itself). My 2015 project (a grand title for a plan that may or may not happen.....) is to build all of the major trials Buccs. XX897 has quite a few 'post trials' pictures on the internet, but I have only found two that show the RN colour scheme. The rest are in its civilian scheme, very nice and a b***er to paint! Both RN images are good views from the starboard side which will give you a reasonable chance of doing a bit of comparative measuring to see how long it is from the base of the windscreen forwards. There is another side view in one of my books, but I will have to search for that. I have never seen a drawing of the installation. When I go loftwards for the obligatory Chrissie decs I will peer into the stash and recover an Airfix Bucc and my various Tornado kits and have a play. We shall see. The Airfix Bucc is the only kit I have encountered that owning up to having more than one actually devalues your stash and dents your modelling cred. I have four of them.....hello, Mr Revell reissue of the Matchbox kit........ John

Perhaps it is two erks doing jankers? Rather better than painting coal, anyway. When you finish with the paint you have to polish your boots..... John

Wings On My Sleeve, Eric 'Winkle'Brown, chapter four. 11th September 1942, first Seafire landing on HMS Biter in the Clyde 'just before lunch'. No details of the aircraft given (although it must be in his log book), but he landed on an unattended flight deck, having failed to see the signal flag 'G' for 'Go Home' as everybody was at lunch! His second landing, date not given, resulted in a torn off hook and a crash into the island. However, he states that his CO, Commander Peter Bramwell, had been the first to land a Spitfire/Seafire on a carrier, date not specified. These links may tell you something: http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/aircraft/spitfire.htm http://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Seafire/MkVb-RN-BL676.html Was it BL676 or its new identity as MB32? John Thanks, Graham, you beat me to it with much better information!

The only non-standard colours were from the RAE, as far as I know. This one appeared here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/40480-custom-decals/ An apparent 'Royal Navy' Shack is something rather different...... The RAE/ETPs also flew a T4 for many years with big orange/dayglo nose/tail/wingtips. John

Trying to make amends for my previous 'Failure To Read The Question", Have you seen this: http://www.network54.com/Forum/282066/thread/1411349069/WWI+Beutepanzer+colors It may be helpful. There are two links within the thread, both are worth a look. This is the Tamiya beute colourscheme: http://www.network54.com/Forum/282066/thread/1410359541/TAKOM+v+TAMIYA+Mk+IV I hope this helps this time...... John

Ninety eight years later, who can really say? Seriously, as with much of the debate about aircraft colours, it all depends on what was available, how it was prepared, how it was applied and what colour was underneath. Tamiya make the kit and the paint, I would go with them. The colours they give make as much sense as any others and once dust, fog, rain, sun and mud have worked their magic with the final tones. In the field or even first line workshops Bert or Albrecht had some enamel in tins, petrol or similar thinners, brushes of variable quality and little time. They got a coat of paint, it hopefully dried and that was it. Just enjoy it and if anyone questions your finish, ask them for definitive proof that they are right and you are wrong. Heresy for some, but what the hell, life's too short.... John

Yak-9, Yak-11, that is inflation for you..... I have just bought the Eduard MiG15 Profipack on a mere whim and it is just what I want from a kit in terms of contents. Good plastic, useful resin etc, reasonable markings, I hope the instructions match the reality and masks that should be usable. I will let you know after the build (in parallel with an Airfix kit, just for fun really). John

The turboprop Yak-40 test aircraft is something else. Did actually ever fly just on prop power? Seriously, if somebody WHIFFed that it would be laughed at with such a tiny prop. Just got to be something to put into Raspberry Ripple..... John

I am not convinced that the roundels have a white surround; if there is one then it would not be visible in 1/72. See: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyosborne/5370775878/ and http://www.rickinghamphotography.co.uk/content/2010/curium.php The second series also give you a chance to go from pristine to dirty if you want to! I am undecided if the roundel blue is perhaps just slightly paler than the fuselage blue, but I think it is an optical illusion...... I am awaiting my Kopro markings, who knows I may even finish a kit this year! John

The other images on the Henstridge site are interesting. Apart from a rather forlorn and bogged Curtiss Seamew (?FN628 as in the Sword kit) there are one or two other interesting pictures. The B-17 with only three propellors was, presumably, another visitor who dropped in. The 'triangle P' indicates the 384th Bomb Group, is the serial '231058' or could it start '25' and end in '59'? Then we have a few Barracudi making the place untidy and either Seafires or Spitfires (one of which sports a sky fuselage band) about the place. One shot showing the apron in front of the hangar may also feature the Typhoon agin. Any comments from others who may know more, please? John

Dear Richard, Not an easy question to answer. Like you, I was only able to find the one image in 'War prizes'. You are, I presume, looking to build it as a War Prize 1945-1950 model rather than a later colour scheme. I went to the book index and looked up every other Grunau Baby image. Apart from one in French hands with a 'sqiggle' uppersurface camouflage and one other with an apparent mid fuselage line with a darker tone above, all seemed to be basically cream with no real markings other than fuselage codes/serials in presumably black or dark blue. White overall is unlikely due to the pigments needed, cream was the more likely standard colour. Gliders in the UK at that time rarely went across the channel; the fuselage roundel, the serial/Royal Navy marking and whatever is written near the nose are the only markings. Contemporary RNAS gliders appeared to have no upperwiing roundels or underwing serials. I Googled 'RNAS gliders', try that and look through the Google images. Some interesting stuff there, none of the oldies have wing roundels. This may be useful, too: http://www.pngc.co.uk/pngchistory.htm and try page 27 onward of this vintage PDF (not an ancient PDF, a PDF of something old.....): http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpages/VGC%20News%201973-2003/No_61_Spring_1987.pdf If you cannot find the definitive colour scheme, just accept that your best-guess will be hard for anybody else to say is wrong. There are some YouTubes of period film of Grunau Baby gliders flying-try to replicate their near-translucent wings behind the main spar! Good Luck, John

The current Wolfpack catalogue: http://www.wolfpack-d.com/htm/catalog48.html has the 1/48 wingfold set as item WP48112, still current. Boring though it may be, it specifies it is for the Kinetic kit-if your set is WP48112 have you got the Kinetic kit? I have had resin bits in the past that were very much one-make specific, sometimes you can file or fill to make up for it using a different moulding from a different company. However with something as obvious as a wing chord/profile you have a problem. Provided that you have the right kit to match the resin they supplied, go back to Wolfpack. I am sure they would like to know there is a problem rather than just get second hand reports that someone is dissatisfied. In my experience most companies would like to be told something is wrong and have the opportunity to resolve it. Good luck! John

Paul, The Tamiya 1/700 set is meant to represent Japanese tugs/water tanker/barges etc but in 1/700 who can honestly say? There is on e on UK eBay at the moment, but from Japan. Have you seen this site? What was HMS Barcross, renamed Somerst and it was docked in Cape Town at least until a few years ago: http://www.sa-transport.co.za/military/navy/sas_somerset.html That entire website is worth a look for all manner of South African transport, be it on wheels, water or wings: http://www.sa-transport.co.za/ Good Luck, John

A trio of links that may not be as helpful as you would like, but they are probably reasonably truthful: http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/docrepository/AirpowerMalayan.pdf The bit that is relevant to you is from page 54 onward. http://ukmamsoba.org/history_valetta.htm And for a different, but very relevant, story: http://www.nmbva.co.uk/Roy%20Russell%20book.pdf From my limited experience, most parachutists seem to care little about the aircraft they jump out of. As long as it gets them to where they are due to jump and nobody gets hurt on the way out (the landing is down to them to some extent) then forget it. However, please look at the RAAF and the RNZAF as they both contributed aircraft and men to the Malaysian Emergency, particularly in terms of delivering freight and people. Good luck. John

Of course you can always go for the more exotic weaponry to get people more interested: http://moderndrawings.jexiste.be/WW2Drawings/Files/2-Airplanes/Allies/3-UK/08-Others/Miles-Master/Miles-MasterMk2.htm It was a genuine project that came to nothing. Is there a gunsight/rocketsight? I have no idea for this one, but i assume that it was meant to be aimed somehow from straight and level flight (hence the long horizontal datum line). Also it is a MkII. Kits seem to be of the I or III in plastic, I suspect that only the Magna resin is of the Mk II, is this correct? John

I bookmarked this website years ago and have just rediscovered it, for some reason it was in my 'ephemera' folder and not 'aviation': www.postcardpost.com/green.htm It is a fascinating and useful source of information on classic airlines and many of their aircraft. There is also stuff on the pilots, crews and engineers who made them fly. Some of it (not a lot, I admit) is even in colour. Just because many of them are postcards I filed them somewhere that I rarely look. I hope someone finds it helpful, John

1948 vintage, so I am older than the Vulcan and Victor kits. It is debatable who has worn better and looks more presentable, though, me or the plastic. In my LHS the Victor is £32 and the ancient Robert E Lee sternwheeler I built as kid is over £60! Mrs sanguin assures me that at those prices she should have invested in the kits in 1971 and not in marrying me..... John

Many thanks for that, Ed. The picture is helpful in that it seems to offer a variation on 'Pumpkin'. V4689/G has a seemingly smaller (20-25%?) light on a short pole mounted under the starboard wing. There are no battery packs visible. It also has ASV Mk XI. From the hazardous test that 'Winkle' took part in, adding rockets or depth charges to the radar + Pumpkin+batteries may well have meant not being able to leave the ground. I cannot recall that bit from 'Winkles' book, but with all the aircraft, trials and experiments he flew losing that must be <1% of my memory of his story. Edgar mentioned Water Snowflake, this was a rocket-launched starshell that was designed to illuminate surfaced submarines at night. It could be fitted to all sorts of ships, both military and merchant. There are references to it being buoyant, which I presume meant the illuminant floating when it fell back onto the sea surface and burning until it expired. Glow Worm is still a mystery to me, Google in all sorts of ways keeps being hijacked by reports of HMS Glowworm taking on the Hipper; such an incredible story justifiably takes precedence. Thanks again, John

Just as an aside, A&AEE reported that 'Pumpkin' reduced the maximum speed of the Swordfish by 5 mph. I was always under the impression that the speed of a Swordfish was more directly related to wind direction and the Beaufort scale than any matters of power or drag. John

Looking on the internet for Sword fish images I found this: www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/Fairey-Swordfish/Swordfish_V4689_October_1943_IWM_photo_via_Brendan_Cowan?full=1 This is Mk I that was sent to Australia in a crate along with five others. It was unpacked, erected, flown on missions by the RAAF, dismantled, crated and sent back to Britain. One of those wartime mystery stories: www.adf-messageboard.com.au/invboard/index.php?showtopic=1958 The large photo shows it as V4689/G at Boscombe with A&AEE testing ASV radar and with a small searchlight under the starboard wing. This light is 'Pumpkin', presumably a mini Leigh light that, with the radar, must have put a huge load on the electrics. There is another picture, taken from below and slightly to starboard, of the same aircraft in 'The Secret Years' p323. It is almost a silhouette but shows Pumpkin as either a sphere or a short cylinder with a hemispherical front on a short pylon under the wing. The same image is also in 'From The Cockpit No 10 Swordfish'. Can anybody tell me anything more about Pumpkin? In this case Google has failed to be friendly..... Also, any ideas on the colour scheme for V4689/G? The underside of the wings indicates pale grey or sky, the under fuselage seems much darker. Low demarcation slate/EDSG perhaps? Is there a sky band with the serial/Royal Navy in black? Any colour guidance welcome, plus any info on Pumpkin if known. My pending Airfix+Pavla Mk III awaits your words! Thansk. John

It's all here, Paul. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234947695-gloster-meteor-f8-and-t7-in-the-tt-role/?hl=%2Btarget+%2Btug The information on this site is amazing! Enjoy the build, John

Monica, the tail warning radar, used an arrow-shaped dipole antenna at the extreme rear of the fuselage just under the turret. This may hep about Monica: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234939223-monica-tail-warning-radar/ Bomber Command used a wide range of radio countermeasures and spoofing, many of which have aerials that i know nothing about an some of which are well known. See here for the systems: http://www.vectorsite.net/ttwiz_08.html#m3 I hope this helps, Jari. I know what it is not, but I do not know what it is! John

Dear Phil, No masks that I know of, Steel Beach did 1/48th masks for the F-18A splinter scheme, but not the F-14. Google can give some support, perhaps. Have you seen this which may be helpful: http://www.hyperscale.com/features/2001/f14constructiondwa_4.htm http://kitmaniac.com/forum/index.php?/topic/503-f-14a-nsawc-sukkoi-scheme-academy-148/ and closer to home: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234927504-f-14-aggressor-in-splinter-camo/ I hope this is of some use, good luck, John

At least that wonderful bit of film confirms one thing for me. The Meteor code letters for 500 Squadron were indeed red and not black...... Lovely bit of nostalgia, thanks for giving us the link. John