Selwyn

Can you tell me what is the diameter/length of the re heat nozzles, I am at the moment converting the Frog offfering to a FAW 8 with a nose conversion I have, but I am not sure about the nozzles on this kit . It would be interesting to get an idea if they are too large or small. Selwyn

Best I start suing all the decal manuafacturers I use as just a quick check in my stash, shows a variation in size. Also you may notice that kit supplied sheets don't usually have the decal sizes marked on them anyway! Selwyn

In real life decerning a 2"diffference (thats 50.8mm) from a photo woud be nigh impossible. By the way that translates to the roundels being 0.705mm larger in 1/72 or 1.05mm in 1/48 which to me on a model would be within the printing tolerance of a decal anyway. Selwyn

QL production started in March 1941 so the refuller would be sometime after that. Se;lwyn

Are you doing the Bedford as well? If you are, remember the wartime Bedford would be in the same colour scheme as the AEC and don't fit the refuelling booms as this was a postwar addition. The kit Bedford colour scheme is a postwar scheme. I used the chassis and cab out of the airfix Bedford QLD / QLT kit as I thought it looked a lot better. Selwyn

Up to two bombs in the internal bomb bay, the WE177A small bomb was primarily a naval weapon. so unlikely to be seen on Germany. The bomb bays would be open in the HAS as the aircrew had to inspect and arm the bombs before flight. Selwyn

I read on the sheet notes 2 that the recommended kit for the sheet schemes was the airfix kit. Selwyn

Just a couple of quick nitpicks; The Matra rocket launchers in the kit are not Matra rocket launchers! They are No 7 2" rocket launchers which were not made by Matra. Don't use the yellow ring decal markings on the bombs for these colour schemes, They depict UK 1000lb bombs from 1980 onwards, before this the yellow markings were painted just behind the nose plug. They were repainted further back when paveway II bombs came into UK use as the bomb nose fairings covered the yellow hazard band, Selwyn

Nobody in their right mind would want to paint this aircraft in spawn of the devil 3 Sqn markings, Do it in proper 4 sqn markings! Selwyn EX 4 Sqn Harrier groundcrew at RAF Gutersloh , so not biased in any way of course!

The kit sprues are generic and come with two fuselages ,one for the standard bomber wellesley parts (6/7), and one for the Long Range Development Unit (LRDU) wellesley parts (8/9), which had a different engine installation with a streamline cowling. (compare the engine cowling to the boxtop picture to your kit box, I think the streamline cowling are parts 12 and 13). The kit you linked to is the bomber version so you have to use the appropriate fuselage /engine combination which I think is 6/7 and cowling 14/15. The kit instructions you linked to have no decal scheme for the LRDU option, other boxings (see my link above) do. I must admit the instruction sheet for this kit is a bit of a dogs dinner! Selwyn "Should have bought the matchbox Wellesley!"

I am clearing my shelf of doom at the moment, on it is a unfinished matchbox phantom being completed soon an FGR 2 if it comes out well i shall post it for your pleasure! Selwyn

I love Modeldecal schemes, i have a lot of their sheets, if i see one I buy it just in case,"don't you know. " Check out my A7 in the matchbox group build for another great modeldecal scheme! Selwyn

And it works on this kit build! Selwyn

Sorry, Do you mean the UK Martin Baker Seat? Have a look at the Martin Baker Mk 16 it may be what you are looking for? Selwyn

Paveway II canard fins work on the "bang bang" principle. when required the fins do not slightly adjust proportionately to steer the bomb, every control input causes the fins to go from zero to full up or down as required deflection and then back to zero, basically "banging "against the stops, hence the zig zag flightpath. Selwyn

first i have heard of this, if so it must of happened at the very end of hostilities. Selwyn

Yes, you kind of think mums are immortal, lts a shock when they leave. 2020 was a terrible time for our family. My mums elder sister died of COVID on a Sunday, mum died of the big C just 48 hours later. still not totally over it, my heart goes out to you and your loss. Selwyn

well I have the original box if that is what you mean? Selwyn

This was a new weapon at the time, The bomb guidance's were actually air dropped to the task force IIRC. they didn't know a lot about how they worked, so in the absence of the proper designators They tried using LTM the troops had to see if it could be used to guide the bomb. They found out it couldn't, as Paveway uses a pulse laser system. So the bombs were dropped as free fall weapons as described. I think to correct designators arrived the day of the surrender. Selwyn

The LGB used in the Falklands did not use the bomb guidance system, they were dropped as dumb free fall bombs as they did not have the correct pulsed target designators with troops on the ground. What they were using as you describe was the laser target marker (LTM) which indicated the target position to the aircraft marked target seeker (located in the dolphin nose of the GR3 harrier). This marked the target you designated on the aircraft HUD and the pilot attacked this point. using the loft manoever as you saw. The bomb did not "guide" it was aimed using the aircraft weapon system. To answer another question in the thread The LGB fins are always activated and deploy on release from the aircraft. Selwyn

Back in the mists of time (1979 in fact) at the age of 17 ½ I left the family home and Joined the RAF. My bedroom was the small room our three bed semi, which my mum rapidly tuned into her sewing room (she was a seamstress by trade). When I visited on weekends/leave I graduated to the second bedroom so that wasn’t a problem anyway. Fast forward forty years to 2020, after a long illness mum died leaving me the family home (Dad had died in 2005), and I moved in that year. Since then I have been progressively clearing the house and recently hit the biggie, clearing out the loft! To my great surprise I found a box full of my stuff that Mum had packed up when she converted the bedroom, and in the box I found a small stash of kits that I had long forgot I had. One of the kits was the very very old Airfix Phantom. Scalemates tells me its the 1963 mould, and the boxing is from 1973, and according to the box top I had purchased it from Woolworths for the astronomical sum of 55P! Revelling in nostalgia I decided that I just had to build it! Now I do remember building this kit as a schoolboy, as the Israeli F4E version, So this time it had to be the US F4B. Assessing the kit, it was all there, flash free, decals were another thing, being incredibly yellowed and curly, and well past their sell by date, So it was a deep breath and a deep dive into the decal stash for a suitable replacement, which was found on an old Modeldecal sheet 2, A US Marines F4B of VFMA-531 base at MCAS El Toro California in 1968. Very fitting, a 1960’s kit with a 1960’s scheme. Below is the result. I went with the kit supplied all AIM7E weapons load, don’t know if it was a correct config for this aircraft but hey ho. Is it my best build? Hell No! Is it an accurate F4B? Hell no! Was it a filler monster? surprisingly not! Did I have a lot of fun building it? Hell yes! Many thanks to my wonderful mum for packing it away so carefully back in 79. Selwyn

42 FAW 7 entered service and these aircraft were fitted to carry missiles - the remaining 80 FAW.7s were delivered to the RAF but went straight into storage at RAF Kemble, and were subsequently converted to FAW 9 before seeing Squadron service. the in service FAW 7's were converted as well, so some serials flew on squadrons as FAW 7 & 9. Selwyn

I don't think that there were any new build Javelin FAW9. They were all converted from FAW 7 airframes so the aircraft serials would be correct for both FAW 7 and FAW 9 depending if they are pre and post modification. There were 118 FAW 7 converted to FAW 9. Selwyn

My favorite was sealant guns of the type that you use with large tubes of sealant/with nozzle of the type used around your bath and sink. At the time (late 80's) at the big DIY stores chains you got one free if you purchased x amount of tubes of whatever you were using, If you just wanted the gun it was about £1.50 to buy, even now they are less than a fiver. The MoD were paying £21.00 each for them. The MOD /RAF stores chit you got with any item you had demanded from stores all had the item unit price printed on them. After people complained about the rediculous cost of some of these items the MOD, "to save money" initiated a system that involved filling in a form you could submit to say if you thought the item was overpriced. Very soon the MOD system was overwhelmed with people from all three services submitting hundreds of these forms. The MOD solution to the problem was to withdraw the form from use, and stop putting the unit cost on the stores chits! Selwyn

Its a RAF Universal Bomb carrier. Used on all RAF Aircraft used with 1000lb 500lb and 250lb bombs. Selwyn