Selwyn

I'm impressed! Sure looks like a Hunter to me! I'm jealous as well, I was about twenty before I stopped getting gluey fingerprints on canopies! Selwyn

Fairey Hendon! OOOH Yes! Best one I have ever seen built up. Selwyn

Dick, RAF ground equipment around that time period would have been painted in Standard Camoflage Colour 2 Brown. (SCC 2) This is a army Dark Brown (but it is not Dark Earth!) and is the same base colour that was used on all Army and RAF vehicles at that time. There are a few paint mixes for this colour around on the internet, but White Ensign Models produce it as colour code ARB 16. this is a bit lighter than it should be, but will give you that worn (sun bleached?) apperance on your equipment. Selwyn.

Santiago A quick clarification, are you referring to the supply dropping canister or something else? As for bombs, the Light series bomb carriers used on the winglets could only carry bombs up to 100lb in weight on each position, (four per carrier) so this limited the types of bombs that were carried. usually they were anti personnel fragmentation bombs. Selwyn

According to their catalogue (picked up at Telford) Whirlybits do replacement jet pipe sections for all the marks of Javelin in resin. Not sure what kit they are for! Selwyn

What time period? Colours changed several times since ww2. Selwyn

I would have thought that the easier method would be to Get a Matchbox/Revell Meteor NF, shorten the wings and graft on the F4 Nose cone and tail unit for a T7. Selwyn

Giorgio, The first GM2 sights in RAF service were fitted to Gloster Gladiators in 1938. They were from the first production batch of 1600 ordered from Barr & Stroud in 1937. I understand that the first Spitfires entered service with ring and bead sights in August 1938 but they must have been fitted with the GM2 (officially The "Reflector Sight MkII") quickly, probably as soon as possible after they were manufactured and supplied to the RAF. Remember this was the time of the Munich crisis. Large orders of the GM 2 were ordered at this time to fit the Spits and Hurricanes coming of the production lines. As it was Barr & Stroud were working 24 hour shifts, and at full stretch so other manufacturers were required. All other suitable British manufacturing companies were committed to other defence contracts so a overseas licencee was found to manufacture 700 GM2 sights. The company chosen was C.P. Goerz of Vienna. They had just delivered the first 55 of the order when Hitler annexed Austria as part of the Reich. The Air Ministry were worried that the rest of the order would obviously be cancelled by the Germans, but Goerz honoured the contract and the whole order was delivered to the Air Ministry before September 1939. Or in simple terms, an awful lot of the Spitfires and Hurricanes used in the Battle of Britain had Gun sights manufactured in the Greater German Reich! Selwyn PS The GM 2 sights used up to 1941 had a circular reflector glass fitted. This was changed in 1941 to a rectangular shape. In service sights were modified, and the sight was designated the Mk II*.

Mike Try this link its a good site to trawl with a lot of good images: Vulcan on QRA

I was at Waddington 82/82 Post Nuclear QRA, but the QRA pans were being used for the Vulcan single point tankers that were scrambled to support the Lightning & Phantom QRA at that time. Waddingtons Pans had built in ground power points IIRC, but if there was a technical problem with them a wheeled 60 KVa generator was used as a replacement. Selwyn

Jennings, in this case I was referring to internal Hydraulic accumilators (gas over hydraulic fluid)which supply for example, pressure for braking without starting the hydraulic pumps These had a minimum of gqs pressure required to work and they were tested with a guage during flight servicing to ensure pressure was available. trolley Accs were used on smaller aircraft V bombers would use the ground power connection to start. Selwyn

Pre flight checks comes under the general title of "Flight servicing" (Maintenance is when you are fixing a fault !) and was undertaken on alert aircraft, usually mandated on a time basis. checking things like accumilator pressures O2 bottle contents, radar checks as you remember, and general leak checks etc etcA Any ground equipment used for this would have been cleared away ASAP after the checks have been done. Selwyn

The alert aircraft would be positioned on the QRA Hard standings adjacent to the runway. They would have no maintenance equipment around them; maintenance is never permitted on armed aircraft, certainly not a nuclear armed aircraft! The only ground equipment would be that used for the immediate launch of the aircraft, usually chocks fire extinguisher ladder and sometimes a ground power unit as most RAF V Bomber QRA pans had built in built in power points. This ground equipment would be positioned in such a way that it would not in any way hinder the aircraft’s taxi path to the runway. There would normally be no personnel in the vicinity of the aircraft while they were parked, except maybe Two Armed RAF Police (Always a minimum of two; NEVER one person on their own near a nuclear armed aircraft!) and they had to stay as far away from the aircraft as practicable to do their security task. The aircraft would always be of one type depending on the station they were at, QRA was I believe done by individual Squadrons on a rota basis. If the alert was sounded the crew(s) would arrive in a small bus, and they were usually off the ground in four minutes from the scramble being called. Hope this helps Selwyn

The FN 64 lanc under fuselage turret did exist, it was fitted to some Lancs, (admittedly not the dambusters!) mainly late on in the war when the Lanc returned to daylight raids, but it was available for use throughout the Lancs operational life. The mounting was more often used for the H2S installation. Selwyn

The teardrop shaped bombs are Pre war general purpose (GP) bombs. GP bombs were basically to a common teardrop shape, just different sizes. The cylindrical bombs are wartime Medium capacity (MC) bombs, which were intended to replace the GP bombs that were found to be almost ineffective in the early stages of WWII. The Heyford would not have carried MC bombs as they were long out of operational service when these bombs came into use in 1941. Sizes are: 20lb frag bomb. Length 21.9” long 3.95” Diameter (at widest point) 120Lb No information. 250 lb GP 56” long 10.2” diameter (at widest point). 500lb GP 70.6” long (No2 tail unit) or 55.6” long (No26 tail unit) Diameter 12.9” (at widest point). The operational bombs were painted light buff with a ½”wide red band around the nose, and a 1” wide Eau de Nil (pale green!) band around the bombs widest point. This would be stencilled with bomb fill details (for example TNT). Practice bombs would have a white body (Buff tail), inert bombs would be black body (Buff Tail) Bombs fuzed with long delays would have the tail ring painted red. Hope this helps. Selwyn

The "Bumps" are covers for the top of the old bottle type cartridge operated Ejector Release Units (ERU) in the outer wing pylons. These projected above the wing surface hence the "bump" These ERU were fitted to the pylon when a store was loaded, not like todays permanent fi ERUs', that is why they were sometimes not seen on the wing. As the Bumps were removable they could and did get swapped, some were painted in roundel colours some wing surface colours some did not match some did. its one of those check your references things. Selwyn

My first one is going to be a Green Country area vehicle, just because everyone else will be building red ones! Then I will scratch build a set of doors to build a green line RCL, (another green one!) and then plans are to indulge in some serious surgery to do a "Northern" RMF. In actual fact I have no plans to do a red one yet! Selwyn

Because the "Summer Holiday" bus was a RT not a RM! A completely different bus. Selwyn

In actual fact todays UK bomb colour is now Deep Bronze Green rather than Bronze green. I understand it was changed in 1964 when the RAF went over to the NATO standard marking system. Selwyn

All British bombs since WW1 are colour coded to allow the user to determine the potential hazard just by looking at them. The Standard Mandated Colour for all HE filled weapons in the RAF in WW2 was Bronze Green with red and eau de nil hazard bands (where the bands were applied on upkeep I am not sure, the regulations state that the Ede N band shoould be at the bombs widest point, which is open to interpratation on a cylinder shape! ), Live upkeep bombs used were this colour. Overall Black (no bands) was the Colour mandated that denoted Practice bombs. the colour scheme on surviving bombs is always suspect as the are for obvious reasons inert Practice rounds ( these are real droppable bombs!) that have been painted to represent operational rounds. I also acknowledge that on the operation one or more bombs were probably re painted black for camoflage reasons. Selwyn

Keep seeing made up versions of this kit and I am always really impressed with them, and this one is one of the best I have seen.I will be investing in one soon I think! Selwyn PS By the way you title is incorrect. its not the 307th squadron! this is the USAF way of naming Squadrons. RAF Squadrons are never described as the first, second, third, or whatever Squadron. This aircraft is from (as pronounced) Number Three-Oh-Seven Squadron RAF, written as 307 Sqn.

Thanks to everyone this info should get me going with no problem. This is my first WW2 french kit ever, and I look forward to the result! Selwyn

Many thanks! Selwyn

Sorry bill you are wrong, We will have to agree to disagree! Selwyn

Can anyone point me in the direction for paint callouts to complete my D520 in 1940 camoflage? I have looked on the White ensign site but what I need seems to be out of stock. can anyone give me a humbrol equivelant at least? I dont need deadly accurate colours just a good match. Selwyn