Selwyn

I will agree to disagree. I build aeroplanes. I buy kits of ground equipment or associated vehicles or personnel to enhance the look of my aircraft models. I suppose somebody out there would build one of these in isolation as a part or centerpiece of a diorama but I think your market may be a bit limited. I personally would not buy one as I can not see in my imagination how one of these would enhance any airfield / off airfield diorama. Saying that, The decision to kit this is your own, this is just my stated opinion, and be assured I wish you good luck in your endeavours. Selwyn

They are probably both correct. The only number that never changes on UK military aircraft is its registration XS577. Selwyn

As you state it was used off base so you couldn't use it in an aircraft diorama. It would be a little boring on sat on its its own, so why would you want to make a kit of it? There doesn't seem to be a market out there for it. Or am I missing something? Selwyn (a little puzzled)

Just a quick point, in real life you would never carry a ACMI pod and live Weapons together on your aircraft! you never mix training and live stuff, its basic weapon safety. Selwyn nice models I love the old matchbox stuff.

My god they left that parked there a long time! (ONLY JOKING!) Selwyn

If it was in the proper camoflage scheme, the serial number should surely be in black? Selwyn

Just an aside on the Atlantic Conveyor- When this ship sank the military/ MoD were not completly sure of what equipment was actually loaded on the ship (other than the aircraft of course!) due to the rush of getting the task force to sea. Consequently a senior officer signalled all UK military units to list all the items that they had sent to this ship. so that they could account for all this missing equipment. This of course proved to be a absolute godsend to all the supply sections of the Military units, as it gave them the oppertunity to write off all of there (long) missing inventory items, no questions asked. It was later calculated that "on paper" the Atlantic Conveyor was actually three times overloaded. It was a popular rumour in the services at that time that Military tents missing since the Boer war were written off as lost on that ship! Selwyn

The grey is Camoflage Grey BS 626 (used to be called Barley Grey). Just a quick point, the radome is actually moulded in that colour and is common to all Euro Air forces aircraft so although they are painted in that nations colours the dome is always BS 626. Selwyn

No the Nose art was much earlier than that, I was referring to the lovley nose art (figurehead) on HMS Victory! Selwyn

Sorry Phil I must disagree with your statement of the first RN ship with nose art url="http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/750099/figurehead-hms-victory-portsmouth/"]undefined[/url]

And to be really Anal The hand written 33B 9428795 Is the Military, stores (supply) section and reference number! (33B section (paints), 9428795 reference No) Selwyn

Sorry I don't know- its too dark to see! Selwyn

Just a quick addition since we are on Blues in this post, and for your information The Bomb Trolley is a Standard Airfield Bomb Trolley (Known by its initials SABT!) and it is painted Traffic Blue (BS No 66 I think) Selwyn

Yes they are still in the inventory. What were you doing at Marham to take these pictures? Selwyn

I take your point. By the way, the bomb at the front is just a plain Paveway II not an enhanced Paveway II. It does not have the GPS sensors on the CCG or cable duct down the side of the bomb. Also the label on the floor underneath it gives it away! Selwyn (ducking for cover)

Spitfires did not have Watts propellors they were only used on Hurricanes. The two blader used on Spitfires were made by Aeroproducts a different company. Selwyn

The term Smoke stains is not quite right, It is actually sooty deposits from the propellant that cause the staining. This isn't seen very often as the deposits are highly corrosive and are usually cleaned off the airframe as soon as possible. Selwyn

If you look carefully I think you will find that the bomb shown is actually Deep Bronze Green with a 50mm wide Oxford Plue Hazard band (which is the other way to denote a drill weapon!) Selwyn

michou see my post above Selwyn

The Blue Danube bomb was marked in accordance with the British ammunition marking system used at that time (mid 50's). The operational Blue Danube bomb (including tail) was painted Deep Bronze Green. The inert bomb was painted black. If there was a practice variant of the Blue Danube it would have been painted overall white. (I never heard or have ever seen a picture of of one. as there was only a few Blue danube bombs produced I doubt there ever was a practice round.) The picture of the bomb hanging from the gantry at the BCAS in the link in Juliens post is a Black Inert Bomb with a Deep Bronze Green tail. The Deep Saxe Blue colour for practice rounds were only introduced post 1964 when the RAF adopted the NATO ammunition marking system, which was long after the Blue Danube was out of service. The picture showing the Yellow sun is Blue but not Deep Saxe Blue, it is a colour called Turquoise Blue which was used for a short while by the RAF for practice rounds. I have seen Blue Steel missiles painted in this colour as well. I surmise that this colour was the RAF's first choice to represent practice Blue for the NATO system post 1964, but for some reason was then superceded by Deep Saxe Blue. YS2 and Blue steel appeared around this timeframe so would have had this colour, but both types would have been out of service before they were due a repaint into DSB . Selwyn

Try looking at these pics as a better comparison http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...mp;#entry851425 Selwyn

There are some images of a Vulcan and Victor tow bar in a book, "RAF ground support equipment since 1918" by FJ Adkin. The Vulcan image shows it attached to the A/C nosewheel but I would double check the identification of images of items in situ as shown, as in my experience quite a few pictures in this book are incorrectly labelled or misidentified. The armament ground equipment chapter,although possessing good images is particularly badly captioned. Selwyn

Chatting to a few friends last night about Blenheim Nightfighters and an interesting question came up. As the AI mk III was obviously very secret at this time, would the serials of the AI equipped Blenheims be Suffixed with "/G" ( as in L1234/G) to denote that the aircraft should always be guarded? Selwyn

the FIU code letters were ZQ the only Blenheim identified and listed as on strength is Mk 1 K7160 Selwyn

Ahh yes the Cavalier club! that was the other one I had almost blanked it from my memory. For that I shall give you a moment of terror place of terror!