Selwyn

Very Good! (now what on earth is a WMIK?) Selwyn

Quite simply nothing! The RAF uses quite different ground equipment Selwyn

Do you wast a IIIC or a IIIE? Go for italeri for a IIIE (1/48). Selwyn

if I remember the Ejection seats were different as well. selwyn

The seat pins did not have a RBF flag. Each pin has a large red tag on it. You would usuually have two positions of the pins, Safe for servicing and safe for parking. safe for servicing was for when work was taking place on the jet and safety pins would be in all the explosive components. Safe for parking there would only be a pin through each firing handle mount and one in the canopy jettison system. these were removed by the pilot when he strapped in. when not in the seat (ie flying) the pins were stowed in plain view on the cockpit coaming. have a look at the ejection site for further details. Selwyn

Neil Gorgeous Manchester! A quick decal tip I have used before. If your codes are the wrong colour, spray the side of your aircraft the desired code colour. Cut your (wrong colour) decals right up to the edges (remove all the clear decal film showing) and then apply and position the decal in the normal way. When the decals are dry, spray the model in your required camoflage colour (over the decals) and when this top coat has dried, carefully scrape off the decals with a craft knife and presto! Painted on codes in the correct colour. Selwyn

Building a RAF Havard in the Silver / Yellow band scheme from the early 1950s from the 1/48 Monogram kit Does anyone know what harness system was used on the seats, was it the original NA system or drid the RAF modify it to their standard? Selwyn

Barley grey was renamed Camoflage grey when it was included in British Standards (BS 381c No 626) Try Xtracolour or Xtracrilyx. Selwyn

Easy Remove all FS colour Quotes. The RAF does not use Federal standard paints on its aircraft. all paint is to British Standard 381C. all the popular paints you quote are (very) approximate matches to the correct colour. Only development aircraft have different grey colours inside flaps etc. operational RAF aircraft are one shade of grey (called officially Camoflage Grey BS 381c hue 626) overall that includes inside flaps etc. The radome looks slightly different as it is moulded at manufacture in grey BS 626 and not painted. Barley grey was a trial colour. when it was adopted officially into Bs 381c it was renamed Camoflage grey. Now that makes it easier doesn't it! Selwyn

As we are on interesting stories about the grand slam bomb how about this one! When Lincolnshire County Council were widening the road past RAF Scampton's main gate in about 1958, the 'gate guards' there had to be moved to make way for the new carriageway. Scampton was the WWII home of 617 Sqn, and said "gate guards" were a Lancaster...and a Grand Slam bomb. When they went to lift the Grand Slam, thought for years to just be an empty casing, with an RAF 8 Ton Coles Crane, it wouldn't budge. "Oh, it must be filled with concrete" they said. Then somebody had a horrible thought.... No!..... It Couldn't be? ... Not after all these years out here open to the public to climb over and be photographed sitting astride! .... Could it? .... Then everyone raced off to get the Station Armament Officer. He carefully scraped off many layers of paint and gingerly unscrewed the base plate. Yes, you guessed it, live 1944 explosive filling! The beast was very gently lifted onto an RAF 'Queen Mary' low loader, using a much larger civvy crane (I often wonder what, if anything, they told the crane driver), then driven slowly under massive police escort to the coastal experimental range at Shoeburyness. There it was rigged for demolition, and when it 'high ordered', it proved in no uncertain terms to anyone within a ten mile radius that the filling was still very much alive! Exhaustive investigations then took place, but nobody could find the long-gone 1944, 1945 or 1946 records which might have shown how a live 22,000 lb bomb became a gate guard for nearly the next decade and a half. Some safety distance calculations were done, however, about the effect of a Grand Slam detonating at ground level in the open. Apart from the entire RAF Station, most of the northern part of the City of Lincoln, including Lincoln Cathedral, which dates back to 1250, would have been flattened. Selwyn

Keef I believe this helicopter should have the modified engine grille on the door side of the nose. it appears that all Westland built Whirlwinds were this configuration. (Different to the S55) some of the surviving US built Mk 21 and 22's were modified sometime in their lifetime as well. The one at the solway museum has the Modified grille. Selwyn

By the term "his Aircraft I assume you mean the one with his name on it. In actual fact he would have flown all of the aircraft on the squadron at some time or the other. Selwyn

Try looking at the Gannet aftermarket bomb bay sets for the Mk 30 torpedo. Mk 11 DC can be found in arfix RN lynx kits and Somebody does produce them aftermarket (Airwaves?) for 1000lb bombs, Paragon (The Basic RAF 1000lb bomb design has been around from the early 1950's) they will look the same as bombs used on Tornado and Jag,(not High drag bombs though!) the main visual difference being the earlier bombs were single point suspension, (not noticable in 1/72) and with different pre NATO colour scheme, (Bronze Green with sky and red bands, not current Deep Bronze Green yellow band.) Selwyn

CPU 123 are VERY boring I mean 7" in diameter and about a foot long. whats great about that! Why dont you buy some UK 1000LB paveway II bombs instead with the MAU 169 Guidance (thats the one fitted with the CPU 123 computer section, CPU means CP= computer & U=unit ) Oh but I forgot Those silly people at Paragon cant be bothered to label their bits correctly! Sorry about the Rant but Paragon perpetuate this myth and it annoys me immensely! Selwyn (The Typhoon LGB man )

Guys and Gals. Many many moons ago I was based at RAF Cosford training to be A RAF Armourer. When it came to the Weapon loading phase of the course, we did our training on a Ex RN Sea Vixen FAW 2, which we used specifically for loading M155 SNEB launchers (not the ones in the kit they are RN 2" rocket pods!) and 1000lb bombs. Question. Did the Sea Vixen carry 1000lb bombs when in service? I have never seen any pictures or seen any references to show this, but obviously they did "fit" as our load training proved. If I remember the Aircraft we used had its wings folded so we only loaded the inner wing section stations. also does anyone have any idea of the identity of the aircraft in question, or if it still exists. Yours Selwyn PS I also remember that the aircraft in the training hangars were a better museum than the Cosford museum at that time. I remember seeing a Javelin, Canberras, (B2 and PR9) Shackeltons, (MR3) A early lightning (Maybe a pre production A/C) lots of Ex red arrow Gnats (used for marshalling training) and a Hunter T7 that we also used for weapon training.

Many thanks to all Just what i was looking for! selwyn

Guys and Gals, Looking for some information on how a Sea Venom sat on the catapult before launch. I know where the strop pick up points are on the aircraft, but did the jet sit nose up?, was a hold back used or some other method? I asked earlier if anyone had a picture but that was inconclusive. TIA Selwyn

Bill, The Typhoon Radome is BS 626 Camoflage Grey. The reason that it appears different is that the radome is Moulded in that colour, wheras the airframe has been painted. so you get the "different paint batch" effect, and it looks a slightly different shade. Selwyn

Well its not going to be expensive for me, simply because I a not going to buy one! I don't think I have ever paid over £20 for a single engined 1/72 kit (and that includes Resin). If I want a Avenger like this I will simply buy a cheaper offering from another manufacturer and spend some quality modelling time bringing it up to the required standard. After all, doing this is one of the reasons I enjoy modelling in the first place! Selwyn

BS381C -626 Camoflage grey. It used to be called Barley grey years ago until it was properly put into British standards. if you want more info look at the Typhoon reference thread second down from the top of this forum! Selwyn

What colour have you painted the Paveway bombs, they look black in the photos? Selwyn

Spike, The camel didnt need a Ejection seat! In a emergency you just kicked your way through the fabric! Mind you those wickerwork seats were far more comfy than any Martin Baker Product...............! If you think the Harrier was old, when I did my Mech's course (AWM 55, I believe it was the first Plums course to start a Cosford after they moved from Halton in 1979) we did our aircraft loading training phase on A Sea Vixen!! Selwyn

Dennis Spent many hours on 233 OCU and 4 (AC) fitting Seat aprons for solo sorties (loads at the OCU! Selwyn

Been there done that! When I was on 4(AC) one of the guys was struggling doing this job, and managed (somehow) to take out the split pin and remove the clevis pin holding the roller on top of the sear instead of the linkage to the sear. The result, a loud noise a shattered canopy and a very deaf techie for a week or so. He was lucky that the canopy perspex was designed to blow outwards so it didn't get him! Selwyn

In this picture the Tornadoes and Buccaneers are in BS 381c Hue 638 Dark sea grey/Hue 241 Dk green Camo. the JP233 was Hue 224 Deep Bronze Green. Selwyn