Selwyn

As he stated, his dad was an electrician so he wouldn't have a logbook. Selwyn

And I dont believe any of these makes an iota of difference to the climate. Climate change is a natural process that has been happening since the earth was formed from a hot cinder. We have no influence on this process. Please dont confuse reducing dangerous gaseus emissions from industry and cars with the climate. Selwyn

Finally got time to post again, been progressing over the week, managed to get the fuselage together. This kit looked like the original tail sitter so I put 10g of weights in the nose section, plenty of room in there and as the nose is really long I figured that that should do the trick. Fit was good, the cockpit assembly fitted well and the seams went together with a bit of filler here and there to tidy it up. The intakes were fitted to the wings, again with a bit of filler to tidy up the joints. One thing to take away if you ever intend to build this kit, constantly test fit and sand to get an acceptable fit before committing to gluing! The next job was attaching wing to fuselage. After a bit of fettling the wing clicked neatly into place. At this point I double checked for balance to rule out the dreaded tail sit, shock horror! The 10g in the nose wasn't enough! Fortunately there was a lovely cavity below the cockpit floor that was made to fit one of my 10g tyre weights. Slid in no probs, and secured with a drop of superglue. Moral of the story; lots and of nose weight if you build one of these, I recommend at least 15g and going to 20g wouldn't go amiss. Wing attached, tailplane next. You can’t go wrong with this. Both tailplanes are secured with two substantial locating pins, but each side has different pin spacing so no way of cocking this up. Now looking like a Meteor at last. Just a few annoying things in the build so far, The rear cockpit has a small elevated instrument cluster on a frame above the instrument panel (you can see it in grey plastic in the pictures) The instructions really need a really good close up picture of how it fits, sadly missing. I think mine is correct but……….! The underwing drop tanks have no marks or location points on the lower wing surface to position them. I ended up examining the wing of my as yet unbuilt 1/48 Meteor F8 to get the correct tank position. The other annoyance is the wing tip lights. Sword provide them as clear parts. They are so small as to be impossible to clean up, and as Meteor lights are coloured lenses you are usually going to end up painting them anyway, so what's the point? If you are going to use coloured plastic inserts why not just mark their position so you could cut out the plastic as required. As it is, its just another unnecessary fiddly bit. Another thing that will need attending to in due course is the gun barrels, these are not present on the inner 20mm and te outer cannons are just cones on the front of the wing. So now just a bit of touching up on the cockpit and fitting the canopy and it will be time for a primer coat! Selwyn

Don't think aircraft ever used IRR paints, they were intended for ground vehicles only. IRR relates to infra red reflectance IIRC. The green used on aircraft would still be the same BS colour, but without the IRR component. Selwyn

David looking at that wikipedia picture I can see what appears to be the top of the turrret so I think this may be the aircraft as delivered as an A.S.4 the AS 5 conversions by scottish aviation removed the turret and added a greenhouse canopy, so the radome may not be correct for a A.S.5. Selwyn

No Roundel Pink BS381C-454 was used. Selwyn

They do several US and other countries versions it may be policy to check all the versions. Selwyn

Think there is one in the Sword A.S.4 kit. Selwyn

Pink would be available for marking bands on acquisition missile rounds. Selwyn

Quality items. Never ever had any issue with them, not even with the glue. If I ever see a sheet I havent got for sale, I buy it as a matter of course! last used by myself in July using an ancient sheet that I can't even remember buying, went on great no problems. modeldecal phantom scheme Selwyn

Yes some were mistakenly marked with underwing serials on the top of the wings Selwyn

OOOH! Undercarriage down and a stand. You daredevil! Great silver finish i'm very impressed! Selwyn

Did you need any nose weight? Selwyn Giggling and running to hide under the duvet!

Sure you didn't just photoshop out the hangar in the last picture? Selwyn

Thought it was about time I posted something in this build, I have been busy over the last week, real life getting in the way and all that, but I have managed to get some modelling in of an evening and make some progress. The Sword NF 14 is an obvious short run kit without many positive locating pegs around the main parts, but saying that the detail is very acceptable and I have found that as long as you are meticulous in your cleaning up of parts, and test fit everything before using any gluey substances on the plastic everything goes together really well (so far)! Dimensionally its really good and does not have the 17” double nose extension error prevalent in lots of Meteor NF14 references. I started as per the instructions with the cockpit. The assembly goes together well. Unusually the side panels sit just inside the cockpit base and locate positively against the rear bulkhead, so the assembly when glued up is quite strong. The top of the side panels sit proud of the cockpit sides when fitted, and form the canopy rails. Detail is OK for me but does lend itself as a basis to the super detailer if you are so inclined. I looked at the cockpit pictures in the Meteor pilots notes I have, and the kit rear cockpit arrangement and the radar display units are really accurate, so some good research here. The predominant colour of the cockpit is black, as are all RAF aircraft of this period, and I contented myself in dry brushing the detail and added a few dots of red and yellow to break up the monotony. The radar displays were painted white and coated with tamiya clear green. A set of aftermarket seat belts were added to finish off. The cockpit assembly also incorporates the nose wheel mounting and wheel well. A quick dry test fit seems to indicate a good fit within the fuselage. I have included a picture of the completed cockpit, but my camera doesn’t show the detail very well unfortunately. The cockpit assembly lines the fuselage so not a lot of paint is needed on the side panels. There is the forward wheel bulkhead fitted just in front of the wheel bay. I painted the bulkhead and wheel bay silver. An initial dry test fitting the fuselage halves indicated that the front part might be a bit flimsy, but with the bulkhead and cockpit fitted it will probably be a lot more robust. The wings are simple enough, The undercarriage bays are a box made up of four walls, but look OK. The kit does not feature any engines, just a front panel /intake and oil tank assembly that will be visible through the intake. This front panel looked unfinished and a funny shape at first inspection, so the short shot alarm bells went off, however when test fitting it was apparent this was intentional and perfectly matched the internal profile of the engine nacelle. The rear is filled with a small bulkhead and jet pipe. The bulkhead has a depiction of the rear turbine on it, I painted it but its completely invisible when the jet pipe is fitted. They also suggest that you paint the inner walls of the rear nacelle silver, but this is a waste of time as the jet pipe completely fills the rear orifice. I limited myself to just painting the front intake area. The intakes are the larger deep breather type and they looked a little small at first inspection but once the sprue in the intakes is removed and the intake given a good sanding they look great. A quick dry fit indicates they fit well so looking good! I'm enjoying this build a lot and I am looking forward to the next stage. Watch this space! Selwyn

I have a 2015 Ford Mondeo, Just took it for MoT, failed on one thing daytime running light on drivers side works but when you indicate it turns off as the flasher light is incorporated, When you cancel the turn signal its supposed to come on again, it doesn't. Any other car change the bulb or relay, no problem. a few quid. But the car has LED lights so the headlight control unit needs replacing, So that will be £260 plus fitting, oh, and by the way it will take about 10 days to get one. so off the road ten days for a daytime running light. Whatever you do don't buy a Ford with LED lights! Watch out for Ford service Employees, they are easy to spot, they wear a mask, a stripey shirt and carry a bag marked SWAG. Corporate banditry in the first degree! Selwyn

That looks like some sort of IR seeker trial/test pod, those are sidewinder missile guidance heads attached to the sides, perhaps to compare aquisition characteristics? Selwyn

The Israel only operated the NF13 Nightfighter, therefore wide intakes. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1148046 Selwyn

How about a ; What you don't build group build? So if you are an dedicated aircraft modeller, build a car or a ship. If you normally build ships, build a Sci Fi kit or or a military vehicle. If you are an Armour builder build an airliner. You get the idea! Get out of your comfort zone. Anyone interested? Selwyn

The tail unit used on the NF11/NF13 was the one with the straight tail leading edge. When the nose was extended on the NF12/NF14 it caused a directional instability so they increased the surface area of the tail by adding a curved leading edge to the tail, above and below the aerodynamic bullet. Its not a radar bullet by the way, its an aerodynamic fairing added to smooth airflow over the tailplane/tail intersection. If you are building a NF13 you should also use the wide intakes, The NF 13 was a tropicalised NF 11 with additional equipment and cockpit conditioning,These intakes were specifically designed for the NF13 to improve airflow into the engines and give more thrust in tropical regions to compensate for the weight of this additional equipment. It was found that this simple bolt on modification of changing the intakes worked well and became a feature on all subsequent marks of meteor, and was retrofitted to some earlier marks of aircraft. so it is possible to see both types of intakes fitted on various F8, NF 11, and T7's. I was reading the book "Meteor boys" recently, (recommended!) where in the late 1960's one of the ground crew from the RAF Chivenor target towing flight was put in the back seat of their T7 which accompanied a TT mk 8 meteor with narrow intakes to a base where they had located a spare pair of wide intakes. He then swapped over the TT mk 8 intakes on the flight line (a few bolts easy job) and they then both flew back! Selwyn

Great Build! Selwyn

Dont think so, the F4J(UK) were purchased to replace the FGR2 Phantoms that should of been used for UK air defence, but were then deployed in the Falklands. They were only ever UK based. Selwyn

very good, like that one a lot! Selwyn

A really lovely build well painted and great scheme! Mind you, I think I prefer this particular aircraft (BuNo 153783) in its final colour scheme, but I admit I am a bit biased on this! Royal Air Force F-4J(UK) (RAF serial ZE352, Ex USN BuNo 153783) of No. 74 Squadron in flight near San Diego, California (USA), Selwyn

Oh dear! The guy who did the first review on hyperscale thinks because the original design was done by Sikorsky that it was originally a Russian helicopter! Don't think this guy is the man to be doing reviews somehow................. Selwyn