Alpha Delta 210

Sitting in my car at the Park & View with rain falling on my windscreen preying that the forecast break in the weather comes soon. Airshow Radio announced that '558 is scheduled to leave Finningley around 4pm. They also said that the Rafales were expected at 18:50hrs. Surprised to see the A400M here, as I understood that it had cancelled. Fingers crossed for an improvement on the weather as the cloud ceiling is presently 800 feet.

Looking great, Al. The masking definitely paid off! Looking forward to the next update.

You can't shelve it Al, it's looking great!

Absolutely fantastic!

Hi Gary. What a great project. I look forward to seeing your progress.

Yes, the only decals are for the Black Eagles. They don't look too scary, either!!

Great shots! My favourite team used to be the Frecce Tricolori, but after Waddington, I have changed my allegiance to the Black Eagles! I am looking forward to seeing them again at RIAT (despite the weather forecast!) I bought the Academy 1/48 kit of the T-50, which looks really good.

Hi Welcome aboard. I really like the sound of this! I look forward to seeing it progress.

Hi You can add more, if you add them to the basket one at a time!

Hi Airfix Club members can have this for £12.99 (less 10% Club discount.) Needless to say, I added one to my Tucano pre-order! This is from the Airfix site: This limited edition kit contains one Airfix Pucara kit with two decal options. FMA-IA58 Pucara, A-558, III Brigada Aerea, Group GT3, Fuerza Aerea Argentina, 25th Anniversary Special This aircraft was painted up by the Argentinian Air Force to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Falklands War in 2007. FMA-IA58 Pucara, A-515, Fuerza Aerea Argentina This aircraft was painted to replicate the Pucaras seen in the Falklands War. A-515 was captured by British Forces during the conflict and shipped back to the UK after the war where it was used briefly by the RAF and RAE/ETPS to test its capabilities. After these tests it was presented to the RAF Museum for display at Cosford

Hi Alex According to the Airfix website, the black Tucano is not yet available, but will be cheaper at £9.99.

Hi I just pre-ordered a couple of these. They are limited to 1000 pieces worldwide and are only available from Airfix.com, the Margate shop or their Roadshows. The link is here and free delivery is available if you spend more than £25.

Great job! Looking forward to seeing the real thing at RIAT.

Excellent work!

.... So will I. I really want to see one!

I have never worked with resin AM before, so I hope the blade attachment is sturdy enough for my hamfists!! A quick update before a weekend of airshows. I am away next week, followed by RIAT, so don't expect to be able to do much more for a while. Construction is almost complete. I applied another coat of Clear Blue to the eyebrow windows and after much deliberation decided to use the sponsons from my HB Lynx 90. I toyed with using the Airfix Mk8 ones, but that would render that kit unuseable. I'm sure that most people are aware of this kit's deficiencies, so I won't go into great details. Suffice to say, the incorrect sponsons for the HAS.3 have the tie-down loops, but the correct ones don't. I tried to create them by drilling a hole in each sponson and inserting a miniscule piece of bent guitar string. The windscreen and tail rotor are not fixed in place yet. I like the clean lines of the early Lynx, compared to the ugly great hooter on the HMA.8!

Looking great, Wayne!

Well, she is already starting to look like a Lynx! (Sorry about the picture quality!)

A quick update... I have painted the eyebrow windows Tamiya Clear Blue, and used the razor saw to remove a few mm from the rotor head to rectify the "tall" rotors. I have fixed the glazing that needs to be in place before closing the fuselage and assembled the nose cone. It is a shame that HobbyBoss made some basic errors, as the kit seems to "click" together really well.

Thank you all for the kind remarks. I have certainly learned a few lessons from this one, which is what it is all about!

Hi Al No humiliation intended! I am a simple soul who likes simple, quick, straight from the box builds, so I hope to finish this one quickly without major modifications. I am someone who can live with imperfections in a model!

Hi Colin Thanks for the tip. I had already checked there and was overwhelmed by the number if pictures. For some reason, I didn't catch a marked HAS.3 at any of the shows I visited in 2008.

Thanks for that, SkippyBing. I thought I was being a smarty pants for omitting the cyclic! I will have a think about what to do about it.