Paul J

Sad loss of a fine act for.The Great Esacpe was one film he did too.

The pilot people look as they have been enjoying the same heatwave. Tan and all! Inevitably some will.be Douglas Bader impersonators so they fit on the seats n'est pa's?

An update to complete this thread with more pics of my past builds of Fire Fighters. Some pics have ben here before but are repeated for continuity of this thread. First, a short dip in to 1/72nd scale and the Douglas Invader by Italeri and Leading Edge Decals. Next, the Heller CL-415 and again Leading Edge decals. I no longer have this model as room was needed for others and as part of my cull on built models. Regrettable but when needs must....... The Heller CL-215. This was a restoration in to new markings that I performed sometime ago. Leading Edge transfers again. I still have this model and treasure it as it was built around 1977/78 in the French scheme as supplied in the kit. But over the years it got a bit tatty and had its undercart replace with white metal legs by SAC, a repaint and fresh decals. I love this aeroplane and its younger sibling. Back to 1/144th. The CMR Martin Mars. A lovely resin kit. I had a second one to build as the sister ship to this model but that plan didn.t happen . I reluctantly sold it and now a member here has it so hopefully we may yet see it grace our forum. A couple pics here have a 1/144 CMR DC-2 for comparison. A little story about y Mars. I had gone to Canada for a hioliday i 2004 and part of the tour we planned, took us to Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island where these monsters lived. Truly amazing to see them both in the flesh. Shortly after returning home, I noticed that CMR were releasing a kit of it and so I set about getting myself one or two, The wife bought me one for Christmas and the other followed for my birthday. Wasn't it a coincidence that the kit should appear just after my trip that year!!

Thanks all. And thanks dnl. The A Model kits are nice and yes, they do need some work to get a satisfactory result. I enjoyed them back at the time I built them. I used yellow stripe decals for the windscreen framing by the way. They made life and finishing the models easier.

Hi again. Some more of my older builds. This time all to 1/144th scale and depicting water bombers or fire fighters if you like. A Model CL-415, 2049 Greek Air Force. All the red trim lines and walkways are from the Syhart decal sheet, serial from a generic numeral set by Modeldecal and roundels/ fin flash from ESCI 1/72 F-5A decals. A Model CL-215 kit and its decals. Catalina by Minicraft, decals by Can Mil Air. White stripes from decal striping sets. Minicraft DC-6b and kit decals. I have one other fire bomber, a Martin Mars, to add here when I find the pics. Well thats it folks. The end of my water bomber story.... for now... Thanks for your support and comments.

Postscript' A couple pics of my first Airfix Phantom. Jubilee decals from leftovers of Fujimi kit. I would like to add them to the second I built if any one has them to spare.

I thought I would show off all my Phantoms to everyone here. I know its a popular subject so I hope you like what you see. They were all built quite sometime ago. The RAF one and the yellow bird model are Fujimi kits. The 892 one is from the Airfix kit. 14 Squadron RAF Bruggen 1970, Modeldecals, Fujimi kit. Airfix kit. and decals ( complete with all that stencilling provided too!) In fact, this is the second time I've built this kit. The first one being sold. 767 Squadron FAA. Fujimi kit and decals. I noticed when I lined these up how the size of the Royal Navy titles differ between the Airfix and Fujimi ones are. I suspect the latter are wrong asthe Airfix ones look truer. I had contemplated in repainting the Fujimi one and use the left over Airfix decals for it.

Interesting thread this. I had a I/IIa kit until fairly recently but someone here bought it. I also finished one so.stone ago but without doing any of the work you have and quite happy as it is. I went for an even earlier scheme with the A1 roundels with the wide yellow surround on fuselage and wings. Also finished it as a 19 Squadron Spit with the yellow squadron number on the fin. It tickled me to use of one of those plastic handled Swann Morton knives. Mine used to break quite easily at the blade locking screw.

I may have a couple or so that might suit from the old Monogram kits you can have.

I want one!!!!! That is a a gorgeous model you have made. I sometimes hear one overflying at height on its way to Farnborough according to FR24. I also recall the commentator at Fairford some years ago now, describing it as a "triplane" !

Nice but be aware of the wing locating pins. They need to be removed before joining to avoid the droop! Also keep a eye on the dihedral. In addition care needs to be taken assembling the canopy. Have fun, it's a nice kit.

Amazing stuff! Great pics too. The noise must have been spine tingling.

Verynice. I built the same kit and finished as your one. Lovely little kit of a slick looking aeroplane.

Always good to see well made Airfix 48th Chipmunks here. Also good you heeded the tip offs regarding wing locating pins. I never flew in the red white ones ,only silver dope and dayglo or light aircraft grey and dayglo. Happy days.

A very nice build indeed. But the Airfix decals are splendid and nothing wrong with their performance. The only thing wrong with this Lightning issue re the decals are the underwing serial numbers thay are a bit too big. They should measure as 16 inch. After market generic sets are available to correct them.