DavidJ

Great Little Ships has a Type 271 radar in its Type C bridge set. It is a little expensive so scratchbuilding may be a better option as Kev suggested. There are some great Flower builds on the Flower Class Corvette and WWII Royal Navy Forums website. The site seemed to have been abandoned but there has been a little activity in the last few months. I haven't posted links because Britmodeller doesn't seem to let me do so. Both sites should be easy to find through Google or similar. Cheers David

I think the front wheels are set too far back for an Opel. What a great vehicle, whatever it is! Cheers David

The cabin interior should be the same as the external finish so SCC2 or SCC15 would be correct for NW Europe. Softskins would be more likely to be in SCC2. The interior of the radio house body was a light cream colour with partitions and fittings in a light tan timber finish. Depending on how much detail you want to be seen, a white interior may give better results. Cheers David

There is a Friends of HMVS Cerberus group: http://www.cerberus.com.au Some of my former colleagues were involved in the removal of the guns. The official view is that the deterioration of the hull is too far advanced for any stabilization. However, anything is possible with the will and resources. Cheers David

Great project Callum That kit is gathering dust in my stash and I often stop at Half Moon Bay and ponder how to best model HMVS Cerberus. I think you're on a winner here! Cheers David

Here's a couple of options: B W Models has an Austin K6 aircrew bus in white metal - BW315. I can't link to the site but Google B W Models and you should get there. Note that B W Models is closing down in 5 months. Oxford Diecast has a RN Bedford OWB bus. I'm not sure whether they were used by the RAF but someone will now. Finally, Oxford is scheduled to release a RAF Commer Commando bus. Again, I'm not sure when this was in service. It will need repainting to depict a WW2 version. Cheers David

It looks like a nice kit with crisp moulding. The only negative is the absence of some crew figures. Still, that will give the aftermarket manufacturers another opportunity. Cheers David

Happy to help Will. White 666 Tyres - 10.00 X 22, dual rears Overall length - 24' Overall width - 8' Overall height - 10' Inside body length - 11' Inside body width - 7'4" Inside body height - 5' The cargo body is dimensionally similar to that of the Mack NM5 (inside dimensions are the same). White 1064 Wheelbase - 16'8" Bogie centres - 4'4" Tyres: front - 11.00 X 24, rear - 14.00 X 20, singles all round (one of each as spares) Track: front - 73.5", rear - 72.5" Overall length - 27'3" Overall width - 8' Overall height - 10'3" Inside body length - 15' Inside body width - 7'4" Inside body height - 5'6" Cheers David

I don't know a lot about White trucks but the Data Book of Wheeled Vehicles has some information. This book provided transport officers with the specifications of all wheeled vehicles in British Army service and it includes entries for the White 666 6 ton 6 X 6 and the White 1064 10 ton 6 X 4 ( I have just realised that the model number is load capacity and the driving wheels arrangement). Apart from the 6 X 6 vs 6 X 4 configuration, the two vehicles had little in common with different wheelbases, wheel and tyre sizes and overall dimensions; all issues that could be dealt with in a conversion - if you've got the patience and determination. Cheers David

What a great project; a 1/72 aircraft carrier that will be a manageable size - well, almost! I'll be watching this with interest. Cheers David

That's a pretty good effort and will look fine with a coat of paint. There are several ways to replicate zimmerit in braille scale and the method I've had most success with is softening the kit plastic with liquid poly, then impressing the zimmerit finish with a small screwdriver. Other methods are applying a thin coat of modelling putty and impressing the zimmerit finish but the best results I've seen were created with a Dremel and engraving bit: http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=176&t=25205 I don't think my hands are steady enough for that. Cheers David

Depends on whether you're after plans, evolution, service history, units, etc. "Mr Churchill's Tank" by David Fletcher is the most comprehensive (and expensive) reference book. "The Churchill Tank" by Bryan Perrett (Vanguard 13) covers the same ground but in a very abbreviated form. David Fletcher's "Churchill Crocodile Flamethrower" (New Vanguard) obviously focuses on the Crocodile but includes a lot of detail applicable to Churchill gun tanks. I don't have "Modelling the Churchill Tank" by Mark Bannerman (Osprey) because I don't find photographic essays on building models particularly informative when they don't include plans, part diagrams, etc, There are also two volumes by David Doyle which I haven't yet purchased but are on my wishlist. Cheers David

I have been keeping an eye on Coastal Craft's progress and I have a wishlist of fittings for a couple of projects. The Fairmile D will be hard to resist.

I think they must have "kitbashed" the Katy and CMP to make the vehicle a little more capable in the off road scenes. The dune climbing scene was where they went up in reverse by turning the engine over with the crank handle. I'd like to see Mythbusters tackle that one! It was a great movie and I've often thought of doing the Katy - CMP kitbash in 1/76 scale. Not sure about Sylvia Sims but you can get a 1/76 Honeysuckle Weeks (as Foyle's War's Sam).

There's a nice 1/35 model of a snow camouflaged Churchill Crocodile on Armorama: http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=180998&page=1 It's quite similar in appearance to the Crocodiles on page 24 of David Fletcher's Concord 'British Tanks of WWII: (2) Holland and Germany'. Interestingly, the roadwheels seem to have retained a decent coat of whitewash. The main thing is that you're having fun while experimenting with new techniques Cheers David

That looks pretty good. Check out some photos of the real thing; there's one of a snow camouflaged Churchill Crocodile that's in several publications. If it was my model, I would make the whitewash a little thicker, particularly on the turret sides, and I would give the suspension and hull sides a good coating of mud - definitely no whitewash on the roadwheels. Cheers David

I understand that the Oxford diecast models are based on actual vehicles and the Caunter scheme Tilly should be accurate. The General Orders of 22 Nov 1940 was an attempt to standardise camouflage and stop the practice of vehicles being repainted when units transferred to different commands. The orders applied to all vehicles and those for the AIF specified the quantities of paint required for different classes of vehicles. Cars (and light utilities) required 4 pints of Light Stone (or Portland Stone), 1 pint of Slate and 1 pint of Silver Grey. This information comes from Mike Starmer's booklet on the Caunter Scheme. Cheers David

I prefer to use acrylic paint and I have recently found a useful chart of Vallejo naval colours. There is some mixing involved (and some Games Workshop paints) but it is pretty straightforward. http://www.ipmsswamp.com/files/VallejoWWIINavalColorEquivalents.pdf Cheers David

That's progressing really well Martyn Where did you get the cable drums from? Cheers David

I bought the Revell re-pop several years ago but didn't make a lot of progress after assembling the hull. I have just started work on it again and I am planning on converting it to a radio controlled model. I will be replacing/improving the kit's simplified components as well as strengthening and improving seaworthiness. I guess this kit is like the question about how long is a piece of string; you can build it as is or re-build and detail to your heart's content Cheers David

Thanks Ken I saw a little of the Tank Biathlon on the TV news. I suppose it will available somewhere on the web. Cheers David

I'm very interested in the 1/72 hulls Christian. Can you give me an idea of the price of the Fairmiles and RAN HDML? Cheers David

Nice buy John. I have a built model that must date back to the 1970s and is a little worse for wear with the cabin roof and one wheel missing from the tractor. I recently compared it with the Maquette 1/72 SAM-2 missile and launcher and the two models are virtually the same in terms of size and shape. The Airfix launcher base has large pads on the folding legs that are not present on the Maquette model. According to my Osprey "Red SAM" book, neither launcher is entirely correct. The Airfix ZiL tractor compares quite well in terms of size and shape with the 1/72 ZiLs by MAC, ICM or whoever produces the kit now. The main difference is the grossly undersized wheels of the Airfix kit (replacement wheels intended for the MAC ZiLs are produced by Armory, Balaton, etc). I'm thinking about using a MAC ZiL to replace the Airfix tractor. Cheers David

I'm not sure about AECs but Lebanon had Staghounds with AEC Mk III turrets.

The AEC Mk IIIs were used as mobile artillery providing fire support by the armoured car regiments in NW Europe (some regiments used 75mm GMC halftracks in this role) so the 75mm guns firing HE were vital. The AEC Mk II was armed with the 6pdr with its relatively poor performing HE round and wasn't suitable for the fire support role. The only AEC Mk IIs to see European service were those used Tito's Partisans (as Sgt Squarehead mentioned), as well as those in Sicily and Italy. I haven't got a lot of information about the Italian campaign and can't help with AEC users. Interestingly, 67 AEC Mk IIs were held in 21 Army Group base depots on 30 June 1945, along with 60 Mk IIIs. Only 22 Mk IIIs were allocated to front line units at that date. Sixteen AEC Mk IIIs were in use in June 1944 with 9 in reserve (compared to 198 Daimler ACs, 297 Humber Mk IV ACs and 159 Staghounds) so they were never plentiful. I think the interior colour question has been answered and I agree that AEC Mks II and III would have white interiors. Cheers David