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Still no surprises Fozzy as ever bloody fine modelling which we all admire so having played catch up, seen it from start too now in a few days, I can guarantee that I am not surprised at the intricacy of your work. This is astounding work and I bet that the upper wing siting will work out perfectly when you pop it on If I had one on I'd be tipping my hat to you sir, for you sir are a genius with a model lovely lovely bill

Nice wheels And nice legs too (usually say THAT to birds but I'll make an exception for you ) You may remember I use lots of Slater's myself and have done the "wash with poly" on them too. A tip I have used to add stiffness to bent curves for U/Cs s run a film of stupidglue over the bent portion and let it dry (haven't tried accellerator for this but it may help speed up the process) A thin layer adds strength without showing thickness The down side? Make sure you have poly'd any thing to the leg before you stiffen it with cyano, cos it doesn't like to stick anything else later except more cyano. Which doesn't usually actually glue model parts very well in my opinion Still enjoying this build massively Nobby, top stuff

that is beautiful A shame to skin her really, but some things you just have to do nice

Those engines look like a fabulous place to start from A little detail fettling and you would get something really special (deep thoughts going on here...wonder if a little reverse engineering is in order, anyone do resin moulding "at home"?) Woody worn a knee patch across the jeans yet? For someone who isn't "in" to brands, I always found that Mr Strauss's creations, well worn and thus soft, made a great impression on "see-throughability"

I can safely assume you are a good modeller anyway If using thick poly I shape the "usual" way with files, wet and dry then these new fangled sanding films so they are flattened and at the right size compared with the fuselage (or wings etc for nav lamps) then take a small piece of tissue and a small dollop of toothpaste and apply vigorously until you can see through the plastic again I have also been known to enhance the shine with a heavy rub across my jeans leg , 'cos denim seems to finish it down nicely after the polishing job And if I havent any clear plastic thick enough to fill the space I'm glazing I add something like an old Airfix stand (the odd startrek badge shaped bases) to the empty case that tea light candles come in and melt it down to a thicker lump over a lit tea light It takes a while... I used this technique to make the thick rear mesh sections on my Wessex tail fin 'cos I'd no "clear" thick enough

Hi Duncan, glad to help I hope to get the scanner online this weekend, shall I PM the scans to you? Not quite A4 so they'd be cut-n-shut bill

great undercart picture there Rich Wish I'd had that when I was making mine all those years ago I expect our car club will be visiting you at Cov some time this year If they don't go I'll come alone. I'll let you know when. See if we can tie up one day Love the Shackleton with a passion bill

very nice beginnings Woody The windows will be less of a faff than you think I expect I've been replacing kit windows for years with "glass" you can look through, mostly using acetate but also using clear polystyrene to do it with. Always polishing the poly with toothpaste to finish before a dose of Klear at the end. I'm looking forwards to this build. Did I ever tell anyone? My dad fell off the mainplane of a Stirling during the war, 22 feet. He gave me absolutely no help when I built mine when I were a youth Hated them...

That instrument panel is definitely the work of the devil Utterly fabulous work Nobby I might have to send all my I.Ps to you for detailing kinda nice mate, well done

It's just plain and simple bloody beautiful

Those tail pipe mods look the bee's knees (a definite for them) (thought there may have been a tad of cheektongueology about the glues ) But a point worth wondering, how different are the modern plastics to that almost creamy consistency stuff Frog's are made of? I remember the Javelin mouldings when new felt quite soapy to the touch even after washing off the mould release, which I often neglected on the old Airfix models because they usually "felt" dry enough to use.

Hi, I cant help with the other things but I do have the re-print of pilot's notes for Attacker FB1 & 2 A couple of pictures from that show interior black and other parts (panels etc ) that I would use tamiya German Greyy and a lighter colour to replicate and and also I had to photograph them cos the scanner isn't available Hope they give you something to work with bill

Songbirds...nesting... sonds good to me About the Airwaves stuff, I think I'd be tempted to use the b....y things as a scribing template then send em back as useless for purpose No, only kidding But they are a disappointment Which "glue" are you using? I am doing quite well with the Revell semiliquid gloop stuff bill

As I'm a great fanboy for Frog's old models I'm not surprised that the renowned industrial strength plastic has withstood time and mangulation well enough to be entered in "Restored Model Of The Year" and has a pretty close to "right" profile to be worth working on. Doing the same with their Wessex myself after all Your work so far, dissertation excepted (not sending it out for us to review I expect ) shows that you are winning, nice one When you showed the pictures of the Airwaves stuff I was more than a bit amazed, surely to God it should correspond somewhere Still, what you have done is great I love to see a plan come together

Fozzy I am not amazed at your wonderful work I am not amazed at your wonderful work I am not amazed at your wonderful work I am not amazed at your wonderful work I am not amazed at your wonderful work I am not amazed at your wonderful work OK it's a disgusting lie SORRY I looked in, early days and thought SE5A, no rotors and blimey prehistoric airyplanes are not my passion so I kept away until now. But I just have to add my million tons of admiration to this amazingly (dammit!) brilliant model. you do good stuff Blokes like you (and bugger it there's far too many of you round here) just keep stretching the definitions of "Scale Modelling"... well done and thanks for the inspiration mate A work in progress par excellence wonderful bill

She is lovely, bet you are proud of her bill

The old Porkypine looks lovely I have a soft spot for her because my dad used to fly in Sunderlands from Pembroke Dock before the end of the war. He loved them - so I do! nice model well made bill

Don I will be very sad to see you missing (know what I mean don't you) but I had the same thing thirty years or so ago. I ditched nigh on everything, works in progress (you will never know how good I was making Matchbox's Chinook look, no-one will) even the finished scratch built Shorts C23A Sherpa that I'd slaved over into the night for weeks. Now I wish I'd kept them, but the need was great to withdraw... It all went in the bin, just a few tools left, trusty Swann Morton brassie modelling knife and some pin vices basically. I had the entire start up range of Tamiya paints in a drawer I forgot about though. A casual encounter on Pistonheads got me interested again, so I came back. Boy it's so very different these days with communities like this all across the world by interweb. I have enjoyed your (sometimes) inconsequential bits and pieces and your valuable lore and photos of my favourite aircraft, Walter Wessex. So take the time out that you need, bugger it, spending more time in the village pub has to be a win-win situation. And remember that here you have friends that will stand for you and by you if we are ever needed. (Thirty years, it can be done mate, ENJOY your time off for sane behaviour)

my oh my magic as usual... brilliant modelling Nobby The turret detail is beating all the previous builds of yours I have seen! did I mention magic? Bloomin' black magic if you ask me

Looks like a darned good start Paul I likes it Exactly how I'd tackle it too, fill the "unused" edges and mask to paint the holes Quite looking forwards to seeing the triangular undercart in "use" too, not been part of my research as I've concentrated on Westland's birds. Considering how many pictures there are of Wessex having leg and oleo changes in the hover it could have been a good idea for our machines. bill

great set Paul I love that Canuck H-34 bill

lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely can you tell I like them very much? great builds, they'd do well in many a competition you know It was a time of such lovely aircraft, you do them proud bill

Marvellous

As I said, attention to the details is "key" to making a great model, viz the white front to the scoop Little things are what makes the model come alive after all I had come to the same conclusion Paul, no need to underpaint for a yellow bird I had thought of doing yours, XV724 in her later life but I keep coming across pictures of XT601, with various oleo legs during her SAR career. Black, yellow and even bronze green so there have been lots of differing stories to tell about her when she's finished. This is what brings the machine to life for me. "What to do with the remains of the Choctaw?" You know that Matchbox's Wessex has both styles of Westland designed nose in it don't you? I'm looking to convert another Matchbox bird into a ASW3, after turning the nose section rounded instead of square... Great build, I love it! bill

Scratcher, although Don is right (how do he do that?) about the look of this one I'd back off from too much detail at first. See what the guys at Kinloss say, for me the Bucc is just fine by "existing" It has been a wonderful lesson in scratch building and I say that having almost worn out the tee shirt back in the eighties, thanks for letting us ride along Bill