noelvt

Good evening all, I'm currently working on an Italeri 1/72 Stirling III and I've run into some confusion regarding where in the Stirling's production run the astrodome began to be installed on the escape hatch aft of the cockpit glazing and forward of the DF antenna fairing on the starboard side of the fuselage. Going through all seven references I have on the Stirling, I'm assessing that most operational Stirlings had the astrodome installed, but there are a handful of photos and captions that are injecting confusion. Most of the factory production line photos I've found, for both the Mk. I and III, show a flush escape hatch instead of one incorporating a astrodome. Amplifying my confusion, there is a contemporary cutaway drawing of a Mk. I in Falconer's Stirling Wings on page 34 that shows a hatch sans astrodome with the callout "escape, and observation dome hatch." Can any of the experts out there, like @12jaguar, shed some light on this? Thanks! Vince Noel North Dakota, USA

At €11,66 (sans VAT) the kit is almost worth it for the decals alone - roundels and tail stripes for days! -Vince

Dave, Here's a shot of the decals and markings for Heller's 1/72 MS.406. These are the two new schemes, in addition to the original markings from the classic kit. They have been developed in cooperation with Ailes Françaises. The Breguet 693, Bloch MB.152, Potez 63-11, and LéO 451 have similarly expanded decal options. The Amiot 143, Potez 540, Dewoitine D.520, and Curtiss H.75 should be re-released shortly with the same setup. Heller have done something similar to this in the past with their recent reissue of the 1/72 Eténdard IVM, where the decals options were developed with FFSMC Productions. As you can see, the decals are beautifully printed and in perfect register. This has been the case with most of Heller's recently produced kits, so it appears that have changed decal printers. I wanted to point this out since it looks like Heller is actually trying to up their game a bit, albeit with the same old tool kits. 🍻 -Vince

Count me in. Heller has been reissuing classic kits from their Musée range with excellent quality decals (nice and glossy instead of the old out-of-register flat stuff) with multiple new marking options in addition to the originals. https://www.heller.fr/en/military-airplanes/520-bloch-152c1-3279510802115.html?search_query=bloch&results=3 Also, here's the obligatory shot of my small(ish) Heller collection:

Taking full advantage of my stupid question quota! What are the pair of tanks/bottles on the port side of the fuselage aft of the pilot's bulkhead, and what color were they? I've seen green, white, silver, and grey. Thanks!

I was perusing some of the walk-around photos of the Sea Hawk over at Thunder-and-Lightnings and noticed several descriptions of the undercarriage color as a "Blue Grey." I'm curious to know if it was a standard factory-applied color or simply artistic license taken during a restoration. Can anyone shed some more light on this?

It's always nice to see a 109 in the 70/71 scheme - nice build.

Truly first-rate work here - I'm motivated to pull my Havoc out of the stash finally!