IanW

Thanks again, Adam - yes, the pistol port, funny how as soon as you start looking at something, you suddenly find more and more info about it. After I posted my question, I opened my Valentine book and noticed the different pistol ports straight away! Thanks for the links too. Cheers, Ian

Awesome work - you know I'll be following this closely! Cheers, Ian

Looks great! Sorry if I missed above, but this is the Academy kit as a base? Cheers, Ian

Just building the same kit myself, yours looks awesome! Cheers, Ian

Thanks again for the heads-up, Adam - on going back through my references, it seems the first Valentine IIs NZ received were fitted with the early barrel but the later mantlet... a detail I had missed until you mentioned it! Looks like I'll be able to use the extra Matilda barrel in Tamiya's Matilda! (Along with the AFV Club mantlet) And I particularly want to do an earlier II, as I want to try painting it in KG3, to stand apart from the Matilda. Not sure if your thorough British tank-knowledge spans to Matildas as well, but on the off-chance... There seems to be a port about right 3/4 rear on the Matilda's turret. In the Tamiya kit it is roughly square-ish, but on one photo of a NZ Matilda I have, this port (?) is round. Do you have any ideas on what this port is and with which Matilda versions it changed shape, please? Cheers, Ian

Wow, that looks great... what a gun!

Thanks Foxy - no I didn't know about the mg, not sure if I'll go to town on the kit or not but will check out the price. Do you know the make please? Cheers, Ian

Just by the by - have been looking through the Miniart Valentine V kit and they provide both Mk.I and II types of mantlet, as well as the Mk.V one. So I will try and use the Miniart one for my AFV Club Valentine Mk.II... it looks like it will fit with a bit of trimming. (And I had just bought some Milliput as well... ) Cheers, Ian

Thanks for the detail and the pics, Adam - great work on the turrets, very nice. I will recheck my references for the vehicle I'm building. And thanks for the heads-up on the 'fish-hooks'! I was more referring to the Miniart Valentine kit! (Although your point will be very useful!)

Hi Adam, thanks for that - didn't know about the mantlet and barrel, so keen to see any pics when you get the time, thanks! Yep, the kit has a LOT of parts, thanks for the heads up on the brittleness. I also have the Miniart Valentine V - I know that kit has a few shape issues too, such as the engine doors, wheels, etc, from the Perthmodelling website - any other fish hooks you know about, please? Cheers, Ian

Cheers Steve. I've been scouring Jeff Plowman's books and emailed him a few times too, so hope to get it as right as I can! Feel free to point out any errors please...

Hey, that looks really nice! Great detail you are adding! Paint finish is very nice.

Hi, Have been sticking together Tamiya's Matilda. Intending to finish as tank used by Queen Alexander's Squadron during WWII. Used the shorter cupola in the kit and added a turret ring guard, as the few pics I can find of NZ Matildas seem to have both of these features. Also, the Bronco Type 5910 (spudded?) track links just turned up on the doorstep! Will finish in S.C.C.2., as QA Sqn didn't seem to re-camouflage their vehicles, as other NZ units did. ...and just started the AFV Club Valentine, a great kit but it seems to have a million parts compared to the Tamiya kit! I know that it has the wrong type of wheels for a Mk.II, so intending to fill in with mud. Or might buy the Accurate Armour correct pattern... Will add track shields and paint as an early Valentine delivered to New Zealand in Khaki Green 3, really just to stand out against the Matilda. Cheers, Ian

Hey, thanks for the responses guys! Edgar, your information is pretty much what I have found too - probably the same references? NE181's last operation recorded in the ORBs is 2/3 Feb 45 and a pilot I met said he flew her off-station to Waterbeach 17 Feb. However... other crew members are adamant that they flew her for her 104th op (and the last of 75 Sqns for the war) 24 April 45... they were well-aware of her 100+ op record and have NE181 recorded in their log books... yet the ORBs have this listed as another JN-M, RF129. (RF129 appears in the ORBs from16 Feb 45.) But a photo of this crew before the mission in front of NE181 show only the 2/3 Feb tally of 101 operations on the nose... how likely is it that suddenly the ground-crew stopped keeping track of her operational tally? And a few other questions: is it possible NE181 was just refitted (or similar) at Waterbeach and then later returned to 75 Sqn at Mepal, not sent to 514 Sqn? This would mean two JN-Ms on Sqn, however.. If there were two JN-Ms, s it likely that the ORB-keeper just assumed that any JN-M flown would be the new RF129 and recorded it thus? And just what constituted a 'countable' operation? I note that NE181 returned from an op that was called off 17 Jul 44 after airborne for an hour or so - am assuming this didn't count? Cheers again for all your help, Ian

Hi, I hope I have posted this in the right place. I am trying to research further the history of a Lancaster flown by 75 (NZ) Squadron in 1944-45, serial NE181, JN-M, "The Captain's Fancy". I am familiar with Sqn ORBs and Form 541s, but believe there would be an individual record maintained for each aircraft? Would be very grateful if anyone could let me know the title of any such forms, as I am trying to determine when NE181 came on Sqn, left, etc. I have harvested much useful info from the internet, but would like to be able to access the original source material if possible. Thanks in adavance for any help, Ian

Awesome, thanks for that! (I was at Cosford, 2011 - lovely weather!)

Yep, you're right - lots of vid of it going up, none so far of it coming down!!

Hiya, I've read a lot online about the Spitfire's asymmetric undercarriage retraction sequence, but did it extend in an asymmetric manner as well, please? Thanks for any help, Ian

That is some very tidy work indeed - very impressive!

Well, just about there... still in gloss finish whilst I try and find suitable 'Brown 5' decals for her. Anybody out there got any idea of a source for suitable decals, please? I started trying to mask and also tried to make decals, but that thin strip of black is tricky! Bit more weathering left to do, but otherwise I'm stuck until I get those 5's! Cheers, Ian

Nicely weathered cockpit! I like the wear on the leather - have just been trying to recreate that look myself, not easy.

Sprayed the yellow today and touched up the model a bit - really enjoying using my new airbrush, after 18 years of my trusty Tamiya 'Spray Works'... (still, a good brush though.) The yellow was horrible to apply though... had to unblock the brush every few sprays! The Aeromaster Gelb dries almost instantly and the needle soon becomes choked. The Vallejo paints are very good though, although it might just be the age of the Aeromaster acrylic? Cheers, Ian

Very neat work - awesome aircraft, the 163, so will be watching your build. Thanks for posting.

Just incredible!

Thanks for that Dave - I actually PM'd you earlier today with a query about the Hendon machine... asking what colours it was now finished in. With the existing photos of 1653 (eg http://militarianz.freeforums.org/what-hap...1653-t559.html), in one photo, the aileron seems white but in the other the port aileron just seems to be reflecting light and finished in 02, rather than white... the wingtip is different from the aileron and clearly a lighter shade, either white or yellow. The flaps don't match the wing colour scheme either. Very interested to hear your opinion. Cheers, Ian