Rob de Bie

Many thanks! The seat is now under construction 🙂 Rob

Selwyn, many thanks, this helps a lot. Did the parachute stay in the seat, or would the pilot board with one on his back? Maybe that's what you tried to describe with the Sabre seat. Rob Matthew, thanks, that's a great photo that I hadn't seen before. Rob

Thanks! But I should have mentioned I studied the museum photos too, and I still couldn't figure it out. For example, Wikipedia shows an empty seat, whereas the Thunder & Lightning seats show various cushions. Rob

I'm building the Airfix 'Hot Shots' Gnat in 1/72 scale, and I'm in the closing stages. What I cannot figure out is the bottom and back cushions (?) of the ejection seat, in other words how to paint the seat. I cannot find out whether the parachute was strapped to the pilot, or in the seat, as the back cushion? And is there a survival kit in the seat bottom? I viewed multiple videos of flights with the current airworthy Gnats, but none shows the pilots before flight, or boarding. Maybe someone has pilot notes, or personal experience? Thanks in advance! Rob

Senior as in age? 🙂 It's been a while since I looked into the Tamiya 956, but from the heart, I don't remember worthwile errors. I would check the following: - the nose section; the height of the leading edge (it was decreased at one point), and the 'hollownes' of the bodwork between the front wheel fenders - whether the slots under the engine were open or closed. I seem to remember the customer teams were quicker to close them off - the 'Delle' (dent) under the nose. I'm pretty sure it was absent on the low downforce package, like Tamiya made it - the biggest difference I see with the real cars (as seen at the Spa Classic) is the amount of ducting attached to the engine cover. But I would have to dive deep in my photo archive to illustrate that. There's probably more, but keeping track of all 956 and 962 changes is a mammoth task 🙂 Rob

Yes, but it should be added that the text always said: 'Gloss black, color no 17038, may be used as a substitute for the insignia blue'. In the 1964 version, it's in section 3.16. Rob

The Airdoc book(let) on the German F-84F, page 22 and 23, shows Insignia Blue titles and buzz numbers and probably serial numbers of a Luke-based USAF training unit, 4510 CCTW. Photos are dated 1959 to 1964. Rob

I picked the F-4 because I liked it best in the eggplane series. But I wasn't completely happy with the Phantom's shape. The inlets are really too big, and the same goes for the nozzles. The model is a caricature of a caricature! I decided to go for a fairly big plastic surgery: smaller inlets with ducts, a deeper egg-shaped belly, nozzles from the egg SR-71, and a modified nose. Here you see the inlet ducts and engine compressor. Right side view. Regarding the markings, I wanted my silly eggplane to look as bad and macho as possible. Browsing through an F-4 book I found what I was looking for: the markings of Marines squadron VMFA-531, with a big skull on the tail. Some of the printing roughness of the tail decal can be seen - but the camera sees more than my 55 year old eyes 🙂 I like the smaller exhaust nozzles a lot. Another problem was the crew: there's no backseater in the kit. I copied the pilot figure, made some improvements, and added my own decals on the visor covers. I really like the bobsled-like seating of the crew! A full build report can be found here: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/eggphantom.htm Rob

Yes, that makes a lot of sense. The C-17 cargo bay photo shows the opposite. The transport I saw at Volkel (ages ago) was also without containers. Rob

Thanks for the great photos! I wonder how many decades it will take until a European aviation museum will display any of the nuclear weapons the NATO countries had on their territories.. Rob

Thanks Jari! I found the source (https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/38454/imagine-following-this-on-the-highway-a-truckload-of-nuclear-training-bombs) and it says they are B61 'trainers'. But I don't the small red 'TRAINING ONLY' stencils anywhere. Which makes me think I still don't grasp B61 'color coding' 🙂 I would say that all except the closest and the furthest ones (B61-12 according to the article) are silver lacquer, do you agree? The photo could be proof that the color change occured somewhere between the B61-7 and B61-11. Rob

It's the lift of the vault, inside the shelter, as seen here: I always associated the F-16 with the B61, but there's a B57 in this vault too: The lids can be seen in many post-2000 shelter photos: Rob

I made a summary of the four B61 color schemes I've seen so far. But why all the changes? Silver lacquer with brown or black nose: Bare metal with brown or black nose: Light gray with brown or black nose: White with white nose: Rob

I remembered some more B61 photos, and I'm back to being confused again. There's this photo, reportedly a Volkel vault being inspected. What color is it?? It's no BDU-38 drop shape I think. More Volkel B61s: a group photo of the munitions squadron, looks like the same color as above. Source: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/05/28/us-soldiers-expose-nuclear-weapons-secrets-via-flashcard-apps/) Back to square one? Rob

Interesting! Previously I had grouped B61 drop shapes and loading trainers as having one color, and live weapons another. But it's different, as you describe. I remembered Daco's B-52H book, page 81. I always thought (and was amazed) that the crews were training with live B61s. But now that I look very closely, I can see fairly small 'TRAINING ONLY' stencils on the noses and tail fins. Personally I find the difference very, very small, as in not very safe.. Regarding Lakenheath, a Y-shaped fence, interesting! It would be a deviation from the standard, and I would not expect that. BTW, I should have added that I'm not specifically interested in determining the old Lakenheath QRA and WSA locations. It's more about how it's possible that no visible remains can be seen in aerial photos. Rob

I've got two for you, if they don't conflict with security: 1. Earlier in this thread I posted a annotated Google Earth photo of Upper Heyford indicating the two QRA areas and the WSA. My method is simple: anything with double fencing is nuclear. It's amazing how many airfields all over the world show these double fenced areas. Now for the question: I studied Lakenheath too, using photos from several years (as available in the stand-alone version of Google Earth), but I could not find double fences, or traces of them, anywhere. The oldest photo is from 1999, and maybe they had switched to vaults by them time. But usually you can still see some remains of the fencing. 2. I'm quite confused by the colors of drop shapes / loading trainers and the real things. B43 and B57 always appear to be white, I don't think I've ever seen anything else. I've seen the B61 in white overall, and silver lacquer with a brownish nose. I always thought the latter was the live one, until I saw the video on page two of this thread: At around 3:00 there a 'TRAINING ONLY' stencil to be seen on a B61 in silver lacquer with a brownish nose (movie is mirrored btw). So there goes my theory. Rob

Just checked my own Komet references list, and found six issues of 'Wings of The Luftwaffe'.. It appears that the 2010 issue was expanded greatly, from 176 to 272 pages: 1977 Macdonald and Jane's. ISBN 0-35401-075-1 1978 Doubleday, ISBN 0-38513-521-1. 176 pages with a 10 page chapter about Brown's flying experiences with the Me 163B. 1987 Airlife Pub Ltd. ISBN 0-906393-88-4 1987 Presidio Pr. ISBN 0-89141-297-2 2001 Airlife Pub Ltd. ISBN 1-85310-413-2 2010 Hikoki. ISBN 978-1-902109-15-2. Updated version of the 1978 issue, with several aircraft types, photographs of the captured aircraft and color profiles added. 272 pages, over 200 photos, profiles and sectional drawings. Corrections are welcome! Rob

Ah! Good to hear my memory did not fail me after all. But I did not know either that there were two different issues of 'Wings of The Luftwaffe'. Rob

Oops! You may have guessed I don't have the book. Maybe I meant the series in Air International, that was bundled as 'Wings of The Luftwaffe', as far as I know. Rob

Eric Brown didn't mention (or maybe denied) that he flew a Komet under power in his book 'Wings of The Luftwaffe'. But his later biography 'Wings on My Sleeve', he revealed that it did happen. I don't have a page dealing with Mr Brown's adventures, however, just maybe this Komet is the one that Brown flew under power in Germany: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/me163/ye11.htm I'm not 100% sure, but form the heart there are more photos of Yellow 11, showing RAF personel. Maybe his log books will become public one day, and then we will know! BTW, I had a chat with Mr Brown at a Belgian model show. What a gentleman. I did not want to bother him with my nerdy Komet questions. Rob

In my limited experience, enamel paint has the best adhesion to plastic, of all paints that I ever used. Again in my limited experience, it takes days of drying time to develop maximum adhesion. I still use an enamel paint before I use acrylics, since the latter rubs off, or scratches way too easily. Even acrylic lacquers have limited adhesion, it seems their lacquer thinner doesn't 'bite' enough to make it stick as well as enamel. Right now I'm trying Tamiya Surface Primer on a model, hoping it can replace the enamel undercoat. Rob

I have the reprint from 1988 (Greenhill Books). In my research about Mignet's own Pous, I found out that the English-speaking world might not be aware that Mignet's 1937 book (never translated) describes a rather different design, with a larger fuselage, more distance between the wings, and other modifications. The 1937 book was reprinted in 1985, 1994 and 2000, all in French. I have yet to find a copy. Rob

Terry, thanks for the tip, noted for further investigation. Talking about Pous, I researched the two Pous that Henri Mignet himself flew, and found out that he kept changing his mounts all the time. Very interesting. I'm now slowly building Mignet's first Pou. I used the LACI 'skeleton' version to build a set of wing that was exactly to how I think it looked. Rob

Thanks! And what a find - I had to look three times before I found it in the scans 🙂 Rob Thanks! But I already have this book. It's very well researched and illustrated indeed. Rob

I came across this title on Ebay, and I'm considering to buy it. But I cannot find any information on the contents. Is it mostly a registrations listing, or does it deal with the technology, like performance, stucture, regulations, etc? Thanks in advance! Rob