mikestow

Hello there,as an aged modeller ,Lockdown has made it a necessary MUST do to keep the grey cells going!I would be very interested in an Avro Anson C19 or 21,as I have been hunting for the Aeroclub one!Please put me down for a 72nd Scale version when anf if one is available.Thanking you.

Whirlybird Vacform with resin/white metal kits are splendid,and easier to produce a nice representation of the 50s British Prototypes.They are usually all still available on their webstie and will arrive very quickly.Having also experienced the Olimp Resins,I would agree some are not easily built to an acceptable level,and need a lot of finessing to get right.A Vacform is much easier to reshape with particular relevance to getting the wings level on both sides,having had the cutouts/slots at different positions on each side with the Olimps.You can muh easier change that on a Vac:The earlier Maintrack Supermarine 508s suffered from that,but the last Whirlybird one was perfect that I had last year!!!I was waiting for an Olimp 508,but it has not happened yet????

Having built virtually all the Prototypes now courtesy of John's wealth of knowledge,You will not find Cerulean Blue in any Humbrol,Revell,Xtracolour.It is however a bluer PRU Blue and the only definitive colour shot I found was the Cerulean Victor from Farnborough mid 50s.I have tried to post both my VN799 and VX181,but Photobucket is noncooperative,and latest Windows 10 updates have stopped my old camera from uploading pictures,so only my son's will work and he objects to shots of my Modelling lack of expertise.Anyway the 2 colours of the Blue(VX181) and Petter Blue(VN799) are very different,and yes again the Midge and Prototype Gnat are different again and not Petter Blue. Whatever John states should be looked at as "Gospel".The Coventry Historic Team painted WK163 in the correct colour of VN799,as a recognition of the 1st Ptototype,so a recent shot of that should give a clue as to the proper colour.

Does anyone,since the white metal Aeroclub ones,still produce Target Tug Winches and or propellors in 72nd scale?These are for side fuselage mounted,not wing mounted like early 50s jets..Any ideas??Building a late WW2" Vegeance TT from an old Frog Kit.

If you have the old Matchbox T3 or the revived Airfix one to crash,then use the "Pen nib" back end and you can shorten the radar,if you want the shorter US Version of the AI to build the 6.The 5 was a 4 with more fuel!Hope this helps?

Hello , Just seen your question,and I have built WW594,with 4 dummy Firestreaks as Hawker P1109A,and it was a definite F6,but with no dog tooth leading edge as it was only the 3rd F6 airframe completed.However it never carried real Firestreaks only dummies for aerodynamic testing.XF378 was the only fully equipped,and did several test firings.That was designated P1109B.Hope this helps?

I hope these come out,as photobucket lost them all,but I seem to have found them,so fingers crossed!!Yes the 535 was an Ellot/Contrail from ages ago,and I should have put the Engine blank in the 525,but only fitted an unstamped blank piece of card;I will put some proper Avon engine fronts which I now have!Just forgot about doing it before.

Hello there, Yes indeed I am afraid to being a Supermarine enthusiast,so have built the lot pretty well!!The Maintrack 525 is amongst them,as I think the only kit available.I posted it amongst a load of prototypes some time ago,but if Photobucket will allow me,I will try to find it and let you see my offering!?As far as I remember it was the same as the early Maintracks with white metal front intakes and jet pipes etc.I have had miserable experiences with Olimp as well,inparticular with the Seagull,which again is on BM somewhere.But I did hope the Olimp 508 would be nice????

Hello there!I have built both the Maintrack and the Whirlybird kits,which are the same,apart from resin instead of white metal for the intakes,jet piepes etc..Very easy to relaign as per the statements above.The photos were both posted together with a load of Prototypes I have done over the years on the Airfix Swift thread as I recall.Can not put anything on from Photobucket as lost the lot!! I have been waiting for the Olimp resin version for ages,so maybe it will out after the New Year??Hope so??

Maybe I am old and stupid,but having set up a Flickr Account,and put one photo in,there seems no box to upload more or put an http;image on to BM.Can you please in words of one syllble explain?I will persevere?

Yes indeed it was "Blackburn Aircraft Since 1909" By Jackson,which as stated gives loads of information on different units plus codes with relevant serials.The comments from the Test Pilots were indeed fairly dire,but view from the cockpit does not look too bad.Photobucket is "Down" apparently and has been for a couple of days,so will take a few photos to keep for posting later,as the model is being collected tomorrow.Just looked on Hannants and found it is not in stock but over £50 plus postage to order,so will not be getting one for myself!!It came out well considering the very basic kit!!

Alongside the Albermarle I have completed my Amateur rendition of the Blackburn Botha.It was similar to a Magna Kit,but removing the huge sprues successfully without shattering the parts was the biggest problem.Both fuselage sides fitted well,with minimal shaving,and the spares box added several bits that were necessary to finish it properly,as quite a lot is left up to the builder.Luckily I was lent a copy of the Blackburn Book,which has all the information and enough photos to do the job.The build was relatively straightforward,but things like inserting the observation windows from the inside after painting the fuselage,was essential,so trimming the cockpit floor so that it could be inserted from the front had to be done using a blutac base to position it at the right height again.The wings were very nice,and the very basic engines fitted the cowlings,once everything was removed from the sprues!!!I think it is an expensive kit as it is,so with aftermarket engines,it would be quite expensive.However you can judge for yourselves,how you might make the model,as only one other I have seen also in 608s markings,instead of the training unit suggested in the kit!??When photobucket allows I will post photos!Is there not another means of achieving this??

Oh Dear!Nevermind the thoughts were there!!I never had access to information re 296 and 297,but will get it back and offer a change to codes!-296 was 9W+ and 297 L5+ or later P5 as far as I can see.I will try to find suitabe red codes for it then.Many thanks for the info,and surprising what comes out here!!!I have finished the Botha and not varnished it for him,but it should be no problem to paint over and reapply decals,if I have them!!Otherwise it will have to stay as a "D"Day machine!Meanwhile the Botha is unvarnished and completed as UL+Y which achieved 18 Ops before being transferred to a training unit and finally lost in 1942.This will be on a seperate thread.