Procopius

Given that any potential replacement for it hasn't even flown yet, and that aircraft development cycles take north of twenty years these days, it should last a long time even if you think it's a piece of crap. I'd imagine not, same as the Hasegawa kit. Greatly simplifies construction if your target audience is newer/first-time builders.

Because there are like, fifty people, myself included, in the world who both (a) know what a Gloster Javelin is, and (b) want to build a specifically 1/72 kit of it. Whereas the F-35B is flown by the militaries of three of the world's richest countries and can regularly be seen at airshows..

As someone who has small kids who want to build models like their dad, I welcome Airfix kits like this.

I think we always knew there wouldn't be many new releases, even if only in our secret hearts. The pandemic and supply chain issues, as well as the economic downturn/inflation are all starting to bite this year. Rough day for the fellas trying to sell their 1/48 Classic Airframes Gannets, though.

I thought that was a pretty clever move on their part.

Wait. Do you have a Martin-Baker Mk.7 in your garage, Ali?

Three sets of resin Harrier intakes with dropped doors, a set of Canberra tip tanks, and a corrected Harrier GR3 fin, all in 1/72, all from Freightdog, who went out of their way for me to find several of the items. Also: $50 worth of PVC pipe and supplies to replace a corroded copper drainpipe.

Something we have more confidence in, like a 1973 Austin Allegro. (Honda Odyssey is the front-runner.)

Model Art has done a few sheets, I believe.

Apparently a recurring issue with them. Our car has a rebuilt engine 55,000 miles younger than it is, because the prior engine simply...blew up, in a cloud of thick, choking smoke, while it was being nursed up a hill. Subaru replaced it free of charge, because not only did it burn oil, the "check engine" light never came on. A minor bagatelle, perhaps, but our next car (when we can afford one, which would require me not buying so many kits...) will not be a Subaru. Once stranded on a hillside next to a Dunkirk-like column of smoke, twice shy.

Bill the Galactic Hero, by Harry Harrison, perchance?

yesssssssssss

Late last night, after watching the Poseidon Adventure (dreadful) with friends over Zoom, and swapping out a plate in the 3D printer*, I wandered over to the Lightning, and sanded it for a good ninety minutes around the tail. Excuse the blurriness, it was almost 2AM. My goal here was to thin down the exterior of the plastic to fair the Reskit engines into it. I had to use my scalpel a bit as well. Before: And after: There's obviously going to be a bit of cleanup and sanding (and then more cleanup) still to come, but I think it's much improved now. I also opened up the box of a 1/48 (I know...) Airfix Lightning F1A/F2/F3 boxing, and whoever was selling it must have been either doing so on consignment (in which case, they did a bad job), or as part of an estate sale (which, given the number of sex toys and lingerie -- used? -- they're apparently selling right now, suggests a modeller with a fascinating inner life), but clearly they didn't know anything about models, because the box was packed to the gills with aftermarket, all left unmentioned in the product description, and I paid less than retail for the kit to begin with. There's a second Aeromaster decal sheet, two or three resin cockpit sets...unreal. * I'm making some Space Marines for Winston, with the ulterior motive of forcing him to do some reading (of stat lines) by playing a bowdlerised version of Warhammer with him, with dear old dad taking a dive. "Why are some missing hands, Edward?" Look, I get left and right mixed up sometimes, okay?

My dad, who was born in 1956 and grew up as the son of second-generation immigrant plumber (my grandfather's parents emigrated from Swinford in 1910, a few years before my namesake was born), relates to a surprising amount of it, for someone who claims to have no memory of his childhood.

If so, I would dearly hope for a Mk5, so I could do Suez-y things. The issue with that (I imagine, not having any business background whatsoever) is that ship models sell less well than planes, and a 1/350 aircraft carrier is on par with a 1/24 superkit in terms of size, expense, and production effort.

Your son is my age, Dave! And clearly more successful. I share my wife's aging and deteriorating 2011 Subaru Forester, a car renowned for its ability to guzzle oil. Sorry for no updates for a bit, the kids are on vacation, and I was, which meant a lot of co-parenting, and Winston had a really severe asthma flare-up that required doses of Ventolin every two hours through the night, meaning I didn't have a lot of time for modelling. He did tell me he wanted to write a book "about a superhero who's a dad", which is either because his current father is lacking, or because I'm apparently not doing a terrible job. It's also likely influenced by the fact that his grandmother let him listen to the obscenity-packed audiobook of The Life and the Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, by Bill Bryson while he was visiting her, the framing of that memoir having to do with secretly being a superhero. I did receive the 1/48 Airfix Sea Vixen that I won at an auction (which I presume was an estate sale) as part of a lot, the remaining kits of which I allowed the boys to divide up amongst themselves, and instantly regretted it, both because I'm selfish, and because there was fighting. Win picked the 1/48 Academy F4U-4, and 1/72 Hobbyboss F-5E, Italeri/Esci F-8 Crusader, and Minicraft Ventura. Grant took the 1/48 old-tool Airfix Hurricane, 1/48 Monogram Panther, 1/72 Minicraft/Hasegawa F-16A, and a 1/144 Revell Lufthansa Embraer 190. A 1/48 Tamiya F-51D (I suspect the prior owner of these kits had a 1/48 Korean War project planned at one point) was "claimed" by Mrs P to prevent squabbling. Grant is really taken with his airliner because it's German (he likes Germany...modern Germany, I found the boys drawing swastikas with the red no-symbol (Ø) surrounding them of their own accord, as heartening as it is cringeworthy to proudly share on social media, since they only know what I tell them about it, which does indeed merit a hearty no-symbol) and peaceful. Win has been working on the F4U-4. I have no idea how accurate it is, not my scale, but it's very nice to build. Unfortunately, the glue aggravates his asthma, so he can't do as much as often as he'd like. Mrs P cut her hair, which looks nice. This is a relief, as she wanted to get it cut "like [pop star] Pink", but Pink has millions of dollars and her haircut still looks awful, but mercifully, the hairdresser refused(!) to the point of claiming they didn't have a razor (when one was clearly visible three feet away) to provide the cut, and so Mrs P had to give a more flattering cut to herself in front of the mirror. I also fixed my broken 3D-printer, to make some Star Wars statues for her to paint in her copious spare time, per her request. I'm hoping to get back to the bench soonish...I just need things to stabilise here a bit. And then during the first week of February, I have to fly to New Orleans for work, a part of my job that I thought had ended with the pandemic.

They do, however, as I live in this large-scale social experiment across the waters, I order from them direct. In fact, I used one of their seats for this build!

I actually think it WOULD need the aft fuselage replacement, as the Sword plastic is hugely thick back there. And people are going to think that I'm just doing this build to get stuff from other people, which is ridiculous. As a howling vortex of pure need, everything I do is towards that end, not just hobby activities. That said, yes please. I have another Sword Lightning single-seater thanks to Steve, and a trainer as well, so I'm certain one or the other would benefit from it. Let me know what you'd want for it!

True genius.

They were designed for the Airfix kit, but the plastic on the Sword fuselage is extremely thick, far more so than on the Airfix.

Very brief update: I got the Reskit engines painted and added, but the step makes it look...not good. Which is too bad, because the kit resin bit was awful, tons of pinholes, and the inward-projecting portions of the jet pipes were subtly angled so it didn't quiiiite fit. You can see the very prominent step. I almost wonder if the replacement aft section Quickboost makes for the Trumpeter Lightnings might not be a better bet. Decals are starting to come on, including the wing walk stencils, which absolutely suck to put on. The Sword instructions for them are worse than useless, so I'm relying on the placement guide for the Xtradecal Lightning stencil sheet, with some theft of wing walk lines as well. The metal replacement shock cone is on, atop a fair bit of noseweight, because you never know. This build has suffered a great deal from overconfidence, which I'm not ordinarily overburdened with.

I quite agree. A very lovely early jet, especially the F.8s. The NF marks, on the other hand...

So Grant, after Winston told him where meat comes from, has become a vegetarian -- though he has no compunctions, it would seem, about eating bacon -- and refused absolutely to eat the ham for dinner. Winston, on the other hand, ate it with gusto, pausing to announce that "No offense, Thanksgiving, but I like the Christmas ham much better than turkey. Again, no offense Thanksgiving, but the ham is better." It's worth noting that we were advised by his psychiatrist to experiment with not replacing the clonidine patch he wears for his ADHD, and the end result has been to turn him into one of those cartoon Tasmanian devils, a whirlwind of devastation roaring through the day. Mrs P and the kids went to my parents' for brunch, but I have had brunch with my family before and know that nothing about it is jolly or life-affirming, and opted to stay home and clean instead. I missed out, though, as my bitter, unpleasant spinster sister screamed at my children, as she frequently does, and yelling at someone so loud their head exploded would have been very cathartic for me, because I'm absolutely fed up with the way she treats my kids. It wasn't even Winston, but Grant, who was so distraught he wouldn't eat lunch. Winston, meanwhile, was admonished for using potty language in front of my other (deeply uptight, deeply religious) sister's nearly-sessile lump of a five-year-old, Henry, who looks more or less like what a block of quivering, moist tofu would look like if it had a thick Beatles-style mop of hair. Henry piously informed Mrs P he wouldn't ever repeat those words, because "Potty language is from Satan." Incidentally, many years ago, Henry's father, my step-cousin, piously informed me that "my best friend is THE LORD", at the tender age of eight, so the apple doesn't fall too far from the dour tree. Man did I ever rob myself by staying home and imposing order on my disordered personal universe. Anyway, Winston ate a lot of ham. I had forgotten to defrost it, but cooking it for five hours sorted everything out, and it was remarkably excellent, considering that until I got married I had never once prepared ham, and never before in my life been entrusted with the glorious burden of putting a ham in the over, turning it on, and setting a timer. Reminds me of when I used to dispatch for a same-day-air shipping company. I once, through my own incompetence, single-handedly held up production of the Hummer 2 for four hours. Yet do I get any thanks? No I do not. I instinctively lock the doors whenever I come in from taking out the trash, so I DID lock them out today, but foolishly I let them all back in. The boys opened their presents this AM at 5:50, which isn't even morning, as far as I'm concerned. Win's Tamiya Churchill that I carefully selected for him was eclipsed for him by a $12 quadcopter drone his mother bought for him, presumably because she has no idea who she was dealing with. Winston and I are very much alike (rough for him, as my own self-hatred means he often irritates the hell out of me), and my old boss gave me a very similar drone six years ago as a Christmas present, so I knew exactly what would happen, because I used mine to kamikaze my long-suffering superior in her office while she was on a conference call. My in-laws finally made it here around 4PM, so I was able to escape to the basement at the unbelievably luxurious hour of 7:30 PM, having in the interim managed to take the tip off my left index finger demonstrating the unsafe way to use a mandoline slicer. I used one of my few tins of Xtracolour to paint the radome in an approximate shade: I also masked and sprayed the anti-glare strip: Not perfect, but so far nothing in this build has been, and we just have to hope I learned something along the way. I began the process of assembling the missile pylons and cut the plastic pitot off and replaced it with the Master one: Glued the ejection seat in, painted the hood black, and test-fitted it: The kit instructions ask you to put an IFF aerial(?) identical to the one on the hood on the nose, but I couldn't find any example of this in my references, and left it off.

1/72: Sword Harrier T2/4 Sword Lightning T4/5 Trumpeter Wyvern S.4 1/48: Trumpeter Sea Hawk FGA.6 Trumpeter Wyvern S.4 Late From East of Suez to the Eastern Atlantic: British Naval Policy 1964–70 by Edward Hampshire Folland Gnat: Sabre Slayer and Red Arrow by Victor Bingham Britain's Jet Age: From the Meteor to the Sea Vixen Paperback by Guy Ellis

My children will never listen to manufactured punk! They'll listen to The Undertones and like it. B U I L D T H R E A D I quite like reading to him, on my terms. When it was Curious George, I wanted to kill myself. Mrs P forbade me from throwing those bloody books out while the boys were sleeping, and I still resent her for it. George is a curious little monkey, and his clearly ESL meanderings over ONE HUNDRED PAGES of a children's book are painful, excruciatingly painful, to read. Tonight I read Frederick Forsyth's short story "The Shepherd" to Win, who as a ruthless rational materialist, had to have the thrust of the ending explained to him at length. I love that show. Such a perfect portrait of a subculture, not so different from our own in many ways. Plus, great theme song. Christmas Eve here was frustrating, so much so that I'll not torment myself by reliving it to write of it. The abysmal weather caused my in-laws to cancel their visit to us for Christmas, as it's a long drive for them and the wind is severe (it blew down part of our fence), as is the cold (there's ice on the inside panes of the bathroom window). This was a bit of a blow, as we were looking forward to having some other adults to distract the children, which, were I in my in-laws' shoes, would be sufficient reason not to come down at all, ever. Suffice it to say that I'm all used up, and I've given all that I have to give, and then I went and folded laundry after that. I just want everyone to ⬛⬛⬛⬛ off. And I really regret buying a ten pound Christmas ham to feed two adults alone, since my children have been taught by Mrs P that dinner is a la carte and we will make whatever damn fool thing they claim to want for them, and then when they refuse to eat that, we'll make something else too. At this point, I'm ready to let them starve to death, since prison can't be any worse than this. Suffice it to say, I hate this time of year, though I remain unruffled by the fact that nobody remembered to buy me anything for Christmas, because I'm pretty used to that, and in any case, I've spent quite freely of my children's inheritance the past few days to make myself feel better. (It didn't work.) I got the interior colour sprayed on the canopy, and added the tiny PE antennae atop it. There's a little PE bit that goes on the inside of the hood, but I forgot it, and since it will be modelled closed, as god intended, it shouldn't be a big deal. I hope. The shock cone is in just for looks at the moment: Getting close to having to figure out the engines and aft part of the aircraft soon, as well as the anti-glare panel on the nose. Then we can get to the decals, I think. Based on a group photo of funeral flypast pilots, it looks as if at least the 56 Squadron aircraft had dummy Firestreaks fitted, presumably because of the handling benefits. I can't see them in the photos of the overflight, but I reckon I'll model them, since the lower gun panels are blanked off, so presumably the missile pack is fitted. I hope you all have a happy Christmas (or whatever); as I grow older, more and more I realise how much the friendships (if I may be so bold to call them that) I've made through this site mean to me, and how much joy they give me in an alarmingly uncertain world.