Procopius

My understanding is that the Academy Spitfire XIV is a bit chubby all 'round; it certainly looks very brawny next to my Fujimi kits.

Oh frabjous day! Thanks to the good offices of the gentlemanly chris57, I was able to obtain a Magna resin MB5 kit, which, I might add, is beautiful. Here's my plan: having purchased some plasticard, I intend to trace the Magna landing gear doors onto it and thereby take care of my Pegasus kit. The Magna kit also comes with two vacform canopies, and I'm confident that my expensive classical education has equipped me to tackle them. Well, maybe not. But I'm feeling optimistic!

Possibly during Pedestal, what with the yellow on the tail?

That's weirdly reminiscent of an OV-10 Bronco.

Aren't those P-40Cs and Es, though?

Are there historical RAF decal options for this fellow? I'm not up on P-40s in Commonwealth service. Any out of the box, and if not, what aftermarket options are there?

Many thanks; I've sent him a message forthwith!

Well all of this has certainly filled me with trepidation! I've never really kitbashed anything aside from science-fiction wargaming miniatures in my misspent youth, which is a lot less demanding. Vaccform canopies...I own exactly two of those, for the horrible Octopus Seafire III kit, which has coaxed more swears out of me than a gallon of cheap rum ever could, and remains incomplete, with many of its fragile resin bits busted. No tears. No tears. The less said of it the better. Progress on the MB5 is slow; mostly I just sand the parts down and try to see how well they'll fit together. I tried for the Magna MB5 on Ebay today, but despite the aid of a loyal UK-based satrap, I did not prevail. Here's where I sit in terms of the kit: Don't worry, nothing's glued together, I'm too frightened of wrecking my £25 (plus cross-Atlantic s&h) model right off the bat. The props have an immense amount of flash, and I'm trying to file them down without gouging them. I also have to cut out the tailwheel doors, figure out how to make a cockpit interior (never really cared about those, but feel I should give it the college try)...maybe use pieces from the Spifire V fuselage in one of my Sword Seafire IIc kits? Allegedly, once I detail the cockpit "to choice", according the instructions, I should glue the fuselage together, then add the rear cockpit fairing. There's just one thing...the fairing's presence makes the canopy not fit properly! (fig. 1: the fairing with canopy) (fig. 2: the canopy absent fairing) So now what?

I've never used a vacform canopy, shamefully. I'm kind of afraid of them, clumsy hands and all. Can small scissors or shears be used to cut them out and trim them? Seems safer than an x-acto. Also, is there an aftermarket cockpit or a cockpit that can be scavenged from an existing kit that won't cost me too dearly?

Well, according to the ever-reliable wikipeda, the MB5 should be 37'9" (sooo...37.75 feet) to the Spitfire Vb's 29'11" (29.91 feet) in length, so 126% as long and 15" tall to the Spitfire's 11'5" (11.416 feet), so 131% as tall. (I'm mostly writing this down for my own later benefit.) So...the fuselage should be 6.29 inches long, right? Now I need to see if I have a tape measure...

Hullo all, In a fit of madness I purchased a Pegasus kit of the Martin-Baker MB5, one of my favorite never-was aircraft of World War II, and the British answer to the P-51 Mustang, OR SO I THOUGHT. (More on that in a second.) Now, Pegasus kits, as all of you knew and I now know, are not for inexperienced modellers, which ha-ha-ha, I guess I could be called that. I'm terrible. So I apologize in advance if you're the chappie who I beat in a feverish ebay bidding war to "win" (if gaining the right to pay more for something than anyone else was willing to can be construed as winning) this particular kit, because you could almost certainly do a better job on this than I'm going to. Such are the perils of the capitalist system. There's not much to the kit, just some fairly thick pieces of hard plastic (see fig. 1), and some helpful templates for making landing gear doors, as well as instructions to scratchbuild your own 20mm cannon. Eep! For the first time in my life, I wish there was photoetch kit for something. Now, one thing I hadn't realized before getting the kit in the mail is that the MB5 is a B E A S T. The thing is so big I kind of wonder if the kit is really 1/72 scale. As you can see here, it's a mammoth compared to a Sword Seafire IIc, though I've seen a picture that does seem to indicate that the MB5 was probably large enough to seat a family of six in relative comfort. Be that as it may, this thing isn't Mustang-sized, it's ginormous! Even so, the canopy is so big that I'm kind of frightened. It looks like there'd be room for a large crew in this beast. Look how big it is compared to a Spitfire F.24's!

I came across this quite by chance: Helldivers in mixed USN/RN livery!

I've always taken Peter Smith with a grain or two of salt, ever since reading his rather intemperate remarks in The Great Ships Pass. He certainly wears his heart on his sleeve, I'll give him that.

I'm referring to the former aircraft, not the biplane. The RAAF (not RAF) evaluated a land-based version of the SB2c, but disliked it also. A much unloved airplane, it would seem.

The Royal Navy ordered 450 Helldivers, but didn't much care for them and only accepted 26.

Has there been any more word on this?

Both of my Sword Seafire II kits have badly pranged up three-bladed props. Now, to my untutored eye, the props seem to strongly resemble the superfluous De Havilland prop supplied with the Airfix Spitfire II kit; can I swap the prop out, or will I be making a major blunder? Also, do any decals exist for Battle of Britain era Spitfire IIs, while I'm asking?

I have that fellow in my queue as well, actually! I'm glad to hear it goes together well, the Xtrakit Mk XII I did was tricky for me.

My wife has very sensibly suggested that I wait on purchasing any more model kits until I assemble the (modest by my lights, immense by hers) collection I already have. However, Papal dispensation was obtained for one final kit. I've considered a number, but I wanted the advice of modellers vastly more experienced and skilled than myself. Here's what I've been looking at, all in 1/72: AZ Models Spitfire XVIII AZ Models Spitfire 21 AZ Models Spitfire 21 with contraprop Admiral (same people I know) Seafire 45 Admiral Seafire 46 I've built AZ's Spiteful and have their Seafang, and neither was beyond my (admittedly very limited) abilities. However, I'm open to other suggestions. What are some fun 1/72 kits of (preferably RAF or RN) aircraft I might not have heard of that you'd recommend, or how are any of the above named?

I own it; I'm a big fan of the BPF, but I was disappointed to discover that apparently no effort to verify the RN kill claims was made, and the book appears written without any reference to whatever few Japanese records may have survived. It's a bit more detailed than The Forgotten Fleet or Task Force 57, especially with regards to support services in Australia and logistics issues, though.

That sounds...promising...

I recently "won" (if that is the proper term for being willing to pay more than anyone else for something) a Pegasus 1/72 Martin-Baker MB5 kit; the MB5 and the Spiteful/Seafang are probably my favorite late-war prototypes, so I'm very excited. What can you all tell me about the kit? Is it complex? Will it test my limited skills? Does it look like an MB5? Also, can anyone recommend squadron codes and a scheme to paint the MB5 in; I'd like to depict one in the squadron service they never had a chance to be in.

I love Wing Leader! When I was nine I wrote Johnnie Johnson, and that great man very kindly sent me an autographed copy and wrote me a very nice letter. It was a phenomenal experience.

Are there any good books on Fighter Command's war after the Battle of Britain? I'm interested in learning more about the RAF "rhubarbs" and fighter sweeps, and Terraine's The Right of the Line doesn't go into a lot of detail.

Although Ault was a Squadron Leader, Wg Cdr AJM Smyth seems to have held command of the squadron until June. (I don't know, but I suspect he was relieved because of the botched first attempt to find the IJN ships in April.) Would he likely have still used A?