Bennygman

I'm toying with the idea of the Airfix HMS Belfast with White ensign etch. Does that fit the bill (not sure about 'best of breed', but she is a D-Day veteran)? Never built a ship 'seriously' but I'm willing to give it a go. Steve.

Me too. I was looking at the progress pics some time back and thinking "that's gonna take some beating". Highly commended goes to DSwoofie for bringing back memories of the ACT at Farnborough though. To be honest though, there's not a bad build amongst them guys Steve.

PHREAK is your man for this one really, but I think I'm right to say many more than are currently available in a DSLR. I think the Current top dog is the Canon EOS 1Ds Mk3 (only £4-5k - body only) at around 22Mp. I also have a feeling that digital backs may be available for some Med format cameras, but if so you won't be surprised to hear they'll need a second mortgage. Steve.

Nice pics Phil. To answer the question above; yes go digital, the convenience is staggering compared to film. But, don't chop in the Mamiya if you can afford not to, I reckon you'd kick yourself later. Different horses for different courses IMO. I always fancied medium format, but never got around to it (and sorry, but no I don't want to buy yours to finance the DSLR ) Steve.

Superb! I remember this beast doing it's stuff at Farnborough a good few years back - you certainly did it justice. Steve.

Nice one Dean. I quite like GA, and often fly it in flightsim. The slower pace allows better sight-seeing . I've looked at these several times, especially the float version but they always seem so damned expensive - about £18 last time in Modelzone. CMR are supposed to be bringing out a 150 in 1/72 - now that will be a tiny model! Steve.

I'm 90% of the way through their Meteor F8. A lot of parts fitted really nicely (e.g. fuselage halves), but others were... challenging. In some cases though I think that was due to me not lining things up properly rather than intrinsic bad fit. I'd say they challege you to get it right, but reward you when you do. it certainly looks like a damn nice Meteor now, with any problems being 'modeller's own'. Steve.

Is it actually a 'weekend' kit? These are usually the stripped down versions with no brass or resin, and just a single decal option. If that's the case it'd just be Airfix plastic and a single decal option - not overly special. I'd imagine this would be a full release, i.e. Airfix plastic tarted up with Eduard etch and resin and five or six (probably multi-national) decal options. Have a look at the recently re-released Spitfire on Hannant's site for an idea of what to expect. If it's not one of these I'd be very disappointed. Steve.

Same here with their 'pit for the Hobby Boss A-10 (48th). So far I've applied, knife, saw, file, wet and dry, profanity, etc and may have to buy a Dremel too. It's almost there though and it's gonna look so great once it's in. Certainly not an OOB accesory, but fortunately I was forewarned about the fit so I went in with eyes open. Woe betide anyone who innocently paints one of these up beautifully then tries to fit it - many tears before bedtime. Steve. PS I also think they're great value for money compared to the competition, maybe that's why they're a bit more 'work intensive', shall we say?

Interesting, I got mine on Saturday and the two things that struck me were; a. The plastic used has a very strange 'glossy' appearance, particularly noticeable on the one piece upper fuselage/wings. b. there's a hell of a lot of work to do cleaning up those doors, although your sink marks on the outside look a bit worse than mine. I'm waiting 'til I'm inspired by the real one at Fairford but I'll follow your progress on this one. Steve.

Now that makes more sense - cheers mate. Steve.

Just looking at the above on Hannants site and it states on the painting guide that both Oxford and Cambridge UAS were based at Duxford. Cambridge I can buy and is confirmed by my limited research so far, but Oxford too?? Seems a bit far away. Reason I ask is that the history of DX is one of my ongoing themes and I was wondering how many to buy. Thanks in advance for any confirmation / denials, Steve.

Perhaps not - but I for one would give my eye teeth for that Herk in shot no 2! Any more? Steve.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how we do that. An absolutely superb build! Steve.

oooh...That's a bit good is that. One of the builds of the year so far. Steve.

31 Sqn reporting for duty! More pics in the build thread. Steve.

She's been finished for a while now, but I only just got around to uploading my pics. Fairly pleased with this one, though the CBLS is more accurately described as 'green blob of roughly the correct shape'! This is exactly why I leave resin mastering to the experts I'll put one of the pics in the 'completed' gallery too. Steve.

A little bit of acrylic flow enhancer works wonders too. Steve.

1. Only the big ones (with pictures) 2. As above 3. The Internet, usually 4. Nope (see 3. above) I'd imagine most users of this forum see news on the Internet long before it [can] appears in print. But, I guess the Internet modelling fraternity is fairly small compared to the available pool of modellers, so print ads probably serve a purpose if they're your only point of contact. Regarding Heritage itself, honest answer is that I can't off-hand remember seeing one of your print ads, but as I said unless it's eye-catching I tend to skim over them. Your web-site however is well known to me and bookmarked. Steve. Steve.

I know where my vote's going Steve.

He's not a moderator - he's a very naughty boy! Steve.

Nice one Pappy. I was playing with mine this morning; hacking the Aries cockpit about trying to get it to fit into the HB fuselage halves. Not there yet, but I'm hopeful . I'll look forward to seeing how you go. Any ideas on a colour scheme yet? Mine will be a 'Spang bird. Steve.

You're quite right of course, I only just noticed that. So the question is how do I display mine? Perhaps best not go there in case we start another F-18 style fiasco! . it hadn't even occured to me that it might be a different machine on the other day, although it was towed back to the North side each evening. I waited for ages to chat with the guys manning the gazebo, but they always had quite a crowd around. I'm sure most of the questions would have got the old, "you know what sir, I have now idea how they manage that" response . One of the things I wanted to ask was if the crews would convert to the Raptor (or were interested in doing so). Steve.

Nice pics John, I especially like the one just as the 'chute pops! If I can take the liberty of posting in your thread, here's a couple I took of the static Stealth that illustrates a couple of modelling points. Note the asymmetrical displacement of the control surfaces... And the lozenge shaped 'lump' behind the Star and bar which isn't included in the Hase' kit. I have one of these ongoing at the moment and I'm trying to incorporate theses features. The other thing your pics illustrate is the displacement of the vertical surfaces - took a razor saw and a very deep breath to cut those off! Steve.

SAMI for news SAM/MAM for research - (very detailed research in the case of MAM) MAI for inspiration Recently I've only bought SAM / SAMI, but SAMI has begun to annoy me a bit with some of the subjects and the quality of some of the builds (not all, by any means). I may go to a SAM / MAI combo from next month (SAM is a long time habit). Steve. PS Graham: I've got the latest SAM and SAMI which I've just about finished with, if you'd like to 'try before you buy'. they're only going in the bin otherwise. PM me a postal address if you'd like them.