Graham Boak

The Revell kit pretty good. It has its problems - tyres too small, ailerons too narrow chord, outer bomb bay doors fixed shut, a double row of bombs instead of a triple, and a few lesser tweaks. Overall however it is a good representation.

The fighter units in Northern France were JG2 and JG26. The 1/72 Airfix Fw190 are late war Fw190A-8s. which would not be appropriate. You will require one of the shorter nose variants, possibly an A-3 like the old Matchbox kit. The American author Donald Caldwell has published a history of JG26 which should deal with this matter in some detail. At this stage the majority of the German fighters would have been Bf109s.

Whilst I agree with you in principle, I feel that you are very unlikely to find information about the colour of individual markings in any official archive. These can be incomplete even with regard to what should be there - or what was there once but no longer exists. Therefore a somewhat less dismissive approach will be welcomed when people to attempt to help.

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What aircraft? Falcon do after market canopy sets which include Lancaster, Stirling, Halifax, B-24 and others. Some of the Falcon canopies are available as single sets from Squadron.

So they are. Brain fade I'm afraid.

Whilst agreeing that NG 43 shouldn't be confused with NG 32, (and maybe I'll look up later to see just what the colour difference might be) It does seem unlikely that NG 32 would be in use on P-51s, B-17s and the like. So in this case there's no possibility of confusing the two. I entirely agree with using capital letters when referring to a specific paint. The value of colour photography can be seen in photos 1 and 3 on post #30, where the colour appears with a distinct blue tinge. Neutral Gray was not named after a political attitude, (as with the USN's Neutrality Gray, if it was ever officially called that) but because it was neutral in shade, i.e. something between black and white only.

I have 1/72 Lewis guns from at least three sources. Kora, Coastal Craft, and spares in the Dragon SAS jeep.

Pegasus did a P-40Q. Hoping for one from a mainstream producer is rather like asking for a Spitfire Mk.III or Bf109X. Short run producers have done 2 out of 3... Not in 1/48th admittedly.

I've seen a photo showing large stars and bars on a camouflaged Voodoo. They appeared to be the same size as those carried on uncamouflaged examples. Presumably this was an early camouflaged example.

I don't see the connection between a supposed demand for one type on 1/72 and the production of a different type in 1/48. I say supposed because having a vocal but comparatively small bunch of modellers calling for a type does not always convert into sales when the kit eventually appears.

No. Playing with the trim wheel adjusts the attitude of the aircraft so that the stick is centralised for ease of control. Over these angles, the angle the nose is pointing with respect to the line of flight does not affect whether an aircraft goes up or down. What makes this happen is the power setting. More power and the aircraft goes up, less and it descends. Adjusting the trim changes the attitude of the aircraft in steady level flight not the altitude. This is for steady flight, of course the aircraft will dive if you stick the nose down far enough by moving the stick, and will climb (or perhaps, go upwards) if you pull it back. But if you don't touch the power settings it will accelerate in the dive and slow down in a climb - this is what is called a zoom climb, exchanging kinetic energy (velocity) for potential energy (height). If persevered with, the end result of a zoom climb is a stall. To a small order, changing the trim will change the drag and thus at constant throttle the aircraft will change speed, and thus perhaps altitude; the two are kept as required by the pilot adjusting the throttle. In addition, by altering the angle of attack between the air and the wing, the lift will change. If flying was easy, anyone could do it.

155 gives a green OD. The early war OD was often very brownish, especially when faded. I recall Harleyford advice to modellers that C-47s were painted in Dark Earth. Photos of Gentile's aircraft often show a dark brown appearance, although the problems of colour reproduction have to come into play here. My comment was however intended more generally. OD was not strictly controlled as RAF colours were, particularly in the mid-year years. You can see photos, b&w and colour, showing up to four different hues/shades on the same individual aircraft, particularly C-47s and B-17 where subcontractors built different parts. Also, paint on fabric surfaces looked different to that on metal surfaces. You cannot point to one colour and say "That's definitely OD."and be right in all cases. John Snyder found a wartime motorbike still in original wrapping and copied the colour for a USArmy OD for WEM Colourcoats, so for a new motorbike, OK. That particular batch, at least. I believe that this is still available from Colourcoats. I used to use the old Humbrol French Artillery Green, but must admit that I've never found an OD model paint that looks brown enough to match some photos, and perhaps I shouldn't be trying. However both Precision Paints and Xtracolour do a faded OD, and Colourcoats do a very nice late IJAAF khaki that at least aren't quite as green to my eye. As to which is "right" for Shangri-la...

I wholeheartedly back the Granger drawings, but although they give you the relevant shapes you may still need some assistance as to which aircraft had which bits. Kenneth Merrick's books, the old or the newer, will provide that. However you will still benefit from photos of the aircraft you wish to model. One qualification. If you are doing a Mk.I series i or ii, my belief is that the chin intake is deeper than shown on any drawing. The bulge for the oil cooler was not outside the original lines but the outer shape was refined to draw the cowling closer in for a more aerodynamic shape. But I can't prove that, anyone interested should look at the photos themselves.

I suggest that where as a dark Neutral Gray was common in 1942 and perhaps still seen later, especially on the bombers, a much lighter colour was common on the later fighters. Hence the recommendation for H27, which I would call an acceptable colour for the early period. Whether the lighter underside was just some kind of production variation or a different specific colour I can't say, but given the wide variation in OD I admire your confidence in H155! So if you are doing an early P-51B then H27 would do. For a later one I'd consult a photo of the specific aircraft.