Michou

I have a note that the colour is Mauve, Dockers 2-part Epoxy Hi-Gloss, FS595a 17142. My memory is wearing out, but I think that information came from an ex-Fairey employee. Mike

Thanks, Robert. If these are not imported to Switzerland I shall try to find some local equivalent. Mike

Robert, Please tell me more about those acrylic pencils. Who is the manufacturer? I have tried Caran D'Ache Prismalo pencils but they are water colours and useless for plastic modelling. Mike

I hope that this is not too late to be of help, but there is an illustrated article on the Ju52 together with a 3-view of the machine with the enlarged rudder to be found here: https://adl-luftfahrthistorik.de/dok/Ju52_1m.pdf Mike

I have a couple of photos and a drawing showing the rotation in the cockpit but, since the problems with Photobucket, I have not bothered to find another photo-hosting site. Perhaps you could send me a message with your email address and I can scan the images and send them directly to you. Mike

The seat was a Sud Aviation E120B which could rotate through 50 degrees so that the pilot was not hanging head-down when the aircraft was vertical. Mike

Thanks for the translation Sebastien. I read French but English is appreciated by the majority on the site. May I ask where you found that "huge version" of the plan? Your description of your location intrigues me. Where is that? Chez les ch'tis? Mike

There is a Russian book to appear in March or April from Yauza Publishing Group. I know nothing about it and I don't read Russian. Is there anyone out there capable of translating the blurb on the back cover? https://aviaforum.ru/threads/tu-128.14155/page-1614 Mike

There is a list of the sprues contained in the different Hasegawa kits to be found here:- https://modelingmadness.com/splfeat/kr/has48e.htm Mike

Some suitable background music, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnG8nOK7nqM Mike

Agama make a range of Czech colours for models. Go here: http://www.agama-model.cz/ click on PAINT RANGE, USING OF COLORS click on CZECH Mike

I have just remembered that I have a Yak-6 amongst far too many unbuilt kits and have managed to find it hiding at the back of the fall-out shelter. It is in white plastic with very fine raised detail. No box, just a plastic bag, and no assembly instructions, merely a single sheet of paper with good 3-view and what I suppose is a short history of the aircraft. There is no kit manufacturer's name on the sheet, just Yak-6 and Nbb (in Cyrillic script). The decal sheet consists of six red stars with a fine black outline. Does this have any relation to that Alfa kit? Mike

I have been browsing through Russian aviation and hobby magazines on the internet. No, I don't read Russian! I just look at the pictures . I found a short article in English in M-Hobby (M-Хобби) magazine number 1-93 which gives an interesting peek at private enterprise and the creation of short-run kits in Soviet Russia. The ALFA‘s Yak-6 A.Epshov Everybody knows him as «ALFA», though his name is Gennady Vasiliev. In the early 80‘s he made no less than the first Russian 1/72 scale kit. It was the time when ex-FROG kits became widely available on Soviet market, and scale modelling was getting more and more popular. The prob- lem however was that most of the kits depicted such an exotic foreign subjects as Hurricane and Lightning and were interesting only for guys who really believed that there could be some airplanes outside Russia. Only two red stars (SB-2 and La-7) were available. How he made his first mould is a story by itself. Every cottage industry manufacturer, who made his first kit on a kitchen table, knows the problem — total lack of equipment and experience, though overweighted by great amount of enthusiasm. The first kit was in fact very basic set of injection moulded parts which could be built (with a lot of patience and care) into 1/72 scale model of MiG-3. MiG-3 was soon followed up by Su-2 and Yak-4 — now really a collector’s items! However in what- then-was Soviet Union private business was not allowed to be, and MVD guys kept their watchfull eye on it. Gennady has been taken to court and though acquited. all his moulds were destroyed. ’That’s life’ - he told, and when the word ’businessman’ became legal he got started again. This time with l/72 scale model of LaGG-3, and then with this gem – Yak-6. I’ve seen in some foreign magazines this kit reviewed under wrong names (Santa, Ajax), in spite of the fact that ’ALFA’ is clearly mentioned on the box in Latin. The decal provided in this kit is in fact one from LaGG-3 (nobody knows why). Colour painting guide on instruction sheet is a little wrong. In all other respections the kit is pretty good. Both wheeled and skied versions can be built. I-like this kit not because of it’s subject - like any other jet fan I can hardly believe this propellered things could really fly. I just like ALFA. Mike

Another reference to 1958/59 as the release date. http://www.modelingmadness.com/others/features/bakerhurricanes/bakerhurricanes.htm Mike

Scalemates has it dated as 197* which is much too late according to my memory. I have checked with my list of models and have the release date as 1958. I no longer remember where that came from - the instructions, engraved on the model? Mike

Very, very nice, Ozzyman. And that brings back some memories - four 707s and two Vulcans in formation at Farnborough in 1953. 1953! I think I am getting old. Mike

French is on that P-51D because it is one of Switzerland's official languages. None of Switzerland's 130 P-51Ds were captured, they were purchased post-war. It is logical that they would be repainted and markings applied in either French or German or both. Italian is the third most important Swiss national language and is spoken by about 9% of the population. NoelH mentioned Romanche of which there are five dialects and is spoken by less that 1% of the Swiss. I just can't imagine a Swiss aircraft with stencils in Surselvan! As for the P-51B which was test flown in Switzerland, I wouldn't think that they bothered with anything more than replacing American national markings by Swiss markings. Possibly there would have been a few labels in the cockpit as reminders of essential checks and parameters. Mike

There is some information to be found here: http://france1940.free.fr/vichy/ada_indf.html The site gives a reference. Mike Sorry, I took a look at the book referred to and it is only about the Middle East.

The orange missile has MAKET stencilled on the body which is identical to the French word MAQUETTE and means MODEL. Google translate confirms this. Mike

The start of WW2. Just found this on the BBC site: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38573643 Mike

The drawing on page 2 is complete nonsense. Well, the drawing isn't but the label is total nonsense. The drawing on page 2 labelled "German diagram of atomic blast on New York" simply shows the distribution of a large number of bombs all aimed at the same target. Most bombs hit the target, quite a few are near misses and the occasional bomb is way off. The curve is a typical bell curve (normal distribution/Gaussian distribution). The drawing comes from Saenger's report "Ueber einen Raketenantrieb fuer Fernbomber", (A Rocket Drive for Long Range Bombers)‏ in which the Silver Bird bomber is described. A translation can be found here: http://www.astronautix.com/data/saenger.pdf The drawing is on page 156. It has nothing to do with a nuclear bomb. Mike

Books on the Do Wal. Dornier Wal - Flugzeuge die Geschichte machten by Heinz Nowarra, Motorbuch Verlag, 1993. Dornier Wal "a Light coming over the Sea" by M Michiel van der Mey, LoGisma editore, 2012 (third edition). Nowarra's book is the most useful from the modeller's point of view. Also, check the Seawings site: http://www.seawings.co.uk/DornierWAL-WRgal.htm Mike

I would recommend "Martin XB-51" , Air Force Legends no. 201 by Steve Ginter. Mike

Back to school CedB! Pfeil is pronounced Pfile. It is easy to remember the German pronunciation of IE and EI. WEIN (Wine) and BIER (Beer). OK, so W is pronounced as V and it sounds like Vine. I am trying to remember, is the pitch of the rear propeller correct? Mike