Michou

I was unaware that the Swiss Mirage was longer than the IIIE until I read this thread and I have been looking through my books. The length of the IIIE is 15.03m (Dasault brochure). The length of the IIIS is 15.27m ("Mirage: das fliegende Dreieck", Borgeaud & Gunti). The Swiss book has scale drawings and the length quoted is from the tip of the pitot to the top of the rudder trailing edge. The difference is 24cm which is 5mm in 1/48 scale. The difference is length is because of the bigger electronics bay required to house the TARAN equipment. Mike

Mark, Photobucket was down for maintenance for a lengthy time. It was working this morning (CET). Mike

If you have trouble finding the umlaut on your keyboard it is perfectly correct to write the letter and add the letter e. E.g. ae is equivalent to ä oe is equivalent to ö ue is equivalent to ü The letter e is, in fact, the origin of the umlaut. It was written as a superscript above the vowel and the handwritten e became abbreviated to a couple of near vertical lines which, in turn, has become a pair of dots. Mike

Well, I like to know what is in the box. This must have been a marketing disaster. The contents of the boxes are all different. The only way to know which kit is hiding inside was to peer at a stick-on label on the end of the box. J & R Randall had obviously never heard of impulse-buying. Who could resist those early Japanese kits? Mike

The inner wing pylons, when they carried something, seem to have been limited to four 8cm Oe Flz Rak (8cm Oerlikon Flugzeug Rakete) each. Reference, "Hunter, ein Jäger für die Schweiz" by Borgeaud, Gunti and Lewis, Goat Works 1997. This is THE reference work on Swiss Hunters. Mike

Hi Mike, Nobody has added to my list of books so here is what I have for American aircraft. Any work by Dana Bell has been very carefully researched. I am prepared to buy any of his books without waiting to read the reviews. The Official Monogram US Navy & Marine Corps Aircraft Color Guide Vol 2, 1940-1949 John M Elliot Monogram Aviation Publications, second edition 1998 Contains colour chips, drawings in colour, diagrams and numerous photos both monochrome and colour. USAAF Markings and Camouflage 1941-1947 Robert Archer and Victor Archer Schiffer, 1997 A hefty volume, it weighs 2,29kg, and quite a hefty price tag, USD80. Several ANA colour charts and load of photographs both colour and black and white. Mike

Much of what I use has been long out of print. For what it is worth: British Aviation Colours of World War Two RAF Museum Series Volume 3 Arms and Armour Press, 1976 This book contains Air Ministry Orders and a colour chart. Briefly, how things should have been done and not necessarily how they were. Fighting Colours: RAF Fighter Camouflage and Markings 1937-1969 Michael J F Bowyer Patrick Stevens, 1969 Michael Bowyer is one of the spotters who made a written note of seeing blue Mustangs and much of this book is also based on his contemporary written notes. In contrast to the work above, this is what was done. Bombing Colours: RAF bombers, their markings and operations 1937-1973 Michael J F Bowyer Patrick Stevens, 1973 Same comments as above. Camouflage & Markings: RAF Fighter Command, 1936-1945 James Goulding and Robert Jones Ducimus Books, 1970-1971 This is a bound volume of a series of booklets. Camouflage & Markings: United States Army Air Force 1937-1945 Roger A Freeman Ducimus Books, 1974 Originally a seies of booklets also. I'll let the Americans comment on their colo(u)r references. Mike

Once again, this has nothing to do with Kodachrome or any other film. Those young guys, even if they had cameras, would have had extreme difficulty in obtaining any sort of film in wartime Britain. Colour film was totally out of the question. The subject of blue paint comes from the written accounts of experienced eye-witnesses. Mike

But Jerzy, this is why there is so much dispute and discussion. You are trying to match ambiguous colours from a second (third?) generation photo with the written accounts of eye witnesses who were skilled observers. I do not trust colour photographs. I have seen colour prints of the Me 262 which landed at Dübendorf taken shortly before it was handed over to the Deutsches Museum. Some show brown flecks on the camouflage and some do not. Visitors to the museum in Munich never saw any brown flecks as they are some photographic artifact. I am sure that you will find profiles out there which faithfully reproduce those brown flecks. Mike

Green or blue? The argument/discussion continues. It was Michael Bowyer and two or three friends, possibly Alfred Alderson among them, who all recorded seeing blue-painted Mustangs. Roger Freeman comes down on the side of blue in his book, "The Mighty Eighth in Colour". If you read Tom Cleaver's article he describes the observers as "spotters". Spotters in quotation marks as if to say, "Young nerds with notebooks and not to be relied upon". This entirely overlooks the importance of aircraft recognition in Britain in WW2. The word "spotter" was commonplace at that time and there was a journal called "The Aeroplane Spotter" edited by Charles Cain who later created the Profile series of booklets. Those young guys were expert observers! Mike

The brakes were hydraulically operated. Loads of details to be found here: http://rwebs.net/avhistory/history/Zeke32.htm Mike

The Alizé was made by Mach and not Mach 2. Georges Gazuit ran Mach and produced the Deperdussin Monocoque, the Oiseau Blanc, Vautour and Alizé. Didier Palix took over and the label changed to Mach 2 in 1991. Mike

How one guy did it: http://www.gengriz.co.uk/sealightning2.htm Mike

Alas, Andrew died of a very nasty cancer a couple of years ago. If you look at that link to the Matterhorn Circle you will see that the theme for one year was "Remembering Andrew". The guys in the group thought it a good idea to present the sort of models that Andrew liked and would have built. Mike

John, I think that you must have seen Andrew White's collection of 1/72 scale models. When he knew that he had no longer much time to live, he sought an organisation that would accept his models and they went to Old Warden. Andrew lived for many years in Geneva and was a member of the Matterhorn Circle, a small group that would build models to a chosen theme and display them at the annual Basler Modellbautage. This is part of the 2004 exhibition. (Click on 2004 X-planes) Do you recognise any of his models? http://www.wings-aviation.ch/96-IPMS/3-Exhibition/Basis-exh.htm It is a pity that the people at Old Warden did not put his name on the collection. His wife is an artist and she created this wonderful portrait of Andrew. http://www.chinapastel.com/Foreign_works_view.asp?id=855&gwysjid=97&classid=18 Mike

This detailed build of the Heller kit may be of interest. http://mab.forumfree.it/?t=59567920 Mike

I have "Erste Bomber der Wehrnacht Dornier Do 23" by Dabrowski, Podzun-Pallas-Verlag. Unfortunately I cannot check the contents as a large number of my books are temporarily inaccessible. There is also an English version of this work, "Dornier Do 23: First Bomber of the Wehrmacht", published by Schiffer, ISBN13: 9780764300936. However, I am very wary of Schiffer's translations as they are frequently very poor/incomprehensible. Mike

These documents may be of help when making the model. https://www.flickr.com/photos/horaburo/sets/72157633971637160/ Mike

The seat rotated through 45 degrees so that the pilot would not be hanging head-down with the aircraft in the take off and landing attitude. However, the arm rests were fixed. This makes sense as the distance between the pilot's hands and the contols on the side walls would not then be constantly changing. Mike

If the blue camouflage used on the Crusader is the same as that on the Mirage IIIC, then I agree with SPAD64's suggestion of PRU Blue. I once removed a flake of paint from a Mirage IIIC (When nobody was looking :-) ) and it is identical to colour No. 636 PRU Blue in my copy of BS 381C. Mike

I have a copy of the Swiss AF document for the Mirage IIIS, "Bemalung und Immatrikulation" (Painting and serial number). There is nothing about painting the airframe, just the markings and serial numbers. There are two dark bands on the rear fuselage, frames 26 and 33, which Heller kit instructions will tell you to paint pearl-grey. There is no paint on the real thing. This is just a different coloured metal. I have also seen numerous Mirage IIIS in the past and can confirm that they are not painted silver. Mike

Future, Pledge, Klear, etc. Check here for info: http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html Mike

What is a "clutching hand"? The Zvezda kit is the only one I know of which correctly reproduces the asymmetric cross-section of the main cabin. The "leaning over" appearance of the aircraft when on the ground is so characteristic of the Hind that I would not consider any other kit. Mike

Have you tried contacting the Croydon Airport Society? http://www.croydonairport.org.uk A long time ago (long like decades) Sutton Public Library published a series of small books on Croydon Airport. They are probably long out of print but perhaps there is something more recent. Try the Airport Society first. Mike

Some drawings from "AB.205 technical operational information"