TimB

There are on-line sources of viton o-rings, which are the softer black ones that are messed up by agressive thinners. The H&S ones are a standard size - I'm away from home so can't give you the exact dimensions but if you measure a new one for your specfic airbrush, then check the viton suppliers on line I would be surprised if if were not a standard size. Also check the parts list for your airbrush - part numbers can give a clue. Sorry not to be more precise!

I change the black seals on my H&S airbrush frequently. I use Gunze thinners normally but anything more aggressive really damages them. Look at a used seal versus a new one; if the old one is larger then it is absorbing the thinner and needs replacing. I buy non OEM o-ring seals. They are not quite as long lasting as the H&S ones but a lot cheaper so I can afford to change them every few months.

Happy memories - and, yes, I had to contribute a few crates at the Hover Inn...

My only comment would be that I started using airbrushes in my teens (Badger cheapies), never got on with them, tried three or four "proper ones" such as Iwata over the years, then (40-some years after the first one) bought a decent compressor and an H&S Infinity, watched a demo by Bret Green at SMW and finally felt in control of the airbrush rather than the other way around. I still can't spray beautiful camouflage lines, but get good results with masking. So don't expect too much too soon, and as Chuck1945 says, it's worth trying out various ones till you find one that works for you. The paint, thinners and how you mix them will make a huge difference too. Good Luck! Tim

Nick Greenall IPMS UK Harrier Sig has published a whole series of monographs on the subject. Regards Tim

Hi Jabba, on both the grey (XV738 4 Sqn/B) and the green(XV809 3 Sqn/AF) Matchcoat Harriers, the intake lips were the topside camo colour, with white interiors - the idea was that the white would help any birdstrikes on the intakes be seen. The white soon became quite grubby. On 738, the fuselage white demarcation ran vertically just in front of the boundary layer bleed air intakes on the fuselage (the vertical rectangles), about an inch in front of the front of the BL door. As the curved intake lip is slightly further forward at the top than the bottom, the demarcation was a little further in at the top, say 12 inches or so, then went to about 3 inches at the bottom. I dont have a good picture of AF's intakes to hand, but they will almost certainly been the same as both were painted at St Athan. Regards Tim

Hi Dov, if you want info on RN Sea Kings, the NATOPS manual is unlikely to be much use. The UK Sea Kings had considerable differences from the US ones. The Carson blade drawing is useful, but I'd agree with Mike McMurtrey; aircrew manuals tend to have less detail on the actual airframe than the maint manuals. For the UK, the Topic 3 Illustrated Parts Catalogue tends to have good. There are some UK manuals here https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/manual-index-post-ww2.37869/page-2 Regards Tim

I think the 28lb was probably used by the SHARs for loft bombing - the 3 kg's ballistics would have been no use for that. The short tail CBLS 100 was not used on RAFG Harriers in my experience (83-86), with the long-tail used on the centre-line pylon as well as the wings. Regards Tim

Hi Ben, if I recall, the diameter matched the 1000lb MC bomb, so that should give you a good scale. I have a few pics of them on Harriers. The only model one I'm aware of were the Flightpath ones. I used the -100 on a Harrier T4. See https://www.sphaera.co.uk/cbls.htm for a drawing of the 200. All the best Tim

Hi Jabba, if you have any questions on the scheme I may be able to help. I just finished a 1/48 one which is in the RFI forum. Good luck with it - I have a special liking for XV738. regards Tim

Watching this one too. I remember seeing the original at Mildenhall in (I think) 1975. It's on my must-build list. Good luck Tim

That's very nice. I scratchbuilt Apollo 7 a few years ago, and know how hard it is to do in 1/72nd. I really like the base too. For Kapam, A 1/72 Saturn V fits in an Ikea Detolf cabinet! Regards Tim

That is amazing. you have done amazing job bringing the detail and the weathering together so seamlessly. Very very nice! Thanks for sharing Tim

Very sad to hear this. He had been supporting modellers for a very long time, and I have bought and used many of his items over the years - I always had good service from him. A sad loss to the hobby. Tim

I should add that I was inspired to redraw the intakes by Wellsprop's ones. I ordered a pair from him - then decided to take the plunge and draw them myself. Ben was kind enough to deliver his ones in person, but I ended up using mine. His are very good, though. Regards tim

Really nice to see an HC2. You've done a really nice job bringing the old model up to a modern standard - a bit like the original HC2 upgrade! Regards Tim

My latest efforts are here for inspection. Both are from the Kinetic GR1/3 boxing, but with considerable tweaks. XV810 20 Sqn XX is a GR1A/3 from Wildenrath around 1975 – it still had the 4kVA generators but I’m not sure if the engine was still a Pegasus 102 or had been updated to a 103 at that stage. Engine, generators and laser nose were separate mods, carried out over several years. XV738 4 Sqn B from Gutersloh is in the early 1984 Trial Matchcoat scheme. The cockpit of XV810 is in private hands – I was kindly given access last year while researching another project. The background of these is that I have wanted to build a good model of XV738 in the Matchcoat scheme for several years, but my previous effort fell foul of a paint problem. I had used Xtracolour Dark Sea Grey, but the end result came out too dark and a little too brown. It did not look right so it went back to the shelf of doom. I also stalled building a 1/24 Harrier, again as I did not like the colours that I used – that model is on the SOD also. I had done some 3D printing when making the 1/24 model , and decided to modify the parts to 1/48. These were going to be quick builds, then AMS set in… The following modifications were done, in addition to the usual minor changes needed to the Kinetic Harrier (tailplane pivot points, upper RCS nozzles, engine access panel shape, wing leading edges etc): I added 3D printed partial engines and engine compartment, with XW810 having the early generator config and XV738 the later single 12kVA genny. I taught myself to model the pipework in Freecad en route. New bell intake and fan. This goes with the engine and the engine bay details. The APU inlet and exhaust almost line up with the fuselage... For XV810, I used the Kinetic forward intake, modified with milliput and plasticard to get the interior detail accurate. That took a week. For XV738 I drew up a 3d model and printed it – much easier! XV810’s cockpit used the Kinetic parts with Quinta decals – they are pretty accurate, but for XV738 the tub and nose wheel bay were 3D prints derived from the set I built for the 1/24 model. The ejection seat was a 3d print – not as good as some commercial ones but I had drawn a 1/24 one so decided to use that. I’m not totally sure on the accuracy of the Quinta ejection seat straps, but decided to use them in any case. There were very significant differences in strap configuration over the Harrier’s life. The undercarriage bays on XV810 were left closed, but on XV738 I drew up 3d models and used these. The main bay is pretty accurate, but the nose bay is much simplified – one look at the hydraulics in the real thing will show why! For XV810, I decided to do something different, and built it with a war load of Matra M116 SNEB pods. This load was not flown in peacetime, but was sometimes loaded for VIP visits. Finding details of the 115 pods and the twin store carriers was difficult, and there a few guesses were involved! The Airfix 1/24 TSCs are very simplified, but about the right size and shape so I used those and a blurry advert from the manufacturer. The SNEBs used some photos of the pods, and a French internet article for dimensions. I then needed to draw new pylons, as the Kinetic ones had problems and would not fit the SNEB adapters! Dimensions were taken from a Sea Harrier at the local (to me) FAAM, noting that the Sea Harrier inboard pylons were slightly different to the RAF one. The overall result is a slightly different early RAFG Harrier. For XV738 I wanted to build it in late recce role fit with Phimat and acquisition AIM-9L. The Phimat came from Eduard, but the acquisition round was 3d printed as was the recce pod. Just when I thought I had had enough of 3d modelling for a while, I realised that the Kinetic outriggers were too tall, giving a tail-high sit to the model. So I bit the bullet and drew up some outriggers (the main and nose tyres were already 3d prints, dimensions from various tyre catalogues). The new outriggers gave a better sit, at the penalty of having to shorten the main gear leg a bit. I used SMS paints for the first time on this build, partly as a trial before returning to the 1/24 GR3. I liked the way they sprayed, and could be used for brushing (fixing) small areas. In my view, several of the colours needed a bit of amending – I’ll add a short piece in the paits Forum. Bottom line - I'll use them again and respray the 1/24 Harrier with them. Decals from Kinetic and Xtradecal - by the way, for XV738 the Xtradecal fuselage serials are too small, and the original did not have underwing serials. So there they are: a brace of RAFG single seat Harriers to go with a T4 I built a few years ago. They are not perfect, but I certainly learnt a lot about 3d design. Now I can think of going back to the 1/24 GR3, which will represent XV810 in 1984. I will also be looking for some simpler builds...

Hi Mike, I think you've got what you need. I'd throw together a very basic 3 D model to show how the walls fit together, and scale it on the doorway with your wife. It'll be a bit of trial and error, but looking at the way the buildings and walls intersect, and having a stab at the slopes involved, it looks eminently do-able. The main aim is to get the relationships of the buildings right, then work out the scale, not the other way round. At least the walls seem to be at right angles! Regards Tim

As has been said, the RAF SAR Wessex Flts had the wet fit as standard. As well as the obvious use for wet winvching over the sea, the fit also stopped bodily fluids leaking into the under floor area if the casuialty was in a bad way. The detailed fits varied slightly by time and Flight, but I seem to remember a Neil Robertson stretcher and an F-type liferaft were prominent. The doorway had a metal reinforcing strip to prevent damage to the wet fit. SARTU at Valley generally used a simplified fit. Nice pics from Bob.

No, but built a (non-flying) 1:4 Ingenuity (NASA helicopter on Mars)!

Hi Michael, can't help on the LEDs, but on the plumes, it all depends on the rocket propellant, its burn characteristics and if it is in atmosphere or vaccuum, and if its moving relative to any atmosphere. The plume you show looks like it would work with the classic cotton wool effect. More modern missiles often have very litte smoke. All I can suggest is google "Simulated smoke and fire scale model". There is a good video of Warhammer effects that might cover what you want to do. All the best Tim

My only caveat is that the Gunze aqueous colours have come in for some flak on accuracy recently. The Mr Color C series colours seem to be more accurate for the RAF Cold War ones, but you may want to read the threads, then trry out the pint yourself on an old model. I would endorse the leveling thinner - I use it with Gunze and Tamiya and it is very dependable. Regards Tim

Oh well, I think my North Wing VAAC Harrier will be staying in its box... On the intakes, Kinetic are in good company. The Airfix 1/24th ones are worse... (but bigger). Regards, Tim

Thank you. I kicked myself for not getting a copy a few years ago when I had the chance. Regards Tim

See https://fauntrackway.com/defense/aviation/aircraft-landing-mat. The standard field MEXE pad for landing was 70ft square. The take off strips were PSA and the standard strip was 640x37ft, laid in a herringbone pattern. PSA ("Tin") was used elsewhere for taxiways and hides on a pretty ad-hoc fashion, as shown in the picture on the previous post. Standard planks were 2.7m x 25cm, with half length ones also used. Regards, Tim