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Italeri Short Stirling N6086 MacRoberts Reply


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Despite already having an outing to Telford and many people seeing it with the paint still wet last week, I've finally got some daylight photo's taken of the finished build.

N6086 was the first Stirling to bare that name following Lady MacRobert personally donating £25,000 to fund a bomber after tragically losing all three of her sons Alasdair, Roderic and Iain on flying duties...

"It is my wish, as a mother, to reply in a way my sons would applaud - attack with great fire power, head on and hard. The amount of £25,000 is to buy a bomber aircraft to continue my son's work in the most effective way. This expresses my feelings on receiving notice about my sons …
They would be happy that their mother would avenge them and help to attack the enemy. I, therefore, feel that an appropriate name for the bomber would be the MacRobert's Reply. The aircraft should also bear the MacRobert's coat of arms the family crest, a crossed fern leaf and an Indian rose. Let the bomber serve where there is the most need of her and may luck be with those who fly her. If I had 10 sons, I know they all would have done service for their country".

No doubt that the shear size of the Stirling made it such a fitting representation of her determination to revenge her loss. Given the codes LS-F and formally named in October 1941, N6086 entered service with 15 Squadron as the first of two aircraft to be given this name. It's first of 12 operational missions was to Nuremberg with 7 other aircraft. Another notable raid that it took part in was on the 18th December 1941 when the squadron took part in an attack on the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst warships berthed in Brest. Following an attempt to attack the Tirpitz from a temporary base at Lossiemouth, bad weather caused the plan to be abandoned and the aircraft attempted to fly back to it's home base of Wyton on the 6th February. Unfortunately, the aircraft slid from the runway on take-off striking a Spitfire and ripping its wing off in the process. Whilst none of the Stirling crew were injured, the pilot of the Spitfure was tragically killed in the accident.

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I'm not going to go in to detail about the kit or the build (build thread here if interested), a more comprehensive and stunning undertaking has been written by our very own General Melchett who has made a much more thorough job of correcting the faults. It was painted using Mr Hobby H72 Dark Earth, Tamiya XF-82 Dark Green 2 and Tamiya Rubber black underneath. It was great to finally see it serve its primary mission of which was to serve along side many other Stirlings as the centre feature of the Bomber Command Sig display at Telford last weekend. A huge thanks for the interest along the way. With a house move in the middle and a million other things to do, I lost motivation several times, but it was the enthusiasm here that kept me going :) Anyway, hope you like the finished result...

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Thanks for looking

Cheers

Neil

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The word 'iconic' seems a tad over-used these days, but British WWII heavies are definitely that -they seem to wear the zeitgeist about them like few other examples of contemporary hardware, even those much-celebrated fighters that have beverages named after them!

This is a truly stunning piece of work; many thanks for sharing it here.

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Superb job Neil, (as I pointed out several times at the show). Just great to see them all on the table together, as Bill said Bill Nicholls would have been proud. Tragic back story but sadly the fate of many of these magnificent aircraft.......(now you can see what you're doing there's no excuse not to crack on with that lovely Manchester :winkgrin: )

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It looks Awsome mate. Your build was a great read to and very helpful when I was getting through mine.

Are you bringing yours to Hudds if I go I'll bring mine.

I must be mad but I really fancy doing an Airfix one now !

Love your weathering very nice indeed :)

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In reply to Stosh, it did indeed stand well with its peers

Neil it looked really good in place

Nice to see you too

I'll be trying to get to Huddy for a change, I usually kick off my Model Year at Cosford but I understand Huddersfield is earlier

:thumbsup:

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