The Royal Air Force Centenary GB Chat

[LDSModeller]

30 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

Hello Alan,

You are very welcome.

 

Regarding 75 Sqn,  ... They can be part of the build, but only while they still part of the RAF (i.e. before October 1946).

Hi Robert,

 

Thank you for the welcome, and roger that, on 75 Sqn prior to Oct 1946

 

Thanks/regards

 

Alan

[Torbjorn]

On 4/4/2018 at 6:27 PM, andyf117 said:

Having discovered it was 'missing', I set about finding and actually located my Gladiator kit - it was being used as a 'spacer' half-way down a box of built models!

Which means I've now got the decal sheet, if you'd like it - though being quite old, it has somewhat yellowed carrier film, and being Heller, that itself is quite thick...

 

....what I didn't find, however, was the de-sprued Hasegawa Lightning F.6 that I thought was housed in the Gladiator box - now racking my brain as to where that is!

Thanks for the kind offer - certainly a friendly place, got two offers for the same decals! I will go ahead and order aftermarket code letters and roundels though, to get something new and non-yellow

[Rabbit Leader]

@Robert Stuart, 

Apologies for not being as active as I should have been, however I won’t bore you with the details. I’m now belatingly reporting back to hopefully kick off and promote that ‘Colonial Contribution’ idea that I hi-jacked from @Romeo Alpha Yankee (Rays) Article XV Squadrons post a few months ago. 

 

Now I had original intentions to build a No. 455 Squadron Beaufighter, however a recent and lovely build in BM’s RFI section has kinda stole my thunder a little. I might revisit the Beau a little later, perhaps in No. 456 Squadron Night Fighter guise, however think it’s best I start with something a little simpler. 

 

Therefore I’ll (hopefully) honour No.452 Squadron by building a Tamiya Spitfire Vb and if the mood grabs me an Airfix Spitfire Mk.II as well. I’ll place an order for some excellent DK decals that should provide enough enthusiasm to kick this / these builds along. Now let me revisit the stash and find these kits to start the obligatory GB build threads. 

 

I know there’s a few of these Article XV Squadrons builds currently under way so here is another call out to all you fellow Aussie’s, Kiwis and Canucks to join in with one of these builds to help honour our WW2 support to the Mother Country. 

 

Cheers.. Dave (who is happily watching the Commonwealth Games Aussie gold fest).

[Robert Stuart]

8 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

@Robert Stuart, 

Apologies for not being as active as I should have been, however I won’t bore you with the details. I’m now belatingly reporting back to hopefully kick off and promote that ‘Colonial Contribution’ idea that I hi-jacked from @Romeo Alpha Yankee (Rays) Arricle XV Squadrons post a few months ago. 

 

Now I had original intentions to build a No. 455 Squadron Beaufighter, however a recent and lovely build in BM’s RFI section has kinda stole my thunder a little. I might revisit the Beau a little later, perhaps in No. 456 Squadron Night Fighter guise, however think it’s best I start with something a little simpler. 

 

Therefore I’ll (hopefully) honour No.452 Squadron by building a Tamiya Spitfire Vb and if the mood grabs me an Airfix Spitfire Mk.II as well. I’ll place an order for some excellent DK decals that should provide enough enthusiasm to kick this / these builds along. Now let me revisit the stash and find these kits to start the obligatory GB build threads. 

 

I know there’s a few of these Article XV Squadrons builds currently under way so here is another call out to all you fellow Aussie’s, Kiwis and Canucks to join in with one of these builds to help honour our WW2 support to the Mother Country. 

 

Cheers.. Dave (who is happily watching the Commonwealth Games Aussie gold fest).

Hello Dave

Apology not needed, when you are ready, or the decals arrive, or the Commonwealth Games finish (or whatever), you can come back and do some model making

 

Robert

 

[PhantomBigStu]

Having picked up a 2nd copy of the revell  typhoon, and indeed having the an airfix spitfire in the stash, thinking of doing an alternative version to the airfix RAF100 gift set, what to pick as a stand in for the camel.....maybe a lightning.....or maybe I should break new ground and do a rigged biplane 

Edited April 10, 2018 by PhantomBigStu

[jrlx]

On 4/5/2018 at 03:24, jrlx said:

A question to the host @Robert Stuart

 

I have two builds in the shelf of doom which I'd like to enter in this GB but, first, I'd like to confirm they are eligible.

 

The first one is a Battle of Britain Bolton Paul Defiant (Airfix 1/72). I've done work on the cockpit and transparent parts but the fuselage is still to be closed. Here is the WIP thread:

 

The second build is a RAF Flight Training School Tiger Moth (Airfix 1/72). I've only done work on the cockpit but even the cockpit is still to be finished. Here's the WIP thread:

Thanks in advance.

 

Jaime

 

 

On 4/5/2018 at 08:32, Robert Stuart said:

Hello @jrlx

Those are beautiful builds and (IMO) it would be a pity for either of them to reside on the Shelf of Doom.

 

Can we open this up to the group, and see what the general view on each build is by Tuesday (00:01 am)?

 

PM sent

 

On 4/5/2018 at 16:28, cathasatail said:

I personally vote for both of them to be allowed- for me, I would say that the fuselage-closed stage is the point at which a model starts to "come together"/ be over 25% completed

 

Best wishes,

Sam

Hello @Robert Stuart,

 

Considering Sam's positive vote and the lack of opposition to my request, may I, then, enter the GB with both builds?

 

Thanks

 

Jaime

 

[Robert Stuart]

Hello Jaime, @jrlx

Sorry, I lost track of these.  Yes, please go ahead with both of these builds.

[Robert Stuart]

Anybody fancy building a camel?

There's a rather interesting pair of camels on page 17 of this paper ...

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/Research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-35-Seminar-Supply.pdf

 

[Sabre_days]

On ‎25‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 1:10 PM, Knight_Flyer said:

May I ask, are those RCAF squadrons? If they are, I might consider other kits in the stash.

 

Yes they are...please don't reconsider on my account though, given my track record and building pace it's highly unlikely I'll finish anything other than the Mustang. At this point, it's probably best if I don't start anything else for this GB until it's finished...

 

Sorry for the slow reply!

[shatters]

Having just returned from Elvington, do 346 and 347 squadrons free French count ?

 

Phil

[jrlx]

On 4/11/2018 at 08:22, Robert Stuart said:

Hello Jaime, @jrlx

Sorry, I lost track of these.  Yes, please go ahead with both of these builds.

Hi Robert,

 

Enzo has already kindly moved the builds to the GB. I hope to resume the builds early in June, as I still have some builds in the Hawker GB to work on.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

[Maverick231]

On 30/03/2018 at 9:32 PM, Robert Stuart said:

You are very welcome Maverick.

Sounds good John 

Thanks mate looking forward to it.

[Rabbit Leader]

Did someone offer to start and keep up to date a ‘Build thread’ for this important GB? I recall reading something where each build was going to be batched in say 10 year blocks or something similar. 

 

I would offer, however the home computer has just fused itself overnight. My son has kindly donated his less techno savvy parents use of a self assembled wiz-bang box of binary bits until we get ourselves sorted, but this may take a while yet. 

 

IMO - a build thread would sure make this GB easier to follow and may also inspire a few more builds to take place to commemorate what has been a wonderful 100 years of British history. 

 

Cheers. Dave

[Robert Stuart]

That would be me Dave

Maintaining a full relational database is, frankly, a pain so I dropped back to Excel for this.

 

Apart from the last table, these are sorted by the number of builds, and then alphabetically.

 

A/C Maker	Type	No of Builds
Supermarine	Spitfire	9
Eurofighter	Typhoon	6
Boulton Paul	Defiant	4
Blackburn	Buccaneer	3
Gloster	Gladiator	3
Gloster	Meteor	3
Hawker	Fury	3
Panavia	Tornado	3
BAC	Jet Provost	2
de Havilland	Mosquito	2
Hawker	Hurricane	2
RAF	SE5a	2
Armstrong Whitworth	Argosy	1
Armstrong Whitworth	Siskin	1
Avro	504	1
Avro	Lancaster	1
Bae	Hawk	1
Brewster	Buffalo	1
Bristol	Beaufighter	1
Bristol	Bulldog	1
Curtiss	Tomahawk	1
de Havilland	Hornet	1
de Havilland	Tiger Moth	1
English Electric	Canbera	1
English Electric	Lightning	1
Folland	Gnat	1
Gloster	Gauntlet	1
Hawker	Henley	1
Rolls Royce	Pattern 1920 A/C	1
Sepcat	Jaguar	1
Sopwith	Camel	1
Westland	Sea King	1
Total		62

 

I decided to credit Supermarine with the Spitfires, rather than their owners - Vickers.

 

 

Kit Maker	No of Builds
Airfix	24
Revell	10
Roden	5
Tamiya	5
Italeri	2
Matchbox	2
Academy	1
Aeroclub	1
Amodel	1
AZ	1
CMR	1
Eduard	1
Hasegawa	1
HK Models	1
ICM	1
Inpact	1
Magna	1
Micro Mir	1
Special Hobby	1
Xtrakit	1
Total	62

 

Note: the Xtrakit model is a re-pop of a Matchbox kit.

 

Scale	No of Builds
1/32	3
1/48	24
1/72	33
1/144	2
Total	62

 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Thanks Robert. Hard to think that there’s already 62 builds already! 

 

I decided to swap my initially proposed Beaufighter as the scheme I had in mine had been recently displayed on BM. Now I see there’s already nine Spits being built within this GB, so my two 1/72 Spitfire kits will hardly be unique now will they? But, I suppose as the saying goes - you can never have too many Spits.

 

I’m sure if you polled 100 people to name just one British aircraft 99% would say Spitfire - the other odd ball 1% might mention a  ‘Balloli’?? 

 

My GB build thread will be posted tomorrow once I can get onto my work desk top computer. (The home computer decided to literally fry itself on Sunday night!!). 

 

Cheers.. Dave

 

[Robert Stuart]

That's fine Dave.

I'm sorry to hear about your computer, I saw in another thread that, bad as it must have been, it could have been a LOT worse.

 

Not having a few Spitfires here would be worrying, but the one that does surprise me is how popular another Boulton-Paul type is, the Defiant.  (I'm biased in favour of the type,  but even so, third on the list!)

 

When you are ready, build what you want to build

[Colin W]

While its surprising that there are so many Defiants on the list above, the real surprise is the we have only 1 vehicle and 1 Helicopter. Surly the RAF has had lots of each.

My plan was to build Brian Carbury's 603 Squadron Spitfire next and keep the NZ link going but we have 9 Spits already. So having failed to build a unique Hawker Fury first I took a step back to think what to build next.

Ignoring the BBMF and its associated support aircraft, the longest serving aircraft in the RAF has been the Canberra which managed 55 years. We are lucky to have 1 represented in the GB as nimrod54 is building a PR9. I reckon there are a few coming close with the Herk at about 51 years and still going. The VC10 and Chipmunk managed about 47 years service each. I have a 1/48 Herk, PR9 and Chipmunk in the Cabinet already and you can have too many 1/48 Herks, never mind a VC10!

So I have decided to make a second entry to this GB by building not only another Helicopter but one with 47 years service and at least another 8 on the horizon, potentially giving 55 years service to equal the Canberra.

Any guess's?

 

It will also be a new manufacturer and a new scale (but I'll pretend its not).

 

Colin

[Robert Stuart]

3 hours ago, Colin W said:

While its surprising that there are so many Defiants on the list above, the real surprise is the we have only 1 vehicle and 1 Helicopter. Surly the RAF has had lots of each.

My plan was to build Brian Carbury's 603 Squadron Spitfire next and keep the NZ link going but we have 9 Spits already. So having failed to build a unique Hawker Fury first I took a step back to think what to build next.

Ignoring the BBMF and its associated support aircraft, the longest serving aircraft in the RAF has been the Canberra which managed 55 years. We are lucky to have 1 represented in the GB as nimrod54 is building a PR9. I reckon there are a few coming close with the Herk at about 51 years and still going. The VC10 and Chipmunk managed about 47 years service each. I have a 1/48 Herk, PR9 and Chipmunk in the Cabinet already and you can have too many 1/48 Herks, never mind a VC10!

So I have decided to make a second entry to this GB by building not only another Helicopter but one with 47 years service and at least another 8 on the horizon, potentially giving 55 years service to equal the Canberra.

Any guess's?

 

It will also be a new manufacturer and a new scale (but I'll pretend its not).

 

Colin

I'm not sure that the armour guys are aware that Scorpions and Scimitars are a possibility here as well as refuelling tankers or staff cars.

 

As to more Spitfires, why ever not?  They are the iconic RAF aeroplane, so we cannot have too many (I have in mind to build a 602 version).
 

The helicopter - not a Boeing type by any chance?

[andyf117]

Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another...

Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117

[PhantomBigStu]

Utterly ashamed there’s no Vulcans so far. What are you guys doing? 

[andyf117]

Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another...

Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117

[John Masters]

siga-siga...as we say here!

[Colin W]

Yes

Heller 1/50 Puma it is.

Colin

[Robert Stuart]

It's Saturday night and I could have done some modelling ...

 

A/C Maker	Type	Count
Supermarine	Spitfire	13
Eurofighter	Typhoon	6
Boulton Paul	Defiant	4
Blackburn	Buccaneer	3
Gloster	Gladiator	3
Gloster	Meteor	3
Hawker	Fury	3
Panavia	Tornado	3
BAC	Jet Provost	2
de Havilland	Mosquito	2
Hawker	Hurricane	2
RAF	SE5a	2
Sopwith	Camel	2
Armstrong Whitworth	Argosy	1
Armstrong Whitworth	Siskin	1
Avro	504	1
Avro	Lancaster	1
Bae	Hawk	1
Brewster	Buffalo	1
Bristol	Beaufighter	1
Bristol	Bulldog	1
Bristol	F2B	1
Curtiss	Tomahawk	1
de Havilland	Hornet	1
de Havilland	Tiger Moth	1
English Electric	Canbera	1
English Electric	Lightning	1
Folland	Gnat	1
Gloster	Gauntlet	1
Handley Page	Victor	1
Hawker	Henley	1
Rolls Royce	Pattern 1920 A/C	1
Sepcat	Jaguar	1
Westland	Puma	1
Westland	Sea King	1
Total		70

 

 

Kit Maker	Count
Airfix	26
Revell	12
Roden	6
Tamiya	6
Italeri	2
Matchbox	2
Academy	1
Aeroclub	1
Amodel	1
AZ	1
CMR	1
Eduard	1
Hasegawa	1
Heller	1
HK Models	1
ICM	1
Inpact	1
Magna	1
Micro Mir	1
Special Hobby	1
Xtrakit	1
Wingnut Wings	1
Total	70

 

 

Scale	Count
1/32	5
1/48	24
1/50	1
1/72	38
1/144	2
Total	70

 

[Blitz23]

Chaps I have buckled, along with my Beaufighter I will now be entering a Spitfire Mk V, the newer 1/48 Airfix kit.  Will start the thread later once I taken pics etc.