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Chocksaway’s 2017 Loft Insulation Depletion


ChocksAway

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Here are my plastic shelf fillers for 2017 ...

 

BUT, before we get there, I have to give you the following politically-correct, cover-my-back warnings before we proceed.

 

If you take offence by looking at aircraft that are …

·       without pre- and post-shading of panel lines with 50 shades of black and grey

·       lacking 57 varieties of weathering powder

·       minus photo-etch and cockpit resin that costs three times the price of the kit

·       missing corrected and re-scribed panel lines and individual rivets

then please leave immediately as this posting will be detrimental to your health and welfare, in much the same way as excessive consumption of pizza, fizzy drinks and reality TV.

 

So here are my 2017 dust gatherers in their order of construction and built to my usual inimitable standard :P

 

#1 - Prepare for a shock to start the year … I built a target! Yes, New Year and new beginnings, I ventured into 1/72nd scale tanks with this effort, a Tiger I Ausf.E from Revell. I went with a representation of a Tiger in winter camouflage on the Eastern Front in January-February 1944. The markings are actually for “221” with Schwere Panzer Abteilung 501 during this time, though I very much doubt I have the configuration of the tank correct. (Let’s call it Hollywood “Braveheart” historical accuracy, shall we?). Oops, it’s got some weathering on it, where did that come from? …

 

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#2 - In another moment of madness I then built a Revell 1/100th scale Apache and built it as a Boeing AH-64A Peten. I chose “967” with the “Magic Touch” squadron of the Israeli Air Force after reading a web article suggesting this was the first Apache to shoot down a civilian light aircraft. That taught them not to squawk their ID I guess …

 

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#3 - Back to normality with this next one - the first of a pair – with a build of the 1/48th scale Airfix Hawker Fury Mk.I. Just to be different, I chose a trainer scheme, in this instance that of K5670/3 of 5 Flying Training School. Fans of the Fury will just have to tut and hold their head in their hands as it’s not in the much-admired all-metal finish …

 

 

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#4 - Having built a Tiger I, I felt obliged to build a Tiger II, especially after being nagged by my model club chairman (Panzer Vor!, so say no more). For this one I chose “11” from Pz.Kp.(FKL) 316 (attached to Pz.Lehr Div.) which had 5 Porsche turreted King Tigers numbered 02, 11, 13, 10 and 12 so the 100% accurate web tells me. I chose "11" for its seemingly unusual paint scheme, added to the fact there were some reference photos available. Experts will probably think I didn’t look at them. I’ve now done my duty and built some targets, sorry tanks – never again is what I say …

 

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#5 and #6 - Before returning to normal model making, I stayed on the ground with the next two models -  Royal Navy Tow Tractors. They are from Skunkmodels Workshop in 1/48th scale. The first represents a tow tractor from the early 1980s when deployed aboard HMS Hermes and HMS Illustrious in Operation Corporate and the second in the dark green scheme that was used in the late 1980s I believe. Something to sit alongside the Harrier collection, which is where they originated from …

 

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#7 - Next up is the Eggplane mimic from Meng Models – the Avro Lancaster “Bomber” as they describe it. To avoid an OOB build, I went with markings for "Dagwood", ND619 / CF.D of 525 Squadron, RAF. This aircraft was one of the survivors of the Nuremberg raid of 30/31 March, 1944, where the RAF lost just over 100 aircraft out of 700 on the raid. A lovely, simple little snap-together kit, I might have to do another one someday …

 

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#8 - The second Hawker Fury Mk.I, this time using the LifeLike 1/48th scale kit, represents K8262/3 from the 8 Flying Training School at Montrose in the late 1930s. It makes for an interesting comparison with the Airfix kit. Again I chose to model a training scheme which as you can see was modified in the run-up to WW2 to make the aircraft a tad less conspicuous …

 

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#9 - Those of you who know me know I still had an eggplane to do, and here it is, the final one of the set - the NASA Space Shuttle and its 747 launcher. I thought I'd end with another dream … that one day British Airways / OFFworld will offer a flight in space, courtesy of some reconditioned NASA Space Shuttles converted to take some Executive Class passengers in the former cargo bay hold. To pay tribute to what many regard as Britain's greatest explorer, the shuttle is named "Capt. James Cook" and the 747 is "Bounty" (serial G-COOK). The old speedbird logo has been resurrected from the logo archives to celebrate this new service …

 

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#10 - For the first WW1 build of the year I chose a Roland D.VIb, 7502/18 "P132". This aircraft was flown from McCook Field, Dayton Ohio USA in the spring of 1920 where it was used for evaluation trials of the aircraft’s performance and a new experimental camouflage scheme. It’s the Fly Models 1/48th scale kit.

 

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#11 - It’s been a long while since I’ve built a Harrier, so build number 27 was long overdue. Just to keep to the theme of being different this year, I decided to model Art Nall’s Sea Harrier FA.2 in its 2017 display season scheme. Currently the world’s only civilian-operated Harrier and still going strong after 10 years of display flying. This uses up the last of my old Airfix 1/48th scale kits before I embark on building Sea Harriers using Kinetic kits made in the 21st Century! …

 

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#12 - Continuing the all-sorts mixture, I wanted to do the old Heller 1/48th scale Dassault Rafale A, or Technology Demonstrator, in the Dassault in-house colour scheme. The model represents the aircraft at the Paris Airshow in June 1989 when the fin was updated on a daily basis to represent the number of completed flights. The white finish was rattle-can sprayed …

 

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#13 - Loosely keeping with the French theme, the next build is that of a SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A, XZ398/A, in the 41 Squadron 75th Anniversary (1916-1991) scheme. This is the Revell 1/48th scale boxing with Xtradecal decals and was built to go in the Special Schemes SIG’s SMW 2017 display…

 

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#14 - A return now to the Hawker theme with a couple of 1/72nd scale builds. The first is the latest moulding of the Airfix Typhoon Mk.IB done in the all-metal finish of MN666 “The Silver Bullet” which flew at the Flight Leader School, RAF Milfield in late 1944. A lovely little kit and a very enjoyable build …

 

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#15 - This is the Hasegawa kit made up as a Hurricane Mk.IIC Night Fighter, QO.A / BN185 from 3 Squadron, RAF Hunsdon, circa September 1942 …

 

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#16 - A few more hours browsing the web for interesting subjects led me to this build of an Ansaldo SVA.5 seen in the colours of the Polish Air Force, flown sometime in the 1920s it is believed. Whilst a photo exists, not much else is known about it and is thus somewhat problematic in accuracy – yet more Braveheart, Hollywood style! …

 

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#17 – Back on firmer ground, here’s my take on PZ865 / G-AMAU using the 1/48th scale Revell kit.  Probably more recognisable as “The Last of the Many”, this was the last new build Hurricane made by Hawker Aircraft Limited. This scheme and configuration is hopefully close to how PZ865 looked when it was used as a chase plane in the early transition flight trials of the Hawker P.1127 in 1961 …

 

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#18 – And talking of Harrier connections, this is a model of the second full scale development Harrier AV-8B II, 161397, seen here in the in-house company colour scheme of McDonnell Douglas. I used a Monogram 1/48th scale kit for this. The aircraft had several configurations during its development and for expediency mine might be a bit of a hybrid. Harrier fans will appreciate what I mean and I’ll not bore the rest of you explaining. Unfortunately additional photos turned up on BM after I’d done the painting and decals. It’s certainly an interesting scheme – a model maker who documented the scheme described it as “ugly”.  Judge for yourself …

 

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#19 – A much more traditional scheme can be seen on this Kinetic 1/48th scale Sea Harrier FRS.1 in the colours of 700A Naval Air Squadron, otherwise known as the Sea Harrier Intensive Flying Trials Unit (IFTU) which was destined to become 899 NAS. My first experience of what I’m sure will be many builds of Kinetic’s Sea Harriers and Harriers. And no, it’s not a bad build as some folks make out …

 

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#20 – The Harrier rolling take-off continues with this Revell GR7/9 1/48th scale kit converted to the Pegasus 11-61 engine trials record-breaker GR.5, ZD402. Another striking scheme which I hope I’ve got close to replicating. Interestingly, both pilots who flew it on the day it broke the records have a different recollection of the configuration it flew in. I tossed a coin and chose this one. I used the markings from the Vingtor decals set (highly recommended) …

 

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#21 – I was fortunate to get an early copy of the new Kinetic “T-Harrier” kit shortly before SMW 2017, well 11 days to be precise, and decided to build a TAV-8S and in particular 01-808 / 8 in its “Shark” and “25.000 Horas” scheme of 1995. So with a pioneering spirit and reference books to hand, I rushed through the build. Not a bad effort I think considering. I plan to build another 7 or 8 over the next few years for my Harrier – One of a Kind project…

 

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Harrier #32 is underway, but is not likely to be finished, so that’s the end of my modelling yearbook.

 

Thanks for staying the distance if you’ve come this far and I wish you a very happy Christmas and a wonderful panel-line-wash-free New Year.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello Graham !

Nice collection of Harrier !!

Must start mine now !! I really enjoyed the Furies too !!

Congrats Sir !

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp, The one who did'nt succumb to the trainer Harrier madness of Telford

Just to fell in the Shagbat fury of Telford :clap:

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