Jump to content

Greetings from the far north of Scotland


Far North

Recommended Posts

Hello all

I was an avid modeler in my youth, flew RC models as a young adult and have returned to scale modelling on my retrial a few years ago. Never been an active forum member before. Main interests are Coastal Command WW2 operating in northern Scotland. Interest was sparked by finding an old Revell/Frog Shackleton MR3 model (I had many air experience flights in these machines from RAF Kinloss when I was an Air Cadet). Not the best model but its Kinloss variant brought back memories and got me started again - built a Kinloss based Nimrod next and an RAF SR Sea King from the same. Interest in the experience of northern Scotland in WW2 got me on to Coastal Command aircraft (the main branch of the service up here) and was impressed by the "international" flavor of the squadrons - esp Canadian Czech and Polish. As a dual citizen of Canada/UK the Canadian connection gave me a particular focus building models of Canso/Catalina's, Sunderland, Beaufighter, Mosquito - Aviaeology provided great information and decals. Also Liberator (Czech) and about to embark on two Polish machines - Wellington and Fortress. Still plenty of scope left - who said Britain "stood alone"! So far all I have to show for RAF is a Hudson from Wick and soon to build a Spitfire from Wick which force landed on Sandwood Bay beach near where I live ( aircraft couldn't be removed before the tide got it - only the Merlin engine block, prop hub and a few other bits appear out of the sand periodically - fortunately too heavy for tourists to remove). Hope to get more inspiration, advice and skills from this site - everything I have seen so far is great!  Looking forward to the new 1:48 Airfix Chipmunk to bring back more Air Cadet memories. On that theme - anybody know of any kits available for the Slingsby Sedbergh and Kirby Cadet gliders - or will I have to go in for complete scratch builds?

 

Far North

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome! Concentrating on Coastal Command sounds interesting. I can remember watching Shackletons as a boy. Amazing planes, they seemed to just fly on and on. They had to, mind!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello and welcome along, a few years ago I did see resin model of an Air Cadets glider from the period you are talking about (I was an Air Cadet back then) but I can’t remember which one it was or who made it at the moment. If it comes back to me I will let you know.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Far North, welcome to the forum from another ex-space cadet but from the Deep South. Aberdeen originally and now living in East Lothian. 
 

For details of Air Cadet glider models, you cannot do better than look at @Terry1954 ‘s epic build:

 


I have very fond memories of doing my gliding proficiency at Kinloss in machines like these! Hope this is of some help. 
 

Craig. 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Far North said:

On that theme - anybody know of any kits available for the Slingsby Sedbergh and Kirby Cadet gliders - or will I have to go in for complete scratch builds?

 

Hi and welcome. As @Dandie Dinmont suggests, if you check my thread on the link suggested above, you will get some info. I've built both a Sedbergh and a Kirby Cadet in 1/72. They were vac forms and a bit challenging! The links for those are below.

 

Kirby Cadet RFI here:

 

 

Sedbergh WIP build here:

 

 

And the Sedbergh RFI here:

 

 

As you can probably tell from my latest build thread, I like gliders, especially those used to train and give experience to Air Cadets!

 

Oh, and in my stash I have several Chipmunks in 1/48 and 1/72, as well as 1/72 and 1/48 SA Bulldogs! The next step really.

 

Thanks

 

Terry

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone for the welcome. Much appreciate the information on the gliders from Dandie Dinmount (love your dogs!) and Terry 1954. I will check this out and plan my approach. Thought that this was a bit of an obscure request but you have certainly got this covered Terry!  Flew in both gliders at Dalcross (now Inverness Airport) and at Strathaven in Uni. Air Squadron so keen for the memories - I assume you have the same Terry. Good to hear from another Sutherland man - Dromia. I live in Kinlochbervie - you probably know KLB natives from their hostel days in Golspie/Dornoch (assuming you are old enough!). I am originally from Inverness where I was an Air Cadet - convenient for Kinloss.

 

Cheers

Murdo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi there form a Dingwall Ex-Pat.

You certainly are out in the wilds now.

We used to get most of our AEF at Lossie but never did any gliding at Dalcross, that would have been fun.

The only time we were taken gliding was at Kirknewton on a summer camp at Turnhouse and I loved it.

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Far North said:

I assume you have the same Terry.

 

Yep, had lots of experience in both Sedbergh and T31 in my four years as an Air Cadet, and gained my wings at the tender age of 16 on a T31, a year before I could legally drive a car!

 

Very happy days!

 

Terry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...