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I will most like go down the RAF SEAC route, currently thinking Hurricane, but wondered if the Vichy French from Madagascar were included as it makes the edge of the parameters of the GB or the British aircraft involved in taking the island.

If it's a Mk.V with the internal armour windscreen then yes, the canopies are the same. The problem is that model companies seem to have very different ideas on what the size of a Spitfire canopy should be! If both kits are Eduard it should not be a problem (in theory...) but if they are from different manufacturers you can expect everything

After the issues with the front canopy I ordered a replacement from the Hobby co on Tuesday at 3pm- it arrived tis morning so pretty good service. Its been fitted and painted up and a bit better than the first attempt. Weathering up on the underside has begun, just black and brown oil at the moment. Enjoy

Nice work so far. Looks like quite a challenging kit. I don't know how you would feel about adding a couple of 1mm card slices to the nose - that would make the nose a bit too long but at that slope it would get down to the right diameter? I've built a couple of Letovs from KP kits - one of them had so much flash it felt like a vacform Nice loco too. Regards, Adrian

on Mars beside Ziggy

Well, there's times when you have to push your own skills, right? Nothing in my not-a-stash stash, but I'm up for something different! Keith 😁

Nice work on the Zim Ed

Arma-models might be even more interesting. Similar spec (decals, rotor etc), but also gives access to 3d printed landing gear and gun with some discount if you buy the kit... https://arma-models.ru/catalog/predzakaz/4830_rossiyskiy_udarnyy_vertolet_ka_52_alligator/

Yes as long as they served in the region and timeframe. Out of curiosity what were you thinking ?

Well Nemanja, that is superb! I like the mix of colours, the weathering and overall look ..... good stuff! 👌 Keith 😁

Nicely-nicely done. 😉

the rigging spiders live

The images for those that don't like FB.

After many hours of assembly, I got around to laying down a couple of coats of satin varnish and things were looking nice. I then removed the canopy masking and to my horror I found the inside of the canopy has overspray ... The reason? Well the original aircraft did not have a sealed canopy ... there rear of the canopy had a gap and true to the original, the kit is the same ... I overlooked this when I masked the canopy and the overspray from my airbrush found its way inside. So now I need some advice. Any thoughts on how to get the canopy off without destroying things so that I can polish the clear area? Thanks, Steve

From my limited documentary sources, the Admiralty seem to have been experimenting with submarine camouflage from 1938. According to Confidential Book 03016/39 'Progress in Tactics' 1939 ed., trials in 1938 had confirmed that blue paint produced the best result in the Mediterranean and that International Black produced the least 'aura'. As part of an exercise, some submarines were painted olive green with a matt finish and although olive green had been proved to be the most suitable colour for operations off Singapore during January and February, it was thought that this may not be the best for later in the year. This was being investigated. After this, the next document I have that mentions green being used for the camouflage of submarines is Confidential Admiralty Fleet Order 2269/44 'Camouflage of H.M. Ships and Vessels - Standardisation' dated 12 October 1944. Under the heading 'Scheme J' Submarines on Foreign Stations could be painted as follows. "Paint black or very dark blue, grey or green at the discretion of Captain (S)." This can be found in subsequent Orders untill the end of the war. I have not seen a Standard of the shade(s) of green used for this purpose. Given that the green finish appears in CAFOs, it would seem that it was an official Admiralty scheme, but there seems to be no indication of its hue. Presumably there would have been a formula published for it somewhere at some time, possibly only locally on China Station and or later within the Eastern Fleet that has not yet come to light. The Navy had a disposition to mix its own paints as can be seen by various AFO and CAFOs, so the formula for PB.10 included in CAFO 2269/44 might hold good for the olive green colour but using different pigments. The RAF colour Dark Green that was an olive green hue was originally made using Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Lithopone, a white pigment and Black.These pigments, or something like them can be found in the 1938 Rate Book of Naval Stores under the heading 'Pastes for Paints' where Admiralty Pattern 52P, Ochre AP 8P Blue, ultramarine, AP 110c Black and AP 104 Zinc Oxide, White are listed, the latter two materials being quoted as constituents of PB.10 in CAFO 2269/44 while the Black was used in a number of camouflage colours in use during 1944 such as A1.G5 also quoted in CAFO 2269/44. To make an olive green, it would presumably have been a case of working out the proportions of the Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Black and White that gave the desired colour. If we go down the SCC avenue with regard to the hue of the olive green colour, a better suggestion might be SCC No.13. This was included in the original 1939 SCC range and is said to have been used in India by the British Army as an overall finish on various types of vehicle. It has been claimed to have been referred to colloquially as either 'jungle green' or 'dark green'. It was retained in BS 987C of 1942 and the Standard for this colour I have seen looked to my eye to be something like FS 34086, but was a bit darker. This might possibly be described as 'olive green', 'dark olive colour', 'slime green' or 'dark green'. It also has the virtue of having existed from at least 1939 when RN Submarines in the Far East are first described as being a shade of green. At the risk of initiating thread drift, the only mention I have come across of the Royal Navy using SCC colours to paint warships is related to a number of MTBs that were used along the Norwegian coast during what are described as 'lurking operations' from 1943 until the end of the war. Here the intention was to help conceal the vessels from aerial and surface observation whilst lying against the rocky shore of the fiords in wait for passing targets. The colours used originally were SCC 1A (a dark brown), 7 (a green) and 14 (black); but this was subsequently modified by dispensing with the black and introducing SCC 4 (a light brown) and 5 (described as being "Stone Colour", a lighter shade of brown). This scheme was introduced at the request of the Admiral commanding Orkneys & Shetlands during 1943 and to the best of my knowledge, never appeared in AFOs or CAFOs. I have no idea what the technical specification of the paint used for this purpose was.

anyone know if the spitfire MK V and the MK IXe shared the same canopy? i have an eduard MK IXe that needs a new canopy and i also want to get a MK V kit. i would rather kill two birds with one stone here and buy one kit and use the extra canopy in it. Thanks- Joe

Great build, very nice rescribing !

Yes it is. But I can't think of anyone who could finally make a better kit. For the majority, kit from Eduard has already become the best. It's affordable. And, in the future, almost all modifications will be produced. They build great. For most people, geometry inaccuracies don't matter. The fact is that Eduard could have made a better model 109F and G in 72, like the Spitfire Mk.9/8/16. But they just made a slightly improved downscale. Series G by Eduard have the same geometric dimensions as F. They have all the same disadvantages. And if you want to put the G-6 from Eduard and the G-6 from Tamiya next to each other, then all the differences will be noticeable. And if you want to compare Tamiya parts to Eduard parts... and count millimeters... Then Eduard will stop making you happy. But since we are talking about Tamiya, this is a standard 109G-6 WNF/MTT, without additional guns. Eduard also offers Earla canopy, different tails, many different options. In the future there will be G-6/AS. The existing alternative from AZmodel, in general, is very inferior to the kit from Eduard. If we consider versions G-2 and 4. Then, in principle, Tamiya can be converted into these versions. But it's not easy. The existing alternatives from AZmodel and FineMolds are significantly inferior to the set from Eduard. The point is that if you need one 109G, no matter which one, then it is better to buy a Tamiya. If you want to have different versions of G, then there are no better kits from Eduard, so far there is still nothing. But personally, I wouldn't just build from a box. In my opinion, the imitation of fabric covering is not believable and needs to be corrected. Most of the imitation rivets do not correspond to the photographs, so I personally intended to simply putty all the rivets and leave only the imitation screws. By the way. What kind of options are you going to build? Perhaps I can find some photos of real planes on my HDD. I would do it like on the model from Eduard in 1/48 scale. There, these parts can only be installed at one specific angle. And this is the correct position. In reality, these parts could be in different positions, and all of them are correct.

Interior coming together, bit more details to do then getting close to closing up the fuselage.

thank you jure for this article. it at least helps to confirm all that i have read so far. unfortunately the decal sheet i ordered which i thought had same size 0's and 2's on it. it did not. the 2 is a acceptable size but the 0 is too small, it is meant for the rudder and i didn't realize it until i got the sheet. so i i do not want to buy another sheet just for the 0 therefore it will only have a 2. i will try to leave room for a 0 in case i get one later Thank you- Joe

decals (kit!) arrived tp mys surprise I found cartograf printed decals! a pity i will cut them! .. first plastic was cut! and the PE flaps etc sorted

of your secret stash (you all have that one kit that you keep for halloween to build for the plastic demons)

I think you have done a good job on the mottling Pete.

Hi all, right Im calling the porch done, its placed now - just shown a couple of my figures with it. Erk.

Thats very nice work Loren, the cockpit looks really good and you have done a great job on the assembly.