Cale’ ircratt odelling THE ORIGINAL Airfix’s BIG 1:24 scale Spitfire Mk Vb - in-depth bui d Bristol's first bullet - the M.1C: build and SAM plans Colour Conundrum - Speculative Spitfire schemes Folding wing Seafire Ill - 1:48 scale conversions Vol24No1 MARCH 2002 Price: £3.50 ANN 0 | 9 Frrovsettszore Plus the regular round up of the latest kits, decals, books and accessories. GUIDELINE Publicationsfe) Bae ey FORCE Pane ies Pr al ay end a) See h aae per) ers iad The long awaited RAF Fighters 1945 - 1950: Overseas Based - Due out March 2002 a CU ec ena NUS oe es eT Le = watch this space for publication date Please send me (please tick) (Cy ie eae am onc Pat vw: 188967 (Pr Tw: 1967201 (CO Te earrie ron erran: az (C) RAF GHTERS 1985. 1950: UK BASE O Address: City Post/Zip code: Country: Nicaea Bala am jinn preci tale Free UK on Lene ee la "enclose PovPemeage ond Peckng: rope ad 10% (Cy I wich to pay by cheque, payable to: Guideline Publications (Fy | wish to pay by Credit/Debit Card (Please Tick}: ooo Bo Card No. COOOOO 000 0 Name on card qiry deta: TT] Send to: Guideline Publications, F 352 Selbourne Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU4 8NUScale Aircratt Modelling VOLUME 24 NUMBER 1 ISSN 0956-1420 http:/www.samnet.co.uk Published by Guideline Publications ‘and printed by Regal Litho Lid at: '352 Selbourne Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LUS NU “Tl: 01582 505999 Fax: 01582 560731 E-mail regalltholta90@atias.co.uk Glenn Sands Web Master: ‘Stove Benstoad SAM ShopfBack tssues: ‘Jenniter Henry ‘Tet 01582 509999 Worldwide Advertising: hea Taplin at BTA Tel: 01442 215695 Fax: 01442 246034 ‘Subscription Department: "SAM Subscriptions, 1352 Selpourne Rood. Luton, Bods, LU4 SNU Tol: 01582 505999 Fax: 01882 860731 ‘SUBSCRIPTION RATES, (De eersd, Euope: (550, Rest fe wot cept United Famer tem overaeas should be made by erations Ntnay Ore Sanremo the UX bonh of {ears ene co pret) att ‘Sot shoud svt fone ews to tw Seon ‘ov Aerie eebwabes roy Sa Setworcuroe Fusietane 1205 Pct Coo hey, ‘Suhu 284 Redondo Soo CA 90277, SA ‘at outs sem ton Pant ie Mondy 1 Fay, ct aan vant acre “Scale Aircraft Modating IS9N 0966-1420) m=) ‘roughtnenawe aaron nae bet othe condor {hat no ate! writen opto! coped tam tara mover ogen toute writen const oe ub ‘pron maresnd by ators ara rvewer oy ‘day not roe trae ot the putas Unies ‘Tebcennina ett oy note reused ree arune ‘ong sported Radha rosin on oe? ‘owas sxorpaned bya stamped pwsves onveoe ‘Davibandto the news wade by Soyo Databonor Lined Be Newman Set, London WP 0 oo US abby ade by The VS Corporation tee Sar nde’ ar YY Lave Sts Drive, On, ‘as90e ‘Tat te 261590 Fax Sha 259550 Ts Mr Mitchel's masterpiece Issue - an explanation....1 "tsk that you bear nth ry ite “over excess regarding the number of atcles dseting wth Mr Michel's maserpica mth ne Generely speaking SpitierSeatire design i one that | ike 2 Tot more than some others Fs Michels masterpiece - talthough Joe Smith, who took over the Supermarine Design Of folowing RUM untimely death, had more to do wih making the DotoYpe into te operatone horoughored tsubsequerty bacama) is arguably the word's most beavURut Piston engined aeroplane aver and if previous Magazine sles are anything to goby. sil very Popular subject for many modelers - over this side of the-pond’ anywy. Feody atthe same tee and proved far too tempting for me notte run them altogether and create 1 pstudo ‘Spitive Specelfeeve. | apologise, if your thing is fast jets or vintage biolanes, but justindulge me this one issue weakness which actually may extend into the next igue ite Having expleined the reasons behind the bulk of thie issue's content, 1 would now tke to move fhe tosh for my review of te Hesegewe 148 scale Spitfire Mi DX, (published in the November 2001 iesuel- My crite, fan i we are to believe him his fellow modeller rends|, appear to have 8 ‘ery poor opinion of reviewers in general, and think that we are all rivet counters on ago ips ‘or worde to that effect! Ofcourse Ne and his fiends ae entitled to thelr opinions but it begs the ‘Question of just what we 28 modellers should ecualy expect rom a review? but we shteys allow the reviewer to tell ithow ite In hisher opinion and leave the reader to etal errors in « kit in that reviewer's opinion - even i they are relatively mine, should the viewer make the reader aware of the points and run the risk of accusations of being "8 rivet ‘Counter on an ego tp oF aay nothing and save themselves from the accusations of certain niistic individuals? i rock and a hard place’ stuaion for whieh there may never be en See eee ee i _Nil- «ei Robinson Contents a The In TrayNews & Views ‘ New tous new to you? New tems received by SAM and some forthcoming announcements uestions and Answers 6 Emie Lee answers some more modeling questions from SAM readers ‘Aireratin Detai- Spit at Sea (Part Ono) . ‘Neil Robinson bret deseribes the development ofthe majar Martin-engined Seafire variants, whilst don Freeman provides sx pages af camouflage and markings artwork Folding Wing Seafiros 2 ‘Trevor Glover modifies 2 Tamiya 148 scale Sptfre Mk Vb into 8 Seafire I wth folded wings, using the Arwaves resin conversion set, followed by Jon Freeman wino modies 2 pa Hasegawa 8 seale Spire Mk Vbs converting them into Seafre Mk lle and Seat I using the Model Design Construction resin conversion sats Improving the Image w Rinew series of modeling features where ole kits are taken down from te loft and brought Upto current day standards. To tat the sors oling, Lee Bagnall, improves the Viz sesleFrogiNovo) DH Hormet and moskfies tin tothe F MKT Colour Conundrum - Speculative Spitfires = Paul Lacas looks st some experimental schemes applied to Spitfires that could have become standard! ‘SAM plans “ 2 double helping of scale plans this month - Mark Rolfe provides 1:48 scale plans for Merin-engined Seaires to accompany the Aircraft Oetal feature, whilst Peter Green offers 148 scale plans forthe Bristol MIC Blue Max's Bullot « Paul Loyd bid the Blue Max 1:4 scale imted-un,njcton-mouldedwhite metal Brit MIC kt Market “ ts books snd decals reviewed by enthusiast modelers Readers Write % ‘Your hanes to respond o previous articles in SAM or simpy ar your Waws about aviaton-releted topics which ths month incudes: Greek A Force Rumeane markings, Hampden nose artwork ‘denofed the Golden Ag of Modeling: Mata Spe schemes: Frnssh Hawks and Super gue! Toilpiece a Mike McEvoy wonders away trom green, brown and Mertins.! ‘Aieix’s BIG Spire 5 Duncan Armstrong builds the magnificent Aix 1-24 scale Spitfire Mk Vib ‘On the front cover: As big 124 seale Spire Mk Vb superbly but by Duncan Armstrong Inset tlatrating the Avera in Detail Teature,» Seaire Mk - selected frm he sx pages storworkby Jon Freeman [All stdia photograpty, unless otherwise credited, by John Ruddleston Photography Li. To check for availability or your nearest stockists please ring the following toll free numbers: United States: Eastern News 800 221 3148 Canada: Gordon & Gotch 1800 438 5005It is always a pleasure to announce Something ‘new’ from the UK's last indigenous mainstream manufacturer, Airfix, who appear to be surviving rather well by modifying and upgrading selected kits from their various ranges. The latest offering concems their okt 1.48 stale Spitfire Mk Vb, which with the addition of four new sprues has been transformed in to a multiversion Spitfire/Seafire kit! The ew sprues contain a completely new three part ‘c’ armament wing with optional cannon. blisters; four-bladed propeller unit; undercarriage and arrester hhook gear - to produce @ Spitfire Mk Ve and all the Merlinengined Seafire Variants! We will be covering the new kit in much greater detail in a future issue. Courtesy of The Hobby Company we received ttaleris new 1:72 scale FOF-3 Hellcat, which features droppable flaps and tail hook, and a canopy which looks ‘as though it could be mounted in the ‘open position. There are three decal choices in the kit, two US Navy machines in the three-colour scheme, one from VF 27 with a sharkmouth and a VF51. example called ‘Little Joe’. The third is an early FAA Hellcat Mk | of 800 NAS, coded E*O, (wasnt that the original Frog kit marking?) a Italeri nave also revised their 1:72 scale Chinook to produce the MH47E Special Forces version, with a new sprue with IFR probe, guns, sensors lonsrance tanks and more aerials than Daventry. Decals are for a single anonymous US ‘Army example. Distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company, this kit sells at £7.99. High Planes have varied their usual programme with a kit of the mighty Sea Vixen, with parts and decals for an FAW).1, an FIAW).2 or a D.3. In with High Planes’ usual low-pressure mouldings in blue plastic, are resin components for the tailpipes, nosewheel assembly and ‘main undercarriage legs. Decals cover an allwhite FIAW).1 used at Woomera for missile trials, F\AW).2s of 890, 893 and 899 Naval Air Squadrons, (inciuding the fone with the sharkmouth and the one with the skull and crossbones), and an Unattributed D.3. Advertised price in the UK is £30.00. Mary of our review kits from the Czech Republic, and you will know that that country is a great source of interesting models and accessories in ‘assorted media, come to us by courtesy of Hannants, and a recent delivery of five in the familiar yellow bags points up the variety of kits from that source. The one that my grasping hands seized first carries the Special Hobby brand, and is of the Messerschmitt Me 264,*** The Amerika Bomber that was intended to any 2 watload to the East Coast of ie USA, and to retum. (According to legend it actually made the trip, unarmed, at least once!). With the original's span of over 140 feet, this is a big beast even in its 1:72 scale. Special Hobby have Produced a fair amount of its details in resin; these include the cockpit area very visible through the large (vacformed) transparency - the wheel well interiors and the fronts of the engine installations. Markings are for the one prototype that flew, and UK price is £29.95. In descending order of size, Bilek have a Ju 18843/E-2 Torpedo bomber based no doubt on ‘the Italeri moulds, with the addition of a pair of resin torpedoes and the choice of three colour schemes. One splinter, one mottle and ‘one mirtoe wave ‘squiggle. Units represented include KG 26 and KG 40. A Luftwaffe trainer that could shelter Under the Me 264's tailplane, the Arado Ar 79 is kitted by AML, the details Principally interior - this time being in etched brass. Decals are for two grey Luftwarfe aircraft, and three colourful Hungarian civil examples, with the sort of Schemes that could tempt one into unfamiliar modelling territory, Price is £7.95 ‘Smallest of this European quartet is the Lagato Kite Nardi FN.205, a small Italian two-seater with instructions that tell you nothing about the aircraft! It appears to have been a touring aircraft Impressed in to military service; the excellentooking TallyHo Decals cover German, Italian, Hungarian and French markings, and the resin castings look very good indeed. There is a small etched brass fret and a vacform canopy, and the UK price is £18.00. ‘Sword have already produced a kit of the Northrop NOMA.in 41:72 seale, and their latest release makes it available in 1:48, The attractive colour scheme of blue and yellow is the same as that ofthe NOMB currently preserved, and occasionally flying, at Chino; modellers should note that if they complete it as this variant it needs a 1:48 scale ‘guard cat’, a silver grey tabby, | think. (It's worth the Visit to stroke the cat and pat the aircraft's nose, or possibly vice versal?!) and that the intakes in the wing leading edge are different from those of the MA. UK price is £11.65, and it doesn’t take Up too much room when completed. A release at the end of last yoor which seems to have slipped through the This is a short, and | hope none too Controversial column this time, that is sub- titled ‘News from the IPMS(UK) Scale Modelworid 2001". The Nationals, (as itis, ‘generally known within the Society), must Surely be one of the most concentrated collections of plastic models in the world ‘and has arguably the largest concentration of traders. Even so the consensus. of ‘pinion was that there was litte new on view from the main manufacturers, (obviously waiting for the UK Toy Fair and Nuremberg trade shows of which more in ‘next month's SAM), and this included some Of the larger shortrun companies. But, if you looked carefully, there was quite a lot Of specialist new products. | spent some time talking to some of the traders and manufacturers and came up wit = few Subjects that might be of interest. My first port of call was Tumtable ‘Models. They had the new Avia FL3 on sale at £8.95 plus three RVHP resins the Aero A29 floatplane, Sopwith Swallow and Vickers FB 19. The first is £10.00 and the other two £12.00 each all these kits are in 1:72. Also In 4:72 scale Pegasus had the InTray net is the Academy F2H-3/4 Banshee (£7.99). A revelease from the Hobbyeraft moulds, this has decals for two aircraft of VF11, both on the USS Coral Sea in March 1956. "102' is in the Gull Gray/White scheme with just a red fin tip, but ‘103° is still in the Sea Blue Gloss finish with some very flash red and white trim. Our apologies to importers, Toyway for not noting its arrival earlier. Heritage Aviation, (née Aardvark Creations), have slipped through our net of late, but we promise to make it upto as Halberstadt D.ll and Vickers FB 5 Gun Bus at £11.99 and £12.99 respectively, and for the 1:48 scale fans a Bristol M.1¢ Monoplane in the Blue Max range (see pages 40/41 in this issue). This company are also increasing their decal range with a revised set of RFC serials in both scales at £3.99, and, in 1:48 two variations of German National Markings, retailing at 6.99 each, Also announced ‘are two aircraft in the Silver Cloud 1:48 Collectors Limited Edition range, namely the Martin Baker MB 5 and the Hawker Hart at £27.99 and £24.99 respectively had an interesting talk on the IPMS Austria stand, They are a very enterprising group producing decal sheets for Austrian Air Force subjects, which are printed by Propagteam as follows:- Austrian Air Force Pt 1: Saab J 29, Cessna L-19, SA Alouette Il, Pilatus PC7 Turbo trainer, Fouga Magister, Bell H-13, Agusta Bell AB-47, Yakovlev Yak- 11. Austrian Air Force Pt 2: Saab 35 OE Draken, North American LT-6G Texan, Westland $55 Whirlwind. Each set comes with extensive instructions and ‘notes on any modifications needed for the Austrian version. IPMS Austria have ‘ther decals in their range and I suggest for further information you visit their web site - www.imps.at. ‘Sil with this organisation | have left the ae are Martin Blundell and his team over the next few issues. To start our acts of contrition is this excellent set of 1:48 scale resin update parts for the Airfix Harrier GR.3 and Sea Harrier FRS.1 perfectly timed from our point of view as we are Just about to start work on a series of modelling articles covering the 20th Anniversary of the Falklands Air War. The contents include intakes with open auxiliary air intake doors, new tailplanes, 180 gallon drop tanks and detailed exhaust nazzies. NWR/MJM/EJL ee earn ec Ce eee Ste e Uy best til last. This is a complete kit of the Pilatus PCS in a special Austrian Air Force ‘scheme. The kit is the 1:72 scale Classic Planes offering with a decal sheet that covers the entire aeroplane in a bd design. ‘Another small producer was Delta with a load of new stuff on sale. First were two complete kits in the ‘Delta Wings 72° range as follows: Spitfire 22 with Syrian and RAF markings and the ‘Seatire XV with “A frame arrester hook in Royal Navy colours. Both these kits are based on the Ventura moulds with new canopies and decals. The rest are conversion kits. The largest of these is the Heinkel He 277V1/A5 under the label ‘Reich Bitz - Luftwatfe 46°. There are six Junkers Ju 88 conversions based ‘on the Italeri A4.These consist of the A 1; AS - late and early; C2; C-4 and Ad ‘early. Also in this range is the Boeing 8 298 and the SAS Agusta A.109. All these products are in 4:72 scale. To finish this month's column, a reminder not to forget the magnificent 4:48 Canberra B.2/8(I)6 from Aeroclub which is now on sale at £34.50. Jon Freeman has just finished building it for review - to be printed in next month's Issue - and he is raving about it! Emie Leevestions nswers We have had an overwhelming response tothe question from Eric Abrams in January 2002 (23/11) issue about the CF-105 Arrow. Tony Hawkins states that there was a book entitled ‘Avro Arrow Prem rey ee se sere 1992 (ISBN 1-55046-0471), 180 pages entirely dedicated to this ject containing historical data, technical information ee er a ee enn Oe eee) eu eer er ret PP on ne Lee De ey ian Ernie Lee's te rd SA rg rch e Dee er ecm ry Ce Reto ay ero ee Fraser also sent in similar for the type ~ The Avro CF-100' by Larry Milbery, and ‘CF-100, oe eats Seas ara Plans Service, Cet aan poe ay ed SOLU eas Now, on to this month's Questions and Answers. In PC Smith's book the ‘Luftwatfe’s Maritime Operations’, a Ju 188 Is shown with a ‘scribble’ camouflage scheme. I'd like to know if this could be Teproduced in 1:72 scale without an airbrush? David Knight ‘Strawberry Fields Suffolk Not every modeller can afford an airbrush or have a Suitable space to use one, and although you cannot roduce the exact same effect with a normal paint brush there ‘are ways to simulate it! But first let me make a statement that Could be heresy to some. Very few, if any, small-scale models ‘are accuratel! - and | don’t just mean dimensionally! Modelling, like painting is an art. You ty to give an impression of the Subject. Hence pane! lines fled with colour washes, (panel lines would not be visible in 1:72, let alone stand out). But let's face it, an airbrushed effect is pleasing to the eye. To move on to painting and soft edge demarcation, which is the forté of the airbrush. A 2 inch overspray on a real aircraft equates to .027 of an inch in 1:72 scale. You have to be pretty {£000 with an airbrush to produce that! One way to get a ‘scale’ soft edge demarcation is to spray ‘against a mask that is just clear of the surface, which will give you a very slignt overspray, Dut in many cases a hard edge on {an aircraft in the above mentioned scale will be more accurate than a soft edge. But, modellers want to give ‘an impression (however inaccurate), so the edge needs ‘breakingup'. ‘One method is to apply the camouflage scheme ‘hard- ‘edged’ with @ normal paint brush. Then, cut the bristles of a small paint brush to just a few milimetres long. Dip the brush in to the same paint as the darker camouflage colour but reduce the amount on the bristles by gently dabbing and wiping on ‘Some toilet tissue. Then with the paint almost dry, dab the edges of the camouflage pattern. This will help breakup the 6 hard edges and as you are only putting a small amount of paint (on the surface it wil have a merging effect. Another method is to carefully brush paint a 50/50 mix of the (two) camouflage colours in a thin line along. the demarcation of the camouglage pattern. all you are trying to achieve is a ‘softening’ of the edge. Now to David's Ju 188 “scribble” pattem. This ‘mirror wave’ ‘scneme (as it became known) was usually applied in’ lighter Colour over an existing (factory applied) camouflage scheme. It was applied free-hand without reference to any factory pattern, and therefore all were different. Everything depended on the skill of the painter. Whilst some pattems were very ‘loose’ others had very litte overspray. This sort of scheme is difficut to achieve in model form - even with an airbrush. First the mode! should be painted in the standard factory ‘Scheme. If using an airbrush you need to set it at the narrowest Setting and then keep it at exactly the same distance over the whole aircraft. | baulked at the idea of airbrushing this scheme myself and used a paint brush - employing the technique of Softening the edges with a short-bristled brush. But remember needs @ very small brush and a lot of time, Can | suggest you hone your ckilla on some plastic sheet first? have issues of SAM dating back to October 1978, (Vol 1/11). Is there an index available on line? Or is there ‘one you could e-mail me. John Borio via email ‘We include a ‘hard copy’ index to each Volume, (usually in the first issue of the folowing Volume), every year, but as yet have Never put it on line. It is a Suggestion 1 will pass on to our Web Master, Steve Benstead. You may also be interested to know that We are finalising an index which will cover the frst 21 years of SAM, (Volumes 1 to 21 inclusive), which will be sold separately as a book. What is the correct orientation of the Polish national marking? Having studied hundreds of photographs the ‘orientation on the top and undersides of the wings appear very consistent. When viewed from the front or rear a red square ‘occupies the top lefthhand position, (although I have found the rare exception). However the orientation on the fuselage side ‘or fin appears to be optional, sometimes with the white square in the top left hand position. What is the official Polish Government requirement for the location and orientation of their nation insignia? GEG Lewis Datchworth Green Hertfordshire Rooks that are published in English regarding. Polish insignia are pretty rare. | have just three on Polish aircraft and only one even mentions the national markings. This is Polish Air Force 1939-45", published by Squadron/Signal. In it the author confirms that’ there were variations in both the Orientation and the border size. Nowhere does he mention any official directive. It seems that each manufacturer and/or ‘operational unit did ‘their own thing’. | have an address for a Polish decal company and intend to investigate this matter further - so watch this space. Having Just come back into the hobby after a 30-plus year absence, | am a little out of touch. | want to build a particular version of a Spitfire Mk XIV based upon the Academy 1:48 kit - easy enough to find, 20 no probleme there. But wine” t comes to upgrades | am having no luck at all, although | know {from hunting around the web that such items are available. Hi Tech do a detail set for the Mk XIV, Equipage do a wheel set, ‘and last but no means least, Moskit do hollow exhausts for the ‘mode! I have in mind - but | cannot find anyone in the UK selling, this stuff? The nearest stockist | have found Is in ttaly, involving all the added expense of p&p and IMOs etc. If there is there an importer in this country, who is it? Any ideas? John Baines Benwell Newcastle upon Tyne| can understand your frustration regarding imported goods, 1 A tect the same way bout scyie part. We have one of the largest manufacturers of model paint in the world, yet the only ‘supplier resides overseas. Having said that there could be many reasons why these particular items seemingly cannot be purchased in the UK. | have checked the latest accessories list ‘and none of the names you mention appear. Maybe they were only ‘produced in small numbers and are no longer available over here. Regarding purchasing them from Italy, | do not know the price of the items you mention, but there isa way without using credit cards or IMOs, even though the establishment frowns upon it. ‘Simply get some Italian currency, put it in an envelope and send {tI cannot imagine that the p&p will be very high on such small items, not much more than if you sent for them in this country. Lastly there is no need to go on the intemet to find accessories for the Mk XIV, All that are known of in the UK are listed in the latest volume from CONSAM Publications, ‘The Supermarine Spitfire Part 2 Griffon Powered’. But be wamed, as with kits, some items have either sold out or the company have gone out of business. {Lam an ttalian reader | would like some modelling help. In the ‘March issue of SAM you published a colour profile of a Spitfire PR Ac. | wish to make a 1:48 model ofthis aircraft, which kit would be suitable and were can | find a step by step conversion article? Roberto Mina Varese Italy ‘As far as | am aware there has not been a conversion atticle on this aircraft, but do not wory. E D Models, 64 Stratford Road, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands B90 3LP, UK, ‘sell a conversion kit for just that particular aircraft. The kit they recommend is the Tamiya Spitfire Mk |. QL have, boon given a tin for modeling a, Supermarine Spitfire Floatplane involving the conversion of a scale Hasagawa Spitfire Mk V using a conversion kit by MDC. ‘Any Idea who or what MDC is? Steve Clark via e-mail |) MOC Is Model Design Construction, run by Bob Brown and Brian Fawcett. They produce a range of high quality resin conversion sets. A letter to MDC at Victoria Place, Victoria Road, Ripley, Derbyshire DES 4FW, UK, or e-mail, at - will bring the details you require. (PO) have subscribed to your magazine for some years, but my 2° mail is bit delayed, which is why | am writing to you about the IPMS/UK National Championships of 1999! My question is about the winning model of Mr Nicholas Poncini, the Sikorsky CH37B Mojave. Can you please tell me if the model is in 1:72, ‘the manufacturer and where I can order it by mail? Joao Anténio Longo Dos Santos, Lisboa Codex Portugal ‘The CH-37B Mojave so suberbly built by Nicolas Poncini was indeed in 1:72 scale, unfortunately it was scratchbullt, although Airmodel did produce a vacform kit many years ago. (©) As a past member of the V Force and a fan of the Handley Page Victor, | am usually disappointed by books ‘on the subject, which give little exposure to the B.2R version ‘and concentrate on the Tanker instead. Similarly with model kits. | have a B.1. and K.2 ready to make but | would like to model the B.2R complete with Blue Stee! missile, perhaps with the missile transporter in a diorama. I'm sure there must bbe some Vulcan fans with the same dilemma. Is there a Blue Steel kit out there, with or without the transporter and/or cradle, or a modification kit for the Victor to convert it to B.2R? Also SAM produced a superb set of decals in the early days with 100/139 Squadron markings, which I still have, any possibility of a commercial decal manufacturer doing these. This Is a critical era in our aviation history with many @cRAF modellers like me, wanting to create a realistic model, but it seems that the manufacturers are ignoring this part of our history. Perhaps you can pass this plea on to the model industry as a potential new product. Ron Johnston via email \\ This Is quite a question and one with no simple answer. “First, regarding books. | think the problem here is that the Tanker version is the one in the public eye. Itis the variant that made an impact on the world stage and of course publishers are commercial concerns want to make money so most of them will concentrate on the popular stuff. | must admit | have not Studied many books specifically about the Victor although 'V Bombers’ by Tim Laming covers that variant to some extent. When it comes to kits it was very unlikely that we would get more than one sub type of the Victor. In fact we were lucky in the fact that Matchbox had a very enthusiastic development engineer at the time who pushed this subject through. As regaras choosing the Tanker, remember Matchbox wes w volume producer, which meant that they had to sell tens of thousands of kits. The tanker was well known, every kid had heard of it, ‘and remember kids were Matchbox’s main market. Tuming now to after market products. Most of these are produced by what has been called the ‘cottage industry . Choosing a subject is dificult. They must decide ifthe subject will be popular with enough modellers to make their outlay pay, secondly is will the kit be easy to obtain? With the Victor, now marketed by Revell, there ‘may be problems in the future. | believe that Revell’ franchise for producing Matchbox products has run out, so there could be doubts ‘about the continuation of Matchbox kits being produced by Revell. |'am only saying this to wam you about future supplies. Conversion ssets tend to be produced soon after the release of the injection- ‘maulded kit, (to cash in on the enthusiasm). In this particular case they did not and I cannot honestly see anyone doing it now. The ‘same applies to decals - mast have been for the Tanker as this was high profile and went to war. But alls not doom and gloom. The ‘Airfix Vulcan contains a Biue Steel in the kit, but as far as the trolley goes | have only tracked down one photograph and that is in the book by Tim Laming. ) Firstly, is the August 1997 Issue of SAM still available? 2) Secondly, when will Part Two of the Aircraft in Detail feature on the ‘Finnish Air Force’ be printed in SAM? Thirdly, Lam looking for a book which was reviewed in SAM but | cannot remember its name or who published it! It Is about Russian and/or Polish helicopters. It covers each type in pictures with decals for each and is a limited print run. On the ‘cover, there are about three or four colour profiles of a few of the types. Do you know where I can get a copy? Jeremy Colby ‘Sacramento California The book with decals that you refer to is produced by infech > and it does indeed have colour profiles and photographs of Russian helicopters in Polish service. This book is imported into the UK by Howard Hookham of Turntable Models’, 11 Belle Vue Terrace, Blackwood Hall, Luddendenfoot, Halifax HXx2 6HG, West Yorkshire, UK. email: futureplanes2000@yahoo.com According to Neil, George Lowe, the author of Finnish Air Force part One, is presently working on Part Two, with an aim to publishing it later this year. Regarding back issues of SAM, according to Jenny at the SAM ‘Shop, that particular copy Is now sold out. However, photocopies of individual articles can be ordered. Another possible avenue to follow is to try a bookshop in the UK that has @ room full of back issues of aviation and modelling magazines - The Aviation Bookshop’, 656 Holloway Road, London N19 3PD, UK. WANTED eee ee. See reer)7 ve las eae SPHFIRE ALSEA SUPERMARINESEAPIRE — DOT ie sande Cee ats lo a IST Reta Following the relatively successful ‘adaptation of the RAFS Hurricane for Fleet Air Arm use, in the form of the Sea Humeane, tne Admiralty next turned its eye on to the Spitfire, in an attempt to keep FAA fighter squadrons provided with ‘modem equipment. Initial approaches were made by the Admiralty, regarding production of a folding wing Spitfire as early as 1938. Joseph Smith, Supermarine’s Chief Designer after the death of RJ Mitchell, produced a drawing of a folding wing Spitfire, which would allow the wing to fold back along the fuselage, in a way similar to the Skua and Fulmar. Richard Fairey, of Fairey Aviation, was invited in May 1938 to the Admiralty, to discuss production of both the Fulmar ‘and the projected ‘Sea Spitfire’, but, not wanting to manufacture a design that was not his own, he told the Admiralty it was Fulmars or nothing! What is most Surprising, he got away with it, effectively delaying the entry into service of the Seafire by four long years. In May 1940, the Admiralty asked Lord Beaverbrook for Spitfires. They were ‘tumed down and told to ask again in July. However, the Fulmar, spoken of by Winston Churchill in such glowing terms, was six months late and too slow to catcn the JU 8%. Ine Humane was 10mph faster at 16,000 feet, but this was hardly a great margin of superiority, ‘and the Sea Gladiator was far too slow to catch anything! Hurricanes were transferred to the Navy, (some airframes having seen service with the RAF in the Battle of Britain), and were used until 1943 as the Fleet's frontline fighter, but the Fleet was being asked to operate within the range ‘of enemy land-based fighters, and the Hurricane was no match for the Bf 109 or Fw 190, being old, worn out and loaded with Naval gear. However, they were used ‘successfully by the Fleet Air Arm, helped by an infusion of Grumman Martlets, but the Admiralty’ cry was still ‘give us Spitfires’. Finally, in 1941, the Air Ministry relented and agreed to transfer some old Mk | Spitfires to the Admiralty. Their Lordships quite rightly demanded access to the /atest equipment reaching Fighter Command - the Spitfire Mk Vb. In September 1941, the Admiralty ‘placed a tentative order for 150 Spitfire Mk Vs to be converted up to full Naval standard which, in the event, was progressively altered as will be shown, In the meantime, 140 exRAF Spitfire Mk Vas and Vos, plus three Mk tlbs were loaned to the FAA for training purposes. Fiftynine of these aircraft, including the three Mk libs, were fitted with arrester hhooks and were subsequently known as hooked! Spitfires. Two machines,, AD371 and ABQB6 were sent to Worthy Down to be converted to Naval use. AD371 was converted in February 1942 and went to Famborough for trials as the prototype Seafire Mk lc. Another Spitfire Mk Vb BL676 was fitted with a Vframe hook and undertook the first landing on an aircraft carrier, on 10 February 1942, aboard HMS Iitustrious. One hundred and sixtysix exRAF Spitfire Mk Vbs were eventually converted to full Seafire Mk Ib standard, (and re- serialled in the MB, NX and PA serial ranges), fitted with arrester hooks, strengthened rear fuselages, slinging points for hoisting on and off ships, Naval high frequency R/T and Naval IFF Further fight testing revealed some ‘awkward problems with the Seafire. The view from the cockpit for landing was Virtually non-exietent. When trying to land (on a moving deck, the lack of forward and. downward view could be disastrous. The Seafire also had @ tendency to ‘float’ when the engine was cut, subsequently causing the aircraft to miss. Heading: Seafire lle, MB240, 7-8T of 880 ‘Sqn. circa summer 1943, landing on HMS Indomitable. (R'C Jones Collection) Loft: The start of it all, Spitfire Mk Vb, L676, (later re-serialled as Seafire Mk Ib MB328), which undertook deck landing ‘tials aboard HMS Illustrious during late December 1941. (R C Jones Collection)the arrester wires and crash into the baer. The cause of this was not found until much later in the Seafire's life, when it was determined that “full down’ on the elevators, combined with the updraught from the carrier's rounddown, actually caused more lift! In the event, Seafire pilots had to fly a curved approach to the carrier so they could see the deck. Land-operated Spitfires were normally landed using a threeppoint touchdown technique, where all three wheels. made contact at the same time. This was impossible in a Seafire, due to the curved approach. The Seafire’s two-point touchdown resulted in a much greater strain being placed on the mainwheel oleos, ending in many broken Uundercarriages and written-off aircraft The Vframe arrester hook was also a weak point in the design, there being many occasions when the hook, missing the wire, would spring back up and hit the fuselage, buckling it, and resulting in yet another write-off ‘These things aside, the Fleet Air Am needed the Seafire and off it went to war with the Navy. Seafire Mk Ib The rapid parallel development of the Seafire Mk llc allowed re-equipment of Several FAA Fighter Squadrons, with both the Mk Ib and Ile in time for "Operation Torch’, the invasion of North Aftica in November 1942, and the first Seafires taken on charge by a FAA Squadron were ‘actually Mk Iles - of 807 Sqn aboard HMS Furious, in June 1942. No 801 Sgn re- formed in September with the Seafire Mk I, and although the first. forty-eight. (converted by Alr Service Training Ltd at Hamble), were delivered quickly during the summer, the remaining 118 took rather longer. Seafire Mk Ile Stil based on the RAF's Spitfire Mk V, this time the Mk Ve, the Seafire Mk llc was built specifically as a Naval fighter on the production line, and was not a conversion type and could, therefore be called the first ‘teal’ Seafire. Catapult spools were added under the wing centre-section and midway along the fuselage, plus external strengthening fishplates were fitted on elther side of the fuselage running from the cockpit firewall bulkhead to the radio hatch, which was Itself surrounded by 2 strengthening plate as were the rear catapult spools. With the addition of allthis, plus an extra 25ibs of armour and compensating balance weights - (to restore the centre of gravity) - the Mk llc was at least 15mph slower than the Mk.tb! The first of the 370 Seafire Mk les built - (260 by Supermarine and 110 by Westland - which excludes twenty-six machines ordered as Mk.llis but built with ‘fixed’ wings by Westland and known ‘as (Hybrid) Mk.Liles) - were delivered on the same day as the first Mk Ibs, both Loft: Seafire Mk Ib, PA103, ACB of 736 Sqn. ing unit based at Yeovilton, circa te 1943. (FAA Museum) Marks being produced simultaneously, such was the speed that Supermarine Initially commenced their production. In to combat ‘As mentioned previously, the first major operation involving Seafires was the Allied landing in North Africa, ‘Operation Torch’. Cover was provided by twelve Seafire MK Ibs of 801 Sqn and six Mk Nes of 807 flying off HMS Furious, six Seafire Mk Iles of 885 flying off HMS Formidable, and eighteen Mik Iles of 880 San flying off HMS Argus, and six Seafire Mk Iles of 884 flying off HMS Victorious. During this action Sub/Lt Baldwin of 807 n., fying Mk lic MA9B6, shot down a Vichy French Dewoitine D'520 to claim the Seafire's first ‘kill of World War Two. The next major operation, was “Operation Husky’, the invasion of Sicily, in 1943. The mixed force of Seafire Mk lbs and lies was reduced from 106 aircraft to less than 50 within the first 48 hours of ‘Husky’, due to deck landing accidents. ‘The ‘carriers were also stationed very close inshore which denied the radar the time to ghe adequate warning of the ‘approach of the enemy. Because of this, the Seafires encountered problems catching the Fw 190_fighter/bombers ‘attacking the ships off Salemo which together with the deck landing accidents gave rise to the feeling that the type was unsuitable for carrier operations. However, these ‘teething’ problems were more to do with the unfamiliarity of the type under operational conditions and the relative inexperience of the many new pilots, and the fact that the Seafires had Below: A mix of Seafire Mk Ibs and lls of ‘Torch’. The only readable. serials ‘original print are those for the Mk Ibs - the ‘one in the foreground is MB345/K, and the ‘Sie furthest avvay t= MDIGO/C, oth ex 807to remain aloft as long as possibie, cruising at their most economical speed, which combined with inadequate warning. meant were unable to accelerate fast enough to catch the low-lying intruders. Mk Lite To improve low level performance, (below 10,000 feet at which height most FAR fighter interceptions took place), in March 1943, Westland began the re- engining of 110 Mk lies with low-level rated Merlin 32 engines, driving four blade Rotol propellers, tobe known as Mk Liles. (Note: It is perhaps significant here to explain that the FAA reversed standard RAF nomenclature by placing the role identification letter after the Mark number. This increased low-level performance, ‘superior to the Mk Ile up to 25,000 feet, Prompted the conversion of many more Mk Iles which enabled the Mk Lile to be ‘Successfully retained on operations until late 1944, During the autumn of 1943 a number of Mk Liles were further modified, this time by Heston Aircraft Co Ltd., to carry two F.24 type cameras - one oblique Left: Seafire Mk lle, MB1S6, 0G of 885 Sqn. running up prior to take off aboard HIMS Formidable circa autumn 1942. Note the RAF Fighter Command style Sky rear fuselage band and spinner. WM) facing to port through the radio hatch and the other mounted vertically under the fuselage forward of the arrester hook and these were redesignated Mk LRllcs (or Mk FRlics as some publications term them), Seafire deck landing accidents were caused in the majority of cases by the wind over the decks being too low for the high landing speed of the type. This was ‘@ consequence of putting Seatires in any available carrier when they should really hhave been confined to the fast carriers. This was to cause prablems in the Pacific Campaign, when it wasn't always Possible to turn the carriers in to wind to recover aircraft low on fuel, retuming. from strikes against the Japanese. The Seafire'’s painful lack of endurance was exacerbated by the fact that pilots, knowing they would possibly ot be able to landon straight away and may have to ‘stooge around’, kept plenty of fuel in reserve. This, of course, left less fuel for flying on station, and in the Pacific, the aircraft returning from strikes, had also to be ‘deJoused’ by the fleet's CAP to prevent any Kamikazes sneaking in with the retuming aircraft Mk tt Following the development of a manual wing folding mechanism by Supermarine, and the installation of the Merlin 55 engine, November 1943 saw the introduction of the Seatfire Mk Fill in FAA service. with No 894 Squadron The Above: The Seafire Mk Lile was powered by the low-altitude rated Merlin 32 driving 2 tourbladed propeller, and outstanding Performance up. to” 20,000ft. tunidentified is possibly from 807 ist PAA unit to equip with the sub-type. Left: To further improve the Lil's rate of roll at low level, the wing tips could be 7 discretion of the ticular iy BeRight: Seafire Mk Ills, po entering Grand Harbour, Va ‘The aireraft in the for ing the use perhaps of colours other than ‘the Temperate, Sea Schome of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey. Note also the chalked note "Guns Loaded” wna Below: The Seafir Ill could also carry an joad, as shown by this 899 Sqn ‘Operation Dragoon’, the southern France, August 1944, Again note the high contrast. upper » surface camouflage scheme - has any reader any Ideas what the actual colours were? (FAA Museum) weight penalty of the wing fold mechanism was 125Ib, but at least the Seafires could now be stowed below ‘decks for the first time. ‘Although a good 20mph faster than the Mk Ile, the Mk Flll’s performance was. still inferior below 10,000 feet to that of the Mk Lile, and for this particular reason this subtype was to be relatively short lived, for, within a year, the Mk Fill had been virtually replaced by the Seafire Mk Ll with a lowaltitude rated Merlin 55 M engine. Tt would appear that only 103 “true Mk Fills were built by Westland, who were also responsible for the ‘fixed” wing Mk It (Hybrid) Mk Liles referred to earlier. A total of over 1,000 MK Ills were produced {the vast majority of which were Mk Lills), constructed by Westland Aircraft Ltd (887), and CunliffeOwen Aircraft Ltd (250). An interesting factor here was the ‘apparent preference by FAA pilots for the Cunliffe-Owen built machines with flush rivets, as opposed to the draginducing op riveted Westland built aircraft! ‘AS with the Mk Life, a tactical fighter/ reconnaisance version ‘of the Mk Ill was produced, termed Mk LRIII (or Mk FRII}), Right: An all too frequent result of a Seafire deck landing - this Seafire Mk Lil, PP979, D5ex of 807 Sqn., coming ‘to rest’ ‘on HMS Hunter in the Far East, circa 1945. ‘This aircraft was part of the British East Indies Fleet_and sported SEAC-type roundels over the original factory-applied ost-May 1942 style which can just been Giscerned, painted out, on the fuselage (via Ted Hooton) also mounting two F:24 cameras. Although the fastest Merlinengined Seafire was the Mk Lil with a top speed of 358mph (at 6,000 feet), the Mk Ib was still considered by many pilots to be the best Merlinengined Seafire as far as handling was concerned. An unfortunate side-effect of the folding wing design also manifested itself in the Seafre Ill. During the Pacific campaign, Seafire ils lost wings when This was originally put down to pilot error (or flak, but investigation after the war, revealed that in pulling out of a dive, which had been entered untrimmed, the wings were overstressed by the sudden ‘overexertion on the stick, and the bolts at the wing fold sheared off. The Mk Ill was also badly unstable. This is shown in photos of the aircraft, when the Seafire appears to be climbing. or flying tall down. The ‘centre of gravity’ was somewhat ‘out’ and resulted in a talldown attitude. Even so, the Seafire was one of the finest shipboard interceptors of its day, and served the British Pacific Fleet well in the attack on Japan - equipping eight Squadrons. Unlike the other Seafire Squadrons that used the 30 and 90 gallon slipper tanks designed for Spitfires, No 30 Wing, aboard HMS implacable, somehow ‘managed to equip their Seafire Ills with '89 gallon Curtiss P-40 drop tanks. These jettisoned much better than the slipper type, although they still caused overheating and engine cutting out problems under certain conditions. Nell Robinsonee heed coor Co teeta Kits Py Cae Te ey eters rrr ee: rey oper’ Peet my ee ee omer Bea ones eee omer et a folded wing conversion for Tamiya kt er eet Ty etsion for Tamiya kt Ce ea ues Airwaves SC 72108 Seafire Mk Ib peeentaeetarue Cent pa eee Pecoraro Pea pecan Cea peeled Ce aL Ly onereconers arta Ca oy omen Ce Perera Rn a A peounbeee a UTS nr Porta ore Ct) eT Coed TAO eee a rer ete een Pe eae ey Rn Carpena Decals 7217: Seafire I ish Air Corps Peony ene er tac ee Sn French ong oan Coes ee oe ee ey Poe nena Peet aimed pore riaeen et Ee Suggested References Laren Pra Ne 22 Sate (Merkin ngiedby en Efe rd a eet Ea orn octet ata ed Ric A en ae A eo aie Eade Loan em poesia ‘At a recent model show I noticed that the ior of ‘Scale Aircraft Modelling’ was sporting a sweatshirt with the legend, “So ‘many kits, so litle time’. He claimed he and Mike McEvoy had the only two in existence and wouldn’ give me one for myself, ‘1 took ‘my bat home’ and forgot about it fr atime And then | started thinking, Any plastic modeller worthy ofthe name has got at least a foot of insulation in the shape of unbuilt plastic its. Of course, they ‘are all going to get bul one day, arent they? Perish the thought that our habit of buying kits should be considered alongside the ‘etal therapy’ that we decry in our Wives and partners. When we do it, Its a completely different matter. Not the same thing at all A quick poll conducted amongst my fellow local IPMS Branch members revealed it collections ranging from @ modest 50- ‘dd, to one individual who claimed to have well over 1500 lining his bedroom walls Taking an ‘across the board’ sample, | found that 250 kits was by no means ‘an ‘uncommon hoard Again | asked the same modellers “Never mind how many you talk about, how ‘many kits do you really complete in a twelve ‘month period?” Well, as you can imagine, there was ‘much discussion, and, lke fishermen, there were a few tal tales, but in the end, a figure Of six to eight per year was accepted. So, if you have @ stock of 250 kits, and you purchase no more from today, (a vain hope), ‘and you build them at the average rate of ‘Seven per year, you can count on being kept busy forthe next 36 years! Now, that’s probably okay if you are, say, 25. Given a following wind, you will probably hhave made the ot bofore your AOP Bus Pass arrives. If, on the other hand, you are the guy with 2500 kits then you could be in line for ‘wo telegrams from the Queen during your lifetime! A mind bogging thought! However, as the Eator astutely pointed ‘out to me the other day, (and he, quite rightly included himself in this), 2 large section of the modelling community, if it hasn't already reached the ‘wrinkly’ phase, iS well on the way to doing so and here it starts to get a bit serious. What is going to become of our collections, not only of Lnbuilt Kits, but all the completed models, the hundreds of tins of paint, the thousands of magazines, our libraries of books, our tools and the vast collections of rubbish that we gamer over our modelling careers ‘and so jealously guard!?1 Earlier this year, a good friend of mine went to that great model shop inthe shy. He was the epitome ofthe plastic modeller -ful Of talk about what he was going to build (and one must admit, the ones he did complete were masterpieces of the modellers art) - although the reality never ‘quite matched the fantasy. AS a result, he Ra Sie A i had many hundreds of unbuilt kits ‘in stock’. He also had an endearing lite habit of starting kits and not finishing them and hhad amassed almost 100 such half-finished Projects. Familia to you? Of course he had made no provision for the disposal of his unique collection, but then, who has? His femily, predictably, had litle idea what to do with it but sensed that junking the whole lot was not the answer and not what he would have wanted. So, what to do? Fortunately, our modeller was a member of IPMS, so the local Branch was able to advise and assist, but it was a long process 1500-0d¢ kits is a lot of plastic. They fil a long wheelbase Ford Transit! 4000 plus ‘magazines are stil filing one members spare room. The halffinished Kits were distributed amongst Branch members. for ‘completion and will figure in @ memorial ‘Competition in the future. The completed models were similarly distibuted with the Undertaking that they would continue to be displayed at Branch events and model shows. The unbuilt kits were catalogued ‘and priced by Branch members and a sale was arranged with the proceeds going to the family So, in the end, his teasures all went we hope - to good homes, but it took the efforts of quite few people spread over several months and, inevitably, there stil remain a few loose ends. The family were, Needless to say, consulted at every tum during this process to-make sure that what we were doing complied with their wishes So, what provision have YOU made for that day, (hopefully far into the future), when your Wet & Dry flutters from your eles fingers? AS my old University Lecturer used {0 Sey, “This subject ralses more quesvons than it does answers” | certainly don't claim to have the answers but the point of this featur, (which | hope hasn't been too morbid), is to invite you to think about it and, perhaps, to open, Some sort of debate ‘about a hitherto Uunmentionable subject. Michael Robson Ed Note: | asked Mike to write the above following a relatively "light-hearted conversation, at a recent model show, after several telephone calls to. SAM'S editorial offices from the families of ‘recently deceased enthusiast modellers ‘asking where they could suitably dispose of their husband's/father’s collection of kits, books and magazines. Itis going to become more of a ‘problem’ over the next decade or so, as the average age of enthusiast construction kit modellers rises =I believe the average age of modellers is already hovering around the late-40s/early.50s mark! iW anyone has any suggestions or ideas about setting up's Modeliers” Clearing House Bureau = ‘made up kits; books; magazines; decals accessories and tools ~~ we would be interested to hear from you! - Nei‘Mobile: 07973 551470,Merlin-engined Safire vsecs).co-cons > 2: OmkGuer OomnGey Mem Esa ante GipLinen Sky enn Woe elow Hooked Spitfire Mk Vb BLET6, October ont BLE76 was the thea Spitfire Mk Vo 0 be fited with an Atkame arestr Mook by Viewers Supermanne and was atached | the Service Tats Unt at RNAS Arbroath Standard Day Fightor Scheme of Ozean Grey and Dark Green upper surtaces wih Medium Sea Grey undersides. Sky spinner and rear hselage, band. This ‘Sera ine ater converted ofl Satire ic ib ‘standard and re-seriieg a8 e228, ‘Seafire Mk tb, NXB90, AC*C, 736 NAS, Yeoviton, 1942) Seen herewith yellow, second line, code leters, NXB9O sports the standard FAA | Temperate ‘Sea Scheme of Extra, Dark | Sea‘ Grey and Can Sate Grey upper Surfaces” wih Sky undersiges. ‘Sky | Spinner Note the lack of seria number ‘Seafire Mk Ib, PA103, AC*B, 736 NAS, ‘Standard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Esra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey Upper surfaces with Sky uncersies. Sky Spriner Yellow, second ine, code eters Seale Mk Ib, MBS45, K, of 835 NAS, ‘Hus Formidable, May 1943, MB345 was one of several Seafies possbby Wished in the Grey-Green af Bark Sea Grey upper surface schoo wth Sky undersrfoces Sky spinner Note wat appears fo be chipped par rou the exhaust manifolds and retouched Paintwort under the seal number See Plan View 1 for upper surtace pattern Seafire Mk lle, (serialnumber ‘overpainted), O68, of 865 NAS, HS Formidabe, summer 1943 Standard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Entra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey Upper surfaces wth ‘cowiing panels sky 5 spiner. Whe codes note obique bar trough letter O and ‘what appears to be very badly chipped Bort around he exhaust manfoids 14Seafire Mk tle, MB1S6, O66, of 985 NAS, HS. Formidable, “Operation Toreh’ November 1942, flown By SUBILt 40 Buchanan Esra Dart Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey Upper sitaces with Siy undersides White {¢Sky spimer and Sky rar fuselage band White codes, (rote obique bar tyough ltr 0}. Dring ‘Operation Tors, SubvLt Buchanan claimed an Armée de Air Douglas DB-7 ove Alsons Bay wht fying this, machine. "Note. the while star Superimposed on the fuselage roundel fimar to US Navy aera operating in he ‘ca, White stars were also aded to the Upper wing rundls and posly those on the under suraces Seafir Mk lle, MB189, 7-7, of 880 NAS, MS indomitable, February 1943 Standard PAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Site Grey Upper surfaces win Sky undersides. Sky print Red codes outined in white. At this time, 880 NAS was part of Force H operating inthe Mediteranean Seafire Mk io, MB348, 7, (possibly 880 NAS), under repair at Gibraltar, circa 190 Slandard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Esra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey ‘oper srtaces wth Sky undersides. Sky Spinner Red numeral 7 outned in white (code for 880 NAS?) = with 4 inch high feral number and ROYAL NAVY. See Plan View 2 for upper surface detais. Seafico Mk Ib, MB340, flown by LiCdr Duncan Hamitton, Port Reitz, Kenya, rea 1943. ‘ronstandard overall Royal Bue fish with white ‘ighining stipe down the {isolage and whe spinner. Note 8 inch high ROYAL NAVY and 4 inch high seria umber presertaton. No cannon barrels ‘tes ‘Seafiro Mk Wc, MB128, 6+, of 898 NAS, ‘AUS Indomitable, Sapa Flow, March 1943 Probably fished in the Grey-Green and Dark Sea Grey upper suface scheme, ‘wth Sky uncer surfaces. Sky spinner, Red Codes. Note. the Grey-Groen patches ‘overng the outer machne gu pots. 1516 Seafire Mic le, MB244, 6-0, of 99 NAS, HS indomitable, Home Fleet, May 1943 Standard FAA Temperate Sea Schome of Exva Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey Upper sues wit Sky undersides. Sky spimnee Red codes. 4 inch high ROYAL NAVY. @ inch high seral number Seafire Mk Lil, MB201, 8-0, of 807 NAS, HMS" Batter, ‘Operation’ Avalanche’ Salerno, tly. July 1943 Standard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Esa Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey oper euraces with Sky undersides. Red high ROYAL NAVY, 8 inch high sera umber. ‘Seafre Mk Lile,LR642, 8M, of 807 NAS, HMS ‘Batter. ‘Operation. Avalanche’ Salerno, italy, July 1943, Westanc-butt MK Le tought to be finished inthe Day Fighter Scheme of ‘Ocean Grey" and” Dark “Green upper Surfaces wih Medum Sea Grey Undersdes.” Red spinner. Red codes tutined i lack inch hh sel numer Seafire Mi Lil, (possibly MB318), CA ‘of 809 NAS, HMS Star, “Operation ‘Avalanche’ "Salerno, Waly, July 1943, flown by Major A Wright RM Standard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Exra Dark Sea Grey and Oark Slate Grey spper surfaces wih Sky undersides. Red spinner and codes. Note the eharkmeut, Seafire Mi Like, LREA7, R, of 807 NAS, as Bator, February i944 Westiand-buit Mik Lite Sought to be finshed in the Day Fighter Scheme of Ocean Grey and” Dark Green upper Surfaces with Medium ‘Sea Grey Undersides. Black spinner Red code letter Note 6 inch high serial number wth inch high ROYAL NAVY above. Clipped wing tps See Pan Viw 3 for upper sutace detaSeafre Mk Lil, LAT47, Hed of 807 NAS, HMS Hunter, irish Sea, early see Westlng.bult Mk Llc thought to be fished in the Day Fighter Scheme of (Ocean Grey and’ Dark Green upper Surfaces possibly with Sky underses Red spinner. Red code letters outined in black € inch high serial number Seafice Mk Lile, NF421, K-S, of 099 NAS, HMS"" Khedive, “Operation Dragoon’ August 1944 Ordered a2 Mk I, NF421 was one of Iwentysi Westlond-buit rframes wih eed wings, known (yong) Mk Ls, Based’ on a clear b&w photograph, F421 appoars to have boon pairtod in non-standard Dark. Green and Grey Green upper surfaces with Sky undersides, (as istrated here) aitough tis may have been the Day Fighter scheme. photographed in| very beght sunlight conattons Confirmation of ts actus scheme woud be most welcome! Red spinner and code eters ‘Safire Mk Il, NN344, KO, of 899 NAS, HMS'Khedive, ‘Operation Dragoon’ August 1944 ‘ Cunife-Owen bulk machine, fshes inthe standard FAA Temperate Sea ‘Scheme. of Extra Dark Sea’ Grey and Dark Sate Grey upper surfaces wih Sky Undersides Red codes and Bick 8 inch high ser numbor Note the Extra Dark Sea Srey spine. Seafiro Mk Il, PRIT1, OS, of 807 NAS, HS Hunter, British East In Fleet, earty 1945 AA Westand bait machin, fished inthe Standard FAA Temperate Sea Schome of Era Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey upper surfaces. with Sky Uundersies White codes and black Spinner 4 ineh high sonal number Note the write ‘South East Asia Command (SEAC). bands. around the wings, faiplanes and fn, nd smal luelate roundel Seafire Mk Hl, NN300, 05-0, of 807 NAS, HMS Hunter, Brish East indies Flaet, flown by Gd George Baldwin, Singapore 1945 ‘A.Westand-bult machine. in a rare natural metalpainted Alurmiium?} fish wth black ant-gare panel. Black codes 4nd Blue spinner. & inch high serial ‘umber and ROYAL NAVY. Nate the Blue South East Asia Command” (SEAC) bands around the wings taiplanes and See Plan View 4 for upper surface 17Seafire Mi Lil, PR1BD, P7‘N, of 801 NAS, ‘Huts implacable, Briish Pacific Fleet, 1945, Standacd FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Esra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slat Grey Upper surfaces with Sky undersides. Sky sprner and whe codes” 4 inch Fgh seit number and ROYAL NAVY. Nota that SPF fuselage roundels were approx 40 inch siometer ‘Seaire Mk Lil, NNSB4, of 894 NAS. HS Indefatigable, British Pacific. Fleet, Standard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey Upper surfaces wih Sky undersides. Red pinnar wth white or Sky back pate. inch high serial rumber and ROYAL NAVY. This machine sported a BE! syle roundel ove the starboard wing. Note pow the bars on the fuselage BPF roundel are below the ‘See Plan View 5 for upper surtae deta Seafire Mk Ll, serial unknown), of 899 Fleet, August 1945 Standard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Eva Dark Sea Grey and Dar Slate Grey Upper surfaces with Sky undersides. Extra Dark Sea Grey or Bive spinner. This machine sported Red White/Blue foundels above the wings and Rea/WhiteBiue fn fash See Pan View 6 for upper surtace deta Seafie Mk Ll, (serial unknown), $15 of 887 NAS, HMS indefatigable, British Pacific Fleet, August 1045 Standard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Esra Dark Sea Gray and Dark Slate Gry Upper surfaces with Sky undersides. Red Spinner with whit or Sky backplate, White ‘odes on fn. BEI syle roundel above the Starboard wing (Gee Pian View 8). Seafve Mi Li, NN212, $112 of 887 NAS, MS indefatigable, British Pacific Fleet, ‘August 1945, Standard FAA Temperate Sea Scheme of Extra Dark See Grey and Dark Slate Grey Upper surfaces win Sky undersides. Whit Spinner and codes on fin Subtt GJ Murphy destroyed two ABMS on 15 August 1945 m tvs arcraf 18Trevor Glover models a Seafire III with folded wings using the Airwaves resin set. Whilst there have been dozens of Spitfire ‘ats in all the major scales, by most of the major kit companies, kits of the Seafire have been very thin on the ‘ground, and at this moment in time, the only way to add a Merlinengined Seafire 10 your collection is to modify an existing Spitfire Mk V kit using one of the resin ‘conversion sets. Perhaps now is the right time for an enterprising manufacturer to fil this obvious void with 1:72 and 1:48 scale injection moulded kits of Merin- engined Seafires? Twanted to Dulld a Seanre i, wnicn was the first Seafire subtype to ‘incorporate folding wings, and opted to Use Tamiya's excellent Spitfire Vb/Trop kit ‘and the Airwaves Seafire Ill conversion set SC480865 £27.99 with twopart ‘folding’ wings. (Other Seafire conversion sets in the Airwaves range include: a Mk lic $C48062 (£22.99); Mk I SC48.064 with fixed wings (£22.99); and optional parts specifically for British Pacific Fleet Seafire Fills (£5.99), Construction Construction was started by roughly following kit instructions and carefully Right: Another Seafire Ill with folded ings ‘of Airwaves’ set SC48-065; this. time built by Johnson. The model is finished in British Pacific Fleet ‘markings used from late 1944 and in to ‘305. ‘size fuselage roundel 20 Temoving the side entrance door with an ‘extra fine razor saw. The interior of the fuselage was painted Grey Green and left to dry overnight. Following this, any details, such as undercarriage lever, radio and throttles, were painted in their base colours, drybrushed with dull ‘aluminium and then given a wash of thinned black paint to add some depth. The rest of the cockpit detail, such as the seat, armour plate, control column etc., was assembled as per the kit instructions and painted in their ‘appropriate colours. The instrument ‘panel was very nicely detailed and when, ppainted and drybrushed, looked most Impressive. The clock faces were glven a coat of gloss varnish to give the Impression of glazing. When complete, the inside assembly looked very ‘complete and busy’ and the only thing | added was a set of brass seatbelts from the spares box. ‘The fuselage sides were joined and fitted together so well that only a gentle rubdown was necessary to remove any join lines - no filer being needed. The whole of the cockpit assembly was then inserted into the fuselage from below. twas at this stage that | discovered it might have perhaps been easier to have cut out the lower rear fuselage section behind the wings for the replacement resin arrester hook item hhoform assembly, enabling it to be fitted easier. However, as it was, it was not too difficutt to make the cuts along the engraved panel lines which run from the ‘wing root to the fuselage transportation Joint line. Once this was done, the resin Insert was dropped in - bearing in mind, ‘that the more accurate the cut the less filler would be needed, especially as the resin is very sharply moulded. The next stage was to fit the new resin wing, The Seafire Il was fitted with the ‘c’ armament wing, complete with simple double break. Folding was cerried out manually and. then secured by telescopic jury struts. The replacement resin ‘c’ wing in the Airwaves conversion. ‘set comes in four parts - two inner wing root sections and two main centre sections. The wing tips are taken from the kit, and fitted after the removal of the locating tabs. All the resin parts in this set are well ‘moulded, but the new wings are ‘especially superb. The panel lines are very delicately engraved and are on a par with the very best from the major injection kit manufacturers. At frst sight, the wing sections that fit to the fuselage‘Above: What look like large moulding blocks on the inboard ‘section of the resin wings very cleverly clip into the kit's wing look quite clumsy, with what looks ke two very large moulding plugs. In fact, these plugs are a very clever positioning devise that ges the correct angle for the wings. They just clip on to the fuselage ‘and need just a spot of superglue to hold them in pace. Although the starboard wing root ‘ited superbly with no filer being needed at all, when the port wing root was fitted it was a litte low and left a very small step that needed attention with @ sharp knife and filer. | don't think this was a problem with the resin parts, as when | compared the Tamiya kits wing roots | noticed that they were slightly different {for some reason which may have affected the fit The outer wing sections and wing lips wore not needed at Uns stage and were left unt later. The Lickiest part of this conversion was next and involves cutting the centre Section from the kit lower wing, (part D5). ‘The Tamiya kits one piece lower wing has to have its centre section cut out. Fst and easiest is the rear underside section behind the flaps. This part then just fits to the underside of the fuselage directly in front of the replacement resin arrester hook. ‘The second and more difficult cut is removal of the main underside centre ‘section which has then got to mate up to the resin wing root undersides. By ‘comparing the engraved panel lines on the resin wing root sections with those on. the Tamiya kit wing, | was able to see ‘exactly where | had to cut, (the Airwaves instructions also tell you). Having. said ‘that, It is stil a fairy tricky job and | had to use a litte filer to fair it all together! ‘The bottom of the engine cowiing was ‘match the panel lnderwing centre ‘section accurately so Tines of the resin parts. ‘Ahove: The recin and injection-mouldad aartione of the wing laid nut Above and right: Airwaves’ brase atch Strengthening’ plates ed in to, position, and await ing, the Feplacement undercarriage cover plates, fitted at this stage along with the tailplanes and the front and rear canopy. ‘To boost the Seafire’s low altitude performance, it was fitted with the Merlin 32, driving @ fourbladed Roto! propeller. This is included as a five-piece resinitem, and once constructed, was put ‘side ready for painting. The brass- etched parts were fitted next, of which there are two sections: one covering the Wing folds forall four folds and the other Which includes main undercarriage doors, a bomb rack and the various fuselage strengthening plates. These Include the fuselage stifeners that un horizontally below the side door, rear catapult spool strengtheners which run down to the arrester hook and the forward. slinging plates behind and ‘below the exhausts. On the port side ‘only Is the radio hatch strengthener surround, Other items fitted at this point was the radiator and carburettor fitter from the kit, @ new resin oll cooler, which hos the correct profile intake and the main undercarriage legs. ppaint numbers quoted in one source, they. tumed out to be rather different’ than quoted in other sources! In all | checked four different sets of references and only two matched! In the end, being somewhat confused, | settled ‘on an old Humbrol paint chart which quoted Humbrol 27 Matt Sea Grey and 102 Matt Amy Green on the uppersurfaces and 90 Matt Beige Green ‘on the undersurfaces. | started by spraying the under surfaces first and when dry, masked off all the appropriate areas. | followed this with the first upper surface coat, which was Extra Dark Sea Grey and after about twenty minutes, | oversprayed various ‘areas with a slightly lighter grey to give the effect of fading. | normally aiorush the camouflage on to my models freehand, but as the two ‘upper surface colours were quite similar in tone | thought | might not get a sharp enough demarcation line, so instead | made stencils from Revell Frisk Film which seemed to do the trick. ‘The model was then given two coats of Johnsons Kleer/Future in preparation for the decals and weathering of the panei lines. Normally panel lines can be ‘highlighted’ in dark brown or black to ‘simulate any dir or ol that gets about, Dut ‘as a Naval aircraft I decided to go with a medium greyish wash to show 2s salt from the Sea spray. | used tube oil paint for this. | also chose to ‘highlight’ these panel lines before I fitted the brass-etched Wingfold to avoid breaking anything when wiping the excess oil paint wash off. Painting The Seafire Ill was invariably finished in the standard Fleet Air Arm wartime simple enough, but when | checked the Above: Before attaching the outer wing als Trevor added 2 litte staining the exhaust manifolds and some ‘The decals used were from AeroMaster sheet 48-442. This sheet includes decals for four Seafies, two European Theatre Fleet Air Arm aircraft and. one each from South-East Asia Command and the British Pacific Fleet. The decals chosen for my Seafire Il were for a Cunliffe Owenebuit aircraft, NN344, KeO from 899 San. This aircraft wes aboard HIMS Khedive in September 1944, and took part in ‘Operation Dragoon’, the Invasion of Southern France. ‘The only colour doubt concermed that of the propeller spinner which was either Extra Dark Sea Grey or red; s0 to add @ bit of colour, | chose the red option. The decals were very thin, but also seemed to be pretty strong’ and they reacted well to the use of Johnsons Kieer/Future. The fact that they had to be placed over various fuselage stifeners, was. proof of both their strength and flexibly Final fitting Before commencing with the wingfold, | painted a few detail parts such as the Undercarriage, navigation lights, wheel wells etc, Also at this stage | decided to weather certain areas. Exhaust staining was indicated by dry-brushed dark grey paint, with the wing roots, engine panel lines, the pilot's entry flap and the wing fold lines carefully ‘spotted’ with dull aluminium to Indicate chipped and wom paintwork. The pitot tube, antenna mast, catapult spools were then fitted. Most Seafire Wis featured six manifold exhaust stacks, rather then the triple paired exhausts, and some had the outboard cannon stub deleted. As the wingfold of any Naval aircraft in ‘model form can be a bit of a weak point, | decided to fit the brassetch wingfold last of all. Before commencing | fitted the ew brass undercarriage covers. which are a slighty different shape to the standard Spitfire V and also fitted the leo restraining links. The etch brass wing fold for both the major mainplane break is in the form of two aerofoil sections joined by 2 tab, butbefore these can be secured, @ small portion - about 3mm to 6mm - on the Uppersurface of the wing root section had to be removed. Next hinge, one for each wing had to be made by sandwiching @ piece of 1.5mm plastic card between the two brass hinge mechanisms. I fitted the outer section wingfold first in order not to put pressure on the inner fold, and these fitted very well, and when dry, it was just a matter of bending to the correct angle. However, the centre ‘section wingfold caused some problems in that it was difficult to place it and then ‘secure it to the centre section. ‘After a few attempts at this, | chose to separate the wingfold parts and fit them to their respective wing sections first. | then secured the hinge on to the wing root/centre section and only when completely dry, did | attempt to fit the ‘outer wing sections. At the same time I fitted the telescopic wing supports, cut from brass rod to add additional strength. This seemed a lot easier and "eo ‘Summary With Seafires in model form being very rate, the release of Ainwaves conversion set is most welcome. The whole project was very enjoyable and yet a bit challenging, with various sections needing to be cut (especially the wing centre section) to quite a precise degree. The wingfolds were also a bit demanding, but other modellers may have a better way of doing this particular Job. | don’t think this conversion would be beyond the abilities of the average ‘modeller and it is well worth the effort to have a ‘Spitfire’ that is a bit different! ‘Trevor Glover worked well for me. The wing tips were ‘added in a similar fashion. Once all the etch brass folds were painted, the Seafire was given a coat of XtraColor ‘matt varnish, to dull everything down ‘and blend everything in. Top of page - ight and eft, Two views. of Trevor's completed in the markings of Seafire il, NN344, coded K-O from 99 | — model it San, HMS Khedive, September 1944. Note the jury struts ited | — {0 Safire to help hold the wings firmly when they were folded. vows and uppers Seafire ,NNAS0, 6X of S84 San HS Indetarigable.in British East indies Fleet markings ~ model ‘Jon Freeman also using the Airwaves conversion set SC48-068, Right: Another view of Andy Johnson's. British Pacific Fleet marked, 887 Squadron, Sesfire Lil, {awaiting ts serial number!) 23‘As with ED Models’ Airwaves range, Model Design Construction (MDC) also produce a full range of Merlinengine Seafire resin conversion sets, covering the Marks Ib, Il and Ill Again, ostensibly based upon the Tamiya Mk Vb kit, both the Hasegawa and Airfix Spitfire Mk Vos Could be used as the basis to fit the conversion parts on, The Seafire Ib set, (£5.95), has an underfuselage section with a separate arrester hook frame, and strengthening plates in a unique’ self-adhesive vinyl material. The set for the Seafire Il, (£14.00), has the underfuselage arrester gear parts and self-adhesive vinyl strengthening plates plus - a pair of ‘c’ armament wings with separate 20mm ‘cannon barrels, outer bay blanking stubs, iterative broad (two-bay) and narrow (Singlebay) upper wing cannon biisters, siemanifold exhaust stacks and a four bladed propeller. The set for the Mk Ill, (£14.00), is similar to the Seafire I! set, but in this instance the replacement ‘c’ armament wings have engraved lines indicating the wing fold ‘breaks’ and the shorter style 20mm cannon barrels. In both the ‘c' wing conversions, the wing tips are to be used from the injection moulded it. Heading: Layout of parts of the Model Design Construction Seafire Mk il and il conversion sets. Of the three injection- ‘moulded kits’ fuselages in the p je Hasegawa Mk Vb and the thi Vow Note the underluselage parts, hening plates inthe unique white selfadhesive: vinyl ‘material and. how the underside contre section has been cut-away to accept the replacement MDC ‘e' armament wings. ‘Above: Seafire Mk llc, MB156, 06-G of 885 Right: Seafire Lill, PRI46, MV/126, of Escadrille 54, ’Aeronautique Navale, aboard the carrier Arromanches, Indo China circa 1948 AeroMaster decals. 24 Seafire Mk I First thing to do is to finely sand the resin pans, (to remove any minor moulding, residue), wash them in a mild detergent {and then leave overnight to dry naturally. The underside of the kit's rear fuselage needs to be removed using a fine saw - the MOC instructions clearly show where to cut - and superglue the replacement resin underfuselage section in to place. Next, the kits one-piece lower wing half’ needs the centre section carefully removing. | used of a scriber and razor saw, and then sanded the edges of both. the plastic centre section and the resin wings (including the resin casting lugs), to create better mating surfaces. The wings were offered up to the fuselage and were an excellent fit. Actually attaching the resin wings was ‘easy enough. On the first model | simply buttjoined and superglued them in to position, with large amounts of superiue as the resin wing are quite heavy, whilst ‘on the second model I drilled a hole in to the mating surface of each resin wing, half and passed a brass rod through the fuselage wing roots to ‘pin’ the wings in to position whilst the superglue set for additional strength. Only small amounts of filler were needed at the roots end on the underside centre section, which were sanded ‘smooth, and then it was time to add the sticky-backed PVC strengthening plates. These were simply peeled off their backing sheet and attached to the kit following MDC's diagram. Once on they looked “scale perfect’ and were much easier to apply than brass etched ones. There are four ‘plates’ built up one on top of the other just above the arrester hook hinge, through which a hole has to be riled right through to the other side of the fuselage for the rear catapult spools. The forward catapult spools were then superglued to the underwing centre The upperwing cannon blisters are separate which allows the choice of ether the ‘broad’ style over both bays or ‘the ‘narrower’ ones over the inboard bay. For the Seafire Il conversion | used the broad style, and ‘spot superglued” them in to position. A coat of Halfords AcrylicGrey Primer blended the blisters in nicely ‘and prepared the rest of the model for the painting stage. ‘The aircraft | modelled was MB156, 2 ‘Supermarine-built Mk llc coded 06+G of ‘885 Sqn., flying off HIMS Formidable ‘during “Operation Torch’. Flown by Sub/Lt J. Buchanan, this aitcraft and O6¢H, ‘attacked and destroyed a Vichy Armée de ‘’Air Douglas DB-7 over Algiers Bay on 8 November 1942. Finished in the Temperate Sea Scheme of Extra Dark ‘Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey upper surfaces with Sky undersides, the post previous Mk llc conversion with the exception of using the resin wings with ‘the wing fold panel lines engraved in, folding wing option), a four-bladed ‘ropelier and spinner’ and sixmanifold exhaust stacks. ‘to Micro Sol and Set, and after everything, had dried, the final job was the ‘application of a couple of thin coats of Humbrol Matt Varnish to seal everything, in and glve a wellworn matt finish. If you are not wanting to portray your ‘Seatire Il with wings folded then the MOC ‘set Is a viable alternative to the folded wing, Ainwaves set and is fully recommended, H i z Z 5 i z 4 § tr i i 5was added. In hindsight, | realise that | should have Used an Aeroclub example which | have done with the other two Homet kits | was ing at the same time as ils onel These sul retain the kits ‘armour pane!’, but the ‘bench’ is chopped back to the armour attachment point and an Aerociub seat is fitted to the armour and a plastic card panel used to block off the hole behind, Some plastic card squares were cut to represent the tanks for the 20mm cannon ‘ammunition: Back to the F of this particular article. In addition to a new sect, | seratehbuilt an instrument panel using the Skybirds "86 one as a template. With all this work Bc Havilland lela» a The Homet - (with the Mosquito and Spittire) - nolds a particular interest for er Ere rrr tt subject, he modified the Frog/Novo 1:72 scale F.3 in to an F.1 ‘Arguably one of the most elegant aircraft to be designed during the WWII period, the DH Homet, like De Havilland’s earlier Mosquito, has more the look of a racing aircraft ‘than a fighting _ machine. Unfortunately, like most other British immediate postwar’ aircraft, the Homet hhas been rather poorly served by kit manufacturers over the years. Frog produced @ 1:72 scale kit in the early 1970s which ended up in a Novo box when the former company ceased trading, whilst Skybirds °86 released several 1:72 stale versions in the late ‘980s and Magna have released several resin kits in recent years. However, its the Frog/(Novo) 1:72 scale kit we're interested in here. It contains four sprues plus one clear. It does have some outline problems around the nose; the aerofoll shape of the wing is suspect and the engines are too wide. And of course being a 1970s kit, it's a bit short on detail With two DH Homet F3s_ already sitting on my shelves, I wanted to model a different version this time and decided upon the F1. So, armed with the ‘Above: Two ofthe three baxings that the Frog Homet mould has appeared in - up to now! 26 ‘Warpaint Series No 19 ‘DH Homet’ book which also contains 1:72 scale plans by Jan Huntley; the May 1990 (Vol 12/8) issue of SAM, which features the DH Homet as the ‘Aircraft in Detail’ article and a Skybirds "86 Sea Homet NF 21, 1 started with some destruction! Modelling the FA First, the horribly thick fin and filet were removed, along with the bench that is ‘Supposed to represent the pilot's seat. This was replaced with some plastic card, and a new scratchbuilt pilots seat ‘casea/links and thePalas BS : ‘done, the cockpit interior was given a coat (of matt black, the fuselage assembled ‘and the large gap left by the removal of the fin/flet fled and left to set. Next, the tallplanes. These were sanded to the profile of the earlier F:1 ‘and the elevators removed and repositioned to add a little character’. At the same time, I chopped up an old Alms Series 2 Mosquito for the taiffin which was a fair match for that carried by the Hornet F:1. Like the elevators, the rudder was removed and re-positioned, again to ‘add a litle character. Next up, the wings. The under surfaces came in for some attention, with the radiator flaps being made from plastic card and reprofiled, and the flaps being serited in. In addition, strips of plastic card were used for the radiator matrix etails in the leading edge of the wings. With the fuselage all cleaned up, it was time for assembly, which was fairly straightforward. With all the filer sanded off, | started rescribing some of the detail for the armament. The cannon ports were drilled out and the cartridge ‘case/Delt inks ejection chutes were cut ‘out. After that, some thin strips of plastic ‘card were strapped around the fuselage for the fuselage join line. The undercarriage doors were also thinned ‘down and given some (rather oversized!) hinges. Painting and finishing Basic assembly was now complete, it was time to choose a colour scheme. 1 Left: Close-up of the tailplanes re-profiled 10 the shorted F.1 shape. went for the aircraft of No 65 Sqn's CO, S/Lar Haw, PX252, based at Linton-on Ouse, circa 1947, ‘in overall Aluminium with the wing and fuselage red chevrons. ‘The whole aircraft was given a coat of Hatford’s grey auto primer to pick out any flaws in the sanding, which would then be rectified. (By the way, this. primer is ‘almost the correct shade for Medium Sea Grey!). After the final tidying up, the aircraft_was given an overall coat of Halford’s Nissan Silver, then Halford's Clear Lacquer to give a nice gloss finish 'd managed to pick up a couple of Skybirds '86 Homet F415 some years before, and these had the markings for the 65 Sqn CO’ aircraft - and those beautiful red chevrons fitted without any trouble. After a few days to dry and with the remaining decal ‘glue’ washed off, Uwe model was iver enolier at of Hatford’s Clear Lacquer. Time to finish off the remaining bits. The wheels had the hubs sprayed with Halford’s Nissan Silver, as did the propeller spinners. The canopy framework was hand painted and fitted, ‘and the pitot tube was formed from stretched sprue. This was a highly satisfying model, ‘and the lessons leamed were applied to the other Frog/Novo Hornets, one of which was modified in to another F4, PX241, SHeN of 64 Sqn circa 1946/47, finished in the Medium Sea Grey uppersurfaces/PRU Blue undersurfaces scheme. The decals for this particular model came fom the ever useful Modeldecal range, whilst the serial (PX241) was made up with the kit decals. Okay, it does have some outline problems, but with a little time and some Careful work it does look like a Homet when finished. It been displayed at several model. shows and people have been surprised to leam it was the Frog kit. ‘Lee Bagnall Left, below and heading photo: ‘Three views of the completed model in the arkings of PX252 of No 65"Sqn.cires 1547. Note the effect of re-scribed’ panel lines, fin and rudder modified from the ‘Airfix Mosquito and the deployed elevators. (All photographs by Lee Bagnall)cale ireratt odelling No 1 Bf 109 No 2 Hawker Hurrican: No 3 P-36/P-40 lease send me my copy of No1 £985] Nozesss(} No3es95(} Noser.95(} Name: one Address: : 0, Me Pen - City Post/Zip code: rudy} Sic Country: f Oe aa bets "enclose, payment (See above) (plus £1.00 p&p UK onk Jostage and Packing: Europe add 15% Rest ‘of World add 25% (C1 t wish to pay by cheque, payable to: Guideline Publications (yes rs rae os pesee rc aaa me er Q Bo oti if TOO ooo Name on card: Expy date: [TCT Send to: Guideline Publications, 352 Selbourne Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU4 BNUALL watt onDen winnn THE UK SENT Post FREE. TELE. 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Classic ArRAMES 172 ae ans Pe sok pes pao ny cr gee Pa [SHOWROOM NOW OPEN!!|| ivr me ‘send 6x fat clas stamps o FICS 1: socked up tothe rot with || CLASSIC ARFRAMES 18 ‘mater arena, Arou noingham NOS OF Seseerle accor || SAC ANTIN sae Oro far nf ares paseonwa a8 BSE Rin en “acinar ae Phantom. MEW eze | Fumar MA) mi Piensa novgserw wen sre Nemo MEW S996|rauwreTeR 32 ececcerasae esr EASTERN EXPRESS (Russia) 1:72 jc 1¢ £30.95 a ae nt ep Stee S2e| macn 72 Sora, | ESSER STN meer Hio5 Sa Theo e790 ape Pai: me saree. wm) (SB Sete: mates EeCOLOUR CONUNDRUM SPECULATIVE SPITFIRE Paul Lucas looks at some of the experimental schemes that could have become standard! From October 1940 onwards, RAF Day Fighter pilots began to report that the camouflage finish applied to their fighters appeared to be too dark for the altitudes ‘at which they were now flying and fighting. As a result of this, much experimental work was undertaken in 1941 which led ultimately to the adoption of the Day Fighter Scheme of Dark Green ‘and Ocean Grey. hie appears to challenge the long held view that the change from a ‘green and brown’ camouflage to a ‘green and ‘grey’ camouflage which took place from August 1941 onwards, was a result of the RAFs Day Fighters operating increasingly over water, especially the English Channel Concern about colours When the Luftwarfe’s medium bomber force made the switch to night bombing, the daylight offensive was continued by Bf 109 and 110 aircraft modified for the fighter bomber role. These aircraft were operated at heights of between 25- 30,000 ft., and being much smaller and faster than the medium bombers they replaced, proved to be much more difficult to track and intercept. The air battles which resulted from successful interceptions, now took place at much higher altitudes than previously, and concems about colour schemes began to bbe made known to higher authority. ‘The standard Day Fighter finish at this time was Dark Green and Dark Earth on the Upper surfaces with Sky, (or one of its substitutes), on the undersides. In retrospect, It's not too surprising that these ‘colours should be considered too dark as all three colours had been developed for Use at altitudes of 10,000 ft. or less. With fighting now taking place at much greater altitudes and as the RAF began to adopt a more offensive posture in the Spring (of 1941, the matter of effective camouflage ataltitudes greater than 10,000 ft. began to ‘assume greater importance. Colour scheme trials On 26 March 1941, Fighter Command requested that trials be carried out by the ‘Air Fighting Development Unit, (AFDU), based at Duxford. under the command of Wing Commander CampbellOrde, with the assistance of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, (RAE), at Famborough. The alm of these trials was to try to find a Compromise Colour Scheme which would be suitable for Day Fighters at all altitudes, as well as when parked at dispersal on an airfield. It was to be bome in mind that on most fighter stations, aircraft were by this time parked on concrete and not on grass. A two colour scheme was suggested using a lignt grey. 30 In response to this request, on 3 April 1941, two representatives of the RAE visited Duxford to consult with the AFDU fon the changes thought necessary to ‘meet the requirement. Agreement on the main outlines of the new camouflage ‘scheme was reached and the application of paint onto two Mk | Spitfires, X4815 and X4816, was started the same day. ‘ial Gohome A ‘Trial Scheme A was applied to X4815. It ‘would appear that this scheme was an attempt to mimic the Jagawaffe’s motte finish which was considered in some quarters to be superior to the standard RAF camouflage scheme. The entire uppersurtaces of X4815 were mottled in such a way that two thirds were coloured Sky Grey and one third was coloured Olive Grey. Sky Grey was a standard camouflage colour which hhad been developed for the Fleet Air Arm at the RAE before the war, but Olive Grey was apparently @ new experimental colour which was officially described as being half way between Dark Sea Grey and Light Slate Grey in hue, The undersurfaces were finished in Sky Blue, another standard colour which originated at the RAE before the war. Exactly how the mottle finish was applied is not clear, but for the moment it must be assumed that it was applied evenly over the whole of the ppersurfaces. Whether the motte consisted of large or small patches, or a mixture of both is also presently unknown, The presence of the black port wing marking and its associated Yellow outlined roundel is also open to question, The period of the trials spans the deletion of this marking towards the end of April 1941, and as the trials were ‘concerned with the camouflage effect of ew colours, it might be considered Unlikely that the identification marking was carried on this or any of the other ‘vials schemes described below. It might be safe to assume that the serial number, fin marking and a full set of roundels were applied in the standard colours, but the colour of the spinner, presence of the tallband, and the resence of any code letters is open to auestion. X4B1S5 is known to have been coded AFeS at some time whilst serving at ‘AFDU, but itis not known if these codes were wor in conjunction with either this ‘scheme or Scheme 'C’ - see later. ‘ial Scheme B Trial Scheme B was applied to X4816, but this scheme only affected the undersurfaces, with the upper surfaces being left in the standard Dark Green and Dark Earth scheme. Unfortunately, without ready access to @ photograph of this aircraft tis not possible to say with any degree’ of certainty whether was finished in the “Kor 8” Scheme from AD 1160, The ‘closest serial number to X4B16 for which a photograph could be found was X4942 which is finished inthe A Scheme. As this is an even number it 's possible that X4816 was also finished inthe" Gohome. Bocouce the ‘upper ‘surfaces were unchanged, it is probably Safe to assume that all the dentifiction markings remained unaltered “The, new undersurface colour was another "experimental colour which apparent never had @ proper name, but was oficialy described as being half way between Sky Blue and Sky. ‘Test Flights ‘Test flights with the two Spitfres finished in these two schemes quickly established that the Sky Grey in Trial ‘Scheme A was too light and contrasted too strongly with the Olive Grey, but the Sky Blue undersurfaces of Trial Scheme A was preferred to the light greenish blue of Trial Scheme B. As a result of these findings, both aircraft were repainted in modified schemes. Tiial Scheme C Trial Scheme € replaced Trial Scheme A on X4815. In this scheme the uppersurfaces were finished in the normal disruptive pattern shown in AD 1160 but using Medium Sea Grey and Olive Grey, whilst Sky Blue was retained (on the undersurfaces. Again without a photograph it is impossible to be sure which pattern was ‘applied to the uppersurtaces. Trial Scheme D Trial Scheme D replaced Trial Scheme B on X4816. On this aircraft the upper Surfaces were again finished in the standard disruptive pattem shown in AD 1160, but this time the colours used were Medium Sea Grey and Dark Sea Grey whilst the undersurfaces were finished in Sky Grey. Yet again it is impossible to say which camouflage pattem, or ‘B' was applied to this aircraft. Further tests were carried out with ‘Schemes C and D at altitudes of 20- 30,000 during which the trials aircraft were observed from both above and below at various distances up to about 5,000ft away whilst being compared both with each other and with an aircraft in the standard finish. ‘Both Schemes C-and D were found to be much more effective than the standard scheme but, by 10 May 1941, Scheme C, Medium Sea Grey, Dark SeaRoyal Aircraft Establishment and Air Fighting Development Unit Fighter Command Trial Colour Schemes Spring 1941 Artwork by Paul Lucas Trial Sceme A Trial Sceme C Trial Sceme B Not to scale 31Grey and Sky Blue, had been selected for {ull scale service tials, which in the event were carried out by the Hurricanes of 56 ‘Squadron at North Weald. At this point the involvement of the AFDU Spitfires in the camouflage scheme trials comes to an end, although the tials were continued in the hands of 56 ‘Squadron which led to the eventual ‘adoption of the Day Fighter Scheme of Dark Green and Ocean Grey on the Uuppersurfaces and Medium Sea Grey on the undersurfaces ‘The Illustrations. Prepared on the strength of written documents only and without a single photograph, these illustrations are speculative ‘and should be considered highly provisional. They were prepared using model paints as a quick way of getting to grips with the colour schemes Which did not involve spending hours building models. Fig 1. shows X4185 in Trial Scheme ‘A’ This iilustration was prepared by firstly ‘applying a base coat of Sky Grey which was then oversprayed with the Olive Grey mottle which appears as the darker tone. Fig 2 shows X4816 in Trial Scheme ‘B’ Fig 3 shows X4815 in Trial Scheme ‘C’ This illustration shows the Olive Grey as the darker colour used where green would normally be used in the ‘A scheme. This illustration can also be Used as a guide to Trials Scheme ‘Dif Dark Sea Grey is used in place of Olive Grey; Sky Grey is used in place of Sky Blue on the undersurfaces; and the serial number is changed to X4816. ‘Model paints With kits of the Spitfire Mk | available in all the major modelling scales, modelling fone of these aircraft will only involve altering the colour scheme using paint ‘and decals. All the colour names used ‘above are the correct names as glven in the primary sources studied by the author ‘and used in the preparation of this article. Many, although not all, of these Colours have’ been available in various paint manufacturers’ paint ranges over the years. No doubt experienced ‘modellers will have their own preferences for the standard colours mentioned here, but the following Humbrol mixes and Federal Standard equivalents are offered as a suggestion. ‘Sky Grey Mix 2 parts Humbrol 64 Light Grey and 4 part Humbrol 34 Matt White. The closest FS 5958 match is 36463, Sky Blue Mix 28 parts Humbrol 34 Matt White and 41 part 25 Matt Blue The closest FS 5958 match is 35550 but this is not a true representation of the colour. The Humbrol mix given above is by far more accurate. Olive Grey Mix equal parts Humbrol 31 Slate Grey ‘and Humbrol 125 US Dark Grey. Modellers should note that this is @ ‘guesstimate’ of this colour as, at the time of wrting, no sample or Standard for this colour has been found. The two Humbrol colours quoted here are the closest matches in the range to Light Slate Grey and Dark Sea Grey respectively, and by mixing equal parts of these colours, the modeller should end up with a colour Something like half way between the two. The resulting colour is not too dissimilar to Ocean Grey. This colour is close to FS 26187 Light Greenish Blue Mix equal parts of the Sky Blue mix given ‘above and Sky, (eg Humbrol 90 Matt Beige Green). The comments given above for Olive Grey apply for this colour as well. When preparing Fig 2, it was found that the resulting mix was similar to FS 35622, Conclusion ‘The discovery of this information appears, to discredit the accepted view that RAF Day Fighters changed their camouflage from ‘green and brown’ to ‘green and grey’ in the summer of 1941 because they were operating over water. Why this idea ever took root is. something of a mystery in itself, as if the RAF wished to ‘adopt an over water camouflage scheme for its Day Fighters, why would it be necessary to go to the lengths of introducing a new scheme when the Temperate Sea Scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey already existed and had been adopted by the Bienheims of 2 Group in July 1941 for thelr overwater operations as part of Operation ‘Channel Stop"? Having hopefully answered . the question as to ‘why’ this change in Colouring took place however, several new questions now arise! What Is the origin of Olive Grey? The first mention of this colour seen by the author so far, is a handwritten note on the trials at Duxford which originated with the Chemistry Department of the RAE in late April 1941. This suggests that this colour was formulated specifically for these trials by the RAE. It was apparently also used for 54 Squadron's service trials and supplied to De Havilland for use on the prototype Mosquito which would appear to have been camouflaged on the uppersurfaces in Olive Grey and Medium Sea Grey. What happened to Olive Grey? After the end of May 1941, Olive Grey seems to disappear, as ‘no further mention is made of it in any of the documents so far seen by the author. It certainly never appears in RAF service Lnder that name as it is never included in DID Technical Circular No 360, Air Publication 2656A, or the RAF Vocabulary of Stores section 338. However, is it possible that Olive Grey was. simply renamed Ocean Grey when put into mass production? So far no surviving sample of, or standard for, Olive Grey has come to light which would allow comparison with Ocean Grey to be made. As Olive Grey disappears at about the same time that Ocean Grey appears, with both colours, (if they were indeed different colours), being used for the same purpose, the circumstantial link is a strong one. What did the trials Spitfires used by ‘AFDU really look like? As the speculative illustrations provided here ‘suggest, these aircraft must have looked very ‘unusual. Were they photographed at al, and do the photographs survive? NEW ! rail pprosecton @ pric net 32 Rein - Photo Etched - Metal MIRAGE III E/S 2 Decorations: 24a Fayete"-Flogerstael 16 (Swiss aioe) PUPRODUCTION rue A. Sodson, 38 - 86280 GERPINNES (Bolum) i sto wan production net 172 men sete.eas iSAMs Monthly diary of modelling related events worldwide. ‘Ai Evens wich SAM il bare trade ta epoca. {EVENTS CALENDAR ees ee Contact Simon Parks Locket Tel 01994 28" Pere att? March 2002 PMS Seal old he Annual Soring Show a hs North Bellowe Community and Snir Cane, Bellew, WA. USA, Pordemte's ‘Saturday 9 March 2002 East of England Model Show hosted by tno Great Peterborough Model Club atthe Town Hall Petorborough, Fertdeahe contact David mart on 61780 se0eso oF Ren Boucheron OVS Seaase Sapa send nen 1 Mach 2 Model ae 22 ferent sum am 2 tel a 2 ht FH caareetearter ania ener aarte eget I dipha dntee feare aar av rent linn os ee et a rn nary Ms Mt! ro gr a deer eters eet Sok eat pee hel oa ge Ee ‘$aerday 36 March 22 Flandre Modalling Festival 2082 ond Flanders Contest 202, at Bon Bosco Technical Istituto, ete ee a ene ew cnecces rt eons retest ze injo'& registrations: hiigdlweven.ipmaantwerpen.ne,"”™ '° Covwelaarie eurne. TelFax 16/Sunday 17 Merch 2002: Southern Expo 2002, orachurch Sporto etary c= Homehurch Road, Hornchurch, Easex. 10am to Spm. pen Ctetenton Sony ony So, trade Stan Ery-Asuts C2 Chior & Senor Cazens #1004 les am MES" use St 0 29, Forturther datais send SAE to: Waly Arrowsmith 14 Link Way, Hornchurch, Essex RMI1 3RW. Tl: 01708473 038 Eni souihermexpodtyahoe ck 23 March 2002: Aerojumble 3¢ Shoreham Airield, Shorham by Sea, Sussex. 0.208. Everyihing forthe avation enthusiast caver Enance Of Wi Rel For no can One HOE mers Saturday 30 March 2002 Expo 20022 ne Plymouth Guildhall. The southwest’ largest mode exibition Eenteet” Alon Echouse on O17 8¢ 202 20 aro-mat Alan EdhoussssSkynawAst re Sandy A oe IPs ors ors Te Shoei Mode Show yh RAF Mum. Coren, Tar Ee nt eres Pee eer ea ae at For admission detais contact The RAF Museum Cosford, Costord, Shiinal, Shropshire TF11 SOP Tet: 01902 376 200, 12. Thro 2 gl The Aoioe Modelos Strict! Modaling accion! eros, Salou at ir Tha terrae ete aia atin deseo Siemans aoe Port fis: 70-0 aun ve ‘Brumelieschi, 1537138, Verona, MALIA. Tet +39 (085) 577 598, Fax: +39 (045) 819 4769, Seger 24: The agate Sse Moses 4 Fponvie Pe & cretion prosort 8 1 Betwee the Vrs Senate ceertey Par nee Tse cen BOP, gig ate Ne 200 Ta 1) 8 Esl erm cm Xl BOS Pel rt OS Pe Settee 1A PSpace Soe vil ox The PMS Region 1 Comann tu Eh ae SR ‘FiumaitARogicl guar Gan te 7pm ps Ans prosieston gt 2 eon Va pet 3 Besa cont e We a gncad a Maree FE Uta Ba nam opm on, nA wines om feet sort ren Ving Mae hig Aan Moe! pelo ol ry Sn Gp fl Borgen, 1.00un to 4.30pm. Aamesston: Adults £150; Cuidven and Semvor Cxtzens £100 Farniy Tickets £400 Free Cor parking, Cub Oispays ‘rade Stands, Competinon and a Tatio Nelveshments avaiable all day Contact DJ Foley'e-mail poole wiingsdhrgin net fst 27Ganay 28 Rl 202. Te Scotch Naan! humane fete Rey rh Semi eter re Gontect Waders Larson: Andy Macrae’ fe ee a sens ack Sere cay Gert haus Ys bet ma Gagamerengercmaaecon" mabammeesmcea SE {Ehaman: Wills Weds: Tl 01354 722 428 € mi instucterwwed Ghats con eran 28 Altra ara Mol Shw npr ih Th pal A Frc Mere oh RAF Museum, Nendo, For information contact: Les Rawlins on 0208 207 420/ or E-mail: karlesrr@btinternet.com a sturdgat ay 202 tems Hornchurch preset nor st Model Show a Yo Sidney Russll School Pasloes Avene, Dagesham Exton Ala sa Contact Nan Cat's hocks Cardone: Cosa Barks Easex AMR Te 11968 1 80) Et ncarfonlancang com Sunday 12 May 200: Miatend Exe Mode! Show nthe Lensowes Ligure Conga alesgwen. Nr Birmingham. arf Som Eig Motles aispaya: Sent bisunar Meus! Compettion Torbete Reftesnivantss Car Parting” semardsd toughout the day. Mm bmact David Ghd BU Eharmvood Road. rest Bare Bemnghors B43 38 = eT e a {ulrday ume 202: IPS Salisbury eon; 202 Mada Show he Wirar Sports hall Church Road, Laverstock Sellabur Wits oem to Spm-Trase k Cub oxhistars- Open competion: Marke Foretake pee: Asumos'on onsen bea ata (eveoas ooh saa Eval photographyginetia com Messages ts be thied PAO Petor A James’ please. ‘Sunday 4 August 2002 Aeroventure Modal Show at Doncaster Lakeside, Doncastr South Yorkshire. Sponsored by ‘he Sah Vokshare Action Society WARS Rotherham IPMS Shetiela: Tee's’ il msde saw ats ses bo the _ Bis ete og Doncgeter Argort Move ders of Agronauica Model Csloctors Fairs Redhill Aiport Surrey. Ries: Histor Arca Paste Kas Books: Models ree Phonelf ax Oa) 822 Sunday 8 Seperer 2002: Leicestershire IPMS announce ther arin Conroly 6 Kestrel Close, Broughton Astiey, Leice 1unch ofthe Friendly Model Show at tne Wyeliffe Rooms, Lutterworth, shire LEB SAX. To: 01455284600. mei: connolly’connollymi fant co.uk aaa‘Supermarine Seafire Mk.Ib Port side-view Supermarine Seatire Mk. Ib Underside plan-view ~~ spitre Mi XypeRolls-Royce Metin 45 or 46 power cr ason Sate Nos at \ Poston ares okin treat er wa ton enone oun extended fom this variant, due to weight 'C Wing armament ‘saving considerations Merlin Engined Seafires Supermarine Seafire Mkib 1:48 Stale plans Starboard side-view by Mark Rolfe ‘Supermarine Seafire Mk.Ib Front view tfolding wings were introduced #MkIIl All previous variants biding wings. ‘Supermarine Seafire Mk.Ib/Tropical Port side-view ‘Supermarine Seafire Mk.II Port side-view 1:48 scaleSeafire Mk.llc Left: Scrap view of port wing upper surface, (Seafire Mk.II). Note wing fold line. Dotted line represents fold line on underside of wing. Note that this is straight. Supermarine Seafire Mk.I Uppersurtace pain-view - Right: Scrap view of starboard = tailplane, (Seafire Mk.II); show- || — ing enlarged horn balance © Mark Kenlge Supermarine Seafire Mk.Ib (‘in fight’) port side-viewSSS sd Her Hunter Mis 110 5. Conversions from FGA 8 Honor Ses Hurricane Mk Ib/MSFU & Trop PRI ‘Supermarine Spitfre Mk 21 Conversion from Mk Ix ea ae Subject ‘Aero L-38 Albatros family Be Mari GR 5/73. 10 " BAe Hawk Ist generation Pt Be Hawk 1st generation Pt 2 export Boeing VerolCH-46 Sea Kright de-Haviland DH 88 Dragon Rapide/Dominie Fairchid €-123 Provider International Festival ofthe See 2001 Lockheed-Martin U:2 (Second goneration) North American F-860 Sabre Reno Air Race 2000 Championships Reno Air Race 2000 Championships Artwork ‘Sturmgruppan 1844; Bomber Destroyers AIR-LINES & SAM PLANS Subject ‘Aero 39 Albatros a 10 ‘Agusta-BellAB-204 GA Drawings approxT2 4 ‘batos DV a 2 Be2 woo Breguet Br 290T Te Breguet Br 2507 2 m3 Caudron 6. a2 e-Haviland DH 88 Dragon Rapide a8 Dewaitine 0.1921 ‘Paraso Fighters a3 Dewaitine 0379376727 "Paraso Fighters Pt2 eo 4 Lackheed-Martin U-2NCICTIDIF aos North American F-S6D/K/L Sabre a7 Soitre Mi 21 Conversion GIA Drawinas n 0 Yatolev Yak-18 a6 BUILDS IN DEPTH; ALL MEDIA ™ 2% 205 6 Seale Issue Page 858 28 108 3 4 7 om 528 ™ 20 m8 ry 36 Ey 186 57 8 e Subject Scale & Make Issue Page ‘Agusta AB-204 Huoy 72 Various 3 ‘Aichi DAI Pearl Harbor 4BHasogawa 10 Airbus AS90200 wereZ 1 Albatros D.IWVa ‘Richthotens Circus Various 4 Abatros 0.11 #1 48 Eduard 1 ‘batts DN #2 “Photo-Buil 8 Eduard 1 ‘Avo Anson Mk 19 Conversion Thies § riot XI RFC AP 5 Blohm & Voss P215 Night Fighter. T2SpecialHobby + 12 (CAC Wirraway Two builds T2High PlanosiMPM 8 audron Gt ‘BAP 12 Coriss A-12 Ske TMerins (8 Curis A Shrike 72 Beechnuts 7 Curis P-408 "Peart Harbor 48 Wobbyeratts 11 Dornier Do 27-3 4B RewMono 2 Fotker Dc/LVII‘ichthofen's Circus Tz Various 4 Grumman WildeatV “Converson ‘Tamiya 10 Hawker Huntar F1 “Conversion TeAirfas 12 [Marin F-18D t0IAFD ‘Conversion’ 72 Hasegawa+ 2 Lackheed P-80A ‘Project Comet Com” 48 Monogram 4 Lockheed U-20 ‘Cross KitConversion 72 MiniAirfix 6 Lockheed XP-80 “Conversion 48 Monogram 2 VOLUME 23 Subject se McOD A-tH “1DF/AF Conversion ‘McD MO-80, McOD EF-4C ‘Wild Wessel Pe 3" 72 Fuji + Ma Minera Messerschmitt BY 1094/8 & Bf 1096-18, aBTaniya [Mitsubishi ABM2 “Peart Harbor 48 Hasogawa Mitsubishi M3 “Op. Dilinger Pt 8 Tomiva Mitsubishi G4M1 “Op. Diinger Pt 8 Tomiya NAEF-IODF “Wid Weasels Pt 72 AMT + ‘Nakajima BSN? ‘Peat Harbor 48 Hasogawa Repubke F-105 Wild Weasels Pt 72 Monogram + ‘Shavrov Sh-2 72 Model ‘Sup Spitfire Mk 21 Conversion 7 Italeri + ‘Sup Spitfire Mk XVle & Sesfive Mk17 Pt! 48 Occidental Tupolev Tu-134A Pt 144 Braz YakolevYak-3 48 Eduard YakoleyYak-701 eicM Yakoloy Yak ST 42 10M “Mist Bf 108. 884-4 48 30 Group ‘Mist Fe 190488 #1 4&8 36 Group Pee ‘Subject ‘Scale & Mako ‘Aerospatiale AS-350 Dauphin RN 72 Aviation Wishop ‘Airbus ASQOE21 “Britsh Midland” Tat Uv. Uns Bac tnt ‘Dan Air 144 Fightpath BAe Harrier GR7_ RAF 2000 Pt2 Taxtradecal Bo Haw CRT-155 car 72Mike Grant Bae Hawk T1A RAF T2Mike Grant Bell UH-1 RNZN —_T2.vition Wishop BOAC Aircraft 199-1958, 72 Cloud Master Boeing 727-200 ‘Dan Air Tad Fightpath Bowing 737-400 ‘Dan Air Boeing 737-200 BA World Scheme! Bowing 737-600700800. SAS 144 Liv Un Boeing 737-800 'NAAirines 14 Apollodea! Boving 7) “Amazing Thailand’ 14h Jet Decal Bowing 757 US Airways 14 i. Unt Bovina 757.200 "NA Aidines 144 Apolioal Boving 8:50 USAF T2Biperts Choice Boving KB-29P/S8-78A USAF T2Expens Choice Bristol Blenheim Mk VIV #2 RAF 4B Eagle Sirike Bristol Blenheim Mk IV #1 RAFFREE FRENCH. 48 Eagle Strike Conadsir OF 5A/0 CAF 72Mike Grant Cessna 8-37 Oragonty (many) 48 Albatros Convair FTF-102, ‘NG Area 33 Cuniss P-HOK-1S USAC {48 Super Scale Curtiss PON USAC {8 Super Scale Dassault Mirage NE RAAF 72 Model Aliance Dassaut Mirage F1_‘17 Non French’ ‘8 Albatros de Haviland Homet 4 RAF 48 Yarema Domier Do 2176 wrt, 7218 Eagle Strike Douglas ATH USN. {48 Reromastar Douglas DC-3 BARE ‘72 MoselAliance Doualas 0¢-3 RAN {8 Model Aliance Douglas DC-3 RAAFAROU 48 Model Aliance Douglas 0C-8 ‘Ansett 144 Model Aliance Douglas $8035 USN. USMC 48 Super Scale Faiehld-Republc A-10 USAF 1168117 32Tiger Wings Fairehlé-Republic A-10 USAF {8 Aoromaster Fairchlé-Republc A-10A USAF 320AM Fairchlé-Republc A-10A USAF 82 ExpertsChoice Fairchld-Republc A-10A Pt-1 ANG S2Eagle Strike Fiat Cr 42 ~Kaly, Spain Swedon ‘Sky models Fiat G50 Italy and Spain 48 ky Models Focke-Wulf Fr 1904-3 8316 Group & Make tesve Pi 6 0 5 0 1 1 8 0 9 2 0 3 1 8 8 7 5 1 72 33 8 236 56 ra iz 196 a7 18 a6 m8 ms 3 m0 m0 i‘Subject Scale & Mako Focke-Wulf Fur 1908-4778, 8 a8 Eagle Strike Focke-Wulf Fr 1908-516 24 Eagle Strike Focke-Wulf Fv 1908-877 48 Aeromaster Seman Longe cou upp: Blower 7248 age Ske German ribbing tapes Blue & Brown 72/48 Grumman EA-6A- USN. USMC ‘scat Grane EA-BB sme sWAcromaster Grumman EA-68 USN ‘cam Grumman FOF-3 USN 48 Super Scale Grumman FBF-S USN. 48 Super Scale Grumman FBF-5N usme 48 Super Scale Grumman FOF-5 USN 48 Yarema Grumman F-144 USN ‘$8 Aeromastor Grumman F-144 USN Grumman F-144/8 USN Grumman F-144/0 USN Grumman F-144/0 USN 48 Superscale Grumman F-14D USN 48CAM Grumman F-140 USN 43caM Grumman Martiot RN Pt! 1941-44 $B Eagle Sviko Heinkel He-177 T2Esgle Strike talkie 127 IDFIAF 43 Tiger Wings. Indian AF & Navy Rounds 72 Grghe Spark Jankers Ju WHAVE #1 483d Group Junkers Ju52 #182 483d Group Junkers Ju 878-204 48 Super Scale ‘Junkers Ju 878-172 48 Super Se ‘Junkers Ju SBA-S/A-I1 483d Group ‘Junkers Ju 686-6 (NF) #3 483d Group Marin F-164/8/0/0 ——IDFAF 48 Tiger Wings Martin F164 Nato 48 Eagle Strike Martin F184/8 ‘ANG 72/8 Experts Choice (Martin F-18A/C ANG. 48 Experts Choice EMartin F160 ANG 72/48 Experts Choice Marin F-16 USAF 48 Super Scalo EMarin F-16C ANG 148 Super Scalo Marin F-160/0 ANG 48 Experts Choc LockheedC-130 IDF/AFEntabbe _72 Sis Decals Lockheed C120 RAAF 72Modal Allancs Lockheed ES-38/S-3A USN 688-690 48 Suporscal Lockheed CF-104/F-1046 #4 48 Cutting Edge Lockheed F-104A/C/6//RF-1044. 48 Albatros Lockheed FIRFTF-108G. ITALIAN 48 Sky Models Lockheed F-10868 “Mount Olympus’ 48 Icarus Prods. Lockheed F-1045 NATO 4B Eagle Strike Lnekveed FS Uphning USAAF-CHINESE NATS. 48 3rd Group Lockheed Hudson Vill RCAF. RNZAF Locked Hudson VVA-28 RAF SAAF USAAF 48 ssc Airrame 48 Aeromaster Lockheed Hudson VIVIV RAAF 48 Aeromaster Lockheed Hudson IW RAF RAAF 48 Cassic Airframe Lockheed JF/NFF-104 #6 USAAF 48 Cutting Edge Lockheed P-38U/L USAAF @B Aeromaster Lockheed 5-38: USN ‘CaM Marin 8-25, USAAF _48 Aeromastor MeDennell CF-101 CAF 72/8 Belcher its MeDonnell 1018, ANG 48 Area 53 MeD-Douglas A-4 RAAF 48 Model Aliance MeD-Douplas A-4 USN 25-24 48 Eagle Suike MeD-Douglas A'S USN.USMC 705-8 _48 Superscal MeD-Douglas A-4 DAF 72-481 Ader — USNST-88-89 ‘32CAM ASF USN 32CAM MeD-Douplas A4F 720721/722_ USN 48 Super Scale MeD-Douglas Ai-644 GREECE MeD-Douglas F-4 USN Walkways. USN MeD-Douglas F-4B/JN USN MeD-Douplas FE Biacksnakes ANG. MeD-Douglas FE MeD-Douglas FE MeD-Dou AF-AByC FAIA ‘McD-Douglas F/A-18C ‘MeD-Douglas F/A-18C MeD-Douglas F/A-18C. 713 MeD-Douglas /A-18C. 714 Nato JAPAN USAF USN ANG. USMC USN, USMC USMC USN USN USN USN USN MeO-Douglas F-15 Black Data USAF McO-Douglas F-SE USAF USAF 48 Model Aliance 2CAM TeAeromastor T2Experts Choice ‘32CAM 48 Aeromaster ‘2CAM T2Reromaster ‘48 Experts Choice ‘48 Super Scale ‘8 CAM sCAM «CAM 320AM 48 Super Scale 48 Super Scale ‘8 Superscale DFAF 18/9 32-48 |sraDecal 48 Sky Models geeeeoaaeessyseesd as 18 181 SOSSSBRRSe eae aRaRaeR TBE SER Subject ‘Messerschmitt Bf 108€-1/E-3 ‘Messerschmitt 1086-4 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 701-702 ‘Messerschmitt Bf 1096-6 ‘Messerschmitt 109F-4/2Trop. ‘Messorsehmt 1096-7Trop/6-4 Messerschinit Of 1096-6 Messerschmit Bf 1096-6710 77-28 72 EagleCals Mikoyan MiG-21/Chengdu J-i USSR BULGARIA. GEORGIA PLAAF 48/32 Linden Hill, Mikoyan MiG-23 USSR 72 Linden Hill NAPS5IB ‘357th FG’ USAAF 48 Super Scale NAP-SIB/OK USAAF 72Aeromaster NAP-SIO 357th FG" USAAF 48 Super Scale NAP-5ID ‘Maj Preddy’ USAAF 72/48 Experts Choice NAPSIOES 48 Sky Models NAXFJ-28 Prototype 48 Yarema "Numbers US 45 degree 8 to 36 inchesiLettrs 18 o 24 inches. BlackRed/elow 48 Fantasy rr Panavia Tornado GRVF3—RAFPt2——72Xtradeca Panavia Tornado GR VF 3 RAE {88 Xtradecal Panavia Tornado GR 4A RAF 32 Xtradecal Republic F240. USAF oat 40 Siyiancer Republic P-470 USAAF 48 Aeromastor Republic P-470/M USAAE 48 Superscale Republic P-470/N USAAF 48 Superscale Sikorsky SH-60F Seahawk Sup Spire Mk1Stencils (all scales) Yarema ‘Sup Sptire IX "RAF 48 Super Scale ‘up Spitire FR XIVe, XV, X1X, 24, Seafie Mk 67 RAR FAR 48 Acromastor ‘Sup Spire Mk Vb RAF USAC. FRANCE 72TallyHo. 12, Swasthas (all scales) Fantasy Print “Tupolev Tu-182ian H-6 Badger” USSR. EGYPT. PLAAF 72 Eagle Strike Vought Coresire ‘AERONAVALE 12 MOC ‘Vought FAU-1DVFG-10 USMC 48 Super Set Vought FAU-1.18 USNUSMC 48 Super Se Vought FAU-1A4 USN.USMC_ 48 Super Scale Vought FAU-S5N USN HONGURAS. 48 Super Scale Westland Wasp RNZN. 72 Aviation Wishop Yakolev Yok-18 USSR 48 Aeromaster Yatolev Yok- 18/490 USSR 4B Acromastor 8 5 5 2 6 1 3 1 SrefsR Erssaeeed ESS Subject Bomber Command Decals 1940s Canberra S16 F-100 Decals (F105 Arrow information Ete Chinook Book Hurricane Yugostav Air Force News & Views. P-51D 1/32nd Decals. Scale Plans 24th ‘Scale Plans Concorde, Marre, 1S, Lysender Scale Plans & Colours fr Tucarno Ta 152 engines Italeri kit. ‘Typhoon /2432nd kit. ‘Verner Molders Bt 109 schemes, ron RAF ‘Squadron Colours’ 2 TAF ‘Olive Green’ Mystery. ‘Colour Conundrum’ ‘Agusta-Boll AB-204 Postscript. See 3/186 for builds ‘Albatros 0.V ‘Photo Feature’ ‘Austrian Eagles ‘Colour Schemes’ BAC Super 11, “Aldine Liveries’ Bamboo Curtain ‘Photo Reece’ Broguot Br 280T Bish af in Foreign Sorice dunng/post WW'2 “Photo Foatur British Charter Airings “Ainine Liveries" Douglas 0-6 “Aitine Liveries’ Civil Airing 18705 "Photo Feature’ Civil Airraf. “Photo Rec: Cockpit Interiors Tools & Techniques’ (Gmat Jean Accart, FFAF “Combat Colours 2 Colour Conundrum, Shades of Olve Di Ga af RaESSases3ass85Iesue Page ‘Combat ColousS 8 S86 e Haviland Sea Vixen XP828 “inside Story 5 2B Do Cv colours really mator 2 109 Dornier Do 217E-24/9/K-1/M-1 ‘Decesionsl Colours’ § 2130, Flot ir Arm late 0s - 505, PhotoReccs’ 8822 Feet ir Arm lta 30s- early 60° ‘Photo Recce’ 2 et Air Arm late Ss-608 ‘Photo Recce’ 4250 Grumman Maret Mk 1802 NAS ‘Combat Colours) 5338 Hawaiian Operation UN, ‘Colour Conundrum’ 10658 Hawker Hunter eary marks Photo Page & Occasional Colours’ 12 780 Heavy Metal Wings - Corgi De Cast. nm HAF Camo & Markings Monograph photos Pt2 196720014250 |PMS/UK Seale Model Word Report 2001 0 66 IPMS/USA Convention 2001 8 5a ad Nose Weights ‘Tools & Techniques’ 1 Lockieed P-80 Shooting Star 318 ‘MOD MD-80 Spanair ‘Photo Feature’ 6 38h ‘MD MD-80/0¢3 ‘Ritine vers’ § 387 Messerschmitt T0SE (8 of Babes). SeeBuilds 5 234 ‘lve Drab, The final word 2 a0 CAF athome WW 2 PhotoRecce’ 1a afi Colours (Meri engines) “Colour Conundrum’ 11720, ‘Sharp - PO Noo! RNZAF ‘Colour Conundrum’ 11750 Simply the Bost #2 Interview with John Alea 146 Toor Meet 2001 2 Ty & Hobby Fair 2001 ez USAAF ear Ww 2 5 3 Tupoley Tu-T34A naar USAF in Germany “Occupation Colours’ 7488 USAF: Memories ofthe abt Fghter Group: 6 30 USAF: Memories ofthe e6th Fighter Group: 7m Yaholev Yak-1/078 Fighter series. 6 ae KIT REVIEWS ‘Subject Scale-Make Issue Page ‘Aero L-3920 Albatros 48MPM 8609 Airbus 300-800 ST "Boliga™ 1w4Revel 2 76 Airbus A221 mo Hasegaws 1 ‘Airspeed AS-5? Ambassador WaWelsh Mods 3146 72 Share 10 a2 2 6 38 Be Haw T VMK 86 Hawk TRevel 5 291 Booch UC-43 Traveler, 72 Sword 3151 ‘Boving C-S7A Stetofreighter T Academy 2 77 ‘Boving-Skorsky RAH-88 Comenche 7 fevell 5 206 ‘Bovin-Vortal Ch-47 Chinook HC 1 144 Revell 8 516 Broguat Br 783 Doux Ponts 144 Welsh Models 9610 Bristol 170 Freightor 144 Welsh Models 9610, Bristol Britannia 312 ‘WaWolsh Mods 110 Canadair 0-4M-2 Argonaut WaWelsh Mods 110 Convair 8-584 “record Seter Wh Academy 12 823 Convair YF-102 7 Mainvack 3181 Dornier Do 186-1/0-2 72 Revell 10 690 ‘Domiar Do 335A Pei Btemya 2 7 Douglas 0C-2 72MPM 12 a7 Fairay Albacore MPM 9 68 Blostr F534 72 Magna Models 8515, Gloster F937 72 Magna Models 20 Grumman Bearcat‘American Jet Racer 72 High Panes 8515 Grumman FBF-1 Bearcat 8 Academy 1 9 Hawker Henley 72 MagnaModels 18 Hawker Hunter F 4 T2PJProds 5 208 Mawar Huntor Fs TM PsProds 6 aT Hawker Huntor FGA 8 wtRevell 11 761 Hawker Huricane Mk! Finnish’ ‘BHasogawa 12 05 Hawker Seahawk FGA 4 MPM 8 517 Heinkel He 1118-1/82 Pedro! Rhoden 1 9 Heinkel He 110 Te Roden 8 514 yushin 1-2 Mintech 1 8 Junkers Js 2880. ‘72 Huma Model 11761 iockneed AC-120U ‘Spectre W088 Uebheed F-108C Starighter 207 Lockheed L7494 Constoltion 8 oe Lockheed U-2R Senier Span” 5 2 Lockheed- Martin F-16 (MLU) 6 8 Lockheed Marin F228 Raptor 426 Lockheed Marin XF-35 JSF STOVL 5 mT Macchi MC-200 Ssona 38 McDonnell Dovglas AH-S4D Apache 7 «0 MeDonnel- Douglas F-15) 2 MeDonnell- Douglas F/A-18 Hornet 5 me Mikoyan MiG-190M 5 MILT 3 10 Subject ‘Seale Make MILMi26 ‘8 Revel Miles M358 Lbelle 48 ARGA NAA.BA ‘City of Lychburg' Racer 72 High Panes NAFa60 Sabre ‘8 Reve NAF-SGF Sabre ‘MiG Ker” 48 Academy 72 Acsdemy 8 Revel 72 Academy NATS Texan 1 18 Revel Nakajima JINT-S 8 Tamiya Pegna Pe-7 ‘Schneider Trophy 72 CAAtkns Percival Prentice T1 72 Dyin Republic P-47D Thunderbott 72 Academy yan PT-20/STM-S2 72 MPM ‘Sharp 0.50 Nemesis Racer 48 High Planes Sikorsky HH-50H Seahawk 72 Klech ‘Skoda Kauba V1 SPAD AZ Suto $-24 Subloi $37 Berkut Sukhoi $37 Berkut 72 Italeri Supermarine Atacker 48 Magna Mods. 48 Siver Cows 4 Siver lous Vought FAU-1A Corsair ‘ought FaU-10 Corsair ‘ought F4U-5 Corsa ought F4U-5N Corsair Vought V.156 Vindieator Westand Lynx (Navy) Westiand Lysander Mk ($0) Westand Wyvern 144 Air Spede Mods World Jet Griffon: Mustang 72 High Planes Yakole Yak-130 72 ®-Model tasue 7 DISS ee a (7, 137,206,208, 342,413, 485, $52, 624,690, 764, 834, Goa ee es BaSSPBVG ys s8SSSRSSIoVSSABSSTBVBseseae See Also Issue 7% ‘dmizars Hornet m 4 ‘Agusta Postscript ma 5 Agusta AB-208 aan colours ms 8 Birine Modelers P m3 Albatros DV Feature mm 4 ‘Albatros D.Va debate - 2 eters m4 9 Albatros details (2 Letters) m4 8 Ansons, Sabres & Strikes 2579 ‘Australian Mustangs Et. m7 ‘Avon Branch Anniver a mm 6 zine 9 25 10 Batt of Britain Bf 109 deta Combat colours #111 Bate of Britain Round up Coma, & Markings Vol2 1 of Britain Braun, Combat Colours #112 Bate over Bridlington Bay #2 za Beaufort dates, schemes & detas Blennsim Night fighters Al Radar. Bientsim Night fighters Camouflage questions & answers. ‘Camo. & Markings Vol. 2 23 Cama. & Markings Vol.2 Canberra & Lightning recallectons ano Cenberra PRS Harvard! nos Captive colours. a 00 Arcatt info wanted ‘Gv colours. BA & Monarch, me Coats of many colours. (3 Letors) a8 Cole's Huricane L166 Copy negative Luftwatte colours. m Court Line Colours m Creep marks 23 Cyl correction & cooperation 246 Yak aricle D-Day Seat scheme an DH Homet PMS-USA 2B DH Hormet F345 Sqdn A285 Display Cabinets wth reply by Erie 28 Display Cabinets (2 Leters) z.236 Dominie Dilemma 28 Dornier Unlucky codes. m ueluggssase S8REeEee as oRatReeRtegeRagease‘Subject ‘Douglas Bostons RAF & USN Spits. Dragons Tal (U2) End of painting plastic models. Final Fghter Vo Fairchild Faux Pas 86D Yugoslavian Air Force. 86K Wings & Contours 2 ltors Foden Fuel Tanker dtals 8 ghydey ge g Fokker Glaze SIRS German Colours Grumman Maret Mark. Grumman Martet Mistakes (2 Letters), Grumman Martet addenda Handley Page Harrow Camouflage Harvard slats Harvard slats conundrum. zen23 Harvard slat controversy (2 Letters) 2. B36 Hatchet Mustang - Reno Set 24 Hawker Huricane BM953 Es Hawker Typhoon - 198 Sqdn code colours zo Hawker Typhoon codes nno-z2 Heinkel He 177 guided bombs leah Anni nfo #1 8-2 2s Keep on buying mm Kyaw & Mustangs mre Kyaw & Mustangs arse Know your subject -USN Phantoms zn Lightning EE Legacy (2 Letters) 28 LEgherng Augmentation Fight 23 LUncoln Memories. Luftwate 2one green mn Lubelles tue colours. a2 Mail Order warnings 23 Misto Sous Modelers Biock 29 NAMitchel's Ove drab 28 NA Mustangs, Vals & Martets 2879 NA Mustang (RAAF) Camo. #1 zB NA Mustang (RAP, Cama. #1 mn NA Mustang (RAF) 19 Squadron Camo. & Markings Vol. 1 NA Mustang (RAF) Camo. #1 &2 mn8 Norhropo P-Bt Black Widow Night fighters Nose weights - Moisture warning, an Not the lat Boeing fighter buit zm Ove Drab; te saga continues. a Ove Drab pont of order. m6 ‘lve Green, Colour Conundrum 2 ltrs. an8 ‘lve Green and TAF ww Point it black Combat colours #1 RAAF 3 Sad mrs Repites, Venoms end 880 Ze Really the last Boeing Fighter zm23 Reno Correctons a3 Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (RAF) zn Revised colours for A-7A VA-82. Spt res PR le with PR Unit ‘SFR IV 602 Squadron. Mustang Vs 18 Squadron. ichthotn’s Red Fokker Saucer sources wantod. Sea Huricana suggestions. 21/11 & Combat colours #2, Shrikes,Yaks & Wirraways. 289 Sopwith Camel ‘Comic’ NF zo Spite IX. Hasegawa 3 leters 28 Spice Artwork 28 Spitires USN & RAF Bostons, ann Spitfires USN (2 Letters) zm Sauirel not Dauphin me Sturmgruppe Survivor mm ita Colours. Supermarine Sptire Camo. & Markings Vol a. The Truth ne ‘Thal Providers 23 Tonkin Gull. # 2+ 28 Virginia & Gordon Vintage photos Vander-Zurks| 28 Wid Weasel Huns’ 2leters Be a BSSRRSVSSASSS sree SASSSSe as SRS ehh ates SSlassERe SSBBeReEs: " 2 " 10 " 2 2 £ 5 i i Publisher Issue Page TBSqdn RAF: History PL3 Sept 43-Mar69 Tutor Pubs. 474 ‘ces 2 Squadron/Signal 7487 ‘ermacchi MB 338. IBNEdtore 6 AI Airco DH 4 ‘Windsock Special #1" Albatros Pubs. 1 15 ‘Subject ‘Airco The Aireraft Manufacturing Company Crowood ‘Ai War inthe Falklands. ‘Combat a/c 25 Osprey ‘Air War inthe Guit ‘Combat ale 27 Osprey ‘Albavos.B.1—‘Windsock Oatafle 87 Albatros Pubs. ‘American Aces WW-1_ ‘A/c of the Aces 42" Osprey ‘Arab-Israeli i Wars 1947-1982 Osprey ‘Augsburgs Last Basin Barbarossa Vietims. “Mushroom Special Mushroom Bell P38 Airacobra. “A/C ofthe Aces # 36° Osprey Boll P-58B Airacomet “USAF#Z Peregrine Pubs. Black Cross Red Star Pacofica ‘Boeing 737-200 ‘InCemera #1’ Scoval Pubs. Boeing 747 ‘Aviation notebook series. Notebook Pubs. Booing 747-1007200 ‘in Camera #z” Scovel Pubs. British Independant Aitines 1946-78 Aviation Hobby Shop Classic Props. “InCamera#3—Scoval Pubs. Cold War Years. The Hikok Pubs. Condor; The Lutwatt in Spain. Patrick Laureau Confit in the Balkans 188-2000 ‘Osprey Cross & Cockade 2012 Calendar. 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Henschel ls 129 In Action # 178° Squadroe/Signal IAF Light Helicopters "IAFSeries’ AD Graphics lyushia 178 Midiand Counties ‘Japanese Accra interiors 1840-48 Monogram vation Pubs AChute de rAigle “Battle of Britain’ Groupe Sevart Leisure Airines of Europe ‘Scoval Pubs Lemolsivue 24 “Osprey Elite 44° Osprey Lockheed Constataton ‘Aviation Notebook sere’ Notebook Pubs Lockheed-Martn F-16A/B/C/D. Uncovering the Daco Pubs. Macchi MS "Windsock Datafile # 86° Albatros Pubs. McOD A-4 Styhawe. AC of the IDF/AF#3" IsraDeccal Pubs. McOD F-4 ‘McOD DC-10. ‘Great Atiners #6 Worl Transport Press ‘ofthe Russian Front Osprey hit Bf 19 Plots Notes. Crécy Pubs. c-ROM TamiyalCassell ‘Warpaint Special #7” Hall Park Mushroom (MiG-17 & 18 Units, Korean War. ‘Combat C25" Osprey Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 ‘Midland Counties Miles Magistor & Misubishi ABM Zero. “Mushroom Special Mushroom Mitsubishi Ki 46 Dinah Guildhall Leisure Masubishi Type 1 Riko (Bety) units of WW2 Osprey Only Ows & Bloody Foo!s Fy at Night Crécy Pubs, Propliner Quarterly # 8 ™ RAL. SES/SA Squadrons [Albatros Pubs. ‘RAF Squadrons 2nd Esition. ‘Ait RAF RCAF Nose Ar WW 2 Hikoki Pubs, Rhodesian Ar Force 1820-80 Covos Day ‘Savoia Marcheti SM 79. “Mitar Ww Short 184 Windsock Data # 85° SSPAD VII Aces ‘A/C ofthe Aces 38 Suto $37 & Mhkoyon MFI "Red Str #2” Mand Pubs. V-Bombers. Valiant, tr, Vulcan, Crowood Verner ‘Vai’ Malders Mushroom Viekors VC-10 ‘Scoval Publishing VLAMGAT Mirage F 1 in SAF Coves Day Worl Aine Fast News. "#160" Aviation Data Centre XPlanes, The. et to X45 ay Miler X15 The NASA Reports Apogee Books YokolevYak-3U.——“PhotoEssay Peregrine Pubs. ‘Compiled by Derek Reeve © February 2001 2 0 " ny 5 3 0 2 S88R8ae2 82 2 antom. ‘Aviston Notebook series. Notebook Pubs. 10 2 8 4 2 2 6 ry blhar tous Pane S252 288s B8SS88e. S88sseres 88588888 HSSSS42 88859Bristol MIC 1:48 scale plans by Peter GreenMR & ME’S WORLD OF MODELS Visit our shop or give us a call and you'll know that there’s much, much more to MR & ME’. Stacked to the ceiling with kits from all over the world we are a magnet for enthusiasts from all over the country Small wonder that MR & ME is one of the fastest growing hobby retailers in the eT aay & MPM KITS Come and visit us soon. HANGER DOORS | Trade enquiries OPEN 7 DAYS 9.30 - 6.00 MON - SAT ast 11.00 - 3.00 SUNDAY S IMPORTER a Rees eS) welcome Model Design Construction Fine scale models, conversions and accessories MAGNA MODELS | Mant alt al ‘2 PURBECK CLOSE, L/TOHETT MATRAVERS, POOLE, DORSET Bh “elephone 01200624014The Bristol M.1C was an excellent design, many years ahead of its time but because of unfounded concems over the structural integrity of monoplanes, and (on the flimsy suggestion that its landing ‘Speed was too high, it was relegated to ‘Second line training and operations in the Middle East where its fighting qualities were least likely to manifest themselves. I have wanted to see a 1:48 scale kit of this particular aircraft on sale for some time, as its curved lines means it is not a subject that readily lends itself to simple scratch building. The main components 4re limited run injection mouldings with white metal parts, all fora very reasonable £21.99 (at the time of writing) The injection moulded parts are in a relatively soft light grey plastic with ‘acceptably sized moulding gates for this type of kit. The wings are in one piece, incorporating the fuselage upper decking which simplifies construction and helps to eliminate any problems when it comes to lining everything up. Separate ailerons are included so they can be offset and | have to say that the wing surface detail is well represented, without any of that deep scalloping that can so often spoil an otherwise excellent kit of a fabric covered aircraft. The plastic is, as might be excepted with a limited run mould, a little on the thick side, so the fuselage is anything but scale thickness. However, with the view of the interior confined to what can be seen through a rather small cockpit ‘opening, itis not really going to be a huge problem, besides there should be plenty of ‘internal detail to distract the eye, hich | will cover in due course. The fuselage halves have no actual locating points, but match closely without them, and the general fit of the main ‘components is generally good. going together without the need for fillers. or lots of cleaning up. The tailplane and fin/rudder are well moulded in one piece ‘and scoring gently along the hinge lines will weaken them sufficiently so that they can be offset to ge a more effective look to the finished model. The remaining, plastic comprises the wheels, (which needed a litle cleaning up to remove flash}; a propeller, (with very nicely detelled boss); an engine reer bulkhead, the lower engine cowling to fuselage panel; tallskid and 2 small semi circular item that not only doesn’t appear in the instructions but does not appear to have ‘any particular purpose at all! The tallskid was a bit of a disappointment as it was not all that well moulded and may be worth replacing with fone made from plastic card and rod. Lengths of strong steel wire are supplied for constructing the undercarriage axle, spreader bars and the upper bracing cabane struts, but in the case of the undercarriage this will have to be immed to length, (as detailed in the instructions), with a suitable pair of wire cutters. Constructing the upper cabane strut pylon was simplified by dling the locating Sockets a litte deeper and positioning two ‘opposing rods together first rather than ‘uying to fit all four at once. Unfortunately these struts should have an aerofoil section so completely circular rod is not an exact representation - but could easily be replaced. ‘The undercarriage legs are made from white metal which, despite being moulded very cose to scale section, are stil strong enough to support the model once ‘assembled and braced but care should be taken during assembly. It is also worth noting that the undercarriage legs have locating pegs which greatly improves the ‘metal to plastic adhesion but you will have to drill out the locating holes. ‘An excellent white _metal representation of. the single Vickers ‘machine gun Is provided, complete with representations of the feed and spent cartridge case chutes, that drops securely into a shallow moulded recess, fon the upper decking. Unfortunately no Sighting tue Ig included which, fitted, would have been mounted on the forward starboard cabane strut. The engine cowling Is also made of white metal as is the distinctive full diameter aerodynamic spinner. However this spinner proved a bit difficult to fit onto the propeller without some careful trimming around the cut outs. The 110np Le Rhone 9J rotary engine is well represented in white metal, comprising @ crankcase and individual cylinders. This hhas been done to allow the feeder pipes to be better represented than would be possible on a one piece moulding. The problem was I did not find it all that easy glueing the cylinders in place evenly around the crankcase and getting them all the same length with a resultant diameter that will it inside the cowiing! In the end | decided to save some time and resorted to replacing the whole thing with an Aeroclub equivalent, (with 2 modified crankcase), which looks well ‘Above and left: Two views of the ‘completed model - complete with rigging {and pitot head on the port wing {All photographs by Paul Lloyd)‘enough as, withthe spinner in place, you can hardly see the engine anyway. The Blue Max engine will no doubt come in Useful for @ mote’ suitable exposed application at some time in the future! Where the white metal parts really start to fall down is the amount of flash that had to be removed from most of the components. This was especially noticeable on the interior side structure and rudder bar, a problem that was further complicated by the rather soft metal, so great care needs to be exercised during the cleaningup process. Assembling the cockpit interior proved a litle awkward too as the white metal side bracing structures, (which have been moulded as a square section rather than the round tube | expected to find), were rather difficult to locate in what I first took to be specifically ‘esigned recesses on the inside the fuselage hahes. It was not unt | realised that the side structure provided has nothing to do with these recesses that ‘any progress was made. If 1 make another, I will replace the kit parts with ry own, made from plastic rod. The cockpit floor, with integral heel boards, control colurnn and seat, are all well detailed and fit together neatly once their relative positions have been worked ‘ut. There is also a short length of white metal with a small can shaped attachment but | was at a loss as to what this is actually supposed to represent Photographs, of inditferent_ quality, showing the assembled cockpit. are provided in the instructions along with an exploded view drawing which also proved to be of imited use. I have to say that | would have traded all of them for one decent line crawing or sore explanatory text! '\ rather simple representation of a tree dial instrument panel is provided slong with an adcitional gauge but on closer examination | realised that the three main dials scale up to around 4 inches in diameter and the actual panel would be over 18 inches long, leaving Brecious litle room forthe plot’ right leg So ali bit of work wth ail is called for here or the result will just look silly. | was @ ite disappointed to find that neither the engine air intake pipes, rear spar or machine gun ammunition tanks rete included despite the fact that these would be cleaty visible on the finished model. A better explanation ofthe interior arrangement would have been appreciated and I was a litte surprised to find the suggestion on the instruction sheet that the modeller refers to the Windsock Detafie publication on the subject - but without ghing any indication a6 to how much it might cost, where the modeller might actually get one from, or even, for that matter, fis curently in print? Granted, it is to be expected with a subject as ‘obscure’ as this that the modeller might require additional information to complete construction to Above right: The injection-moulded and white metal component parts Right: All the major parts psinted and ready assembly, for final highly detailed and/or competition standards, but more help with building ‘the thing ‘straight from the box would have been nice. Colour details are provided for two aircraft; C4940 of the RFC Training Establishment at Turnberry and C4912 of 150 Sqn RFC stationed at Salonika. | am not all that certain of the colours suggested though. | accept that UK- based aircraft would most probably have been finished in PC10, but | believe that this was a dark khaki green not brown as it Is sometimes referred to. Whereas those aircraft operating in the Middle East were more likely to have been finished in PC12, a red oxide colour. Colour references are provided in Federal Standards, Methuen and Xtracolor, but only the latter of these ‘means anything at all to me. Personally | prefer Humbrol paints, not least because they are readily available to everyone without the need for expensive reference ‘material, or having to make a mail order ‘and it has to be said, Humbrol paints are no less accurate in colour value than ‘anyone else’s products. In this instance | ‘Suggest that PC42 is similar to Humbrol 70 Matt Brick Red with a maximum of 10% 33 Matt Black added. Any darker than this and the serial number would hhave had to have been in white or, at the very least, had a white border. ‘The decals are very nicely produced, (olthough Ure blue is perhaps a litte too strong for the period in question?) and include cockades for the fuselage, upper and lower wing surfaces, rudder stripes ‘and serial numbers - but none of the extensive stenciling seen on the full size aircraft is included. The instructions wam. that the decals are very thin and require ‘extra care in application but | found them very easy to use. As for the wing roundels decals, the position of ailerons and bracing wire anchor fairings did pose a problem but not an insurmountable ‘obstacle. Cutting the decals to fit the ailerons before application was a great help here. Details that do not appear to have been included in the kit, (apart from the air intake pipe, sighting tube and ammunition tanks), are the engine connecting rods, the bracing that crosses the wing root cut ‘outs and the pitot head which was located (on the port wing leading edge in line with the middle of the aileron. As far as accuracy is concemed I can ‘only say that dimensionally it is pretty well spot on, with overall discrepancies measured in microns rather than millimetres. Equally, comparing it with photographs show It to be a very good likeness to the full size aircraft from every angle. It is extremely gratifying to see that ‘someone has had the nerve to produce @ kit of an obscure British type like this and Blue Max are to be commended for their efforts. This kit is finely produced and, if suitable reference material can be ‘obtained, has considerable potential but, ven the price, I do feel that itis somewhat Jet down by the rather poor instructions. Paul LloydDCU nS rrr Lad Model Art| INTERNATIONAL HOBBY SUPPLY (818) 886-0423 FAX (818) 886-2551 8839 Shirley Ave Northridge CA 91324 NEW SHOPPING CART INTERNET WEB SITE www.internationalhobby.com Inventory updated M-F, WEB Site fill rate 98% E-Mail: inthobby@pacbell.net AMEX, Visa and Mastercard accepted Discounts start at 15% off retail S To advertise in Coal it ‘Modelling Marine Air wwwmarineairphontom.com PO Box 1136, McMinnville, OR 97128 USA 503-434-6702 ‘ADS DECALS * AEROCLUB * ARROW GRAPHICS ‘AUSSIE DECALS * CARPENA * DUTCH DECALS DYNAVECTOR * FALCON * FCM * FOX ONE * MAGNA MODELS MODEL ART * MODEL DECALS * TASMAN * SKYLANCER * VENTURA GINTER BOOKS:Navy/Air Force (805) 584-9732 FAX (805) 584-6604 1754 Warfield Cir., Simi, CA 93063 www.mozeyoninn,com/ginterbooks.html NF51. 168pgs USN A-4E/F Skyhawk $29.95 NF58 80pgs QF-86E/F/H DRONES $17.95 NF56 64pgs Douglas D-558-I Skystreak $15.95 NF49 176p¢s USN A-4A/B Skyhawks $29.95 42 COLPAR HOBBIES LANES ARMOR CARS SHIPS SCI-FI ‘olpar Hobbies We have over 8000 kis Wise ecm stds oe Soy nde Or oem in herd to ind and OOP is. Daal Saas Reaceetves 3 ormilitry alse buying | |S collectors. Check aie peer Etre teed Proere ered als HUE ANGELS 2885 Pen S600 GN US: S180 seers. a SeesAi Peers The following is the complete list of Airfix Magazines back issues currently availabi Aircraft related subjects seen poe ba ane woiz2 No Mocating the Mos Males oC and 063 ttegrapy/ Me 108 arama 7 Gta Maw trp Wenn 4 Teme eoctre 10 Commi Poge i tabu bates Vol2 Mo 1) 1:14h £468 Tesman Models haw 10 and 251 Miceaal A Fete Wa No 4 Westand Sea Kin Swords typ 4 Tucano tt companson ond bute t2 Tries sures Last few copies ~ unless paying by ‘card, please Guidaline Publications, 352 Selbourne Road, Luton, Bade LUS NU arse Iara! esa ot ‘Sen Alrix Magarve 2) Minimum ere 50 Pres inde UK PAP 7 potge costo Europe ad 10%, Rast of unless paying by credit card, please list alternatives. 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PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, Tein SUITE 208, REDONDO BEACH, Adress: “ole (210) 944523 Fan: (210) 9449969, — CURRENT RATES: United | wish to pey by cheque, payable to Guideline Publications: States ae Peon cv ee UK $108.00 Air mail lead 3 ; £41.50 $84.50 Surface > 65 Bo OVERSEAS: Rest of World Card No. Europe £74.50 Air mail bu £54.50 £59.50 Surface ‘Name on card: (pease dptcate coupon 1 needed)! La LET a Westland Lynx HMA.8 in the cabin than the old ones with the design on the proto- 1:72 scale UK price £5.99 did, and Airfix provide repre- type. Unfortunately, the win: One of the pleasant surprises sentation of the four floata- dow shape changed, and as a of last. summer was the tion bags on the original - one result, a little careful carving ‘appearance of an updated ver- either Side of the nose and and shaping is called for. sion of the Airfix Navy Lynx kit. one on each sponson. All in One of the consequences | always felt it was the better all, a successful update. of cutting metal on. the of the two available Lynxes in" However, now for the bad — moulds whilst the aircraft was 4:72 scale, (in my opinion, news! The basic kit is begin- still in. prototype form was the Fujimi kit somehow didn't ning to show its age. It dates that the FOD filters over the Quite capture the look of the from 1979/80, an era when engine air intakes were not original), and it is good to See Airfix were on the up-and-up. included. It is possible to fly a that Airfix have taken the They were producing kits Lynx without them, but | have ‘opportunity to produce a Mk which were in their state-of never seen it done. The mod: '8/Super Lynx. the-art for detail, but as a eller’s problem is how to rep- What you get for you result, there were some resent the intake filters. money is the original Lynx moulding limitations. For Airwaves have produced an HAS.3, plus a new sprue example, | have seldom seen etched-brass fret with the fi which ‘provides the revised as many ejection pin marks, ters in three parts, but anoth- ose, main and tail rotor and in such weird places too. er solution is to fill the blades, sponsons, floatation These sometimes are quite intakes with Milliput and bags and eerials, plus @ difficult to render invisible, as smooth and then sand to rather nice inflatable coat for ore the blanking plates you shape. After ital pein Ue the cabin interior. In addition, have to add under the fuse- frames of the intake guards there's an all new decal sheet lage to cover the places where can be added in silver or which covers four aircraft, of the skids go on the Army Lynx. steel coloured decal with a which more later. Another problem area is black wash over the guard to First, the good news! The the glazing’ below the main simulate the ‘litle perfora- new ‘bits’ look the part. The windscreen, by the pilots’ tions’. It's not perfect, but rotor blades capture the BERP feet. Sadly, the windows are looks acceptable to me. tips well, the tail rotor is sig- the wrong shape for a produc: Lastly in the ‘bad news nificantly larger than the origi- tion aircraft. When Airfix category, the cockpit doesn't nal and correctly tums in the researched their original kit, | represent the latest Lynx opposite direction, and the understand that the final 8/Super Lynx. The instrument new nose has the necessary shape of these windows was panel supplied is basic to say radar fairing undemeath the undecided, and Airfix went the least, with raised circles to simulate dials ete. However, the new Lynx, has several VDU displays in the front cockpit for the radar and the FLIR etc., and an equip- ment rack just aft of the cen- tre console, so there's alittle work to do’there, I'm afraid Actually, the Airwaves etched brass set helps a lot here, with instrument panels both for the Mk 8 and the earlier Mk 3, together with the over head switch panel and tne art ‘avionics rack etc Having said all that, none of these issues are beyond the abilities of the average ‘modeller to put right, so don't let them put you off. Airfix have done an invaluable job in Providing all the basic bits we need to produce a late mode! Lynx- so all credit to them! We are modellers after all, aren't Wwe, and not just kitassem- blers? Finally, what about the decals? Well you are really polit for choice. The Brtish contingent comprises a RN HMAS with some nice nose art_and a rather pretty HAS.SICES from MS. Endurance complete with red ppaint and penguin motifs on the cabin doors, (see ‘Aircraft in Detail’ SAM Vol 23/12 Feb 2002). There's also a German Navy Super Lynx Mk 88A, (if you fancy this one, be pre- pared to alter the position of the mindow in Ue purl cab door: it's different in some ver. sions including this one), and 2 Brazilian Navy Mk 212. All four schemes are very attrac- live, and are already tempting me to make @ couple more kits. Allin all, 'm glad that Airfix decided to do this update. Within limits, they have done a good job. Not everything has been done for Us, but that's modelling! Roger Evans Personal Identification Device (PID) - a tancy name for a FLIR turret - above, together with a fairing for the Brazilian version which didn’t have a PID . The ECM ‘humps and bumps" are all there - almost, (the orange crop aerials on the ends of the sponsons are represented by decal rather than plastic), and the new aerial array under the tall boom looks okay too. The new seats sit much better 44Spitfire Mk XVI 41:48 Scale UK price £13.00 Not so tong ago, 1 built the Ocidental kit of this. variant ‘and declared | was very happy with it. Well now things have changed! ICM have added to their expanding Spitfire range with this cut down fuselage, teardrop canopied, Packard Powered Mk XVI. ‘On the five white plastic sprues and one clear one, the detail is excellent. A (Packard?) Merlin engine is Included, ‘separate ailerons, ‘open gun bays, three bombs, 2 pair of rocket projectiles - for the 74 Sqn decal option, this being the only Sqn to use RPS ‘on Spitfires in WWIl- and slip- per tank. But how does all this ‘compare to its Fer Eastern ‘competitors? Well..very well actualy ‘The plastic is ‘soft’ and there is a bit of flash on the moulds. although not as much as ICM original Spitfire Mk X felease. The nasty sink hole- sof the inital Mk IX releases are no longer in evidence, and the engraved panel lines are ‘excellent - very crisp and on a Bar with, anything from the Far East. The interior detail is 0d, and if anyone has built the Tamiya Spitfires....well ‘his one is very very similar. The engine is where con- struction commences. The Block itself comprises twenty- nine separete parts and builds into an acceptable ren- dition of the Packard Merin 266: Once assembled and Painted black it can be dry brushed with aluminium paint to bring out the detail. Whiist the engine is drying the Frewall and engine bearers ‘can be assembled and be painted later. Attention can now be tumed to the cockpit. All tems were prepainted with Polyscale RAF Interior Green Grey, with black for the dash board and throttles etc., brick red for the pilot's seat, with the leather back in brown, and every thing assembled without bother. The fuselage is full length, with separate engine top cowl ing cover and unger nose fai Ing with integral Aero Vee air scoop. The side panels are ‘moulded integrally in_with the fuselage but the plastic is thin at the panel line to ease removal of these if required to display the engine. This eased by the softness of the plastic, so just run over this @ ‘ew times with a scalpel and snap off, as par vacform kits. For this review, | did a ‘dry run’, assembling. the model with full engine panels and ‘can confirm that they fit very ‘well. The top cowling however, will not fit over the completed ‘engine if fitted, so it will have ‘to be omitted if not being dis- played. As | elected to show the engine, the panels were removed. The fuselage halves were joined, with the cockpit inside, and the sepa- rate pointed rudder ‘added. Next the wings. ‘As mentioned, they come with separate ailerons, open gun bays and separate wing tips. Clipped wing tips are included and two 20mm can- rons and two 5 Brownings - side by side in the cannon bay = which is otherwise quite sparse, but could be super detailed quite easily. The cartridge case ejection chutes require open- ing_up_under the wing, with the outboard ones left as no outer guns were used with the ‘e” wing. The under- wing radiators are very good, (and also very reminiscent of the Tamiya iv, with front ‘and rear grils, and a one piece fairing over the top. The separate ailerons look ‘convincing. The wings were attached to the fuselage without prob- ems, and in fact the oniy filer used in the whole of the kit, was a sliver to fill in the minor join line where the wing meets the lower rear fuselage. The kit tallplanes don’ fit at first. | had to trim the locat- ing tabs to fit the holes, and they stil seem to sit too high. The engine firewall was added to the fuselage and the Merlin, placed into the engine bear- fers with a touch of super glue ‘and a bit of patience. Keep ‘checking everything is straight ‘and level. Next comes the fid- dley bit, the cowling attach ‘ments. They are very thin and. if everything is not lined up correctly, it will look all wrong. Wait until you are feeling patient...you will need it...but ‘it will be worth it...1 promise. ‘All that remains are the pro. ‘eller, undercarriage and under. wing bombs and racks. The pro peeller may be a problem as the blades are separate items and ‘are hard to line up with the back plate and a spinner. I chose to ‘assemble the spinner and back plate first then slotted in the blades afterwards. The undercarriage, again very Tamiya, is very detailed, with separate anti-torque links. The wheels hubs are of the four indent variety and look good - without any sink marks at all, (ICM initial release Mk IX's sink mark prob- Jem has now been solved). Painting was done as per the kit instructions, using ‘AeroMaster and. Polyscale paints. The two decal options are for aircraft of 74 Sqn and ‘308 (Polish) Squadrons, both part of 2 TAF based in Germany in 1945. The upper wing roundels provided are red/white/biue rounde's with yellow outlines wore used ‘above and below the wings. The decals themselves ‘are matt and quite faded look- ing. Full stencils are provided and the Sky code letters ook fine. | decided to build the 308 (Polish) San, option as | had built my Ocidental kit as & 74 San., machine, Although the decals ‘appear thick, once wet, they are very thin, break easly and sliver! [used them but cannot really recommend them. Ifyou fancy something ait ferent, other Mk XVI_ colour scheme options could include overall siver, camouflaged postwar, Dutch, Belgian, South African, Greek...l0ads of alternates. This. is a really good kit, marred slighty by the decals, bt can be built quickly with the cowlings in place, or with mote effort to show off the engine. This. Kit took three evenings to build and would Took great in a diorama with ‘some of the new RAF ground- crew figures coming out in this scale. I will be making a few more, as well as convert ing one into a Seatie 171 Highly Recommended. ‘Tony O'TooleRODEN Gotha 6.1/6.1 41:72 scale UK price £15.95 ‘Multhengined aircraft from the First World War are rare and injection moulded ones can bbe counted on the fingers of fone hand. To make things leven more remarkable, this is Just the first two variants of several to be kitted - with ‘more to follow. Roden must be very proud of this kit as they name the mould maker and ‘acknowledge help from Ray Rimel's ‘Windsock/Albatros Publications’. Using this refer. fence material is the most sen- sible thing any manufacturer ‘could do when World War One aircraft are their subject. Anyway, what have we got a lot! No less than five sprues plus transparencies make up the kit. There are a few pieces that are not used ‘on either of these two variants, but most of them are, so there is a lot of cementing, to do. Before you even start get ‘out your copy of ‘Gotha’ pub- lished by Albatros. This refer lence is second to none. The kit is moulded in light grey with raised and engraved lines where appropriate. Before you start on the fuse lage there are a few sub- assemblies to complete some are part of the fuselage ‘and others are bombs and bomb racks. Here | hit my first snag, albeit a litte one. The cockpit coaming assembly has three parts - the coaming itself, a window and the Ingtriment panel. This ic shown correctly situated for ward of the window. It has a notch in it, which is designed to fit over a ridge in the cock pit roof. Unfortunately if you do this, the engraved instru ments will be at the back of the panel, But as the panel seems too wide | shaved off the stepped portion and replaced it with one at the fother side, To be honest the panel is so far inside the ‘coaming that it will be difficult to see the instruments. any. way, even with the window, Dut its up to you. The box section fuselage is split vertically and into one side | cemented various bulkheads, intemal bomb rack and cockpit etail, consisting of seats, rud- der bar and control column, After painting the inside, the two halves can be cemented together and the lower wing 46 centre section fited. ‘A word about the control column. This consists of a horizontal bar to which the col umn is fixed. This bar goes through the sides of the fuse- lage to be connected to wheels, which in turn are con ected’ to the control wires. The holes through the fuse- lage are represented by blind holes which need driling out before you assemble the fuse: lage halves. ‘After fling and rubbing down the assembly | fitted the lower wing centve section and before | dd any more work | painted the wood gain effect on the nose section before the engine avelles got in the way. The next task was to assemble the engines, paint them and build ‘the nacelles around them - cov cenng them up completely There is method in Roden’s madness though, because on later Marks. more of the engine is visible. Whilst these parts were setting, | fitted the tail sur faces and various supporting struts, added the gunners pro- peller guards, and then paint: ed the fuselage. | added the rear gun mount, pre-painted sliding rail and ‘then it was time to have funt On the Mark Il and ill, the engines are sandwiched between the inner and outer wing sections, This joint is quite tenuous, in fact on the real aircraft just spars within the wings are attached to the ‘engines. It was obvious, even using super glue, that the ‘engines would need pinning to the wings. | did this using cop- er wire, but |_am getting slightly ahead of myself. ‘Before the latter assembly {built up the upper wing. This is in three sections, with the ‘small centre section that car ries the dihedral to which each wing half is fixed. Again | pinned the sections together, and | used this assembly as a uide for setting the dihedral ‘on the lower wings. Now was the time to paint the complet fed assembly and the upper wing. A word of warning here! The beautifully moulded struts are fragile. | succeeded in cutting them from the sprue safely and even managed to cut off the gate joint, but when | attempted to smooth these areas the strut broke in half! This happened three times, so | gave up and used Suutz! | drilled holes in the lower wing, elongated them, and pushed the Strutz through the holes and superglued them in place. | then timmed off any surplus on the under: side. | also driled the holes for the rigging at this stage. Incidentally the rigging dia gram is the most explist | have ‘Come across in an instruction sheet. Looking at that and refer. fing to my primary reference | ‘managed to discover where all the wires were connected. | then dled out the upper wing strut holes, (and those for the rigging), and pushed the Stutz through until the comect gap was achieved. All| had to do % ‘then was run in some super ‘ue and tim off the surplus as per the lower wings. | found that even the kits ‘smaller fuselage and engine struts broke easily, so | resort ed to Stutz again, but this time It was only necessary to butt join them. 1 then painted the struts and added the undercar riage - less the wheels. It was ‘now time rig the beast! ‘used stretched sprue for the short cross bracing and invisible thread for the rest. This process took a great deal of time - there is @ lot of itt After everything had set | rubbed down and painted the ‘outer wing surfaces and then ‘applied the decals. Watch the fuselage logo - although it looks like a single strip of wait ing itis in fact split into sec- tions, so you will need to examine the sheet carefully to determine the separate bits. | then added the bomb racks and pre-painted bomb. | followed Harry Woodman's advice in the Windsock book here and painted the bodies light grey with metallic tips. One of the last stages was to fit the control wires to the out- side of the fuselage - using invisible thread. The guides ‘are moulded on to the fuse lage so it is a matter of start- ing at the control wheel and moving: down. the fuselage, tagging at each point. The end is now in sight, Just the whee!s, propellers and guns to fit. Regarding the wheels, if ever there was a need for an aftermarket prod- ct, it lo WW I wheel point masks. Because of the struc ture of these wheels itis very dificult to paint the tyres. What |s wanted is a simple sheet of vinyl disks, which can be fitted over pre-painted wheels before painting the tyres. This is a blockbuster of a it and one that would make @ centrepiece to any collection It is not simple to build but this is due more to the con- struction of the actual aircraft ‘than Roden. Up to now this must be the flagship of their ‘company and | cannot wait to have a go at later examples. Emie Lee (Ed note - Strutz is the trade name of series acrofoll brass Sections of various sizes, iden tified by a colour band. (Ernie Used the blue one for the main struts). They come in a pack land are suitable for most 1:72 Scale biplanes. Originally made by Skybirds 88: only available from Aeroclub).4 a Present IPMS Barnet’s Annual Model Show Sunday 28th April 2002 At the Royal Air Force Museum - Hendon Time: 10.00 to 18.00 Free Parking > + Competition Trade Stands Scale Rule Set Resin sets Over 30 club Stands willbe inp cate attendance ES. Restaurant EE Full Museum - Bar facilites . Visit the Websites at: wir rafmusoum com & wo ipmsbernet.co.uk RETAILER & PRODUCER OF SCALE MODEL ITEMS. < RAN-7207 New From THE AVIATION WorksHoP Hobby Bounties Ltd. ‘Trumpeter 1:32 A-10 {both single and double ‘seater versions} £67.00 each {plus 15% postage and ‘handling worldwide) of Visit our web site: wewwhobbybounties.com| i Nakajima Ki84 1:48 scale UK price £18.99 This kit is essentially the older Ki84 kit from Tamiya with the ‘addition of a base display and small electric motor and switch system to enable the prop to spin. This ‘novelty’ ‘adds about ? amount to the “nomying’ version {had not made a model of the Ki84 before and so decid- led to stick to the manufactur ers instructions as much as possible. This started with painting the engine block ‘Aeromaster Black followed by 2 quick drybrushing of Xtra Colur Duniium to pick out the basic detail. Next the engine cover was glued to the engine (aka gearbox!). The only thing to watch is that the propeller can spin freely inside this assembly The cockpit is very basic. | had to out down the seat ta bring it more into scale and t fitted the instrument. panel decal onto shaped plasticard to make fitting it easier. Once all the basic components were assembled, the engine unit and cockpit were glued in post tion along with the fuselage halves (ensuring that the angle cof the spindle is correct). Don't forget, as I did, to glue the tail whee! in position aswell before you Join the fuselage halves together (glad I'm not ‘me oniy one wno surtered trom modeling brain fade over the Christmas period - SB) The machine gun housing ‘and cowi ring do fit but will need a bit of filer and gentle sanding to get them blended in Just right. 1 also needed to camry out some ‘re-iveting’ using a 0.4 mm dil bit to replace the lost detail Wing assembly is very straightforward but do remem. ber to open up a 3mm hole for the motor eable to ge through. The canopy was fixed in place with Kristal Klear and then masked off using Tamiya masking tape. The whole air craft was then sprayed with Helfords Grey Plastic Primer before several coats of Tamiya Bare Metal Silver were used to complete the first stage of painting, The ant glare panel was masked off and sprayed with Aeromaster 48 Cowl Black Blue. | had always Intended to model the overall Silver air craft from the 10th Training. Squadron, Awaji Island, Yura ‘Air Base 1945 rather than the: Nakajima Green over Grey ai- craft from the 58th Shinbu. have always liked Tamiya decals although they are a lit tle bit thick compared to other brands. They sit well and respond to Micro Set and Micro Sol. Once they were set | added the final bits to ‘complete the aircraft and managed to lose the gun can- non. and pitot tube in the Process - doh! (not really a ‘surprise if you could see my ‘modelling shed). The cannons. were easy to replace from the: spares box but the pitot tube | had to make out of brass tube ‘and wire. Now it was simply a case of pulling the motor wire through the display stand and ‘connecting it up to the battery unit, flicking the prop and up, up and away - almost. In conclusion, this model was enjoyable to build and vey litle filer was needed. The cockpit is @ bit basic by modem standards and itis @ shame that adding a motor has hiked the price up to almost £20, ‘lower price would proba- by attract younger modellers which is needed to keep us ‘anoraks on our toes. Review sample kindly supplied by The Hobby Company. Vince BlackburnMPM Hispano Aviacion HA 200 Saeta 41:72 scale UK price £6.95, As far as | am aware, this is the first time that this aircraft has been produced as an injection Kit in this scale. A twoseat trainer and close support aircraft, it saw action with the Spanish Air Force on at least two occasions and was also exported to Egypt. MPM produce what is com monly referred too as ‘Limited Production’ - the main things that distinguish them from the mainstream injection products are usually the lack of location pegs and, in many cases, vac- form canopies, although now some are being produced with injection moulded canopies. Aso where plastic moulding is difficut, resin parts are subst tuted, as in this case. This kit is moulded in light grey with engraved panel lines ‘and a minimum of flash - even the sprue gates are an acceptable size. The fuselage is split vertically with the cock: pit assembly consisting of floor, side consoles, seats, control columns (resin), bulk heads, instrument panels and a section fitted forward of the front bulkhead which forms the nosewhee! well floor. After the fuselage has been assembled the resin nose Intake interior detail is fitted, and over that, the nose cone. Two things ‘to note here. Beware of what looks like a heavy flash on one fuselage half, at the nose end. This is coaming which joins up with tone on the nose cone. The sec: ‘ond thing is the fact that one of the intakes is blocked off It took some time examin- ing photographs to solve this fone. One particular shot shows an aircraft with a blanking plate in the starboard intake and 1 can only assume that the took maker has represented such a configuration! | did not want this and so | drilled out the blank, (there is a perfect impression on the inside as a guide). There is one more mod ification to make to the fuse- lage the nose guns. The gun ports are not moulded in to the fuselage so you will need to examine photographs to ascer tain their position and drill I u i il 83 Sa it 5 aa construction, which are butt welded to the fuselage. The horizontal tail surfaces are single mouldings and fasten In a similar fashion. All that is left to do before painting is to fit the resin jet outlet pipes, scratch-build a pitot head and add the stabiliser fins to the ‘moulded-on wingtip tanks. ‘After painting the under carriage was fitted. Here | hit problem. Although | filled the upper nose area with lead before cementing the fuse lage together, it still would not ssit on the nose wheel. Luckily there is @ huge nose wheel well so | was able to pack ‘more in the sides though that. MPM provide three colour ‘schemes. An all siver Spanish machine, a ‘Spanish example and an all sit ver Egyptian aircraft. As | had few Egyptian aircraft in my cob lection | elected to produce that one. | found the decals excellent, although 1am puz zled why the tall number is shown differently on each side Of the fin. But as two examples Cf each are included I presume they are meant as options. All that was left to do was fit the canopy and landing lights and the Job was done. This kit should present few problem to the average mod eller and is a welcome addition to any post-war collection. Emile Lee Review sample kindly sup- plied by Turntable Models. . 2 2 a iW i i a i : sare a ut tH struts, There is quite @ lot of rigging for a small aircraft and | started with the cabane and interplane cross bracing, then ‘added the main rigging. in non. The outer surfaces of the wings were then rubbed down and painted.Martin ms-2 Bomber 1:74 scale UK price £10.99 This is a Limited Edition reis- ‘sued kit and as such | would ‘not normally give it such a full review, but itis quite possible that when it was first issued some of our readers would not have been born! The Instructions date back to 1988, but that is simply when Glencoe acquired the moulds from the Ideal Toy Company, and Ideal ceased all kit pro- duction in 1962! ‘Age Is not the only reason for building this kit. This air Craft, to the best of my know! ‘edge, has not been produced before - in this scale. Sure its not 1:72, in fact the scale stated Seems a little opti mistic to me; it measures out closer to 4:78, but itis unlike ly that we shall see another example in plastic as ‘American Classics’ don't exactly pour out from the man- ufecturers. This was @ very important aircraft in so far as Itchanged the ideas of the US Navy to air power. Moulded in dark green, it |s almost free of flash, with external detail consisting of very heayy rib detail and some near scale size rivets on the fuselage. Internal detail is very sparse with Just. bulkheads ‘and floors and with a bench representing the pilot's seat. Lack of intemal detail did not really worry me - it was trying to establish what it looked like that did! References on this aircraft are pretty hard. to come by - at least in the UK. That being so | decided | would have to use a little poetic license on the interior. I cemented the fuselage halves together and whilst It was drying | tured my atten- tion to the wing assemblies. Both are two part construc: tions, the lower half fitting within the leading and trailing edges, leaving a joint line that Is not’ seen on the real air craft, therefore the whole area has to be filled. Another prob- lem is the fact that all the rib detail is on the upper surface; the lower ones are completely blank, so these surfaces need some attention. After filling and rubbing down the fuselage | cemented the lower wing in place and filed any gaps between it and the fuselage. The horizontal tal is a single moulding on to which the two fins and rudders are fixed. The whole lot can be then cemented to the fuselage. (On eect side oF the ine plane strut locating holes is a large lug. No photographs 1 have show such a detail. All that can be seen is a small raised section around each strut, hardly noticeable in this scale. This being so, | cut off the offending lumps. Rigging holes were then drilled in to the wings. To find what goes where ‘can be a problem. There is no rigging diagram and the box top does not show the com- plete aircraft. The best refer fence I can suggest were some photographs in "US Army Air Service & Air Corps Colour Guide - Volume 1° by ‘Monogram Publishing. At this stage | was pre- sented with a bit of a dilemma regarding the engines. These ‘are mounted on the lower wing with the lower sections moulded:in with the wing. On to to this is cemented the rest the engine assembly ‘The engine itself is uncov cred and is obviously coloured Uifferenlly ly Ure rest UF Ue al Craft. To pre-paint this and then fit to the wing would mean 2 difficult masking job and to leave it until after the main painting would be difficult because of its position within the complicated strut system. ‘but a solution was found. Having assembled the engines and upper nacelles, | realised that it was possibie to thread them through the strut system and cement them in place. This being so ! pre-painted these, adding the exhausts, (which are shown in the box art but are not sup- plied nor mentioned in the instructions!) This is a threebay biplane, and the strut system ‘around the engines is quite ‘complex. Luckily the manufac turer has been very helpful inasmuch as the main struc: ture Is moulded in two sec- tions, one fore and one aft, with just the connecting. struts as separate items. These assemblies connect to the inner wing struts so | cemented them in-situ, ‘Allowing these to dry | then slotted on’ the upper wing, again allowing the joints to dry. twas then a simple matter to add the other wing struts, one at a time, by putting one end into a locating hole and flexing it unti it slotted into the other locating hole. This was quick ‘and easy, a credit to the pat tem maker, The undercarriage _ is another slight problem. Two ‘vee’ struts culminate in a fairing supporting each wheel. The wheel, complete with axle, is suspended in holes in the inner side of the fairings. Thus the wheels need paint Ing before they are encapsu- lated in the undercarriage legs. To overcome masking problems, | cemented the inner fegs in place, complete with bracing strut; painted the aircraft and then added thewheels and the outer struts. Yet another problem pre sented itself! Because | had ‘added seratchbuilt exhausts, the engine assemblies would not pass within the struts as the ones that connected to the engines were not designed to fit around any exhausts. To overcome this | simply cut them off, fitted the engines and made new ones of the correct length! Because of the method | used, the engine radiators had to be fed through the struts and cemented in place. To make this easier | cut off the locating pegs which were diff cult to align inside the wing structure, Then the fun started the rigging! Using stretched TAMIYA Focke Wulf Fw 1908-3 1:72 scale UK price £9.99 Tamiyas’ latest foray into 4:72 scale brings us what might hopefully be the first of a line of Wurgers. | am pre- suming that this kit is basical- ly a scaleddown version of their quarter scale offering but as it has been a while since | built their 1:48 kit, 1 cannot remember to be sure! The kit breaks down into forty light grey plastic parts with two clear. The decals pro- vided are all RLM 74/75/76 finished machines and are not really all that colourful but look good. The parts all have finely engraved panel lines as can be expected of Tamiya ‘and each sprue comes in its ‘wn clear plastic bag to elim- nate scratches. All the cockpit interior parts were first airbrushed AeroMaster RLM 66 ‘Schwarzgrau and once dry the knobs and dials were picked ‘out with semigioss black fol lowed by a drybrushing of dull aluminium to pick out the detail. Whilst the RLM 66 was to hand | painted the tyres, rear cockpit turtle-deck, cock: pit sidewalls. and the “inter frs’ of the cockpit glazing frames. The sixpart cockpit ‘ub was assembled and then fuselage halves. The undercarriage legs, wheel wells, tailwheel and inner undercarriage doors ‘were airbrushed AeroMaster Acrylic RLM 02 Grau. ‘The engine is moulded ‘sprue | fitted all the short inter- rigging and sanded down J ral ones that would be difficult outer wing surfaces where the after the main wires were in wires came through, | fitted the place. | did my best, but tobe control homs. Not the ones honest! did not have any good supplied with the kit | might photographs showing the rig add, as these were much too fing detail around the fuselage heavy and the wrong shape area.’ This being so | might Superglueing some plastic have missed some or even put strip in the locating holes did t00 many in. (Of course after the trick. The painting was this review has been published then finished and the model we will get chapter and verse glossed ready for decaling. (on the Martin MB-2 Insignia is supplied for then tackled the main three aircraft. Machines from bracing with nylon thread. To the 96th and the 11th make things a litle more dif. Bombardment — Squadrons colt they are twin wires, There and, most importantly, the are thirty-two individual cables, example used by General 0 to keep myself sane | kept William Billy Mitchell to con. breaking off and doing a little vince the authorities that air (on another model. ower could sink capital ships Having completed the main _ by sinking the ex-German bat Inside the cowling, so with the whee! well bay simply gets ‘cannon barrels it was painted cemented onto its locating ‘gunmetal with the magneto holes and the wing halves are casing semigloss black cemented together. together with the 12bladed ‘There are four parts for engine cooling fan and main- each mainwheel leg assembly wheel hubs. Once dry the but the wheel hub has an odd cowling/engine parts were style indentation pattern cemented together and fixed which I'm not too sure of. The to the front of the fuselage undercarriage parts were halves requiring no filler at all. cemented together and were The next step tackles the put to one side until later. wings and undercarriage parts ‘The completed fuselage land it is here where Ifind my was offered up to the com- first question. The inner pleted wings and lo and undercarriage doors along the behold - no filler needed! centreline are moulded Liquid cement fixed everything, closed. Photos | have seen of _ in place and the whole assem- early Fw 190s all show the bly was left to dry overnight. doors open, (due to the The gun access panel was hydraulic fluid bleeding off?), cemented in to place along so why hasn't this kit been with the pre-painted cockpit moulded with separate rear turtle deck and tailplanes. doors? It would only take The cockpit glazings were first minimal effort to razor saw masked off and later Clear the closed doors ‘open’ if you Fix'd into place. The undercar- so wish, but | decided to leave riage wheel wells were masked ‘them alone! Off along with the engine inter The undercarriage wheel or in readiness for the exterior well roofing is adequate but painting stage. looks a little too shallow, how. The decal options contain ever it does have’ the the classic Eagles Head motif Charecteristic roof indentations aircraft ‘black 13" from 8./JG ‘and looks good once painted. 2, France 1942; Pips Priller's ‘Moving on to the wings, ‘white chevron’ from IlI/JG 2, these come in two top wing France 1942 and ‘black G° halves with the undersurface flown by Hptm Witheim Gath wing half being one piece. The _ of Stab/JG 26, France 1943, Ueship Ostfriesiand. After applying the markings | fitted the control cables and ‘added the gun mounts. These were scratchbuilt using wire and plastic card as the ones ‘supplied with the kit are much too heavy and unconvincing After adding the bomb, a coat of semimatt vamish was applied, | then fitted the guns, the nose transparency and the propellers. This aircraft also has a windscreen that has to be scratchbuilt 1 found that this kit took much longer than I had antic ated but it was well worth while and I now have an inter. war multiengined American biplane in my collection. Emie Lee ‘A thin coat of Halfords 2enyie Grey Auto Primer pre- pared the kit for the paint jo. Xtracolour enamels were used throughout, X206 RLM 74 Graugrun,"X207_ RLM 75 Grawviolett and X208 RLM 76 Lichtbiau. Once airbrushed on {and dry l used Humbrols’ Matt 24 Yellow for the rudder and lundercowling areas. Whilst the kit was. drying 1 painted the spinner cap and propeller blades Xtracolour x204 RLM 70 Schwarzgrun chose to finish the review mode! as Hptm Wilhelm Gath’s Stab/JG 26 machine. The decals settled down nice- ly over the decalready glossy Xtracolor finish. Once the decalling was complete | removed the masking and attached the minor parts such 28. undercarriage, cannons, Spinner and propeller assem- bly and once complete, it was given a coat of AeroMaster senylic Matt Varnish. ‘Apart from the minor gripes regarding the undercarriage doors and the whee! hubs, this kit can be recommened, and it bodes well forthe 1:72 freer nity that a major manufacturer is catering for scales other than 1:48. Jon FreemanFairchild UC-61 Forwarder 1/72 scale UK price £10.00 What is it about plastic mode! ‘manufacturers when it comes to deciding subject matter? Up to a few months ago there was no kit of this aircraft. Then | was presented with a resin kit of the imine engined variant, and within a fortnight received the radial engined variant - this time in plastic! The kit is moulded in medium grey with engraved Panel lines, fabric effect and just a hint of flash. It is pos- sible to build both the radial and nine engined versions, with or without wheel spats. As | had already built an in- line engined machine, | elect: fed to produce the radial ver sion, The first task was to cre- ate the side windows. Clear ‘acetate material is supplied for this purpose and drawings to scale of each window are illustrated on the instruction sheet. However, there Is a much easier way of shaping the windows. Cut a strip of the acetate and hold it on the Inside of the fuselage. Using a scriber mark the shape of ‘each window from the out- side. Itis then a matter of cut Bearcat Racer Conquest 41:72 soale UK price £14.00 High Planes continue thei ting each one out with scis sors and trimming with a file Until they fit. They were left on fone side until the model was complete. 1 then cemented thin strips of plastic card on the incido of tho window aroa so that a small amount pro- truded in to the window area forming a small ledge. This will prevent the windows falling inside when they are cemented in place. It was now time to assem- bble the cockpit interior. This consists of floor, seats and control columns. There is also ‘an instrument panel that is cemented to a fuselage half The cockpit assembly is then fitted within a fuselage half and the fuselage joined. This comes complete with fin and rudder and terminates at the firewall. You now have to decide which variant to produce. My ‘chosen Mark was a Fairchild Argus Mk 1, which served with the RAF in the Middle East. Markings are also provided for another radial-engined air. Craft, under the designation of Fairchild UC61 Forwarder serving with the US Materials Division. The alternative nose allows you to produce two ‘other examples - an all sliver Argus Mk Ill with SEAC in Burma of, by adding spats, a US Coast Guard machine. The nose comes in two parts and within this is Cemented the engine which is construction. The lower half, incorporating the mainwhee! wells, has some mouidedin detail, with the floor and cen- tie console. To this is added the side consoles, seat and instrument panel.” After the ‘cockpit assembly has been painted the fuselage halves: slide over the wings, which have aerofoll slots in them. This process takes a litle time, as a certain ‘amount of trimming is moulded in resin, (if you make Doing this is quite something, the inline version this also so | simply put a small blob of has a resin engine - which is thick super glue on instead. completely enclosed in the After painting | fitted the cowling!). The horizontal sta steps on either side of the bilisers are single mouldings fuselage and the venturi tube, and are buttjoined to the then added the exhaust stub, fuselage. ut on the decals and sealed Next come the wings. them in with matt vamish. Each is supplied with upper Then the most difficult job and lower sections. These are - fitting the transparencies. again buttjoined to the fuse- They are fiddly to say the lage and the various struts least. After that | cemented and undercarriage legs can the propeller in place and then be cemented in place. drilled the leading edge to After the tailwheel all | added attach a pitot head made from before painting were the grab wire. (Palva supply one in hhandies at the rear of the resin, which | would have bro- fuselage. | made them from ken off the first time | handled fuse wire rather than use the the modell rather delicate kit items, This is a relatively easy kit, Oh, | nearly forgot, you will to assemble - apart from the need to scratch build a trim transparencies that is. The tab for the rudder. The instruc- decals are good and conform tion also advise you to well to the surface and any ‘cement a minute bit of plastic experienced modeller should ‘on the rudder trailing edge to have no difficulty with it. represent the formation light Emie Lee tailpianes and undercarriage. record attempts. The legs themselves are For modellers used to the ‘supplied as white metal cast latest MPM_limitec-run kits ings, but, before adding these this might come as a bit of a last tems, twas time to paint culture shock, but, if you are the model. This is easy- white anything of an. experienced ‘overall, (a chance here to use modeller then itis possible to Halfords acrylic auto spay!). make a very presentable repi- The decals enable you to ca from ths kit and if you are decorate the aircraft either as into modem racing planes, 't appeared at Reno in 1969 then itis a must. or when it was used in speed Emie LeeLockheed TRA 1:72 scale UK price £21.95 In SAM issue 23/5, 1c fessed my longtime devotion for the ‘Dragon Lady’, and when | leamed that Special Hobby were on the point of releasing a 1:72 scale kit of the black beauty | determined that that there was no way any- fone else was getting the review copy! Just as well prob- ably, because | doubt f anyone else in our stable of exper fenced model reviewers would hhave made the mistake that 1 did, and can therefore war you about! But frst, the kit, This is a good low-pressure moulded kit, with resin parts and vacform canopy. The plas- tic is mid grey and the parts Bearcat Racer Smimnoft 41:72 scale UK price £14.00 Continuing their series of Reno Racers, this boxing is of the Bearcat flown by Dary| Greenameyer from 1966 to 1968, the differences year by year ‘being reflected in the markings. Because of the ‘commonality of mouldings in these kits there were a couple of features that caught me by surprise, and are | suppose @ ‘continuing reminder to read the instructions more careful are easily removed from their runners with snips, and the resultant burrs easily immed off with a sharp knife. Quite a few of the smaller parts - the biggest being the cockpit area - are cast in resin, needing a certain amount of delicacy in separating them from their casting base, although this does come in Useful when painting the ejec- tion seat. There is detail to be picked out on the consoles ‘and instrument panel, which is surmounted by the viewpiece for the drift sight. As is common with this style of kit there are no locat- ing pins or holes, so the accurate positioning and join. ing of some of the larger ly, as much for what they dont say as for what they do! ‘The wing is moulded in upper and lower halves, and ‘carries through the fuselage in aerofoitshaped gaps. The ‘cockpit interior pieces have largely therefore to be fixed to the upper surface of the wing ‘centre section before inser. tion, and the holes them selves need - or at least on mine needed - enlarging a lit tle before the mating could be ‘successful. The undercarriage parts, such as the fuselage, needs careful attention. The fore and aft undercarriage bays, (part of the resin selec: tion), can if misplaced make joining the halves more diffs cult, and | joined mine in two stages, using a clamp at each stage. The three parts of the tail ‘are each single pieces, butt joined to the fairing above the rear fuselage and the long wings each have upper and lower halves, divided along their leading and trailing edges - you could with advan. tage thin down the trailing ledges from the inside. The superpods come in four pieces each, and te instructions recommend quite reasonably, that these are attached to their respec- ‘Uve wings before the latter are fitted to the fuselage. The cor rect lining-up of the pods seems self evident, so they were fixed firmly in place, (with the necessary light filling ‘and sanding done), before the wings were attached to their roots. AS | held them physi cally in place to get a firm joint it wasn’ until | put the whole airframe down ‘to mature a lit tle’ before fitting the smaller parts, that | realised that the pods were both splayed out wards, giving the effect of ooking at the aircraft from the front through a fisheye lens! | decided nat to go through the break-and-reset procedure. legs are metal, but the main wheels are plastic and mould- ed in two halves; similarly the tu/e doors are moulded and could perhaps be replaced with thinner plastic card, but you would lose the detailing (on the inside of each door. With the aircraft together, the filler around the joins rubbed down and the shade of blue for the propeller blades ‘selected to match that of the decals - Humbrol 48 proved to ‘be ideal - the canopy was fitted ‘and the gloss white finish ‘applied. It wasnt until | tried to fit the decals to the leading ‘edge of the fin that | realised ‘thal | should have trimmed that leading edge so that it was straight rather than having the ‘compound taper that you see; this, along with the tailplane ‘vim was painted, although sup- plied in decal form, but for the wing leading edges the decals ‘were used, supplemented by a litte paint at the wing tps. ‘Similery, | found when | applied rot yet anyway, but whether you put the pods on before or after fixing the wings, please ensure that the are lined up with the fuselage! The undercarriage and the smaller parts, mostly resin can now be attached, (although | omitted the pogo underwing balancing wheels) The canopy is vacform, but two are included. Amongst the small resin pieces are a few in red, green and clear. which give @ little relief to the all black finish, | used my favourite Humbrol 85 Coal Black, one of the most rel able covering paints | know. There are three decal options presented in the kit including two with the red crosses of the 17th RW on the fin, and the one | chose, which carries tall art of ‘Snoopy’ Scud-hunting, when deployed for Desert Storm, (Other than my “boss-eyed pods, the result is a very good model of one of my favourite aircraft. Being a limited pro- duction kit, it is unlikely to attract the Selection of decals or resin alternative parts that @ mainstream kit might. so those modellers who want alternative noses, pod loads or even NASA markings will probably have to resort to handiwork - ilt could even be worth it Mike McEvoy Review kit supplied by MPM/Special Hobby the fuselage striping that | should not have used the filets at the wing roots: to be fair to the instructions, it wasnt stat fd anywhere that they should be fed, but withthe instruc tions and the parts Being apart at the time of application | made a rash, and wrong, ‘assumption The result Is @ striking, unnecessarily inaccurate ‘model which wil probably have to take its place behind my other High Planes racers to minimise my blushes. As withthe rest of the range, the kit needs a litle work to get the best results but f like me, you find yourself hooked fon these colourful and power: ful beasts then its well worth the effort - part of which of course should not only be reading the instructions. but matehing the words and draw- ings to the parts supplied! ‘Mike McEvoy Review kits supplied by High Planes. 53Peregrine Publishing. P-47D Thunderbolt" Detailed Photo Essay by Steve Muth nce $7.95 plus p+p The seventh book in. the Photo Essay’ series, this one features three P-47Ds - a P. 47D-2RE razorback, a P-A7D. 30-RA bubbletop and a P-47G SE ‘Suomen imavoimien Historia 17 “LeR 2° by Kalevi Keskinen ‘and Kari Stenman Published by Kari Stenman Price €31.90 Kalevi Keskinen and Kari ‘Stenman have been producing books on the Finnish Air Force {for over 30 years, and this lat fest publication, the first to be Published by Kari Stenman himself, is @ history of LeR 2, the first Finnish Air Force Fighter Regiment. The text is English/Finnish bilingual, so those of us with limited Finnish (!) will not miss any of the huge amount of NARA Verlag “German Colour Birds’ by Florian Morasch Price €24.90/$26.95 ltyou thought that every Tornado was grey or green think again This magnificent 144 page soft back book illustrates some sim- Pl fabulous colour schemes or ‘Bunte Muhlen’ as wom by the razorback by Curtiss, all crammed into 68 photographs across twelve pages. AS with the previous books, the read er is teat to a comprehensive series of detail photographs illustrating key _ modelling areas such as the cockpit landing geer, flaps etc. You do have to look long and hard at some of the mino tail changes and variations across the selection of air: craft but it is surprising how much detail you can pick up. For instance you can see the bulkhead behind the seat of the razor back with and with out the headrest - useful depending on how you want to model a kit. Personally 1 love any books which show me detail {and lots of it! This is the next best thing to actually sticking your head into the cockpit an ea Keane seme = i eo information that is contained within the 144 pages of text, aircraft of the Bundeswehr from 11956 through to 2000. The text isin German and English and is packed with colour pho tographs, Manufacturers such as Hasegawa and Revell have supplied us with a large num. ber of special paint scheme Kits over the past few years ‘Cock P-ATOa-RE Razor Back) Steve Muth is to be congratur lated on producing these very Useful twelvepage booklets the 240 high quality pho- tographs, scale plans of the aircraft ‘operated by the Regiment, 32 full colour art work profiles, ...need | go on? A. superb book that is available in the UK from spe- Cialist book shops such as Midland Counties and The Aviation Bookshop. You can Corder it direct from the pub- lishers using Visa Credit from: Kari Stenman at; Maininkitie +144, 02320 Espoo, Finland. ‘Tel/Fax 358(0)9-8092187. Email: kari.stenman@kolumbus.fi ‘www. kolumbus fi/kar.stenman, ‘Steve Benstead tnd thie book ie an excellent reference source for those kits, as well as providing inspiration for other schemes such as the ‘sharkmouth’ for less than the cost of a roll of film. Steve Benstead Dornier 28 or the Flat GO3T with a badger's face! Great stuff and highly recom. mended, Steve Benstoadcamouflage of these aircraft have now been exploded. For ‘example, one aircraft featured has British roundels together with the blue and white Chineze Nationalist ctar on the Upper wing surfaces, evidence of ts being diverted from a batch destined for the RAF The differentiation of ‘markings between aircraft is covered in great depth, result: ing in a very comprehensive reference on the subject. There are eleven good quality ‘duced to a very hgh standard, ‘and include colour variations of the national insignia. Register is excelient, as befits 2 highly professional product, which is highly recommended. Contemporary colour photos Eagle Cal Decale ee Tigers over China of various aircraft, giving back- EC 30/31/32 ¥. 3 i Tom Tullshas nested a great ng t0 the Interpretation fea ’AVG Pads ae deal of original research in the tured in the art work. The quak_ These three decal sheets 7 ‘production of this book, and ity of the rest of the photos have been issued to comple- / hhas had extensive access to and the informative text ment the book Tigers over the photographic collections of should make this a standard China, compiled by Tom Tullis. —— former members of the reference on AVG aircraft, and The decal sets cover the First, ithe: ‘American’ Volunteer Group. itis highly recommended, Second and Third AVG — Toms super artwork is fea especially in conjunction with Squadrons respectively, with on ae tured extenshely ends few the appropriate decal. nweutren 8000060 cherished myths regarding the Graham Newitt P-40s, The decals are pro * : stapled in to the centre model manufacturer to pro- pages. ‘duce a plastic injection mould Tony Buttler comprehen ed kit, at least in 1:72 scale, Hall Park Publications Warpaint Series No 34 “Avro Lincoln’ by Tony Buttler sively chronicles the initial instead of having to rely on UK price £9.50 development and service his- resin conversion sets! The latest title from Alan W Hall's excellent series of Warpaint books deals with a subject that has had lite cov erage up to now, and is there- fore all the more welcome. Following the same format as the other mainstream Warpaints, it comprises nine pages of artwork by David tory of the type, from its origi ‘Neil Robinson nal conception’ as a ‘bigger — Lancaster’, through the vari ‘ous RAF Squadron and foreign Air Force service Marks, its several civil operators and the myriad of service trials and development test bed applic tions it had to endure. Of obvious interest. to British modellers and aviation enthusiasts, it should also Howley prove equally fascinating to scores of b&w our aviation — like-minded ‘and colour pho- brethren all over the globe, tographs, plus and can be thoroughly recom. brand new 1:72 mended. scale plans, by All we really need now of Richard Caruana, course Is some enterprising, Aes Model Show | SOUTHERN EXPO 2002 | March 16th -17th 2002 (10am - 5pm) eeemenipesyie:, Hornchurch Sportcentre Hornchurch Road, Hornchurch, Essex Entry: Adults £2.50, Children and Senior Citizens £1 © 35+ Club Stands* © Nearest Undeground Station © 35+ Trade Stands* Hornchurch © Open Competiti © Buses Nos. 165, 193, 248 (Sunday Only) © By Car 4 miles from M25 © Raffles Junction 28 or 29 © Free ParkingGreek Hurricanes. Dear Net, With reference to your Combat Colours No 2 - ‘Hawker Hurricane 1939 to 1945 in RAF Commonwealth and FAA service’. Whilst it provides excellent coverage of the numerous camouflage and markings styles carried by the type, my only concem is the depiction of the No 335 (Greek) Squadron Hurricane on page 33. Although an interesting theory, Ido not think that the British roundels were overpainted on Greek flown Hurricanes to ‘create’ Greek blue-white-blue national ‘markings. Questions about whether or not the two Greek Hurricane ‘Squadrons, Nos 335 and 336, ever ‘flew the Greek national Colours” have been circulating for over 20 years. It all started in the 1970s when a well-known Greek aviation magazine, (now long out of publication), published a centre page spread showing a desert camouflaged Hurricane carrying Greek roundels in all six positions. Also, in interviews with exGreek ‘Squadron veterans, some suggested that, “Yes, we ‘flew the colours’ on every occasion we got’ A few members of IPMS Greece, including myself, have taken on the task of interpreting all the available information from all the various publications, but mostly from original photographs from private collections, which we spent hours .oing through. Current evidence suggests that things were not exactly what we used to think. The RHAF (Royal Hellenic Air Force) operated three squadrons in the Middle East. Two fighter squadrons, (Nos 335,336) and a bomber squadron, (No 113). No 335 (Greek) San was formed in Palestine in late-1941, becoming operational in early1942 and moved to Egypt. It was initially equipped with Hurricane Mk Is, (both standard ‘and tropicalised), then Hurricane Mk Ibs and Mk lcs. They were mainly finished in the Desert Scheme but some were also in the Temperate Land Scheme, especially the non tropicalised Marks. Standard British roundels were carried throughout. There is at least one photo, (reproduced below), showing @ Mk | with a blue-white-blue spinner and two Greek flags painted under the exhausts - probably the first ever display of ‘Greek national colours’ on an RAF aircraft. No 335 Sqn received the squadron code ‘FG’ - (some say ‘FG’ siood for ‘Fighting Greeks’ - a convenient coincidence?). One aircraft, BD930, carried the Greek letter ‘S" (Sigma) aft of the roundel, (see top photo). The fuselage roundel shows a very ow contrast between the two darker colours, which led many to believe that it was a blue white-bive. Photo 1: Hurricane Mik Ilb, BD830 FG-Y of No 335 (Greek) San. at LG 37, El Alamein in November 1942. Note the individual aircraft letter, 5 (sigmal, from the Greek alphabet. Photo 2: Tropicalised Hurricane Mk |, (serial unknown), of 335 (Greek) Sqn. in Palestine circa early 1942, with blue-white-blue ‘spinner and Greek national flags under the exhaust manifolds. Photo 3: Huricane Mk lle, K2136 ‘0’ of 336 (Greek) Sqn., circa 1943. Note the roman num« ‘of the individual aircraft letter = both of which wer Photo 4: Hurricane Mk lib, BP289 or BP285, FG-H of 335 (Greek) ‘Sqn., based at LG 08, Mersa Matruh, February 1943. Photo 5: Close-up view of FG+H, with its pilot, Eleuthe ‘Lefteris’ Caramolengos and crew chief F/Sgt Sel 1g or the propeller: The white ‘panel ‘under the cockpit is the ‘word ‘Hero’, play on the pilot's wife's name, Ero.Hurricane, Mk lb, 25306, FGA of No 338 (Greek) San. at LG 37, El Alamein in November 1042 Bare Eartilidee Stone upper surfaces invthe A Scheme aterm = but nots Vanaton around eodipt and frase areas, "wth. Azure Bive (or “Light Mediteranean Blue) -undersurtaces. Code teters appear to be wise, Spinner reundl reo Hurricane Mk lb, 24007, FG:S of No 335. (Greek) Sqn. at LG 8, Morea Matra, crea February 1943 Dane Eaniviadie Stone Upper surfaces, inthe A Scheme pattern Colours Wansposed. wah Azure Blue (or {Gant Mecteranean Blue) undersurtaces Cse'teters are rod ih white outing. Spinner roundel rs ut wih he Hurricane Mk ile, HVS05, T of No 336 ‘t"LG 131, Western rr ‘Stone upper surtaces Inthe A Scneme pattern wth Azure Shae (er “Ligh Medterraneen "Sive) Undersuraves, Ineiwdual cro eter Sppears to be black fut may have been fed without the whe outsne). Spinner Diack frre) Hurricane Mi io, 80930, FGF of No 1335 (Greek) Sqn. at LG 37, El Alamein Bann Earth o inthe A Scheme pattern, with Aaure Blue (or Light Medterranean Blue) \indersuraces, Code letters appeat to be wine. Note the ncidual srt eter = (Soma). rom “the Greek alphabet Sfmt roundel red Hurricane Mik lle, KZ136, 0 of No 236 (Groen) Sqn at LG 8, Morea Matrun, arly 1043 Bak Eatiicdie Stone upper sutaces, Inthe A Seneme pati, wih Azure Biss (Gr” Light Medkerranean Blue) Undersufaces, Note no Squadron codes Sstocated "incivual arcraft eter © ed ‘tr we cutie Spinner whe. No 336 Squadron, the second Greek Fighter Squadron was formed in 1943; the schemes being the same as in 335. No squadron codes were officially assigned although by late 1943, some aircraft bore the codes KC - (possibly ex238 San ‘machines?). Spinners were mostly red, some carrying tiny ‘blue- white-biue’ Greek roundels on the tip. Some pilots applied the names of their hometowns, mythological heroes, cartoons and sharkmouths as ‘nose art’ - a practice which became more frequent after the two squadrons re-equipped with Spitfire Mk Vs. Indéed ‘photos show the blue-white-blue spinners applied mostly to Spitfires in the desert and Italy, with the wing and fuselage roundels continuing to be British. The Desert Scheme, of Dark Earth and Middle Stone uppersurfaces with Azure Blue or Light Mediterranean undersides, was mostly in the A Scheme pattern, (the 8 Scheme being quite scarce by 1942), sometimes with the colours transposed or with variations in the pattem due to repainting or the touching.up of battle damage When the squadrons retumed to Greece, blue-white-biue Greek national markings were applied then, even though 335 and 336 Squadrons remained under RAF command until 1946. 1 am not aware of any official order allowing Greek ‘squadrons to overpaint their aircraft's British roundels. in Greek national colours, and one must also not forget the numerically higher Polish, Czech, and even American ‘squadrons under RAF command which never modified their British roundels either. Stavros Verras ‘Athens GreeceOlive Drab Reminiscences - 4. Dear Neil have found the Paul Lucas articles on Olive Drab to be of feat interest, His research has been admirable, and | would ‘ot wish to dispute any of his facts. However, after 40 plus years in military aviation, | do believe the modern day mode! builder who goes to great lengths to obtain the exact shade of colour for his P-47, Hurricane, 6-26 or whatever, is living in a fantasy world. (I have no objection to this, whatever gives them enjoyment is fine with me!). The fact is that no-one really knows what the exact colours were. We all know the many factors that made a field (or hangar) full of aeroplanes all look different even though they were supposed to be the same colour. At the time, no-one associated with the aircraft cared what their colour shade was. As historian for the 357th Fighter Group, | frequently get questions from modellers on whether a particular P51 was Olive Drab or RAF Green, and what shade the undersurface grey was. | usually tell them their guess is probably as good 5 mine. RAF Green, (I don't know which one), appears to me to show up darker in photos then Olive Drab, but that is just an educated guess, the best any of us can do. We used to think that if we could find a colour photo we would have the final answer. Colour can be very useful, as long as we don’t forget that colour film can be a notorious liar! In that regard, | thought that two recent experiments, (both accidental) might be of interest. In June of 1944, a P-51C that | was ground crew on was so badly damaged in an accident that it was salvaged. At the time | cut off an an 8 inch x 11 inch piece of rudder fabric, Olive Drab in colour with a yellow numeral 7 on it. When | returned home in 1945, | put it in an album where it has been ever since, rarely exposed to light and never to sunlight. We an assume then, that It Is very close to the colour it was in 1944. | recently took it out of the album to put it in a frame, but first | photographed it, outside in natural light with a new ur film and a Pentax camera. | was mildly surprised that the resulting print did not match the original in colour. If we can't trust modern camera and films for their colour rendition, what does that say about 60 year old colour!?! nes War Reon However, both the colour print and the original fabric tend to green in colour. Paul Lucas tells that this greenish OD was replaced early in 1943 with a brownish OD. The P-51C | refer to, serial number 42-103007, was delivered to the AF at the Dallas factory on 23 October 1943 and arrived in the UK early in January 1944, where it was assigned to the 357th FG. Also delivered late in 1943, it does seem to have the greenish OD. My second example relates to the two enclosed prints of a P51 diorama in 1:32 scale, done by master modeller, Nell Osbome, who also did the three figures and the trusty steed, from a photo supplied by myself. The two photos were taken this year in outside natural lignt, within a few minutes of each other, by two different cameras, with different film brands. They were processed in two different labs. ‘As you can see, one photo clearly proves that this ‘model Is painted RAF Green, whilst the other photo shows it be, without doubt, in Olive Drab. (OD is correct. With this result from modem films and cameras, it hardly requires comment that any 50 or 60 year ald colour must be regarded with suspicion! One last comment. | am also a ‘sometime’ ‘modeller, (ust completed 2 P-39), but when it comes to the colours, such as OD, | don't wory much about the shade. If it is close, that's good enough, because that's the way it was 55 years age! Regarding your recent editorial about modelling articles vs historical articles. | vote for having both. Your main competitor prints primarily modelling articles with litte historical material which is why | prefer your magazine! Mette Olmsted Paradise, California USAOlive Drab Reminiscences - 2 Dear Neil, Would you accept a few notes on Olive Drab from a modeller who was around during the war, although not of an age to take detailed notice, and not living in the right place to see that many American aircraft? | write because Paul Lucas, (in issue 23/9 pp 603-4), appears to give a wrong impression ‘about US Army Engineers’ colours. | am sure that the paint used on Army trucks and jeeps, helmet, shells and | think, tanks, was a straightforward dark olive green and | don’t think it was seriously different from the Olive Drab used on aircraft antidazzle panels and helicopter rotor blades in the 1950s. In Corps of Engineering terms, Olive Drab No 9, leaving Field Drab No 4 to typify the colour drab, traditionally ‘a mixture of umber brown and white only. ‘A series of Kodachromes and an accompanying article published in National Geographical Magazine about 1947, ‘makes reference to the stocks of surplus aircraft parked in the southwestern deserts. This group of pictures from ©.4943-4 chow aircraft in (green) Olive Drab with varying, degrees of fading, but also show a B26 named New York Central Il, which is coloured brown; and in a very good close- up, @ B47G Nine-ONine, the colour of which, as printed, looks quite like Air Ministry Middle Stone! This relates to your picture of C-47 No 43:16299 which as Mr Lucas says has areas of three colours on it. | suggest that what was happening in 1943 was that, taking advantage of the discretion afforded by Specification 24114 of September 1942, (as quoted by lan K Baker in Aircraft Modelworid, April 1984 pp 589), the Douglas Aircraft Co had told its sub-contractors to paint the major components In one of two colours - Olive Drab 41 or Medium Green 42 whilst the main factory painted the fuselages Sand 49. Doing this would save paperwork telling those sub-contractors which Colours to use on an aimrame component, ana would tend to equalise paint colour usage. This is not to deny the thesis that Olive Drab changed during those years, but | do not believe that 43:16299 is evidence for such a change. ‘A temporary change in the manufactured colour of Olive Drab, (towards brown, and lasting only a few months or even weeks), might well be due to shortage of green pigment in the same way that plain green paint became khakHlooking during, World War | this is noted in both railway and automobile contexts. The reason | think has to do with the connection ‘between the pigment industry and the making of explosives. Years ago | saw severe fading of British Standard Olve Drab paint, which went quite greyish, but that took some years to become evident. | also recall the (Air Ministy) Dark Green paint on a 1947 Bristol Buckingham aircraft dumped at Fiton in 1954 - the green had in that interval become something quite like faded Dark Earth, The only 8-17 | ever saw was visibly a dull green, | am glad to see SAM is taking the understanding of paint schemes so seriously. L. Tavender New Mitton, Hants ‘Sea Hurricane schemes Dear Neil, Further to Simon Liebert’s letter regarding Sea Hurricane Colours in the January 2004 issue (Vol 23/1). | have recently completed the Revell Sea Hurricane llc of which one of the ‘tions is for a white aircraft of 835 San in 1944 aboard HMS ‘Niarana. It is coded 7eT and serial is, as Simon believed, NF7OO. It's all white on the uppersurtaces which wrap around the leading edges of the wings in a line running from the front edge of the wheel wells to the navigation lights. The very top of the cowling from windscreen to spinner shows a camouflage of Temperate Sea Scheme Extra Dark Sea Grey/Dark Slate Grey. This supports Simon's view, (assuming, Revell are correct), that the white only extended part way under the wings. The rest of the undersurfaces are Sky. The Golden Age - really!?! Dear Neil With reference to your editorial in the December issue, (23/10), I'm afraid although this may be the ‘golden age of ‘modelling’, there are still many aircraft that are not available as injection moulded kits. | am absolutely amazed that ‘manufacturers, some small, (and some that should know better, invest vast sums in moulds of obscure World War One aircraft, or even German aircraft that never got off the drawing board, and expect sales of ‘these things’ to give them a good retum, Meanwhile there are still several very famous aircraft that were builtin their hundreds and sold worldwide in both military and civil roles that have never been released as Injection moulded Kits in 1:72 or 1:14 scale - the Douglas. DC-4/C54 Skymaster and Convair 240-440/C-131/7-29 are ‘wo types that immediately come to mind. |'now understand that Airfix have no plans to reissue any of their RAF training aircraft in the forseeable future, so the Chipmunk, Bulldog, Jet Provost, Dominie and Tucano appear to bbe doctined fer obscurity, ac no-one else has produced these in 1:72. There are also other trainers that have stil not been kitted, like the Spanish CASA 101. ‘Aviojet” and the Indian Hindustan ‘Kiran’, both of which serve with their country’s national aerobatic teams. This may be ‘the golden age of ‘modelling’, but manufacturers need to do more research on, what wellknown types stil need to be kitted, rather than trying to sell kits of the obscure and largely unknown. 1 also see that whilst you have once again given us an excellent ‘Aircraft in Detail’ feature - (on the 1-39 Albatros) ‘but there is no accompanying list of the kits and decals available on the type! Surely the whole idea of the ‘Aircraft in Detail’ series is to link real aviation and modelling together, ‘and this is where the feature fails. You seem to assume that ‘everyone knows that KP make a 1:72 scale L-39; MPM make 2 1:48 scale one and LollectArre produce one in 1:32 scale, ‘hot to mention the decals available! The trouble is many less. knowledgeable modellers don’ link the two together. Ed Note: Adrian makes some point what dose make a saleable. kit? The W/Lutewatte 46’ kits always amazes me but the sales must be ‘there or the manufacturers wouldn't Keep on producing them! ‘contacted AirftHumbvol regarding ther poley covering trom time to time, but there are plans {for reissuing all the trainer kits that Adrian listed. | understand ‘that the Tucano is due out again in March, and all the Will be re-issued at selected intervals over the next few itseoms to have fallen by the wa} Time to re-introduce iI think! See Page 12 Dear Neil, In Readers’ Write November 2001 issue (Vol 23/9), Kevin Martin asked for information concerning the Hampden, P4403, EAeM, flown by F/Lt Learoyd during the attack on the Dortmund-Ems Canal on 12 August 1940. have in my possession a ‘copy of the “British Air Forces’ published by the Illustrated London News in late 1940/41. It contains a drawing by CE Tumer of the said attack and, “bears the signature of Flight Lieut. Learoyd as a token of its authenticity”. From the timing it Is possible that the drawing was made for the actual aircraft, rather than personal recollections. E. J. Sullivan via e-mail‘Super glue! Dear Nei With reference to Mike McEvoy's recent comments about using ‘superglue accelerator. I's always surprising to find something, ‘out which one takes for granted, which is new to others! So, a couple of related tips which may be of interest. (One use for superglue and accelerator is as an instant filler. For example, a single application for seams; several layers to build up in bulk: and low-viscosity glue to flow into small gaps such as air bubbles in resin. Be aware though, that the glue hardens with time, So try to do any sanding within about twenty minutes of application, after that the glue will become harder than the surrounding plastic which makes it very difficult to sand without damaging the surrounding area. ‘Superglue can also be used to add a hard skin to soft ‘materials such as plasticene, balsa and tissue. Be careful where the accelerator goes - if a part with superglue comes into contact with a model which already has accelerator on, it will stick immediately - and usually inconveniently! If you're lucky, iUsiiply hardens Ure wue before Ure Hew pat is firmly attached to the main model, | find it best to apply accelerator faity carefully to the area I'm gluing rather than spraying it indiscriminately around. I've found, occasionally, that spraying accelerator onto glue has caused it to froth as it sets, which can be messy. I've also Seen some discolouration of paint applied over superglued joints, which probably means that it’s worth cleaning the ‘model thoroughly before painting. I've tried dabbing supergiue ‘on with cocktail sticks and pins, this tends to leave untidy pools of glue on the model, (or blobs, with the high-viscosity Stuff). There are precision applicators available which give far ‘more control; | bought mine from MicroMark in the US but they can probably be purchased in the UK. Hope this is of some interest. I'm sure there are a milion other tips out there that readers could send in If you'd like another topic for your new Questions and Answers column - | struggle with masking, especially canopies. By the time I've painted on the interior colour, primer, two or three colour coats, some Kleer and matt vamish, the masking material is buried so deeply that | almost have to chisel it off Which leaves a rather ragged edge, assuming that the paint survives at all. Any advice would be gratefully received. ‘Bob Wolfenden Malta Spitires Dear Neil, \ have recently read that the first Spitfire Mk Vs to arrive in Malta were camouflaged in the standard Desert colour scheme. The hard pressed pilots immediately clamoured to have the scheme changed as they said that Malta was not 2 ‘desert’. Most of thelr fighting took place over the sea and the Spires were hurriedly painted “grey all over” (I assume this meant just the uppersurfaces), from stocks available on the island the shade being the result of a mix that seemed to give the best camouflage. ‘Apparently for some time after, batches of Spities being readied for Malta, were painted ‘grey’ in Gibraltar. This was before they were loaded on to aircraft carers to get to the island, although what shade and scheme was nat mentioned ‘Another item to confuse the issue of Malta Spithres was the introduction of four cannons in replacement Mk V Spitfires. Existing Mk V had two cannon and apparently the ‘extra weight of the two additional cannon reduced the performance so much that two cannon were removed. Deciding which version of a Malta Mk V Spitfire it was from the number of its cannon and what its actual colour scheme was could defintely give rise to problems. ‘More on Hurricanes Dear Neil, | was very pleased to buy the new ‘Combat Colours 2", although there are a few points | would like to raise, Middle East - | thought the author/artist’s interpretation of ‘Sky, Azure and Mediterranean Blues very ingenious and persuasive, | shall take it as @ good working assumption whist retaining some quaims! However, | am less convinced by the 73 Sqn Dark Green/Middle Stone ‘Malta example’ Not least because 73 Sqn was not present on Malta. Also, in ‘Hurricanes over Tobruk’, it states that 73 Sqn Hurricanes travelled the Tekoradi route in the Temperate Land Scheme, which they retained for operations in the Westem Desert, specifically around Tobruk - although they added the ‘pale’ leading edges to wings and nose with ‘spaghetti’ motting. ‘Those Huricanes which went to the Nile Delta were repainted in Middle East Command's preferred Dark Earth and Middle Stone, and replacement aircraft for the Squadron can be seen in this scheme. Itc my boli that the Dark Green/Middle Stone instruction was recognised at the time as_an error for Dark Earth and Middle Stone, although | admit that 1 cannot find writen support for this. Dark Green/Middle Stone would be very strongly contrasting - @ rare occurence in RAF camouflages. Photos of early Desert Hurricanes can be grouped into ‘high ‘and ‘low’ contrast schemes, but Dark Green/Middle Stone would require a high contrast photo with the darker colour around the cockpit. | cannot convincingly identity any such ‘hota. For other highcontrast photos to represent the Dark Green/Middle Stone scheme, It would cal forthe Dark Green to have been painted out by Middle Stone and the Dark Earth with Dark Green! Somewhat perverse even by RAF Middle East standards, SEAC - The intermediate roundel where the red centre was painted out with white, leaving a large roundel of blue and white has been omitted. This was later replaced by the smaller blue ight blue roundel. And surely camouflage was retained on Hurticanes in 1945 because of their dedicated lowlevel ‘sound attack and fighterreconnaissance roles? FAA Codes - Red was never the appropriate colour for fronttine Units, but for secondine units. Thus the photo on page 56 shows the aircraft of 885 San coming aboard Victorious in preparation for ‘Operation Pedestal’. There are several photos showing them on board with Sky codes for the operation ise. Later the FAA adopted white codes for operational units Pedestal Its not true to say that Sea Hurricanes, “no longer caried Sky bands". Those from Mediterranean operations (HMS Eagle) and Naval stocks in Africa, (HMS Indomitable's '800 Gan), hod never carried these bonds, ond retained the PreMay 1942 style roundels corect at the time of their ‘despatch from the UK. Aircraft ferried out from the UK on HMS Victorious and HMS Argus for this operation carried both Sky ‘rim and post May 1942 style roundel - (with the exception of ‘one 885 San aircraft - W9134, 7Y - which stil had the earlier style roundels when It crashed during the pre-operation exereises). Indomtable's 880 San always carried Sky trim and preMay 1942 style roundels, those being the correct ‘combination when they departed the UK in November 1941. The photo on page 55 shows only 800 Sqn - the apparent ‘outsider being one of two aircraft transferred from 885 San ‘when 800 converted from the Fulmar. Also the carter is not MS Indomitable but Victorious, note the offset dashed deck markings and the signal repeater on the dock edge. Itcan now also be confirmed that 885 Sqn did cary yellow ‘vim during Pedestal. 7*P can be seen on an FAA Museum ‘photo taken from a Swordfish. This photo is regularly ‘captioned as HMS Formidable, however, they did not camry yellow leading edge trim without the yellow fin. Graham Boak Preston Lancashire Ed note: Graham raises some interesting points which | have passed on to the respective author/artist to respond to. Watch this space!!‘Super Sabre designation Dear Neil, | served from May 1959 to August 1966 in F100 units in France/Germary (SOth FW), Japan/Louisiana, Vietnam (24st, Sra Trw), ana was one of the frst 3rd TRW members to arfive at Bien Hoa AB RVN in early November 1965 when that Wing moved from LA. | have, some comments and questions regarding Steve Di Nucc’'s F100 Wild Weasel article in the October 2001 issue of SAM (Vol 23/8). Fist of all, where did the designation EF100F come from? | never noticed itn any F model Technical Order nor on a list of designations approved by the Air Force. Also where did you ‘obtain al of the Serial numbers? | know they were all in the 5S- fiscal year series of models, which were the ‘dogs’ of the F Fleet. These only served in PACA, and were spread out to all of the Hun’ bases, (Misawa, tamke, Kadena). We had al of them in one Fight at Misawa -F Fight believe it or not - but they were very labour intensive, more than any other Fs | was ever around. ‘All had the lightweight Doppler radar under the aft section, just to the left rear of the tail skid, which drove our radar {roops bonkers because of all the heat and vibrations. back there! Thus, they all had a small air scoop on the fin, atthe intersection of the dorsal spine with the fin leading edge. These 58 fiscal year models were sent to the boneyard years ahead ofthe other Huns and broken up, not even used for the ‘rone target programme! One survives, 584232, on a plinth at Brooks AFB Texas with '63944" painted on her fin. (232 was the second single engined jet across the North Pole in ‘August 1959 on the wing of 81227 by the way) F models carted only two 20mm cannon, not four. 335 gallon tanks were simply 275s with 2 28 inch plug forward ofthe pylon and were a TAC standard, so they were the only versions used in South East Asia and afterwards by the USAF and ANG. These UBS were inserted by the user US, (ke TOL rete Wo ey ‘depot for modification), as it was a simple procedure. | got to Bien Hoa in early November 1965 and sometime shorty afterwards (possibly late January 1966), a painted ‘aluminium ‘Wild Weasel" F:100F, 581221, came in and we serviced her with fuel and a new drag chute. | noticed the Various antennas and asked the pilot about them. He said he was a ‘Wild Wease'’, and told me not to take any photos he'd noticed the 35mm camera on my shoulder strap. Drats! But she was an overall sitver ‘WW ‘Nl PACAF Huns got that Doppler under their aft sections, in the late 1950s/early 1960s. That is one way to tell them from TAC and USAFE) birds. A few did transfer to the UK in the late 1960s after the PACAF Wings sent all of their a/c back to new bases in the ‘colonies’ and they then moved few to USAFE) after camouflage came along. Steve did a good job on his modell Oh, by the way, all US national insignias on camouflaged aircraft of the SEA era were 15 inch diameter (star), 20mm cannon under the nose, and modellers building Wild ‘Weasel Super Sabres need to ensure that only the inner set of ‘cannon remain. My apologies for losing sight of this detail ‘Some readers have also queried my use of the (E prefix) EF. 100F designation. | am aware that this E prefix was only used officially by the USAF to denote Electronic Warfare aircraft, however, it has recently become ‘acceptable’ for authors to refer to Wild Weasel aircraft in this way, (eg EF-105F and EF- 4C), t0 distinguish between Wild Weasel and standard mission ‘machines. | merely extended this ‘custom and practice’ to the EF-100F Super Sabre! 1am also most grateful for the information from Colonel ‘Chip’ Morrison about the F-100's 275 gallon and 336 gallon wing drop tanks, and to Dave Menard of IPMS{USA) - (see above letter) - reminding me that the larger tanks were ‘originally obtained by field modification - a 28 inch plug was ‘spliced in to the 275 gallon tank forward of the wing pylon. ‘Steve Di Nucci Patchway, Bristol Finnish Hawk Info Dear Neil, ‘Thank you for a very interesting issue on Export Hawks - Vol 23/9, Novemer 2001. However, some incorrect information. ‘was included about Finnish alr Force Hawks and purchases. Finnish Air Force test pilot Major Paavo Janhunen flew & very intensive test programme with the Hawk during the Finnish purchase process, the results of which were made to all Finnish Air Force Hawks already on the production line, (and later added to several RAF machines). These modifications were not originally designed by Hawker Siddeley/BAe, but came directly from Maj Janhunen’s test flight programme and was introduced to the Hawk 50 series. To name some of the modifications: ‘increased size of the fins each side of the airbrake to correct the pitch down force when the airbrake is taken out ‘+ aileron control was changed so that the progressive effect of the aileron control was smaller on the first 1/3, than on the last 2/3 ‘© throttle response was improved ‘+ the extension of the tail fin was extended to the end of the tail cone for better directional stability Alot of the suggestions made by Major Janhunen when he was improving the original Hawk to meet Finnish Air Force requirements was included in the export Series 50 Hawks, and later Hawker Siddeley/BAe introduced these ‘modifications to all export Hawks. Armament: Finnish Hawks have carried Aden gun pods as ‘standard from the beginning. In addition some VKT machine gun pods were used, but these have been out of the service for years now. Finnish Hawks were also modified to cary three different airto-air missiles. In addition to the AIM-9 Sidewinder, ‘our Hawks can fire K-13M (AAD Atoll) and R60 (AAS Aphid) ‘missiles. Most of Ue Une our Hawks use Russian AAS Aphid missiles rather than Sidewinders or Atolls Units: The Finnish Air Force has three Air Commands (Lennosto), each of which has one fighter squadron (Havittajatentolaivue). In the Finnish Air Force, a fighter ‘squadron is a bigger unit having several aircraft types. In each fighter squadron the 3rd Flight operates Hawks in the ‘advanced combat training role. The Support Squadron's 2nd Fight only operates reconnaissance Hawks, and all testing ‘and research work is done by the Test Flight of the Finnish Air Force Depot at Halli AB, not by the Support Squadron. ‘Wings: So far the Finnish Air Force has announced to buy 18 wing sets, not 45. There has been no information that all wings will be replaced. Colours: Page 574 has wrong information about the colours ‘and captions. The Finnish Air Force does not have a Hawk ‘serial HW.388. The serials run from HW-301 to 357. The diameter of the roundels on HW.325 and HWW-311 is 20cm not 12 inches (ie 30cm). Hawk HW-344 was the first one to receive the new grey scheme and was the test aircraft for the new colour scheme. It still had the old wing, (not the new one like in the side profile). All Hawks will be painted in this new scheme during major overhauls. The serial on. the profile is correctly HW-344, but caption (HW311) is wrong. Factory: Valmet has been at Patria Finavitec for years, now part ‘of EADS. Patria Finavitec built Hawks HW-301 and HW-306 to, 350. Hawker Siddeley built Hawks HW-302 to HW-305. The Finnish Air Force is using its Hawks much harder than Hawkor Siddeley originally planned. Therefore all Hawks are rotated between units to equal out the flight hours ‘throughout the Hawk fleet. Perttu Karivalo via e-mail Ta ae Seerrruc kia i res Dr eee 61