MikeC

Thanks RCoulter52 et al, I'm glad I didn't imagine it. Now which stash pile did I put the kit in? .....

PS - Cutting Edge did the replacement prop.

Regarding the nose weighting question: it's my understanding that the real thing was something of a tailsitter given half the chance, ie with low to no fuel, payload and crew on board. I was given the impression that you could almost build one as a tailsitter and still be accurate. Anyone else heard this or was I sadly misinformed?

What he said. Also I found out too late that the firewall could use a bit of thinning, so you get a better fit at the wing root. Here's one I did a few years back, with the wingtip of another one in the background. Displacing the ailerons gets round the fit issues well enough for me.

Conversely, not all RAF Mustang IIIs had them; British-based ones did afaik, but certainly 112 Sqn in Italy used Mk IIIs with the standard hood.

Not so sir, all the P-51Bs (USAAF boxing, with "Shangri-La" as a decal option) that I've ever bought have had both. True in my experience.

Looks good, I look forward to seeing the finished model. You may be interested to know that the airfield - despite the fact that they were called "The Yoxford Boys" after a nearby town, the airfield was officially Leiston - is now a holiday caravan (trailer) park. I took these a couple of years ago - no I wasn't staying at the park, this was a "drive-by".

Decals??? Nah! Been there, done that. http://hsfeatures.com/features04/b24dmc_1.htm One more B-24 in the stash, earmarked for "Dragon and his Tail, so thanks but no thanks. Great idea though.

Second that: Hannants own thinner plus a drop or two of retarder.

Liam, Are you airbrushing? If so, mask and paint the recognition band first, then leave it faintly visible when you do the topcoat, just like pre-shading. Alternatively, mix up a darker shade of the basic top-colour, then mask and paint the stripe after the topcoat. As a third alternative, "mist" some black onto the masked-up stripe area. My preference would be for the first, as you can vary how much shows: it can look really effective. It also replicates what actually happened - as you rightly say, I think you're referring to a painted-over recognition stripe. If you're brush-painting,

OK, here's my take on the whole 8th AF P-51 recognition markings thing: Fin/rudder stripes (12"): 20 Feb 43-23 Mar 44 on all aircraft; after that, only on NMF aircraft until the end of 1944 when they were removed completely. Tailplane stripes (15"): 20 Feb 43, continued until Spring 1945, and whilst most were removed some aircraft still carried them after that. Wing stripes (15"): 20 Feb 43, then superseded by invasion stripes. Re-applied to upper surfaces when upper wing invasion stripes were removed, but not on all aircraft; cremoved generally spring 1945. Wing invasion stripes (18"): R

Nice one!

Thanks Nick, Now you mention it, I can make it out.

I always thought the Century Series was the US's Hunter myself ... :D Hey Julien, nice pics: just curious as to what the legend on the port nose of XL563 says? Can't quite read it.

True Sir, but is it fair to assume the box has an F3 option as well?

I'll have what he's having!

Looked like 43 Sqn to me (B&W checks), but it was a long time since I saw Independence Day.

And exactly why has no-one mentioned the most successful of them all - commercially that is - the one and only supersonic and commercially viable - Concorde?

Flying Instructors can, I understand, only qualify as such when they have learned to say "I have control" calmly rather than in an agonised terrified scream whilst watching their life flash before their eyes and the ground approach, airspeed fall off, etc. In the RAF they used to learn this on the Jet Provost http://www.jetprovostheaven.com/ an aeroplane to which a certain Tweet bears a remarkable resemblance ... :D

Never thought I'd see one, I'd love to have one to park next to my Il-2 when I get around to it. Look forward to it. Thanks Pavel.

Hi Beaker, (If I may call you what your avatar suggests.) Fantasy Printshop in the UK do a set of generic swastikas. Homepage here http://fantasyprintshop.co.uk/ and what you're looking for here http://fantasyprintshop.co.uk/searchresult...hTerm=swastikas They're a quality act, they print decals for all sorts of manufacturers as well as doing their own: recommended. HTH, M (edit for typo)

Nice Spitfire. Some years ago I did a similar thing when we went to Normandy for the first time on our hols. (Thinking about it, it was 10 years ago, where does time go? <_< ) Anyway, we stayed in a gite near Ste Mere Eglise, and enjoyed the local wine, including some in local-branded bottles. The wine was bought in a shop in the town square, Italeri's 1:72 C-47 was bought in another shop in said square, and here's the result. Happily, the boxing included markings for one of the units that dropped on Ste Mere Eglise, confirmed by doing some "on-the-spot" research in the Musee des T

Thanks chaps, not only answered my question, but increased my Russion vocabulary as well. Cheers, M

Happy New Year All, I was perusing the Ejection Site (http://users.bestweb.net/~kcoyne/frame_sg.htm, it's a useful resource) for information about the Soviet K-36DM, which is the seat in the Su-22M Fitter, when I noticed that the seat is built by Zvezda, who apparently have quite a track record in egress systems. Anyway, is this the same concern that now produces models as well (and if so, we can probably assume that any Soviet bang-seats will be accurate)? Can anyone enlighten us, as enquiring minds (well this one anyway) want to know. TIA,

I'm with you on that one.