spellbinder99

You are right, that boxing has the correct P-400 style 12 stub exhausts which would be the most difficult part to replicate otherwise. Apart from that the Special Hobby P-39 kits seem to have all the appropriate parts for most P-39's so I reckon that will do especially as the Airacobra Mk1 is the P-400 in its original British markings. Cheers Tony

I got this kit the other day. I was impressed to see how they had not taken shortcuts with the sprues but made all the WildcatFish parts new moldings. Look forward to building it. Cheers Tony

The hope that Dragon would continue their range of manned boosters to include a 1/72 Saturn 1B is part of the reason I have supported a lot of their real space efforts with purchases on my part. I am pessimistic that it will be 100% out of the box but at the very least I hope it would be a better detailing basis than the Saturn V as a lot of its major errors are below the SIVB and I can see Dragon trying to use the upper stack straight out of the Saturn V box. Still want a 1/72 "Clusters Last Stand" for my stash! Cheers Tony

Hope you have a good time here in Adelaide, Rodney. As mentioned, Craig Chidleys' Aeroworks at Colonel Light Gardens is probably the best specialist aircraft kit seller in the state. He is open all day Friday (9-5) and 9 till 1 on Saturday. Hobby Habit has two shops, a smaller one on Main North Road just past Gepps Cross and a much larger one at Daws Road, Melrose Park. Complete Hobbies is also right on Main North Road at Brahma Lodge, they are mostly RC but have quite a well stocked aisle of plastic kits. John at Model World is a wonderful old gentleman who deals in second hand kits at VE

I worked on the 79 Squadron Hawks for BAe for a year about eight years ago and at that time I recall it was rare to see anything other than the fairing on the wing tip. Ray has a good point, they mostly just had wing tanks on as external stores. Cheers Tony

Yes, the Revell (Matchbox) 1/32 kit comes with skis, floats and wheels and a Canadian canopy. It doesn't have instructions or decals for the float option but all the parts are there. Cheers Tony

I have to agree with Jay. Though different in detail the block 200 S-IVB of the Saturn 1B and the Block 500 S-IVB of the Saturn V are dimensionally identical. What sort of dimensional difference are we talking here? Here are three Airfix S-IVB's, from both original issue and retooled kits. The AS-203 adapter is on an early issue unmodified S-IVB and the AS-204 is on a new issue red-box Saturn 1B. The right one is my re-detailed Airfix issue. The adapters are from Martins models and while not a drop in fit they are close enough that only minor fettling sees them mated up. Cheers Tony

Right there you have filled a need for the Airfix 1B, well done!! Cheers Tony

Thanks John, excellent. I will chase down a copy of the relevent magazines but that will be fine for now. I know that often the drawings cross-pollonate between mags, but if they are different I would like to see those scans as well. Cheers Tony

Nice one Jennings!:) Cheers Tony

I am looking for some reasonably detailed drawings of the Short Sturgeon, either in its prototype form or in its later TT2-TT3 versions. I have the Butler book on order but I see from some research that there have been some magazine articles in the past: Scale Aircraft Modelling May 1997. Aeroplane Monthly Vol 6 No 10 October 1978. Aviation News Feb 7 1986. Am after the info for scaling up for a possible larger scale scratchbuild project Even scans would be very helpfull. Cheers Tony

OK, I was a volunteer there in 1981 when we were still engine running the Beaufighter outdoors. Had a good time manning the admission box and because my Aunt and Uncles house was two hours by train away we often slept in the DC-3 on Saturday nights rather than go home. BY heck that could get cold in a Melbourne winter! From the Museums old newsletters I gleaned that the first Beaufighter was so completely vandalised by the kids it was scrapped then replaced by the Moorabbin example. It was well on the way to meeting the same fate when the Museum was formed specifically to save the aircraft. T

When did you volunteer at the Museum? (As in what years?) Cheers Tony

Fantastic job Bubble! Cheers Tony

I was fully expecting the Stack to cost over $600 Aus landed in Australia. That I got it for $550 was a real bonus to me. I think it is a great kit and even allowing for the joint filling needed on the fibreglass components it looks like there is STILL less filling and cleanup than on a Revell 1/72 scale Shuttle Full Stack kit!! ;) Cheers Tony

Fantastic job Bubble,you have been really quick building that! Is that the paint scheme recommended in the instructions? I agree with what you say about filling the tank and boosters with foam, there are a few thin spots that would probably be OK but will be more secure with some form of backing. I also note you have reinforced the tank to booster attach pins with longer rods? Again an idea that struck me as soon as I saw the size of the parts. I would love to see a picture when it is all stacked together. Cheers Tony

Hopefully the price does come down. You can get the E/B direct from Hobby Terra for $468 US and they give you free shipping on that, which given how big the box is makes it a GOOD deal in my opinion. My cost landed in Australia was $550 Australian which is $490 US so is comparable. Be aware that these are part of Amodels' Amonster range which can go out of production after a while. Orbiter wise the two are pretty similar in size. The Energya core is much taller than the Shuttle centre tank and has four independent engines with nozzles and the four boosters as opposed to the two SRB's of the

Well, I picked up my Amodel kit yesterday and Moses!, it is a big box and kit. Impressive box art painting of the Energya/Buran boosting away from the launch pad. For scale it is longer than the Dragon Saturn V kit box by a fair bit and for a change the box is fairly full of parts. Amodel pack their kits very well with the centre core, external boosters and Orbiter wrapped in cling wrap and all the detail sprues packed in appropriate sized zip-loc bags. In addition the four external boosters are taped together then wrapped in a sleeve of bubble wrap. The Energya core is a one piece fibreglass

Really happy, I got the Energya/Buran stack kit today and it is very impressive in size and the number of detail parts. I will try to share some images soon but I must say it is totally worth the price of admission to me! Cheers Tony

Yeah, No...... 328 does not and never did have that air brake system fitted. I spent a lot of time at Moorabbin in the early eighties and a lot of that time was spent up close and personal with that aircraft and the outer wing flaps were just that, split flaps. Looking at my copy of "Whispering Death" I found I had stashed a cutting from the October 1st, 1981 edition of Australasian Post about the Moorabbin Beaufighter and it has a pretty clear shot taken of the aircraft being disassembled at Portsea in the early sixties taken from above and to the right rear of the aircraft. It shows just pla

One of my local model shops has the kit in stock for $28 Australian. I don't know how that compares to US prices. Cheers Tony

The instructions do not mention it in either the full Saturn V kit or the Apollo 10 CSM + LM + LES stack kit but it is there. Sprue a (not A) part 18, near the BPC. If you are doing the full Saturn kit it will be molded in clear plastic, the Apollo 10 kit is in grey. It is just a small ring shaped piece, but it is present in all my kits and the built up versions I have. Cheers Tony

Great minds Habu. I am almost certain that the Apogee F1 fairings could be adapted to "fix" the Dragon ones, just needs a brave soul to be the first to try....:) Cheers Tony

And there in lies the question. Given that the Revell kit requires almost 100% replacement and redetailing to approach a satisfactory display piece, is that really so much different to the Dragon kit? Yes it is dissapointing that so many years later the kit is not better but it is still very impressive as it stands.....it could have been so much better. Cheers Tony

The inaccuracies have been documented by others more knowledgeable than me, I suggest a look at the Yahoo Space Modellers group as a start. I have two of the pre-built versions and one of the kits and I think they are all worth what I paid for them. Indeed, the Dragon 1/72 kit version cost me under $140 Australian while the Revell 1/96 kit cost just under $200 the last time I saw it in shops. To make the Revell close to presentable it needs the New Ware resin set and all the body tubes replaced, the Dragon suffers more with lack of detail and some erroneous parts like the shapes of the F1 eng