Kenneth ONeill

Well, from Wikipedia "The Hampden used a flush-rivetted stressed skin design", which would suggest deleting the "Airfix Rivitter". Beyond that we both built the kit in the same time period so I'll see you in "Memory Lane" then?

@Heather @john - Well, the Jericho Trumpets were definitely fitted to at least some Ju-87s* in period, so I'd want to see photos of the specific airframe before saying that either with or without was wrong. * Using the abbreviation "Stuka" is probably wrong since it's an abbreviation of Sturzkampfflugzeug which translates into English as "dive bomber", and the Germans did have other types in role.

A bottle of liquid cement is similar price in the UK; I've bought enough Airfix starter sets to have tube glue for the next decade or two!

Ref the top rails on the handrails - In this period they would definitely be gloss varnished teak.

"Photo too large" almost certainly refers to an image size like, say, 800x600 pixels and/or the related file size which will be in kilobytes or megabytes.

Indeed. One of the first things I noticed (and this is a criticism of the tooling, not the modeller) is that the nose and cockpit transparancies fit where they touch!

Patrick, that last shot is the most eloquent argument I've ever encountered for making the 552 as a P&O vessel rather than a Cunarder! Yes I know it's "not correct" but I honestly think that it's "right" anyway.

It's the oldest boxing of any of these sets that I've seen.

I always had trouble with those undercut sections too, largely because Airfix moulded them correctly! Any Airfix PzKfw IV I built was moulded in an approximation to Afrika Korps yellow though.

I think that Ian and I would agree that the Gnat is a good place to start, since it's about the same size as a WW2 single engine fighter, but having a bathtub cockpit and sparless wing makes an easier first build than, say, the wing spars and tube frame of the Airfix Hurricanes.

1) Cheers; I've never actually done this but am working on doing it with a Sabre-F, so "knowing how" stuff is useful. 2) I wanted to build my Gnat with the bay open, but thought that if the door was closed you had less mass at the pointy end in your case and more space for ballast on a landed model if you omitted the insert.

As @FAAMAN says, with the additional note that the slicks are wrong as well! They have sharp points, rather than flat ens and the nose fuzes (and shart yailes rather than tail fuzes as well).

Apologies for the belated thoughts:- 1) Could you use 5 minute epoxy to secure the leading end of the support rod, rather than drilling into the turbine, or sharpening the rod? 2) Did you actually need the avionic bay detail part, when you were building the bay closed?

G-AMSU could be configured for passengers or cargo, I think if you leave the benches out it is accurate in its civvie guise. A shame there's no option for passenger seating, maybe one of the aftermarket resin companies will oblige in due course? Cheers Paul. The para benches can be fitted in their folded configuration, which would allow the BOAC machine in its cargo role, but I'd wanted airliner seats (and a different airline) for personal reasons.

Airfix Dakota IV (the one with the Dan Air and BOAC WW2 markings). My original intent was to build it as an airliner, but the interior only includes paratrooper benches for the self-loading cargo area.

Your name makes me think "French", but that doesn't mean anything regarding where you live. If it's in the UK certainly dealings with Hannants mean UK sales of goods laws, which means that they have to recompense you for return postage on defective items. I don't know if this would be true if you live in France?

@Cyb I can't be certain about the "bone" but internal bays on USN types have been painted gloss white since at least the 1950s.

Sea King HAR 3 - I won't do a full review here but it's got the best interior of any Sea King kit I've ever seen.

It's not like you could ever have put Grand Slam, Tallboy, or even the 4_000lb "cookie" in a Stirling without totally re-engineering the fuselage.

@Ratvh - I don't "do" 1/48th 'armour', so shoot me! 😉

PE - Photo-Etched detail set. A piece of brass (sometimes stainless steel) shim stock with fine detail parts etched onto/out of it. For example, a set for a late WW2 British ground-attack type might include the "pig-tails" for the ground-attack rockets and structure that can't be moulded, a set for a car might have brake disc covers for steel discs, pedal covers, exhaust manifold and/or turbo heat shields... See www.eduard.com for lots of examples (NB Mods, this is a case of their pics will be worth millions of my words and Airfix don't make PE).

Yes, from here to attaching the lower wing is the "nervy" bit as things get heavier and more delicate.

There's precious little new material being produced (or even kits that have been sitting in the tool store for 30 years), and what there is isn't in the usual 1/24(or 1/25) and 1/43 scales for vehicle models.

Revell's 534 (I'm Scottish, I'm from near John Brown's, and know someone who's dining table and sideboard are off-cuts from the fitting out; shoot me for using hull numbers if you dare) was declared as being 1/570 scale, so would be 1.05x larger, say 5%. You could separate the Queens with some other vessels from your collection so it doesn't show like it would with the 534, 552 and 736 yard display models adjacent in Glasgow Riverside Museum. Beautiful work on the Stockholm and the Andrea Dorea too.

@james_mower - Well, my Uncle was an airframe fitter/builder for Scottish Aviation (and later British Aerospace/Jetstream) (and arranged a plant tour for me) so I did actually know that. 😎 My point was that it's an unusual way to build a model kit.