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They're the sort of subjects that might interest minor players, but I can't see Airfix ever taking them on, but as this is the wish list forum it's your prerogative to wish away. In fact Valom do Viking and Valletta kits in 1/72, but no Varsity. Aeroclub did a mixed media Varsity, but that was some time ago and the company ceased trading when the proprietor retired. The Beverly has appeared in the form of resin and vacform kits and Hannant's list a 1/72 Beverly as current - I can't name the manufacturer because for some strange and curious reason it's a banned word. Mach 2 do a 1/72 Argosy, so you never know, they might look at the Beverly one day.

joy I use a magnifier or loupe for detail painting these days, I find it much less tiring, but yes, for any sort of repetitive process frequent breaks are a good idea (individual track links, LOL).

As well as the KP kit, Clear Prop also do a DH9A kit. This is a bit more expensive, but more sophisticated than the KP kit. KP do tend to do their kits in short runs, but they recycle quite frequently. The Airfix DH4 was always very well regarded, but disappeared off the radar sometime late last century. You'd have to think something is amiss with the tooling for it not to be re-released since then, but given its popularity you'd hope a new tool of the same standard as the BE2c is on the cards some time.

The $64,000 question is, is it £100-150 lovely? I'd be interested to know because the images I've seen of builds, including yours, look rather good and I might be up for one myself.

This kit has been out of production since some time in the nineties, possibly thirty years ago or thereabouts, so anybody looking for one is likely going to have to pay a premium for what is now a rare commodity. There's a couple on ebay right now, I suspect the same seller in the USA, buy-it-now is £150+, plus shipping (from the USA!). If this is the going rate, then it makes the one you have been offered look like a bit of a steal, but don't quote me on that and bear in mind nobody else seems to have one to sell online. So a lot depends on how much you'd like this particular kit. From my own perspective I'd be thinking that for £100 there's quite a few very nice looking Heller classic ship kits that are probably superior to the Airfix HMS Prince, although to be fair the Prince has some good reviews.

It was intended as a primer coat.

Trumpeter are listing a Queen Elizabeth at 1/700 in their 2023 catalogue.

People using search to look for an answer before asking a question? Heaven's above! You might as well be King Canute ordering the tide to turn. One of the things I've learned from forums is that people almost invariably ask before searching. As for Airfix staff involvement on the forum, they know they're on a hiding to nothing. If they get into any sort of spat or disagreement with a member it's a lose/lose situation. We know that from the original Airfix forum when there were staff involved on the forum. They were completely shocked by the hostility expressed in some of the posts that were put up. The loss of image data is regrettable, but to be honest during the switchover when it went from days to weeks before anything happened I thought they were simply going to pull the plug. This is the forum that you've got and as they say, it is what it is.

I think I'm going to give up on this forum, I just got a 'your post contains bad words' when I attempted a reply, although I can assure everybody there was neither invective or anything offensive in it. I'll try again, here's a pic of the starter set model from 'a toy fair held in Germany'.

An interesting analysis, but it's not unusual to have a 'consolidation' year after a couple of busy years. The last few years have been relatively bountiful, especially in comparison with what things were like before the Hornby takeover. The guys in Germany are also offering a relatively thin 2023 programme, it may be tied in with the economic cycle. We've all got used to prolific programmes.

Use increasingly fine grades of abrasive. I tend to favour foam sanding sticks, if you do a search for Infini Softback Sanding Sticks you can get a set of eight that range from 220 (coarse) to 4000 (ultra fine). Wash them out after use and they'll last quite a long time. They're really good at polishing out scratches on transparencies, a polish up with the 4000 will give you a good glossy surface.

I use Mr Surfacer and it comes in black, white, grey and red, so you can choose a colour that works best with whatever plastic the kit comes in.

There's multiple issues with this MiG-15, for instance the fuselage is over-scale for 1/72 resulting in too much length and width, the latter throws the wing span out. The wings are not bad but lack the trailing edge tabs, as does the rudder, plus the undercarriage is rudimentary. I still had a hoot building one and I added the missing tabs from scraps of card and used seat, undercarriage and wheel parts from an old Dragon kit. I don't judge a kit by its accuracy alone, if it's fun to build then it has some value and at the time it was a perfect stress buster. It's recognisably a MiG-15 when complete, the mismatch between the wing and fuselage scale is not particularly noticeable and comparing the fuselage proportions with photos, it's not far out, simply not 1/72.

The Plasmo YouTube channel has excellent tutorial videos on how to do oil washes.

Are you using a swab that's wet with thinner as opposed to slightly dampened? This might make a difference, although you don't say what type of varnish you're using, that could hold a clue to the problem. Also, is this a pin or sludge wash? For the latter clay washes are recommended as they can be removed with water.

It sounds like whatever thinners/carrier in the varnish was too 'hot' for the paint. I've seen dozens of posts across forums/social media where people have used Humbrol aerosols and get a reaction with underlying paint and I would guess the aerosol has hot solvent in the propellant. If you're using an airbrush try misting a layer on before laying down a heavier coat. Personally I use old school Klear for sealing because it's pretty much inert and doesn't usually react with other media.

I'm presuming you mean Humbrol paints because there's now so many manufacturers doing model paint and in all sorts of different media, it makes my head spin. It's difficult to fathom because you'd think whenever Airfix release a new product then there would be good availability of the paints required for each kit. That doesn't seem to be the case. If you're having difficulty obtaining the paints you require, then you really need to cast your net further away than just the Humbrol range.

That's my own view, especially if taking into account scale viewing effect. Even at a fairly modest distance a feathered edge on a real aircraft gives the appearance of a hard line. I'd also regard it as marginal at 1/48 with the caveat that it is possible to portray feathered edges by raising masking off of the surface of the model.

As the late Edgar Brooks used to point out, frequently, on other forums, rubber mat masking was in use, but when and where are questionable. In fact the old Ducimus published Camouflage and Markings series of monographs included a factory drawing for masks in its Spitfire edition. There has been a lot of debate whether or not the use of masks was extensive. My own feeling is that it may have been used extensively in factory paint shops, but even then, with experience the painters probably dispensed with them. Official orders permitted 1" overspray (soft edge if you like) and competent personnel would have been able to achieve this comfortably working freehand. They may also have been used by maintenance units, but as with factories, experienced painters may have dispensed with them. Personally I would dispute the idea of rough and ready, adherence to the patterns would have been closely monitored, irrespective of theatre and only in the most extreme circumstances will you find examples of rushed painting.

I would recommend two books by Michael J F Bowyer, Fighting Colours and Bombing Colours, they're considered definitive and are compendiums of articles originally published in Airfix Magazine. Availability on the second hand book market appears to be good.

Availability is a bit of a pain, Gunze products have limited distribution in the UK, but you can buy with confidence from Model Display Products: https://www.modeldisplayproducts.co.uk/

Seems to work for both, at least lacquer acrylic. You'd probably end up with a gummy mess if you tried it with aqueous acrylic after thinning.

Mr Color Replenishing Agent, does what is says on the bottle. Add a drop to hardened pigment, leave it overnight and the pigment will be gloop the next day. Thin with thinners as required. I've used this stuff to recover pigment that's set like concrete.

I'm not convinced that Humbrol are dropping enamels entirely, although with the way the regulations are nowadays I can see why they're 'encouraging' consumers toward acrylic. In recent years they seem to have made an attempt to either rationalise the range, or release enamel (and acrylic) paints in cycles. I would think that with the problem of anti-skinning agent in enamel the shelf life is a lot shorter. We probably have to accept that the days of rolling up to our favourite emporium and seeing a Humbrol rack brimming with paint pots across the entire range are over. I left it behind some time ago because quite honestly there are better products available these days. If you're worried about not being able to buy enamel paints, at the moment Hannant's are listing about four pages worth of Humbrol colours and their own Xtracolour enamels are even more extensive. Revell are still doing Email Color and if you go to specialist suppliers you can get Sovereign Paint Colourcoats enamel and Phoenix Precision Paints enamel. Although the latter is aimed primarily at railway modellers they also do a range of military colours.

This works with enamel as well, paint adhesion to transparent plastic is usually not as good as opaque. If the paint is a little stubborn moisten the end of the stick with a tiny amount of thinner. Polish up after with a swab. To avoid bleed, as well as burnishing you can also apply a small amount of clear varnish to seal the edges.