T2B

Have you tried Airfix Customer Services?

There should be another small piece with a 90degree bend. 1 end has a ball and fits into the knuckle part you have pictured, like a ball/knuckle joint in your hip or car suspension. The other end of the small piece has 2 pins that slot into the holes in the bottom on the fuselage of your aircraft that you should have opened up before closing everything up. Obviously the long portion of the part you have shown slots into the base. Hey Presto 1 Dogfight Double Stand with 2 aircraft in action poses. I'd show you an image that would be better than my thousand words but this site is a pain uploading images!

At least you can upload images, some of us (or is it only me) cannot get images uploaded with a repeated error message 'snap-something went wrong'?

Thanks for your compliment Matthew. As for the paint I used A068 US Army Desert Sand - FS0279 straight from the bottle (maybe diluted slightly for spraying). It's from the Hataka Modern Royal Air Force Set Vol.2 in the Red Line range for airbrushing. I'm lead to believe the US Desert Sand colour was borrowed from the US Army because the RAF had nothing suitable when they were first deployed to the Gulf region in response to the crisis.

And....

Looking good PMM with steady progress!

Finished.

Decals done and some weathering effects added.

Your Bucc looks very good and dirty Paul. I like your display base too!

Thanks PMM and the notable word software is very sensitive. I had the same thing recently when trying to describe how to stretch sprue using an 'undressed flame'!

A close up image of the cockpit area and pilots whilst in flight!

Thanks 96RAF The decal job continues over several days, about 20 normal decals and 100+ very small to tiny stencils!

Ed, masking isn't that daunting. All you need is some quality masking tape, a good sharp modelling knife and most importantly some patience. I do it quite a bit but for difficult glazing I do invest in a professional mask set if I need to. As Ratch says you can't please everyone all of the time. Airfix probably do a good job of meeting a broad market place ( though I think it's rarely recognised ) and I love the extra cockpit/fuselage detail that are included in new tool kits! For kits that include mask sets, PE etc like the Eduard Profi kits, would take Airfix to a new price point and thus would be a more specialist market for experienced modellers. This would take them away from the majority of their customers!

And some decals were added.

Outer wing sections done as a sub-assembly are being painted.

And you usually find the kits with added PE or Resin from the likes of Eduard are about double the equivalent Airfix kit, so as Ratch suggests it would probably exclude the kids market and those on a lower budget. As stated some detail is added, moulded on seatbelt detail for a bang seat insert from the new tool Airfix HP Victor. Only painting required. Oh they are making this modelling lark easy!

Very good builds Patrick and excellent scratch building by your father to produce an aluminium replica, and a pretty large scale too!

And some paint has been added!

Thanks for your comments 96RAF and yeah would be interesting to see interior images of an actual aircraft. The build continued with adding some wings to the closed fuselage.

You may actually find that some of the new tool kits (mainly the jets with bang seats) have alternative seat inserts with moulded on seatbelt detail. Alternatively painted thin strip's of masking tape works very well! It's more of a challenge than a decal but that's MODELLING!

Oh dear Patrick, I feel your pain. Sods law deems your tiny brass nut will appear after your expensive new valve has been delivered 🙁!

Thanks Paul & Colin. Yes I used images of Gulf War aircraft to try and replicate the worn battered look and I'm pleased you think I have achieved it!

And the fuselage was closed around the cockpit.

Then 2 redundant pilots were rescued from my spares box and given meaningful employment!