PhilB

Promise please that we won't have to suffer a WIP of you scratching up your arse end.
Thanks.

Promise please that we won't have to suffer a WIP of you scratching up your arse end.
Thanks.

There is now a bit of a gap in the timeline of the album. My father was on way to North Africa when the destroyer he was on got torpedoed.
He ended up on Malta without any kit. His camera and most of his later photos went down with the ship.
On Malta he managed to "obtain" some pictures and eventually a camera but things being difficult there was a shortage of time and developing materials but he did manage to save a few.
 
Here's a Spit "going upstairs"
 

 
" and he went this way and I went that way"....
 

 
This was a really grand old house,
 

 
Then the Luftwaffe paid a visit,
 

 
Think this maybe a Spit over Rabat, if you see this Brian (Cauchi) please help me out!
 

 
This is a view over Ta Quali I believe. In the background you can see the famous Mosta Dome where a bomb went through the roof and bounced down the aisle and failed to go off.
The church was packed at the time. Bit of a miracle really.
Some interesting aircraft if you look closely.
Is that a Hurricane NF?
You can also see one of the old steamrollers used to repair the bomb craters.
Good game of spot the aircraft types on this one!
 

 
Hurricane at rest:
 

 
We've got visitors!!!
 

 
And again!!!!
 

 
What really amazes me is that throughout the bombimg and the shortages, they still managed to act like gentlemen,
even though this politely worded invitation is actually a posh piss-up!!!!
 

 
Hope you enjoyed some or all of these.
 
That is all!
 
Phil

Sometimes things didn't go to plan!
 

 
Sometimes you got your feet wet!
 

 
Nothing a bit of Duck Tape won't fix!
 

 
Sometimes you got a picture of the locals going past: EDIT This is a Dornier J Wal built under licence by the Italians identified by Steve(Wumm)
 

 
Then it can all go wrong again!
 

 
Send for the Navy!!!!
 

 
Hmm! gonna need more than Duck Tape on this one!
 

 
This is the same aircraft after being repaired on board!
 

 
More soon,
 
Phil

A few things now for all you Fleet Air Arm blokes and somethings for you ship fans!
In the 1930's the Royal Navy often went on cruises. Basically it was a time when we used to sail round the world showing everybody that our ships were bigger and better than theirs!
These were the early years of the NAS and it was common for RAF personnel to be seconded. He did a couple of cruises around the Med on board HMS Glorious.
 
Here she is in Malta in 1934:
 

 
And in Gibraltar in 1931:
 

 
She had heavy escorts on the cruises, HMS Revenge and Royal Sovereign, good old battlewagons!:
 

 
And the pride of the navy HMS Queen Elizabeth which apparently was one of the oldest Battleships having been launched in 1914 I believe:
 

 
Bringing a float plane on board of 823 Squadron in Drapano Bay. You will have to help with the A/C Type!
 

 
This is a Blackburn Baffin. Photo says this was the first time one had come aboard and flown off the carrier:
 

 
More Soon,
 
Phil

I'm trying to post in relative time sequence but you will have to forgive me if some are out of place.
Once qualified my father was posted to operational squadrons.
here are some of the lovely 1930's stuff they had, real aeroplanes!!!!
 
These Bulldogs?? EDIT: Identified as Siskins by Doug(DougN) Thanks Doug!
This was taken at RAF North Weald in 1931:
 

 
Uncertain of this one taken in 1930: EDIT This is a Bulldog, thanks again Doug!
 

 
An "Atlas" from 1932:
 

 
Again, I'm unsure of these taken at Netheravon in 1935: EDIT These are Nimrods, Thanks Doug!
 

 
Here's a flying boat from Plymouth in 1934: EDIT: This is a Blacburn RB 3A Perth. Thanks to Rick(vvwse4)
 

 
This last one was taken in the Middle East possibly Cairo.
It is entitled "C Flight, 802 FF Sqdn 1933" Dad was on attachment with the Fleet Air Arm at the time and they had a habit of basing stuff on shore before deploying to the carriers.
EDIT These are more Nimrods, Thanks again Doug!
 

 
More soon.
 
Phil

I was doing one of those jobs today that I had been meaning to do for a long time and that is to scan in a lot of old photographs.
Some of you may be aware of my father's service in the Royal Air Force from posts on my Malta 109 build.
He served for 40 years from 1924 when he joined as a 15 year old engineering apprentice. He was one of the first "Trenchard Brats" which was a scheme started by lord Trenchard, the father of the RAF.
See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Apprentice
My father retired in 1964 as a Flight Lieutenant - Engineer.
His service saw many changes from the early biplanes, through the second World war and through the jet age.
Some of the photo's may be interesting to some of you so I thought I would share them. Many of the early one's are the postcards you could buy as no one had a camera in those days!
Others are obviously personal ones and I would ask you to respect copywright laws. Should any of you want high res copies of any I would be happy to send them if you drop me your e-mail and let me know which one's you want.
 
The apprentice college was based at RAF Halton where trainees were taught engineering from the very basics so they could effectively build an aircraft from scratch.
Here are some of the aircraft they trained on:
 

 
A Bristol from 1925
 

 
DH9A 1925
 

 
Snipe
 

 
Avro Andover, now wouldn't that be impressive in 1/32!!!!
 

 
And a "Bugle" whatever that is! EDIT: I've now identified this as a Boulton Paul Bugle, as in they of the Defiant in WW2. Very few made.
 

 
There are many aircraft I will be posting that I have no idea what they are so please jump in with info.
 
more soon,
 
Phil

Go tell Mel Gibson!
Thanks for the information about this aircraft.
Until now, the only thing I'd heard of from the US called Trojans were some sort of contraceptive device?
Seems you can fly 'em as well.
Safe flying eh????

I suppose this place is a bit like a university.
Difference being we all work for a living.
Best place for me at university would be in a big glass jar filled with preserving fluid.

+1! With Harv on this.
Really annoys me seeing the "verbal Hand grenade" dropped into a thread.
It just gets people going which isn't fair.
Just my two pence worth!
 
Phil

+1! With Harv on this.
Really annoys me seeing the "verbal Hand grenade" dropped into a thread.
It just gets people going which isn't fair.
Just my two pence worth!
 
Phil

Strewth, its was only a suggestion the other day mate!
I didn't think you would actually go and do it!
I just hope that strafer doesn't turn up in the middle of this one to tempt you.
But, knowing the attention you pay to ALL your builds I'm sure this will be a beauty!
I have a fair bit of experience in counselling so go easy on this booger, be prepared to walk away once in a while!
Onward!!!!!!!

Strewth, its was only a suggestion the other day mate!
I didn't think you would actually go and do it!
I just hope that strafer doesn't turn up in the middle of this one to tempt you.
But, knowing the attention you pay to ALL your builds I'm sure this will be a beauty!
I have a fair bit of experience in counselling so go easy on this booger, be prepared to walk away once in a while!
Onward!!!!!!!

Presumably this means no more red plastic????
At £19 each it sounds very good.
Time to break out those nice decals I have in the stash!

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen!
The summer is finally over and the kids are back to school so its about time I did some work.
 
Highlight of the summer and probably a trip of a lifetime for me and my daughter was a day here:
 

 
Luckily my little one was old enough to appreciate it:
 

 
I also managed to take some pictures of this bloke running in the 200m heats:
 

 
But back to the aeroplane!
Biggest problem has been getting the Avionix pit to sit in the fuse.
Not only that it has to sit on top of the Fisher nose and fit the Aires IP and shroud.
One of those real monkeys that can break your will but its finally in and the fuse closed up.
 

 
With this conversion you have to remove the hump from the kit and replace with the Fisher top of the wing which I've already done.
You have to infill with a small piece of resin. Needs some milliput to get it finished but its in.
 

 
Aires ip and coaming just placed in position and its a pretty good fit.
 

 
One issue I've seen with all these builds is the split underneath.
Easier to fill this than sand down the resin nose and rescribe so a shim of plastic will do the job.
 

 
Back in a minute with more.

Just a quickie which I'm hoping won't develop into the great Mustang "flaps" debate.
Superbugs parked on the deck.
Cans open/closed or no real rule either way?
Looking for guidance before I throw some hard-earned at Hannants for the Aires zorst sets.
 
Tanks in anticipation.
 

Glad you decided not to do the interior mate.
It would have diverted you from a quick, fun build which is always good to keep the mojo going.
Its the scheme on this burger thats the thing and it seems you have some great colours.
I didn't know Boyd had gone to the big paintshop in the sky???
We are way behind here with the series though!
 
ONWARD!!!!!!
 
Oh, just to keep the theme going, its a really nice beaver.
Never seen one snap together before!

The main gear bays from Aires come as a one piece unit.
Thats fine in that you can get a good secure fit and fix on one side but when closing up the fuse it could cause problems on the other side.
So I sawed them in half!
Had to mark then as it was mind bending getting them in the right place and the right way up!
But again got a good fit tacking with ca and then 5 minute epoxy.
 

 
They are about half a millimetre short in length but I'll fill the gap and disguise it to look like an interior bulkhead:
 

 
There is a kit piece which fits neatly over the join once the fuse halves are joined.
One thing that struck me was after fitting the air brake bay and the bay under the wing was that a dry fit of the fuse was superb.
 

 
These pieces lock the whole thing together and is a bit of great engineering from trumpeter!!!
 
Next job - Pits (and they will be the pits!!!)

More:
 

 

 

 

 
Some close-ups:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Back shortly with comparison pictures with its "baby brother".

This has been rather a long build with a break for Christmas, the New year, School holidays, the weather, bad karma and Brian keeping me off the build by chatting all day instead of working at his job like he should be.
Original thread here:
http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=36400
 
The real thing was a very clean showbird and I've finished to be as close as I can to this picture:
(Sorry about having to put in a link but Airliners.net have a very strict policy about copyright)
 
http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Air/Hawker-Hunter-T7/1927868/L/&sid=b061e72e5ac5dc8a1178a5365c8b2cae
 
Anyway I used the Fisher T7 conversion which had some issues for me.
I had to do some considerable work to get a good fit but thats modelling!!!!
I'm very happy to get a good result on the intakes which don't need fod guards.
Just taking time and patience will pay off in the end.
The base kit was the very good Revell F6.
Paints were white from Model Master, red and blue were White Ensign.
The rest were Humbrol enamels and clear coats were Model Master Gloss.
All roundels, codes and serials were Ad Astra masks which were the usual superb quality.
White stencils and crests were Ad Astra decals, the crest being a tricky two part job, but Ian's decals were some of the easiest I've ever used and that includes the big decal people. I added a few stencils from the kit sheet.
Enough talk, on with the picture fest!
 
Top and bottom views:
 

 

 
I got fed up waiting for a bright but overcast day so its bright sunshine pictures!
Bit of a walkround:
 

 

 

 
Back in a minute with some more.