Grizly

For Alain11, it's Trumpeter's PLAAF F-5 that I modified somewhat and added a resin cockpit, some Eduard photo etch, the drag chute faring and the inboard pylons with the rocket pods.

OK, I stand corrected. They are a Polish Lim-6, an Egyptian Shenyang J-6 and a Polish Mig-21MF all built from Trumpeter kits. The 17 was an early offering by Trumpeter and isn't one of their better kits. With a bit of work, however, it can be built into a reasonable model. The other two Migs are nice kits and can be built into respectable models straight from the box.

If, as Kaqemusha indicates, Peter Jackson has three of each Lancaster, then there has to be a bunch more Lancaster plastic, boxed or unboxed, lying around somewhere given the planned release in the first quarter.

While some have wondered about the fate of the Wingnut Wing moulds, it just occurred to me there is a more immediate question. The 1/32 Lancaster kits were due out in the first quarter of 2020. It is now April. Since these kits obviously just wouldn't magically appear overnight, there must be a warehouse full of them ready to go. Hopefully they will not be trashed and will eventually be retailed at a fair market value.

Two that I'd like to see are a 1/32 P-38J/L and a T-33 T-Bird. I know there was the Revell kit years ago and we still have the Trumpeter kit but a Tamiya Lightning would be really nice not to mention a model that would display nicely beside the Tamiya Mosquito. As for the T-33, sure there is the Special Hobby kit but again a Tamiya quality kit certainly has my vote. It should also be a winner from a marketing perspective as it was flown by over 40 countries. Tamiya could also take the idea a step further and offer a P-80 Shooting Star kit as the two aircraft share much in common. After all, the T-Bird was simply the P-80 design that was stretched to accommodate the additional seat/pilot.

The Sabre served with 434 Squadron when it was based at RCAF Station Zweibrucken, Germany and the CF-5A when 434 Squadron was stationed either at Bagotville or Chatham in Canada. Which, I'm not sure as I don't know exactly when the two colour wrap-around scheme was adopted. The CF-104 was with 1 Canadian Air Group in Baden-Soellingen, Germany.

From left to right - Hasegawa/Belcher Bits CF-5A, Italeri CF-104, Hasegawa Sabre Mk.6. Paints used were Xtracolor enamels. Decals by Leading Edge.

The CANAV book "The Canadair Sabre" by Larry Milberry has drawings that should be of assistance.

Further to my last, see the following regarding Luftwaffe Sabres... https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/canadair-cl-13b-sabre-mk-6-of-bundesluftwaffe-with-martin-baker-ejection-seat-1-32.33059/

As mentioned, the wings have to be shortened, sugar scoops added, vents added either side of the fuselage and the 'hump' forward of the vertical stab sanded down. Not mentioned is the 'cranked' pitot tube to clear the leading edge slats. Also note that the Luftwaffe adopted the Martin Baker Mk.5 ejection seat around 1960 which also required changes to the sliding canopy so be careful about the time frame of your subject model. The following is my Hasegawa Mk.6 model with Cutting Edge drop tanks and Leading Edge decals. Note, I also cleaned up the inside surface of the slats by removing the visible actuator slots and opened up the ammo bay on the port side.

One easy (and potentially expensive) upgrade for the Spitfire is replacing the engine with that from the Airfix Hurricane.

I see that Cybermodeler is now listing 'new' Airfix 1/24 Spitfire Mk.1a (kit 12001V) and Bf-109E (kit 12002V) kits to be released 2Q20. My quick search of the Airfix website shows what might be a re-issue of the Hurricane but can see no reference of the Spit or 109. Can anybody shed any light on these kits?

As 2020 rapidly approaches and more new kits will be released, remember when plastic models vaguely resembled the full scale item, rivets and panel lines were randomly placed, the number of parts could be counted on one's hand and there were no after market products to correct those fatal flaws?

I'd love to have a Tamiya 1/32 P-38J or L.

dmthamade - very nice build and I can understand how the rivets were of concern with your metal finish. I had similar issues with rivets with Trumpeter's P-47. In my case, the P-38's OD/grey finish minimized the appearance of the rivets considerably.