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I think Tigger made the same discovery about white spirit dissolving decal film - in his case it was Tamiya decal film for an F-117. I tried to do the same on a couple of decals from the Tamiya F-14, and while it removed the decal film after a bit of rubbing, it also removed some of the inks. Luckily it was an experiment with surplus decals:)

-38 would be the original customer number - presumably QANTAS, and the (ER) would be Extended Range. Boeing designated the last two numbers for customers which they retained whatever aircraft they ordered. Braathens SAFE had -05, so their 737-200s they ordered in 1969 had the designation 737-205, with the added QC for the airframes with a cargo door on the forward port fuselage to allow them to be quickly converted to carry cargo instead of "self-loading cargo". Later, BU operated 737-405, 737-505 and 737-705s and then they went belly up.

Black Magic painting - looks terriffic! Like Marine 104's post above, I seem to recall that Alclad Chrome would be best applied over an enamel base coat. What about using Future as a clear coat over the Chrome? Being water based it shouldn't react with the paint. While it will dull the finish slightly, it will make the model look more scale like in shine perhaps? I did once attempt to foil a Hasegawa 1:72 Starfighter, and while it looked tremendously shiny (the original aircraft was highly polished too), the model appeared far too shiny. The HGW rivets under Alclad paint look great and I think captures the effect seen in the photo.

It's a 747-400. The -300 (also has an extended upper deck) has the original wing without winglets - the wing root at the leading edge is different. ANA did/do operate some 747-400s on domestic routes which don't have the winglets though. The 747SP is very noticeably shorter in the fuselage, and the 747-8 is noticeably longer, but I don't think QANTAS operate those.

The problem with the kit spinner is that it is too blunt - compare the images of the two spinners. The Barracuda spinner is what it's supposed to look like (apart from the slight out of roundness). Annoying though it is, you can add some epoxy putty to where it doesn't match the circumference of the backplate and sand smooth. If there is any added thickness around the cutouts for the propeller blades, you can remove material from the inside or chamfer the edges to make the edge thickness consistent. Given that the real thing would be sheet metal, I'd think that would be a sensible thing to do anyway.

Whenever I need Tamiya spare parts, I have contacted Time Tunnel Models here in the UK. You will need the kit item number, the sprue item number and description. They will then email you back a price for the parts (only complete sprues - not separate parts). The numbers are on the back of the instruction sheet. You can pay by PayPal. You may want to check your junk mail folder as many of their email replies to me end up there - in spite of me ticking "not spam". They are usually quite quick in replying - within 24 hours normally.

The appearance of the 20 mm cannon of the B-wing were also different from the C-wing configuration, so what seems to be confusing is the lack of an outboard "stub" that is blanked off with a hemispherical fairing which was common on the C-wing. Not sure why this aircraft doesn't have that as removing the additional "collar" for the outboard 20 mm cannons would have been far more work for very little gain, although I believe Seafires with the C-wing often only had the 20 mm cannon fairing with no additional "stub", so maybe the aircraft was made like this or had a wing change?

I have one of these Tempest noses too, and I too found the location of the pouring gates inconvenient. However, I can't see any other way of reliably casting it AND pulling it from the mould. The only other alternatives would have been to make the nose solid, which would bring about it's own set of problems, or split the nose vertically leaving the modeller to join the pieces and risk losing detail in the process... Go carefully with the saw and do the last bit with wet and dry and patience, and there should be no damage to the part.

Ah, yes..."The Imp from the East"... Looking at BBC Look East though, some parts of Norfolk and Suffolk had plenty of snow - a couple of feet deep, whereas in our part of Essex, we probably had two inches spread over four days.

Operationally, when the low back Merlin Spits (there were also Mk. IXs with the low back) came on line, the e-wing was all that mattered. I seem to recall some equipment needed to be relocated to the wing for the low-backs, but I can't be specific, so all low-backs were e-wing. For civilian conversions or disarmed low-backs I don't know. In the US, your best bet may be to contact Tamiya US to see if you can purchase the sprue through them.

I think my -200 had window masks, but it's up in the loft so haven't checked...

Chances are the resin covers are just recasts of the Tamiya parts anyway, but the relevant sprue also covers additional components that you may use. See my edited post.

Good show - even getting the spacing consistent:)

For such a well thought out and presented kit, that sounds odd. There are masks included in the -200 and -100 kits, no?

Get the relevant sprue from the Mk XVI kit from a Tamiya or a Tamiya agent/stockist. Then you won't have to deal with any resin shrinkage and you can use plastic cement. I have used Time Tunnel Models here in the UK with no issues. You will need Sprue LL number 19116055 and kit number 60321. The kit needs to be currently available for them to get the sprues though, but the Mk. XVI should be available. Sprue LL also includes parts for the gun barrels,the wheel well insides with new blisters as well as an undercarriage leg with less of a camber. You may not need the new blisters and undercarriage leg, however. The reduced camber was introduced when operations from hard surfaces rather than grass strips became more common, and the reduced camber necessitated the large blisters over the main wheel wells.

Tamiya F-16D

Like the effect of the "ghost footprint" of the underwing pylons. Must remember that.

That does look tidy.

That looks rather impressive. Hope they will bring out a Poseidon at some point.

When I was in engineering college in the mid-80s, myself and a fellow classmate decided to write our diploma thesis on maintenance of Norwegian Air Ambulance's BO-105 helicopters. We even managed to join in for a test flight:) Anyway, the main rotor blades had a similar colour coding on the pitchlinks to each blade from the swashplate. After replacing rotor blades or doing other work that might affect the blades' trajectory, they mounted coloured cats' eyes to the tip of each blade corresponding to the colour of each blade/pitchlink. The technician would then use a strobelight during flight to check that the cats' eyes (the light bouncing off the cats' eyes, making them appear as four coloured lights in the sky) were at the same level. If one blade was out, they would go back to the ground, bend the trim tab slightly to make the blade higher or lower as required, and try again. Seeing these coloured bands on the tail rotor made me think they serve a similar function.

Your best bet is to find a photo of the aircraft you are modelling. I believe the Mk. VIII typically used the same fishtail exhausts as the Mk. IX (they were both powered by Rolls-Royce Merlins). The Mk. XVI used the Packard-built Merlin, so likely that it might have had the round exhaust stubs. Be aware that there were low-back Mk. IXs too - that would look like the Tamiya Mk. XVI kit. And similarly, there were high-back XVIs. The engine was what denominated the Mk, not the fuselage.

One visual improvement is to get the Zactomodels intake which will also make short work of eliminating seams. Both NSI and MCID intakes are available, depending on the subject you want to build. ResKit make P&W exhausts as well as GE giving you more choice of markings.

That's excellent service from BPK. Interesting to see the kit includes the "gravel kit".

Excellent model and photography. The cowling panels didn't fit that well in real life either:)

If you'r only going to build one 737-200 in 1:144 Derek, go for the Authenic Airliners kit. Everything you need for a detailed and correct model wit ha minimum of fuss is in the box.