mozart

There’s plenty of room in the market I think for both a top notch car-door Typhoon from Airscale (the earlier ones tended to be “Bombphoons”) and a 100% IM bubble-top from Kotare especially if complemented with rockets and rails…..but I suspect you’ll be waiting a long time for the latter! VERY happy to be proved wrong though!

I remember from years ago an article that said the Revell u/c legs were over length, it’s part of the reason why my build stalled.

Yes, the "sit" is pretty important isn't it Andy? I'm not 100% convinced yet about the Typhoon, but the tailwheel isn't yet fixed so it's still WiP!

I’m very relieved to announce that she’s finally up on her legs, not terribly elegant looking right now but all seems well: Still a long way to go and still a dilemma about the wheel covers, but one step at a time! I'm watching, and very tempted by, another MDC Typhoon on eBay, I have made a silly offer and if accepted another Tiffy will be added to the stable!

A bit more, hopefully correct, progress. The length of the main oleo is a bit of an imponderable, Peter's 3D printed ones are understandably overlength so I needed to adapt them to the MDC kit seating shape and depth within the wing. This latter aspect concerned me the most, but when thinking around it I concluded that its (most likely ) length would be determined by the other parts of the mechanism, most of which aren’t easily seen. Hopefully this pic illustrates it: If location points 1 and 2, then 3 and 4 which are moulded in the wing are right, then 5 (the MDC/Airscale interface) must be right? And this then determines how the oleo sits. I haven't really tested its strength yet...... A few pics culled and cropped from some on Ebay today: Armourers getting some 1000lbers ready for an op., 193 Squadron MN982. Two points strike me; firstly how the D obscures the middle digit of the serial number in the first photo, and in the second the port squadron codes are painted the other way round to the norm, so X-DP rather than DP-X. These codes were applied at squadron level so 193 had their own method!

That was a great book by James Clavell, huge number of pages but read it a least a couple of times.

Thanks Denis…..we’re planning for Normandy/Brittany next year but that’s a long way from Lyon!

Thanks once again Dennis and Alan, much appreciated. Found this useful reference pic last night: and whilst I had the Tiffy upside down in the jig I thought I’d test the fit of the lower parts of the Sabre. The aft end of the scoop couldn’t fit because I hadn’t cut enough of the fuselage underside away so it was out with a sharp knife and razor saw for some delicate surgery. Needs a lot of tidying up, as do the wing roots, but it’s now more promising:

Which I do of course Dennis!

This afternoon has been a bit of a head-scratcher involving the undercarriage and covers. Peter's wonderfully detailed u/c legs are a MUST for me, but I initially encountered a slight problem with using them alongside the other MDC parts. The parts that Peter has supplied to me are the main oleo plus an actuating arm: but the MDC u/c parts have the same, though less detailed, actuating arm. There is also a smaller arm which, on the Airscale offering is at the wrong angle to fit correctly into the MDC wheel well. So after much thought and trial fits, I have reluctantly cut off the "Airscale arm" at the indicated point: Not a lot is visible of the detailed parts so I'm ok with what I've had to do, but I'm slightly worried about the strength of the u/c structure; it's already quite a weighty model so I'll have to make sure that the oleo is firmly glued in place to take the brunt of the weight. But there's another difficulty too, the Airscale main wheel well covers, so detailed and beautifully rivetted, are considerably larger than the MDC ones: This is a shame but I'm afraid I'll have to use the original MDC ones, fortunately it appears that the Airscale oleos fit well with them: Next!!

Hope you have a super special day!

Oh yes!

Blimey, such technicalities are way beyond my comprehension but I’m glad you know what you’re doing! Onwards and upwards then Peter, the sky it seems is the limit!

Oh dear Peter, what an absolute bummer! Looks like my kit-bash car door Tiffy might be finished first then. I guess it’s way too early to hint at a revised timescale with probably many imponderables in between.

Breath-taking seat Guy, an absolute work of art! The rest of the tub complements it well, so my expectations for the remainder of the build are sky high! No pressure at all my friend!

I know next to nothing about Me109s Denis, but as a model of an aeroplane, especially the paintwork, it belongs in the Louvre!

Thanks Guy, she’s looking more and more like a Typhoon: Hoping to make a start on the undercarriage tomorrow, but there’s quite a lot more to do on the engine then the area behind the pilot so plenty to keep me busy.

Yup, me too, thanks Peter! On the subject above of using masks etc, see here for my foolproof technique!

There's been some discussion about masking routines; there are many techniques or methods, but for what it's worth, this is mine on my Typhoon using MRP paints: I should have added that the yellow is freehand, take care not to spray/stray onto the white area nearer the centre! I always think of this as the "lazy man's way" because tape is used next to cover up all the masks and their edges so no spray through is possible.

And I read that colour as medium sea grey Guy.

Not only photos on the walls P-t, but also a small bookshop where I bought this little gem:

Me too. I find the whole subject of PR fascinating, especially so since staying at Danesfield House a couple of years ago, which was PR HQ, RAF Medmenham.

Thank you chaps, I appreciate your comments and support…..I’m pleased you gave me an interpretation Mal because I’m not sure I would have understood otherwise! The build is certainly giving me lots of entertainment, pleasure and food for thought; it makes an old man happy! Talking of entertainment, I have just finished reading this book: Richard Hough writes very well, he’s a thoughtful and sensitive man who did his ab initio training flying Stearmans in California. Whilst there he got to know many of the Hollywood stars very well, they were “doing their bit” to entertain the brave boys who were learning to fly. Coming back to the reality of war torn Britain with food rationing, black outs and the dangers of nightly raids, not to mention the tremendously challenging flying and navigating conditions, was a bit of a shock. He trained on Hurricanes and really loved them, then was posted to 195 Squadron flying Typhoons out of Norfolk. After a tour of ops. he was sent “on rest” as a Controller, vectoring fighters onto the new threat of Doodlebugs. He finally managed to get himself back on ops., joining 197 Squadron again on Typhoons till war’s end. His assessment of the Spitfire, Hurricane and Typhoon amused me:

I’m sure Bob (MDC) will be along soon with an answer.

But you’re not painting the roundels over black surely, aren’t you doing the green/brown camo first?