SimonCornes

The Paris fire service certainly did a great job and France can be proud of them. As for rebuilding in 5 years, that sounds ambitious but who knows. Full restoration is really the only way and where you get 13,000 oak trees from at short notice, I don't know! Bon chance!

Very, very sad. I was lucky enough to visit the place 12 months ago and to appreciate the grander of such structures. It will undoubtedly be repaired and it will cost a fortune and it will take a long time but it will be done. The poor firemen had really no hope with a structure so large. So may ancient buildings are at risk and, sadly, it is usually the act of a workman that starts it all off. Very few places like this have any kind of proper fire protection.

Thanks for the assistance everyone. I am certainly looking at the Hannants option but I'm not too keen on buying generic sheets on the grounds of not expecting to need to use most of them in the future. A very useful stencil set though! Thanks again

Hi Ray Thank you for your offer. I will get back to you in a couple of weeks, Simon

Having just acquired this Trumpeter kit I am looking for some suitable Russian AF decals to replace the PLAAF set. Can anyone point me in the direction of something fairly simply - a representative Russian AF jet in natural metal finish please? Seems to be a bit of a tall order! Thanks

I must admit that I'm also looking for the decals from the RNAS boxing. I'm hoping that a couple of people might be able to help and then I'll get a full set!

The question of metal gear reinforcement is an interesting one. In other Trumpeter/Hobbyboss kits you have the same injection moulded undercarriage 'core' elements but you also get a set of white metal parts and are expected to use the metal, much as Tamiya do with some of their kits. It looks as though HB either 'forgot' or decided to save some money. Ali has jumped into the breach and done what HB failed to do and I for one am very glad because I would hate to think the wheels may end up either breaking off at the axles or bowing inwards and the brass replacements mean its not an issue and having saved so much compared to a similar HKM kit, we have plenty of aftermarket that we can add to the kit and still get nowhere near the HKM sort of price. I have one set if brass legs in the 'J' kit box and a second set on order for the inevitable B-24D ! Now I want to see what Eduard are going to pull out of a hat - apart from colour etch interior sets. They did B-17 wheels - which Iain is using for his B-24 - and so I suspect a B-24 set will be the next step but I am intrigued about whether they will do replacement resin turrets. Time will tell! Simon

Just seen a very good thread on LSP about a chap who restores turrets. Well worth watching! This B-24 is a kit that screams 'Start me' because its all there but then I cant because I want metal inserts for the gear, resin wheels, better guns and maybe a Zoom instrument panel. Still not sure if I can live with the engines but, to be honest, you could just build it and have a very big B-24! If you do it properly you could even build it with the kit turrets and make it possible to lift them out and replace with the aftermarket versions - which will hopefully arrive! So mine will sit in its box until I can get the extras I want. But hopefully someone will start a build thread?

That is great Jim - thanks for finding it! Oh dear, the HB Emmerson B-24 turret is looking very basic and clunky!!

This is all very intriguing and I will be interested to see how Ian goes on with his wing correction. Regarding turrets, no one has compared the HB units with the WNW Lancaster. I know we are talking a different cost philosophy and I'm very glad that HB have produced this 'starting point' but, clearly, it is possible to produce very accurate, thin glazed turrets in this scale. It strikes me that the likes of Aries/Quickboost would/could do a beautiful job in resin - comparable to their resin cockpits if the demand was great enough. In fact I'm slightly surprised that an after market company haven't already started doing turrets for the B-25 and B-17 although the B-24 has 'more' different turrets than either the 25 or 17. The glazing is the big issue. In the UK Alleycat have done some very nice clear replacement resin canopies although I believe casting in clear resin is far more demanding than the cream opaque stuff. We don't need guns, we already have various choices on the market, it's fine detail turrets and glazing that we need. How much should a nose/tail or top turret cost? £20 apiece? Actually thats still cheap compared to the cost of the kit! Simon

Thanks Kevin - just looked - there lies madness , have closed it quickly!! Thierry, thank you, that could be very useful. Only 2 sets I see, will RB have a stock at Telford I wonder? I'm not going to put money on it!!

Oops, not available though Hannants - will have to buy them directly from Eduard - also at Telford in a fortnight !

Thanks for that Petrov, I have found the item now. Very different to other forces straps and a pity HGW don't do a set! Something to add to my Telford purchases list with Hannants I think! Thanks also for the opinion re Dr.I straps, I will go with your suggestion

Hi Thierry I just had a look on the Hannants site and the only thing I can find is the Eduard set for the Roden SPAD VII. A pity they don't do the straps alone but, to be honest, I would prefer HGW fabric belts but I accept that I could use the image of the Eduard straps as a pattern for some out of lead foil. I'm surprised that HGW don't do a set though. I am also looking for straps for a Roden Fokker Dr.I but again, nothing listed. I suppose they could be somewhere between an Eindecker and a D.VII ? !!!

Can anyone suggest a good source of straps for these WWI machine please? HGW don't do anything specific. I could make something out of lead foil but Roden kits all need some strappery so I wondered what the solution was? Thank you