Archimedes

Nice work! I like the effort you are putting into getting the fit right. It will make all the difference once the paint goes on. Kind regards, Paul

Goddamnyoualltohell Kag!!! Must you always put temptation in my way!? that is a good deal…. kind regards, Paul

I do get why you say that: That tends to be a HS Hobby though, not so much here. Our group here tend to take a fairly considered view of any release (and leave their ego’s and colour biases behind). What I have seen here is that trolling comments tend to be kept to a minimum here as they get shut down pretty quickly - the moderators do an excellent job of that. On the other hand, when there is a genuine shape or colour question here: we tend to be highly fact based, accept the known variance that can come even with photographic evidence and the potential inaccuracies of drawings. We have a very healthy culture here that tends to avoid unnecessary thick redlines and comments like ‘unbuildable’ when all we have seen is sprue shots. Kind regards, Paul

HI Chris, thank you for the pointer; I see that Aerocraft are planning engine and canopy upgrades. Any thoughts on a replacement set of tail-planes to replicate the TF.X? The Revell kit has the flat tail plane which is correct for the 1F but not for later marks. Like you I have an interest in the Beau’ due, not only to my Bristol connection we have discussed previously, but also due to reading about Bob Braham’s exploits in ‘Scramble’. A most pugnacious machine indeed!…. Kind regards as ever, Paul

…and this is why I gave up ever going to HS a long time ago and joined this August group of reasonable, knowledgable and polite model makers. LSP is a hugely enjoyable place to be in comparison to the aggressive culture that has existed for years at HS. Thank you ALL for making LSP such an enjoyable place to be. Kind regards, Paul

Hi Mike, Oh, nice! What a lush build! If I could fly only one military aircraft ever, one of these would be it. Your build is shaping up really well! Thank you for sharing. Kind regards, Paul

Neat work Tolga! Your work has long been an inspiration to me down the years - I first saw your work at Hyperscale and now here. That is a beautiful build up of the Kotare kit. Kind regards, Paul

Oh but you will young Jedi….you will.

That is a fair point Chris and many of us are alike in that. I now have two Kotare Spitfires (and likely will crumble for the early Mk1 to do a 19 squadron aircraft and a Vb if/when they do it) but I’d probably only buy one Anson if ever it were available. That is the conundrum facing model companies: to do enough of the money spinners we are all familiar with to have a profitable business whilst making enough of the ‘interesting’ niche stuff to hook us fickle modellers into a particular brand. Richard Alexander is coming from a highly informed view point to be able to make those decisions: he ran his model shop for years before running WnW and now Kotare so he’s seen, from multiple angles, what sells and what doesn’t sell. Whatever Kotare do, I wish them the best of luck. They have made a great first impression. kind regards, Paul

Well said, that man!

The thanks is entirely due to @Christa who raised it. You are probably right but to have some manufacturer do this would be wonderful. But we are drifting off topic a bit. I agree Kotare do not look the most likely to do this and almost certainly not their next release (says Paul like he has any inside track…) Kind regards, Paul

Wow @Christa! What an idea! As @thierry laurent says, that is firmly in the realms of a ‘quirky release’ but YES! I’d buy one in a heartbeat. So that makes two sales at least…. Kind regards, Paul

HI Chris, I am enlightened regarding British Airways. I wonder if the current British Airways did a proper intellectual property search when they settled on that name. Fascinating. The Microsoft Flight Simulator ‘skin’ is not to be taken too seriously - there is a whole community dedicated to generating these renders (known as ‘skins’)to put over a 3D CAD frame. That community has as wide a range of abilities and willingness to go into details as the many scale modelling fora do. I was just interested to see that you are not alone in your interest in Hillman’s Airways. Here is G-ADAH where she resides now resplendent in her final livery: Kind regards, Paul

I don’t know if this means anything at all but my mate took his dog into a vet in Auckland yesterday and saw the back of this envelope on the receptionist’s laptop. Luckily he had the presence of mind to take a snap. Does @dutik have some serious inside track info he’s not letting on about? I’m up for a couple of Balrog duelists. P.

Evenin’ Chris, You piqued my interest and I went looking. You are probably entirely familiar with all of this but for those who are not; G-ADAH certainly had an eventful life which began with Hillman’s which is concisely captured here: https://aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=63954 This appears to be a picture of when she was delivered on January 30th 1935: I’m not totally sure of the Aerial Visuals accuracy as it says G-ADAH was transferred to British Airways keeping in December 1935 and went via Allied Airways to be withdrawn from service in 1946 and has since been added to the collection of the Air and Space museum in Manchester where it is now in ‘Gandar Dower. - Allied Airways’ colours.. Now someone correct me if I am wrong but I believe ‘British Airways’ was formed from the merger of BEA and BOAC in 1974? Whatever the story of this airframe, it has generated enough interest that someone has created a ‘skin’ of it in Microsoft Flight Sim’: Interesting stuff! Kind regards, Paul

@Tony T, I agree with @Pete Roberts - that is a great piece of lateral thinking! I would buy a ground support set, a 1/32 Rescue Launch and indeed a Walrus as long as they are as well researched and engineered as the two Spitfire kits I have purchased from them. But, If I were running Kotare I’d make the next releases the following: 1. Messerschmitt Bf109 E3 2. North American P-51B Mustang 3. Hawker Hurricane. Then I’d do something more ‘esoteric’ like ( @mozart) an Avro Anson, or ( @Christa) a Bristol Beaufighter, or ( @CRAZY IVAN5) a Lysander. From the numbering that we know about, their planning (and possibly their development), is at least 9 kit types in: For now then, I am happy to wait and see what they announce. Exciting times! Kind regards, Paul

Hi Kev, I love the choice of subject, the choice of markings and you are doing some very fine work (in both senses of the phrase) on a kit that is not the easiest to complete. Well done so far! Kind regards, Paul

Thanks Ray! Kind regards, Paul

Spot on Thierry. Here is a thought: whatever Kotare are planning as future releases, even those in the far future, does everyone realize they have probably been chosen a long time ago and are being worked on right now? Let’s not forget the Lancaster was one of the first things WnW started work on…

Nice work! I’ll enjoy the build up on this one! Kind regards, Paul

Fully agreed!!! kind regards, Paul

All good but, if we are talking PZL I’d rather have the Wilga… …and now I can’t remember who is developing it! Is it Polish Wings? I’d also like a PZL PW-5 but that is a pretty unlikely airframe for anyone to do. Kind regards, Paul

It would be a tough one to pull off well but I agree with both @Palm-tree and @Artful69 Rog' that a Do-17 is one of the BoB aircraft that would at least appeal to some of us at LSP (and probably a wider audience?). It would fall firmly into the 'quirky' side as opposed to 'definite money spinners' category though. Given that Mark Robson said he had over 80 airframes proposed and Richard Alexander had his own list, it is anyone's guess what 'non-Spitfire' airframe will be next. What I am fairly certain of however is that commercial reality will drive their release schedule far more than it ever did for WnW. But remember that Richard Alexander let out of the bag that the Lancaster was one of the first things that WnW started so, even though we may not see quirky release for a long time, the Kotare team may well be working on something 'quirky' already in addition to the money spinners and that is a heart warming thought. Kind regards, Paul

I like your logic. When it comes to Spitfires I'd argue that 1a, Vb, IX, XVI and Mk 22/24 are the most significant. If I were Kotare I'd leave the IX alone as Tamiya nailed it but a Mk22/24 would be welcomed by many so that we have a state-of-the-art Griffon engined machine. Kind regards, Paul

@Johnny Cloud You raise a good point: sometimes it is not the subject that attracts us as modellers but the joy of the kit that a manufacturer has created and how well it goes together. Kotare fit that description very neatly. I’d buy pretty much any subject Kotare made if they continue to make kits to the standard of research and manufacture that the Spitfire Mk1a has been created with. Kotare PL-11 Airtruck anyone? (the original New Zealand version…) Kind regards, Paul