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Hi there, It's been far too long since I visited the site, which is remiss of me but I do miss those email prompts that use to tease one, no matter how distracted from modelling you were, to at least take a look at a thread of interest... Anyways, this thread is partly prompted by a book I've just read titled "Eject! Eject!" by John Nichol. John is a retired RAF backseater who ejected from a Tornado over Iraq. From what I've gleaned so far, he and his mate ejected from a Tornado over Iraq in 1991. Since leaving the RAF a few years later he has become a noted author writing a number of novels and non-fiction books, Eject! Eject! being one of the latter. The book is a history of the development of the ejection seat in which John cleverly intercedes its development cycle with a number of first-hand accounts from both the early testers and later in-service survivors. Reading the book made me think about how little thought many of us give to modelling ejection seats with any real sense of accuracy or detail when given the critical role they actually play in saving the lives of aircrew. Having spent 3/4 qtrs of my working life in uniform associated with military aviation, it made me feel a little ashamed in hindsight sending me off to look through my very limited collection of 1/48 and 1/32 military jets to just to see how accurate the seats are in those kits. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of after market replacement seats I have purchased over the last 30 years (in both scales) which did ease my sense of guilt a little. So while I'll probably not buy any more after market seats per sa, the first models I will shed in my quest to reduce the dreaded stash, will be those that don't have the correct or accurate seats included. For the few these I will keep, I'll take more time and care in making sure the seats are as accurate as I can make them. The book is a dam good and interesting read and as I have noted does make you think about prioritising particular items when building jets that we should/could spend a little more time on making as accurate as possible. Along with finishing this book the other part of the drive to link back into LSP is the recent conversion work I'm doing on an Airfix 1/72 super freighter into an RNZAF Mk 31 B170 Freighter. This is for my brother in law who was the maintenance engineer on No 1 SQN some years ago. This project has led to pulling out a rather large box of started LSP kits so I thought it was time to come back into the fold after a more or less 6 plus year hiatus... Take care one and all, Regards Brent

Knowing several of the Kotare team personally and noting that the majority of them are the ex-WingNutWing design and production team, if there is something in this kit that doesn't look right I'd say check your references. When I saw the internal ribbing of the fuselage and mainplanes, I immediately thought that they are there to represent the production skin to structure rivet lines evident on the wartime Spits ie those that had most likely seen some combat flying. There is little point in trying to only compare the detail with a modern day rebuild without looking at wartime images This will clearly be evident to those amongst us with lots of "picture" books from old, in which the images therein, apart from showing the raised lines of rivets on the fuselage as appropriately captured by the Kotare kitset, also show the external "ribbing" effect, particularly on the wings. It will interesting to see a coat of paint on a finished kit and see just what the ribbing produces on the external surface. Rgds Brent

Thanks for the comment Pete, And, had some time over a cuppa, and in sunlight, to look a little deeper at the kit and the Kotare team have used some very clever engineering to conceal the upper fuselage joints, and have, mostly on the fuselage, subtle raised panels and rivet heads where appropriate. Plus all but the cockpit and canopy sprue ID tags state "Mk 1/11/V", the latter marked only Mk 1/11 which makes sense noting the cockpit sprue includes the top engine cowling and Rotol prop and spinner. There is mention in the instructions that they will deal with later Mk 1s in a later kitset... Unless someone beats me to it, I'll figure out how to upload up some images of the sprues (haven't done this for a while) doing it will have to wait a few days as the dairy is pretty chocker at present with other things. Rgds Brent

Thanks for the feedback, Your digital imagery of the main rotor attachment/hinge point and the hinging tail/rotor assembly exemplify my comments about the Wasp being a relatively simple aircraft, we could spread and stow both the main rotor blades and tail section in less than 5 minutes, no fussy electrics/hydraulics, just a blade cuff, speed wrench/socket, the blade brace for the tail-boom when folded, and a couple of pairs of hands, easy peasy (well except for when in adverse sea and weather conditions of course...). The images at the link you provided bring back many memories. Re configuration, most of the time the RNZN & RN Wasps flew without weapons but as noted the RN did often have the missile sight installed. The RN didn't have the missiles so while there were hard points installed for the carriers, these and the sighes were never fitted to our helos in RN operations. We did have torps and I think Mk54 depth charges the fuses dating back to WWll days, was always an interesting time prepping these and looking at the manufacturing dates. Keep up the great work, Best Regards Brent

Hello there folks, Guess what has just been left at our front door... It's what I call the perfect "kitset", looks exactly like what it's supposed to, a Spitfire, there are two prop and spinner options, seperate control surfaces (saves me cutting them out - thank you!), and both elevators are a one piece part so no misalignment challenges if having them drooped like most Spitfires do when sitting idle on the ground. The kitset also includes resin exhaust stacks (there are plastic one on the sprues too) and two canopy options, either in three parts to be open or a single piece closed option. In particular, and to my personal preference, the detail is just right being sufficient to give a prototypical "feel/look" without producing an additional 150+ parts which more often than not can't be seen, just make the part count look impressive, probably end up in the spares box and more than likely add 50% to the kitset cost - please excuse my cynicism. There is a 28 page coloured booklet style set of instructions which are the best I've ever seen in any kitset. There are decals for three different aircraft and each are illustrated across two pages with images of the actual aircraft and a wee piece on the pilots who flew them. Having met Kiwi pilot Al Deere many years ago with Johnny Checketts, it's a no brainer for choice from this modeller. On top of the model is a double sided A4 page with an introduction by Kotare's proprietor, Mark Robson, it makes for an interesting read with accolades to his modelling design team, investors and mentors - nice to see Keith Bunyan's name there as one of these, he was one of my modelling mentors 40 years ago. Also included is a 390mm x 260mm coloured print of Al Deere's KL-B BoB Spitfire, a nice touch. There will be plenty of detailed reviews of this model and if Kotare increase their range, I'm sure they will be as successful. So despite trying to significantly deplete my kitset stash, I'll be hard pressed not to purchase their kits in the future. Thanks team for putting your time, effort and funds on the table to produce this. Rgds Brent

Hi there and welcome aboard LSP, Another Kiwi here also based in Christchurch and an ex-Waspie to boot (HMNZS Canterbury early 80s). Great little helo, many memories maintaining them in all sorts of different parts of the world and extreme differences in temperatures and with very few problems keeping them flying. I won't say they were always a joy to work on but they were a pretty simple machine at the end of the day. Looking forward to watching your progress on this and wondering if you are you intending to produce the floatation "gear" always installed used on RNZN ships when at sea? As a side note, it's been a wee while since I've visited LSP, however the combination of three young granddaughters (who we regularly get to look after), still trying to settle into some sort of a retirement routine, the impact of that blessed C thing, some minor health challenges and the discontinuation of the LSP thread emails as a prompt to take a peek at what's going on here, modelling has slipped off the radar a little, not sure how ended up getting to this thread but I've been thinking about taking a peak here for the last couple of weeks, what better way to get back on board that a thread with a personal connection... And for Anthony, must be time for that coffee... BRgds Brent

Thanks for the prompt, it's made me get off my chuff and order a small hobby spray booth, something I've been meaning to do for the last 6 months since shifting homes, cities and Islands (North to South Is) having disposed of previous painting set up prior to moving south. Rgds Brent

A timely reminder (albeit a "possibility" of causing cancer) to reinforce the PPE message and in particular to wear a mask and gloves when painting and sanding and use good ventilation, and a prompt to buy myself a paint booth sooner than later. Be Safe and Keep Well Rgds Brent

Today is the annual Wings Over Wairarapa airshow in Masterton, New Zealand (my hometown in another life) which features much of Peter Jackson's collection of full-size WW1 aircraft plus the usual Spitfire, Anson, Harvards, T28, P40 etc. This year marks two special aspects of the show, the first is the highly anticipated flyover of a USAF B52 (the first ever visit to New Zealand of the type) and and added bonus is the Wing Nut Wings stall which is by all accounts sounds like a warehouse clearcut. One of our sons went over and called me an hour ago (around 0900) asking if I wanted any WNW kits so has purchased the Sopwith Triplane and Fokker E111 (both with figures) and the DH-9a (post war) kits for me. By all accounts it's business is brisk at the stall even this early. While I should be elated with the purchases, I feel at odds knowing a number of the folk at WNWs and it has the feeling his might be the real end of the WNW line. Here's a link to the airshows website with the intended program: https://www.wings.org.nz Keep safe and well out there. Rgds Brent

This I can very easily relate to having just done the retirement move last August ourselves. It entailed preparing the house for sale (complete internal repaint and keeping 1.5 acres of native bush tidy for house viewings), selling then moving into temporary accomodation while looking for another house in another city and another Island, while caught up in the middle of our Covid-19 lockdown here in NZ. So, due to the impact of CV-19, there was no time to refine all of our (ok, mostly my) "stuff" which has been accumulated across 43 years of marriage, living in 9 different homes in 6 different locations around the country. My "moderate" stash was the first thing to be packed up and put into temporary storage as coming out of lockdown we had 10 working days to pre-pack the house which we had to do ourselves as the movers, even though pre-booked months before, had a huge post lockdown backlog so could only give us 3 hours the day before the house pack went straight into temporary storage. We've been in the new digs for almost 6 months now and I'm just getting to review the stash. Even though it took nine Cook Straight ferry crossings (each at 3.5 hrs) to bring our vehicles, plants, tools and other things here to our new house, I'm glad I didn't do the big stash cull as there a quite a few changes to the list of "keeps" since starting the moving process back in Aug 2019. - Moral is: don't rush stash disposals if you can help it. So, good luck, I hope it all goes well for the sale and move and my thoughts go out to you all as the globe works it's way through the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

Hi There Dale, Best wishes from across the "ditch" Rgds Brent

The 3D printed 1/32 Andover is my nemesis in this space, putting the He111 and Ju88 kits aside of course being part of a BoB collection thing. Despite working on C130s, P3s, Bristol Freighters and with C141s, B727s and 757s, when pinning the 1/32 Andover kit together I'd clearly forgotten just how large the real aircraft is. However, of all the full sized fixed wing aircraft I've worked on, it's probably the only one of these that will pop up as a LSP kit so no regrets and as much as I shouldn't, I'd look very hard at a BAE146-200 in 1/32 if one was ever produced...

An interesting question, my first question would be have you ever built plastic models before followed by a second one, if so how long ago? I've sat on a number of committees of railway/railroad and plastic aircraft/figure/AFV clubs and professional (mostly aviation and safety related) committees and councils and their national bodies over the last 40 or so years and in the last 20 years there has been a huge focus on trying to coax young folk into the fold. The effort in time and cost to do this is most often out of proportion to the gains, sometime way out of proportion. I have been an advocate for several decades now to market across the board but aim for the 35+ and older audience as there are just so many competing activities for young folk these days that take all their time, energy and often money, not to mention what seems to be a shorter attention span at this age these days. As pointed out with so many more "mature" folks furloughed, taking early retirement (myself) or being laid off there is a very large potential audience out there looking for something to do. Our eldest son - a pilot - has just been furloughed from Air New Zealand and I'm mentoring a 63 year aircraft engineer (just two years younger than me) who has been forced to take early retirement and wants to get back into model railways after 40 years away from the hobby. Our son, while a modeller, is somewhat preoccupied with a six week old bubs and an old house (bought pre covid for his Canadian in-laws to enjoy the new born) to now renovate to rent. However, he was here just a couple of days ago picking up models he bought in the US in 1997 on a holiday there that we've stored for him as he worked his way around the world. His comment was as he tucked these under his are was "they're not great but they are a good starting point" - he has learnt well! Just last evening I had a phone call from a friend in Wellington asking if I can give a friend of his living here in Christchurch (where we've just moved to) who is in the same predicament and wants some guidance to get back into the hobby after decades away from it. The thing here is to pass on the "crawl-walk-run" process and get them back into the hobby in stages by starting with cheaper and easier kits to assemble as nothing will turn them off faster than spending $200 (or more) on a really beautiful kit but not succeeding as they are simply beyond their ability/skill set to successfully complete. Apologies for the diatribe, this is obviously a pet hobby horse of mine, but if we want to bring more into the fold, and most importantly keep them, then many will require that level of mentoring, and for the most part it's a hugely satisfying activity to be part of. Be safe and keep well, Best Rgds Brent

Hi, a moderate sized box arrived here today in Lower Hutt with one very large model in it. While I didn't actually work on either Andover SQN, as the Resident Engineering Officer at Harewood Airport in the early to mid 1990s the team I managed there were responsible for repair of most of the components, the engines and repaints. I flew on them many times and once we standardised the avionics fits and shake them down, they did sterling service for New Zealand. Re the engines, they were RDa12s, the biggest and most powerful version of the Dart and different in many ways to the other versions of the engines. From memory, they were 3 times more powerful than the earlier Darts. I should be able to get access to the one at Wigram Re the model, I actually meant to get the 1/48th version but got a bit carried away at the time of ordering (we'd sold our house a day before so thought what the heck!). I'm really pleased with the kit, while there are some items that will require tweaking, it looks every part of an Andover, but my 1m detail rule might be a bit tricky to comply with given the size of this model, my back would be against the other wall of the room. Bought a house in Leeston over the weekend with a room I'll be allowed as a model room but it's a couple of months away yet so will admire the bits for another day or so then pack it away. Thanks for linking me in at the start Anthony, no regrets whatsoever. Stay safe and stay well, Best Regards Brent

Well I have no idea what prompted me to visit LSP a few days ago but I did. With little time in recent years, particularly so as we've been busy for the last 12 months getting our house here in Wellington ready to sell. It did sell three weeks ago but of course has been caught up in the COVID -19 crisis so is on hold at present - nuff said on that, other than almost all of my kits, modelling tools and modelling "substances" are sitting in storage about 10 minutes from home. However, being in self-isolation lockdown in our homes here in NZ, like folks in many countries around the world, the models etc will remain there until we are through this event and are cleared to move about. The first thread I found after logging on was that on this GB. After a couple of days of thought I decided I'd give it a go while stuck here at home. I'm still doing 40+ hours a week working remotely from home and also finishing off packing so it's not like I'll will have a month of free time to just model. My wife and I appreciate how incredibly fortunate we are to keep our jobs at present by being able to work remotely even if it means our kitchen table currently looks like the back end of a computer server room cabinet covered in laptops, desktop processors, screens, keyboards, cables, mice and other computer paraphernalia strewn across it - and yes we are eating on our laps until I tidy it up! Anyways back the GB, despite a reasonable collection of jet a/c in 1/32 that fit the GB criteria, the only kits I left here at home now are the Red Arrows BAE Hawk, an FGA 9 Hunter and mostly disassembled 1/24 Harrier started 40 something years ago (there is a He162 but that won't count unless I try and squeeze in those flown by the French post WW11 but don't think they would fit within the GB rules). I have only a few tools, some dilapidated decals, hopefully some glue and filler somewhere and my spray gun, compressor and some paints here at home. So I'll try and give one of these a go noting it will be a rudimentary build not having glued plastic for a almost decade now unless it's something to do with model trains, and that the decals might have to wait until we all get through this pandemic so I can order online and know they will be delivered. Finally, keep safe and well out there, and if you are in a country locked down in isolation please stay in what the NZ Govt refers to as your isolation "bubble" ie in your home with your family/friends, and follow the rules and guidelines so we can break the chain of infection. If you are an essential services person, thank you for your dedication, we are in your debt - this from someone who has played in the infectious diseases space for coming up near two decades. Best Regards Brent