paul fisher

ANother good option here is to go to Thommy Thomasson's website, he has quite a lot of good info on this topic.

The main difference will be the way the top of the fairing mates to whatever fuselage you're using.I had the Douglas drawings for the AD-5W which I used to create the parts in my kit.I don't know if that information is on the hard drive that escaped the fire with me but I will take a look later today and if I've got it you're welcome to it. There are other major differences , the entire cockpit and cabin as well as the aft cabin cover and a hatch built into the belly where the dive brake used to be.If you plan on fitting out the after cabin be prepared for a lot of work. 3D printing a copy of the kit radome hollow like the resin parts would be best, it will get very heavy otherwise.

Not really sure where to put this as I've never reviewed a product before but the new book from Crecy on the Macchi 200, 202 and 205 fighters arrived yesterday and simply blew me out of my socks.I was deeply into building Italian aircraft in 1/72 scale back in the 70's and 80's when I could see that well and lately my interest in trying again in a larger scale has been growing so I went ahead and bought this book. We had nothing even remotely this good to go from and the Italian publications of the day suffered from poor photo reproduction and paper. I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of detailed information, drawings and best of all clear period photos that really show the design and construction of these beautiful 'planes .One thing I note in particular is that none of the paint applications are the same from 'plane to 'plane, even in the same scheme the motions of the human arm and hand are visible in the random application of the markings.A feast for the smoke ring aficionado.I am already searching for a better airbrush! Since losing a fifty year accumulation of books a few years ago I have been extremely picky about what I have replaced.This is certainly a book worth the modest price and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about these gorgeous aircraft. Best, Paul

This monster just gets better and better! Can't wait to see it finished!

Just outstanding work going into this.....Always liked the Stirling and to see it in 1/32 is just a treat!

White would be the normal color.

This will be lovely...I spent two days there back in 2005 getting every picture and measurement I could.Can't wait to see your progress!

For all the ink/pixels flying about this kit I have to say that looks superb.

Looks delicious! I had wanted to kit this up for many years but feared that it would not sell well.I think time have changed enough that it should do well, I certainly hope so. These guys are doing some great stuff!

Your best and lowest cost solution is to use the Trumpeter AD-4 Korean War kit, the conversion is really designed for it , using the ZM kit is a major adventure and a big waste of money as said above.You'll want to get the nifty corrected propeller for Roy Sutherland at Barracuda Studios. Also remember to put a .040" sheet plastic shim between the wingroot and the fuselage to correct the excessive dihedral of the Trumpy wings, it makes a huge difference in getting the proper look.I can't help with the decal issue, but scrounging up the right stuff should be possible.The kits all came with decals for multiple aircraft so perhaps someone who built their model has some leftovers? good luck!

I'm going to jump in here to try and clarify a few things. Firstly, as far as going back into manufacturing and casting, I am not planning on doing it.I don't have the tools or facility to do what I used to do before the fire, and I'm getting too old and lazy. I used to work seven days a week to maintain a big enough catalog of stuff to make a living.I can't even imagine what it would take to bring all of the stuff back to life.Much of it is not worth the effort, the kits that were and are still in demand are all pretty big and expensive to mold and cast. As a few have mentioned, you can't just copy-mold a large, fairly complex model and expect it to come out OK.Shrinkage happens at a number of stages from master to finished castings and you'd end up with some undersized junk that might look OK in the box but it would make for very unhappy customers when they tried to assemble it... That hasn't stopped a few people from doing it over the years, especially with the race cars.What a nightmare that was.... The best way to bring something like this back now that the technology has matured would be to 3D scan the best example possible , build the correct shrink into the model parts on screen and then print out the parts in high resolution for masters if you planned on casting in resin.Better to just 3D print hi-res finished parts on demand and avoid the huge expense of tooling. Still a fairly slow process if you want hi-res, and still expensive.I can see it coming down to a practical level in the near future, but we ain't there yet.The progress along these lines since I got sidelined has been amazing. I am indeed working with an old friend here in the US to bring back the Red Baron racer one last time but the other kits were going to be made in Europe by a company that folded up during Covid so I have no idea if or when anything will happen along those lines.I am still looking into other options here in the US. I agreed to Alistair doing something with the Hunter two seaters and the Meteor conversions but nothing else.We recently talked at some length about Skyraiders, I encouraged him to do the AEW.1 since that's the missing link and saw service with the Royal Navy.That 'plane is based on the single seat fuselage, not the wide body anyway and would be a great project for someone to do in 3D print....hint hint... I have no problem with someone one-offing parts for their own use but I would very much like to be in the loop if somebody wanted to do production based on my work like any craftsman. We all know that as soon as somebody invests a bunch of time and money in this a plastic kit will be announced anyway, right? Many thanks for listening, Paul

I wanna see some pics of the actual kit.....This is making me nervous.It's either gonna be a stunner or kind of meh like the Stirling or the Sunderland.I could get all twitterpated about WW-2 Italian airplanes again .Or not.

Well that just sucks....Hopefully things can continue on .

Another great mash up!

Very Cool! About 45 years ago (!!!!) I modified the then new Frog Sea Vixen backwards to FAW.1 standard. I have been thinking of doing the same to the Airfix 1/48 kit but I am just getting back into model building and it will be a while before I get into that one i think. Scale up your files and maybe offer them for printing in 1/32? Could be fun!

It's just crazy how well this works! Can't wait to see it finished up.

My kind of madness......

Many thanks, I've been a ghost for too long.Trying to find my mojo. Finally got ourselves a house two months ago and settling in, amazing some of the progress modelling technology has made over the last few years.

Wow.....A guy goes out for a smoko and Blammo! Revell get all crossed up and do the wrong Meatbox.Or so we think.......I'm a big an of all marks of the Meteor ( You probably knew that...) but I too have to think that this is either a rebox of the HKM kit or a serious misstep.I guess we'll see what it really is soon enough.Just dipping my toe back in the waters here.....

I remember seeing V C-10s in this scheme flying out of SFO when i was a kid....Must have built the old Airfix kit four or five times over the years.

This is one of the most inspiring builds I've seen in a great while....Beautiful workmanship and a great subject.Makes me want to build a Shorts Calcutta or Blackburn Perth in 1/32, the mind boggles! Paul

You guys have been amazing! Susy and I cannot begin to adequately express our thanks to all of you for your help in this topsy turvy world we now live in. Our insurance company has finally begun to respond to the situation so by mid week we should be OK and can get some idea of how all this will work out.I will keep you posted! Paul