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OK, so this will be an attempt to move on with my Anson, a plane that is very dear to my heart and which has been lingering in its box for far too long. Taped together below just to get some idea of shape etc: And this is a 1/48 (Classic Airframes) kit sitting on the 1/32 scale drawings for size comparison. My father flew them when he was a staff pilot at No. 24 Bombing and Gunnery School, Moffat, S Rhodesia in 1944/45 but this is the only photo that he took of one (they were so run of the mill and no worth bothering with I guess!): The original picture is only 40mm x 30mm and this is a crop of just one section, so detail is a bit vague. The colour scheme interests me, I think the front section and wings are probably the original silver but the aft section has been painted yellow when shipped to Rhodesia, though this little water-colour that Dad did shows them all yellow too: Time to have a detailed look through the bits and try to remember where I'd got to.

Ok, here is a quick look at my next project. This is the Combat Models F-106. I picked this up about 8 months ago and just recently bumped this up to the "Next" pile. Yes I know, I already have a couple of builds going, but this has been calling me. I have already cut the parts out from the backing sheet. Surface detail is quite good for a vac. It has a mix of recessed panel lines and raised panels. It comes with 2 vac canopies. Anyway I will begin construction slowly as I wrap up other projects. Here is an overall shot of the main components. My 35 year old 1:48th model provides a comparison in size. Later, Dan

OK, I'll take the plunge (gulp)....a good excuse to start my CM Avro Anson vacuform. The chances of finding out which Anson(s) Brown flew are slim to zero so mine will probably be one of the ones that my father flew on a regular basis. I've built a couple of the Classic Airframes 1/48th Ansons and I also have an unbuilt one so I can use that as a reference and to scale up areas to our scale. It's a good job there's a long time frame on this GB! Max

As my Nieuport Sesquiplane is nearing completion and whilst Tamiya's X-22 gloss varnish dries off (what a fantastic product ! Beats hands down any floor polish ), I have decided to start another project. I must be a glutton for punishment, as I have chosen another vac-form kit. But whilst the AirCraft kit was well engineered, this one is from Combat Models and promises to be a more ... manly endeavour . I have chosen a difficult subject, with plenty of struts, a parasol wing, floats, large transparent areas, a landing gear, a visible single P&W R-985 Wasp Jr engine... Plenty of reasons to hit a brickwall during the course of the project, and an absolute certainty that it will not be finished before the end of this GB : the Sikorsky S-39, the small brother of the iconic twin-engined S-38. I just love its unique shape, with the parasol wing, twin-booms, the central float fuselage with side floats. A typical "Art-Deco" creation ! But I would not be contented by just a difficult build. Out of the 21 S-39s built in the 30's, the most famous of all is Martin and Osa Johnson's "Spirit of Africa", c/n 914, registered NC 52V. With a larger S-38, they used it for expeditions to Africa (South Africa and Kenya in 1933/34), and Borneo (1935/36). They then sold it, it was owned by an airline in Tucson, AZ, (G&G Airlines) between 1939 and 1941, and then enlisted in 1941 in the Civil Air Patrol. This is where it met its end, on Armistice Day 1942, when it successfully attempted to rescue the pilots of a downed Fairchild 24, in the middle of 20 to 30 feet high waves raging across the Gulf of Mexico. A lateral float was damaged landing in the rough sea, making a take-off impossible. Towed by a USCG cutter, it sank in the evening, in the middle of the Gulf. To keep the spirit of their expeditions, the Johnsons' Sikorskys wore a special paint scheme, the S-38 being painted with zebras, and the S-39 was painted using the spots layout of a genuine giraffe. Painting these dots will be another challenge in itself More about the S-39, and specifically "Spirit of Africa" here : http://airminded.net/ What makes NC 52 V even more special was that it was engined with the P&W R-985 Wasp Jr #2, which flew successively, before being installed in the "Spirit of Africa", in the Vought O2U-1 Corsair prototype, then the Laird Solution that won the Thompson Trophy race in 1930 (but not in the race specifically) then the Gee Bee Z racer that won the Thompson Trophy in 1931, then the Gee Bee R-2 of the 1932 Thompson. So plenty of reasons to have a go at this one . If you want to see what the kit looks like, let me refer you to the LSP kit database : http://www.largescaleplanes.com/kitdb/details.php?kit=1420. The pic in the database is actually the one I did of my kit. Some vacform sheet, some (rough to very rough) resin details, some resin struts, et voilà ! A quick check has already revealed some potential issues, like the lack of dihedral in the outher wing panels. But I like it rough, don't I ? More soon ... Hubert

I've just received the vacuform Anson that I ordered from Jeff at Combat Models - Parcelfarce managed to **** up the delivery and HMRC (bless them!) charged me import duties despite the fact that Jeff had put the correct code on the label to show that it was tax exempt, so I've got a battle with both to claim back the £22.00 that I had to stump up before delivery was possible, but that will doubtless be a continuing saga! The "kit" is pretty basic and will need a lot of scratch building to add details, both internally and on the wings and tailplanes to replicate, for instance the prominent rib effect, so this most certainly isn't going to be a quick build, nor will it be started until the Cornell is completed. (The Anson model is a Special Hobby 1/48th scale one, placed for size comparison). The engines look good as a starter though further detailing will be necessary. The "undercarriage" seems to be a generic design that CM use though neither the Cornell's nor the Anson's bear any resemblance whatsoever to the real ones. I think to overcome the fairly complex job of producing the Anson's u/c I'll build it wheels up in an inflight mode, though I'll have to get some Propblurs for it. I doubt I'll use much of the internal resin bits, I'll scratch build it all. This is a watercolour painting that Dad did when he was in Rhodesia so mine will be finished in this scheme. More when I start it in a while......a winter project I think! I have a fair amount of good reference material and when Tim (Wunwinglow) and I met for a coffee a couple of weeks ago he gave me some really valuable extra bits and pieces about Ansons, including the Air-Britain Anson file....thanks Tim, you're a star. Max