Grumpy Old Modeller

What's waiting?

When I sketched out my Master Plan for gom.com it must have seemed logical to have one section to look in to the immediate and likely future, and I saw this as the equivalent of the Pending Tray of my increasingly distant, bureaucratic middle-age. Experience has shown that including anything which isn't actually lined up panting on the edge of the workbench is perhaps rash, and may be giving the occasional hostage to fortune if after a brief mention it doesn't reappear, preferably accompanied by a photo. My last entry here was immediately pre- and post-Telford, and this new entry is partly to clear my thoughts and help me to decide what's next on the cutting mat as well as to stop you worrying about what happened about the 1:200 Scruggs Wonderplane in which I'd expressed a passing interest and partly to look at what could be in my immediate future..

Checking back I found that I wrote the above back in January - when we still reckoned that Lewis Hamilton could move seamlessly in to a second world championship year, imagine! - and the big item in the shopping basket was the Airfix 1:48th TSR.2; this'll give you some idea of how much clouded brush cleaner has been disposed of since then. Spookily, it's another flurry of Airfix that's caused me to open up and refresh this page, along with a new decal sheet from Colin Strachan at Freightdog models which I picked up at the IPMS Avon show at Yate the weekend just gone (always a good show, and worth the trip even in my thirsty Chrysler Caponemobile which I've recently acquired to accomodate our granddaughter, her car seat and accompanying impedimenta).

When I made it in 1:48th, I mentioned that the B(I).8 was my favourite Canberra, and on its recent appearance in 1:72nd I brought one home; in RAF use at least it only served with five squadrons, and having over the years covered them all in model form I scratched my head for a while over how I should finish it, especially after a potentially incautious entry I made in one of these pages recently that virtually all my modelling now was in counterfactual mode rather than historical. I was reminded of this by one of my Wif? chums at Yate while I was contemplating another Airfix buy - to which I succumbed. However, the B(I).8); I remembered a paragraph in a recent Paul Lucas article on Canberra colours in MAM on a scheme that in the event remained unused, but which was intended for "marker" aircraft, and this seems ideal for the 8. Watch the "workbench" page. I also picked up the Hawk 128, and started it with the idea of "giving" it to 74, but having just used most of the relevant parts of Modeldecal Set 116 on my 1154/GR.7 and suspecting that this isn't easy to find any more it's set aside for a while; Captain Indecisive strikes again

Talking with a couple of the others about the new Airfix releases brought up the Spitfire XIX/19, about which I'd heard good reports, and the look at the B(I).8 and Hawk had confirmed that the standard of production of their "new tool" kit seemed good; what convinced me that I should add a XIX to my goodies bag was the new Freightdog Models "Post-War RAF Spitfires" decal set. In particular I found the all-silver PM574 of 81 Squadron with its star-and-sword badge on the cowling calling me, and with a Hasegawa Mk.VIII in SEAC colours already underway I thought I should return to elliptical roots; and I thought I saw an Eduard F.21 on one of my dudtier shelves recently,which will fit the red RAG-J coding that you can see on the sheet (camouflaged as you ask). See how my good intentions go astray.

While buying the Spitfire, I added a PR.9, inspired by Kit Spackman's maritime reconnaisance conversion which was on the table in front of me; I am considering using a C-Scale T.17 nose and some of the kit bits which I didn't need for the Nimrod AEW.3 conversion. While I'll think about the "Mystified Moths" of 360 Squadron, I have a leaning towards a Friendly South American Power. Adrian Hampton of Lone Wulf, on whom I generally count for new Unicraft productions and who has promised to set aside an Su-10 for me, handed over a couple of Sharkits, something which usually makes me feel a touch trepid. One is the Dassault ACT92, precursor of the Rafale, for which I shall be looking through Model Art and Modeldecal sets for Escadre de Chasse markings; the other is a '50s VTOL interceptor which may well wear the star of David!

Watch the workbench page - abnormal service is being resumed!

Footnote - or perhaps foot-in-mouth note:- A look in the garage at the place where I knew the F.21 was, and several other places, failed to reveal it - surely I haven't sold it in a moment of absent-mindedness. I did however, and having taken a longer look at the decal instructions, find an Italeri Mark.IX, and although it wasn't immediately evident while I was doing the basic painting found that a pointed rudder was included! So I will have a Spit with red codes after all; perhaps that'll encourage the Eduard to come out of its hiding place. Neil will be surprised.

Note from the other foot - I found the Eduard F.21 in, of course, a place where I'd already looked three times, and at the same time brought in the Xtrakit M.XII; I can't remember when I last would have had five Spitfires on the workbench! Almost as surprising is that four of them will be actual aircraft (thanks again to Colin Strachan's decals), and you'll have to wait to see what I have in mind for the fifth. Keep an eye on the workbench section.

Added bits

Those of you who were at Telford for last year's Scale Model World may well have picked up a grey flier advertising the presence of oddsandordnance.com. and their hoped-for programme of resin pieces, notably for TSR.2 and Buccaneer. Having followed it up, I and doubtless many others have received two or three e-mails with release dates, prices and payment details, and having finally got my act together with PayPal the good news is that my first order was delivered a week ago. All the castings are in medium sea grey-ish plastic, and the pair which will probably be first on to the workbench - well, one of them anyway - are the two-seat Hunter conversions.. As well as new nose and spine, the package includes two ejection seats, an Avon 100-size back end to replace the larger bore jet pipe in the Revell kit (and a pair of fairings for the parachute housing) and a very clear pair of vacformed transparencies; the nose comes with provision for two guns, the port one of which will have to be removed for those built to T.7 standard. I also received two pairs of AS.30 missiles, one for a Buccaneer and one for a TSR.2, a Buccaneer correction set with nose, airbrake and tailplane with deflected "elevators" - really trimming surfaces - and a South African Bucc set with bigger slipper tanks, new bomb bay door and a pair of the booster rockets. Oh yes, and two corrected fins for the TSR.2. Their arrival, and the standard of their production, is the good news; the bad news is that Campbell Patterson has had to suspend production and despatch for the time being. When I have news of his next intentions, I'll put something on the website; in the meantime I've exhumed an Airfix Bucc from one of the dustier garage shelves.

And courtesy of my New Best Friend Chris, two Brigands arrived from Prague over the weekend - I really must think about going back for E-Day next year. He brought me one of each, a TF.1 and a B.1; the TF.1 will find itself as part of a Strike Wing, with luck Cornwall-based but possibly North Coates, and I plan to put some form of Flying Camel on the B.1. For those of you who prefer to be grounded in reality, there will be at least one Brigand on Freightdog's next "Post War RAF" decal sheet. And to bring an even sillier smile to my face, Valom's Buckingham and Buckmaster box art is now evident on Hannants' "Future Releases" page.

Bumper Bundle

Those of you of a certain age who used to listen to "Family Favourites" in your formative years will doubtless remember the expression "Bumper Bundle", which describe a large number of requests to play the same record, especially in the England-Germany Forces link-up. I can't think of a better expression to cover the contents of my goodies bags as I made an excuse and left Telford earlyish on the Sunday afternoon; and while I expect many, perhaps most, of the results of my gleanings to appear on some of these pages over the next few months I thought that a brief heads-up here might offer a little food for thought (if you turn a little queasy at "What If?" flights of fancy, look away now) and perhaps even whet an appetite or two.

There were four kits waiting for me that I'd ordered ahead, for which I'd budgeted - there's a word you don't often find in fact, or even in spirit, on these pages - but a major cashectomy on my piggybank still offered the opportunity for a casual purchase or three, though I didn't expect my first Executive Decision to have to be made on the Friday afternoon. Having made my number with both the What If? and 144 SIGs, clutching the plan that SAM had thoughtfully included as their December Centrefold I wandered off to locate Hannants, always a sound point on which to anchor your bearings for reference over the weekend; knowing full well that it would be quite unfair to try and pick up my yellow-wrapped package on Friday while they were still setting up. However, as I was waving my greetings over the growing wall of kits I spotted a very small cluster of the RVHP Beech King Air 350 in its Shadow R.1 form, with the necessary extra lumps, bumps and aerials for the ISTAR role; having had my eye on it on Hannants' "Future Releases" page for some time, I pounced to reserve one to make sure that others' as sneaky as me wouldn't make off with them before I could get there in the morning. I have a 5 Squadron fin marking earmarked for it, but I might be able to apply a 54 Squadron lion to each winglet (Waddington papers please copy).

The yellow-wrapped trio, which doing the decent thing I picked up on Saturday morning, were the A-model Osprey and Hector and the Planet GAF Nomad; the first two will join the AZ Hart on my biplane shelf for the time being, and conversation with the excellent Joe Maxwell on Saturday night revealed that there should be markings for the Irsih Air Corps Hector in the not too distant. There is a battle scene on the box top, and the text on the side of the box saying that they had in fact been in combat over Calais in April 1940 in the hands of 613 Squadron; I didn't realise that the type had actually gone to war in Europe. The Nomad looks good and comes with Australian Army markings, but one of those casual discussians on the SIG stand threw up the thought that it could have made a gunship in Vietnam, perhaps even wearing a Kiwi. I'll have to loof at the "guns" bit of the Aeroclub catalogue; an Oerlken or two could be useful. The finish for the fourth kit was already selected; Adrian Hampson of Lone Wulf had a Unicraft Sukhoi Su-10 waitng for me, and I have some decals for a camouflaged DDR Il-28 which will I think suit it, though I've just noticed thay the Beagle to which they originally applied was a target tug. If you're unfamiliar with the type, it looks like an Il-28 with ambitions to be a Sperrin; I had originally intended to make it as a Soviet aircraft with the two red fuselage bands applied for the invasion of Czechoslovakia, but given the work which a Unicraft kit often entails, a camouflage rather than a silver finish is probably a good idea. An additional Unicraft which I found and made off with on the Saturday was the Miles M.22, which looks not unlike a streamlined Grumman Skyrocket with a pair of Merlins; low level FR with 2 TAF in early 1945 I think, another excuse to use my carefully hoarded PRU mauve!

Still on the Friday wander I came to the A2Z stand, which was not only showing a variety of Canberra bits but also a really impressive Gannet AEW.3. Not a conversion, this is a complete resin kit, with the one rotating on the stand looking really good; in a way, it's being unpainted showed off the quality of the casting. A great deal of work had been put in getting it ready in time for the show, and I gather that from Alastair Maclean's point the effort was well rewarded; this was probably my first purchase on the Saturday morning, and it's so good that I may bypass my vague plan to to "give" it to 8 Squadron - well, they got the radar, they might as well have the airframe that went with it - and finish it as an FAA aircraft if I can make a choice from A, B, C or D flights on the excellent decal sheet. There is even a second sheet of markings available, but I thought that this would push Captain Indecisive a touch too far. I also collected on Sunday the SC.9 conversion for the Airfix Canberra PR.9, but I'm not sure quite yet how I'm going to use it. From Colin Strachan's Freightdog stand I got the new stores set for the Silver Cloud P.1154 which has an interesting twin gun pack, as well as underwing ferry tanks and a pair of radar-guided Red Tops and their assciciated pylons. I got an 1154 to go with them just to be on the safe side; there seem to be as many doubters about the 1154 as about the TSR.2, but I'm sure I can find a home for it in MEAF or FEAF. I succumbed to the new Airfix Spitfire IX - uninfluenced by James May, I assure you - persuaded I think by a new set of Barracudecals, but I surprised myself with the F-RSIN VFW 614 in 144th and TAT markings (though Jim Bricknell, who popped up at intervals over the weekend like the Demon King - oh. yes he did! - reminded me that the Luftwaffe's VIP flight had one, which used to visit the Western Isles for the fish).

Two more unexpected sets of decals leaped out at me, demanding attention. S&M had their usual great spread of airliner markings, but in one corner I spotted a sheet for the Buckeye which included a very pretty Bicentennial example, as well as one in standard USN trainer markings and one from Venezuela. I have hopes next year of the blue and gold Naval Aviation anniversary markings; lay the kit down now! And while I was looking over someone's shoulder at the Renaissance stand, I found that they did a set for Voodoo; if you were a SAM reader at the time you will recall that I fell totally for this racing Mustang at Reno in 2000, possibly influenced by its colour scheme of purple, yellow, lime green and black and white checks. It's designed for the 72nd Tamiya P-51D, and the instruction sheet shows it with the standard canopy; when I first saw it it had a really cut-down "racing" transparency, but on show at Nellis a few years later, and at the Gathering in Columbus where I took this picture, it had reverted to the standard "teardrop" after the pilot frightened himself by not seeing a Cessna in the circuit!.

Books and magazines, including the new or at least spun-off Model Aviation World, I'll cover in their own sections - you can already find the very comprehensive Paul Lucas TSR.2 book in the "Pick" pages. There are yet two very small models, a pair of Dragon Rapides in 1:200th scale from Cloudbreak; they will both be finished as G-AGSH, which has its own particular part in the family legend. When they, or at least it, are safely finished I shall reveal a little more. The expression "retail therapy" is probably not generally associated with our hobby, but there was serious evidence of its efficacy at Telford, not least in the boot of my car as I returned south. By Jove, I needed that.