The Wooksta! - The Plan, a Spitfire Blog

[The Wooksta!]

"Oh, who cares?"

Well, all the decalling is now done.  I'd pruned out quite a few that I wasn't happy with - the Dutch trio for example got canned, along with all the far east 66 Sqn stuff, although the Vb has it's national markings and serial on.  I had thought of canning one of the 546 Sqn PR1Gs but after I found a spare serial I decided to do it after all. 

Something else got pulled out of the Cabinet of Doom - a PR.X that has the big 14 tail and will be getting a contraprop.  Now, I didn't have a serial for it but on checking the fictional serials that Kit had done for my Rhodesian PR19s that were finished last year, I found that they sit quite comfortably in a black out block just before the serials for the production PR.X aircraft.  So that got assigned to 546 as yet another trials aircraft.  The planned Dutch low back in standard RAF camo got pinched back, because I liked the scheme and with nice Type C markings it became another 546 aircraft, this time a communications hack.  There was also a PRXI in the cabinet that had got as far as national markings and a 607 Sqn shield but it was another I wasn't happy with but I know I can write something around it wearing the 607 shield and 546 Sqn codes.

So, the next task is to sort out props and exhausts, plus painting u/c bits.  And then there's the soul crushing thought of vacform canopies for the Airkit stuff. 

The real problem, though, isn't time.  Which is tight but I've done it before so I know I can do it again, but really it's a lack of enthusiasm.  I just can't be bothered with it all.  I really want to finish some of them - quite a few - but I know if I start doing one, I'll want to do another and another and I'll be back where I started.





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[The Wooksta!]

"I'm bored and deserve to die. This is the end. Armageddon! No future!"

I got up on wednesday, pottered about a bit with sod all enthusiasm, looked at everything there and just thought "Sod it" and went out.  It finally just got too much for me.  Really didn't want to do anything.

Some sort of enthusiasm came back later and I did get a few things done.  I took the attitude of "if it gets finished, it can go, but if I finish nothing, I'm not going to lose any sleep."  In the end, I got about a dozen or so finished, all of which are now packed and ready to go.  Not the ones I really wanted (the Airkit stuff and the Spiteful) as they'd take too much work, but there's a few nice ones in there and I got the bulk of the 546 Sqn stuff done.  Plenty left to sort out when I get back, so they should be done in time for Bolton in January.  IF the enthusiasm comes back.

I've started my Plan for next year, but there's moves afoot at the club for some sort of themed display which doesn't fit my interests.  Unhappy with that, although I'm sure I can be a bit more subversive than usual.  It may leave next year's Plan without a home.  However, I'm not entirely unhappy with that, as there's been whispers over the years about how much room I take up on any given club display, so next year, I may well take the attitude of "Go on then, YOU fill the table as I'm sick of it!"


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[The Wooksta!]

"It's so rare when you get a chance to go out these days."

I managed to get a round dozen or so finished.  Not examples of my finest work perhaps, but decent enough.  They're more place fillers than must haves, although my RAF Acklington station commander's aircraft do look rather good and I'm rather pleased with the two 545 Sqn PR1Gs.

I've done very little since I got back, although the Hasegawa mk VIII that I got from Kitbasher at Telford is ready to close up.  Not sure where I'm going with that one, although a 66 Sqn one in the far east is quite likely, even though the other two have yet to get any decals.  There's also an Airfix mk IXc that's been converted to an E wing and it'll be a 607 Sqn aircraft at armament practice camp, so I get to play with some of the many Eduard bomb carriers and bombs that are littering the spares box.  Only question is do I go for a camo or NMF finish




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[The Wooksta!]

"No. No, Neil, it's Madness this week!"

Haven't done much with the backlog of unfinished Telford stuff, due to lack of enthusiasm for them and the lure of just building stuff for the sheer hell of it.  So far I've a trio of lowback FR14e's, one of which has the F18 tail which the late ones did get so 546 Sqn for them. The F.VIII I got from Dave is now ready to get it's u/c on and a coat of primer if the weather stays dry.  There's a trio of PR19s that will be going Royal Navy or Airwork and two of those will be getting yellow trainer bands.  Finally, other than the 607 mk 16 mentioned in the last post, there's another PR21 on the go, which is going to complete the 81 Sqn mini theme.

So, plenty on the go but due to work commitments, not a lot to show for it.

And the Madness bit?  Well, I'd started a Ventura 18 and it's going reasonably well - the plastic on this one seems quite soft so it's moving along at a good pace and I'm rather enjoying it.  So much so, I've dug out their F14e highback.  I know I've one already, but that was a part started salvage job I got from ebay and another with 607 Sqn in their 2TAF period is the scheme I'm thinking of.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Oh, it's broken."

Well, I've had a chance to go through that box of Spitfires and spares and...  Well, let's just say it's a *very* mixed bag!  I'm sure I've bought a similar box of bits from the same seller a year or two back.  The guy is clearly a Spitfire nut and has a penchant for cutting up airframes to get something more accurate out of them - except none of what he's done makes any real sense.

For example, he's taken a Hasegawa mk IX and cut down the rear fuselage to do a lowback.  Now, this is frankly daft, considering that the Heller XVIe lowback has been available since the mid 70s and it's few faults are easily fixable (new canopy - Falcon, wheels - any number of resin aftermarket, raised panel lines - get the scriber out!) so why go to the trouble to cut down a rather ropy base kit?  There's also an AZ mk IX in the midst of becoming a PRXI, with a rebuilt deeper chin and a wing from an Airfix XIX (which is too broad in chord anyway...) which on reflection does make some sense, given the lack of available PRXI kits and I think I can salvage it, although what air force it'll end up with is anyone's guess.  The same goes for an AZ IX being converted to a mk XII and it looks to be a decent job.  I'm not saying the guy is a bad modeller - he isn't, there's actually some very good work in there - just his choices seem very counter intuitive.

There's a lot of butchered fuselages in the box - mainly AZ IXs but some Xtrakit 22s and criminally, an Xtrakit mk XII!  There's some Sword 14 wreckage but I've a feeling they're more from the spares in the lowback boxes. Quite a few spare canopies too but like all the other bits, nothing is kept together for any given project.  It's all very...  haphazard, random.  I know my system uses a tame black hole and several hand grenades, but this is a whole new level!

Is much salvageable?  Short answer - yes.  Quite a few wings - mainly AZ or Airfix (two sets of F22 wings will go towards a pair of F21s with the Airfix 19s I have stashed away).  There's an AZ mk VIII wing that I know fits their 14 highback fuselage - and I have one in the spares box - giving me a clipped XIVc which will fit neatly into my 122 Sqn theme.  The aforementioned lowback IX, PRXI and F.XII.  There's a nicely painted Fujimi XIV lowback that was converted to an XVIII which is very salvageable, couple of Airfix Vbs in the form of random bits.

The best bits are two CMR kits - a Seafire IIIc that wouldn't need much to turn it around and I've been wanting to do another with a pointy tail for a while now and a Seafire 46.  Now this has had some really nice painting in the cockpit - except it's cockpit green when any fule kno that Seafire cockpits from the 15 onwards should be black.  Now this isn't such a bad thing, because I've had a thought fopr some time about Norwegian Spitfires with arrestor hooks for use on windswept airfields in the north and this would seem to fit the bill rather nicely.

So, a curate's egg - good in parts, bad in others but ultimately worth having.  I've had a number of boxes like this from various sellers and they always have something worth having in them.

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[The Wooksta!]

"What's my prize?"

Well, I've sorted through the box and come out with the following:

Two near complete Airfix Vbs.  Oil coolers and gun barrels are missing, but easily replaced
CMR Seafire III - the canopy and wheels are missing.  Again, easily replaced
CMR Seafire 46 - canopy yellowed and the prop has shed a couple of blades
3 near complete Hasegawa mk VIIIs. There's a fourth, with the fuselage cut down for a mk 16.  I may well finish it as a late production IXc with the cut down fuselage as a test bed with the AFDU.
1 AZ IX converted to a mk XII
1 AZ IX with the nose converted with a deep chin for use as a PRXI and the fuselage modified to take the Airfix XIX wig.  I found the u/c and radiators in my spares box.
1 Fujimi XIV lowback assembled as an 18.  Radiators, wheels and canopy missing.  Again, spares box.
The bulk of a Ventura Seafire F17 with the CMR wingfold set.  The latter doesn't fit the former too well, but I'm sure I have a spare wing for this kit somewhere in a spares box and I have no recollection of acquiring it.
Spares from 3 Airfix F22s - no complete fuselages, so they're now donor wings for F21s
All bar the fuselage from an Airfix mk Ia.  Added to a Brigade mk XII fuselage conversion, I think I could have another interim Mk IVa.

There's wreckage and spares from other kits as mentioned in the last post.  Quite what will happen with the wreckage, I don't know, but any spare wings are always useful.



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[The Wooksta!]

"That's a completely brilliant idea, Mike. I've been wanting to do this for a long time! "

On reflection, the low back Hasegawa fuselage may be better off as a lowback VIIIc - there was at least one prototype but the RAF refused them outright due to the stability issues (cured on the 16 by the simple remedy of clipping the wings, which increases the efficiency of the tailplanes).  What air force it may end up in is anyone's guess but any of the mk VIII users are ideal candidates.  Indian or RAAF being most likely.

There is a small snag.  All the low backs had the 'e' wing as standard - the oxygen bottles were moved to the redundant outer gun bays - except for the Seafire XVII.  However, given that the latter largely operated under 20,000ft, it didn't seem to be a problem.  IIRC, most RAAF Spitfire combat seemed to take place under 20,000ft so that would seem to be the likely candidate.  AND I have oodles of RAAF Spitfire markings.  Slam dunk.

Now I just need to remove the piece that the former owner has glued into the tailwheel bay...


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[The Wooksta!]

"Hurry! Get some money very quickly!"

You know it's odd.  Some years back, people were divesting themselves of the Ventura Spitfires/Seafires for peanuts - I mean, I got one or two in the kitswap a year or so back for a quid each - largely due to their limited run nature meaning they required a great deal of clean up, some skill to assemble and a decent spares box to make up for the lack of detail parts.  Despite that, they're still very accurate, supposedly because the original master maker had started with the old tool Airfix mk Ia and worked from there, and all the wings are interchangeable. 

Really, they're a product of a different time and a mindset that the modeller could and should be able to use his or her skill to detail a kit, not rely on a ton of aftermarket resin.  And to be honest, once you've done the basic clean up, they do look pretty good.  I was very proud of the mk XVIIIe that I built with my then limited skills back in 1990 and it didn't look that bad - certainly better than the one MPM released about five years later.

Now, prices seem to be going through the roof.  Collectakit have quite a few but none of which are under a tenner and Kitfinger have several on ebay for about 16 quid.  I know they're limited run, but come on!  Surely they're not *that* desirable?


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[The Wooksta!]

"Don't be stupid, Neil. That's not a shark!"

It had to happen at some point.  The FR Attacker was dug out and the vacform belly tank is attached and filler applied to blend it all in.  It's one of the few that I started before realising it was quicker and easier to do the Frog Attackers as flying models, thus the cockpit is grouted out and some basic detail added, and the wheel bays have been opened up.  I've the very basic u/c legs stolen from a Pegasus Spiteful and the vile Frog canopy replaced with a far superior Falcon one.

I've been itching to get this one done for a time and it may fit in with my 546 sqn theme, although I don't want to give them the Attacker -as it means more work.  Thus I know what the scheme will be - Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green over PRU Blue with the rather fetching 2TAF Type C1A roundels. There's lovely.  I very briefly considered PRU Pink but then thought better of it.

It's one I've been looking forward to finishing and who knows, it may well be ready in time for Bolton - but don't hold your breathe just yet.  I've a boatload the size of the Titanic of other nigh on finished Spitfires to get through first.


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[The Wooksta!]

"It's the middle of summer, big ears!"

I've been looking at the Epilogue for The Plan, to whit the Swift, largely due to getting a cheap Testors one on ebay.  This brings my total up to three and having had a look in the box I bought from Collectakit some years back (which didn't contain a Testors swift but DID contain a complete Magna Swift F7, at least 5 Airkit Swift upgrade sets and a CMR fuselage) I know I've all the bits to sort them out.

One of the Testors kits I have has had the back end cut off at some point - I think I was going to cross it with an Attacker to do the Prometheus - but it is fixable.  I've a feeling it'll have to end up in a dark scheme, probably standard camo and 74 Sqn markings.  Now, before you all say "But you don't do sexy squadrons!" there is a basis in reality as 74 were going to get the Swift F2 but received Hunters to great relief when it was realised what a dog the F2 was.

Having had a quick look at the Magna Swift in the box, I did think about reworking it as the PR6 using one of the Airkit noses but then rejected it in favour of a camouflaged one with Firestreaks rather than the nasty Fireflash missiles - IIRC, Weaver got the Fireflashes when I bought the kit. So, how do I do the PR6?  Simples - I use the cheap Airfix one I got in the kitswap in 2018 and some of the Pavla F7 conversion for the extended wings.

One thing that has crossed my mind with all the bits kicking about - using one of the spare Airkit noses on an Attacker to do one with a nosegear u/c, although I may well use an AZ one rather than a Frogspawn, simply because the latter needs to much work too bring it up to scratch, although the solid wing does mean relocating the u/c much easier.  More thought will be needed on this one perhaps.

And I really must finish the Swifts that have got paint on.  There's an Xtrakit one that I think was going FRADU and a Magna F7 that's been on and mainly off for about twenty years that doesn't need that much work to finish either.  Finally, the Airfix one that assembled needs priming, but I can't remember what I'd planned for it - it may well have been the FGA role with SNEB/Matra pods and markings from the Airfix Hunter.  Given that the last releases had similar side bars to the Swift, it may well have been that for some kind of subtle twist that's become my trademark...

And finally, somewhere in another Testors box is a Maintrack/Project X Supermarine 545 that I really should have a bash at.  I did consider getting the Whirlybird repop with all that nice resin, but it's still a vacform and at 30 notes for something little bigger than a Hunter is a bit steep.

So, plenty of food for thought if I get bored with Hasegawa mk 8s.  All of these are largely assembled and just awaiting the u/c gear before I can prime them.  I decided on a post war survey aircraft for one of them, with a camera port drilled in the port fuselage hatch and clipped wings.  It's going Australian, as they were a major user of the mk VIII and had quite a few left over at the end of the war. Overall aluminium finish with Type Ds on the wings and a Roo on the fuselage.  Something simple that I can get ready for Bolton!

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[The Wooksta!]

"Eenie, meenie, meinie, mo. Oh, by the way, there's a couple of strange girls in the bathroom."

I've had a quick scan of various references on the Swift prototypes (and the name was used by V-S for ALL the development aircraft from the Type 510 onwards!) and I think to get a Prometheus, it would be easier to use a Frog Attacker with a Swift nose, wings and tail surfaces - backdating a Swift is harder.

Wonder if I can get a cheap Magna Swift F1? Edit: No, the only one one ebay is 30 notes and an FR5 anyway.  Best of luck with that, mate!

Some tidying up as yielded a built up Hasegawa mk 8 that was going to be an FR bird in Italy.  Can't remember what scheme it was going in but it may have been intended for PRU Blue undersides.  That'll get primed with the other mk 8s later in the week.


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[The Wooksta!]

"I just don't seem to be able to get rid of this hangover."

Well, I managed to get three of the Telford holdovers finished yesterday - all part of my 421 Recce Flight/546 Sqn theme - plus another two today, one from said theme and another that was a holdover from Telford 2018.  All that needed was the canopy, and that's now in place.  Plus I've moved a bit further forward with another long term hangar queen, an Aeroteam F21 that was going to be a Seafire F45 but got repurposed as a 122 Sqn contraprop.  Just needs the canopy and the prop and she's done.  Finally, there's an Airkit F21 that needs similar treatment.  There's a few others which won't take much work to finish and may well make an appearance at Bolton.

Discovery of a South African Spitfire decal sheet has prompted some thoughts on aircraft from that region, mainly FR9 lowbacks and I've several Heller kits part started that would be rather useful toward that end.  I also like the idea of one in NMF with yellow T bands and stub guns - there's one sitting there for such a scheme.  There's some nice schemes on that sheet and I'd like to give some a bash.  I did consider the South Africans selling their aircraft on to Rhodesia, but the former was getting rid of their Spitfires at a similar time to the latter, although as Rhodesia sold quite a few of theirs to Syria, perhaps the Isrealis could buy the former SAAF machines?  Still, I'd like to do one or two more Rhodesian Spits, although I've already got a trio of PR19s and another that was intended for mounting on a plinth.  Thoughts are revolving around an FR22.

One of the Hasegawa kits is now on it's u/c and could well get primed soon.  It's going RAAF in overall NMF, so could be rather simple, especially if I use the prepainted canopy that's sitting in the box.

The Testors Swift I got off ebay has arrived and I'm looking at making a start on it.

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[The Wooksta!]

"See?...God! Mike's floating! How's that done, then?"

Something I've been tinkering with is getting a little closer.  I've been toying with a Spitfire F22 floatplane for a while and a sudden realisation that I didn't have enough F22 u/c legs for the projects on the go made me realise that sacrificing one or two for a floatplane or three may be a good idea.  I'd bought several of the Eastern Express Seafire floatplane kits simply for the floats (the rest is the antediluvian Frog kit and thus fit only for the bin) and they were stashed away for this purpose - on reflection I'd like another two or three for other Plan projects, more of which anon.

The main airframe is largely together and she just needs her tail feathers but I think it'll need a ventral strake, so out with the plastic card.  The undernose intake will need to be a bit longer, so a Vokes filter reshaped should do - if I was to do a production version, I'd use a Seafire 47 style cowl and the u/c bulges on the wing uppers would go too.  Another one for the future perhaps and probably with Korean War stripes, although maybe not as I just don't do wing stripes out of sheer laziness.  She's got to have a contraprop and luckily, I've just aquired an Airkit one, although I did find one lurking in a box the other day, although I've a feeling it really needs to go on a Spitfire F26.

So, a prototype, and given the period - say 1947? - overall aluminium with type C markings and a big yellow P.  Codes are easily stolen from a Seafire F46.  Given enough enthusiasm and a bit of spare time, I *might* get it finished for Bolton but more likely 'alifax.

I'd still like to do a Floatfire based on a cut down fuselage F.IX and the Heller fuselage will take an Airfix IX wing with little or no difficulty and given the weight of the floats, I doubt it'd be tootling around much over 10,000ft, so the oxygen bottles can go elsewhere.  There was a plan OTL for a float variant of the Seafire 45 and I've plenty of airframe bits to cobble one of them together.  I'd also toyed with an Attacker floatplane, but that's already been done by someone else although his was the larger production version and I could get away with just doing a prototype...

By way of something a bit different...  I was looking in one of the many Spitfire spares box yesterday for something and found a complete and assembled Heller F16 fuselage.  Also lurking in the same box was a taped up Airfix 19 wing.  Now, I know that tehy fit, so idly, I dry fit them and mark off where the fuselage needs cutting out.  One thing leads to another and now I've the prospect of another lowback PR.XI.  A search in the spares box also gives me resin copies of the internals and a seat was also found.  One tailplane was in there, plus an AZ radiator.  I know I've enough spares elsewhere to assemble a complete airframe and I've an end user in mind too - 546 Sqn, and I've got them test flying and proving all sorts of FR and PR Spitfires in the late and post war periods.

An on a final note, I've manged to scrape together enough resin bits from the same spares box to assemble a cockpit for the Seafire 17 that arrived in that box of assorted spares I got off ebay a few weeks back.  That may well be together by the end of the week too, although I still don't have a scheme or user in mind for it yet - Canadian perhaps, replacing their 15s?

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[The Wooksta!]

"I don't know, Neil, but I'm going to stay and find out."

That box of bits a got a few weeks back seems to be the gift that keeps giving.  There's the remnants of an AZ mk 7 in it (well, it's that tool as it was released in several boxings as a mk VIII as well).  The wing is certainly there and that's the really useful bit, because it's got the smaller ailerons.  I had planned on using it with the spare AZ mk 14/21 fuselage but found that it didn't fit without some surgery.  But I know that it does fit the AZ mk 9 fuselage and that leads to something else.  Also in teh box was a canopy and I'd got an AZ mk VII at Telford a year ort so back sans canopy, so that's that sorted.

But back to the mk 8 wing and the subject of two seaters.  Now, Vickers had done all the design work and built a prototype  but it was based on the mk 8, not the mk 9, that was later, and the Tr.8 was suggested to the RAF as a useful trainer for the Auxilliaries.  However, being tight - and we were very poor at the time - the Air ministry said no and VS used all the design work on the Tr.9 and flogged quite a few abroad, although there were more interested parties than those who actually got the thing.  This means I have a use for all the Brigade ones tucked away and although that fuselage is intended to take the vile Italeri mk 9 wing, it does take the Airfix one and I have quite a few of them tucked away.

Now, I have a spare mk 8 wing and nothing to do with it - or have I? I stocked up on quite a few AZ two seaters in all the various boxings - and could have made a few bob too given the way prices shot up for a while on ebay - and thus I should be able to do one as the Tr. 8.  Ok, AZ did one, but it was really just the plastic for the Tr.9 and the modeller had to do the albeit few and none too difficult mods themselves.  The kit came with a new sprue for the Tr fuselage and the internals, which meant that the modeller was left with a spare single seat fuselage and a lot of other bits on the sprues.  What was that I said about the gift that keeps giving?

Anyway, to cut a long and rambling story short - and it is going on far too seriously long enough by half - the spare wing and a few other bits from the same box gives me the means to build two kits out of the 1.5 in the AZ Tr.9 and something different into the bargain.  The thing is I've already done a pair of Tr's in RAuxAF markings, plus the yellow Tr21 so what markings does it get?  Given that the RAAF had Spitfire 8s it may be a good idea to pass then to the Aussies or maybe a bit further south to New Zealand, as I've been thinking of doing something else with a Hasegawa mk 8 and New Zealand Spitfires have been something I've been considering for a time anyway, albeit F22s rather than mk 8s.

And the gift that keeps giving?  Well, that also applies to that box of spares I got a while back and given the similarities between the two, I'm sure they're from the same seller, although I can't prove it as ebay deletes stuff after 6 months.  The reason being that the Seafire 17 wing I mentioned in an earlier post was taped with Tamiya tape and I just don't use it.  The Seafire in the recent package didn't have a wing, so I'm coming to the conclusion that the taped wing is indeed the one from the one in the recent package.  Anyhoo, the cockpit is now done and installed and the wing is being cleaned up to be fitted later this week.  Markings?  Well, I'm leaning towards Canadian Navy, albeit still in the UK so I can use their earlier markings.  I have a lot of the various Seafire 17 kits - there's one that was built a decade back from the Aeroclub conversion with a resin wing and painted that just needs some repair work to finish so I really need another option.  Much as I like the FAA finishes, they really are very limited

I did consider some Navy two seat Seafires a while back, but I doubt they'd be strong enough for carrier use  so they'd have to be land based and that gives me yet another option or three for the many AZ, Brigade and even the old and very rough M&E two seaters.  The latter being very thick and I'm tempted to sacrifice one to take a Griffon and a bigger tail to try for another Tr21.  The last one used a Frog 14 fuselage  but I know I've a spare AZ 14 fuselage that I know will take my resin copy of the Ventura 22 wing.  Then again, I've a resin 2 seat spine somewhere and a vast number of Airfix 19s that will take either my resin wing or the Airfix 22 wing and I have a few spare.  We're back to the gift that keeps giving...

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[The Wooksta!]

"Honestly, Neil. Of all the stupid ideas."

Well, I decided to do a bit of work cleaning up the assembled Magna Swift that I bought from Collectakit in error a few years back. I say error, I bought what I assumed was a Testors Swift with some Airkit upgrade bits, but opening the box it turned out to be a great deal more than that! That's now ready to get the tailplanes and a coat of primer to see what flaws need sorting out.  There's what I think is an Airkit belly tank in there but I may just get a Freightdog one and keep the Airkit one for something else.

Again, this is one that seems to be a gift that'll keep giving, because I've had a good look through the box and there's a complete Magna F7, two bagged Swift F1/F2 conversions, one loose F1/F2, a complete FR5 conversion and the remains of another.  Plus the fuselage, tail surfaces and assorted other bits from the CMR Swift.  I've a few ideas on what I'd like to do with that, mainly involving a different wing and either mid fuselage or shoulder mounted just to look somewhat different - I did consider that with an Attacker to do a Supermarine analog of the MiG 15 and it may yet come to pass, possibly using one of the Airkit Swift FR5 nose to make it even more different with a nosegear.

In other news, I've finished the 546 Sqn PR.IV and a pair of 122 F21s, so that brings the number of Spitfires completed this year to 8.  There's a few that need decalling - actually, quite a few - but I've sorted out the ones I want to do first and it includes a mk 9 that's been sitting about for a while in that fetching post war desert scheme awaiting a squadron, so I've decided on 6 Sqn as they were in the middle east in the correct time frame.  If I can find the correct Modelart decals, I may well try to finish that FRADU Swift I'd got the paint on and then abandoned - I think there was paint related issues at the time but having looked at the model, albeit not recently, it didn't look too bad.  It's a dark scheme so I may well get away with it.

Finally, the Seafire 17 is now all closed up and two or three stages into PSR, so that may well see a primer coat soon.



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