The Wooksta: Not a Spitfire Blog

[The Wooksta!]

"Ah, true. OK. What's the procedure for the approach of a humpback bridge?"

I've decided to ditch the Stirling and get an Italeri one.  I really don't want to fight the Airfix kit of both that and the Halifax.  One yes, but not two.  The Halifax may also get the boot too, depending on how much I like the look of a shiny new Revell one.  I think Uncle Frank has one in stock - I'll find out at the weekend. 

Having had another look at it, it's got to go.  Too much work to do with regards to its sheer basic crudity.  I'd rather have a decent baseline and this just isn't it.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Well, you might as well try the other one!"

Having a had a few more thoughts about the Halifax, I'm just curious to see if I can salvage the wing for my Formaplane Hastings, as the latter used a cleaned up Halifax wing.  It may well be better and easier than using the kit one.  And a lot less like tissue paper.

A Hastings in the transport scheme would look rather splendid too.

I'm also wondering if I can use one of my part started Lancasters as a basis for another Lancastrian, but possibly with Merlin 85s.  Well, if I can get to them.

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[The Wooksta!]

"You didn't know I was going to do that, did you?"

I've finally dug out the Wellington that was in the loft at me Mam's plus I found a few other bits an pieces to get shot of.  One of the lads at the club is collecting kits to help with something so requested donations.  I threw a load of kits from me disposal pile in a bag, largely Spitfires that were obsolete and no good for anything except for beginners to play with.  Plus a few other things that I knew I'd never build, including some french fighter that I'd been given and some Frog/Novo Sea Furies.

After some searching I found the built Whitley that was there.  Not good.  U/C smashed and one tail section is completely missing.  It's therefore beyond use for the moment.  One thing I did find was a pair of Revell Hunters - I knew there was one up there and I'd found that one after the pair turned up, so there's three there, which is nice.  My stash of Hunters is now in double figures.

I've got a bit further with the Coastal Command Hampden.  One wing is together with the u/c in situ.  You have to assemble that afore the wing and it's a bit fiddly, so I lost the will to go any further with it for a bit.  One of the wheels has gone walkies, but they look a bit like Mosquito wheels and I have plenty of resin ones, so they'll get replaced.

May have secured another two Warwicks, plus a pair of Wellington transport conversions.  Again, more as and when.  Some of the spare parts in the Warwick look interesting - the transport pannier on a Wellington transport plus the fin fillet could make a few scratch their heads.  Ditto the Vulture engines, although I may need an early Wellington for that one.

i haven't got the Whitley primed yet due to the weather and I'm chafing at the bit to do it.  There's also a pair of Blenheims which have their first coat of paint on that I'd like to advance a bit further, if only to get them out of the way.  There's several other things - single engined fighters - that need their undersurface colours sprayed on and they've been sitting in masking tape since last May!  *REALLY* want them done!

Lots to do, lots of ideas but little time.  As usual.



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[The Wooksta!]

"And by the looks of it you failed them all."

I've dug out the Formaplane Hastings and it doesn't look that bad.  Some of the smaller bits are a bit crude and some of the intakes are crushed, but they are fixable.  There's also an Aeroclub u/c in it.  The clear parts haven't yellowed either, which is fantastic.  For a vacform, it looks to be quite buildable and I'd like another.  I did want to build a pair of real ones - a Transport one in the usual scheme plus a Met Flight one in the two greys which looks quite attractive - and I still do, but the prospect of another in the late war transport scheme is also very appealing.  I think that's what'll happen with the one currently in the stash.

I did compare the Halifax wing to the kit one and it's frankly bobbins.  The Halifax is now surplus to requirements and is in the disposal pile.  No clear parts either so it's only use is spare parts for whoever is gullible enough to want to buy it for the minimal fee I'll bung on the box.

The Hampden is progressing a little further, with the second wing together and the tail unit almost finished.  Need to find a set of Hercules engines for it and I've a feeling I may have some resin ones somewhere.

I've finally got a coat of primer on the Whitley and it's revealed a few flaws which will need touching up with filler, either Humbrol or possibly P38.  I'm looking forward to getting the paint on this one.

And finally on my big transport kick, I've gathered all the bits together for a Lancastrian.  The bulk of them are part started and it'll have Merlin 85s, Lincoln wheels and rudders plus the deep Tallboy bomb bay - I'm sure I've seen a photo somewhere of a Lancastrian with the bulged bay, but now I need it, I can't find it...

Whilst I'm on the subject of Lancasters, I had the brainwave yesterday of stripping two of the Airfix mk IIs I have for their Hercules engines to go onto the Matchbox Wellingtons I have on the go.  Both of them are slated for conversion to other things - a Lincoln and a Lancaster VI, so the engines are surplus anyway.  I also found a complete set of Aeroclub vacform/white metal Hercules engines in the Lancaster bits box.

One thing I did read recently with regard to the Lancaster VI recently was something on the development aircraft, which had standard Merlins inboard and Merlin 85s outboard.  I do have a Lancaster II I wanted to dispose of, but on reflection I'll keep it for a Centaurus Manchester and pass the outboard nacelles along to someone who may just be doing that aircraft.  I owe him a favour or two anyway.  It also gives me another four Hercules engines to play with. 

I now have a Warwick.  This really is a nice kit and quite why AIM (who own the moulds) haven't re-released it is quite beyond me.  There's pretty much everything in there to do any variation on the Warwick you'd want to do, plus a really nice decal sheet.  I've also acquired the old Profile on the type, which revealed the usual stillborn projects and proposals.  One of which for a version with four Merlins or Hercules engines...  In addition, the Centaurus transport version I want to do would appear to have been real too - the Warwick C.IV.  There's quite a few things I'd like to do with the type, but it's big and both difficult to get hold of and expensive when you do find one.

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[The Wooksta!]

"I laughed and laughed and laughed!"

I've made a start on the Merlin 85 Lancastrian - it was originally going to be something else, but I snapped off teh resin nose I'd fitted (a Lincoln one but I've issues with the glazing) and attached a Lancastrian nose after adding a 4mm plug from some plastic foam board I scrounged at work.  I'm toying with using it for fuselage scratchbodges as it's easier to work with than Balsa.  The resin tailcone is also a bit undersized, so that's been bulked out with P38 and is curing now.

Whilst doing that, I noticed a bag containing the bits for a Stirling V conversion.  Now I found that odd, because I'd left them elsewhere a few days back and toddled off to find them, with said bag held firmly in me hand.  Sure enough, they were where I'd left them - so I now have two of the things!  I can remember buying one from Mel Bromley at Telford a few years back, along with a Lancastrian conversion, so when and where did I get the second?  The questions that now bug me are what to do with it - I only had plans for one Stirling V so what do I put it on?  Do I still have the wreck of an Airfix Stirling I built circa 1989 in the loft at me Mam's?  If I do, what scheme is it going in, because the Italeri one is definitely going in the transport scheme.

Whilst looking for something else, I had a cursory look through a Magna Avro Ashton, possibly with a view to assembling it.  The tail surfaces could possibly be used for a Tudor, once they've had a bath in some rubber - the fin could need extending, but that's fairly straightforward.  IIRC, I bought a second to give it the wings and engines from a Frog/Novo Shackleton to do the proposed Avro Trader but I never got round to it.

Apparently, the Heller DC-6 fuselage is about the right length for a Tudor II and can be used with some work to do one.  From what was said by some gadgy doing the conversion work on Britmodeller (due to the Photobucket fubar, the photos are all gone), you need to take a strip out of the fuselage sides to bring it back to a circular profile.  Might be a better idea to do that one and possibly cheaper!  A Griffon engined Canadian DC-6 is also a possible, but that's not one that I fancy doing, so BOAC instead?  Didn't they operate the DC-6?  Actually, no, they didn't, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Douglas_DC-6_operators but various other UK and Canadian operators did.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Even SPG is all covered in snot!"

I haven't got much further due to coming down with a cold.  That's now passed a bit, but I've been coming in from work too shattered to do much other than veg out on the sofa.

The Whitley did get primed but stalled pretty much after that.  Pity, because it's going to look good in the scheme I have planned.  The Frog one I had started has progressed a little further, with a coat of interior green everywhere you can see into.  That's going to be an ASV aircraft in the middle east and will have the same scheme and serial as the transport - the latter being converted from the former when the squadron gets Wellington GR.XIVs.

The Matchbox ones are progressing a tad further - the engine nacelles are glued to the wings which have been cleaned up.  My Trumpeter one has arrived and I'm thinking of using the glazing in it to pattern some glazing for the Matchbox one.  I'm planning on two GRs, one of which will get a Warwick style fin fillet and possibly nose glazing.  The latter will be spare in one of the Warwicks I now have (see below), so modifying the nose too could screw with some people's heads. The Trumpeter kit is really nice and I wish I'd bought it at Bolton when I had the chance as I'd be a tenner better off!

Warwicks.  I now have three - Gary ponied up the one I'd paid him for and then I got another two from some guys on Britmodeller.  One of them came with a set of resin bits for the transport Wellington, so that's now full steam ahead.  I still have plans to do my own moulds, but not entirely sure of the fuselage window configuration.  There were a great deal of differences between the marks as to placement, so a one size fits all isn't going to work and in any case, the fuselage could well be the hardest thing to mould.  I know how to do the rest, most of them are easy single piece moulds.

A search in the loft at me Mam's didn't uncover the wrecked Stirling - I've a feeling it went in the bin some years back, so I may have to try to get another Italeri one.  You see, a conversation I had with another modeller (who bought the Airfix one that I disposed of a few weeks back) revealed he was thinking of an ASV one in maritime colours and so I thought about it too.  Although to be fair, it's been one I've been thinking of for a few years now, along with a Lancaster II in a similar scheme.  The Italeri one I have is the glider tug version with the revised nose glazing, so that would be ideal for the role change I'd be thinking of and I can easily find the requisite undernose radome.  But do I really want to do yet another big aircraft when I have space issues for the ones I do have?

The Halton based on the Revell kit has hit the buffers, largely because the resin pannier doesn't fit the Revell kit.  Not surprising really, given that the Revell kit is fairly new and the resin was designed for the elderly Airfix kit some ten years back.  Not quite sure how to get round this, but remoulding it and doing a cut and shut (it's a bit short and either too shallow or too deep) may be the way to go.  A Halton conversion geared to go with the new Revell kit would a be a nice one for Colin at Freightdog to have a look at but he quite selfishly seems to have locked the thread.


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[The Wooksta!]

"That's what we agreed when we first came. You do the cooking, I look after the plants and goldfish."

Largely due to the pressures of work - 60+ hour weeks are not helpful - the transport kick wore off.  Even the buzz I had for the Tudor kind of petered out around mid June due to an extremely tough fortnight at work*

So, all the transport stuff is on the back burner, despite the fact that I've a pair of Venturas ready to prime, the Whitley stalled at the painting stage.  I'm looking at a pair of Blenheims from last year that don't need that much work.  And Telford is round the corner, which means this year's Spitfires have more priority.

It doesn't help when I find a load of 3d printed kits of various spacecraft from Blake's 7 on ebay.  Obviously, I simply have to have several, Scorpio being high on the list because I've been wanting a kit of this ship for YEARS!

I've had a play with the second kit  of Scorpio that arrived in the same box - it's a dodgy and misaligned print - and it looks to be fairly straightforward and I'd like to get something done as it's the 40th anniversary of the series this year.  Even something simple would do - I've a small 3d printed Scorpio somewhere and one of the ex-Crooked Dice Federation Troopers is assembled and waiting for paint.  I might do either of those, which would satisfy a craving.

Still, Spitfires have more priority.


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*The Head chef left to go somewhere else, the Senior Sous was on holiday and the other Sous chef was leaving too.  We had no senior Chef de Partie, there were other chefs leaving and we had several really big functions one after another with no staff.  We had two massive ones back to back  - a 350 and then a 500 the following day, both with the same veg, so I peeled, cut and cooked my way through quite literally half a tonne of veg in a single day!  The next one, for 550, was on the following friday where we had literally no gaffer in place and only one chef who knew the banqueting side with any degree of certainty.  Me - and whilst I knew a fair bit, I'm not senior enough to handle it - doing the job normally done by a Senior Sous. I'm just a Commis Chef.  And bear in mind that this is a really prestigious gig at 40 notes a head with a client who brings in a shedload of business, so the wheels absolutely couldn't come off.  So the GM gets on the phone and ropes in the head chefs from two other hotels, who bring along their senior Sous chefs to help out - one of whom I'd worked with for a few years. 

Cut a long story short, I'm advising the chef in charge, we did it all spot on the money, no flaws at all.  He's over the moon, the GM and cluster GM are both very happy too.  Loads of praise for me, which helped enormously in the interview for Demi Chef the following friday with the new Head Chef.  Even so, I was still working 50-60 hour weeks up until mid July when I had a well deserved holiday and I crashed.  Mentally and physically drained.  It's only now I'm getting any kind of creativity and go about me.

[The Wooksta!]

"Then what are you looking in the cellar for?"

More discoveries.  Looking in the loft at me Mam's for something - I wanted to know how many Fujimi Spitfires were there (8, 6 being highbacks) as I'm putting them up for disposal - I finally find the Maquette Vickers Viking I'd been looking for.  Bloody hell! It's ROUGH!  I may well use a Matchbox Wellington wing instead of the Frog one in the kit.  There'd be less cleanup, even though I'll have to sand off the geodetic patterning.  Still, I've done worse.

I also found a CMK XP67 Moonbat.  Wish someone would hurry up and do one in injection as I think apart from this one and an ancient Rareplanes vacform, we've never had another kit.  RAF natch, high altitude day fighter scheme.  Again, another one for post Telford.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Look, I haven't started hiding yet, have I?"

Having got several Spitfires out of the way, I'm hankering to do something else, possibly returning back to my transport kick from last year.  The acquisition of the new Airfix Wellington plus the Aerocraft minesweeper conversion giving me the nose and tail blanks give me the bits to do a decent transport version.  I've some other ideas for Wellingtons, including a GR version in the transport scheme colours, so I've started the Trumpter one I've got in the stash, although it's going to need some careful painting inside to bring out the detail which naturally you can't see.

There's also several Matchbox Beaufighters that really do need to be finished, if only to get shot of them.  There's also a pair of desert scheme Blenheims that also need masking, several Tempests in NMF that need decalling - including a T-bird version that I started many years back and it looks rather neat.  I'm still tempted with another alternate 607 Sqn aircraft, as a whif within a whif, if that makes any sense, and that may well fit the bill.  I know I could have it finished pretty sharpish, along with the others, as they only need the decals.

I have that much stuff to finish or paint that I really need to do something soon, because the place is increasingly cluttered with abandoned projects.  Have I mentioned all the part done Lancasters?  Or the Shackletons?


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[The Wooksta!]

"I'm afraid I couldn't find any needles, so we'll have to use 6-inch nails."

Bearing in mind my usual focus span is about the same as the memory of a Goldfish, the Wellington has been put aside in favour of a project I started some time back - an ELINT Shackleton.  Except I'm not doing what I'd planned - a 199 Sqn one instead of their Lincolns - because I had thoughts of a late war one in a similar role with one of the 100 Group squadrons.  So it's got the MR1 nose with the H2S radome underneath, tail turret - FN82 with twin .50 cals and "Village Inn" and the mid upper with the 20mm cannons to make a mess of any German nightfighter that gets close. And quite a few aerials.

Why the Shackleton in that role?  Well, it's bigger and roomier than a Lanc, plus all those B17s and B24s have to go back to the US at the end of the war, so we're getting the replacements early.  It also means Coastal Command get their replacements early if they're already on the production line.

As I'd got it almost ready to button up the fuselage prior to doing the cutting for the new nose, I made a start on another that's going to be the proposed Met Flight version (although I'm not sure there was such a beastie - I'll have another look through my Shackleton references).

I'm still undecided as to the scheme. I'd like to go with the Med Sea Grey/Night scheme, as that's what they late war bombers were going to get, but a Shackleton in the standard bomber scheme would look *very* different.  The early Lincolns were in that scheme and I'm wanting to do one of mine in that scheme )there's several Contrail ones salted away in the stash although I'll probably be using resin tail surfaces rather than the tedious vacform bits).

It's looking quite impressive so far and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.  I'll have to get the awful Revell AEW finished too, if only to get shot of it.  And there's too many other Lancaster projects kicking about that *really* need finishing, one in particular is very close, so the sooner I get those wheels from Colin, the better.

And now I just get an idea for an early Shackleton in the Transport colours...

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[The Wooksta!]

"And by the looks of it you failed them all."


Just when I don't plan on doing any more Shackletons, I come up with more ideas.  Part of me would like to tie something I did some years back with a Shackleton I did just a few years back and give New Zealand ex-RAAF Shackleton MR1s - read John Baxter's "The Alternate RAAF and RAN" to see what I mean.  However, that's yet another MR1 and given Alleycat's woeful turnaround on orders, one I don't fancy doing in a hurry.  I do have a pair of Sanger Shackleton MR1 fuselages which I could use at a push, but that's vacform and thus long term, whereas I found I can throw together an Airfix kit in a minimal timescale, namely a few hours.

What I really fancy doing is an MR1 in one of two slightly different schemes, one of which was worn by Lancaster GR3s in the middle east.  To whit Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey over Sky.  Nice, but not quite as fetching as the same upper surface colours over Azure Blue.

So I've gone through the stash looking for a Shackleton and found one I'd stripped some of the MR2 specific bits out, so that's ideal.  I'll need to find an Airfix (1979) Lancaster back end, because it'll need a tail turret in the time frame I'm thinking of, even if it doesn't have the guns.  On reflection, does that mean it won't have the mid upper either or will it be there but the guns be deleted?

The wheels for the Lancaster project have arrived and they look like a perfect fit for the Revell kit the model is based on, rather than the Airfix one they're intended for.  So, that looks like it could be finished fairly quickly, once I get the third Shackleton started.

A chat with a few friends this morning has me settled on a scheme for the 100 Goup aircraft - the standard Lancaster scheme, albeit the Lincoln pattern, mainly because seeing it on a Shackleton will have the confusion factor, especially if I give it to a Liberator unit...  Whilst I'm on the subject of ELINT Shacks, the post war one is likely to have a similar but painted over tailcone to the MR2, if only to make for an easier build.  That one is definitely going MSG over Night, with a plated over mid upper and fitted with an astrodome, like the 199 Sqn Lincolns.

And finally, on the subject of four engined aircraft.  I mentioned in another thread that I won a Vickers Viscount on the bay of evil.  Given it's first flight was 1948, this puts in a nice timescale for an RAF VIP transport in the rather fetching all over Aluminium with a blue cheatline and type C roundels. This one is going to be a more long term plan.

Edit: Mach Poo have announced that they're rereleasing their Viscount.  Well, I suppose I've made a sacrifice.  Wish he was doing a Vanguard instead.

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[The Wooksta!]

"By the way, it was a complete lie about the oil."

Well, the Shackleton EW.1 has had it's fuselage closed up.  For anyone doing the MR1 conversion, I'd recommend ditching the resin insert given to blank off the tailwheel bay.  I had trouble trying to get it to fit and stay flush, so much so, I fitted the kit tailwheel bay and I'll be using the closed piece doors and sanding it flush to the fuselage.  TBH, I think it'll be better anyway but we'll see.  There's a fair bit of filling and sanding with this beastie but I'm determined to have it done by the end of March, largely in time for the Darlington show.

The other project is moving ahead.  The nose glazing is finally painted and the wheels are on.  Very little to sort out now, barring the wheel well doors and the tail turret.  Deadline for that is sunday night, so I can show it off at the club on monday.

Whilst looking for bits, I discovered a largely assembled Lancaster VI Special.  What the hell was I planning with that one?  I also found the two assembled new tool Airfix Lancs that were slated for Maritime recce.  At least the rear fuselage window are cut out.

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[The Wooksta!]

"Of course I'm beginning to regret it. That was nearly a full bottle of vodka! That's £7.99 you owe me, ploppy pants."


I've been having a think about the 199 Sqn ELINT Shattipus, based on the MR1.  Not so much about what I want to do, because I know what it's going to look like but rather the base kit.  You see, I don't want to use another Airfix Shackleton - I've already got three on the go - despite it being the best available, as I've got a stash full of old Frog/Novo/Revell/Eastern Express/Whoever is selling the mould this week kits. Why not use one of them? 

I've also got a pair of the Aeroclub MR/AEW 2 conversion sitting in the stash too, one of which cost me an absolute pittance at Bolton last year, so why not use them up?

So, out with a box of Novo Shackleton bits I found a few days back.  One fuselage has already had some mods done to take the Aeroclub bomb bay insert, so out with teh saw to take the nose off. - I know I've got to modify the nose and the solid copy of the Alleycat nose does fit.  I did start cleaning up a resin copy of the Aeroclub bomb bay before remembering the conversion.

I also had a rethink over the rear fuselage.  The MR1 had a blunt tailcone instead of a tail turret so I'm thinking of just leaving the tail as is, painting it all black (more of which anon) and explain it away as a factory modification kit for aerodynamic reasons.  Also, more radio/radar/ECM gear.  The mid upper turret isn't there on the 199 Sqn Lincoln profile I was using for a reference (I'll dig out my Lincoln references later), merely an astrodome, and I'm sure I've some spare kicking about somewhere.

The Aeroclub conversion gives you replacement ailerons and wing tips, so that's that sorted and I'll be doing it with the wheels up as a flying model.  Saves some time and less faffing about with the u/c bays, despite the sheer quality of the Aeroclub bits.  It also means I can just use some resin spinners rather than full props - I don't have enough of these for various reasons.

The scheme is going to be the standard post war bomber scheme, of Medium Sea Grey over Night with a high demarcation line, so this should hide a fair few flaws.

The one other early Shackleton I'd like to do is a New Zealand aircraft, replacing their Sunderlands, but to be fair, with an early MSG over White scheme, it won't look that much different.  Still, it fits with the two RAAF aircraft I have and ties in with a chapter in John Baxter's "The Alternate RAAF and RAN".  I may well use one of the two Sangar/Elliott vacform Shacks I have tucked away with a cheap Revell AEW2 as the donor.  Although, on reflection, modifying another old Frog kit isn't such a bad idea and I can keep the MR3 tail and canopy as being upgrades to the aircraft requested by the Kiwis.

The 100 Group ELINT bird is coming along.  The new nose is in place and filled in and I'm happy enough with the nose to fit the radar underneath, so that's in place with all the associated filler.  After a false start, the tail turret housing is also in place and slathered with filler - the cross sections of a Lancaster and Shackleton back end are somewhat different so plenty of opportunity for PSR.  I've also got the closed tailwheel door fairing in place and that was as challenging to fit as the resin replacement.  More filler!

Hopefully, everything with regards to the fuselage should be sanded and ready to prime by the weekend.

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[The Wooksta!]

"This should get things going!"

I've managed to find all the relevant bits for the Frog/Novo Shackleton that I'm converting to the MR1 before it becomes an ELINT aircraft.


As I was digging out the Frog bits, I found some of the bits that had somehow been parted from the built up MR3 that I obtained a few years back.  I've dug that airframe out and had a quick lookover to see how much work need doing.  I can probably tell better in daylight, but the engines need to go back on, as will the AEW blister.  Plus plenty of filler.  It was going to go in Hemp over Light Aircraft Grey but on reflection, that just a bit too obvious for me and preferring my more subtle blend of slightly skewed reality, it's going in the more normal Extra Dark Sea Grey overall with whatever 8 Sqn markings I deem appropriate (but not Dougal, as that's my Lancaster AEW  - which could well get another outing later this year), with only a serial code from the MR3.  It'll look just different enough for that double take factor. 

There are those who don't like my approach (and I have some advice regarding sex and travel for them), but one modeller and researcher (one who I have the utmost respect for) likes my stuff for precisely that reason.  You have to ask why it's a what if.

When I was looking for Shackleton bits yesterday, I looked in one particular box which I know has a load of spares and several Contrail Lincolns.  I found five, plus I know I have another tucked away - quite HOW I've managed to accumulate so many is a mystery, but given the number of whiffed Avros I'm working on, would adding a Lincoln to the line up be a bad idea?  That, plus a Tudor and the umber of Lancasters that need finishing and it could be a pretty full table.

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[The Wooksta!]

"Well, what've you brought me this time?"

The latest masterpiece - photos to follow sometime at the weekend - went into the club to some puzzlement, as quite a few people were totally confused, thinking it was one thing, then another and then something else.  Confused?  Good.

Haven't done much else as I'm sitting around waiting for decals and two long shifts at work left me too tired to do anything when I got in other than veg out with old episodes of "Battle of the Planets" on youtube.

I have managed top get a little work done on the Shackleton AEW3.  The radome is back in place, having just been tacked on and lots of filler applied.  There's a plastic part to replace the sonar dustbing  thing in the Airfix Shack that's gone in the same position on the Frog one and doing much the same thing to blank off a dirty great hole.  I've also applied filler around the back of the inner nacelles to tidy them up.  The whole lot should have cured by the time I get in so I can then tackle the engines - I wanted them out the way to tackle fairing in the radome a bit easier.


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