Airfix Magazine 1968 11

AIRFIX

me

FOR PLASTIC MODELLERS

2s 6d

IN

THIS

ISSUE

Full guide to British tank markings, 1939-45
Fieseler Storch and Beaufighter conversions

51 years of -famous warplanes

AiRFIX BRINGS THEM TO LIFE! With scores of great The vast range of Airfix construction kits covers 19 different

fighting planes from World War I right up to today's super- series, including planes, ships, cars, historical figures and

sonic jets— all constant scale (1/72nd) and all from Airfix! trackside series-each model just like the ^1 thing!

J Prices from only 2/6d. to 19/6d.

ARADO

MITCHELL

LIGHTNING

THUNDERBOLT

SWORDFISH

MIRAGE

LYSANDER

SPITFIRE

FIESLER

STORCH

CAMEL

AIRLINERS. CARS.
SHIPS, TANKS TOO!

Start your collection NOW !

STOP PRESS

Fill A. This kit of the swing-wino aircraft
is over 1 ft. long complete with transfers.
Wings and tailplane are actually variable.
Price 7 6d.

JUST LIKE THE REAL THING

From toy shops, model and hobby
shops and F. W. Woolworth

AIRFIX MAGAZINE 2/6 MONTHLY

ASK FOR THE AIRFIX KIT CATALOGUE

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Model Kits • Trains • Slot Car Racing Die-cast Scale Models and Miniatures • Hobbies in general

Model Kits • Trains • Slot Car Racing Die-cast Scale Models and Miniatures • Hobbies in general

SPEEDY
CARS

3/11
each

1:66

scale

35 Renault 1933 model Fiacre (Marne

taxi) 32/11

36 Bugatti Royale Mod 41 1927

37 Bugatti Royale Mod 41 1927 (open)

39/11

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tel: 01-688 6253

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tel: 01-688 6253

All NUMBERS AVAILABLE

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TAMIYA 1 : 12 SCALE MOTORISED KITS

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tel: 01-688 6253

Model Kits • Trains • Slot Car Racing • Die-cast Scale Models and Miniatures • Hobbies in general

FOR ALL ENQUIRIES PLEASE SEND S.A.E.

November. 1968

89

Model Kits Trains Slot Car Racing • Die-cast Scale Models and Miniatures Hobbies in general

HISTOREX AGENTS

CHASSEUR A CHEVAL
DE LA GARDE

Latest releases available
. . . the Cuirassiers and
personality figures of
Gouvion St. Cyr and
d’Hautpoul

We offer you the means to reproduce perfect
examples of Napoleonic miniatures. We think
however that many modellers are not aware of
the quality of our mouldings and so on receipt
of P.O. or stamps for 1/6 we will send you a
sample musket or sword.

Figures are 1/30th scale and are historically
accurate in every detail. A mounted figure is
composed of approximately 50 separate parts
and over 100 horse positions are available.

Send s.a.e. for resume of products. The full
catalogue will be sent with first order.

HISTOREX AGENTS

3 CASTLE STREET, DOVER, KENT

BELLONA

The world s largest range of
Battle Scenery
D1 1914-18 Trench System
D2 Menin Road
D3 The Redan

D4 Twin 88 mm. Gun position
D5 Fighter dispersal bay

Send 6d. and S.A.E. for
Catalogue.

■

BELLONA

Military Vehicle prints. A series
of 16 prints with scale drawings,
history and relevant details of at
least four tanks per series.

4/- each

The Aircraft Kit of the Year — The Fabulous B-52 D

Monogram 1/72 scale Cl 1 19s. 6d. post free

NEW DECALS from

FINLAND

I.P.M.S. produced

1/32 scale BF 109G 5/ per sheet

(for Revell)

1/72 scale M.I.G.21 2/6 per sheet
(for Frog, Airfix)

Convert your models with these
unusual markings.

NEW TAMIYA TANKS

1/35 sc. HUNTING TIGER 59/11
1/35 scale KING TIGER 59/11
Both REMOTE CONTROL.

The CAR kit of the year
POSCHER ALFA ROMEO
A masterpiece in miniature £35
BACK IN STOCK — FROG AVRO SHACKLETON

NEW

REVELL

1/32 scale ZERO

1/72 scale B.17 LADY LUCK 1

FROG

B.A.C. LIGHTNING F.6
CANADAIR SABRE Mk. 6
HOC for WARGAMERS
No. 21 Combat Uniforms
No. 23 Military Equipment
LINDBERG
1/72 Do 335
1/72 H S. 129

Sorry all H E. 100 now sold.

MONOGRAM

1/72 GOSHAWK F11C

1/72 HAWK P.6.E

1/72 GRUMMAN F.4.B

14/9

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ERNEST BERWICK

THE MODEL SPECIALISTS

11A NEWLAND STREET, KETTERING, NORTHANTS, ENGLAND

' CONTROL COLUMN"

2/- plus 4d. post.

POST U.K.

Up to 10/-. 1/-; up to £1. 2/-; up to
£4. 5/-: over £5 post tree

18/11

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□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□a

90

AIRFIX magazine

Are you leaving
school with
no qualifications?

So did Oliver Willmott.

But he went to an Army Apprentices’ College
and look how he’s progressed in just two years.

Passed ‘O* Level Maths

Sitting City & Guilds examination

Passed Army Certificate of Lducation

(Senior test) in 3 subjects

Passed an Outward Bound Course

Training as an electrician

(will be qualified to Trades Union stanJarJs in only 1 more year

Already promoted to Junior N.C.O.

Gets 10 weeks holiday a year

Could become a Sgt. Technician by 25

Coached in many sports including rowing

Saves £5.10. a week

When Oliver left school, his
prospects weren’t good. But he didn’t
give up. He was determined to get a
job with a future, and to go on with
his education.

So he applied for an Army
Apprenticeship.

With over 50 apprenticeships to
choose from at 6 colleges, he decided
to become an Electrician. Now, as
well as getting first-class training, he
is leading a really full life.

His Electrician’s Course is an
intensive and highly practical one.
He will be qualified to Trades Union
standards after three years. He is also

getting further education up to
G.C.E., City & Guilds and O.N.C.
standards. And it’s all part of his
training programme. And so is the
two afternoons sport each week.

Added to all this, Oliver gets 10
weeks paid holiday, and plenty of
free time for his own interests, like
fishing, and 12-bore shooting, and
he’s saving £5. 10s a week.

You could have a life like Oliver.
If you’re between 15 and 17, call
at your local Army Careers inform-
ation Office (the address is at your
local Post Office). Or send off this
coupon.

I To: Army Careers MP6(A)

I Lansdownc Hse., Berkeley Sq.,
London W1X6AA
| Please send me full details of
| Army Junior Entry Schemes

j NAME
| ADDRESS

I

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■ COUNTY

| DATE OF BIRTH

| ( You must be resident in the U.K.)

.1667)2001

November, 1968

91

24 TANK CONVERSIONS FROM EXISTING KITS

Since 1964 Bellona Publications have been providing a unique
service for the Military Enthusiast. This service is in the form of
highly detailed scale drawings to the SAME scale as the AIRFIX
MILITARY VEHICLE KITS. Equipped with these BELLONA PRINTS
you can tackle a model conversion with the knowledge that you
have the most advanced details, and drawn to the size you need
so there is no messy measuring or calculating.

All Series are kept In print. Each Series of BELLONA prints con-
tains on average four sets of detailed scale drawings (4 mm. to
one foot) drawn by experts, each set of drawings show a minimum
of four views with sectional views when possible, plus photo-
graphic illustration, a comprehensive history and technical details.
For readers that follow the excellent series • Military Modelling
(by Chris Ellis) in this magazine each month the Bellona Prints
will give additional information and insight into the model they
are working on. „ . . _ „ _ .

To assist Military * Converters’ here is a list of Bellona Prints
which cover subjects that can be easily converted from the Airfix
Kits.

AIRFIX KITS B ^

Bellona Military Vehicle Print Series Number

A2V German Panther Tank

Jagdpanther — Sd Kfz 173 8.8 cm. Tank Destroyer
Pz. Kpfw Panther' Ausf G — 1945 Model
A3V American Sherman Tank

M 7 B 105 mm. HMC Priest’

M 4 Tank with 105 mm. Howitzer/Horizontal
Volute Suspension
17 pdr. Sherman VC Firefly'

3" GMC M10 tank destroyer
Medium Tank T.6

M4A3E2 — Sherman Assault Tank ‘Jumbo'

Canadian Cruiser RAM II (M4A5)

M3 ’General Lee' Mk. I

Series 8
Series 16

Series 3

Series 5
Series 7
Series 9
Series 11
Series 13
Series 14
Series 15

A6V

German 75 mm. Assault Gun

SturmKanone 7.5 cm. auf Pz. Kpfw III Ausf. D.

Series

6

A7V

Pz. Kpfw III Ausf. F (5 cm. KwK L/42)

Russian Josef Stalin III

Series

7

Klimenti Vorishilov 1 C (76.2 mm.)

Series

A8V

Klimenti Vorishilov II (152 mm.)

Germ in Tiger Tank

Series

4

A11V

Pz. Kpfw Tiger' Ausf. E (All versions)

German Armoured Car (Sd Kfz 234)

Series

13

A14V

S. PzSpwg. (Sd Kfz 232) (FU) 8-rad.

British Matador and 5.5 inch Gun

Armoured Command Vehicle HP and LP (AEC)

Series

12

A15V

T6 x 6 Mk. 1

British World War 1 Tank Mk. 1

Series

11

Tank Mark 1 Signals Tank Mk. 1

Series

1

A16V

Tank Mark IV (Female) -

Russian T34 Tank

Series

14

T. 34/85 Tank

Series

4

100 mm. Tank Destroyer SU 100

Series

2

A202V

85 mm. Tank Destroyer SU 85

American Buffalo Amphibian and Jeep

Jeep and M100 i ton trailer and amphibious jeep

Series

7

A203V

SEEP’

German 88 mm. Gun and Tractor

Series

6

8.8 cm. FLAK 18 ton Sd Ah 201 trailer (earlier
trailer than Airfix model) with 8t ZgKw Krauss
Maffei semitrack tractor Series 9

In addition to these conversions listed above there are of
course many tanks and vehicles in the Bellona Print Series which
can be scratch built’ with Airfix components as the basis. For
instance in SERIES 2 Bellona Prints there is the Pz. Kpfw Tiger
Ausf. B (Koeningstiger) which was the subject of an Airfix Maga-
zine article in 1966. This model can be built combining parts
from both the Tiger and Panther Kits.

Price 4/- per copy, post 4d. Additional copies add Id. postage.

BELLONA SHEET FOR MODEL MAKING. BELLONA WARPICS PHOTOS FOR REFERENCE.
BELLONA Dioramas and Battlefields for displaying completed models.

BELLONA A7, HAWTHORN HILL, BRACKNELL, BERKS.

a F V TRANSFERS ui?« J

[II

H 1 ¥ 1 nfiliul LIIU SCALE

I ita

T.1 . ATriKa Korps raims. ou emuivms
T.2. SS Panzer Division Signs. 60 signs.
T.3. German Crosses for Military Vehicles.

90 emblems.

T.4. Alamein Sheet.

T.5. German Tank numbers, outlined white.
T.6. British Armoured Unit signs.

AIRCRAFT TRANSFERS

1 : 72 SCALE

A.1 . Swastikas W.W.II. 80 on sheet.

A 2. R.A.F. B' Type roundels. 20 on sheet
A. 3. S.E.A.C. roundels. 36 roundels plus tail fin
flashes.

A. 4. R.A.F. Squadron Code Letters.

0/4 4 per AT YOUR

| | SHEET HOBBY SHOP

TRADERS

Stock and display Almarks, the British Transfers that
every keen modeller and Wargamer demands. Trade
terms available. Almarks are ready for display and
safe customer handling.

Now on sale at Lead-
ing Hobby Shops, if
you have difficulty in
obtaining your Al-
marks send direct to
(Please add return ,
postage) i

AlmarkS

ALMARK PUBLISHING CO.

104/106 Watling Avenue, Edgware, Middx., England

New from Harbutt’s

The new miniature car construction set for
making up 10 vintage and veteran models.
Contents include 10 assembly kits, instruction
leaflet, ‘Plasticine’ and assembly tools. Every-
thing fits into place perfectly without glue.
Order now. Retail Price 10s 6d (U.K.)

Distributed by

HARBUTT’S PLASTICINE LTD.

Bathampton • Bath • Somerset

92

AIRFIX magazine

Then have fun driving a Mamod Steam Model. The traction engine
ami the road roller c.\n actually be steered as they go. There are

stationary engines, too. for powering Mamod miniature working machines
and Meccano models. Precision engineered. Mamod models are safe as
well as fun. Prices from 37/9 to 119/6 at leading toy and sports shops,

1

STEAM MODELS mean a world of fun for you

MANUFACTURED BY MALINS (ENGINEERS) LTD . THORNS ROAD. QUARRY BANK. BRIERLEY HILL. STAFFS.

VETERAN & VINTAGE AIRCRAFT

(ENLARGED EDITION) Compiled by LESLIE HUNT
Bound in boards — coloured dust jacket

FACTS

about this remarkable book

9 Size 9J" deep x 7£" wide ® 162 pages • Weight 1 lb. 7 ozs.

• Contains over 525 photographs • Over 20,000 words

• Records the world-wide disposition of over 3,000 Veteran and
Vintage Aircraft

TOTALS LISTED

AEROPLANES
AIRSHIPS & BALLOONS

GLIDERS

SPACECRAFT

MISSILES

REPLICAS

TOTAL ENTRIES

3,102 representing 903 types

4 representing 4 types

47 representing 30 types

1 representing 1 type

101 representing 43 types

95 representing 44 types

3,350 — 1,025 types in 66 countries

Order your copy now — price 30/-. Immediate delivery — post free.

HARLEYFORD PUBLICATIONS LTD.

LETCHWORTH • HERTFORDSHIRE • ENGLAND • DEP AF/LH

November, 1968

93

■CUT THIS
LEAVE IT ON

Dear Dad,

I’d love a Philips Electronic or
Mechanical Engineer Kit for Christmas.

Signed

“I

With Philips Mechanical Engineer Kit ME 1201
I can build 25 exciting models different kinds
of cars, cranes, elevators, dynamo, a fan, a bulldozer.
Fascinating, gaily coloured working models.

94

AIRFIX magazine

OUT AND
DAD’S PILLOW!

r

The Electronic Engineer Kit EE 1003
builds another 24 models, including
radios, burglar alarms, amplifiers
and signalling systems.

Combine the Electronic
and Mechanical Kits and
even more fascinating
models arc possible.

PHILIPS

“1

Post this
coupon now
for details of
the world’s
finest

constructional

kits.

1

To: Philips Electrical Limited, Century House, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.C.2. I
Please send me a leaflet on Electronic and Mechanical Engineer Kits. ■

WRITE IN CAPITAL LETTERS PLEASE 1

NAME

ADDRESS

A 1

L

Distributed in U.K. by Mettoy Play craft ( Sales) Ltd.

PHJLIPSj

November. 1968

95

FLIGHT MODELLERS . . .

USE TOP FLIGHT FINISHES

*|OY’ LUMINOUS PAINT

(Green shade
only.)

See in the
dark outfits
containing Base
Reflecting Coat
and Luminous
Top Coat.

Packs 3/3; 5/6

‘lor New Formula PLASTIC ENAMEL

The 18 beautiful contemporary colours,
including black and white, can be intermixed
to provide a wide range of colours.
Joy Plastic Enamel has good flow,
and is resistant to heat and most fuels.

It gives glass-hard abrasion
and wear resisting surface.

Tins: 1/6; 2/3; 3/9; 6/6

All colours are lead free
and are safe to use on children s toys. etc.

‘I0Y-PLANE’ BALSA CEMENT

J0 ‘I0Y-PLANE’ POLYSTYRENE CEMENT

New and
improved quality.
Very quick and
hard setting.

Penetrates
deeply and is
heat resisting
and fuel proof.

Available in tubes

9d : 1/4: 2/-

Non-stringing
quick drying
and colourless.
The perfect
adhesive for
giving a weld
joint to any
polystyrene
surface.

Available in
tubes 9d.; 1/4

OTHER PRODUCTS MADE BY MODELLERS FOR MODELLERS

‘JOY-PLANE’ CELLULOSE DOPES. 1/3; 2/-.
•JOY-PLANE* CLEAR DOPES. 1/3 ; 2/- ; 2/9 ; 5/-.
PLASTIC WOOD. 1/5.

BANANA OIL. No. 1. Thick.

No. 2. Thin. 1/3; 2/-.

TISSUE PASTE. Tubes 1/3.

These are the recommended retail selling prices

96

is the registered trade mark ot

TURNBRID6ES LIMITED, LONDON. S.W.17

manufacturers of quality products tor

STICKING, STAINING. POLISHING, PAINTING

AIRFIX magazine

AIRFIX

magazine

FOR PLASTIC MODELLERS

November 1968

Cover Picture

Two Spitfire Vs in typical Middle
East camouflage, photographed
in the Spring of 1943 during the
Tunisian Campaign. Nearest is
ER622, WR-D. Aircraft C in the
background has its code letter
in plain white with the rest either
very faded or almost obliterated.
These two machines were
engaged in a typical Desert Air
Force task - 'spotting’ for the
guns of the Eighth Army; flying
in pairs over the enemy lines they
gave precise positions of enemy
concentrations of tanks, troops,
or transport, and directed the
line of fire by constant commu-
nication with the nearest gun
battery. It is tempting to suggest
that these Spitfires belonged to
93 Squadron, but can any reader
confirm this?

Modellers should note that the
Spitfire V illustrated would be an
easy conversion subject from
the Airfix Spitfire IX clip the
wings, replace the exhaust
manifolds, remove the outer
cannon stubs, lengthen the air
intake to make a Vokes filter,
replace the port radiator with
an oil cooler, and provide a
3-blade propeller.

(Imperial War Museum)

Next publication date:

November 22, 1968

Editorial Offices :

PSL Publications Ltd
9 Ely Place
London, EC1
Tel: 01-405 2297

Advertisement Offices:

Stanbury + Treadway Ltd
9 Ely Place
London, EC1
Tel: 01-405 1721

Volume 10 No 3

Editor Chris Ellis

In the Air: Farnborough and Danish Air Force by Alan W. Hall 98

News from Airfix: two new kits released 100

Changing a Chaparral: slot-car feature by Doug Nye 102

Basic Railway Modelling: narrow gauge baseboard by Norman Simmons 104
Matador Crane Truck: lineside conversion by Michael Andress 106

French Storch: MS-built variants converted by D. L. Whiting 108

Armoured Division Markings: guide to British system by Peter Hodges 110
Merlin Beaufighter: Mk II made by Alan W. Hall 113

Fighting Colours: Part 12 by Michael J. F. Bowyer 117

New Books: reviewed for modellers 121

Roman Friends and Foes: figure conversions by Bob O’Brien 122

T-34: Part 5 by John Milsom 124

Military Modelling: Mark IV salvage tank by Chris Ellis 126

Photopage: aircraft pictures from readers 127

New Kits and Models: latest releases reviewed 129

Letters to the Editor: your chance to win a free Airfix kit 131

Circulation Department:

Surridge Dawson & Company (Productions) Ltd
Publishing Department, 136/142 New Kent Road, London, SE1
Telephone: 01-703 5480

AIRFIX magazine is published for the proprietors, Airfix Products Ltd. by PSL Publications
Limited, on the fourth Friday of each month. Annual subscription rate 36s (USA $5.50) from
Surridge Dawson & Company (Productions) Ltd. Second Class postage paid at New York Post
Office, NY.

0 All articles and illustrations published in AIRFIX magazine are
strictly copyright, and may not be reproduced without written permis-
sion from the Publishers. The Editor welcomes the submission of editorial
material, wnich should be accompanied by return postage. Though every
care is taken, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for safe
keeping of editorial contributions.

MEMBER OF THE AUDIT
BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS

November, 1968

97

I T may well be argued, in time to come, that this year’s
* Famborough air show did not produce the highlights
that have been seen on many previous years. Although there
was not a great deal of new material to show since 1966 as
far as aircraft went, the sensational Hoods at the beginning
of the week and the tragic crash of the Brcguet Atlantic on
the Friday kept the show well to the fore in national head-
lines and the many hundreds of journalists from all over the
world at full pressure.

With more than half of Farnborough’s airfield covered
with water to a depth of three feet from a break in the bank
of the Basingstoke Canal which borders the south-east corner
of the airfield, it looked, early on Monday morning, as if the
flying display itself would be cancelled completely. Thanks
to herculean efforts by a number of RAE employees and 50
trainees from the nearby Royal Engineers barracks at Cove,
the worst of the disaster, which could have ruined the show,
was averted.

Working all night in torrential rain with no mechanical
aids, the workers kept back most of the flood water only to
have the banks collapse again early in the morning when an
oak tree was washed away and released many tons of water
through a fresh gap.

Preservation enthusiasts will probably want to make a
note that in order to help stop the flood of water the
Engineers manhandled an old Devon fuselage into the
breach during the night. The aircraft was being used by the
RAE Fire Section to practice fire fighting emergencies. When
the breach was finally filled with tons of hard core and
rubble the aircraft was completely covered. For the record,
if aircraft enthusiasts 50 years from now try to dig the
remains out of the canal bank, the Devon was XA879 and
was formerly part of the Empire Test Pilots' School fleet
when at Famborough. The aircraft went into service with
the School in October, 1952, and was struck otT charge in
March of this year.

Flying was reduced to demonstrations by helicopters and
light aircraft on the first day of the show but once the water
had receded from the runway the show went on.

Although my own impressions of this year’s Famborough
were mainly wet ones, the manufacturers did a record trade.
In spite of the weather and the crash, more than 172,000
people attended on the three public days, which was only
about 1,000 less than in 1966. Statistically the first week in
September gives the best chance of good weather. The

reason for moving the date was that it would clash with the
Autumn holiday, but in my own opinion it would be worth
keeping it the way it was in view of the problems encountered
by an exhibition mainly under canvas.

From the three hour flying programme on the public days
the service participation, particularly that of the Royal Navy,
stood out as being the best spectacle. As this was the last
time that the senior service would be including a fixed wing
demonstration in their show — their carriers should all be
retired by the time the next Famborough takes place — they
determined to make the most of the occasion. Combined
aerobatics with Sea Vixens and Buccaneers plus some very

fast runs by the Phantoms now at Yeovilton created sonic
bangs on the first public day just to add to the noise of the
jets and the action of the Wessex helicopters of No 845 Sqn
with the Royal Marine Commandos.

On the other end ot the scale it was interesting to see the
gyrations of the single-scat Tipsy Nipper now being manu-
factured by Slingsby. and the introduction of the Beagle
Pups together with ‘big brother’ Bassett.

Nine overseas countries took part in the show. One
wonders if the Fellowship, jet-powered follower of the
Friendship, will catch on like its predecessor, but it showed
an admirable turn of speed and from the illustrations has a
comfortable interior for either executive or feeder-line trans-
port. The new Anglo-French helicopters were interesting
compared to the Navy’s new giant, the Sea King, with its

Heading: Latest photograph of the Red Arrows taken just
before the Famborough flying display. The Arrows gave
their last show for some time on Sutiday September 22 as
the aircraft are due to go in for major servicing during the
coming months. Above: The hottest ship on the British civil
register. Lightning F6 G-A WON in the static display sup-
ported by a large number of lethal looking ornaments. Left :
The Phantom joins the Navy. Here one of the first aircraft
with No 7 OOP Squadron at Yeovilton lands after its
Demonstration at Famborough.

AIRFIX magazine

Top: The ill-fated Hrequet Atlantic photographed just prior
to its crash behind the black sheds at Famborough. Above:
Variations on a rheme. Danish markings on a Hunter F6.

lour homing torpedoes. The Italian version of the ever-
popular Iroquois, it is thought, would be worthy of study
by those in charge of national defence budgets. It was a pity
that both the Concorde and Jaguar were not ready for the
show, however, as this would have undoubtedly made all
the difference to the general interest.

The crash of the Atlantic was a major disaster but being
thankful for small mercies, it should be remembered that
only one fatality occurred apart from the crew and although
a number of RAE's transport vehicle fleet suffered and
buildings were demolished, it could have been much worse.
A few yards in either direction and the aircraft would have
landed on a building crowded with office workers, the main
MT fuel dump or the Famborough road traffic. A few
minutes later and many of the employees at the Establish-
ment would have been leaving work and usually crowd out
of the exit where the aircraft fell. The reaction of the fire
services, police and rescue workers was prompt and efficient.
Unfortunately there was no chance for the crew whose air-
craft burst into flame at the moment of impact.

Although the enquiry into the accident has been convened,
one cannot help wondering why the Atlantic’s pilot did not
go straight on when he found himself running out of air-
speed, and not go into a very steep bank from which even
the most novice pilot will tell you an aircraft cannot hope
to recover.

Holiday in Denmark

I N spite of protestations from one’s family, I am sure that
1 many aviation enthusiasts like me cannot resist looking
up one or two airfields and objects of aviation interest when
on holiday. My own brood decided that Denmark would be
the object of their attentions this year, an idea not entireh
discouraged by father who had in the back of his mind a
visit to the Danish Air Force and the possibility of seeing
their remaining Catalinas at first hand.

A contact on the Danish Air Staff provided the necessary
permission and I was on my way to Vaerlose, an airfield
close to Copenhagen which is used as the main transport
aircraft base for the Danes and, due to its close proximit)
to the capital, a centre for other interesting aircraft move-
ments.

Five Catalinas are still on operations with the Danish Air
November, 1968

Force and from their home base in Denmark take turns in
arctic patrol duties in Greenland. All of the aircraft, with
one exception, arc PBY-6As and according to Captain T.
Jorgensen, their commander, are hard to replace. At the
present time they are due to remain in service for at least
another four to five years. No other amphibian or even
helicopter can do the work of these ageing aircraft. The
Danish Air Staff have looked at the Grumman Albatros and
other equally useful amphibians but in each case they are
too complicated, cannot carry the load required or have
operational limitations which preclude their use in arctic
waters. Current thinking is concentrated on the Canadair
CL215, as this may be the answer to the problem.

In service the aircraft arc used for ferrying troops on
arctic patrol, carrying food, coal, fish, dog teams and other
mixed cargo to isolated parts of Greenland which would
otherwise be inaccessible by overland or sea routes. The
Cats are maids of all work. They are always on standby for
air-sea rescue operations and the crews become experts in
navigation which can be difficult in northern regions close
to the magnetic pole and without the comfort of the many
electronic aids now in common use for navigating purposes.

Elsewhere on Vaerlose I found Chipmunks, a KZ Larken,
T-33s. Dakotas, Skymastcrs, S-61s and Allouettes, all in
Danish colours. Overhead a Convairliner of SAS did touch-
and-go approaches on a crew training programme. Later,
two Flunters arrived and duly posed for my camera.

The Danes are eagerly awaiting the arrival of their newly-
ordered Drakens which will add considerably to the defen-
sive capabilities of their Air Force.

1 found that almost everyone to whom I spoke during my
visit was very aware of the fact that the nearest Warsaw
Pact country was only thirty miles away and that advanced
warning of any attack would be brief. The effects of the
last war and the lessons learned about Fifth Columnists are
also very evident. The Danish Observer Corps, for example,
still regards its prime role as aircraft reporting and all Danes
in the Corps as well as their Territorial forces are armed
and keep their weapons and ammunition at home.

They arc also very security conscious. Although the
Danish Air Force holds open days in the same way as our
own, cameras are forbidden.

Below: Danish Air Force Catalinas at Vaerlose. These air-
craft, five of which are still on operations, commute with
the icy wastes of Greenland and are used for cargo and air-
sea rescue work. Bottom: A KZ Larken.

NEWS FROM

AIRFIX

The worlds greatest value In construction kits

0 Ferrari 250LM
0 HMS Fearless

I E MANS 24 Hour race fans who recall the epic race of

J 1963 will recapture some of its thrills when they build
the latest Airfix 1:32 scale model car kit — the 180 mph
Ferrari 250LM Rerlinctta.

The 250LMB, which owes its parentage to the Le Mans
winner of 1963, has a light alloy body built by Pininfarina
on the immensely strong Ferrari multi-tubular chassis frame
and is powered by the 3.3 litre V12 engine developing more
than 320 brake horsepower at 7,200 rpm.

Airfix have faithfully reproduced every significant detail
of this thoroughbred sports racing car from the three verti-
cally-mounted control pedals and cranked gearshift to the
wide brake drums, Borrani wheels and triple-cared knock-on
hubs.

The kit, which contains more than 50 parts, full assembly
and painting instructions and cut-out racing numbers, costs
3s 8d.

The new Airfix 1:32 scale Ferrari 250LM.

r PHE changing structure of the Royal Navy is graphically
reflected in the latest addition to the Airfix range of
fighting ships — the assault landing ship HMS Fearless in a
50 ft: I inch scale (1:600).

HMS Fearless — launched in December, 1963 — and her
sister ship Intrepid are the largest British naval vessels to be
designed and built since the second world war. They are
equipped to transport and land Army units and to act as
floating headquarters during amphibious operations.

The Airfix kit of Fearless — which makes up into a model
just over 10 inches long — also includes two helicopters, six
landing craft (four LCAs and two LCMs), motor whaler and
motor cutter, dinghies, and life rafts.

100

HMS Fearless in 1:600 scale is the latest Airfix warship kit.

Fearless herself is magnificently detailed down to flood-
lights, Sea Cat launchers and 40 mm guns. The stern ramp
can be raised and lowered as can the forward and midships
gangways.

Full assembly and painting instructions, transfers and dis-
play cradles are included. The kit costs 5s 2d.

Soon after his flight in a RAF Dominie ( reported in our
September. I06N, issue). AIRFIX magazine' s air historian .
Michael J. F. Bowyer (left, above) presented one of the first
Airfix / : 72 scale kits of the aircraft to Group Captain Alan
Davies, CO of No 1 A NS. Stradishall. who operate the real
aircraft. The actual aircraft depicted in the Kit stands
behind them .

We have many letters from readers requesting back
copies of AIRFIX MAGAZINE containing conversion
articles. Back copies of some issues are still avail-
able for the benefit of readers who may have missed
or mislaid earlier editions. For example, here are
some of the practical articles which have appeared.

1966: July — RF-4C Phantom conversion.
September — Matador variants. 1967: July —
Soviet missile tank. August— Early Churchills
and Dauntless. 1968: March — Model
timber yard. May — German Artillery, 1914
and Wellington I. June — Auster conversion
and ‘H’ class destroyers. July — FC-47 gun-
ship. August — Me 109 and T-34 conversions.

Would readers please note that all issues not
listed above are now out of print and can no
longer be supplied.

Back copies cost 2s each (including postage) for
each copy up to and including September. 1966.
For all subsequent editions the cost is 2s 6d an
issue, post paid. Please address all requests for
back copies, together with your remittance, to our
circulation department at SURRIDGE DAWSON &
CO (PRODUCTIONS) LTD, PUBLISHING DEPT,
136 NEW KENT ROAD, LONDON SE1.

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November, 1968

101

A IRFIX’S ready-to-run 1:24 scale
* * 1 cars have proved very popular
among home slot-racing enthusiasts,
and of this range the Chaparral 2C is
one of the most attractive. But.
possibly because its designers intended
it to appeal to the younger ‘driver’,
this 2C owes little apart from its .
general body shape to the full-sized
original. The actual Chaparral 2C was
the first really successful design to
stem from Texan oil-man Jim Hall’s
works at Midland, Texas, and, fitted
with a fully race-modified Chevrolet
V8 engine and secret automatic trans-
mission, the two cars built were raced
widely at the end of 1965. Hall’s part-
ner, Hap Sharp, won the important
Riverside-Times GP in California that
year against opposition which included

Above: Useful detail view of Hap Sharp’s winning car at the Nassau Trophy
race described in the text. This differs from Hall’s car, featured in the conver-
sion by having intakes in the rear wings and a full-width roll-over bar.

Changing the Chaparral

DOUG NYE ADDS THE DETAIL TO THE AIRFIX MODEL

Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Graham
Hill and Dan Gurney, and then
repeated the performance at Nassau
in the Bahamas after Hall had crashed
badly. This brought Chaparral’s US
record that year to 17 wins and four
second places out of 22 starts; some-
thing to be really proud of!

Now the Airfix 2C’s vacuum-formed
body depicts the type which Hall
crashed at Nassau, for Sharp’s win-
ning car at Riverside and the Bahaman
race had air intakes on either side of
the cockpit let into the forward ends
of the rear wings. To convert the body
to a more realistic representation of
Hall’s car is not difficult and, with
even very basic experience in conver-
sion work, should only occupy one or
two evenings.

First job is to carefully cut away
unneeded parts of the body. 1 found
this was best achieved by using a
straight-edged X-Acto knife blade,
and the parts which ought to be cut
away include the whole of the tail
spoiler assembly, the cockpit decking
(with the driver attached), the air in-
take under the nose and the outlet on
top of the nose just in front of the
windscreen, the blank ends of the air
intakes just aft of the cockpit on the
body sides, and finally the lower sur-
faces of the nose spoilers.

To start, remove the cockpit deck.
This is attached to the back of the
cockpit cut-out, and to the transparent
extensions of the screen at the front
and on both sides. Naturally, this is

102

not as per prototype — they didn't have
double-glazing! Remove the chassis
by unscrewing the four retaining
screws and turn the body shell upside
down. Then cut very carefully around
what should be the upper rim of the
screen. Take care when it comes to
separating the deck from the rear edge
of the cockpit, for the plastic is thin
here and liable to tear. However, once
cut-out all round, remove the com-
plete deck, inside parts of the screen
and driver.

Cutting out the air outlet on top of
the nose is simple enough, just cut the
rearward edge of the outlet orifice
away from outside the shell, and the
forward edge from inside the shell. In
this way the form of the plastic will
guide the knife blade to where it ought
to be. The inlet under the nose is slit
very carefully for here, again, the
plastic is thin, and then the lower sur-
faces of the nose spoilers are cut
away. The tail spoiler is removed by
cutting along the forward edge where
it joins the rest of the body, curving
up over the rear wings and then
slicing away along the tops of the fins
on cither side. Cut down the tail
leaving the fins intact, then remove the
whole spoiler assembly by making a
final cut across its base on the tail
transom, leaving the part of the body
with tail lights and outlet louvres in
place. Final cutting-out job is to open
up the air intakes on the body sides,
and this can be done easily by gently
inserting the point of the knife and

just working it round the edges of the
moulding. Make the edges of the cut-
outs as straight and neat as possible —
it all adds to the appearance of the
finished body.

Now to the job of making the shell
more realistic, starting with the nose.
The moulded lines around the point
of the nose indicate where the tiny
headlights of the original were
mounted, and while it’s perfectly
acceptable to leave these opaque, you
could use cleaner on the inside of the
shell to remove the red paint and then
cement boxes on the interior with
scrap anodised circular headlights in
them. But, for this simple conversion.

I contented myself with re-working
the nose spoilers. As moulded these
are rather small. Once the under
surface of each spoiler has been
removed, cut a piece of 1 mm plastic
card to the shape shown and cement
this in position beneath the remaining
spoiler surface, also as shown. This
modification will leave an unfilled gap
in the lower side of the body, and this
must be filled with a small sheet of
the thinnest plastic card available
(10 thou), cut oversize and glued home
behind the offending gap. Should the
patch protrude into the wheel-arch,
trim off the excess. This patching will
leave a slight depression in the shell,
but this is obscured to normal viewing
by the extended spoilers, and can
easily be filled with body putty if
required.

Outlined on the inside curvatures
AIRFIX magazine

of the front wings are two almost
rectangular areas. On the real car
these were perforated louvres allow-
ing air trapped under the wheel arches
to escape. There are several ways of
representing these panels in more
detail on the Airfix shell, but punching
small holes through the wing isn’t one
of them, for the plastic isn’t strong
enough to take it, and will shred
away.

The simplest method is to scratch a
louvred pattern into the plastic in
these areas. When it comes to painting
the body, black Indian ink can be run
into the patterning to detail it
properly.

Having removed the standard
narrow cockpit deck, now cut a
replacement full-width and full-length
deck from 30 or 40 thou plastic card
as shown. This, again, may be
cemented into place. Sensibly used,
cement does not remove the colouring
from the body, although in this type
of conversion the whole thing will
have to be repainted on the outside
anyway. The driver may now' be
replaced, having been cut away from
the original deck. I cut away the
locating spigots under his arms and
Aralditcd him in the correct position
on the new deck. Unfortunately this
figure is, in itself, not very realistic
and could be replaced with one of the
proprietary figures available. Other-
wise, scrape away the wide moulded
chinstrap, paint the helmet silver and
line-in a thinner black strap. The
goggles should be given more curva-
ture on their lower edges and painted
gloss black, then wipe some body
putty over the face to obscure the
features and paint this whole area
matt white. Jim Hall was one of the
first drivers to wear a fireproof face
mask consistently, and this is what the
white-painted putty will represent.

Now to the most difficult part of
the job; rebuilding the tail end of the
shell. A rectangular piece of plastic
card, as drawn, is cut and cemented to
the forward edge of the cut-out in the
modified shell and to the upper edge
of the tail transom. Now the curva-
ture of the wheel covers has to be
reproduced, and I found a fairly
simple way — saving moulding tech-
niques — was as follows.

The new body top panel passes
underneath the cut-off end of these
covers and the curve required for the
new ends of the wings can be drawn
in on this panel. I had some thin strips
of plastic card left after the earlier
operations, and cut these into suitable
lengths (with the correct base curves)

November. 1968

to cement in place between the cut-off
ends of the shell wings and the curve
drawn on the body top panel. This
will leave a slightly corrugated finish
but, again, a layer of body putty and
a coat of paint will give the wings,
suitably sanded down, a realistic and
fairly correct appearance.

Small vertical plastic card plates
must now be made up to form the
inside surfaces of the vertical tail fins.
Cement these to the shell at the top
and rear edge, and to the new wheel
covers at the bottom. Now, the com-
plete spoiler assembly which was cut
away in a sort of inverted Vee-shape
must now be cut in two, retaining the
front surface of the spoiler with its
STP sticker. Separating this from the
back of the assembly will leave a
slight hook on the rearward edge.
Spread some cement on the reverse,
and slide the hook over the edge of a
1 mm plastic card sheet. Wait for the
cement to dry, then cut the plastic
card away, using the original spoiler
shape as a template. If you require an
operating spoiler fit a stiff wire spindle
between the laminations, if not just
glue the new, strengthened spoiler into
place with the curves at the lower
front corners, fitting over the old cut
outs on the wheel arches.

For an operating spoiler, the wire
spindle, once laminated into place,
can be sprung into small holes drilled
in the tail fins on either side.

Experimentation with small piece>

Modified body shell, before painting

of ballast fixed to the leading and
trailing edges of the wing should
arrive at a point of balance at which
the car’s acceleration will make the
spoiler level, and deceleration will
make it raise into the braking position.
Stops on the side fins will prevent the
spoiler flopping back over-centre.

Now, the whole shell, with body-
puttied parts sanded carefully to make
them as smooth as possible, must be
painted gloss white. This variant of the
Chaparral didn’t have the primer-
coloured lower body sides of the
earlier versions, but retained the stan-
dard USRRC race numbers of 65 for
Sharp and 66 for Hall, both being in
black script in a thin black circle
painted directly on to the bodywork.
The new cockpit deck is painted matt
black, after the quadrant-shaped gaps
left on either side of the cockpit back
have been suitably filled with scrap
card. A small Firestone sticker above
the rear wheel arches on either side
completes the modified, and by now
much more realistic, shell.

One last touch would be to replace
the standard wheel inserts with some
correct cast-spoke Chaparral inserts
pinched from some other kit. Failing
their availability, don’t bother, for you
now have an Airfix ‘Shap’ to outdo all
others for sheer appearance, if not
necessarily performance! Now’s your
chance to have a real go at those
Concours classes .

103

BY NORMAN
SIMMONS

This month s work shown almost complete. The high level section is seen in
position on the supports with the gradient at the rear where the locomotive is
standing. Track is laid temporarily to check that everything fits according

to the plan.

The baseboard

CONTINUING OUR NARROW GAUGE PROJECT

I AST month I discussed two layout

J plans for an 00-9 narrow gauge
model railway system. One of the
primary considerations in designing
these layouts was that they should be
small, compact and portable so that
if required they could be easily carried
about the house and operated in the
living room in the company of the rest
of the family. The smaller of the two.
Plan B, measures only 3 ft X 2 ft. and

1 decided this is the one that would
suit me best.

A necessary start to any model rail-
way is the construction of the base-
board. The generally accepted open
framework construction using 2 inch
x 1 inch timber with a ± inch thick
softboard top is the type I advocate
for an OO standard gauge layout
where the baseboard is usually of such
a size that it requires its own trestles
or wall bracket supports. But for my
much smaller 00-9 narrow gauge sys-
tem I wanted something a little less
bulky as I visualised operating it on
the kitchen or even the dining room
table.

A board of some sort was the ob-
vious solution, but what sort of
board? The requirements were that it
should not warp, bend or twist unduly,
it should be thick enough and com-
pact enough to take track pins, small
nails or small screws and it should not
be too heavy. One of my local ‘do-it-
yourself shops operates a kind of
supermarket of pre-cut materials of
all thicknesses and sizes and after
comparing materials such as hard-
board, chipboard and plywood of
various thfeknesses, i inch plywood
seemed just about right in the 3 ft X

2 ft size. Normally I would not dream
of using such a hard material as ply-
wood for a model railway using OO
standard gauge equipment, mainly

104

because of the noise, but 00-9 narrow
gauge trains arc so light and they
travel so leisurely that this is not such
a problem.

It will be seen that Plan B is a dual
level system with a high level terminus
partly concealing the continuous oval
and return loop which operate at the
lower level. Another smaller piece of
± inch ply, 3 ft X 1 ft 5 inch, was
therefore selected for the high level
sub-base. It must be admitted that
3 ft X I ft 5 inch is rather an un-
orthodox measurement to find ready
cut in a shop but this day I must have
been particularly lucky! Needless to
say, the measurement is not terribly
critical and anything about 3 ft X

Above: Building the turntable in the
manner described in this article, using
a suitable tin lid as the ‘weir. Upper
view shows the hole cut out, plus the
components, all of which are seen in
place in the lower view. Note track
plan marked in pencil on the base-
board.

1 ft 6 inch, give or take an inch or
two, would do.

Next I needed some material to
support the high level sub-base above
the main baseboard. Two inches is
about the minimum clearance required
for the tallest piece of rolling stock in
my present equipment and this is the
Playcraft Dccauvillc 0-4-0 tank loco-
motive. Two inches includes adequate
allowance for the height of the track
and all ether foreseeable factors so
some 2 inch X } inch finished size
strip wood was selected. A length 7 ft
long was found to be sufficient.
Finally, a 3 ft plank about 4 or 5
inches wide (this is not critical) was
selected to form a back piece. All this
material which, apart from screws and
glue, completes the shopping list, cost
less than £1.

It is essential to complete all the
heavy carpentry work before laying
any of the track and this part of the
work should be carefully planned to
ensure that nothing is overlooked.

First, screw and glue the plank
forming the back piece to the low level
plywood — A at Fig 1. Now screw and
glue the two side pieces B and C in
place. Next, cut the high level sub-
base to shape. Fig 2. The rectangular
portion removed at E will become the
base for the incline linking the high
and low level. The side pieces B and
C support the high level sub-base at
the sides but to stop it sagging in the
centre some additional supports arc
required as shown at D on Fig 1.
These have been carefully positioned
to allow plenty of clearance for the
low level tracks, taking into considera-
tion the overhang of the rolling stock
around the curves. D will also provide
support for the scenic work which will

AIRFIX magazine

A

7

7

All dimensions in inches
except where stated

Above: Scale drawings show the baseboard construction :
all parts are keyed to references in text.

Fig A

Correct method :
gentle slopes at top and bottom

track at top of incline

15

eventually be built up on the fore-
ground of the low level section.

Next comes construction of the
gradient. In describing how to do it,
it is perhaps easier to show what not
to do — Fig 3. If the changes in grade
at the top and bottom of the gradient
are made too abrupt this is likely to
cause difficulty to long wheelbase roll-
ing stock, especially when it is remem-
bered that the line also curves sharply
at these points. The changes in grade
should be smoothed out as in Fig 4. It
is particularly desirable that there
should be a short stretch of level track
at the top of the gradient as there will
be the additional hazard of a break in
the running rails at this point. The
high level sub-base must be made
readily detachable to allow ready
access to the tracks below and the gap
in the rails at the top of the gradient
occur at a point where the high and
low level tracks meet.

A turntable is a feature of the ter-
minal station track layout and thought
must be given at this stage of con-
structing the baseboard as to what sort
of turntable is required. It is possible

to build a flat disc type of turntable
on top of the baseboard but all the
narrow gauge turntables for loco-
motives I have ever seen have been
the well type. To model one of these
will necessitate cutting a hole in the
baseboard. In marking out the position
of the turntable, draw out the position
of the tracks leading up to it. In the
case of Plan B there are only two and
I took a line midway between the two
tracks as the centre line of the turn-
table. The nearer the turntable is to
the edge of the baseboard the longer
the station platform can be, which is
desirable, but at the same time con-
sideration must be given to possible
fouling of the tracks below, cither by
the base of the turntable or the centre
pivot. The position of the turntable
as marked at Fig 2 makes allowance
for these factors.

The diameter of the turntable will,
of course, depend on the length of
your longest locomotive. Most pro-
prietary model 00-9 locomotives avail-
able today are only 2-3 inches long so
the turntable can be quite small, but
it is well to allow for all possible

future developments. What my
chances arc I don't know, but I would
very much like to make an 00-9 model
of one of the Lynton and Barnstaple
locomotives. The turntable on the
Lynton and Barnstaple, which, by the
way, is still seeing service at Romney
on the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch
Railway, is 30 feet long — just under
5 inches in 4 mm scale. The L & B
locomotives were approximately 23
feet long over the buffer beams, so a
turntable about 3J to 4 inches long
would just about do for a model of
one of these locomotives in 4 mm
scale. My turntable is still under con-
struction at the time of writing so I
cannot give it a full description at this
stage. I can, however, say that I am
using the lid of a tin as the well for
my turntable and after rummaging
through all the likely sources at home,
and a few unlikely ones as well, I
found one of my wife's cleansing
cream tins was just the right size —
3J inches. Luckily the tin was nearly
empty! The circular hole in the base-
board was cut an exact fit for the lid
so the lip around the edge stopped it
falling right the way through the hole.
I hope to say more about the turn-
table in another article in this series.
Finally, if you want to include an
inspection pit in your locomotive shed
it is a good idea to think about it now
since it will be very much easier
chiselling out a slot in the baseboard
without the track or any other delicate
features in place. The width of the pit
can only be very narrow, something
like 8 mm, so the track will have to
be drawn in pretty accurately to get
the exact position of the pit.

Below : The main baseboard before the high level section was fitted, showing
the supports and the gradient fixed in place. Compare with Fig I at head of
this page to see how parts locate on the base. Refer also to Plan B on page 55
in last month's issue when making this baseboard.

L

105

vehicle. However, you could easily
add a second hook, pulley, and wind-
ing drum if you wish, using my photo
of the full-sized lorry as a guide.

Make up the two sides of the crane
(remember the sides are not identical,
but are mirror images) using the actual
size plan in Fig 2 to work from. The
girders are made from Microstrio
11 mm wide by 1 mm thick and the
re-inforcing plates arc cut from 10
thou plastic card. 1 joined the two
sides using spacers of Microstrip of
the same size (11 mm wide by 1 mm
thick) as used for the girders, and
7+ mm long. These spacers arc posi-

A Matador crane truck

MICHAEL ANDRESS SUGGESTS A SIMPLE LINESIDE MODEL

r PHE Airfix Matador kit, although
intended especially for military
modellers, is a very suitable basis for
models of many different types of
commercial lorries which will add
interest to your model railway layout.
Also, there arc quite a number of pro-
totype ex-WD Matadors which have
been converted for civilian purposes
and which can be seen around the
country, often in timber yards (Mata-
dor Crane Truck, AIRFIX magazine,
August, 1967) and at service stations.
The Airfix Matador can be similarly
converted to provide accurate models
of these prototypes.

My latest conversion is based on a
breakdown vehicle which I photo-
graphed recently at a garage on the
Al. The crane mounted on this lorry
appears to be a fairly standard type
as I have seen identical cranes on
other different breakdown vehicles.

Now for the details of the con-
struction.

Chassis: The chassis and wheels are
assembled exactly as in the kit instruc-
tions; I prepainted most of the parts
as this is usually much easier and
neater than trying to paint the com-
pleted model.

Cab: The only alteration necessary
is to the cab roof (Part 14). File off
the projecting rim around the open-
ing and the two ridges on the upper
surface. Then cover the roof with a
piece of thick drawing paper (if you
use liquid cement, really solvent, this
is simply done by holding a slightly
oversize piece of paper in place on

the roof and painting over it with the
solvent which will soak through the
paper and fix it in position), and trim
neatly to exact size when the cement
has set firm. Windows can be added if
desired using transparent plastic sheet
glued behind the window openings
before assembling the cab.

Body: The body floor (Part 17)
must be shortened by cutting 9{ mm
from the rear — this leaves the rear of
the platform flush with the rear sur-
face of the last cross member. The
right-hand body side (Part 19) is cut
down as shown in Fig 1 and the left-
hand side (Part 18) is cut down to
match (remembering that on both
sides the cutting down is at the rear).
The canopy sides (Parts 21 and 22)
arc cut down at the rear so that they
measure 35 mm and the canopy top
(Part 25) is similarly shortened to
35 mm. The front board (Part 16) and
canopy front (Part 23) are used un-
altered. These parts can all be painted
and assembled now, following the kit
instructions in so far as they arc
applicable. Paint and add the equip-
ment lockers (Parts 28, 29, and 30) at
this stage and then cement the
assembled cab and built up body to
the chassis.

Crane: I simplified my model
slightly by only having a single hook
instead of two as in the original

tioned as shown by the shaded areas
in Fig 2. Add two diagonal braces of
1 mm wide thin plastic strip (about
10 thou or less) 18 mm long to the top
and two similar braces 19 mm long to
the underside of the crane. 1 bought
a packet of Slater's Plastikard Micro-
strip some time ago and this contained
a large selection of different widths
and thicknesses. Using these is much
neater and more convenient than try-
ing to cut your own fine strips. As
there are many different sizes in a
packet, it is difficult for me to quote
exact sizes for you. However, the sizes
are not too critical provided the parts
look about right on your model.

I added a piece of 10 thou plastic
card, 21 mm wide and 10 mm long,
across the upper end of the crane and
another piece of the same material,
also 10 mm long but only 1 mm wide,
set out at an angle from the lower
part of the first piece. The model
photos show- this and will make my

Below : (/) Full-size drawing for sides
as modified. ( 2 ) Full-size drawing for
jib. (3) Hook — drawn five times actual
size.

106

AIRFIX magazine

description easier to follow. The gear
wheel is an old watch gear 6 mm in
diameter and the winding drum, to
which it is fixed, was cut from the
thicker of the smooth parts of one of
the trunnions of the gun (Part 58). Cut
this to length so that when it is fixed
to the gear wheel the completed gear
and drum will fit neatly between the
sides of the crane. After painting the
crane, and the drum and gear, the
latter can be glued in place between
the crane sides. I didn't have a small
enough gear wheel to represent the
smaller gear which meshes with the
one on the winding drum, so I merely
added an axle (of thin wood) in the
appropriate position above the drum
and the lack of the smaller gear is not
at all noticeable.

The two pulleys arc each a slice of
two ridges and the intervening groove
cut from the ridged part of a trun-
nion (Part 58). The upper pulley is
mounted between two rectangles,
3 mm by 1 mm, of 10 thou plastic
card. The pulley and mount are then
painted black and glued in position
as in the photos. For the lifting cable
1 used two pieces of black thread
(this is easier than trying to use one
longer length) and the first of these
I glued to the winding drum and to
the pulley at this stage. Make sure
that the thread is stretched tautly
between the drum and pulley and
when the cement has dried trim off the
excess thread. The other pulley is
mounted between two pieces of 10
thou plastic card cut to the shape
shown in Fig 3. The small hook is cut
from scrap plastic card and fixed
between the lower parts of the two
side pieces.

The crane assembly can now be
fitted on to the platform, positioning
it so that the girders at the base of the
crane extend 61 mm beyond the rear
edge of the platform. A strip of 1 mm

Top: A front view of the completed
model. Above: A view of the actual
vehicle on which the conversion is
based.

wide 10 thou thick plastic card is
cemented to the outer side of the end
of each of these projecting girders,
extending down to the end of each
main chassis girder. The structure
which is fitted below these main
chassis girders is built up of 11 mm
by 1 mm Microstrip for the girders,
the uprights arc 8 mm long and the
crosspiece, which fits between the up-
rights, measures 1 1 mm: the triangular
bracing pieces arc cut from 10 thou
plastic card. When assembled the
upper ends of the uprights can be
glued to the outer sides of the ends
of the main chassis girders.

I built up the triangular towing bar
from two exhausts (Part 46) left over
from some of my earlier conversions,
but you could just as easily use scrap
plastic for the parts. The base is
1 1 mm long and the two other sides

each 12 mm. I cut a thin slice of the
thicker smooth round part of a trun-
nion (Part 58) and made a hole
through the slice to form the ring at
the end of the towing bar. 1 took the
second length of black thread (about
11 inches long) and threaded it
through under the pulley of the hook
and then cemented the hook through
the ring of the towing bar. I followed
this by glueing the base of the towing
bar on to the top surface of the spring
which lies between the rear end of the
two main chassis girders, with the
towing bar nearly vertical. The crane
is completed by bringing the two
thread ends up to the upper pulley
and cementing the threads so that
they are taut; the excess thread is
trimmed off after the cement has set
firm.

The steps down from the door
above the petrol tank are built up
from 1 mm wide, thin Microstrip. The
uprights are 10 mm long and the two
rungs 51 mm. The steps are then glued
to the undersurface of the floor and
to the petrol tank where they touch
it. Add headlights of thin slices of
21 mm diameter dowel painted silver.

The colour scheme is yellow and
black with the rear edge of the plat-
form and the rear surface of the rear
cross member, the rear part of each
back mudguard, and the rear parts of
the structure which extends down
from the rear ends of the main chassis
girders painted white to make the
vehicle more easily visible at night.

The photo of the full-size vehicle
shows some extra details that the
super-detail fan can add: the second
hook, warning light on the roof, tail
lights, mirrors, a light on the crane, a
name board for the canopy, the black
and white striped plates on the rear
mudguards (again for more visibility
at night when stopped at the site of
an accident), number plates and so on.

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ADDRESS

November, 1968

107

FRENCH STORCH

D. L. Whiting converts the Airfix kit to
MS 502 and MS 505 versions

I^OR these conversions you will need two of the excellent Airtix
I Fieseler Storch kits. The main modifications are confined
10 the engines and installations, plus a few additional details not
found in the kit.

The MS502 is a 9-cylinder 230 hp Sa I m son-engined variant of
the MS500, which was the standard Argus powered Storch built
at the Morane factory. The MS505 is a re-engined 502, fitted
with the American Jacobs 7-cylinder engine of 300 hp

The first stage is to assemble the fuselage following the kit
instructions, and when dry, cut the engine cowl off at the point
indicated on the drawing, using a fine tooth razor saw. File all
edges smooth and level, then cement a piece of J inch balsa sheet
to the front and a smaller J inch sheet piece under the nose. The
top of the nose cowling is built up with plastic body putty. When
thoroughly dry, the new nose is carved and sanded to shape.

On the 502 the engine is mounted directly to the new front,
but on the 505. a disc of 1 mm thick plastic card or a metal
washer is first cemented to the front of the fuselage (with Evo-
slik if the latter is used) to form the firewall /engine mount.

The engines arc the next job. Mine were modified from those
in a Frog Miles Master kit which had been converted to Kestrel
versions, but they could be built up from scratch, using stretched
sprue and plastic card, with a Master engine as a guide if you
have one. The 9-cylinder Salmson version is quite straightforward,
and only requires the crankcase front cover building up with
plastic putty. When the putty has been sanded smooth, the push-
rods and rocker-covers can be fitted, two to each cylinder. These
are made from short lengths of fuse wire bent to an inverted ‘L*
shape. The rocker covers are merely short lengths of plastic tube
taken from fine electrical wire.

For the 505. things get just a little more complicated, mainly
because it has only seven cylinders. 1 tackled this by cutting eight
of the cylinders away from the crankcase with a modelling knife,
leaving just one cylinder in the vertical position. Next cement six
cylinders around the rest of the crankcase at 51.5° angles. When
completely dry, push-rods and rocker covers arc fitted as before.
Next, a circle of copper wire, the diameter of the crankcase, is
bent to shape, and where the two ends meet, one piece is bent
back at right angles, so that when filled this protrudes between
No 1 and 2 cylinders, back towards the bulkhead.

Before fitting the bulkhead and engine, bend a piece of plastic
covered wire into a circle, slightly smaller in diameter than the
bulkhead, and again with one end bent out at right angles. This
is glued between the fuselage and bulkhead, with the angled end
to the bottom left of the nose, to form the exhaust pipe. Fit the
propeller shaft inside the engine, and cement the engine to the
bulkhead. A small rectangle of 1 mm styrene sheet is fitted
between the two lower cylinders to represent the oil cooler. This
part seen from the side is angled forward towards the propeller
at the top end.

Now to the propellers. Unfortunately, the kit propeller is noi
the correct shape for cither of these models. Firstly, cut or file
the small spinner away, then for the 502 a general slimming down
in both outline and section is all that is required, but the 505
propeller is rather more drastically altered. Remove the spinner,
and then file the sides of the hub fiat, to a width of approx
2.5 mm. Then, using a modelling knife, carefully scrape the edges
of the blades down into a slim pointed shape. Now restore the
pitch to the blades by again carefully scraping, following the pitch
contours of the original moulding. Finish off with 0400 emery
paper. The hub is now finished to a rounded section. A 1 mm
length of 1 mm stretched sprue is cemented to the centre of the
hub, and two thin discs (sliced from the same sprue) are cemented
diametrically opposed (ie, top right bottom left of hub) to the
hub, to represent the balance weights.

108

Abmc : A view of the completed MS 502 with Salmson engine,
finished as in the drawing opposite.

Back to the airframe now, where the assembly follows kit
instructions, except that on the 505. part No 36 is not fitted to
the tailplane. The resultant holes are filled with putty and sanded
flush. When assembly is complete, the new wing struts arc made
from heat-stretched sprue and fitted between the existing struts
and the wing lower surface. Similarly make and fit the additional
struts to the undercarriage. A short length of stretched sprue
(5 mm long) is then cemented under the port wing where indi-
cated. to represent the fuel gauge. A further piece of sprue
represents the pipe from gauge to cabin.

Cut a further four pieces of sprue 4 mm long and fit these to
the undercarriage legs to form the steps. On the MS502, if the
wheels arc fitted back to front, they will give the true disc appear-
ance as in the full-size aircraft. On the MS505, fit as kit instruc-
tions. Painting and finishing is straightforward on the 502, being
dark green overall, matt, of course. The French markings came
from the ABT MS500 sheet of decals. If you use the maker’s
designation decal, cut the second ‘0* away, and when positioned
on the rudder the figure ‘2’ can be drawn in, using Indian ink
and a mapping pen. The wheel centres are grey.

The 505 is more complicated and the paint scheme was not
completed when the photos were taken. The basic colour is French
Blue (high blue gloss with a little malt dark blue). Tips of wings,
rudder and tailplane are vermilion red (gloss red with a little
matt yellow), divided from the blue by a while line, outlined
each side with black. The leading edge slats are vermilion. The
while areas on the fuselage can be cut from Yeoman solid trans-
fer sheet or masked off with coloured Sellotapc and the areas
filled in with white paint (two parts white gloss, one part matt
white). These semi-gloss colours look far more realistic than full
gloss. The black outlines arc best done with Blick or Letterpress
dry print transfer, as are the registration letters. Wheel centres
are vermilion. Engines are matt black with grey crankcases, and
the pushrods arc left polished metal on the 502, and gloss black
on the 505. Exhaust pipe on the 505 is malt black. The 502 pro-
peller is brown, whilst the 505 ’s is silver with yellow’ tips.

You now have two out-of-ihe-rui Storches to stand alongside
your Argus powered versions.

Below : Two views of the MS 505 conversion, with registration
still l<f he added ( from Blick) when phot(>graphed . Colttttr scheme
given opposite.

Cut here

Serial on rudder, in line:
NC 608

Registration on
white tail band :
F-BDHA
MS 505

Salmson 9-cylinder
230 HP engine

Colours (or civilian MS 505

S —

is

French white Vermilion
Blue

Morane Saulnier MS 502 and MS 505

*|w

1 : 72 scale

November. 1968

109

Armoured

division

markings

DESCRIBED BY PETER HODGES

I N his article on Camouflage and Markings in the April,
* 1966, edition of AIRFIX magazine, Chris Ellis dealt with
some of the tactical signs which appeared on military
vehicles in World War 2. The following notes deal with the
composition of the Armoured Division, and with the various
Arm of Service marks on the vehicles of the units which
comprised it.

As a preliminary, however, I have drawn some of the
distinguishing flags which were in use during the earlier part
of the war; and the following is an interesting extract from
the 7th Armoured Brigade’s orders of 1941 :

‘All armoured vehicles which have wireless masts will
wear pennants in the position of the day. Tanks wear a
red-and-white sign, but some newly arrived may not have
had them painted on. Armoured cars have no colour sign,
but they show they are friendly by holding a flag out on
their right.’

The geometric shapes denoting *A\ *B\ *C’ and ‘HQ’ com-
panies were in use at this time, but ‘HQ’ was then a diamond
shape and ‘C’ a circle, later to be transposed when they were
used as squadron marks.

As the war progressed, the composition of the Armoured
Division changed from an initial heavy preponderance of
tanks, to a more balanced force of armour, infantry and
artillery.

As will be seen from Table 1, the Armoured Division on
the 1940 establishment had two armoured brigades, each of
three armoured regiments and a motor battalion, with only
one infantry battalion in the support group of artillery,
engineers and the usual services. In all, the Division had
about 350 tanks, and its own armoured car regiment of 60
armoured cars.

Experience in the North African campaign showed that
even though each Armoured Brigade had its own motor
battalion, the Division as a whole needed more infantry
support than could be provided by the solitary battalion in
the Support Group. The second Armoured Brigade was
replaced by an Infantry Brigade, which took over the vacant
serial numbers. Infantry Brigade HQ being allocated number
60 and the three Infantry Battalions numbers 61, 62 and 63.
At the same time the Armoured Division’s Motorised Bat-
talion — often carried in M3 half-tracks — was re-numbered
54. There were now 172 tanks plus 14 A A tanks in the
Division.

In 1943, further changes were made. The armoured car
regiment was withdrawn and placed under Corps command,
but the Armoured Division was given an armoured recon-
naissance regiment in lieu, and the total tank strength rose

Continued on page 112

110

Above: Typical marking positions for British armoured
vehicles ; this Churchill VII A PC. pictured post-war. displays
the red! yellow RAC and the red School of Infantry flash.

Standard ‘Arm of
Service’ colours

Additional Arm of Service’
marks allocated to Armoured
Divisions until 1942

Red

Blue

White

Blue

Blue

Green

H

Black

Yellow

Red

Tank Flags

0

R

Brown

Green

Red

N

Green

White

Post-war Colour Changes

Black background
No 1 section — red
No 2 section — yellow
No 3 section — blue
No 4 section — green

Squadron Markings No 5 sec,i0 " ~ " hi,e

o °

’A’ ‘B’ *C’ HQ’

( HQ and G' transposed until 1941)

Key to marking drawings: (A) Formation HQ. (B) All
Royal Artillery units, including HQ. (C) All Royal Engin-
eers units, including HQ. (D) All Royal Signals units,
including HQ. (E) Recce Regts (RAC). (F) Lorried in-
fantry battalions. (G) All Royal Army Service Corps
units, including HQ. (H) All Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Units. (I) All Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engin-
eers units — the black' is actually very dark blue. (J)
Infantry battalions. (K) Senior armoured brigade
vehicles. (L) Junior armoured brigade vehicles. (M)
Support Group HQ. (N) Armoured car regiment. (O) Royal Army Ser-
vice Corps. (P) All Royal Armoured Corps vehicles including trucks,
but excluding RE and REME special purpose vehicles. (Q) Battalion
commander s tank — battalion number superimposed in black. (R)
Company commanders tank ( A— red. B— yellow. ’C’ — blue). (S)
Rally’. (T) Come on'. (U) ’Out of action'. (V) Section commander s
tank, colours as indicated. Squadron markings were usually painted
on turret side and rear plates, sometimes with the troop number
superimposed. Senior regiment or battalion, red: 2nd senior, yellow;
junior regiment or battalion, blue. These could also be white.

AIRFIX magazine

TABLE i

STANDARD NUMBERING FOR THE ARMOURED DIVISION

(Two Armoured Brigades and one Support Group up to 1942)

Number Colour of square

(Superimposed) Unit (Arm of Service mark)

40

40

40

40

Divisional HQ

Divisional HQ Employment platoon
Divisional HQ Intelligence Corps Sect.
Divisional HQ Field Security

Black

Black

Black

Black

50

51

52

53

78

Senior Armoured Brigade HQ

Armoured Regiments in precedence

Motor Battalion

Red

Red

Red

60

61

62

63

79

Junior Armoured Brigade HQ

Armoured Regiments in precedence
Armoured Regiments in precedence
Armoured Regiments in precedence
Motor Battalion

Green

Green

Green

Green

Green

75

Support Group HQ

Brown

76

77

78

RHA Regiment

A T Regiment

LAA Regiment

Red Blue

Red'Blue

Red Blue

74

Infantry Battalion

Red

75

Troop carrying coy RASC

Red Green

47

Armoured Car Regiment

Green White

41

Field Squadron, RE

Cobalt blue

42

Field Squadron, RE

Cobalt blue

46

Field Park Squadron, RE

Cobalt blue

48

Armoured Divisional Signals

White D.irk blue

80

RASC HQ

Red Green

81

Armoured Brigade Coy RASC

Red Green

82

Armoured Brigade Coy RASC

Red Green

83

Support Group Coy RASC

Red Green

84

Armoured Divisional Troops Coy RASC

Red Green

Note: The Arm of Service marks were normally worn on the off-side of the
vehicle, with the Divisional sign on the near-side. Sometimes, however, the
signs were transposed or combined together in one sign as in the 7th Armoured
Division. The superimposed number was usually white.

TABLE 3

Brigades which served in the 79th Armoured Division
Brigade Regiments Equipment Remarks

1st Tank

Ilth RTR

42nd RTR

49th RTR

Originally CDL.
but later converted
to Buffaloes and

Kangaroos

1st Assault
Brig, RE

5th

6th

42nd

Assault Regt, RE

AVREs

4th Armd

Royal Scots Greys
3/4th CLY

44th RTR

2nd KRRC
(Motor Batt)

Sherman DDs

Independent brigade
equipped with DDs
for the Rhine crossing

27th Armd

13/ 18th Royal Hussars
1st East Riding Yeo
Staffordshire Regt

Sherman DDs

Normandy Landing

30th Armd

22nd Dragoons

1st Lothian &

Border Horse

2nd CLY

1 4 1 s t Regt, RAC

Sherman Crabs

Crocodiles

Minesweeping and
flame throwing
brigade

31st Tank

7th RTR

9th RTR

144th RAC

Crocodiles

Withdrawn in

August 1944

33rd Armd.

1st Northants Yeo
144th RAC

148th RAC

1st East Riding Yeo

Buffaloes

144th transferred to
31st Bde

148th left in Aug 1944
1st East Riding relieved
148th

1st Canadian APC

Regt

Kangaroos

Equipped mainly with
Rams and Priests

1st Fife & Forfar Yeo

Crocodiles

From Oct 1944

Ilth RTR

Buffaloes

TABLE 2 (Below)

Unit

7th Armd Div

1 Ith Armd Div

Guards Armd Div

Principal equipment

Remarks

Armd Car Regt

1 Ith Hussars

The Inns of Court
Regt

2nd Household

Cavalry Regt

67 Armoured cars

67 Scout cars

Daimlers (basic car)

AECs (heavy troops)

Staghounds (HQ car)

Daimler and Humber scout cars
« M3 Half-tracks in squadron
support troop

Divisional HQ

8 Cruisers

Cromwells in 7th,

2 AA Tanks

Shermans in Guards and

Ilth Armd

Armd Recce Regt

8th King’s Royal

2nd Northants

2nd Armd Recce Batt.

40 Cruisers

Cromwells

Irish Hussars

Yeomanry

Welsh Guards

6 CS Tanks

30 Light Tanks

Challengers

5 AA Tanks

Honeys. Crusader AA.

8 Scout cars

Centaur AA

Armd Brigade HQ

22nd Armd Brigade

29th Armd Brig

5th (Guards) Armd

7 Cruisers

Brig

8 OP Tanks

As Divn HQ above

2 AA Tanks

Armd Regt

4th CLY

23rd Hussars

2nd (Armd) Batt,

55 Cruisers

Cromwells and Fireflies in 7th,

Grenadier Guards

6 CS Tanks

Shermans and Fireflies in Guards

Armd Regt

1st RTR

2nd Fife & Forfar

1st (Armd) Batt.

1 1 Light Tanks

and 1 Ith Armd Divns:

Yeomanry

Coldstream Guards

6 AA Tanks

Comets were issued to

8 Scout cars

1 Ith Armd after the

Armd Regt

5th RTR

3rd RTR

2nd (Armd) Batt.

(in each regt)

Rhine crossing.

Irish Guards

Most AA Tanks withdrawn

soon after D-Day

Motor Battalion

1st Bn. The

8th Bn, The

1st (Motor) Bn.

80 Carriers and Half-tracks Universal carriers

Rifle Brigade

Rifle Brigade

Grenadier Guards

M3 Half-tracks

Infantry Brigade

1 3 1st Infantry Brigade

159th Infantry Brigade 32nd Guards Brigade

Regiment

1 /5th Queen’s

3rd Bn,

5th Bn,

2" and 3" mortars

Monmouths

Coldstream Guards

6 pounder AT guns

Regiment

1 6th Queen's

4th Bn,

3rd Bn.

KSLI

Irish Guards

Regiment

1 /7th Queen's

1st Bn.

1st Bn,

Herefords

Welsh Guards

Independent

No 3 Support Group,

2nd Independent

3rd Independent

Vickers M/Gs and

Machine-gun

Royal Northumberland

M G Co.

M G Co.

4.2" mortars

Co

Fusiliers

Royal Northumberland Royal Northumberland

Fusiliers

Fusiliers

Royal Artillery

3rd RHA

1 5 1st Field

153rd Field

24 (towed) 25 pdrs

Regiment. RA

Regiment. RA

5th RHA

13th RHA

53rd Field

24 Sextons

Regiment. RA

18 Bofors were SP

15th LAA

58th LAA

94th LAA

54 Bolors

24 17 pdrs

Regiment. RA

Regiment. RA

Regiment, RA

were SP

65th A T

75th A T

21st A T

48 17 pdr

(Achilles or Archer)

Regiment, RA

Regiment. RA

Regiment. RA

A T guns.

Note: In addition, each Division had its own supporting Services, ie. RE, Signals, RASC. RAMC. RAOC. REME. RCMP.

November, 1968

111

7th Armd Div vehicles,

Berlin July 1945

Note : Desert Rat' formation sign
is red on white background in each case

Challenger of 8th Hussars

45 in white on blue/green square

Typical Cromwell markings

2nd Armd Recce Bn. Welsh Guards
White 45 on blue/green square
Yellow 26 on black disc with
yellow surround (bridge plate)
White A in black square is
squadron mark

Guards Armd Div *Eye' emblem

Priest and Sexton markings

Priest of 11th HAC, RA. 1942-43

Sexton of 147th Field Regt. RA

D

® U©

C±)

RA emblem

Cromwell OP of 3rd RHA
Battery letter R beneath
cannon emblem, both red
on white. 74 on red/blue
square

Quad tractor of 3rd RHA
Colours as Cromwell, but signs
on boards at sides of bonnet

HQ. 11th Armoured Divn
White 40 on black square
White A

Black bull on yellow background

C Qi# ^

8th Hussars

Compare with Challenger of same unit*

Fox mask emblem of 8tn Armd Brigade
Sexton of 6th Armd Division

RA emblem

Mailed fist emblem of 6th Armd Div

Coil®]?

Sexton of 11th
Armoured Division

5th RHA. OP vehicle
Red Z on white square

White 76 on red/blue RA square Bull emblem
7th Armd Div formation sign formation sign

RA emblem

Divisional markings — continued

to 244 plus 34 AA tanks. The recce regiment’s number was
45 on the standard blue/green arm of service square.

The Division was further enlarged in 1944 by the addition
of extra tanks and also by an independent machine-gun com-
pany. It now had 310 tanks, plus 8 OP tanks and 25 A A
tanks on the strength. In practice it was also allocated an
armoured car regiment by Corps on a more or less perma-
nent basis, and this effectively released the armoured recon-
naissance regiment to make it the fourth regiment of the
Armoured Brigade.

Table 2 shows three of the Armoured Divisions of the
21st Army Group in NW Europe, 1944-45. Notice that the
basic tank of the 11th and Guards Armoured Division was
the Sherman; that the 7th had Cromwells; and that all
Divisions had Sherman Fireflies to stiffen up their fire-power.
The Firefly was the fourth tank in a standard troop of four-
tanks, the other three being either Shermans or Cromwells.

Apart from the armour of the other Allied armies, which
will not be dealt with here (except to say that the Polish
Armoured Division was equipped with Cromwells), there
were two other major groups.

The first, the 79th Armoured Division, comprised the
Brigades of special purpose AFVs shown in Table 3. This
was the largest Armoured Division in existence and because
of its special duties, did not conform to the usual composi-
tion. Prior to the assault on the Rhine the 79th comprised
five Brigades — a total of 17 regiments — with lour times as
many tracked and armoured fighting vehicles as a normal

Left : A Sherman in
1944 displaying typical
markings: 79th Armd
Div formation sign
red/white/red RAC
flash; 40' indicating a
divisional HQ vehicle

O

Above : Typical mark- Black 28 on yellow disc
ing combinations for (bridge classification)
the 1942-45 period on

British armoured
vehicles.

armoured division.

The second group comprised the Independent Armoured
Brigades and Tank Brigades which were equipped with
Churchills for infantry support, although in some cases Sher-
mans were also used in the infantry support role, for which
they were not entirely suited. One of the Churchill-equipped
brigades was the 6th (Guards) Tank Brigade, who wore their
own Brigade Formation sign, of a golden sword set in the
centre of a diagonal band of blue-red-blue on a white shield.

The typical vehicle markings are taken from various
sources, and mostly deal with the NW European campaign.
From Table 2, it will be seen that a second field regiment
RA was added to the Armoured Division, and this usually
had the number 74 on the Arm of Service sign — denoting a
regiment of towed 25 pounders, the number 76 being
reserved for the Sexton-equipped unit (or Priests prior to the
introduction of Sextons).

APPLICATION OF MARKINGS

Summarising the above, we get the following principal mark-
ings applicable to British army vehicles in World War 2.

Formation sign: The emblem, which could be partly heraldic,
partly symbolic, or just ‘concocted’, which normally denoted
the higher formation which directly commanded the unit oper-
ating the vehicle. In the case of most ‘fighting’ vehicles, there-
fore, this was the divisional emblem. Famous examples are the
mailed fist of 6th Armoured Division, the ‘Desert Rat’ of 7th
Armoured Division, the ‘Eye’ of the Guards Armoured Division,
the black cat (Dick Whittington’s by legend) of 56th (London)

Continued on page IK >

AIRFIX magazine

Beaufighter
with Merlins

Alan W. Hall makes a Mk II version
from the Airfix kit

R2270, the first production Beaufighter II with B type
roundels and no codes. Note the air scoop above the cockpit
canopy, the partly overpainted panel in the transparency,
and the extensive weathering leaving hare metal showing
through the overall black finish. There is also a yellow gas-
detector patch just ahead of the tail. This aircraft has the
dihedral tailplane (Imperial War Museum photo).

S a further example of how left over pieces from one
conversion can easily make up into another, I have
chosen for my subject this month the Merlin powered version
of the Bristol Beaufighter.

Readers will have seen how, starting with the Halifax II
conversion, I have been able to use the spare engines to make
a Lancaster II and now, to take things to their logical con-
clusion, am using two of the four discarded Merlin engines
from the basic Lancaster kit to power a Beaufighter.

I hope that I have been able to show the beginner that he
need not spend a considerable amount of money in order to
enlarge his collection and that given patience and some
research he can produce excellent replicas without going to
the expense of buying several kits to cannibalise into one.
Those who have experience in these matters will agree that
every item not needed in one kit will eventually come in
handy for another. So if you do strike off on your own the
golden rule is never to throw things away!

The last two conversions have been relatively simple ones.
The Beaufighter II follows this trend as the basic needs for
change in this conversion are in the engines and tail unit.
There’s also some heat treatment of sprue needed, but as
this is one of the first things the ab initio conversion enthusi-
ast learns, I have not worried about the inclusion of this
type of work.

Beaufighter I Is were used in quantity in the RAF during
the early part of World War 2 when there was some doubt
about the supply of Hercules engines being maintained. A
total of 450 aircraft powered by Merlin XX engines were
constructed at Bristol’s Filton works and the first production
aircraft entered service with Nos 604 and 600 Squadrons in
April, 1941. Other units using the Beaufighter II operation-
ally were 25, 125, 255, 307, 406, 456 and 488 Squadrons.

I found the most compact reference for this conversion in
the Profile Publication No 137 on the Beaufighter. Photo-
graphs, details and three side views are given in colour and
in the case of the aircraft belonging to No 54 OTU, Richard
Gardner has given a plan view showing the position of the
camouflage. Other information can be gleaned from William
Green’s Fighters of the Second World War. His ‘Famous
Fighters’ series also deals with the subject fully.

STAGE 1 The two fuselage halves and the wing halves
are joined in accordance with kit instructions. These are laid on
one side to dry and in the case of the latter this should be for
at least 12 hours because joints are apt to part if the full drying
out period is not observed.

STAGE 2 The original engine nacelles on the Beaufighter
wing are now removed as they arc too wide when compared with
the Merlin replacements. Not all of the nacelle was cut away,
however. I measured the width of the Merlin against the width
of the Hercules and where the two coincided, about J inch from

November, 1968

the rear, made a cut at right angles so that I was provided with
an effective key on which to fix the balsa wood block used to
replace the original plastic. The cutting operation which followed
the line of the edge of the nacelle where it met the wing was done
w'ith a fret saw. ( Picture below )

STAGE 3 During the cleaning up operation, which
involved the use of a file and sandpaper to smooth off the cuts
made by the fret saw, I also removed the oil coolers on the
leading edge of the wings. Sufficient plastic in the leading edge
allows this to be done without making a hole in the wing, but
if you do happen to make a slight indentation, reinforce the area
with body putty, leave it to dry and then reshape the wing section
later when waiting for another stage to dry out.

STAGE 4 A balsa wood plug which runs from the leading
edge to the right angle cut at the rear of the nacelle is then
inserted. I purposely made this too deep as I wanted enough

wood on which to work. The Lancaster nacelle is stuck on to
the front of this, making sure that it lines up on the depth and

Scale drawings on next page
Instructions continued on page 116

113

Note that individual aircraft differed in small details; check pictures
carefully when modelling a particular machine

All colours matt

PAINTING AND CAMOUFLAGE

Most operational night fighters were matt black overall but
the well-known aircraft from No 54 OTU. T3224. was my
choice for a colour scheme. It should be noted that this air-
craft did not display the nose radar aerials. M. J. F. Bowyer’s
article on the Beaufightcr II in the March, 1963, issue of
AIRFIX magazine has a photograph of a completed model
in this scheme in addition to the drawings this month. There
are also a number of alternate codes and serials given in the
same article. Beginners should note that the Sea Grey Medium
should be applied first and the green after this has dried. The
colour came from the Humbrol Authentic Colour set No 1.
RAF (European) reference HB.l and HB.6. Transfers were
basically from the kit. A matt surface was achieved by rub-
bing the gloss away with an ink rubber before the transfers
were placed in water. Yeoman red transfers were used for
the codes *ST-H’ and the serials were made up from Lctrasct.
The March, 1 963, AIRFIX magazine is long out of print and
cannot be supplied.

Beaufighter II — continued

Aerials on R2402
night fighter

Drawings by R. E. Gardner

Ocean Grey

Black

Completed model of ST-H drawn below. Roundels are used
straight from the kit, as is the tail flash.

Dark Green

Beaufighter IIF night fighter, R2402 : YD*G of 255 Sqn., 1942

Plan view of T3224

Note exhaust details

Beaufighter IIF, T3224, of 54 OTU, 1944

Note retractable tail wheel

Note aerial on belly, starboard

Nose of R2402 with
bow and arrow A.I. aerial

Front elevaiion. T3224

Three bladed propeller
omitted for clarity

114

AIRFIX magazine

November, 1968

115

Beaufighter II — continued

width when compared with the front view drawing on the next
page.

STAGE 5 When dry, the nacelles can be carved to their
correct shape. It will be noted that as the width of the Merlin and
Hercules vary (with the nacelle shape for the Merlin narrower),
it will necessitate part of the balsa block being cut to follow the
top of the wing section before the hump of the nacelle is reached.
This can only be done by cutting down and sideways with a very
sharp knife and finishing off with a file and sandpaper. This
operation is possibly the most difficult of the whole conversion
as you must get the division between the nacelle and the wing at
a sharp angle and care must be taken to avoid cutting too deep.
On the underside the nacelle is shaped so that the correct depth
is obtained against the full depth of the Merlin engine and to do
this I shaped the nacelle in the first instance ignoring provision
for wheel wells. Once this was roughly completed I measured the
height from the ground in scale size using the undercarriage legs
and wheels from the kit. The resultant measurement gave me a
point where I should cut the nacelle, remembering when I did so
that sufficient thickness of wood had to be found to allow the
undercarriage legs to be let into the surface. Finally, slots were
cut into the sides of each nacelle to allow a fixing point for the
undercarriage doors

STAGE 6 The whole of the wooden part of the nacelle is
now coated with talcum powder and clear dope mixture and
allowed to dry. Time and patience arc needed to sand the nacelles
down so that the joint line cannot be seen and it may be neces-
sary, as in my case, to give the area a second coat of the filler
before finally achieving a perfect match.

STAGE 7 Before the undercarriage doors are added the
forward bump on those in the kit must be removed with a knife
and sandpaper. The bump on the rear of the doors is left. When
complete, the doors are stuck in position and the undercarriage
legs added. Drill small holes to take the locating stubs on the legs
and push them into position, adding a little cement to do so.
The rear struts arc also added at this stage and again small holes
arc drilled in the wood surface as the struts have locating stubs

Above: Close view of the Merlin nacelles grafted on to the
remains of the Hercules nacelles. Note how the extremely
careful finishing conceals any visible join between the plastic
and the balsa.

on them. In my case I did not put the wheels in position at this
point as I preferred to pre-paint these and add them after the
rest of the model has been painted. There is fess chance of the
wheels being touched with paint from another part of the model
if you do this.

STAGE 8 On some Beaufighter I Is the lailplane had
dihedral as in the kit, but on my model I chose to have the early
horizontal tailplanc. To achieve this the locating stub was cut off.
a 90° flat filed on the fuselage side and the two parts joined with
cement. I also cut the locating stub from the wings as the joint
was not perfect when this was put together in a dry run. After
the stub was removed and the wing joined to the fuselage, it was
found that the cleaning up process used to hide the joint line
was easier.

STAGE 9 Final details were then added. The canopies
were put in place (these were pre-painted as 1 found it easier to
do this separate from the model). Radar aerials for the nose and
wing extremities were made by heat treating sprue. When stretched
to the required thickness and before setting. I bent the material
over the corner of my vice to get the right-angle required and
then cut the piece to length. A further piece was added at the
right-angle and the whole let into the nose by firstly drilling a
small hole. A standard beam approach aerial was needed under
the fuselage. The plan will show the length of this and again it
was made from heat treated sprue. The upright parts were cut
from small pieces of plastic card. Propellers, tailwhecl and aerial
were stuck in position to complete the model.

British Armoured Division markings — from page 1 12

Division, the stylised ‘HD’ of 51st (Highland) Division, and the
two crossed keys of 2nd Infantry Division. Vehicles of ‘inde-
pendent’ brigades — ie, those not attached to divisions — carried
their brigade formation sign. Well-known examples are the fox
mask of 8th (Independent) Armoured Brigade and the sword on
a shield of 6th Guards Brigade. Vehicles belonging to ‘Army’
or ‘Corps' troops carried the army or corps formation sign, a
good example being General Montgomery’s Humber staff car
which wore the 8th Army emblem in the Western Desert and 21
Army Group emblem in NW Europe. Finally vehicles of units
administered by ‘Commands’ or ‘Districts’ carried the com-
mand or district emblem. An example was the ‘flaming torch’

emblem of Aldershot District.

Widespread introduction of formation signs did not take place
until 1940 in Britain (and in the BEF in France) and 1941-42 in
the Western Desert and elsewhere, though formation signs were
widely used in the first world war. Since World War 2 incident-
ally formation signs have been continued in the British Army,
and insofar as any standardisation goes, they arc normally
painted on the left, front and rear (ie, nearside) of the vehicle.
During the inter-war period, formation signs were discontinued
(with few exceptions) and individual units were identified by an
abbreviation (eg, *1 CHES’: 1st Cheshires) in 4 inch white

letters usually on the sides of the vehicle, often inside a white

circle. Individual unit identification in post-war years is stan-
dardised by a similar abbreviation (eg, ‘S of I’: School of
Infantry) in black letters on a white strip painted above the ‘Arm

116

of Service’ sign. Sometimes extra identification is provided (and
was pre-war) less officially, by unit badges on doors, etc.

The ‘Arm of Service’ sign with the number superimposed is
most usually painted on the right, front and rear (ie, off-side) of
the vehicle. Sometimes the number is omitted.

Almost without exception, all British service vehicles from 1939
to the present have carried a weight classification (or bridge plate)
consisting of a yellow disc with a number depicting weight in
tons superimposed. This is mainly to assist in routeing. etc, for
convoy work to ensure that vehicles are kept to bridges and pon-
toon ferries appropriate to their weight. Frequently, however,
vehicles are seen with the number omitted.

At the rear, low down, most British armoured vehicles carry a
convoy panel of three black and four white vertical stripes painted
centrally to give a ‘station keeping’ guide to following vehicles.
Below : A Centurion A VRE with markings displayed in the most
usual order from right (off) side to left: bridge plate. Royal
Engineers' ' Arm of Service * marking, serial, and ‘ MOD -
administered’ formation sign, a lion and crown.

Part 12: Fighters in the Far East War

r PHE campaign in the Far East presents one of the saddest
L stories in Britain’s history. Everywhere it was a case of
too little too late, or a wrong conception of the needs for
defence — and its message for today is all too obvious. Incon-
ceivably it seems that Singapore was entirely without any
tighter protection until May, 1941. and that in India a few
Blenheims and a host of biplanes were all that were avail-
able. The reverses in Europe in 1940 prohibited reinforce-
ments going to the East, a region of almost no action.
Overseas re-deployment was instead to the Middle East,
preventing planned Hurricane deliveries further east. For
defence the RAF looked towards North American supply.

Japanese strength and standard of equipment was
obviously underestimated. Four Allied squadrons had been
equipped with the outdated, under-armed Brewster Buffalo,
which had to face a carrier force equipped with the lcgcndars
Zero fighter.

When the battle broke on December 7, 1941. the RAF
had in Malaysia five fighter squadrons. These, it was argued,
could be reinforced by others from the USA and the
Netherlands East Indies. Britain’s force had been planned to
rise from 88 obsolete or obsolescent aeroplanes to 336
modern machines for which a string of new bases was being
prepared. Radar and observer links were required and addi-
tional bases in Burma and Cey lon. The 40 Buffaloes, and 12
Blenheim IFs of No 27 Sqn, could hardly provide effective
defence.

By late November, 1941, relations with the Japanese had
deteriorated so that attack seemed likely against Siam and
perhaps Malaya — and remotely against Singapore. In con-
sequence squadrons moved to war stations to support a
possible British advance into Siam. RAAF Hudsons and
three Catalinas of No 205 Sqn meanwhile were to watch for
‘enemy’ shipping. Too late they came across Japanese trans-
ports off Malaya. At this time No 21 Sqn RAAF, and No 27
Sqn were deployed for Operation Matador against Siam,
leaving Nos 243, 453 and 488 to defend Singapore.

At first light on December 8, 1941, enemy troops began
to land on the beach of North Malaya and Blenheims were
ordered to shoot them up at once. Operations by the fighters
began at 03.00 hrs. Two Buffaloes strafed enemy barges near
Kota Bahru and at 04.00 Singapore had its first raid by

A line-up of Spitfire VHIs in 1944 trim.

November, 1968

Top: A line-up of Buffaloes in green / brown / Sky finish.
Above: One of the few air-to-air photographs of Buffaloes
in the Far Fast. The censor has been busy, but it is still
possible to read the squadron letters as ‘WP’. Unit not
known (Imperial War Museum).

carrier-based aircraft. Attacks soon began on airfields with
the object of putting them out of use but not of destroying
them. In a matter of hours Nos 21 and 27 Sqns had only
four aircraft each and withdrew to Butterworth. Their efforts
had been ineffectual.

Short endurance prevented the Buffaloes from being of
much help to our bombers. For 453 Sqn an even more de-
moralising situation awaited. Their task was to patrol over
HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales ; they arrived to find
both mighty warships had been sunk, and had only their des-
troyer escort to look after. Such was the enemy success that
Nos 21 and 27 Sqns had again to retreat south to Ipoh over
difficult forested territory. Meanwhile, Buffaloes of No 3
PRU flew useful reconnaissance sorties off the coast. A few
days later, 453 Sqn moved forward to Ipoh. losing five of
its number to crashes en route, and only six Buffaloes
reached the field. Japanese raids soon reduced a revived
21 Sqn and 453 Sqn to a strength of four aircraft each. On
December 23 all were withdrawn to Singapore. 21 and 453
Sqns had been very handicapped by lack of attack warning
and poor facilities in general, although their presence was
at least a morale booster for the troops.

State of the fighters on December 24 was as follows: 21
and 453 Sqns re-organising at Sembawang, 243 Sqn had
14 Buffaloes at Kallang where 488 Sqn also had 14 and a
Dutch squadron had nine, with 27 Sqn also there sorting
itself out. Desperate messages had gone to Britain for re-
inforcements which by January 8 should have included 51
crated Hurricanes diverted from the Middle East with 24
pilots. These were to operate from Kallang. and they arrived
amid great excitement on January 13 for it was considered
these could provide effective defence.

Meanwhile the Buffaloes soldiered on, facing the continued
heavy Jap attacks. Twelve of them escorted Blenheims
attacking barges in the River Linggi on January 15. Next
day 15 Buffaloes shot up road movements between Tampin
and Gemas. Four shot up troop barges on the Muar River,
attacks repeated by half-dozen others escorting Vildebcestes

Continued on next page
117

Fighting Colours — continued

there on January 17. The attacks were repeated on the 18th
when 14 aircraft operated. PRU Buffaloes were watching the
repair of airfields and the build-up of Japanese squadrons
upon them. No 27 Squadron's Blenheim fighters unsuccess-
fully atempted to halt raids on Singapore where the Hurri-
canes were being hastily assembled on dispersed sites. They
entered combat on January 20, flown by pilots of No 17 Sqn
and some from 135 and 136. With ground crews they were
formed into 232 Sqn at Kallang.

From HMS Indomitable another 48 Hurricanes were soon
to be flown off and 39 more in crates were on the way.
Buffaloes were continuing their straffing operations and
patrolling around Muar, intercepting bombers when practi-
cable. Roads and the beachhead were also strafed. Some of
the Hurricanes were at Scletar by the 25th, their intended
airfields having been overrun. Then came the landings at
Endau. Fifteen Buffaloes and eight Hurricanes escorted
bombers to the spot, and a second wave of Vildebeests had
four Buffaloes as escort. The slow biplanes proved a head-
ache for the escorters who, nevertheless, claimed 12 Zeros.

Next came a period of heavy raids on the Singapore air-
fields. Nos 21 RAAF and 453 Squadrons were being mainly
used for army support, leaving 232, 243 and 488 Sqns to
defend the island. On their first day of operations, inciden-
tally, the Hurricanes claimed eight unescorted bombers
without loss ... if only there had been more Hurricanes.
Usually the bombers were escorted, and against these forma-
tions the Hurricanes were flying three to five sorties daily.
When fighting the Zeros, however, the Hurricanes were at a
disadvantage. Their desert filters deprived them of about
30 mph although at over 20,000 ft they were superior in
speed and climb but could be outmanoeuvred. Seventeen
had been lost by the 28th and only 21 Hurricanes were
available for fighting. No 27 Squadron had been withdrawn
to the Netherlands East Indies and when the army fell back
to Singapore Island only Kallang could be used, for all the
other fields were on its north side. By the end of January,
only eight Hurricanes of 232 Sqn and six Buffaloes of 453
were left on the island, the reinforcement Hurricanes being
taken direct to Sumatra. After flying about 100 sorties the
PR Buffaloes were finally knocked out on February 7.

On Sumatra No 258 Sqn was established with 15 Hurri-
canes. It had come from the Middle East in Indomitable on
January 26 and flew some sorties from Singapore. During
the first ten days of February the Hurricanes were almost
continuously airborne. When Singapore fell on February 9
it was claimed that fighters had destroyed 183 enemy air-
craft. A total of 30 later credited to the Buffaloes seems
reasonable. Hurricanes claimed 100 destroyed for the loss
of 45 to themselves.

A mixture of Hurricane Is and MBs had so far reached
the East. To improve the MB's performance its outer four
guns were removed. Thirty-nine more Hurricanes arrived on
February 12. Two days later a massive airborne assault was
launched on Palembang when the Hurricanes were airborne
and out of W/T range. Soon the task was the escort of
Blenheim bombers to prevent the Japanese from capturing
the island, but on 15th withdrawal was forced and Sumatra
was captured.

Finally came the attempt to hold Java. Fighters were now
located at Tjililitan where 232 Sqn and the newly-arrived
elements of No 605 Sqn were established with 25 Hurricanes.
No 605's 1 1 As went into action on February 23 and they
fought until Java was overrun.

1 !>••• 1 YEUOW lllllli MEDIUM SEA GREY \/A/\ LIGHT BLUE

Drawings by A. M. Alderson

Above, top to bottom: Hurricane Mk IIC of No 60 Sqn,
LD345, complete with white wins* identity bands and other
white trim. The squadron codes were 15 inches high and fin
band 18 inches deep. An interesting feature of this and all
the Spitfires illustrated here is that the fuselage and wing
roundels had an outside diameter of 15 inches; the inner
pale blue ring was of 6 inches diameter; this also applies to
the Hurricane. The Brewster Buffalo AN 180 has the earlier
colours similar to those of home-based fighters. Its camou-
flage pattern appears to have been non-standard for a single-
engined fighter, but this applied to other Buffaloes. Note
that the Sky band and spinner differs much in shade from
the duck egg shade ( blue or green?) of the under surfaces.
A trio of Spitfires, the top wearing late war colours with
white trim and wing and tail fin and tailplane bands. JG534
at the top shows a non-standard camouflage pattern.
MT567 : H M-B has the usual pattern and is in 1944 finish.
RNI93, a Mk XIV , shows the post-war scheme, and is of
interest in that it has a small whin fin serial.

The aircraft and their colours

All the fighters engaged in the period December, 1941, to
February, 1942, were similarly painted. They had dark green
and dark earth upper surfaces with Sky (duck egg green
shade) under surfaces except perhaps some Hurricanes with

118

AIRFIX magazine

lighter shades of Sky. Code letters (when carried) were
medium grey placed with the unit letters forward on the port
and usually aft on the starboard side of the fuselage. Serials
were black, spinners and rear fuselage bands Sky. Roundel
types were as for home based fighters.

Relatively little has, not surprisingly, survived concerning
the aircraft engaged in the campaign, but there follows a
listing of some aircraft used:

No 21 Sqn Royal Australian Air Force: Buffaloes used
included AN 170, AN 171, AN 174. Unit probably coded GA
(and if so GA-B:AN180 may be added to the list).

No 243 Sqn, examples used being W8147. W8179, W8199,
W8238.

No 453 Sqn possibly coded FU: formed October. 1941.
Examples W8I60, AN 184, AN211.

No 488 Sqn formed October 1941. Examples used included
NF-U : W8 198, NF-0:W8I38 and AN187, '189, W8135,
'8171, '8186, ’8191, '8195, '8200.

No 27 Sqn: no details known. Used Blenheim IF.

No 232 Sqn coded EF, No 242 Sqn briefly existing before
becoming part of 242 Sqn probably coded LE, and No 258
Sqn coded ZT.

Burma and India

Japan's onslaught on Burma began around Christmas,
1941. Two terrible raids on Rangoon killed over 7.000 of
its inhabitants. To defend Burma seven airfields had been
built, reinforced by six landing grounds. For the fighters
there was a serious disadvantage since mountains to the cast
prevented early warning. Defence lay entirely in the hands
of the 16 Buffaloes of No 67 Sqn which included W8135,
'8138, '8168, '8191, '8195, *8198. along with American P-40>
guarding the Burma Road to China. Object of the Japanese
attacks was its entry point, Rangoon, and the aim was to
cut supplies to China. During those frightful raids the
fighters fought well and claimed 36 of the enemy, an amazing
achievement considering there was only one radar station,
virtually no early warning and the most primitive communi-
cations system. Thirty Hurricanes were hastily brought in
during January, and No 67 Squadron re-equipped for
exhaustive fighting next month defending Rangoon. But the
Japanese could not be held anywhere in the East and soon
struck into Burma. Rangoon fell and all that remained of
the fighter force — three Buffaloes and 20 Hurricanes — was
forced to withdraw to India under terrible conditions. Here
the defensive force was re-organised and included Nos 17
and 67 Squadrons using Hurricanes based for a time on the
forward base on Akyab which was heavily raided on March
27. After this only 13 Hurricanes remained. By April the
fighters were committed to the defence of Calcutta.

Indomitable ferried more reinforcements in the form of
Hurricane Is and Ms of Nos 30 and 261 Squadrons for the
defence also of Ceylon from Ratmalana. Trincomalee and
Colombo. These bases gave fighter cover to the Royal Navy.
A tremendous fight was waged over the island on April 5,
when 18 enemy aircraft were claimed for the loss of 18 of
the 36 Hurricanes (Mks I and IIB) of Nos 30 and 258 Squad-
rons. The Navy took a hammering and 261 Sqn fought

Below: Spitfire VIII, AF-Z : JG534, in 1945 markings.

Top: The inscription on the bomb dates the photograph here
as circa December, 1944. White bands and codes are well
shown . . . but which squadron is ‘ GQ 7 (Imperial War
Museum photo). Centre: Another Thunderbolt / in SEAC
trim coded AD-R, unit not known (Photo by D. Reeves).
Above: KL859 of No 60 Sqn in natural finish with black
identity bands and bars, also black codes T:MU. Standard
size roundels.

another fierce battle around Trincomalee on April 9 but the
island was clearly going to hold out.

Radar units had now been set up in India so that when
the Japanese began raids on April 6, the Hurricanes had
early warning. Soon the situation calmed as the Japanese
reached the border of India and paused for breath. For
many months the fighters stood by to repulse another great
attack but the summer came and went with nothing major
materialising. By June. 1942, Hurricanes equipped Nos 17.
30, 67, 79, 135, 146, 258 and 261 Sqns, in India and Ceylon.

A few Japanese bombers had made a night raid on
Calcutta in January, 1942, and caused panic amongst its
inhabitants. At once a few Beaufightcrs arrived to halt the
night raids, going into action on January 15/16. Four nights
later, with sore losses to heal, the enemy raids halted.
Against the A. I. equipped machines the enemy was powerless
to achieve anything.

Throughout 1942 the Middle East war, swinging to and
fro over the desert sands, dictated to a large extent the
strength of the forces in India. Supplies intended for the
Far East often went no further than North Africa where
Rommel's prowess had shaken the British. All that could
still be spared for India were Hurricane I Is. a type largely
withdrawn from offensive operations over NW Europe. The
supply of Spitfires was still insufficient to allow any to go to
India except for PR duties. Eventually the defensive strength
there was set at six Hurricane squadrons; 1943 saw the
deployment of Beaufightcr Vis for nightfighter duties.

The fighter squadrons came much into their own when
Wavell launched his First Arakan Campaign, the aim then

Continued on next page

119

Fighting Colours — continued

being to capture Akyab. Hurricanes distinguished themselves
in close support work, but the strength of enemy land forces
nullified the army's efforts. Meanwhile, other fighters sup-
ported the Wingate enterprise when the C’hindits first cam-
paigned, an exciting aspect of operations, halted when the
June monsoon came. Hurricanes had given useful escort to
the supplying Dakotas.

Hurricane deliveries were now sufficiently large to permit
them to replace such aircraft as Blenheims, and they were
ideally suited to the tough conditions of operation, using
guns and bombs. Nos 1 1, 34. 42, 60 and 1 13 Squadrons were
equipped with them. Early in October, the first Spitfire V( s
arrived for Nos 136, 607 and 615 Squadrons. At last the
Mohawks of No 5 Sqn (eight had been India’s sole defence
force at one time) could be replaced after they had put up
some stiff fighting. Another Buffalo squadron. No 143 (eg,
AN 124, W8246), received Hurricanes, too.

Greatest of the needs in this theatre of operations was for
transport aircraft and these were now arriving in the form
of Dakotas. The fighter types sent there were essentially
schemed for operations in the defence of Britain. They
lacked range and needed to be tropicalised and also to be
backed by early warning stations, etc. One of the great
success stories was that of the Beaufighter which immediately
proved successful and soon became known to the Japanese
as ‘Whispering Death' on account of its quiet approach.

The arrival of the Spitfire was, perhaps, the most successful
event of all for it took such a heavy toll of enemy fighters
and bombers bold enough to venture near or over India.
Then the Japanese brought along strong fighter cover at high
altitudes — only to find that in January. 1944. the Spitfire VIII
had arrived. It had a top speed of over 4(X) mph and could
fight at up to 40.0(X) feet. British air superiority was now
unquestionably gained, and by what was possibly the most
refined Spitfire of all.

Our strength was well apparent in the Second Arakan
Campaign when Hurricanes Mk MB, 1 1C, I ID of No 20 Sqn
and the Spitfires fought so well. The Japanese provided a
strong distraction in the Imphal and Kohima regions in
March and April. 1944, and in only 16 days 2,200 sorties
were flown by Hurricanes of four squadrons in the ground
attack role against the 31st Division at Kohima. Around
Imphal the Hurricanes of Nos 11, 28, 34, 42. 113 Squadrons
fought a bitter battle. Then came the support for the Second
Chindit Campaign and massive support for the second thrust
into Burma which, despite the monsoon, led to the capture
of Rangoon. And still it was the Hurricanes that were bash-
ing away at the enemy whilst Spitfire V 1 1 Is maintained air
supremacy. Battles to clear Burma continued far into 1945.

By then the picture of equipment had changed. The
Republic Thunderbolt was at hand, for in 1944 seven squad-
rons equipped with the type. Nos 79, 123, 134. 135, 146, 258
and 261. and others were to follow. Nos 67. 136. 273 and
607 all had Spitfires by mid- 1944 and 60 Sqn was flying
Hurricane I Vs. Three, Nos 17, 20 and 28, were to soldier on
another year with a mixture of Hurricane IICs and lVs.
Thunderbolts proved useful in the role the Hurricanes had
adopted and Spitfires, too, sailed in as fighter-bombers as
the war reached its concluding months. There was no need
to invade Malaya; the arrival of the nuclear age halted the
fighting in time. And still Nos 17. 20 and 28 Squadrons had
Hurricanes.

When production permitted, the Spitfire XIV made its
debut in the East and in the spring of 1945 the FRX1V
reconnaissance fighter with a rear fuselage oblique camera.

120

Immediate post-war trim on Spitfire XIVs of No 132 Sqn.
FF-B : RN 133. the squadron commander s aircraft, is nearest,
carrying liis pennant marking. RN 190 : FF-J is in the fat-
distance. As with many SFAC roundels the fuselage marking
on RN/33 shows that it is the European type suitably
doctored (Imperial War Museum).

Markings of the aircraft

Once the Buffaloes and early Hurricanes had ceased to
be, a change in colouring was soon apparent. Well into 1945
there were Spitfires. Thunderbolts and Hurricanes in SEAC
with dark green and dark earth upper surfaces with deep
blue under surfaces. Some are recorded as having under
surfaces a dark shade of grey. too. Another change con-
cerned code letters which in 1943 were replaced by a smaller
size, often 18 inches high but sometimes only a foot high.
In the middle of that year ( officially on June 24) a blue and
white roundel was adopted which frequently appeared as
roundel blue and a pale shade of blue 16 inches in diameter
and with a six inch white centre disc. Two fin stripes, blue
and white, each eight inches wide, were applied two feet high
on the single-engined fighters, ( ode letters were positioned
as usual on home-based fighters. Sky fuselage bands were
sometimes applied and spinners were sometimes white,
although on some fighters both were white. For a while the
fuselage band was then painted, and often never applied.
By 1945 some spinners were dark sea grey, the rear fuselage
bands had gone and white wing and tail bands came into
vogue. Thunderbolts had 28-inch wide bands around the
inner wing section, 18-inch wide bands around the tailplane
and across the fin and a stripe around the cowling leading
edge of 17 inches wide. Similar markings were applied to the
Hurricanes and Spitfires, from about mid-March, 1945, but
officially at any rate they did not include a white nose.

Thunderbolts were being supplied in natural finish during
the final months of the war. In place of white noses and
wing and tail stripes these had black trimmings and code
letters. They featured a black or olive anti-dazzle panel. An
interesting feature often seen was the application of the
serial in small characters to the fin as well as to the fuselage.
1945 roundels and flashes invariably featured the pale blue
colour in place of white.

It would be impossible here to list all the fighters that
were sent to South East Asia Command. Most of the Spitfire
VI I Is were shipped there, and almost all of the Thunder-
bolts. Mk I aircraft with the old ‘razor back’ carried the
serials FL73I-850 and HB962-HDI81. Mk lls with teardrop
canopies were HDI82-30I. KJ 128-367. KU68-347. KL838-
887.

The squadrons

Listed here are the relevant fighter squadrons which
operated in the Far East and their respective equipment:

Sqn

Unit

letters

Type

Serial

Notes

5

?

Mohawk IV

?

12 41 to 6.43

Hurricane lie

HW801

6.43 to 1944

OQ ?

Thunderbolt I/ll

?

1944-45

11

?

Hurricane lie

B-LB796

1943

Spitfire VIII

?

1944

Spitfire XIV

?

1945

17

YB

Hurricane 1 1C

BN540 \

in use 1943

Hurricane IVC

HV798 /

20

?

Hurricane IIB

BN 699 1

in use 1943

Hurricane 1 ID

HW676 /

28

Hurricane IIB

BH134

30

RS

Hurricane 1. II

?

Thunderbolt 1.

II

HD286 G

34

AD ?

Hurricane 1 1 A .

B

?

Thunderbolt 1.

II

KL 200

42

AW

Hurricane lie

KZ244 C

m use 12.43

Thunderbolt II

KJ316Y

in use late 44

Continued an page 130
AIRFIX magazine

REVIEWED FOR MODELLERS

Modern soldiers

WORLD UNIFORMS IN COLOUR. Volume I. Europe. Pub-
lished by Patrick Stephens Ltd. 9 Ely Place. London Ed.
Price 30s.

I \ESPITE the large number of books published on military
* - uniforms, relatively few deal with those which arc currently
worn by the armies, police forces, and other units of the world.
This book fills the bill very well, since it covers just about all the
dress uniforms we can think of and a lot more we had not heard
of. It has colour plates on every page— more than 70 — and plenty
of illustrations of badges and emblems, plus brief but interesting
details of all the regiments, uniforms, and units involved. The
original was published in Italy, but this is. of course, an English
edition. Coverage is excellent, the colour drawings are accurate
and photographic rather than impressionistic and. all in all, the
uniform enthusiast gets good value with plenty of figure conver-
sion ideas suggesting themselves to the modeller. All European
nations are included plus the crack units — even the Kremlin
Guard— though combat dress is net featured. Coverage of British
units is particularly good, even though one or two of the regi-
ments featured have just been, or are about to be. disbanded in
the latest clumsy defence reductions.

Aircraft trio

SE 5A. by Charles L. Bourget ; JAPANESE CODE NAMES:
JAPANESE AIRCRAFT INSIGNIA. CAMOUFLAGE. AND
MARKINGS, both by Richard M. Bueschel. All available
from Motor Books A Accessories. 33 St Martins Court. London
W C2. Price 17s each, plus Is 6d postage.

I^IRST of these three books gives the usual monograph treat-
t ment to the famous SE 5A fighter, with brief history, lots of
pictures— some very rare— and some good scale drawings and
interior shots. It’s quite well produced, though its rather high
price (for only 24 pages) will unfortunately put it out of the
reach of many who would buy it if it was only half as much.

The same remark applies to the other two publications which
are uniform in style. They each have lots of rare pictures and the
book on code names is particularly useful since it identifies each
Japanese World War 2 aircraft by its full Japanese designation
and its Allied code designation. There arc interesting pictures of.
for instance, the Tabby, or Nakajima L2D Type O. which was a
licence-built DC-3, and the Thalia, which was a licence-built
Lockheed 14, both suggesting ideas for model finishes.

The colour scheme book includes colour illustrations on the
inside covers plu,s a summary of the development of Japanese
camouflage. Once again, it's a useful little volume with plenty
of rare pictures, including a fine shot of a captured Havoc under
test.

Spanning the years

CONQUERORS OF THE AIR. bv C. Deman, I ami II. Emde.
An Edita book published in UK by Patrick Stephens Ltd. 9
Ely Place, London ECI. Price £9 10s.
r I THIS is a big book, both in size (200 pages) and in scope,
since it sets out to cover the evolution of aircraft from 1 903-
45. It docs this by taking 14 famous episodes or epochs along
the way, from Santos-Dumont’s Demoiselle and its contem-
poraries, through two world wars, the pioneering years of the
twenties and ’thirties, and ends with the coming of the jets. The
approach is essentially ‘popular* and. indeed, even in a book this
size it would be difficult to take everything in in anything but a
‘fast gallop’ through the years. The ‘milestones’ are well recorded

November, 1968

in a very readable way, and the text is well supported with
scores of lavishly produced drawings in colour mostly, but with
others in black and white. Most of the drawings arc in ‘Profile"
style, the early and inter-war types being very well done. Indeed,
they fill quite a gap since there is still surprisingly little in print
of use to modellers for these particular periods of aviation history.
The drawings of the types like the Wright Flyer and Antoinette
are most exquisite, as arc later historic aircraft like the
’Arc-en-Ciel’ and Ford Trimotor. The World War 2 (and to a
lesser extent World War I) periods are less happily covered,
however. The authors (who are American) are obviously none too
well up on RAE and Luftwaffe camouflage and markings and
make some sad errors of colour on such types as the Spitfire.
Lancaster, and Me 262, to mention just a few. MAP Dark Green,
for example, changes in shade from bright green to slate grey
from drawing to drawing, serials get omitted, as do fin flashes,
and *C* Type roundels appear with while or yellow outers—
obviously misinterpreted from half-tone prints. The book is most
luxuriously produced, however, as reflected in its price, and useful
for the early types it covers well. Not many readers will be able
to afford it, but Conquerors of the Air is worth looking for in
your local library.

First war aircraft

FIGHTERS 1914-19: BOMBERS 1914-19, by Kennelli Man-
son. Published by Blandford Press. 167 High Holborn, London
W Cl. Price 18s each ( two volumes).
r I THESE are two excellent books which have obviously been
* produced with the modeller in mind. Their content is good
but the small size precludes the inclusion of full three-view
drawings. In each case the colour illustrations arc done in plan
view showing the upper surfaces on the right-hand side of the
silhouette and the under surfaces on the left. The model maker
is left guessing, therefore, as to what happens on the other side.
There are no front views.

The choice of colour scheme for the 66 bombers and 80
fighters is first rate. There are many that have not been seen
before and this alone will want to make the enthusiast purchase
the book. Where possible squadrons have been identified and
this too is of value. Each drawing has its own descriptive matter
at the back of the book containing a short history and service
record of the aircraft.

The two volumes are the fifth and sixth of the series being pro-
duced by Blandford and the standard of reproduction of draw-
ings has improved a great deal since the first volume was avail-
able. At a price of 18s these books arc cheap enough for almost
any pocket

New from Aero

THE LUFTWAFFE IN WORLD WAR 2. by Uwe Feist ami
Rene Francillon.

THE SLVBIRD GROUP, by Kenn C. Rust and William N. Hess.
TIN GOOSE — THE FABULOUS FORD TRIMOTOR. />»
Douglas J. Ingel Is.

Price 36s 6d each book, including postage.

FOCKE-WULF 190A, by Eberhard Weber and Usve Feist. Price
24s lOd, including postage. All published by Aero Publishers
Inc, and available ( outside USA ) from W. E. Hersant Ltd.
228 Archway Road. Highgate. London N6.
r I TOP of this list comes the first of a new series called ‘Aero
Pictorials’. Luftwaffe in World War 2 contains over 100
pages entirely devoted to pictures, most of them very rare and
hitherto unpublished. They are not just pictures of aircraft cither
— most show what went on behind the scenes on the ground, so if
you want to get some of that essential ‘atmosphere* for airfield
models like aircraft being armed, serviced, or fuelled, you’ll find
plenty to satisfy you here. In addition just about every picture
includes some most helpful details for modellers of Luftwaffe
aircraft— both internal and external. A most useful volume this.

By contrast, the second book is a highly detailed operational
history of 353rd Fighter Group, the famous ‘Slybird’ Group of
8th Air Force in World War 2. About two-thirds of this volume
is text, data, mission details, and so on — all very readable — and
the rest is made up of scale drawings, colour schemes, and some

Continued on page 130

121

ROMAN FRIENDS/
AND FOES

BY BOB O BRIEN

I^OR this article we deal with a
* certain people — one which has
been long in the lands of the Eastern
Mediterranean, and once burst out
and established an Empire which
stretched from Spain to Eastern
borders of the old Persian Empire.
These were the Arabs, who in the
period with which our models are
concerned were anything but united,
but were a number of small kingdoms
and tribal groups troubled by feuds
and differences which in some cases
remain in being today.

The Arabian desert, with its thinly
scattered tribes and Arab kingdoms,
f ringed the area of the Fertile Crescent
which stretches along the coast of the
Eastern Mediterranean, swings round
to the East through Syria and then
continues on its way down the lines
of the Tigris and Euphrates. In this
area many of the oldest civilisations
grew up, flowered, and then went
under to a fresher order, or in some
cases, to the raiders from the moun-
tains to the East and North, or to
those from the deserts and steppes of
Asia and Arabia. Any invader from
the East wishing to move to the sea
would have the Arabs on his left flank
all the way, and in the same way any-
one wishing to strike eastwards would
have them on his right. When the big
Empires were strong, their policy was
to buy off the most troublesome, now
and again try to punish the more
enterprising, and in many cases enlist
the desert warriors in their own
armies, as light cavalry, scouts and
light infantry and bowmen, so that
one could find Arabs on both sides in
an encounter between Romans and
Persians.

We will now deal with the conver-
sion of the types in the Airfix Arab
set to these light auxiliary troops of
the Ancient period.

Arab Infantry

One thing that has changed little
over the years is the costume worn by
the desert dweller, so that the figures
in the set need little or no alteration
to dress. The conversion of the run-

122

Part 2: Arab Auxiliaries

ning figure will result in two types, a
spearman and a swordsman, and as
the procedure is similar for both, they
will be dealt with together.

The rifle must be cut away, and the
bandolier shaved down so as to ‘lose*
the cartridges. A small hole is then
drilled in the right hand to take cither
a sword or a spear. The ‘sword’ is
made from a medium thickness pin,
with the head and the extreme point
cut off to leave about 12/13 mm. It is
then filed as flat as possible for all
except the end 3 mm which will be
pushed through the hole in the hand.
The complete sword is curved slightly,
pushed into place in the hand,
adjusted to a suitable position (see
diagrams), and secured by a touch of
Araldite or similar glue. A scabbard
of flat plastic strip is then glued on to
the figure on the left-hand side. This
scabbard should be curved slightly to
match the sword. The figure drawn
has a small circular shield added, but
this is my own particular fancy, and
the shield can be of a different shape,
or left out altogether.

The spearman has a spear of wire
a little under 1 mm thick, and
35/36 mm in length. The spear is
pushed through the hole in the hand
and then into a hole in the base, and
the whole figure will have to be bent
a little backwards on the base, as the
original position shows the figures
leaning well forward, and left in this
position the spear is liable to un-
balance the model. As a secondary
weapon this man would carry a sword
and this should be represented by a
scabbard made as for the other figure,
and glued at waist level. Again, the
shield is optional.

These figures would generally be
painted in light colours, at least as far
as the main garment is concerned, with
the headdress of a different colour.
The figures shown arc coloured, for
the swordsman : pale yellow with
orange head covering and a blue head-
band and all belts and scabbard in
tan. The shield can be painted to

choice, for instance dark green with a
device in red. The spearman is a rather
duller looking character, with his
main garment of matt khaki mixed
with cream, and a dark red head
covering. When painting faces for
these figures, darken up the normal
flesh colours with a touch of earth
and red to get the right effect.

Camel Archer

The Airfix camel riders as they are
supplied in the set can be used with
only the following alterations:

(1) Cut away rifle, if carried.

(2) Make up a quiver from plastic,
8 mm long X 2 mm wide and
tapered slightly, then glued as
shown.

(3) Cut off the left arm close to the
shoulder and replace with the
left arm of a Robin Hood
archer — use a portion of a pin
to attach the arm securely, as
shown in the sketch.

Painting this figure can be to choice
— my riders have an orange robe with
a maroon headband, while the camel
saddle and trappings are matt blue,
yellow and green, with maroon trim.
Belts are tan. as is the quiver, but for
those who fancy a bit more colour,
pieces of equipment such as these can
be decorated with a different colour
and/or bronze representing designs
that would often be applied to the
material. Belts painted in tan.

Before leaving this figure, I should
mention that the Robin Hood bow
should be trimmed down to 13/14 mm
from tip to tip, to represent the much
shorter bow used by cavalry.

Light Lancer

This is the Airfix horseman in the
Arab set as supplied but with the
addition of a lance, shield and a scab-
bard for the sword to be used as
secondary armament. The lance is of
1 mm wire 40/42 mm long, and is
positioned in a hole drilled through
the figure from just inside of the elbow
to come out as nearly as possible to
the right hand. The shield is of the
‘hour glass’ type, 8 mm X 4 mm, and
shaped as shown in the sketch, with
a centre boss of the head of a pin
pushed through a hole in the shield
and into the figure. The scabbard
should be about 9 mm long, and
slightly curved as shown, glued to the
left-hand side as though suspended
from the waist.

Colouring, again, on this figure, is
very much left to choice — light colours
as a rule, but with a varying degree of
ornamentation depending on the im-

AIRFIX magazine

portance and means of the wearer.

Generally

This does not by any means exhaust
the types that can be converted from
the Arab set — further conversions will
appear later, and as far as armies of
the more important Arab kingdoms
were concerned, there might also be
some cavalry with part armour, and
even mercenaries from other places
and of different races.

For anyone who has never tried
converting OO/HO size Airfix figures
before, the simple types I've just des-
cribed are an ideal introduction to the

Above: Models converted as described
here. From Left: Arab with spear.
Arab with sword and shield, light
lancer, camel archer, camel lancer. The
latter was described in Part I of this
series last February.

art. With these auxiliaries — who can
fight either with or against the Airfix
Romans — you are not restricted to
specific ‘uniform’ colours and you can
vary them and their equipment (eg,
shields) as you wish. Also, because
they are simple, quite a large ‘army’
of Arab warriors can be turned out
quickly.

Keep unused parts — the ‘disarmed’
Robin Hood bowmen, for example
as they may come in useful for other
figure conversions, and do all cutting
with a sharp blade in your craft knife.
Finally, a reminder to scrub all Airfix
OO/HO figures in soapy water before
you begin work on them: this will
making painting very much easier and
the paint will adhere more satis-
factorily.

Above: Conversion sketches. (/) Making the swordsman, V is suitably bent pin.
(2) Spear man. (3) Making the camel archer. *</’ is length of pin. (4) The light
lancer. Note the shape of the shield, though this could be any other desired
shape. Part I of this series appeared in our February, 1968, issue.

13-17? Y 11 coiM be a Air Cadet

this leaflet

To Wing
Ci. K. A.

Headqua
<956 WV1>.

Royal Air Force.
Brampton. Hunts.

Plea\e semi me your lea

NAME

ADDRESS

DATE OF BIRTH

Travel and meet people. 1 300cadets v isit
the R A F. abroad each year. Cadets
may also visit 18 foreign countries
tinder the international air cadet
exchange scheme.

Make new friends by the dozen!

The Air Training Corps is a voluntary
youth movement whose programme is
specially arranged so as not to interfere
with school activities. There are Squad-
rons all over the country - more than
850 in all

Prepare for your career. If you decide
to join the R A F., it is an advantage
to have been in the A.T.C. If you want
a civilian career, most employers re-
cognise the practical value of Air Cadet
training.

Learn about engines, radio, radar,
parachutes, dinghies, aircraft recogni-
tion— dozens of other things.

Visit RJI.F. Stations on annual camp
Sport, from climbing to canoeing, from
football to fencing you name it

teifl

Join the Air Training Corps and you vc

J ot a hobby that’s really worth having.
Icrc arc a few of the things you can do.

Cet your wings as a glider pilot. The
ATC has 160 gliders, in 27 different
gliding schools.

Learn about flying. ^ ou could even get
a flying Scholarship of 30 hours flying
training (including 10 hours solo) with
a Civil Flying School.

Learn to shoot .22 as well as .303.
There is a Cadets’ Bisley every year.

November. 1968

123

Part 5: Special purpose variants

UO far as is known, there have been three distinct versions
* - of the T-34 in the bridge laying role, all produced since
the end of World War 2. The first was an early Russian type
with a rigid ARK type bridge, the second a Russian model
with a rigid type bridge launched by pivoting about a roller
at the front (designated T-34/ MTU), and a more recent
type, employed by the Czechs, which retains the turret as a
housing for the bridge-actuating motor. This latter type had
a folding scissors bridge. The first Russian model mentioned
above consisted of a rigid bridge structure which was
attached to the tank in such a way as to be able to adopt
any required attitude. The bridge could not be removed from
the tank and the idea was to drive the vehicle into the trench
to be spanned, and to adjust the bridge until it coincided
with the two peripheries of the trench, which were not
necessarily in the same plane. The second Russian version
had a bridge of about 39.5 ft in length, which could span
some 37.5 ft, and carry loads up to 40 tons. The bridge was
of lattice steel construction and was launched forwards by
a single boom. The Czech scissors type had a bridge some
65 ft long when fully extended, was hydraulically operated,
and could carry up to 35 tons load.

T-34s were also fitted with various mine-clearing equip-
ments, as follows:

Mine rollers: There were basically two types; one single
axle with A shaped beaters attached to the rims of the discs;
the other type had a split axle. T-34/85 tanks so equipped
were designated T-34/PT-3.

Snakes: The snake is a term generally applied to explosive
line charges cither pushed or projected across minefields and
concrete obstacles. Types of both classification arc known
to have been fitted to the T-34/85 tank, although the
Russians do not seem to favour this method in comparison
with the mine-roller device.

Tankdozers: Most models of the T-34 were fitted with
either manually or hydraulically operated dozer blades for
general engineer work in clearing mines, snow, earth, etc. In
such cases the turret and main armament are always
retained. These tanks are designated T-34/STU.

Under the conditions of a large tank offensive against a
heavily defended position established behind a minefield,
the Russians might well drive a battalion or two of con-
ventional gun tanks across a minefield. Although this sounds
to be a brutal method of achieving an aim, it will possibly
produce less casualties than conventional methods, and most
certainly saves a great deal of time.

With the standardisation of the T-34 and KV programmes,
flame-thrower installations were designed for both tanks:
the T-34 was originally tried out with a type designated
ATO-41. Further flame-thrower development was influenced
by the policy of the US and British armies, the former pre-
ferring the replacement of the main armament by the flame-
gun, and the latter insisting upon the retention of the main

124

Top to bottom: A T-34 185-1 of the East German Army
shown on a pontoon ferry during Warsaw Pact exercises a
couple of years ago. Note the single mushroom ventilator
forward of the cupola hy means of which the I can he dis-
tinguished from the II version. A T-34/85-II showing the
twin mushroom vents behind the cupola. Airfix kit is a model
of this type. Note the extra fuel tanks on the hull rear. A
T-34 185-11 with muzzle brake , shown in winter finish. This
official Soviet picture is evidently a propaganda shot or a
scene from a film since it includes wrecked German equip-
ment in the background — out of period with the vehicle.

armament at all cost; of the two, the Russians preferred the
British method, although they were against the employment
of towed fuel trailers.

In 1943, under the Allied Aid Agreement, a number of
British flame-throwing tanks (Churchill Crocodiles) were
shipped to Russia from the PWD (Petroleum Warfare
Department, at Langhurst) for training purposes. As the
result of the experience gained from the PWD installation
in the Churchill tank, the T-34 system was completely
redesigned, and the flame-thrower redesignated ATO-42.
Tanks so equipped became known as OT-34s (Ogniemetnyi
Tank 34), and were first employed against the Germans in
1944. The OT-34 carried 44 gallons of fuel in the ATO-42
model (as against 22 in the ATO-41 model) and the flame-
gun was operated by compressed air; it could achieve a
range of 82-98 yards with unthickcned fuel, or up to 120
yards with thickened fuel, under ideal conditions. The flame-
gun was mounted in an armoured casting on the right-hand
side of the glacis plate, displacing the ball-mounted MG,
with 5 degrees of traverse each side of centre. Operation was
by electric pump and started by firing a 20 mm cartridge.
Ignition was by sparking plug actuating a petrol jet. Six

AIRFIX magazine

shots could be fired, each of two seconds duration, and the
whole unit was self-contained within the tank. A few experi-
mental models are believed to have been fitted with dual
flame-guns mounted on the glacis plate — one on each side
of the driver.

In its final stages of use by the Soviet Army, the T-34 was
provided with facilities for deep wading. This equipment
necessitated sealing the hull and turret components and pro-
vision of a breathing tube for the engine and crew compart-
ments. The T-34 was supplied in large numbers to Soviet
satellites and other countries in the Russian sphere of
influence. Many still remain in Soviet Army service either in
reserve or second line use or as the basis of special purpose
types.

Self-Propelled Limited Traverse Versions of the T-34

r PHERE have been three basic limited traverse versions
based on the T-34 hull and chassis accepted for quantity
production. Little is known about experimental mountings
on this chassis. The three models consist of (a) an 85 mm
anti-tank gun mounting, (b) a 100 mm anti-tank gun mount-
ing, and (c) a 122 mm howitzer mounting.

Vehicles of this type are designated ‘SU’ (Samochodnaja
Ustanovka), or self-propelled gun. and arc classified accord-
ing to gun calibre: thus the 85 mm mounting, for example,
becomes the SU-85.

The SU-85: This was one of the initial assault guns pro-
duced during the war in quantity production. It was the
contemporary of the SU-76 (based on the T-70 light tank
chassis) and the SU-152 (KV chassis). The 85 mm gun was
an adaptation of the 85 mm AA gun M-1939.

The SU-85 was a self-propelled mounting with the 85 mm
gun in a fixed superstructure on a T-34 tank chassis. The
vehicle was first observed in 1943 and replaced the SU-76
which proved inadequate in an anti-tank role. When the
vehicle was phased out in 1944 it was modified for use by
Soviet satellite countries by replacing the original 85 mm
AA gun M-1939 with the newer 85 mm gun (D5-S85A).
There was no visible difference between the two guns,

Below: A T-34/85-II shown ‘ snorting with the breathing
tube fixed in the turret roof, which incorporated a special
attachment aperture. Bottom: The T-34/85 PT-3 mine clear-
ing tank. This roller equipment could also be used with
the T-34/76.

Top to bottom: A platoon of T34/85-lls of the Hungarian
Army seen fuelling in the field from a portable pipeline.
Note the Soviet-style tank suits and the extra fuel tanks on
the hull rear. The earliest type of T-34 bridgelayer had a
rigid bridge which could be pivoted to any angle. The
vehicle was driven into a ditch and left, as in the British
ARK. The second type of T-34 bridge was launched forward
over the roller just visible at the front of the vehicle shown.

although the M-1944 had a greater range and greater armour
penetration ability. Late in 1944, when the T-34 went over
to the 85 mm gun, the SU-85 was replaced by the SU-100.

The SU-100: The SU-100 is a further development of the
SU-85. The 100 mm gun, which is the same as that mounted
on the much later T-54 tank, has a greatly improved per-
formance over that of the 85 mm gun. In addition to the
distinctive long gun, the SU-100 is distinguished by the
differently shaped mantlet and circular cupola which is
attached to the right-hand side of the superstructure. The
vehicle first appeared in 1944 and remained the standard
support gun for mechanised and armoured divisions until
their reorganisation in 1957, when it was replaced by the
JSU-122 (A-I9S) assault gun carriage on the Joseph Stalin
tank chassis. This resulted from the production of the T-54
tank with a 100 mm gun. Obsolete vehicles were conse-
quently supplied to Bulgaria, Communist China, Czecho-
slovakia, Egypt, East Germany, Poland. Rumania and the
United Arab Republic (together with T-34/85 tanks). The
superstructure is very similar to that of the SU-85, and the
hull, running gear and automotive components arc identical
to the T-34/85. The armament consists of the 100 mm field /
anti-tank gun Model 1944 (D-10S). As with the SU-85, no
secondary armament is carried.

SU-122: The SU-122 consisted of the Model 1938 122 mm
field artillery howitzer mounted on the chassis of the T-34
tank. It entered service in late 1941 and was replaced by the
SU-85 in autumn, 1943. The vehicle was designed to provide
artillery fire support to tank divisions and had little effect
against armoured vehicles. The general construction and
layout of the vehicle was similar to the other two variants.

125

November, 1968

Military Modelling

SALVAGE TANK

I AST month’s LAD half-track conversion suggests a panicu-
4 larly attractive conversion of similar configuration for the
World War 1 period. This is the so-called ‘Salvage Tank’, the
very first of the ARVs. which was developed and used by the
Tank Corps Central Workshops at Erin, Northern France.

Only a small number of vehicles were so adapted, mostly for
use in the tank parks and other rear areas. They were all based
on either old Mark IV Supply Tanks or ‘war weary’ Mark IVs
of cither the Male or Female variety. This immediately suggests
some variations for the modeller. The basic vehicle can be com-
pleted as a Mark IV Male, a Mark IV Female, a Mark IV Supply
Tank with large sponsons. or a Mark IV with no sponsons at all.
This latter was quite common, since the sponsons were simply
unshipped and the vehicle ran without them. If you choose this
alternative, you don’t have to worry about building the sponsons
up from plastic card but you then need to put in interior details,
including a dummy Daimler engine.

To obviate the need even for doing this, I chose the last alter-
native of all which entails sliding doors on runners which the
Central Workshops put over the sponson apertures of a few of
these Salvage Tanks. However, this is getting a little way ahead,
and the first task is to convert the basic tank hull from the Airfix
World War 1 tank into a Mark IV. This was fully described in
the April, 1968. issue, but for those who may have missed this.
I'll summarise the work briefly.

Assemble the basic hull without any details, then build up a
rear fuel tank with a 10 mm X 17 mm rectangle of plastic card
for the base, a 7 mm X 17 mm rectangle for the rear, and a
8 mm x 17 mm rectangle for the top. This is cemented against
the hull rear, with the lower edge of the fuel tank level with the
hull bottom. A 9$ mm x 1 1 mm rectangle is cemented above the
fuel tank and against the hull rear with the top edge 2 mm below
the top of the hull. A stowage tray is built up on the rear sloping
panel of the hull top, the full width of the hull, using 3 mm deep
strips of plastic card cut to fit and cemented in place.

The exhaust manifold is cemented as supplied, but before affix-
ing it, add an extra strip of 1 mm deep plastic card across the
hull top between the second and third exhaust apertures. You
then need an exhaust pipe which leads back from the manifold
along the hull top. through the stowage tray, and curving down
to terminate just aft of the tray. Make this in sections so that

Making a T-34/76B. early production type with short gun. Key:
( A) File down mantlet and use two small strips of plastic card to
give ridged top; shorten gun. ( B ) Cement strips over top and
front of driver's vision blocks to give single block. ( R ) Carefully
file dust guard to give rounded instead of angled edge. ( M ) Cut
armoured flange from around hull machine gun before cementing
it in place. (L) Unditching beam from maJchstick; omit rear
stowage boxes and fuel tanks.

126

Views of the Mark IV Salvage Tank, as completed and under
construction. Note fuel tank at rear and extended exhaust pipe.
you do not actually need to drill through the stowage tray — just
cement sections in place to match up each side. You can use
heat-stretched sprue for this exhaust pipe, but I had some old
1:72 scale rocket stems left over from an aircraft conversion,
and they are just right for the job.

Now move on to the sliding doors, which are dummy on my
model, being just cemented in place. I made mine partly open on
one side. Four doors are required, each 15 mm X 19 mm
rectangles of card or plastic card. They were either sheet steel or
wooden vertical planking on the real thing. If you choose the
latter, score them at 3 mm intervals. Steel runners were fitted
above and below the openings, and I depicted these with 2 mm
deep strips of card, 32 mm long, cemented so that the rear edge
is 1 mm forward of the panel line behind the openings.

All that remains is the jib, a full-size plan of which is given.
1 made this up entirely from Slater’s Microstrip (available from
large model railway shops) which is sliced plastic card. Use the
plan and build up the two long arms, with a Churchill road
wheel (or equivalent sized scrap disc) as the sheave, cemented solid
with the arms. Then build up the cross-bracing from the thinnest
slices of Microstrip. The completed jib should be painted before
attachment (as should the tank) and it is then cemented inside
the front horns, immediately above the track tensioning bolts at
45 degrees. Two guy ropes are then required, taken from the top
of the jib to the rear corners of the driver’s cupola. Use thin
cotton or ‘invisible’ thread for these.

A Weston purchase was normally used with these Salvage
Tanks, and my sketch shows how this can be made. I used two
discarded Churchill road wheels for the blocks and fine chain
(available from model ship or model railway shops) for the pur-
chase. Use UHU or Sellobond to cement the blocks to the chain.
I made up hooks at each end from scrap heat-stretched sprue.
I arranged it to hook over the sheave at the top of the jib so
that it could be detached and carried in the stowage tray.

This completes the basic model, but you could add tools and
plenty of oddments (including a hawser) in the stowage tray.
One or two vehicles had a hand winch bolted on the hull roof
just aft of the commander’s hatch with its whip led forward over
the head of the jib. This was unusual, but would make for an
imposing model.

The second model this month is a very simple adaptation of
the Airfix T-34 to a very early production T-34/76B with the
short calibre gun and modified mantlet. Main details are given
with the picture and in the drawings, but note that all handrails
should also be removed (as on last month’s ATO-41 though I
did not have space to mention it then). Use a fine file for this.

Key to drawings: (/) Plan of Salvage Tank jib. (2) Weston pur-
chase. (2) Shorten gun for early T-34I76B model and file down
mantlet. (4) Cross-section of mantlet. Top ridges from plastic card.

I

3

Key (1) Ron Skidmore sent this fine view of a Hampden of 455 Sqn photographed in 1942 when operating from Leuchars with Coastal
Command. It retains standard Bomber Command finish with light grey codes. (2) A formation of Liberator 6s of a training unit over India.
All have ‘SNAKE’ painted ahead of their serials. Nearest is Y:EW117. All are in USAAF olive drab/grey it seems, very faded and worn.
(3) Aircraft N of the same unit with part of the fuselage side evidently repainted in darker green (or fresher olive drab), also used to

obliterate a marking above the tail flash. Pictures by Pierre Schmit.

photo

More rare pictures from readers with
captions by Michael J. F. Bowyer.
A free Airfix kit is awarded for every
picture published, but please note
that there is usually a delay of some
months before publication due to
the limited space at our disposal.

2

Key: (4) R. Pearl took this picture of R-QX:AM522. a Hudson of 224
Sqn in 1940-41. (5) From Ron Skidmore comes a similar view of a
Hudson I 2S-S flying over Tentsmuir on May 15. 1940. Note how the
codes partly overlap the roundel. Serial unknown; can anyone identify
the squadron? (6) J8634. a Siskin IMA of No 1 Sqn. RAF. pictured
in 1927. Submitted by Ron Skidmore. (7) Belgian reader R. Vanhaeze-
brouck sent this delightful view of ground crew heaving a Ju 52 along
the runway. It’s an excellent detail view but we ve no other informa-
tion. Can anyone identify the unit 7

5

Key: (8) N9717 and another Fairey Dart, pictured at Leuchars in
1925. We've no details of the squadron. (9) N9499 5. a Fairey HID
once again almost certainly at Leuchars in the 1925 period. Both
pictures from Ron Skidmore.

8

127

WHM-mns

PLASTIC KIT SPECIALISTS— ASSOCIATE MEMBEIl I.P.M.S.

AURORA

MONOGRAM

FUJIMI

HAWK

Curtiss P-6E

1/48

13/6

P-51D Mustang

1/32

30/9

F-8D Crusader

1/70

13/6

Spitfire Mk 22

1/72

4/11

SBC-3 Helldiver (bip)

1/48

13/6

P-38J Lightning

1/48

30/9

Bell Huey Cobra

1/48

15/6

W. Lysander

1/48

15/3

Breguet 14

1/48

13/6

Mosquito ll/IV/VI

1/48

30/9

W. Wasp

1/48

13/6

G. Bearcat

1/48

15/3

Albatross C-3

1/48

13/6

P-51B Mustang

1/48

15/3

AOSIMA

Pfalz D-3

1/48

13/6

Focke-Wulf FW 190

1/48

15/3

TAMIYA

B Buffalo

1/72

5/-

Fokker D-VIII

1/48

13/6

Hurricane 1 I/I V

1/48

15/3

J7W1 Shinden

1/72

4/11

C6N1 Sauin (Myrt)

1/72

5/-

S. Camel

1/48

13/6

ME Bf-109E

1/48

15/3

A6M3 Hamp Mod. 32

1/72

4/11

Ki-100

1/72

5/-

Albatross D-3

1/48

13/6

S. Spitfire IX

1/48

15/3

Ki-84 Hayate (Frank)

1/72

4/11

A7M Reppu (Sam)

1/72

5/-

F. Eindekker

1/48

13/6

N.A.T.-28D

1/48

15/3

Ki-44 Shoki (Tojo)

1/72

4/11

M6A1 Seiran

1/72

5/-

Spad XIII

1/48

13/6

G. Wildcat

1/48

15/3

J2M3 Raiden (Jack)

1/72

4/11

Shiun (Norm)

1/72

5/-

Nieuport II

1/48

13/6

JU-87G Stuka

1/48

23/3

Ki-61 Hien (Tony)

1/50

12/11

A6M2 Zero

1/72

5/-

Fokker DR-1

1/48

13/6

P-47D Thunderbolt

1/48

23/3

Ki-43 Oscar

1/50

12/11

Zuiun (Paul)

1/78

5/-

D.H. Tiger Moth

1/48

13/6

0S2U-3 Kingfisher

1/48

23/3

J2M3 Raiden (Jack)

1/50

12/11

FROG

Halberstadt CL-2

1/48

13/6

M E. Bf-IIOE

1/72

15/3

NIK2-J George

1/50

12/11

W. Lysander

1/72

4/-

Avro CF-100

1/70

13/6

G. F7F-3 Tigercat

1/72

15/3

Ki-100

1/50

12/11

B. Shark

1/72

4/-

Hiller X-18

1/70

13/6

P-51B Mustang

1/72

10/11

Ki-44 Shoki (Tojo)

1/50

12/11

JU-87G Stuka

1/72

4/-

LS

G. F8F Bearcat

1/72

10/11

A6M7 Zero

1/50

12/11

F-86F Sabre

1/72

4/-

A6M2-N Rule

1/75

4/11

AIRFIX

C6N1 Sauin (Myrt)

1/50

21/-

F. Barracuda

1/72

4/-

D4Y2 Susie (Judy)

1/75

4/11

A-1H Skyraider

1/72

3/8

F1M2 Pete

1/50

21/-

B. Beaufort II

1/72

4/-

Oscar Mk 1

1/75

4/11

Henschel H.S.129

1/72

3/8

NICHIMO

Mosquito IV/VI

1/72

5/8

G3M1 Nell

1/72

24/6

H.S.125

1/72

5/2

S. Spitfire VB

1/70

4/11

F-104G Starfighter

1/72

5/8

G3M3 Nell

1/72

24/6

HASEGAWA

A5M4 Claude

1/72

4/11

BAC Lightning 6

1/72

6/9

Ki-109 Fighter

1/72

24/11

G8N1 Renzan (Rita)

1/72

49/11

A6M5 Zero

1/35

23/9

Phantom F4K/M

1/72

6/9

Zero Mk 21

1/75

4/11

T-38A Talon

1/72

4/11

NIK2-J George

1/35

23/9

A. Shackleton MR 3

1/72

18/11

MONOGRAM FIGHTERS OF
THE THIRTIES

Curtiss P-6E, 1/72 scale. 10/11.

With decals for 17th Pursuit Sqn.

Curtiss F11c2, 1/72 scale. 10/11.
With decals for U.S.S. Saratoga,
1933.

Boeing F4B-4, 1/72 scale. 10/11.
(Illustrated.)

Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, 1/72 sc.
With decals for S.A.C. or Vietnam
finish, a truly superb model with
many special features. £11.19.6

BOEING F4B-4 1/72

With decals for Fighting Squadron 2.
U.S.S. Lexington in 1930 s.

See A. Profile No. 27

Ships

AURORA

AURORA

U.S.S. Benion

1/600

13/6

U.S.S. Bainbridge

1/600

13/6

U.S.S. St. Paul

1/600

13/6

H.M.S. King George V

1/600

18/6

Admiral Graf Spee

1/600

13/6

Type 1X-C U-Boat

1/110

13/6

IMAI (motorised)

I M S. Chokai

1/550

19/11

I M S. Mogami

1/550

19/11

I M S. Myoko

1/550

19/11

I M S. Atagi

1/550

19/11

In addition to full ranges of kits, of
which we can only list a few. we also
have stocks of useful reference books
for the modeller, some of which are
l.sted below.

Aircam Aviation Series. 21/- each.

Could be termed photographic albums
for the types, including 8 pages of
colour side views.

1. P-51D in USAAF/USAF service.

2. P-47 in US. RAF and other Air Arms.

3. P-51B/C and Mustang l-IV in all its
many guises and insignia (due mid-
November).

Men and Machines Series. 30/- each.

Colour 5 views, specifications, develop-
ment and oparational histories, in hard
covers.

RAF Bombers of WWII, Vol 1, covers:
Lancaster 1 and 2. Battle. Mosquito.
Boston, Liberator. Manchester.

Luftwaffe Bombers of WWII, Vol 1, fea-
tures: Dornier 17, Heinkel 111. JU-88.
FW Condor.

AFV kits by Airfix. Midori. Tamiya.
Fujimi. Nitto. Niahon. etc.

Bellona Prints. Handbooks. Battle-
fields and plastic card.

Aircraft and Armour Profiles.

Decals by ABT. Stoppel. De-Frey.
Authenticals.

Always try us firs.t for all your plastic
modelling needs.

A6M5 Zero by Revell. 1/32 scale. 14/9

BY RETURN POSTAL SERVICE

Postage and Packing

Refer to amount in brackets if 1st class
mail delivery required.

Up to 10/-. 1/- (1/6).

10/- to 22/-. 2/- (2/6).

22/- to £5. 5/- (6/-).

Over £5, no charge.

ALMARKS DECALS
OO/HO Armour Range.

2/11 each

T1 . Afrika Korps Palm Tree emblems.
T2. SS Panzer Divisional Signs.

T3. German military vehicle crosses.
T4. British 8th Army. Alamein sheet.
T5. German Tank numbers.

T6. British Armoured Unit sheet.

1/72 Scale Aircraft. 2/11 each

A1. Luftwaffe Swastikas, fighters and
mediums.

A2. R.A.F. ‘ B Type Roundels.

A3. S.E.A.C. Roundels and Flashes.
A4. R.A.F. Fighters. Sq. Coding. 1939-
40. Blue/Grey.

(UK postage: up to 3 sheets. 6d.;

4 sheets and over, 9d.)

346 Kingston Rd Portsmouth

Tel * 1'ortsmoulh 61469

128

AIRFIX magazine

KITS AIMD MODELS

LOCOMOTIVE PRINTS

B EATTIES have sent us samples of a
collection of locomotive pen and ink
sketches by G. A. Copping. They measure
14J in X 9£ in and are printed on
smooth white paper. There arc 105 prints
in the complete collection and the first
12 available include the GWR Great
Bear. LNER A4 Quicksilver, SR ‘Schools’
Class, LMS Royal Scot. GWR ‘King-
Class, LNER Cock O' the North and an
LMS 8F 2-8-0. The Flying Scotsman will
be the next to be released. All the loco-
motives are pictured at rest.

The drawings arc well executed, techni-
cally very accurate and contain a weallh
of detail. They would make admirable
subjects for framing. Price 5s each post-
age extra from Beatties. 5 The Broadway,
London N14. N.S.

NEW TRANSFERS

r pWO more releases have come to hand
J- from the US firm of Exact-a-cal and
these are to the same high standard of
presentation as the set for the Airfix
SM 79 which we reviewed a few' months
back. Set No 2 in the Exact-a-cal range
is devoted to the Ficseler Storch and pre-
sents a sheet of markings enabling the
Airfix 1 : 72 scale model to be finished as
cither of two Spanish Nationalist aircraft
of the Spanish Civil War’s famous
Condor Legion, an Italian machine in
North Africa in 1942, or a German
ambulance aircraft in Italy in 1941. The
sheet comes in a transparent envelope
with a page of tone drawings of each
subject, camouflage details, and paint
chips giving the exact shades which the
modeller needs to match for an accurate
finish. In most cases these colours are
readily available in the Humbrol, Airfix,
or Modelcolor paint ranges. Set No 3
gives all necessary markings for two
different Condor Legion Me 109Es in
both 1 :48 and 1 : 72 scale, being intended
for the Monografii and Revell kits of this
aircraft respectively. Included in this set
arc the walkways for the wings and the
black panels which were painted on the
lower fuselage sides of these machines.
Once again scale tone drawings, notes,
and colour chips arc given. The black and
white parts are printed separately for
application one over the other, thus
obviating registration problems.

Price of each set is SI. 50, which is not
quite so expensive as it sounds when you
appreciate that four models can be
finished from each sheet. Not everyone
models to 1:48 scale, but even so the
1:48 scale Spanish Me 109 markings
could come in useful for larger 1 : 72
scale types. These Exact-a-cal sets arc

November, 1968

available by post from Exact Scale
Hobbies. 97 James Street, Bloomfield.
NJ 07003, USA. Postage extra. C.O.E.

NEW FROM BUCK

B LICK, who produce the sheets of
dry print transfers for modellers,
have now produced a new large sheet for
model makers which matches the size and
price (2s 3d each sheet) of the standard
Blick lettering sheets. Gold, white, black,
orange, yellow, red, and blue colours are
available and each sheet includes two
styles of lettering and numbers in 1/16
inch and £ inch depths, with lining stripes
in widths of 1/64, 1/32, and 5/64 inch.
More than 6 feet of lining stripes are
included altogether on each sheet when
the individual lengths are totalled up.
This sheet, reference number BOE 59, is
ideal for just about all model subjects
since the lettering styles arc suitable for
most needs in the way of serials, names,
and so on. The lining is just right for
aircraft cheat lines and locomotive lining,
funnel bands on ships, and so on. Well
worth having, this. Under reference num-
ber BOE 60, Blick have another sheet for
modellers in the same range of colours.
This one has much larger numbers only,
wider lining stripes, plus plain discs in
various diameters. This sheet will mainly
appeal to car and slot-race model fans,
since the numbers are ideal for the scales
involved. The smaller discs, however,
would also make excellent camera ports
and the like for 1:72 scale aircraft
models. Again, this sheet is well worth a
glance. Price is 2s 3d. Your local station-
ers or model shop should hold stocks —
if not. ask them to get some of these
useful and modestly priced sheets. C.O.E.

VINTAGE CARS

\V T E have remarked before that the
** modeller in the popular OO/HO
and 1 : 72 scales is not well served with
vintage transport models to match. A
range of models which we recall from
years ago has now re-appeared from
Traction Engine Enterprises Ltd and
should be useful raw- material for anyone
needing vintage miniatures. We say this
because, quite frankly, these arc crude by
the standards of anyone used to Lesney
and Corgi die-cast models. The range of
four cars we’ve had for review lacks such
refinements as headlights and steering
wheels and the castings arc crude, but
acceptable. Two of the models, which are

nondescript, but resemble a Hupmobilc
and early Chevrolet quite well, arc to OO
scale, and the other two. which look like
a Sunbeam tourer of 1920 vintage and a
Commer/ Napier type wagonette of about
1910 would be more acceptable in TT
(1 : 100) scale we think. As we said, they
need working on to add detail, but suit-
ably doctored and repainted they will be
useful to railway modellers or even mili-
tary modellers requiring World War I
period transport. Price is 2s 6d each, and
they can be had from Traction Engine
Enterprises Ltd. 4 Station Road, London
E4. C.O.E

FLOQUIL RELEASES

I^ROM Victors Ltd, 75 Chapel Market.
* London Nl, we’ve had copies of two
useful little publications put out by
Floquil, the big US paint makers. First
of these is called Painting Miniatures and
is priced at 8s. It goes into just about all
aspects of the subject in great detail and
in a most interesting way. with special
reference, of course, to Floquil paints.
Most Floquil paints are made for model
railways and the book tends to emphasise
this aspect, but not unduly so.

The second book is called Painting
Plastic Miniatures and costs 22s 6d, but
comes complete with some useful sheets
of colour standards for various nations.
Some of the material in this second book
is the same as in the first, but there is
extra material telling how Floquil should
be applied to plastics — it needs to be
treated with caution, see our Floquil
review of July, 1967 — and interesting
items on weathering and mottling. Both
books are well worth reading. C.O.E.

NEW ALMARKS

L ATEST issues of transfers from
Almarks will fulfil many needs, since
they include both British and German
armoured unit markings and pale grey
fighter squadron codes for the RAF of
the 1939-40 periods. This useful new RAF
squadron codes sheet contains 100 letters
in two styles — rounded and squared off —
and all arc j inch deep, just right for
Spitfires. Hurricanes, Dcfiants, and the
like. This new set costs 2s lid and once
again is just what aircraft modellers have
needed for ages. Finally, we’ll remind
those readers who ask us for a source of
swastika transfers that they are also
admirably catered for now by sheet A1
in the Almarks range which has an
abundance of them in all styles for 1 :72
scale, again at only 2s lid the sheet.
The military sheets are T4, Alamein
Continued on next page

129

New Kits — continued

units, a selection of formation signs
Including 8th Army, 7th Armd Div, 5 1st
Highland Div. and LRDG : T5,

Armoured Divisions, including RAC
flashes, bridge plates, squadron markings,
and 1st and 6th Armd Div formation
signs : T6 German tank numbers in red
and black, with small numbers for turret
rears. These arc all to GO /HO size and
just what military modellers need at
2s lid a sheet, from most model shops.

More inexpensive transfers in the Hales
range have come to us from Jones Bros
Ltd, 56 Turnham Green Terrace, Lon-
don W4. These are (1) a small sheet of
German crosses and swastikas, plus other
assorted items like mission tallies, chev-
rons, Werke Nos (one pair only), and a
pair of ‘skull and crossbones’ : (2) a small
sheet of British C type and post-war style
roundels, plus a pair of serials, a pair of
prototype ‘P’ emblems, tail flashes, and a
length of red /yellow small checks: (3) a
US sheet with post-war style slars-and-
bars, buzz numbers, *P’ emblems, and
‘Army’ and ‘Navy’ legends, plus tail
flashes of the pre-1940 period : (4) a small
sheet of Polish and Soviet emblems plus
an ‘Aeroflot’ emblem and *CCCP’ letter-
ing. These are all rather old-fashioned in

style with shiny finish and— in the case
of the RAF sheet — rather bright colours,
but they would all be very useful parti-
cularly as most of the markings are about
I : 72 ‘bomber’ size, still not widely avail-
able elsewhere. The ‘P’ emblems and the
markings on the US sheet arc most
handy, while if you fancy a Soviet C-47,
the stars on the Russian sheet should be
just about right. These are worth having
at only 6d a sheet. Send an SAE with
your order. Also available from Jones
Bros arc the old Yeoman \ inch letters in
red, blue, yellow, black, or white, at 4d
a sheet. C.O.E.

RUB ’N BUFF

TUST how to get a ‘natural metal’
finish for plastic aircraft models has
led to solutions ranging from painting
with the silver in Humbrol’s Railway
Enamels range (very good, in fact) to
applying baking foil or Metalskin.
Another American product we’ve just
been trying is Rub ’n Buff, now being
imported by Aviacolour. 466 Eastern
Avenue, Ilford, Essex, at Us 6d per tube.
For your money you get a tube rather
like a tube of toothpaste and the silvering
material is in liquid form. It is applied
with the tip of a cloth over any surface
(wood or plastic) you wish to coat,
spread thoroughly, and left to dry. After

this it can be polished up (or ’buffed’ as
they say) with a clean cloth to give a sur-
face very like natural metal in appear-
ance. It is most effective and well worth
trying if you can afford it. We recommend
practising on a piece of scrap plastic first,
however, to get the application technique
mastered. It is essential to have a per-
fectly clean grease-free surface before you
try applying the Rub ’n Buff, and it is
most essential to have eliminated any un-
wanted join lines completely before
application : otherwise they will show
only too clearly through the newly
silvered surface. Aviacolour can supply
Rub ’n Buff by post, and they are also
UK stockists for the very large ‘Official’
range of paints which includes some
useful shades not available elsewhere.
Aviacolour can send a free list of these
to anyone who sends a SAE. C.O.E.

LATEST DIECAST MODELS

Finally, a ‘must’ from Lcsney for old-
timer car fans in the shape of a new and
beautiful replica of a 1912 Rolls-Royce
to 1:48 scale in the ‘Yesteryear’ range.
In silver-grey and maroon with plated
parts it needs only a few details (like the
folded canopy) picked out with paint to
put it in the showcase class. Snap it up
for its modest price of 5s. C.O.E.

New Books — from page 121

Fighting Colours — from page 120

Sqn

Unit

letters

Type

Serial

Notes

60

MU

Hurricane II

LE354 M

Mk. IIC listed

Thunderbolt

KL859 T

in use 7.45

67

RD

Buffalo

W8280 U

Hurricane II

BN871

Spitfire VIII

JG 183 S

79

NV

Hurricane 1 IC

BN569

Thunderbolt 1. II

?

113

?

Hurricane II

?

Thunderbolt 1, II

HD173N

123

XE

Hurricane II

BP114

in use 6.43

Thunderbolt 1

HD106

in use 12.44

Thunderbolt II

KJ241

in use 3.45

131

NX

Spitfire VIII

?

Thunderbolt II

?

134

?

Hurricane IIA/B/C

BN957

Spitfire V/VIII

JK118

in use 7.43

135

WK

Hurricane 1. II. IV

?

Thunderbolt 1

HB975 L

136

HM

Hurricane II

?

Spitfire VIII

MT507 B

Spitfire XIV

RN193 A

146

GO

? Buffalo

AN124

Hurricane I/ll

BN927

Thunderbolt 1. II

K 1330

FL793 Mk. 1

155

DG

Mohawk IV

BS798 B

in use 1943

Hurricane II

HW420

in use 11.43

Spitfire VIII

?

258

ZT

Hurricane IIA/B/C

?

Thunderbolt I/ll

HD185

261

FJ

Hurricane II

AP935 A

in use to late
44

Thunderbolt II

KL849 G

in use '44 to
8.45

273

?

Fulmar

X8773

few used

Hurricane I/ll

?

Spitfire VIII

9

in use 1944

607

AF

Hurricane

?

Spitfire VIII

JF781 F

in use 1944

615

KW

Hurricane II

HV828

Mk IIC

Spitfire V/VIII

JL108

Mk. V given

Thunderbolt I/ll

?

As

can

be seen there are more gaps existent

in the tabu-

lation

of

the Far East squadrons for less

material has

survived from this area. Readers’ confirmed additions would

be welcomed.

Michael J. F. Bowyer

130

splendid pictures which include such rarities as a Tiger Moth,
Oxford, and B-17, all used as ‘hacks' by the Group at various
times. The other types portrayed arc. of course, the Group's main
steeds. P-47s and P-5 Is.

Tin Goose is a fine account of the Ford Trimolor with
numerous rare pictures and detailed text which brings the story
right up to the current Bushmastcr derivative of this immortal
aircraft. Required reading for anyone going in for conversions
or modifications of the Airfix Trimolor kit, it includes plenty of
detail views and markings. The last book in this group gives the
usual ‘Aero’ scries treatment of the Fw 190A, complete with
some colour drawings. Plenty of detail pictures, but not such a
‘good buy’ as the rest in our view.

Interesting Branch

THE TANAT VALLEY . ITS RAILWAYS AND INDUSTRIAL
ARCHAEOLOGY, by Wilfrid J. Wren. Published by David
de Charles ( Publishers ) Ltd. South Devon House. Railway
Station. Newton Abbot. Devon. Price 42s.
r PHE River Tanat rises in Wales in the Berwyn Mountains
A and flows east through Montgomeryshire into Shropshire
and the Severn basin The first part of this book describes in
detail the preparation, construction and working of the Tanat
Valley Light Railway (opened 1904, absorbed into the GWR in
1923 and closed in 1960). The second part deals with the indus-
trial archaeology of the valley and describes the lead, slate, phos-
phate and granite workings which for centuries had been the main
industries. Several suggested tours of the more interesting re-
mains are included.

The author has been extremely thorough in his research, cover-
ing every conceivable aspect of the subject and the presentation
is first class. Numerous sketch maps, diagrams, tables and an
excellent selection of photographs illustrate the text. Some of
the photographs go back to GWR days and beyond, and others
illustrate railway, mine and quarry remains still visible today.
By being so thorough the book will have a very wide appeal.
Model railway enthusiasts particularly will find much useful
material in the track plans and descriptions of the trains.

AIRFIX magazine

8888$$

»!

Letters to the Editor

Squadron identified

'T'HE photo on the front cover of the
-L July issue was terrific! Let’s have
more like it. Regarding the Beaufightcr
VIFs in the same issue, these are possibly
from 19 Sqn SAAF who used this mark-
ing style on their aircraft. Colours were
dark green and dark sea grey with Sky
undersides, white identification letters,
and C Type roundels on the wings. The
squadron later used the Beaufightcr X.

I). Becker, Pori Elizabeth, South Africa.

'Benledi’

I READ with interest the review of the
I new Benledi kit. You said that
research was necessary to get the right
shade of grey for the hull, and for
making the other ships in the class.

The hull colour is a very light shade of
grey and can be mixed perfectly by mix-
ing Airfix dark grey with matt white in
the proportion 4:3. This makes a remark-
able likeness to the actual shade. To make
Benledi into either of her sister ships,
Benirgris or Benalbannach the main
change is to omit the topmast from the
after polemast.

Ian Cochrane, Redcar, Yorks.

Fuselage bracing

AVING recently received the May
issue of the magazine, I studied the
article on Wellington conversions and
prepared a method for introducing the
side windows. Pieces of stiff wire are used
for bracing.

The wire is bent to the internal fuselage
contours and several pieces arc used on
both the upper and lower fuselage. These i
arc cemented to the interior with any all-
purpose adhesive (I used Araldile) and
the ends of the wire are made level with
the upper and lower edges of the win-
dows. The wire eliminates the springy
nature of the fuselage. With the interior
detailed and painted, the wires are not
obtrusive. The effect is more rewarding
and authentic than using block transfer
sheet.

Robin Green, Melbourne, Australia.

Slave carrier

HAVE never seen a reference in
1 AIRFIX magazine to the ‘Slave
Carrier’ which was an ordinary Universal
carrier adapted to carry batteries to
charge the batteries of tanks. These were
definitely used to charge Churchills and
were a part of HQ squadron. Externally
the only differences between these carriers
and the one from the kit are the different
front mudguards, a pattern for which is
shown in tne September, 1964, edition of
AIRFIX magazine.

A canvas tilt is also retired, made
from tissue and wire. This is in two
parts, one over the hull top and one for
the driver’s compartment. A temp'ate for
the wire frame was shown in the Decem-
ber, 1964, edition for the Carrier
Ambulance. The flans on the rear of the
tilt and the cover for the driver can be
represented by tissue rolled up in a 23 mm
length.

November. 1968

Letters to ih* Editor selected for publica-
tion antitla the senders to each receive
a free Airfix plastic construction kit of
their choice. We are always pleased to
receive your comments and pictures,
which will be considered for publication.
Submitted material and pictures can only
be returned if accompanied by a stamped
addressed envelope, and the Editor can-
not accept responsibility for safe keeping
of any such contributions, neither does
he necessarily agree with comments
expressed by correspondents in the
letters columns. Please note that any
letters anticipating a reply MUST be
accompanied by a SAE or stamp.

A small addition that can be made to
any carrier is a small mirror | inch from
the hull side for the driver, mounted on
a piece of stretched sprue or wire 5 mm
long. The mirror can be made from a
rec. angle of Perspex I mm x 3 mm,
painted on the back first silver then dark
green. Headlights can also be positioned
against the huil front above each mud-
guard instead of the position shown in
the kit.

Clive Darke, Fishponds, Bristol.

Simulated tracks

BELIEVE many readers may be
A_ interested in my method of depicting
tank tracks on a modelling baseboard.
Any glue mav be used, and is spread in
two parallel lines, the width of the track,
at a depth of about 1 mm. It is now left
until it becomes tacky but not hard. The
track is then p!accd on the glue, which
is allowed to harden. The track is then
peeled off, leaving a very realistic track
impression. If the tracks are carefully
placed in line, a long tank track stretch-
ing across the baseboard is really effec-
tive. The track impression is then painted
a dark earth colour.

Wheeled vehie’e tracks are equally well
depicted by nutting a length of wire
through the wheel and running it through
the tacky glue. Obviously you have to use
tank tracks of the desired type before
putting them on the Airfix model.

M. Walton, Carshaton Beeches, Surrey.

Narrow Gauge Club

W E read with interest the recent
articles in the magazine on the
subect of Narrow Gauge modelling.
Other readers might be interested in a
society now formed for enthusiasts in
this branch of the railway world. The
Lewisham and District Narrow Gauge
Society, as we are called, would be
pleased to hear from fellow Narrow
Gaugers interested in us, to whom there
will be an invitation to our first meeting
in the near future.

Those interested please write direct to
the Hon Secretary:

I). A. Brewer, 4 Prior Street,
Greenwich, London SFIO.

‘Puff’ points

A N article in your July, 1968, issue on
‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ contains a
slight error which I would like to com-

\ ment on. In this article the gunship ver-
sions of the C-47 are referred to as both
AC-47 and FC-47. Only the AC-47
designation is proper. Whi e an extremely
minor point, I feel the usual regard of
your magazine for historical accuracy
demands my comment.

In addi.ion to my connection with
CAHA, 1 am a USAF Reserve Officer
with duty at Wright-Patterson AFB, and
(in my civilian occupation) an Aerospace
Research Engineer. Thus, I often have
access to (unclassified) official material
normally not in the public domain. This
includes owning a copy of AFR 66-11, the
1962 Air Force Regulation that estab-
lished the DOD-widc present standard
designation system. This Regulation
would countenance the des gnation AC-47
but forbid FC-47. In add non, the Regu-
lation requires that a book be issued
semi-annually listing all aircraft in the
current inventory by their correct
designation.

I have copies of three such semi-annual
books, and have spot checked others
covering the period 1966 to present
| — my July, 1968, issue arriving yesterday.

According to these, the USAF has never
official.y recognised the FC-47 designa-
tion. In the early days of ‘Puff’ operation,
some local correspondence referred to the
planes incorrectly by the FC-47 designa-
tion and some individual crew members
may slill do so — but officially ‘thar warn’t
none’. The fact that the Suoer-Puff pro-
gramme us : ng C-119 and C-130 aircraft
uses the AC designation lends support to
my assertion. Of course, they could
i change this any time, but up to July.
1968. th *v had not done so.

H. L. Elman, G’astonhury, Conn, USA.

Robert C. Jones writes: While Larry
Elman is strictly correct in what he savs
in his letter, nonetheless a lot of US
aviation magazines and many ‘Puff’ crew-
men all refer to this aircraft as the FC-47.
popular usage if not official usage.

Rhodesian Harvards

I T' OR one who was a pupil pilot at
No 22 SFTS. Thornhill Air Station.
Gwelo. Southern Rhodcs : a. in 1945, your
cover illustration to the September issue
brought back many pleasant memories,
and I shall be pleased if you will permit
me to offer some comment on the caption
thereto.

The formation is of aircraft of No 20
SFTS, Cranbomc Air Sta ion, Salisbury,
Rhodesia, all of who*c 80 or so Harvards
carried individual identification numbers
(not squadron numbers) in red. and in
the American stvle shown. The illustra-
tion does not show the display on the
uoper surface of the mainplanes where
this identification number was repeated
in the same colour and stvle. but using
the full chord, and the full w : dth of the
ye’low strioe (or the equivalent on all-
yellow aircraft). The wing numbers were
applied so as to be read in a similar
manner to the under-wing serials, ic. star-
board— read from the rear, port— read
from forward.

Continued on next page

131

Letters — continued

To distinguish between the two single-
engined schools, the Harvards of No 22
SFTS carried black identification num-
bers : these were of British style with
rounded corners, were only some 75 of
the size of No 20’s numbers, and were
displayed forward on the fuselage so that
the rearmost figure of a pair was
immediately abreast of the forward pilot’s
position. The number was not repeated on
the mainplanes of this school’s aircraft,
and examples of individual aircraft were
Harvard II — all yellow — AJ628:63 and
Harvard IIA - natural finish /yellow -
KX246 :69.

Harvards on the strength of the
Rhodesian Air Training Group’s Central
Flying School carried the school crest in
the position occupied by the numbers on
No 22 SFTS.

Every aircraft which I saw in Rhodesia
from February. 1945, until the training
group was disbanded carried Type C
roundels (including the mainplane upper
surface position) and fin flashes, and not
the Type A variety as illustrated, so, as
Professor Joad would have said, it all
depends on what you mean by ‘just at the
end of the war’!

Apropos the article on the P-38
Lightning conversion in the same issue,
and more especially to the reference to
the RAF examples having been handed
over to the US 8th Air Force, it may be
of some interest to report the personal
observation of an airworthy Lightning in
PR blue, and sporting RAF PR roundels,
parked alongside a similarly finished
Airspeed Oxford in a hangar at RAF
Coningsby, in December, 1944. which
station was. at that time, the home of
Nos 83 and 97 Squadrons, No 5 Group,
Bomber Command. I was given to under-
stand that the Lightning was used by the
Squadron COs to observe and direct the
daylight formation flying practices of
their squadrons. Perhaps another reader
can provide the serial of this particular
aircraft?

G. M. O’Connell, Hull, Yorks.

M. J. F. Bowyer writes: The P-38 note
is interesting. No 192 Sqn operated
several from Foulsham late in the war —
perhaps is was one of those.

The Harvard picture was taken . I think,
in 1943.— EDITOR.

Track treatment

r N your articles on conversions of
AFVs you have suggested using a
strip of plastic card between tracks and |
covers to achieve sag on tracked vehicles, j
May I suggest another method. Using
thin acetate sheet obtained from an
orchid box (enough for dozens of models)
or similar, cut a strip slightly less than
the width of the track, and about \ inch
longer than the centres of the front and
rear sprockets. A \ inch from one end,
bend the strip at right angles, then at
about i inch centres bend at alternate
right angles until the strip is like this:

Now trim to length and insert between
track and cover. A little experimenting
with the actual amount of bending
required for a particular model is but a
few minutes’ work. The strip is almost
invisible on completion.

F. Blount, Luton, Reds.

132

Making canopies

V AM intrigued by the lengths resorted
1 to by your contributors in their modi-
fication of plastic kits. Cockpit covers are
a particular problem and I ve even seen
letters advocating multiple kit purchase
simply to obtain extra cockpit covers.

As a veteran of the pre-plastic kit days,
I faced this problem many times — pei-
haps readers would be interested in an
unusual solution?

The method can be used for the most
complex transparencies and involves sheet
gelatine (obtainable at most butchers’
shops!). A male mould is required but it
can actually be built on the model
Candle-wax is ideal, if the mould is made
of wood, the wood should be waxed. The
sheet gelatine is soaked in water until i)
becomes pliable and is then stretched over
the mould, being held by elastic bands
and or clothes pegs until dry. When dry.
the gelatine should be given .» coat oi
clear varnish, and when this has dried i‘
may be trimmed with a razor blade and
simply lifted away from the mould. The
resulting transparencies are beautifully
clear and thin but they are slightly brittle.
This method has been used successfully
to produce the ‘glazing’ for a Hampden,
a Halifax and a He 1 1 1 (built ‘from
scratch*, not from kits).

Sqn I.dr I). B. Thomas, I’pwood, Hunts.

Copydex

M R PARTON, writing in the Septem-
ber. 1968. edition, mentions a use
for Copydex externally on models. It can
also be used internally in ship models to
glue the hull together and at the same
time, if spread around the hull, can make
it watertight. One can paint over it, but
it makes an extremely matt finish.

It also can be used to glue the various
puts of Airfix soldiers together in
conversions.

Simon (’mine, London SW3.

Colour schemes

R EADING part 10 of ‘Fighting
Colours’ caused me to look out
some old wartime notes, and I find that,
in September, 1943, in the Lossiemouth
area, I saw several rocket-armed Bcnu-
fiehtcr Xs with white under-surfaces and
sides. One, which had no code letters, was
serial LZ792. Others which I saw at the
same time, with grey /green top and sides,
were a definite blue underneath.

A Beaufightcr II which I saw at Forres
in that month, with grey /green top and
sides, bore the red letters LX- A.

Going further back, a Blenheim IV
fighter which I saw in February, 1942,
had Sky under-surfaces (the real ‘green’
shade) and ‘off-white’ code letters J-XA
on the port side.

My notes also show that in August.
1942, several Spitfire Vs were to be seen
in the east of Scotland, sporting tropical
filters and desert colours!

Alex Tough, Newport-on-Tay, Fife.

M. J. F. Bowyer writes:

An interesting letter, for it confirms
that some Coastal Command strike air-
craft other than Hampdens and a few
Beau forts of the 1943 vintage had white
undersurfaces and fuselage sides. Never-
theless. these must he considered excep-
tions to the usual. Confirmation of the
deep blue finish is interesting, too. There
would seem the possibility that this colour
was applied for a brief period as toning

better with the light during operations off
Norway.

The LX coded Beaufighter II came
from No 54 OTLJ which trained night-
fighter pilots on Beauforts. Beaufighters
and Mosquitoes. The letters ST and YX
were carried by other squadrons within
the OTU. — EDITOR .

Lubrication

IVTHY apologise for increasing the
s ▼ price of your magazine, even at 3s
it would be a bargain. In the September
issue, P. E. Lawson complains that oil
cats away the paint and cement. The way
to overcome this is to substitute Vaseline
for oil on stiff joints.

Trevor Hartley, Sunderland, Co Durham.

M Y own model Beam Engine has
- worked well for over a year now
(often demonstrated to visitors). Due to
the friction between two plastic surfaces
some lubrication must be used. Vaseline
is satisfactory but a light multi-purpose
‘3-in-l* oil has been my own lubricant. I
have noticed no damage to the plastic
and the oil streaks and dust film that
adhere to it. adds (in my opinion)
greatly to the realism.

John Thompson, Wisbech, C'ambs.

Moving parts

I N the September issue, Mr Lawson
" gave a warning about the use of oil
for lubricating moving parts on Airfix
models. To prevent such sticking, the
moving parts should be trea.cd before
assembly as follows.

Firstly, all the joints should be cleaned
of flash. They should then be washed in
a mild detergent solution to remove any
grease and dirt. When this has been
rinsed off. the moving parts should be
treated with anti-stat fluid (*/Mihy-
droxycthane). This is available from
photographic dealers, either as a fluid or
in the form of a cloth impregnated with
the fluid. The use of this helps to prevent
the build-up of charge on the plastic,
which attracts dust and other small
particles to the surface of the plastic.
Finally, all parts are ‘plated’ with graphite
by rubbing them with a softish graphite
pencil. This requires some patience, as it
takes time to achieve satisfactorily.

Some care should be taken with paint-
ing, and it is probably best to paint areas
near moving parts before assembly.

Incidentally, you wrongly captioned the
drawing of Blenheim IVF V5736 on page
473 of your August issue. QY was the
code of 235 Sqn, not 254.

Malcolm Oliver, Ruislip, Middx.

Reader J . N . McFarland sent us this view
of A uster Mk 9(M) with Lycoming engine
and other modifications described in our
September 'hi the Air feature. Owned by
Major Somerton-Rayner, it is registered
G-AVHT and retains service markings
and camouflage.

AIRFIX magazine

WIKING

1:90 SCALE PLASTIC ROAD VEHICLES

In

JEEP

2/7

29m

VW SERVICE TRUCK

2/7

3g

VW-GHIA-COUPE

2/7

30p

VW POST VAN

2/7

4f

VW-1600-TL

2/7

31

VW KOMBI

2/7

8c

OPEL REKORD

2/7

31 n

VW KOMBI: NEW

2/7

11a

OPEL ADMIRAL

3/4

31s

VW MINIBUS

2/7

14x

OPEL TAXI

2/7

32

VW AMBULANCE

2/7

15s

MERCEDES 280S

2/7

34g

HANOMAG DRINKS TRUCK

3/4

16c

PORSCHE-CARRERA

2/7

37g

UNIMOG 406

3/4

16s

PORSCHE-SPYDER

1/9

38d

DEUTZ TRACTOR

3/4

20m

FORD TAUNUS 20M

2/7

42k

MAGIRUS TIPPER

4/4

24c

COOPER RACING CAR

1/9

43n

MERCEDES LP1317

5/8

241

LOTUS-FORD RACING CAR

1/9

48k

KRUPP THERMOS’ TRUCK

4/4

26p

MERCEDES POST VAN

2/7

48g

TRAILER FOR 48k

5/8

27p

MERCEDES L406 POST

2/7

71 n

MERCEDES POST BUS

7/3

29

VW PICKUP

2/7

79

ESSO SUPERTANKER

8/4

NEW 1968 WIKING ILLUSTRATED PRICE LIST OF 150 MODELS: 4d. STAMP

C. F. TREDGOLD

MAIL ORDER ONLY POSTAGE EXTRA

7 KINGS DRIVE . LITTLEOVER . DERBY . DE3 6EW

DE-FREY DECALS

INVASION STRIPES R.A.F. SKY CODES

Sheet 2 comprises —

1 36 in. of D-DAY/KOREAN WAR invasion stripes (1/72 and
1/48). Accurate, matt finish, decals depicting the Allied
invasion identification stripes.

2 16 Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm) markings in black and
white (1/72).

3 Solid matt black panel.

4 Solid matt white panel.

This is a very large special value sheet, measuring 11 x 8 in.
PRICE 4/6 plus 6d. p.p. (U.S.A. and Canada 1 dollar).

Sheet 1 comprises R.A.F. style code letters and rear fuselage
bands in official specification Sky type *S* for light bombers
such as the Blenheim and Mosquito and for Battle of Britain
fighters.

PRICE 2/9 plus 6d. p.p. (U.S.A. and Canada 60 cents).
DE-FREY DECALS

2 Lyndhurst Gardens, Finchley, London, N.3, England

IPMS MEMBER TRADE ENQUIRIES INVITED

INVASION D-DAY

OR THESE FABULOUS FRIZES

Haupt & Feist. June 6, 1944 through German eyes.

52 pp. Over 100 photos. 22s. post paid.

WEAPONS OF THE GERMAN INFANTRY

Harms & Feist. Pistols — Rifles — Machine Guns. etc., of W.W.II.
56 pp. 87 photos. Wrs. 21s. 9d. post paid.

WORLD UNIFORMS IN COLOUR

Vol. 1. The European Nations.

200 illus. in colour. 12] in. x 10 in. 34s. 6d. post paid.

W. E. HERSANT LTD.

228 ARCHWAY ROAD, LONDON, N.6
We can supply all books reviewed in this journal.

ENTRY FORM
IN THE NEW
RIKO' CATALOGUE
ON SALE NOW
FROM YOUR MODEL
SHOP OR IN CASE
OF DIFFICULTY
WRITE TO:

HONDA MOTOR CYCLE
RACING CYCLE
TAPE RECORDER
12 TRANSISTOR RADIOS
4 MICROSCOPES
100 LARGE CAR KITS
100 LARGE TANK KITS

RICHARD KOHNSTAM LIMITED

13- 15a HIGH ST.. HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, HERTS

November, 1968

133

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE R.A.F.-1

The VC10 that never was

© 0 ®
®0^vs* U

1. Airspeed indicator

2. Horizon director indicator

3. Altimeter

4. Machmeter

5. Course deviation indicator

6. Vertical speed indicator

7. Turn and slip indicator

8. ADF indicator

9. RPM indicators

10. Slat position indicators

11. Flap position indicators

12. Undercarriage selector lever

13. Aileron trim indicator

14. Tacan indicator

15. Wheel-brake pressure gauges

16. Auto-pilot trim indicators

17. Tall trim levers

18. Speed-brake lever

19. Throttles

20. Flap'slat levers

21. Pilot's intercom, control panels

22. Auto-throttles control panel

23. Auto-pilot control panel

Even at 13. you could make a start in
the Air Truininu Corps. You'd yet lots
of fun and thrills, and it would he a
great help in joining the R.A.F. later.

From 15' to 17.1, you could join as an
apprentice. These boys are on a 2-year
electronics course. And they get plenty
of sport and adventure too!

From I7i onwards, you could come in
as a trade trainee, or with 5 acceptable
O-Lcvels, you could start training as
an officer.

This is the cabin of a VCio
that will never leave the
ground. But it will fly any-
where. It will land at any
airport. It can crash into
the sea at 200 mph —and
then take oft* again !

It is the R.A.F.’s new
VCio flight simulator — the
most advanced in Britain.
Packed with intricate hy-
draulic, electrical and elec-
tronic engineering. Outside,
it is simply the first 15 feet
of the nose of a VCio. In-
side, you can’t tell it from
the real thing. It is used to
train air-crew to fly the
VCio’s of Air Support
Command. ^

It will reproduce every
manoeuvre and every haz-
ard a VCio is likely to
encounter. Turbulence,
pitching, rolling, fog — al-
most anything can be
arranged ! It answers every

movement of the control
column— or you can switch
to automatic pilot. As you
throttle back to land, you
lower a non-existent under-
carriage with a soft thud,
and then you hear the
sound of the wind rushing
through it. As you touch
down, you get the authentic
jolt of a real plane, and the
rumble of the wheels on the
tarmac. And it gives aircrew
experience in emergencies
that would be impossible
any other way. After all,
who’d bring a real VCio
down into the sea just for
experience ?

The small picture shows
an essential part of the
simulator. A relief model of
the Brize Norton area,
where the simulator is,
with the airfield complete
with landing lights in the
centre. A colour TV camera

moves and tilts on a travel-
ling rig which follows the
controls in the simulator
cabin. The crew can take
off* from Brize Norton, fly
to any part of the world anti
land there without even
leaving the ground; all
made possible by new
simulator techniques.

The R.A.F. has all kinds
of revolutionary new equip-
ment. And more is con-
stantly coming . . . new air-
craft, computers, radar sys-
tems, electronic test gear,
fire fighting equipment,
even new filing systems. To
operate it and service it all
needs dozens of different
skills. And in them, the
R.A.F. provides a first-
class, full-time training. If
you’re interested in aircraft
and technology, the R.A.F.
might be the life for you
one day. Think about it.

I

I Royal Air Force 1

| Send this coupon for your free copy of the |

I colour leaflet “The R.A.F.— it’s Supersonic”. -
It tells you more about the R.A.F. and it I
opens up into a super wall chart for your bed- ■
| room too !

I Name ■

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

Address

134

AIRFIX magazine

POLYSTYRENE CEMENT

Med. tube. 9d. Large tube
1/3. Monster tube 2/-.

EPOXY ADHESIVE

Twin tubes 6/-.

BALSA CEMENT

Med. tube 9d. Large 1/3.
Monster 2/-.

WHITE ADHESIVE

Squeeze bottle 1/9.

TISSUE PASTE

Med. tube 9d.

LIQUID GLUE

Med. tube 9d.

CONTACT ADHESIVE

Large tube 2/-.

NEWADDITI

EXPANDED

POLYSTYRENE CEMENT

Tube 2/-

TO THE

AUTHENTIC
COLOUR RANGE

Kit No. 21

COMBAT UNIFORMS

Kit No. 22

CEREMONIAL UNIFORMS

Kit No. 23

MILITARY EQUIPMENT

These authentic military colours
are the result of careful
research to establish shades
identical to the originals.

(Kits contain 6 Tinlets and full instructions)
Ask for these products by name at your model shop.

UMBROL

HULL YORKSHIRE

aircraft... A.F.V.s...
boats. ..cars... pistols

MONOGRAM 1/48 23/6 each

Helldiver

Thunderbolt

Kingfisher

Avenger

MONOGRAM 1/72 15/9 each

Vigilante
Me Bf 110E-I
Tigercat
Skyraider
P.per Tri-Pacer
Cessna-180
G.47 Skytrain
Kittyhawk

U.P.C. Giant Aircraft 1/50

9/6 each

F86 Sabre
Frank
Zeke
Me 262

Hawker Hunter

LS 1/72

Peggy Bomber 25/11

Yasukuni Bomber 25/11

KI-109 Bomber 25/11

Peggy Bomber — silver 25/11

Type 96 Nell Bomber 24/6

Nippon-Go Transport

Aircraft 24/6

Type 96 Naval Torpedo
Bomber 24/6

A.F.V.s 1/35
Honest John
Self-Propelled Gun
Long Tom
Anti-Aircraft Gun
Marine LVT with 75 mm
Howitzer
Armoured Car
Jeep and Trailer
Combat Soldiers
105 mm Gun
German Tiger Tank
American Patton Tank
Japanese M51 Tank
British Charioteer
British Combat Tank
German Scorpion Car
British Coventry Car

RIKO MILITARY KITS—
motorised

Brit. Abbot Tank 1/35 31/-
U.S. M418 ton

Tractor 1/32 25/6

U.S. Arm. Half Track 25/6
Brit. Combat Tank 1/44 18/6
Brit. Charioteer 1/44 18/6
Ger. Tiger Tank 1/44 18/6
U.S. M48 Patton T. 1/50 18/6

Jppanese M-61 1/44 18/6

U.S. Army Personnel

Carrier 25/6

U.S. Army Ordnance

Truck 1/32 31/-

U.S. Army Highway

Trailer 49/6

U.P.C. 1/72 Motorised
Aircraft

Shoki; Raiden; Hayate:
Shinden each 12/-

RIKO F JJIMI AIRCRAFT KITS

Westland Wasp Hel. 1/50 13/6
Huey Cobra Hel. 1/50 15/6
Iroquo.s Helicopter 1/50 17/6
Skyraider 1/70 15/6

Northrop F5a Freedom

Fighter 1/50 21/-

Northrop F5B ditto 21/-

Crusader 1/70 13/6

Northrop T38a
Talon 1/50 15/6

I.M.C. BATTLE AIRCRAFT
1/72 15/11 each

Phantom Thunderchief
Sabre Skyraider

AURORA AIRCRAFT 1/72 3/11

Piper Apache
Cessna

Aero Commander
Douglas B66
F84 Thunderstreak
F94c Starfire
1/48 scale
French Nieuport II
Sopwith Camel
SE-5 Scout
Albatross D3
Fokker DR-I Triplane
Fokker D7
Spad XIII
Nieuport 28
Fokker Eindekker
Fokker D8

B26 Martin Marauder

Aurora Tank Kits 1/4 scale

Swedish S 13/6

Churchill 13/6

Stalin 13/6

Centurian 13/6

Jppanese Medium 13/6

Full Range Almark Decals
2/11 each

Aurora Aircraft 13/6 each

Thunderchief F105

Avro Arrow CF105

CF100 Avro Jet

Bell Cobra copter

Bell Assault copter

F7U Cutlass 6/6

F104 Starfighter 13/6

REVELL 1/32 scale 14/9 each

Spitfire Mk I
Messerschmitt 109F
Zero A6M5

B-17F Lady Luck 1/72 13/4

Full Range Roco Mini Tanks

We Stock Airfix. Revell. VIP
Electric Car Racing Sets

Post and Packing

Up to 10/ 1/-

Up to £1 — 27-

Up to £2 -37-

Up to £4 -57-

Up to £5 -67-

Over £5 — Post Free

21 /-

21 /-

21 /-

21 /-

21 /-

9/6

9/6

9/6

9/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

13/6

34/6

ORPINGTON
MODEL CAR CENTRE

49 HIGH STREET, ORPIHGTON

Tel: Orpington 30503

November, 1968

135

UNDER THE "HARBOROUGH" AND "HARLEYFORD" IMPRINTS, JUST ON
400,000 OF OUR AVIATION HISTORICAL BOOKS HAVE SO FAR BEEN SOLD
WORLD-WIDE — A RECORD NOWHERE APPROACHED BY ANY OTHER
PUBLISHER — AND ONE WHICH IS STEADILY INCREASING.

AIRCRAFT MARKINGS OF THE WORLD 1912-1967

Compiled and written by BRUCE ROBERTSON

“ — a mine of information.” Aeroplane.

“ — crammed with information for the modeller.” Aeromodeller.

” — high standard of accuracy." R.A.F. Quarterly.

“ — covers a vast amount of ground.” Airfix Magazine.

“Harleyford makes the claim that it publishes the world s best aviation historical
books; this new title does nothing to dispute that claim, it merely strengthens it.
An extremely handsome book in appearance, there is a wealth of material within
its 232 pages to substantiate their claim many times over.”

Cross and Cockade (Leading American Historical Aviation journal).

Aircraft Markings of the World 1912-1967 has a com-
pletely new approach in presenting aircraft markings,
world wide. It in no way duplicates the information
in the author’s earlier book Aircraft Camouflage and
Markings 1907-1954, but is, in fact, a companion
book. In general outline, the contents consist of a
review of the markings and insignia of 165 countries,
with a chronology giving a date-by-date history of
international marking changes from 1912 to 1967,
both military and civil. A two-page map provides at
a glance the letter combination and origin of civil
registrations of the world, no less than 163. Colour
pages, 24 in number, present a panorama of national
markings, 35 civil airline emblems and 24 liveries,
with 1939-1945 War and later period international
markings illustrated by photographs and profile
paintings. (National Markings over 400.)

Several hundred photographs are presented, includ
ing a large number never before published. Some are
large, others are “close-ups” of insignia and mark-
ings. Also included are reproductions of 1939-1945
War invasion stripes, manufacturers motifs, and
chemical warfare, Red Cross, detail, armament,
advertising and rank markings, etc. In addition, pages
of line drawings of markings and insignia of the
1912-1967 period, similar BUT IN ADDITION TO, those
in the Camouflage book.

Aircraft Markings of the World 1912-1967 contains
232 pages, over 100.000 words, all on high quality art
paper. The book size is 8£ in. by 11$ in., and weight
nearly 2\ lb. All colour plates made and the book
printed and bound in England to our usual very high
standard, with gilt blocked cloth on heavyweight
millboard. Dust jacket in full colour.

FOR A COPY OF THIS MAGNIFICENT BOOK.
AUTOGRAPHED BY THE AUTHOR AND PRODUC-
TION TEAM. PLEASE REMIT DIRECT TO THE
PUBLISHERS FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY FROM
STOCK.

JUST PUBLISHED! OUR LATEST BROCHURE
OF ALL 14 TITLES NOW AVAILABLE. SENT
POST-FREE. DEPT. AF/B.

HARLEYFORD PUBLICATIONS LIMITED

LETCHWORTH, HERTFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, DEPT. GD/1

70 /-

POSTAGE, PACKING
AND INSURANCE
INCLUDED

136

AIRFIX magazine

STOP PRESS ' STOP PRESS • STOP PRESS ■ STOP PRESS

RACE TRACK NEWS FROM AIRFIX MRRC

f- NEW 4SECTI0N BANKED TRACK

NEW BANKED CIRCUIT
MR 300 SET £12.19.10

WITH TWO NEW GP CARS

A new MotorAce set from Airfix— the Interna-
tional MR 300— complete with a banked circuit
for high performance cornering. Included in the
set are two new 1/32nd scale cars— the Honda
and Eagle Weslake. Over 31 ft. of double track lay-
out. Banked Section available separately 21 /8d,
High Speed Honda and Eagle Weslake at 27/9d.

EAGLE WESLAKE

HONDA

TYRES

A wide
selection
of tyres for
all models.

Latest addition
the SP 002 for
superb road hold-
ing and long life.

STEERING UNITS

Complete
Ackermann
steering
units to
provide natural
cornering on all cars.

Price 54/1 Id

CLUBMAN SPECIALS

Covering 1/32nd
and 1 /24th scale
cars with varying types of motor.
Models include— Porsche. Ferrari,
Felday Ford, Honda, Weslake,
B.R.M.and manymore. From 46 6d

CONTROLLERS

Hand controllers for
AIRFIX/M.R.R.C. covering
range of 7}, 10 and 15 ohms

AIRFIX MAGAZINE

A magazine concerned
solely with plastic model-
ling. News, photography
and articles. Only two
shillings monthly.

BODY

SHELLS

The

Honda, Weslake
and Felday Ford have
now been added to the existing
range of Airfix moulded body shells.

THE COMPLETE RANGE OF
MOTOR RACING ACCESSORIES

See the complete range at your local stockist.

AIRFIX PRODUCTS LIMITED • HALDANE PLACE • GARRATT LANE • S.W.18

November, 1968

137

WARGAMES, NOW EXPLAINED BY A SERIES OF MONTHLY
ARTICLES IN MINIATURE WARFARE.

Each month articles appear on how to play wargames, collect soldiers and
design terrain.

Olher articles contain valuable information on the tactics and fighting abilities
of the Roman, Napoleonic, American Civil War and modern armies.

Together with numerous military photographs, advertisements of all model
soldier and equipment manufacturers and listings of all known wargame clubs.

Obtainable from your local hobby shop, who will also probably have details of
other warramers in your area.

Or di.ect irom the publishers by sending a 3/- P.O. and a 12" x 9" s.a.e.

(4d. postage).

MINIATURE WARFARE (DEPT. AM5)

61 Benares Road, London, S.E.18

Fabulous finishes from FLOQUIL .
specialists in miniature’ paints for 25
years. Over 70 intermixable colours that
dry in 2-5 minutes to a flat, absolutely
permanent finish. Only 1/10,000 of an
inch thick, yet is fully opaque . . .
FLOQUIL can never obscure the minu-
test detail. Your perfect model requires
a perfect finish.

MM series 4/3 jai
Ca

RR series 6/3 jar.
Cards lOd. each.

Colour

AVAILABLE FROM YOUR LOCAL MODEL SHOP
OR DIRECT.

FLOQUIL COLOURS FOR MODEL RAIL-
WAYS INCLUDING NINE NEW BRITISH
RAILWAY COLOURS.

★TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME ★

VICTORS

75 CHAPEL MARKET, ISLINGTON, N.1

(01-837 6959)

BOOKS on WAR GAMES. UNIFORMS, WEAPONS, etc.

Satisfaction guaranteed (or full refund). Prices include postage.

PC = Soft p’per covers; HC = Hard covers; pp = Pages.
CARMAN — British Military Uniforms from Contemporary Pictures
168 pp.. 109 plates (u in colour). HC. 39s 6d

CHAMB. & ELLIS— The Sherman 87 photos. 80 pp.. PC. 30s 9d
ELLIS — ‘How to go Plastic Modelling'. Many photos. HC. 25s 6d
FEATHERSTONE — 'War Games'. 150 pp.. 16 plates, HC. 22s 6d
FUNCKEN — Les Costumes et les Armes des Soldats de tous les
Temp3'. French text, profuse col. illus. of uniforms and weapons,
etc. Vol. 1 : Pharaohs to the time of Louis XV. Vol. 2 : Frederic II
to modern times. HC. Single volumes each 44s 6d

Or the Set of two volumes 88s 6d
KANNIK & CARMAN— Military Uniforms of The World in Colour'.
278 pp.. 512 col illus. of uniforms from 15th Century to modern
times. HC 31s 6d

OGORKIEWICZ — 'Design and Development of Fighting Vehicles'.

208 pp . 174 plates of A.F.V.s, etc. HC. 53s Od

HAUPT & FEIST— Invasion D-Day'. 52 pp.. 96 photos. PC 22s Od

SMITH — British Army Vehicles and Equpment'. 240 pp.. illus. of

A.F.V.s. artillery, small arms and miss. les. HC. 31s 6d

SEND YOUR OFDER. with pvvment. to

KEN TROTMAN, 18 MANWELL ROAD. SWANAGE, DORSET

HINTON HUNT FIGURES

Member of the Gu.ld of Model Soldier Manufacturers

20 mm WAR GAME RANGE

large range of high quality metal 20 mm War Game figures.
BULK PRI CES for orders of 100 and over.

Painting Instructions" available giving full
details of the colouring of the uniform.

54 mm COLLECTOR RANGE

obtainable hand piinted or unpsinted. Skilled craftsmen
animate each figure by hand.

MODEL SOLDIER SHOP, HINTON HUNT FIGURES. 9 and 10
the CAMDEN PASSAGE BOUTIQUE. Antioue Market. Islington.
London — 5 minutes from Angel Tube Station

NEW CATALOGUE

Send 2/6d. for catalogue of 20 mm figures or 54 mm figures.
Price for both catalogues 4/6d. only.

HINTON HUNT FIGURES
Rowsley, River Road, Taplow, Bucks., England

THE MODEL SHOP, MAIDSTOHE

Unique Wild West wagon series. Superb wooden scale model
construction kits. 15" to 17" when made up.

Buckboard Wagon 19s 6d Covered Wagon 24s Od

Chuck Wagon 24s Od Stage Coach 28s 6d

Conestoga Wagon 24s Od Ranch Wagon 19s 6d

Soar into the future with a Hovercraft . . .

Ready to run 29s lid. Kit form 23s lid.

IMAI Space Receiver — easy to assemble — 59s 6d

Two superbly detailed kits by Pocher of Italy.

1/8 Scale 1907 Fiat £22 12s 6d.

1931 Alfa Romeo £35 (£5 deposit secures).

Plastic kits by Airfix. Monogram, Frog. Revell. Pyro. Tamiya.
Imai. Otaki. Bandai and Protar.

SPECIAL OFFER— Aurora U.N.C.L.E.’ kits

Napoleon Solo and Iliya Kuryakin for only 15s the pair.

POSTAGE: up to 10/-. 1/6; Cl. 2/6; £3. 3/6; £5. 5/-; over £5 free.

19-23 UPPER STONE STREET,
MAIDSTONE, KENT. PHONE 51719

138

AIRFIX magazine

magazine Classified Adverts

RATES: 7d per word. Minimum charge 7s
BOX NUMBERS: 2s 2d extra charge
All advertisements must be prepaid

Please address your correspondence to:

AIRFIX MAGAZINE Classified Advertisement Departmem

9 Ely Place, London, EC1

Closing date for next issue — November 1

FOR SALE

Military and Civil Aircraft Photographs.

Lists 3d. SAE please. T. A. Brown, 45
Clifton Road. Southall, Middx. [237S)
Stop Press! Just received from Poland:
Ruch’s 1/72 scale PZL P-23 A (Karas)
fighter 7s post free! M. Hodde, Tusscn-
meer 250, Amsterdam. (See below.)
Down with the Prices! Aircraft kits at
reduced postfree prices. Hasegawa’s Rita-
bomber 45s ; BAC Electric Lightning
FMK 6, Phantom F4J and F4K : LTVA-
7 Corsair 11s each: L.S. Bombers:
Peggy, etc, now 20s each. All 1/72 scale.
Hawk 1/48 scale German V-l and Kami-
kaze ‘BAKA’ two kits in one box 16s;
1/72 scale Spitfire Mk 22, Me 109G, etc,
16s each: Thunderstreak. Supermarine
Swift, Skyray F14D-1, etc, 8s each. M.
Hodde. Tussenmcei 250, Amsterdam.
(Sec below.)

Miniature Scale Aircraft: Marusan 1/100
scale: Ju 87b, Me 109E, Yak 9, Tojo.
George, P-38, P-47. P-51, Hellcat, Spit-
fire 5B, Corsair, Thunderstreak, Sabre,
Oscar, Zero 52, X.15, 3s each; E.E.
Lightning 4s 6d. Postage 1-3 kits 2s; 4-6
kits 3s 6d. Otaki 1/150 Jap turbo-prop
liner: 1/130 Neptune PzV7 ; 1/72 Mu.2 :
8s each. I MO or bank notes to M.
Hodde, Tussenmeer 250, Amsterdam.

1 242S J

Wargames from America by Avalon Hill
Co & Gamescicnce Corn. Afrika Korps ;
Battle of Britain ; Battle of the Bulge :
Blitzkreig: Confrontation; D-Day;

Guadalcanal: Jutland: 1914; Stalingrad;
Tactics 2 : Strategy & Tactics Magazine.
Brochures 6d. McLcllan. 12 South Road.
Wick. Caithness. Scotland. (241S)

Mirror finished, self-adhesive plastic tiles
that can be cut with scissors. Has in-
numerable uses for the modeller, ie,
model display, scenic modelling, mirrors,
etc. For free sample and details send
SAE to ‘Gailomc’, 199 Cowbridgc Road
East, Cardiff, Glam. |244S)

Air Pictorial, Flying Review, Aero
Modeller, Aeroplane Spotter, I.P.M.S.,
Airfix Magazines, 1/72 plans. Aircraft in
Miniature, Aeroplanes and Aero-engines,
Buccaneer. Lockheed F-104, Rockets and
missiles. Hawker Siddeley PI 127. All
The World’s Fighting Fleets. Offers,
Winfield. 79 Babbacombe Road. Tor-
quay. (245SJ

Selection out of ‘1800 Airplane Photo-
graphs’. Civil, warplane and rockets.
Format postcard, price lid each (post
free), payment by money-order. Cata-
logue price 2 reply coupons (post paid).
‘Reinha*, Hoogkarspelstraat 33, Den
Haag, Holland. Clearing 508691. |246S1

Unique collection of 170 different 1/72
scale plastic aircraft kits in original
boxes. £40 the lot. Telephone Chester
20339. (248S)

Ten Historex mounted models immacu-
lately finished, 50/- each. Roco Minitank
vehicles, cost 77/-. for 40/-. SAE list. UK
only. Cook, 15 Lochrin Terrace, Edin-
burgh 3. |247S]

100' -1" Fine scale ship models in metal,
many types, many periods, 1/- stamp
brings lists from Mr Holton, 15 Lyming-
ton Gardens, Stoneleigh, Surrey. f249SJ
Collection 80 f 1/72 aircraft, mostly
WW II. Many conversions, colour
schemes. Offers over £10. Watt, 25 Rut-
land Park, Sheffield. [250S]

Aeroplane Spotters and aircraft recogni-
tion journals. Send SAE, state require-
ments and offers to: R. Firth, 22
Slaylcigh Avenue, Sheffield S10 3RB.

| 258SJ

200 Model Aircraft. Pring, 13 Westleigh
Road, Taunton, Somerset. |259S]

35 Airfix Magazines, Bcllona drawings,
15 Profiles, 70 AFVs, spares. Surgey. 19
Farnham Avenue, Hassocks, Sussex.

I260SJ

WANTED

Revell ‘Caravelle’ kit H 184 unmade.
State price. Kirkland. 2 Kerrington
Crescent, Barnhill, Dundee. |252W|

Model Cars: pre-1955, any sort or size.
Dinky. Britains, tinplate, etc. Also books
on flying and motoring. Dr Gibson, The
Green, Anstey, Leicester. |239W]

Frog Venom/Vampire Kit — preferably
unbuilt but will take completed one in
good condition. Write Cothliff. 2 Dudley
Grove, Liverpool L23 OSJ. |251W]
Warships, Merchant Ships. 1:1250
models or kits. Basset-Lowke, Eagle,
Pyro, etc. State price, condition. Box No
253W. |253W)

20inm Metal W argames figures. Swoppets
knights. Mansfield, 15 Wick Avenue,
Wheathampstead, Herts. [254WJ

Military A/C Photos, to be published in
new modellers mag. List and prices to;
C. Sourgnes, 26 Av. Kennedy, 59 Lille,
France. I255W]

Airfix Magazines, August, October 1967,
February 1968. Pay 5/- each. D. Booth.
2 Tutbury Avenue, Canlcy, Coventry.

(256WJ

Airfix Magazine, April 1965. Pay 5/-. 22

MISCELLANEOUS

Search Service for overseas collectors.
Plastic model kits. Books, back issue
magazines. Lists with postal reply
coupons. Box No 240M. (240M]

Maltese Wargamers and military minia-
ture enthusiasts interested in forming
group, contact Patrick Micallef, 1/4
Norfolk Street, Malta G.C. |243M]

PERSONAL

Have you a model railway? If so, you

must read Railway Modeller monthly
2/6d. Each issue packed with Show-you-
how articles and descriptions of other
people’s layouts to help and encourage
you to get the most from your own line.
From Model Shops and Newsagents
everywhere. Send 6d for specimen copy
to Pcco Publications, Seaton, Devon.

|238P]

THE FANTASTIC HOBBYSHOP — Sydney, Australia
34 Angel Arcade, Ash Street. Sydney 2000

has the most Fantastic Range of Plastic Kits in Australia. 800 square
feet of display area devoted to your hobby. Every brand ever brought
into Australia is here. Personal calls or mail orders, you’ll get service
second to none. It really is Fantastic. U.K. SUPPLIERS. If you can
get it to us fast, in Hobbies or Toys, send us details and catalogues
today. SECOND HAND. We urgently need good Locos and Rolling
Stock regardless of scale. We buy discontinued plastic kits (unmade).
Send us details today, for the best price tomorrow.

AIRCRAFT PHOTOGRAPHS

QUR EXTENSIVE RANGE covers over 10.000 titles of C’vll and
Warpiane photographs (S| x 3} in.) including both Wars. If you will
please state the section in which you are interested and send 1/3 we will
send the appropriate list.

REAL PHOTOGRAPHS LTD. (Dept. A.M.), Southport. England.

EVERYTHING FOR PLASTIC MODELLERS

NEW TAMIYA M36 TANK 31/-
NEW ALMARK TRANSFERS 2/11 sheet
NEW DE-FREY DECALS 4/6 sheet
ALL TAMIYA, RIKO, MONOGRAM. AIRFIX.
REVELL. AURORA Kits Stocked
NEW and Exclusive German W.W.I Transfers 1/6 sheet
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CATALOGUES: Airfix 2/3, Tamiya 3/6. Revell 2/6. Aurora 2/-.
Riko 3/-. All post free.

JONES BROS. OF CHISWICK
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Tel. 01-994 0858 Eat. 1911

November. 1968

139

BOOKS FOR WAR MODELLERS

New BENDER publication! Orders, Decorations. Medals and Badges
of the Third Reich, 232 pp . 350 photos and 4 col. pages of
ribbons 93 *

Taschenbuch der Panzer. 1969 edn. of the standard (German-text)
ref book. 652 art-paper pp.. 348 photos. 498 dwgs. £7 11s 6d
17th Century Rigging (Anderson) 9 photos. 282 figs.. 1 plan 27s Od
World Uniforms in Colour. Vol. 1 — European (Current Styles). 96
pp 12" x 10"). Text by D'Ami 200 col. illus by various artists.
Laminated board binding. As reviewed in this issue. 34s 6d

Armour in Profile vol. of 24 issues. Many col. and other ill 79s 6d
Tank Data (Aberdeen Proving Ground). W.W.2 types only 77s Od
Military Uniforms of World in Col. 512 ill 1506-date. Kannik. 31s 6d
Ger. Military Uniforms & Insignia 1933/45. Dwgs. & photos 71s Od
PAPERBACKS: L'Aviation Frangaise 1914/40: Escadrilles. insignes.
Coming in eight parts each of 24 French-text pp. plus 24 hand-
coloured plates. By Cmdt. E. Moreau-BOrillon. Send for details.
Picture Hist of the Waffen SS. 1940/45. 75 pp.. 150 photos 70s Od
Colors of the SS and 3rd Reich 56 large pp.. 22 in colour. 87s Od
Hndbk. on Ger Army Identification 1943. 81 pp.. many dwgs 35s Od
Many others Call or write. Early closing Wednesday. POST PAID.
Graham K. Scott, 2 The Broadway, Friern Barnet Rd., London, N.11

DON’T MISS this outstanding work, the first
volume of which was published in April to
commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the
R.A.F.

PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE RAF

(Vol. 2. 1939-45)

J. W. R. Taylor and P. J. R. Moyes 35/-

A complete history of the R.A.F. in World War II,
which, having been written after the official history,
draws on material which was not available at that
time. 9 in. x 6 in. 208 pages including over 140
pages of pictures.

AS REVIEWED
N E WW IN THIS ISSUE

OO’ SCALE DIE CAST

VETERAN VEHICLES

Finished in one colour spray finish ready
for detailing.

PRICE 2s. 6d., postage 6d. (per model).

Send 3/- for sample or S.A.E. for detailed list of
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To Sole Distributors :

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TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOMED

Also for October publication

HANDBOOK OF THE VICKERS
VISCOUNT p st John Turner 25/-

This new book gives fullest possible information
about the Viscount. Photographs depict it through all
its stages of development, and in the liveries of
virtually every operator who used it. 9 in. x 6 in.
176 pages, 72 pages of pictures.

IAN ALLAN

Shepperton, Middlesex

AVIACOLOUR

MODEL SUPPLIES SPECIALISTS

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•Send 4d. stamped envelope for your copy.

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FOR THE SPECIALIST

Airfix : M.R.R.C. provide a wide range of
accessories from 1/32nd and 1/24th scale
cars to engines, tyres and steering units.

Latest additions to this ever growing range are:

Flexible copper braid & in. wide for maximum effect
on pick up Cat. No. 826. 1 yd. per packet. Price 3/-.
Connecting wire made specially for M.R.R.C. con-
taining 65 strands of fine copper wire, P.V.C. coated
Cat No 827. Price 1/3d. per yd

Please send 6d for catalogue and name of nearest stockist to.

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140

AIRFIX magazine

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The above rates are a general indication only
Any underpayment will be debited

THE FULL RANGE

OF

HELLER

AIRCRAFT

1/72 Fighters

091 Bloch 152

6/11

092 Dewoitine 520

6,11

093 Morane Saulnier

MS 406

6/11

094 Curtiss H-75 A3

6 11

095 Les Mureaux 1 17. R2

8 9

096 Caudron C-714

8/9

1/72 Bombers

390 Amiot 143

21/6

391 Liore et Olivier 45

216

392 Brequet 693

21 6

393 Bloch 174

21 6

394 Potez 631

216

396 Potez 63-1 1

21/6

397 Leo 451

21 6

545 Bloch 210

34/ 1 1

1 50 Fighter Jets

105 Trident

17/6

120 Fiat G.9I . R3

17/6

511 Mirage IIIR

26 II

1/50 Bombers

305 Vautour IIB

21/6

330 Vautour HIM

21 6

500 Etendard IV

26 1 1

1/50 Fighter Bombers

505 Brequet Alize

26/11

830 Mirage IV

43 6

510 Mirage MIC

26/ 1 1

1/40 Fighter Jets

310 Fouga Magister

21/6

1/50 Helicopter

200 Alouette III

17/6

325 Frelon

21/6

1/125 Civil Aircraft

700 Boeing 707

34/11

705 Douglas OC8

34/11

1/100 Civil Aircraft

300 Caravelle

21/6

855 Concorde

43/6

715 Brequet Atlantic

34 II

320 1/75 Super-Broussard

21/6

720 1/50 Mystere 20

34 1 1

710 1/85 Noratlas

34/11

Historic Aircraft

335 1/75 Arc-cn-Ciel

21/6

100 1/40 Spad VII

21/6

AUTO KITS - The All Metal 1/24 Scale Kits- AUTO KITS

VINTAGE SERIES

005 1927 Bugatti 35B 72 6

006 1934 1.5 E.R. A. 72/6

008 1932 Alfa P.3 G.P. 72 6
010 1929 M.G. ‘M’Type 65 11
013 1929 Mercedes SSKL 82 II
015 1927 Delage 1.5 G.P. 72 6

I.M.C.

I 25 Fully Detailed Kits
AT LAST

MECOM LOLA T.70
is now available

No. 108. Full Ford engine, sus-
pension. interior detail. Working
steering. Opening doors and rear
deck. Everything expected from
an I.M.C. Kit 33 9

103 Cougar II 33/9

104 Ford G.T. 40 33 9

105 Ford ’48 Conv. 33 9

106 Lotus Indy 38 24 6

107 Dodge ’Little Red

Wagon’ 33/9

109 Mustang II 33/9

I I I STP Indy Lotus 24 6

M3 Ford G.T. ’J’ Car 33 9

I 14 Volkswagen ’Beetle’ 33 9
1 15 ’48 Ford Coupe (’46 or
'47 versions possible).

I 16 Chaparral 2E fully
detailed Chevy engine
and suspension, remov-
able rear deck, opening
doors, steering, working
aerofoil. 33/9

1/72 I.M.C. Aircraft
401 Lear jet. Fully detailed
interior, removable instruments
and engine. Operating ailerons
and rubber, in white with chrome

1933 M.G

K.3. MAGNETTE

With genuine wire spoke wheels 72 6

BIG SCALE KITS
18 Monogram Cars

PC98 Jaguar ’E’ Type 174/6
PC 1 26 Corvette Stingray 174/6
1/96 Revell Historical Ships

391 Kearsage 149/6

394 Cutty Sark 149 6

399 Pedro Nunes 149 6

386 Constitution 175/4

390 Thermopylae 175/4

392 Alabama 175 4

395 Cutty Sark (with sails) 175,4
398 Constitution

(with sails) 216/7

parts.

NEW 1/32 KITS

181 Ford Galaxie

182 Plymouth Fury

183 Pontiac G.P.

184 Chevrolet Impala

33/9

17/6

17/6

17/6

17/6

PLEASE NOTE

WE WILL BE OPEN ALL
DAY SATURDAY

(9 a.m. - 6 p.m.)
on

NOVEMBER 30th
DECEMBER 7th
DECEMBER 14th
DECEMBER 21st

Sprint Series with working
interior and exterior lighting

525 1/48 Alouette III 26/11

835 I /SO Brequet Alize 43/6

840 I / 100 Caravelle 43 6

850 I /I25 Boeing 707 43/6

SHIPS

I 200 Civil Liner

1010 Avenir 86/11

1/430 Aircraft Carriers

1000 Clemenceau 86/11

1005 Foch 86/11

1/400 Destroyers

540 Surcouf 26/11

541 Maille-Breze 26/11

543 Dupetit-Thouars 26/11

I 400 Ships

860 Colbert Cruiser 43/6

870 Jeanne D’Arc

Helicopter Carrier 43/6

Historic Ships

865 I /90 Santa Maria 43/6

905 Phenix 86/11

CARS

730 1/20 Renault RI6 fully

detailed engine 34/11

735 1/24 Alpine A2I0 G.T.

Fully detailed
everything 34/ II

740 |/24 Matra FI I.

Engine, suspension

detail 34/11

Also full range of cadet, series
aircraft and galleons, at 4/11
Send 2/- for illus. Heller
catalogue.

POCHER KITS from ITALY
Large Scale Cannon Kits

01 24 lb. Casemate (ready built 129/6)

02 Louis XIV 22 barrelled (ready built 139/6)

03 English 1800 Field Gun (ready built 175/-)

04 75 mm Field Gun (ready built 1 19/6)

05 Chinese Cannon (ready built 175/-)

06 16th Cent. Coulevrine (ready built 197/6)

07 German Cannon (ready built 197/6)

REVELL KITS

PLANES

H.20I Flying Fortress B-17
H.202 Avro Lancaster
(Oambuster)

H.203 Liberator B-24
H.204 Focke-Wulf Condor
H.205 PB4Y-I
H.206 Lockheed YF-I2A
H.207 Lancaster Mk. I
H.208 Swing Wing Fill
H.282 Spitfire Mk. I
H.283 Curtiss P-40E
H.284 Mcsserschmitt I09F
H.26I Skyraider 1/40
H.262 Boeing SST
H.290 Spad XIII 1/28

SHIPS

H.324 Golden Hind
H.326 Bounty
H.327 Mayflower
H.328 Beagle
H.329 Constitution
H.336 Santa Maria 17/6

H.363 Victory 17/6

H.397 Tugboat Motorized 17/6
H.32I U.S.S. Franklin D.

Roosevelt 23/8

H.339 U.S.S. Forrestal 23/8

H.344 Flying Cloud 23/8

H.347 Eagle 23 8

H.370 Oriskany 23/8

H.433 Patrick Henry 45,4

OTHER KITS

H.I280 Jaguar E-type 17/6

H.I267 VW Station Wagon 19/6

u ~ •- . 30/10

30/10
30; 10

34/-

61-

46 -

46/-

46/-

PYRO — Actual scale Firearms

195 Kentucky Rifle 46 6

197 Western Saddle Gun 33 6

228 Blunderbus 18 -

200 Western 44 14/3

208 Civil War Navy ’36 14/3

231 Peacemaker 45 14/3

Antique Pistols — All 14/3

201 Buccaneer

202 Privateer

THE 1931 ALFA ROMEO 2300 MONZA £35 203 Yorktown

Amazing detail. Working brakes, geared steering, moving pistons, 204 Bunkcrhill
crankshaft and suspension. 1452 parts in many materials. No gluing — 224 Derringer A Pepperbox

H. 1266 Miss Deal
H.I268 Thames Panel
Truck

H. 1269 51 Ford Anglia
H.I233 Honda Super
Sports

H.I234 Honda Racing Bike 34/-

H.I235 Honda Scrambler 34/-

MONOGRAM KITS
Clastic Models 1/24 scale
81 1934 Duesenbcrg 46/-

87 1937 Mercedes 540K 46 /-

109 Rolls Royce
130 1937 Cord
133 1927 Bugatti 35B
174 1941 Lincoln
Continental

Builds as^ori^inal with nut^and bolts.

MOST DETAILED KIT IN THE WORLD
and

1907 130 H.P. FIAT F.2. G.P.

225 French Wheellock

226 Italian Miquelet

227 Moorish Miquelet
229 Duelling Pistols (2)

MODERN SERIES

001 1962 BRM F.l 59,6

002 1963 Lotus 25 F. I 52/11

003 1961 Ferrari F.l 59 6

004 1963 BRM F.l 59/6

007 Lotus Super 7 65/11

009 Porsche 904 GTS 89 I I

011 1965 Lotus 38 Indy 65 11

012 1965 Lotus 33 F.l 59 6

1928 4j LITRE LE MANS
BENTLEY

1/24 Wills Finecast all metal kit
with full engine, suspension,
steering, interior and underside
detail. £6 14 8

1/43 RIO MODELS
Italian masterpieces in
miniature

13/4

1

Itala 1906

37/11

3

Fiat 501 S 1919

37/ 1 1

13/4

5

Alfa 1932 P3

37/11

13/4

6

Fiat Mod. O 1912

37/11

13 4

8

Isotta Fraschini 1924

45/-

13/4

10

Bianchi Laundaulet 1909 45 -

13/4

13

Fiat ’Balilla’ 1932

37/ II

1 3 4

14

Fiat Tipo 2. 1910

45/-

13/4

16

Chalmers Detroit

14 9

1909 U.S. A.

45/-

14 9

17

Mercedes 1909

45/-

14 9

19

Alfa 1750 1932

45/-

19 6

23

Fiat 60 cv 1905

42/11

23 8

24

Fiat 1905 (open)

42/11

28 9

25

Fiat Phaeton 1906

42/11

28 9

26

Fiat 12 h.p. 1902

37/11

28,9

27

Fiat 24 h.p. 1905

45/-

28

Bianchi I90S

45/-

17/6

29

1902 Merc Simplex

45/-

17/6

31

1901 Fiat 8 c.v.

37/11

17/6

32

1903 Fiat 16 c.v.

37/11

17/6

33

1908 Mercedes

42/11

17/6

34

1907 Renault X

42/11

1/43 DUGU
More Italian Masterpieces

I 191 I Fiat 4
4 1907 Fiat F.2 G.P.

6 1907 Itala Palombella

7 1912 Itala 25/35 HP
II 1899 F, at 3.5 HP

14 1924 Fiat 509

16 1909 Itala 35/45 HP

17 1934 Fiat Balilla
Coppa d'oro

18 1936 Cord Phaeton

19 1931 Duesenberg

42/6
42/6
49 I I
42 6
39/ 1 1
42/6
49/11

49/11
49 I I
49; 1 1

Full engine, suspension, geared steering. Brass, steel, iron, copper, leather, 230 Dutch Fhntlock
rubber, aluminium and plastic parts £22 15 0. 231 Peacemaker 45

POLITOYS (ITALY)

All models in this range have
opening doors, bonnets and
boots; with engine detail and
springing.

1/43 Die-Cast Models

525 Ferrari 'Le Mans’ 31/-

526 Fiat IIOOBerlina 15 6

530 Alfa 2600 Zagato 23/6

531 Alfa Giulia T. I 21/-

532 Alfa 1750 Alfetta 31/-

533 OSI 125 Coupe 21/-

534 Lola GT 21/-

536 Ferrari 'Dino' 23/6

537 Alfa 2600 Pantera’ 23/6
539 Lamborghini 350 GT 23/6

SOLIDO (FRANCE)

143 Military Vehicles

200 M.20 Combat Car 18/11

201 ‘Unic* Missile-Launcher 35/1 1

202 U.S. M. 47 Patton Tank 42/11

202 Renault 4/4 18/11

204 I05F Anti Aircraft Gun 32/-

205 I05C Field Gun 32/-

206 10- Howitzer Cannon 32/-

207 U.S.S.R. PT76 Tank

208 U.S.S.R. SUI0O Tank

209 French AMX30 Tank
212/13 Merc. Jeep and

Trailer

214 Berliet Auroch

Amphibious Troop
Carrier 35/11

42/-

42/-

42/11

23/11

AUTO MODELS LTD • 70 FINSBURY PAVEMENT • LONDON EC2 • 01-606 5S06

Printed by Blackfriars Press Ltd., Smith Dorrien Road. Leicester. England

1

me INTERNATIONAL

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i^Ci

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A.F.V. >c PER sheet

T.l. AfrJIca Korps Palms
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T,3, German Crosses lor Military Vehicles
T.4. Atamein Sheet
T.5, German Tank Numbers
T.S. British Armoured Unit Signs

POSTAGE RATES
UK up to 3 sheets 6d.

OVERSEAS TRADERS
WRITE FOR FULL
TRADE TERMS
DEPT. A

Aircraft

AX W.W.tl Swastikas
Ae2. RAF Type Roundels
A, 3. SEAC Roundels for fighters and
medium aircraft

A A. RAF Squadron Code Letters

LATEST BOOKS TO ARRIVE
Weapons of the German Infantry
during World War II by Herve and
Feist 22 6

Very authentic^ 56 pages over 00
photos, covering all German small
arms

Invasion D Day June 6, 1944. A

pictorial account of the first 24
hours of the luecessfijJ Allied
attempt io regaiif the continent of
Europe as seen and viewed by the
German side. Leading military per-
sonalities ol both sides, aircraft,
armoured vehicles and other
interesting items for the Historian
and modeller, 106 selected photos.

12/6

A I RCA M AVIATION SERIES

A new pictorial survey of Famous

Aircraft — 21/^ each.

No. t* North American P.5I D
Mustang in USAAF-USAF
service.

No, 2 + Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
in USAAF-RAF Foreign ser-
vice,

For .ipprox. Nov. 9.

No + 3* North American Mustang in
RAF, RAAF. SAAF, RNZAF,
RCAF and Foreign service.

ITALIAN CIVIL AND MILI-
TARY AIRCRAFT I9JD-I945

i Thompson)

The author presents the first book

CALER BOOKS

MARSEILLE STAR OF AFRICA
by Hein* Joachim Nowarra.

4th in the fascinating Caler Ulus-
trilled series. Extensive research by
the author now permits unfolding of
the complete Marseille story which
rjinks amongst the most heroic epics
of the World War II era. Marseille
who was undoubtedly one o the
greatest tacticians in the history of
aerial warfare, achieved a score ol
I SB victories.

Profusely illustrated including full
colour scale drawings and colour
aerial photographs 17 6

GERMAN MILITARY
UNIFORMS 1933-45

Covering all German Military Ser-
vices plus Labour, Police, Youth.
Fully Illustrated with photos and
drawings. 225 pages. The Collector's
bible on the subject. 66 -

MEN AND MACHINES
RAF Bombers of W r W.ir r Vql, ! 10,-
Luftwaffe Bombers of W, W. U , VoL I
BLANDFORD 10>

PUBLICATIONS
Helicopters and other Rotor Craft

IS-

Miikary Uniforms of the World, in
colour by P, Kannkk 30/-

Pocket Encyclopedia of World
Aircraft, in colour 16/-*

16/-; Fighters* Civil Airliners,
Private Aircraft or Fightcr& 1914—18.
18/-: Bombers 1914-1910.

Each of the above has approximately
40 pages of colour.

to be published in this country that
contains information about all of the
Italian aircraft of the period immedi-
ately before and during W„W, M*
Containing a complete discu&iom,
t > f all service and experimental types
of aircraft, plus data about obsolete
aircraft and unfinished projects,
this book includes history, descrip-
tion, use, special features, camou-
flage. insignia, engine data, arma-
ment* specs, and performance of
these aircraft. Comparisons are
made with major Allied and Axis
types and a brief description of
kalian industrial organization is
given. 3-views. 550 photos, side view
fine drawings, 76/6

AERO SERIES: An outstanding
series of books on famous aircraft by
Uwe Feist. Mr, Feist is assisted on
this project by many renowned
authoritative authors.

AERO SERIES

Vol. I Mts«rtch(nilt ME 109
Vol. 2 N.iUirm.L Ki-84 (Frank)

Voi. 2 The Curtin P-40

Vol. 4 The Heinkel He 162

Vol, 5 Boeing. P-12 F4b Fighter

Vol, 6 Republic P-47

Vol. 7 Kamikitc

Vol, S Junker* }U 67 Stuka

Vol, 9 Dornicr DO-335 "PFEIL"

Vol. 10 Supcrmarifle Spitfire

Vol. 1 1 Cori.ifr Chuoce Vought F4U

Vol. 12 Heinkel 1 00. 112

Vol 13 Heinkel HE 177 “Gref"

Vol. 14 Messertchmitt Me 262
Vol. IS MustAAg North American
P5J

Vol. 16 Messertchmitt BM 10
Vol. 17 Me»er*chmitt Me 163

231- each

NEW AIRCRAFT
MONOGRAM I ;72

Inter War Series
HB4 Boeing
P6E Hawk
Goshawk FI IC-2
and

Mustang P 51 B
Bearcat F0F
Curtis* P 36A
Tigercat F7F3
McHerichm.tt BI 1 1 0E ■ I
A I -E Sky raider
NEW AIR FIX I 72
Henchel 129
Sky raider
Dominie

NEW FROG I 72

Stika

Mosquito

BAC Lightning F6

F ,66 Sabre

Western Lysander

J O' I I

10 1 1

10/ 1 1

10/11
10/ 1 1
10/ 1 1
15/9
15/9
I5J9

HAWK I 71 4/6 each

Spitfire Mk 22; Meuer*chmitt Bf
I09G: Zero A6N5.

AEVELL 1/72

Bth A« r Force B 1 7F Lad y Lock 1 3/4

REVELL I >72

3/- each: Spad XIII; Sop with
Camel. Albasroi Dili; Nteuport

AIRCRAFT

1 7c; Fokker DVIl; 5E-5A; D.H II;
Morane Saulnier; FoHtff “ 1«
decker; Fokker DR-I; Nieor
F-<pwith triplane. Spitfire
t asscrschniii ME-109; Rep*- . v*
Thunderbo/t ^*470; Focke Wulf
190; Hawker Hurricane; Mitsu-
bishi Zero; Mustang P-5ID; Hawker

Tempest; Kawasaki Hicn; Curtis*
P-401 Kittyhawk; Mesicrjchmitt
ME-262; Corsair F4 U-l ; Polikarpov
1-16; Brewster Buffalo F2A; Naka-
jima Ki-84-La Hayate; Grumman
F4F-4 Wildcat; Bell Airacobra P39;
Hayabuaa Ki-43 (Oscar); PZL P-t 1C;
Fiat Cft 42; Boeing Kaydcc PT-13;
Boeing P-26A; Maechi M.C.200;
Curtiss Hawk 75A.

9 6 each; McDonnell Phantom 1 1;
B-26 Marauder; Heinkel 219;
Junker* SB; A-7A Corsair; A-20C
Havoc.

13/4 each: Flying Fortress B-17;
Avro Lancaster (Dam bus ter): Liber-
ator 8-24; Focke- Wulf Condor;
PB4Y-I; Lockheed YF-QA; Lan-
caster Mk I; Swing Wing Fill,
RAAF FI I tC.

14 9 ea.'i. Spitfire Mk I; Curtiss
P-40E; t ie*ierichn..ct I09F; Bell
UH-tD Fluey; Bell Huey Cobra.

TAMIYA A.F.V.’s

GERMAN HEAVY TANK KING TIGER

45 - or with remote control equipment $9 I I.

I 21 Scale, fully motorised.

M4 Sherman Tank 73 -

PxKwl German Tank 73 —

75 mm Assault Gun 73 —

155 mm M2 Gun (no motor) 34 -

t 21 with remote control,

Big Shot 105/-

M4 Sherman (05/-

PaKw3 German Tank 105/-

77 mm Assault Gun 105/-

I 25 Scale with remote control
German Panther 126-

Jagd Panther Rommel 126 -

J 25 Scale motorised

German Panther 99/11]

Jagd Panther Rommel 99/1 1]

Chieftain, British Tank 99 ll|

1 15 Scale motorised
Ti05 JSI I I Stalin Tank 45/-

T5S Russian Tank 31/-

M4 1 Walker Bulldog Tank 25 6

T34 Russian Tank 25 6

British Chieftain Tank 25 6

French Twin Flack Tank AMX DCA 30 25 6
Rommel Tank 31 -

French Archery Tank AMX 105 25 6

Napoleon Tank AMX 30 31/-

M48 Patton Tank 45/-

Scorpion Armoured Car 16 6

Spider (Coventry) Armoured Car 16 6

Salad in Armoured Car IS. 6

MB Armoured Car 18 6

SU 100 Assault Gun 25 6

M4 Sherman Tank 31/-

M36 Type B2 Destroyer Tank 31/-

GERMAN HEAVY TANK
HUNTINGTIGER

45/ - or with remote control equipment 59 II

NIC H I MO I 35 Tanks, fully motorised

French Army AMX 13 27 111

French Army AMX VTP 27 ll|

British Army Centurion Mk 10 37 1 1

British Army Abbot 27 ll|

British Army Chieftain 37 |

U.S. Army 105 mm M 109 Self propelled

howitzer 27. Ill

BMW MODELS, 327-329 HAYDQNS ROAD, WIMBLEDON, LONDON, S.W.19 01-510 7333/4