Two days away from here... leads to about three replies!
Tony....... you are damn right about the September issue of Military Aircraft mag's piece on Pr.XIX roundels, letters and paint jobs. Extremely detailed on that front and historically comprehensive - Evan you will either eat it up or write the next version!
I too was surprised by the take-up on John's Ebay sale. A good result on the "Buy Now" items, but a bit disappointing on the auction ones? I wondered though who was bidding on the two Seafires, Tony. I was the guy who raised the Spitfire 22 to a sensible price before opting for a future shop purchase.......
..... so I helped a bit there John. I hope that the overall sale outcome was worthwhile for you. It's very good to hear from you and that you're finding the forum feedback useful. Gentlemen, I would reiterate my suggestion of several pages back. When a few of us have built John's goodies, we should give Hannants a shove to stock 'em. After all, they stock more Spit kits then anybody else... and the overall quality could be raised.
John, you'll know that in July I bought from you Spits Aussie VIII, Captured Luftwaffe markings Pr.XI and the Pr.XIX. Hadn't had time to get stuck into the kits and I only just noticed the missing Pr.XIX canopies and posted on here the other day. I was going to ask you to shove 'em in the box if I won the sale Mk.22! I will double-check all three kits and drop you an email soon. By the way, I DID make time to have fun using the red stars off the Pr.XI to do a Russian Pr.IV. I opted for a very dark green throughout with a white spinner.
Evan, I too have been thinking about this 'ere Fujimi Fr XIVe barter. Would you believe it, I experienced a near miss with a Seafire XV on a models stall at Duxford today, but in your best interests decided to not collide. I'll email you. Red Arrows' commentator had a laugh over their new young pilot from NZ. Said he was fluent in Kiwi and Australian, but in-flight communications would remain a problem until his English improved. Sorry!
Jon
P.S. If you don't know this already guys, be wary of ordering more than one kit at a time from places outside the Europe. If the value of the contents plus any perceived import VAT (of which there shouldn't be any) exceeds £18, our dear friends at Royal Mail will impose a £8 "handling charge". Alternatively, be reckless ..... order three or four at once and spread the cost!