Finally, a Fairey Delta 2

Following shortly on the recent Jet Provost model, I've completed a kit that's suffered a very chequered past.

The Fairey Delta 2 was a British research aircraft from the 1950s. In 1956 test pilot Peter Twiss flew one at 1,132 mph, beating the previous world speed record by over 300 mph! Information learned from the aircraft would later inform the design of Concorde's delta wing plan.

I received the Dora Wings 1/72 scale model of the Delta 2 as a Christmas present in 2024. It looked like a challenging model to build as it included photo-etched brass parts, something I'd never encountered before.

Nevertheless I made a start early in 2025 and got as far as completing the main airframe before disaster struck. The front part of the canopy was meant to slot into a cut-out in the sides of the fuselage. However, it was at best a tight fit: as I forced it into place there was a sudden 'click' and a piece of plastic flew off past my head!  

On further investigation it emerged that the windscreen had split in two and half of it was now missing. Failing to find that half I sadly consigned the remains of the kit to its box and accepted that I would probably never finish the Fairey.

But then, a few weeks ago whist clearing the workbench to make room for a large painting job, I came across a small piece of clear plastic. Yes, it was the missing piece of canopy! My Fairey Delta would never be a perfect model but it could at least be finished.

It's far from perfect; I'm not happy with the attachment of the etched-brass wing fences and the long nose probe that survived initial construction and storage got broken in the process of applying the decals! It is moulded as part of the fuselage rather than as a separate part that could be fitted towards the end of the build. I just knew I'd not get through without breaking it but I'm furious to have got so close to the end before doing so!

In posing the thing for these photographs I've also noticed some stray bits of decal that have somehow ended up near the tail. They'll have to come off or be painted over!

Things to watch out for if you're building this beast:

• the ill-fitting canopy,
• that delicate nose probe (I never even attempted the tiny, etched-brass airflow probes that should be fixed to it), and
• for some schemes a yellow stripe decal needs to be added below the nose before you attach the lower aerial and pitot tube.

All in all I don't think the Dora Wings kit is bad; it's just better suited to a more experienced modeller than I am currently. If I saw one going cheap (unlikely) I'd probably pick it up and model one of the preserved aircraft taking advantage of the option to depict the nose in its Concorde-style drooped configuration. 

Gabr-el-Ahmar

Regulars here will be aware that a month ago I managed to get my 3D printer working again. By way of celebrating the return to productivity I decided to start some WW2 Western Desert armies in 1/300th scale. The resulting burst of creativity means that four weeks later I've not only completed Italian and British forces and accompanying terrain, I've also managed to play a first scenario!

On Thursday evening Alex and I took advantage of a table booked at Outpost Games in Sheffield to play Frank Chadwick's Gabr-el-Ahmar scenario.

Gabr-el-Ahmar, the Red Tomb, my own 
3D design (let me know if you want the STL file)

The scenario appears in the Benghazi Handicap sourcebook for Chadwick's own Command Decision rules. I amended it to fit with the TacWWII rules and was pleased to get this chance to give it a first run-out.

At TacWWII's 1cm = 40m ground scale the table is just three feet square. I set it up on my 6'x4' desert cloth folded in half. I have some left-over Venetian blind slats cut to various lengths to mark out the small tables often required by TacWWII. Our tiny models got some odd looks throughout the evening from the surrounding Warhammer players!

Alex took charge of the Italians.

This left me with the Brits. Gabr-el-Ahmar is an odd scenario for the British player; you're out-numbered badly by the Italians. Your few 2-pdr-armed A9 Cruiser tanks out-gun the Italian M11/39s but they're in mixed companies with Light Tanks Mk VI that are in turn out-gunned by the Italians!

Alex handled the Italian force very well, bringing his infantry forward to occupy the ridge beside the tomb and concentrating his tanks where their firepower could do most good.

I managed to stop a couple of M11/39 companies with long-range fire...

... but then decided to throw the British forward to get the Light Tanks' heavy machine guns into effective range. 

The resulting debacle saw 6th Royal Tank Regiment failing a battalion morale test at which point I conceded the battle.

If I recall correctly we had the action completed in a couple of hours of play, which I think was pretty good considering Alex hadn't played TacWWII before and I was explaining things as we went along. 

Alex kindly agreed that he'd give the rules another try. He's keen to try them with later war tanks so next time we're going to try using Bob Mackenzie's "Attack towards Valkenswaard" scenario. I think Alex should be able carry off an impression of Michael Caine in A Bridge Too Far!

Jet Provost

The latest addition to my collection of small jet aircraft in 1/72nd scale is this beastie from Airfix.

It's a Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.4 painted as an aircraft at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell in 1962.

The model is built straight from the kit using one of the two decal sets provided. The only change I've made is to paint in the red and green navigation lights on the tips of the wing tanks. In the Airfix instructions these are shown as black.

It's an enjoyable kit to build and goes together with only minimal filling and sanding required. The hardest part of the build was the sweeping curve of orange paint under the nose. I couldn't find a way to mask it so I had to handpaint it. I'm pretty happy with how it worked out.

I think I might get another of these kits. The other paint scheme also has a tricky curved demarcation line to paint so I might invest in a pack of Xtradecal after-market decals to finish it.