Trainers...in 1/72 and 1/144.

Comments

bughunter
My subject exactly! Nice collection 👍

8 May 2020, 11:45

Daniel Klink
Lot of loceky rigged things you realized there Bruce!
Very cool 👍

8 May 2020, 11:49

wilky
You need a Texan, Harvard, Wirraway and Wackett in that line up

8 May 2020, 12:16

Thomas Bischoff
Great collection!

8 May 2020, 12:18

Ben M
It's back!

8 May 2020, 14:39

Bruce Leyland-Jones

wilky "You need a Texan, Harvard, Wirraway and Wackett in that line up". I have a Texan II, some Harvards and a Wackett! You need to look. 😛

8 May 2020, 16:22

wilky
Well done on the Wackett but no Wirraway, Winjeel or CT4a.
There's also the CT4b of RNZAF.
Very impressive collection though

8 May 2020, 18:04

Bruce Leyland-Jones
Lots and lots of kits to do yet, then? 😄

8 May 2020, 18:49

Mike Grant
Cool stuff as always, Bruce 👍

9 May 2020, 23:57

Spanjaard
impressive!

28 September 2020, 11:50

Album info

Whilst many small boys like things exploding, I always realised that, in reality, fighter aces and bomber heroes weren't simply born that way, they were trained and made. I also learned that the aircraft in which they were trained were rarely featured in film, or book, or in model kit catalogues...unless you look at FROG.
Obviously, the likes of the Red Arrows and other aerobatic teams feature, but these are shown for their bright colours, rather than the role the actual aircraft plays away from the display crowds.

Having embraced all things Classic Kit, I soon learned of the FROG trainer kits and began to actively seek them out. Happily, there are lots of other trainer aircraft out there and, whilst the anti-violence 1970s didn't seem to produce all that many, (being content to airbrush out the fires on the boxart), the end of the millenium seemed to bring them more to the fore. (Perhaps this was because modellers were finally beginning to tire of the same-old, same-old Spitfires, Mustangs and Messerschmitts, Phantoms, Sabres and MiG-21s).
In more recent times, one company, RS Models, has even appeared to specialise in trainers...which is great for me. Then there's the ace little Hobby Boss Mig-15UTI and the outstanding Airfix 2014 Tiger Moth to play with.

Of course, besides pure trainer-aircraft, such as the Miles Magister, or Morane MS.230, many other aircraft had a second cockpit tacked on, to become trainers themselves. (Think Midge to Gnat, Jaguar T2, Harrier T2, Lightning T whatever, etc., etc.). Matchbox even went ahead and butchered some of their kits to create trainer versions of the Lightning, Jaguar, Starfighter, Mirage III and Viggen.

Then there are the 'standard' aircraft, adapted and moved into the Trainer role, as it was realised that they were no longer useful as front-line combat aircraft...and so I include a Hereford, Blenheims and even a Hurricane.
Some aircraft are used in the training role when attached to Operational Conversion Units and so examples of these find their way into my collection.

Plus, training is not all about fighter aircraft! Navigators and multi-engined aircraft need capable pilots too, so that opens up the field of the Avro Anson, Vickers Varsity, the Jetstream and Dominie.

Finally, there are those very capable fighting aircraft, adopted for the training role, in the likes of the USN 'Top Gun' schemes and this gives me the opportunity to include the F-16, Tomcat, F-5E Tiger II and the IAI Kfir.

When I first announced my Project, a modelling buddy advised me to buy lots of bright yellow and day-glo oranges! As it happened, whilst many trainers DO have hi-vis statements, many do not, although adding the various training aircraft associated with aerobatic teams does give rise to some rather colourful examples.

So this is a large album and it continues to grow. Whilst I have definite trainers in my Stash to build, I still come across surprises. So, for example, I recently built an IBG Karas and discovered that the aircraft had an option for the Shooting and Bombing School! MI lost the original decals for an Airfix Devastator I'd been working on, so ordered a replacement TechMod set and find that my chosen colour scheme matches that of a Naval Air Training Command aircraft.

Serendipity, Kismet and well sorted!

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