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Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 10th, 2017, 6:55 pm
by JohnRatzenberger
10 months / 10 decades is artificial and tends to emphasize periods of relative quiet and de-emphasize the others -- WW2 would fall into one decade -- one decade of high action, 9 of relative boredom.

IMO, we are better to look at periods historically - try to balance time and activity - here is a sketch idea.
1918-1936: origins, end of WW1, Silver Wings, transition out of biplane era, restructuring for war
1936-1941: build-up and defense
1942-1945: offense and victory
1946-1956: misc actions culminating with Suez
1957-1968: Defense White Paper, culminates with combining Fighter, Bomber, Coastal -> Strike Command
1969-2000: various changes, Falklands
2001-2018: global involvement Afghanistan, Iraq, etc, etc.

So there are 7 periods, the number and dates are flexible and mostly pulled from memory/impression.
We cannot really require anything, just encourage diversity of choices to populate each period appropriately..

I don't see the purpose, especially here given the remarks about loosening up GBs, of trying to lock step through month-long builds, one by one, in order, etc. Let folks build what they want, when they want, at the speed they want, to produce the product they want.

I would suggest a 6-8 month extended GB, somewhere in the February - October period, but really it boils down to starting on/near 1April, finishing on/near 1 April, or centering on/near 1 April.

Set a realistic goal by period of so many completions as project "success", but don't get hung up on that.

Fred does have a good topic list for non-aircraft interests - I think I will look to the RAF Regiment for my non-aircraft builds, starting back with the predecessor Armoured Car Companies.

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 10th, 2017, 7:11 pm
by DavidWomby
Good suggestion, John. Perhaps I'd split 1969-2000 into 1969-1990 and merge post 1991 (includes 1st Gulf War) with the 2001-18 period.

There's quite a bit of scope for non-aircraft - Bloodhounds, Thor, Land Rovers, staff cars, Refueling and Emergency equipment, Air Sea Rescue launches, etc.

David

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 10th, 2017, 7:26 pm
by Stuart
Some great suggestion folks - I do have some thoughts and ideas on this (and I agree with a lot of what John says) but I've not had a chance to sit down a write a lengthy post - I will tonight before I go to bed.

And I'm very happy to be GBL - I've been thinking about this GB for about three years! :-D

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 11th, 2017, 2:30 am
by JohnRatzenberger
Let's not forget the "wild west" option -- just open it for many models to be built and see what happens.

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 11th, 2017, 10:23 am
by Stuart
Hi Gents - I'm typing this on my phone, so apologies for any typo's (I've also been up since 2:30).

The way I see it I do think this should be an extended GB, starting on the 1st April 2018. I recently chaired a USN GB that lasted a whole year so I'm happy to be GBL for any length of time you choose. However my personal take on it would be to have a 6-8 week GB, maybe 10 on the outside to allow for any larger builds to be carried out. Any longer than that and I think people would loose interest.

Let's face it, most people will want to build something WWII (yes Daz you can build as many Spitfires as you like) because that's the biggest area of interest. And this is fair enough in my view as WWII was the RAF's heyday.

In light of this, IMHO, I think the GB should be free-form and everybody should be allowed to pay tribute to the men and women of the RAF by building what they wish. However, what I think we should do, is have a gallery of completions for each time period that John and others have suggested, with perhaps another for things non-aircraft related. As an incentive for people to cover all of them, for every gallery filled with a build - I'll donate £5 to the RAF-BF.

How does that sound?

Cheers

Stuart

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 12th, 2017, 2:33 am
by JohnRatzenberger
Well, I'll focus on: 1918-1936: origins, end of WW1, Silver Wings, transition out of biplane era, restructuring for war ....

I do have Warwick's "In Every Place - The RAF Armoured Cars in the Middle East 1921-1953" for some non-aircraft stuff and/or focus my aircraft in the Middle East also.

I wouldn't mind the outside being 12 weeks but whatever you decide is fine by me. I am concerned that a large project for AMPS will consume much of my time in April unless, and completely out of character, I get it done before then :)

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 12th, 2017, 6:26 am
by Stuart
As said John - I'd run it for a year if that's what people wanted - 12 weeks is fine by me.

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 12th, 2017, 2:13 pm
by JohnRatzenberger
Airfixes Workbench blog today featured the 1/48 Walrus -- may change all my plans, unless I cannot wait that long.

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 12th, 2017, 4:07 pm
by Stuart
That'll be a nice build John - I shall look forward to seeing that.

Personally I was thinking of a 1/48 or even 1/32 Typhoon in some custom markings of my favourite pilot.

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 12th, 2017, 4:42 pm
by iggie
12 weeks sounds good; I'd like to tackle at least a couple of entries, and I'm thinking WNW 1/32 SE5A for one, and a Revell Spitfire Mk.1 in the same scale (or 1/24 if I'm being silly)

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 12th, 2017, 6:31 pm
by MarkyM607
I was thinking of doing two models perhaps, one from either World War I (or just before!), and another from today. The connection would be they would be from the same Squadron, assuming the unit is still around now (which limits it I suppose!!).

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 12th, 2017, 8:11 pm
by fredk
6 squadron are still flying.
How about a BE2c or Bristol fighter they used in WW1 and a Typhoon GR4 which they're on now?
Xtradecal do a set of decals of the history of 6 squadron which covers the Brisfit to Typhoon. 6 sqd also had a commemorative Typhon scheme which is on another Xtradecal sheet

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 12th, 2017, 11:19 pm
by Dazzled
Count me in for this. I'll be looking for some Cold War subjects fot the SIG display for SMW 2018 8-)

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 13th, 2017, 3:21 am
by JohnRatzenberger
For the WW1 buffs, like me, a reminder that 1 April 1918 is the RAF date.
Stuart would have to allow tracing RAF squadron lineage back from then.

Re: RAF 100 in 2018.

Posted: May 13th, 2017, 5:08 pm
by Stuart
jRatz wrote:For the WW1 buffs, like me, a reminder that 1 April 1918 is the RAF date.
Stuart would have to allow tracing RAF squadron lineage back from then.
That's an interesting point John. My personal view would be to keep it RAF - The RFC and RNAS is a GB in it's own right. I think we could be flexable on markings as IIRC that didn't change much on the advent of the RAF, but I would say only late war types that the RAF would have had/used in 1918 only.