Graham T

I won’t offer my congratulations just yet - wouldn’t want to be a jinx!

Thanks for the positive waves Rob 🙂

Thanks George. Still waiting for all the paperwork to go through, and hoping that the sharks solicitors don’t uncover any snurglies…

They look better than the etched ones I got!

I used an etched set from Mainly Trains, MT186, for the brake rods Kevin.

I can see another error in the plan - that engine shed has got two doors!

I have one myself Rob - it's a very nice loco!

I was in grey cabs rather than green. Whenever I spoke to any troops they were 100% in favour of being supported by the dark blue rather than the crabfat version! I did a few jumps but always from fixed wing.

A couple of occasions spring to mind where the aircraft did throw in the odd niggle. One was hovering alongside a ship on a hot day in the Adriatic, when one of the engines decided to have a rest. I was perched in the cargo door at the time, as we were cross-decking stores, when I heard the engine wind down just above my head. Not fun, and it was only thanks to a very good pilot that I didn't get my feet wet. Then there was an occasion when I was instructing an observer, we were flying over Mounts Bay. The main rotor gearbox dumped all its oil (this was not the usual common or garden leak) and we had to land asap at Penzance heliport. Later on the gearbox was fitted with an emergency lubrication system - ELS, which gave it longer in the air before it would seize completely. (I'm not an expert on Sea King tech, so if I've got any of this wrong, sorry!) As an aside, I recall another day in the Adriatic when we decided to do a little survival test, in a pre-ELS Sea King. We climbed to our 10,000 foot ceiling, where the cab felt very waffly and uncomfortable (so did I). The plan was then to autorotate down, simulating a total loss of main gearbox oil, to see if we would be able to reach the surface before the gearbox completely seized, the rotor stopped, and we turned into a flying brick. We ran out of time with quite a long way still to go...

I was being very unfair to the Queen of the Skies, to be honest. Fantastic aircraft. We would sometimes have passengers on board who would point out, with a worried look on their face, one of the many and various oil leaks. We would explain that the time to worry was when there weren't any oil leaks - indicating that it was now empty... (which reminds me of another story). And I'd forgotten about them flying in Ukraine. I hope they're providing good service - I'm sure they will be. Shame we can't see the side number on that one, could well be an airframe that I flew in!

Mine seems to have been pretty responsive so far - touch wood.

That's going to look great Andy. Not much danger of the roof collapsing by the look of it!

That was the only version! Not yet, but I have to leave the flat before the end of April. So hopefully will have completed by then...

I don't have a move date yet unfortunately, but I'll keep you posted 🙂 If I was still in my old job I could have thrown everything in the back of one of these... ... but then we would probably end up down-bird somewhere between Vienna and the English Channel!

Cheers!