The Wellington MkX MF628

The Iconic Wellington X MF628 Restoration at RAF Cosford.

Today i made the short drive from Birmingham to the Sir Michael Beetham centre at RAF Cosford.The purpose of which was to see the Wellington MkX Ser No MF628.

MF628 is at present undergoing a full restoration by the team at RAF Cosford and will return to Hendon at a later date.

As with many of us,we only get to see these iconic aircraft from behind a barrier.But today i got to touch her.Geeky i know,but it was something one must do.

Looking inside her,you appreciate the sacrifice that many airmen made.Going up in an aircraft made of  a  metal frame and linen covering in most parts.Having been in PA474 the BBMF Lancaster and seeing how small the interior is on her.I was amazed how much smaller the Wellington is inside.As one who appreciates our airmans sacrifices,i stood in silence peering into the cockpit and wondering what it must of been like.

Below are some images of the day.Not the best i am affraid,as i did not have a powerfull flash unit.But they are here for you to see.

MF628 Wellington X



Wings off ready



I have included this Sopwith Dolphin

The wing

Suiza engine

Cockpit interior

Fuselage interior



IPMS UK Scale Model World 2010

The International Plastic Modellers Society.Scale Model World,or more commonly known as the Nationals was held at the ICC Telford over the weekend of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth of November Two Thousand and Ten.

This year as always saw the attendance of Coventry and Warks IPMS to this annual event.This year however was special as Coventry and Warks IPMS,celebrate their Twenty Fifth anniversary.The display this year,was to celebrate that event.

This year starting on the Friday prior to the show Mike Haines and myself drove the short distance to the ICC Telford to set up the display.Upon arrival at the allocated time of Twelve,as given by the IPMS committee we were not allowed to enter.The reason given was that traders were still setting up.Going away we duly returned at One and the same again.We again returned at Two and again were not permitted entry.We then finally returned at Two fifteen and were permitted to enter.This was only after one of the committee asked one of our other members Martin Hicks,what his opinion was.Bit of a poor show in my given opinion,even considering the health and safety policy.

So to set up this was done with military precision.Given that both Mike and i are veterans of many a good night out in the NAAFI.But that's for another day to explain.All was going well,or so we thought.Then the bomb shell dropped,we had set up one set of tables along to far oops.So again with military gusto,we redeployed our forces and within Ten minutes we had the display looking like a Guards summer ball.So ended Friday.

Saturday now loomed at Six a.m for me and the Mrs Maher.And we made the short journey along the M54,speeding past Steve in my Silver Arrow to Telford.Arriving at just gone Eight a.m,we walked straight in to the show looking like children that had been let loose in a candy store.

This year alot of members eagerly awaited the Sea Vixen in Forty Eighth scale by Airfix,But sadly this was not to be.And the items will only be arriving i am told on the Twenty Eighth at Wonderland in Scotland.Secondly i was for myself  hoping the Arado 196 by Revell in One Thirty Second,would be available.Sadly again the end of the month.

The show itself was very busy Saturday,with long queues waiting to get in and even longer queues at the Kit Swap.This is where members can purchase other members models,generally at a good price.

So what did one buy.For myself i gained a Liberator by Monogram in an original 1976 boxing.The kit was the B24J variant in 1/48th scale.I also purchased Two Gypsy Moths,also in 1/48th by A models.

The show closed on Saturday at six pm,Some of us had booked into the Grays Hotel,where we enjoyed good fair and conversation with the staff.And that's all that is being released as a public statement lol.

Sunday arrived with fuzzy heads sore feet etc for another day at the candy store.Myself and the goodly wife arrived early into the carpark.And then had to return back to the Grays, as i had left my wedding ring on the side table.

Sunday i took some images of the day which are below.Telford for me is never the best place for photos as the light is very bad but they are here for you to see.

I think for myself the best  models in the competition were those of ships,with some cracking entries.

In conclusion this short writeup  is just a small look into this years event from what i observed.I had hoped for some new releases to be available for purchase.But the new year should in most cases sort that minor problem out.Another good year only marred by the waiting on Friday.

Here are the shots of the weekend.And again i apologise for the quality.

Revell Hunter with resin T7 conversion at cost of £12

Rafale by Rich Greenwood of Bolton IPMS

The Arado 196 in 1/32nd scale by Revell due November end 

The 1/32 Revell Hawk.Mmmm how many can i have.

This was simply lovely.I am not a ship builder but i am converted now.

1/32 Hunter wow

Oh and another Hunter,but why not. 

This Spitfire V was on the Canaries stand

Accurate Armours new trio of Jackals and Coyote starting at £79.99-£99.99. 

This was the eye candy of the weekend.A Monogram Intruder.The avionics actually slide in and out on the rails.All scratch built by a Berlin member.

Armour on the 580 stand all a work of art.

The stand for Coventry and Warks a testament to hard work.

A scratch built 1/24th T4 Harrier by Pete Eccles of 580 Modellers.This is mind blowing and again a testament to what can be achieved. 

Twitter

Today  following a chat with some fellow members i have spread or wings to include Twitter for all that Twit or whatever it is.

 https://twitter.com/#!/CoventryIPMS

Hannants Web Site Hacked.Customer details stolen

A few days ago following a refused transaction with my bank and the revelation by Hannants of a breach in their web site.I have received the following email.

Dear Customer

We are very sorry to have to tell you that a number of customers who have used 
our website have had their card details stolen and used by criminals.

ALL CUSTOMERS THAT HAVE ENTERED CARD NUMBERS ON OUR NEW WEBSITE PLEASE CHECK 
YOUR ACCOUNTS FOR SUSPICIOUS CHARGES OR ATTEMPTED CHARGES. 
If you see any please contact your company that issued your card.

At the moment no one is sure how this has happened. There are several internet 
security firms investigating everything and we will keep you all updated as soon 
as we can. 

There is no sign of any intrusion into the server where the card number and 
expiry date information that we keep is encrypted*. The CVV number is not 
stored.

After looking at the information we have received we think this mainly affects 
some customers who have sent us an order in the last 2 weeks though there are 3 
from September.

We have been contacted by about 40 customers so far but are not sure how many 
others have had their cards compromised but have not told us yet. If you know 
your card has been compromised PLEASE tell us. Please send us as much 
information as you can as soon as you can. We need as much information as soon 
as possible.



Please look out for small 'insignificant' test charges of under $5.00 followed 
by larger charges of varying amounts. Charges have originated from different 
countries and in different currencies. 


Until we have found out what has caused this problem and it has been fixed we 
have closed the website. None of the experts can find any problems with it but 
until the problem is resolved we prefer not to take any risks.

We have deleted ALL card numbers from the website database. We are aware that a 
few of you wanted access so you could delete your details but we have done this 
for everyone.

Paypal. We have been asked why we do not accept it. There are 2 reasons. Firstly 
when we started work on the new website 4 (four) years ago we could not get it 
to work with the fully stock controlled warehouse that we wanted to run. We did 
some trials but it took too long for payments arrive in our bank account which 
would seriously have delayed the despatch of orders. Things have now improved. 
Secondly it was too expensive. 3 times the cost of handling Visa and Mastercard. 
All our payments are now handled by Sage pay, a large British firm. Recently 
they have started working with Paypal and our website designers had been doing 
some work to incorporate it into the website. We are going to speed up the work 
on this and try to get it incorporated quicker.

We will re-open the website as soon as we can but will not be rushing into it.

Thank you for your help and understanding.

ALL CUSTOMERS THAT HAVE ENTERED CARD NUMBERS ON OUR NEW WEBSITE PLEASE CHECK 
YOUR ACCOUNTS FOR SUSPICIOUS CHARGES OR ATTEMPTED CHARGES. 
If you see any please contact your company that issued your card.



* This data is stored so that customers do not have to enter it each time they 
order and so that we can run a back order service.



If you want to use the Hot News as an HTML for your own website you can convert 
it by using this link http://website101.com/cgi-bin/t2h/Mt2h.cgi


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Customers in the European Union (EU) will be charged the first price. Customers 
outside the European Union (EU)
will be charged the 2nd, usually lower, price. There is no tax on books. 
All prices shown are United Kingdom (UK) retail prices in Pound Sterling (GBP).
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To UNSUBSCRIBE or change the email address you receive this newsletter at or 
remove defunct emails address's
you can use this link http://www.hannants.co.uk/mailinglist/ 

If this email to stops being received it is either because it has bounced back 
to us as undeliverable 6 times and 
automatically been removed from our emailing list OR it is being stopped as Spam 
by your ISP. Please check by 
re-subscribing then either re-subscribe OR speak to your service provider and 
ask them to allow our emails to 
be delivered to you. If you are with BT is very likely to happen. We recommend 
using non BT email address
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H.G.Hannant Ltd, Harbour Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR32 3LZ, 
England.
(This is our headquarters and where mailorders are despatched from)
Open from 09.00 to 17.30 Monday to Saturday.
Phone: 00 44 (0)1502 517444 (8 lines) 0845 130 72 48 FREE CALL!


Cut and Paste these co-ordinates into Google Earth  5228'36.58"N   142'58.47"E

Email: sales@hannants.co.uk Web Site: http://www.hannants.co.uk/


Hannants London retail shop, Unit 2, Hurricane Industrial Estate, Avion 
Crescent, 
Grahame Park Way, Colindale, London, NW9 5QW, England.

Cut and Paste these co-ordinates into Google Earth 51 36'02.43" N 0 14'18.25" W

Telephone 0208 205 6697
E-mail colindale@hannants.co.uk 
Please contact Colindale direct to check availability in the shop or arrange 
special orders to be collected from there.

Closest underground station is still Colindale on the Northern Line some 30 
minutes from the center of London. Just 
turn left as you leave the station and walk for about 5 minutes just past the 
RAF Museum. Alternatively take the 
303 bus which drops you outside the Museum. The underground ticket covers the 
fare cost at the time of writing. 
For motorists it is near the end of both the M1 and A1, about ten miles inside 
the M25 and has ample free parking.
Follow brown road signs to the RAF Museum. 

Opening hours: Thursday and Friday 10.00am to 7.00pm. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 
and Saturday 09.30am to 5.00pm. 
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I have taken the liberty to call David Hannat direct to ask for an explanation.David has informed me that he has two teams working on trying to find out where the problems has arisen

I would urge you all that have accounts with Hannants to cancel your bank cards and order new ones as i have done.A inconvienience i know.But better to be safe than very sorry.In my instance an attempt was made to the tune of £1000.