Leaderboard

Some more work on Brown 4. I've replaced the wing camera opening with a ring punched from sheet styrene to make it more uniformly circular. Next, I decided to paint the exhaust pipes. I'm using the kit pieces that I've modified by hollowing out the ends with an x-acto blade. The exhausts are given a base coat of black. This is followed with a coat of Alclad Steel. Next is a light coat of Alclad Exhaust Manifold, which gives the exhausts a bronze tint. I mix up a rusty brown color using Brown, Red and Yellow. This is dry-brushed onto the exhausts. It's back to the airbrush for the last step. I spray a thin mix of black into the openings of the exhaust, isolating each individual pipe with a small Post-It. And the exhausts are finished. I'm sure there are other, better ways to paint exhausts but this method is relatively simple and repeatable and yields decent results. Here's a look at how the exhausts look mounted in the fuselage.

When I lived in Miami in the 80s a USMC WWII Corsair pilot and I became friends. His name was Jim Wilkens and he shared his memories, his log book and a few small photos of himself while he was flying out of Espiritu Santo with VMF 225. As a result of that friendship I built the old Revel Corsair as a tribute to his service. No big deal but I did add a couple upgrades like a scratch built seat, belts, gun sight, exhaust and a scratch built bomb rack. I also printed my own dry transfer markings. Back then this kind of extreme weathering was unheard of, but I didn't know the "rules" I just tried to replicate the condition of these birds based on the photos that were available at that time. Needless to say the IPMS judges were not impressed. I always hoped that someone would release a better 1/32 Corsair but when Tamiya did I just did not have the time or a workspace to build one. Running a business has a way of sucking the life out of you and keeping you from enjoying hobbies. Then a few years ago I realized that time wasn’t on my side so I jumped back into the hobby with the goal of building enough skills to tackle my dream build, my friend’s F4U-1A. So after some research and viewing the entries in Jim’s log book, here I am hoping my eyes and hands hold out long enough (I’ll be 76 in December ’22) to accomplish what appears to be a daunting task. And so it begins:

Work continues on Brown 4... I've augmented the coolant and oil overflow ports with brass tubing. Here is a look at the rudder with the Archer control surface decal applied. This one took the most time and effort since the Ta152H tail is slightly different than the standard 190 and the decal had to be custom cut to fit. The upper wings have been glued onto the wing bottom. I'll take some time inspecting the glue seam and cleaning it up. The brass flap bays have been glued into place using CA glue. I'm going to run a bead of black CA glue along the trailing edge since it is both a glued joint and a PE folding edge. This oval panel just outboard of the landing gear attachment has been filled with black CA glue. From my understanding, this panel indicates a conversion from a 190A, which had an outer wing gun position. Since not D-9's were converted from earlier A-series airframes, this panel is not present on all Doras. I have a decent view of the leading edge of Brown 4's wing and based on that photo, I am removing this panel. This might be related to the panel that I've removed from the upper wing. My guess is that it is related to a conversion from an 190A wing. Again, I have a reference photo that happens to show that area of the wing and I can see no indication of the panel so it too has been filled with black CA glue. Let's a take a look at the kit prop compared to the resin prop from Henri Daehne. Beyond the subtle shape differences, the resin spinner has a nicely defined panel line around the middle with a row of rivets. The openings for the prop blades is noticeably larger on the HD version as well. The larger opening is necessary to accommodate the well-detailed prop blade attachment rings, complete with counterweights.. The prop blades shapes are similar but the HD's is "curvier" with a noticeable hump at the base of prop blade. The prop hub and backplate... no comparison between the two! Please note the that I've already modified the hub cover and embedded a tiny magnet within. This matches another magnet that I've glued into the spinner cap, allowing the removal of the spinner cap to show the detail underneath. I always procrastinate with the painting of nice resin parts and HD's resin props are probably the nicest resin I've run across so it might be awhile before I work up enough nerve to throw paint on these.

I remember a topic a while back discussing pilot's certificates, and someone told me to be sure to shout out when I earned my certificate. I earned it this past Thursday, and honestly I can't remember being so excited since my first solo last year. It's been a long road, but I have never before felt such a sense of accomplishment. It's been my dream to be a pilot since I was 5 years old, and now at 52 I can finally say when people ask me if I am a pilot: YES, I AM. Thanks! Frank

A-7D Corsair II 120th, Colorado ANG. Trumpeter model 1:32 Painted with Hataka Hobby Red. A-7D Corsair II Trumpeter 1:32

Hey, its been a few days. Not much work on the prototype. However I have been busy printing. There are 15 major airframe parts per kit, with approximately 65 more detail parts. Trying to get as many items printed out while I assemble all of the kit components. First version of the masks are in the mail. Once I look at and approve the fit I will give the go ahead to print out 12 sets. To all of you that have expressed interest in obtaining a Vigi of your own, thanks! Working on being able to ship out in late Sept or early Oct. Dan

Did some more work a couple of weeks ago to keep the Mirage 2000D moving :-) First the kit nose u/c and the first part of the main wheel wells. Now the resin parts for the engine. I apologise for the iPhone shots in natural light. You can just about see the detail in the main part of the engine.

Hi all! Sometimes you have a kit that's started and then gets put back in the box for some reason. Then one day, you open the box and the interest suddenly picks up again. This cycle has repeated itself a few times in this project, mainly because there are so many things to do to improve this kit that I would get bored after doing some difficult part. Anyway here it is. Purchased around 1989 or 1990. A bit of a descriptin of what was done then: First step was getting rid of the raised details and recribe with the best references in various books. Some styrene has yelllowed with age! Replaced guns with aluminium tubing. The canopy framing is too thick, so is reduced and I will need to finish the job on the rear windows. The infamous gnomes! Compared to a 1/20 scale Tamiya F1 pilot body, which can fit nicely in the cockpit (see lower) and could give an idea of the actual scale of the kit. Engaving of the underside, done about 5 years ago. Central part to be completed. The much too shallow floor can be lowered by getting rid of the tub supplied and lower the bottom fuselage section, that has been modified (compare to the instruction sheet). The resulting underside, no glue yet. As you can tell, this part had been glued in place before I decided to improve the kit, necessitating ripping it out later. The engine section had also been glued in place until I couldn't live with the extra thick (cooling?) fins on the engine. Managed to chop nearly half out before putting the kit away one more time! And thus it had remained for the last few years until last week... bye for now! Alain

I will attempt (please dont expect too much) this beast; some update stuff; Canadian decals; resin flight deck bits and Master gun barrels...somewhere in this mess

Thanks Bill. D-DAY STRIPES ARE DONE! . Got the tail wheel assembly done and installed, Drop tank and sway braces on, and still working on the main gear and doors.

Thanks Kev. Finally sitting on it's wheels. All that's left to do is the gun sight, canopy, and decals.

Outstanding! Welcome to the club, the game and the show. You are now officially broke.

Cockpit partially built, painted and wheatered: Should look nice inside the fuselage: Now building up the dashboard. Three, to be correct. If you like working with single instrument bezels you might have a lot of fun: A few bezels are in place. A lot more to go. Of course there is a set of injection moulded dashboards too, so the choice is yours. Seat belts are a multipiece affair too, as with all current seat belt sets. Take your time, that's all you need. The single-piece PE radiator louvre flaps are not so funny, but I have to tackle them only close to the finish of the building process. Maybe I'll cut my own one from strip styrene to ease the pain. We shall see. Sidenote: Tried to brushpaint AKs Xtreme metal color, because the bottle said so ("brush and airbrush"). Big mistake! Skip the offer and use the airbrush only. Brushpainitng resulted in a mess. I am lucky this will be hidden deep inside the cockpit, and under some washes and pigments too. Don't brushpaint them! As for airbrushing: Gloss black primer required, as with most metallic paints. Regards! - dutik

Nick, I did not explain it clear enough. That is where the molds come in after the break up lines have been scribed for port and starboard fairings. They will indeed be supplied for the retracted position. Thanks Marcel, Armament will be: 4 x LRF-4 rocket pods 2 x Matra Magic The centerline pylon will have a drop tank. The fairing has been shaped, and rough pencil markings to help wrap my mind around it. A mold will be made of it today. Cheers, John

Hey, I'm famous !! see 0:43 No autographs , sorry.

Thanks to the still missing gun cowling, this project has stalled. I'm not yet ready to consign it to the shelf of doom, but the delay in obtaining the missing part is very frustrating. I'm presently waiting on a delivery from Hannants and I'm hopeful that they've included said missing part which they say they've received from H2K with that delivery. If not, we shall be having words........ I have made a tiny bit of progress, however, and the machine guns have now been installed, with a little extra wiring added. I used the engine cowl to set the appropriate alignment, and both can be seen directly through the apertures. As I've mentioned before, I have an old Hasegawa 109E and had visions of using the gun cowl from that. But there's an issue or three. Thankfully, I've had a very generous offer from a member here to cast a resin part, but I'd rather wait until I see what arrives from Hannants either this week or next. If someone is gracious enough to make such an offer, I'd rather not waste their time until all other avenues are exhausted. There's still a few more parts to add to the model before I can begin painting, too, but one way or another, I intend on finishing this. It's just a question of when. In the meantime, I'm starting a model for the Nocturnal Activities GB. Cheers, Michael

Congratulations. That's quite an achievement. What have you been flying?? One thing to remember. It is said that a good landing is one that you can walk away from. But remember, a great landing is one where you can use the plane again . Cheers, Michael

Congrats to you! Welcome to the club!

Thanks for all the encouragement! It means a lot. Photos of VMF 225 in the war are hard to find, but I did find these two. Aircrew-VMF-225-Espiritu-Santos-New-Hebrides-11-May-1944-01 Vought-F4U-1-Corsair-VMF-225-White-435-BuNo-02435-at-Vella-LaVella-during-a-Jap-bombing-raid-Nov-1943-01

Looking back to 1935, it would have been hard not to have liked one of these:

there is one why how to improve your aesthetics and one more LOL

Hi everyone, I am working slowly on some 109 data plate decals for 1/32 and 1/24 (as my hands allow) - they are not to scale yet to each other - just a work-up but I just cannot find any photo in high enough resolution to be able to read the text in the solid wheel hub stencil box underneath the Achtung! Can anyone help? I have just written in some nonsense for now. Please ignore the small mistakes as 80% of this text will disappear forever in printing but I like doing the work, thanks. I also just do not know anything about the engine block WNr.s and have just copied some from museum photos but would be great to have an example from different 109 sub-types - any help would be appreciated thanks - email the help to aimsmodels1@gmail.com thanks J

Howdy folks, Just a small What's New update this week. Enjoy! Kev

Congratulations Frank! Carl

Yes, French markings will be included Cheers, John

Congratulations! Welcome to the club! MARU5137's da Vinci quote is so true. Ben

As my H2K 109E build has ground to a halt due to a still missing cowling, I'm going to put it aside for the moment (not yet ready to mention shelves of doom yet) and start another. I said I'd support this GB when it started and if I don't start now, it will be too late to finish in time. So here goes with a kit that has been a long term stash resident, which will be finished as a MkIIc nightfighter. I'll be adding these to the build. I've built the Hurricane MkI version of this kit seven years ago, which was the second model I put up on this forum. I said at the time that I wasn't hugely impressed with the model as it has some silly errors, and this is why the kit has remained in the stash all these years. I still think the Airfix MkI is better, and one of these has been swinging from my ceiling for a long, long time. I think this is about 30 years old. So now it will come down from there and in all likelyhood, it's place will be taken by the Trumpy MkI. I have thoughts of trying to fit the engine from this to the MkIIc I'm about to start, so to that end I've been doing some comparisons between the two. I will have to use the Trumpeter kit engine mount and bulkhead as the Trumpy kit is wider by about 3mm. I'll also have to use the Trumpy prop as the spinner is smaller in diameter by about the same amount. Then there's the question of how much of the cowlings I can cut away as mounting points are cast into the back of each rear engine side cowl. This is the look I want. ..... In more appropriate colours, of course. The exhaust positioning in relation to the Trumpy kit's exhaust opening is crucial, as is the prop shaft being dead centre of the very front opening in the fuselage. The Trumpy engine mounts are slightly longer which is correct as MkII Hurricanes were slightly linger in the nose than MkI's. However, they're not correctly shaped as the lower brace on each side mounts further out on the wing spar. So I've built up the Trumpy engine block and engine mounts just to get a start as to where the Airfix engine mill mount. I know the engine height is correct from experimentation with an even older Airfix Merlin. It's now a question of correct fore/aft placement. So my next step is to wreck the Airfix Hurri and see if it mounts as I hope. If not, then this idea will be abandoned and I'll go with the crude stock engine and engine mount, and simply close up the cowlings. Other parts from the Airfix Hurricane will be used in the build anyway, and spare parts are always useful. One other thing I did on the 2015 build was to fabricate some of the rear fuselage structure. This gives you the idea. So I've also fabricated the sides of the Warren trusses that formed the basic fuselage structure. I won't be going all the way to the tail as that part can't be seen. This pic is about life size, so you get the idea. Cheers, Michael

Congrats! Keep dirty side down!

For the record, I have *not* started construction, but I had to glue the two hull halves together (they come attached with metal reinforcements but you still have to cement them together). And I had to correct the bow hole. The kit has an oblong plate, so I drilled the hole, sanded the plate back, and added a thin slice of evergreen tube. Cheers, Tom

I applied the buff over the flat black. yes I am struggling to get a thin wet coat with the acrylics. Any way a little progress on the cockpit. lots of fiddly PE. It's the first time I have given it a serious try. I enjoyed folding the boxes and rack panels. the tiny piece. not so much fun. I am pretty happy with the throttle controls and the seatbelts are done too.

Thanks guys! Here's a look at few more fabric-covered control surfaces per Archer's decals covered with primer. Now that the control surfaces are done, I can move forward toward completing the wings. The Quickboost resin cannon barrels are glued into the wheel well. The attachment for the landing gear is molded into the wing bottom so don't forget to paint that to match the rest of the wheel wells. The wheel well insert is then glued into the wing bottoms using Tamiya Extra Thin cement. While the glue dries, I've jumped over to the landing gear legs to finish those off. The brake lines, made of copper wire and painted black, are glued into place. The interior of the landing gear covers were painted in RLM 02 Grey (Mr Hobby Aqueous). The SOW composite legs are glued using CA glue. The wheels will not be mounted until after the plane can sit on her own legs so that I can properly orient the flat spots. But here is what the completed landing gear legs look like with the wheels on.

The Hi Tech parts of the kit. Resin and PE. Kit parts for cockpit walls and floor. First I have thinned out the cockpit pieces as well as the fuselage, to avoid the 'double' layer in the cockpit area. Drawings and a photo providing some info as to the layout of the cockpit. I've put some stringers in the back, I don't know if they are going to show, probably not, but better safe than sorry.. Works on the right side of the Cockpit, adding some extra details, cables etc. Same on the left side of the cockpit. Details of the cockpit. The resin Instrument panel is very nice in the 'high tech'. The floor has been converted as per drawings. Resin seat and the cockpit wall behind the seat. Cheers: Kent

More progress made on the 109, luckily there was quite a bit of building to be done, as anything painting related (like getting the Hurricane painted) is just not on the cards at the moment. WAAAAY to wet and cold (12°C and RH of 68% in the garage - once the wet cars are parked, it just get worse). Will have to wait for a bit of sunshine to dry things out a bit... I've managed to get the major construction work out of the way - wings, flaps, ailerons, horizontal stabs and elevators, putty where needed, canopies are masked. All ready for primer and paint. Quite a bit of filler (Milliput) has been used to try and get a smoother transition between the engine cowling and gun deck cover, plus some rod to fill the gap between those parts (I think this was designed to be a cowl-off kit) The prop assembly has been modded to accept magnets. Both the cannon covers and the slats needed some extra styrene fitted to make them fit. The AM rudder has been drilled and pinned (removable), fitted with the linkage yoke that came with the kit for it's rudder Underside needs some black in the radiator wells before I attach them and mask off for painting. Dragon supplies etched brass linkages for the ailerons and flaps (moveable perhaps)- they are fiddly, and although looking the part, I think that the whole system would be way to weak to support the trailing bits. There are only two attachment points for both the flaps and ailerons - no locating pins at either the wing edge (aileron), or the inner face of the flaps where they butt onto the fuselage. So mine are glued in place! First time I've seen or used those flexible inserts Dragon gave for the wheel wells. I did some reading up on them when I saw them - lot of complaints about being brittle and not usable, but happy to report mine were fine, responded to Mr Hobby S glue VERY well, and worked a treat!

Hello all, This is my ICM 1H-1G (early) Cobra with Quinta Cockpit. I used a mix of Model Master and AK paints. I also used the Microdesign exterior photoetch set. This aircraft represents the Executioner of the 235th flown by Capt Lou Bouault out of Daub Ting Vietnam 1969. This was my first ICM kit and I have to say it was pretty good! I used the kits decals which went on fantastic. All photos were taken with my Iphone. As you can see by the indoor pics I am no photographer! The base was built and Designed by Master base maker Tony Quartaro. Thanks for looking. Rod

The word BOTH comes to mind. I'll get the Hobby 2000 kit and build it and HOPEFULLY the Kotare kit will be out on time. Can't have too many Spits!

Frank, Now that you can Fly,Just think, no more standing in line .. you can simply pass the others and GO FLY..

Counting the check ride flights, it took me 70.2 hours. I soloed with 9.7 hours in my logbook last July, and with my busy work schedule and my flight instructor working mostly weekends it took some time but I was absolutely fine with that! I have mostly been flying Cessna 172 N models, with a few training flights in a 152. I did like the sportier 152, but must admit I like having more than one radio and the vertical seat adjustment on the 172. Thank you so much everyone for dropping by and leaving a comment, I am still in a state of disbelief that I actually did it. I have gone into my logbook numerous times to look at my Temporary Airman's Certificate to make sure it was not all just a dream.

I’m pleased to announce that our latest title, Building the British Phantoms Volume One, is now available! In this 366-page eBook, Geoff Coughlin—with the aid of a host of contributors—guides you through the specifics of building the FG.1 Phantom in Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm, and A&AEE service. With six kits builds, 20 colour profiles, chapters on the Evolution and Key Features of the FG.1, along with an extensive 61-page Walkaround section, this book is an essential resource for anyone wanting to build this particular version of the British Phantom. Just 20 Australian dollars from our webstore! And as with all our books, should any updates be required, anyone who purchased a prior version gets lifetime free access to all subsequent updated versions! All new purchasers will of course receive the updated version automatically. Stay tuned for news about Volume Two! Kev

This is a very powerful and fitting statement, Thank you Maru.

A not so quick update before I disappear on hols for a bit. Mostly my time has been taken up with fixing the many errors in the kit kindly added by HK First up, the false dinghy stowage on the port wing. HK have simply mirrored the wing halves so there are two dinghy stowages instead of just one on the starboard wing. Filler, sanding, polishing and re-scribing/riveting all done Next, the engines. Four lovely Rolls Royce Merlin XX engines.......except they're not lovely they're horrid. I didn't expect Packard built engines as on a proper BIII (I've only just realised BTW that all through this thread up to now I've used MK III instead of B.III. God only knows why!) The engines are small for the scale in my eyes and not very detailed TBH. Certainly nowhere near the standard of the ones on Airfix's 1:24 Mosquito or even the 70s Superkit of the Hurricane, but I've built them and all the attendant struts and tanks although none of it will be seen as I've been asked to build with cowings on. Good job really given the quality of the engines. It would have been easier if they'd provided blank engines for modellers who intend to cover them all over but nothing in the instructions. Next the rear of the radiators. Awful. They're just a wall of plastic with no way to see the rear of the radiator. I've drilled and cut and filed them out to show the radiator as well as thinning down the shutters which signalled the end of a mission with the now legendary "rad shutters auto!" Now, the observant among you might look at these snaps of the rads and say "where's the engine?" and you'd be right. The explanation is that, remember those non existent engine blanks? Well they might not appear in the instructions but beavering around at the bottom of the box guess what popped up? Yep, four dummy engines. Thanks again HK! So I used em on the one I hadn't fitted yet. The rest are in their housings Next up, landing lights. That clever trick of mirroring the wings means there are landing lights on the starboard side as well as the port. Not only that, again they're blanked out plastic. Did this kit really retail at over £400?? Drilled out and I've sourced som car headlights at exactly yhe same diameter of 5.8mm. Lucky. The surplus to requirement ones are filled and sanded. I've started on the landing gear by taking off the stay that was there to prevent accidental folding of the undercarriage as this aircraft was off to drop a quirky device roundabout some dam or other. Lastly for now, I promise, are the landing gear bays. I've made up the roofs of the bays and varnished them ready for a load of oil and gunk as well as lots of extra wiring and pipework. I've seen the tanks in white as well as brass so I've gone white and stuck a couple of little decals on there to tart them up a bit. Now to where I need some info please. The side walls of the bays. HK provide them blocked in (again). I've seen the bays blocked off, with just the struts and you can see the wing fuel tank through them but I've also seen pics of the covered with what looks like canvas. Can anyone shed any light PLEASE?? Driving me nuts. I've gone with canvas for now And that's about it for now. I've just fastened the starboard cockpit half to the port side so I can leave it a week to cure while I'm away. I've tarted up the bomb aimers section a bit with wiring and a hydraulic recuperator for the upper turret. Also almost finished the inside of the turret but I'm waiting for some lovely brass gun barrels from Master Models which really do make a difference. As a result most of the extra wiring is in but I'll add the last bits when the guns are in place. Another query before I go. I've seen pics of the forward FN.5 turret and the guns look brass coloured? I'd have expected gunmetal/black type colouring. Any info, once again, gratefully received. Thanks for looking as always

Something happened. Let us blame working night shifts for the first time in 2 and a bit years. I was ordering the Tamiya kit for the Aggressor project and decided I want a Polish Air Force Single seater with those CFTs so 2 kits were purchased. Ooops. Hopefully Techmod Decals have improved since I used them last as they seem to be the only game in town for a regular line jet and not a special scheme. In Aggressor news though, I am going for the Black and White splinter scheme so that I can use the kit intake and exhaust as its a Block 30, and according to serial numbers its the second jet (86-0263) in the Block 30 Line to have the MCID intake, the serial number before it being the start of the MCID in the Block 30 jets(86-0262 being the first and I believe is a miG killer). The TwoBobs sheet offers 86-0263 (the second MCID Block 30 I referred to) and 86-0314. I don’t know which of the two I will build but I am at least decided on a scheme! So Pete, if you read this can you back up my theory that I can use the kit stuff to make a Block 30 and just need to use the Lightweight gear and doors? NSI intake and relevant exhaust that I had ordered already will now be shifted to my Polish Viper project.

Hi Guys, The flaps and aileron cut out. The flap slots were a pain to get the curves and angles. After some primer, I can see that I sanded away a little uneven on some spots, but will get it right. A quick mock up to see what they look like, but will get a better idea later when their brackets and rails are in place. Cheers, John

Fantastic. If - one day a 3D model materialise - the box-art is just ready.

Ah... sorry guys... forgot to mention that I had placed circular masks over the landing gear attachment point to keep them clear of paint. The openings are present and square in shape... just temporarily covered by tape.

The office is now complete. I used the kit tub as the foundation and used the Aires seat, Aires pedals, HGW seatbelts and Yahu instrument panel as upgrades. I didn't think the Aires tub was worth the work since it didn't add much detail compared to the kit part. The Aires seat, however, looked much better than the kit version. It has a nifty leather pad for lumbar support. The kit tub doesn't reflect the false bulkhead on either side of the seat, but I think it looks reasonable overall. I added a scratch O2 regulator to the starboard side of the seat. I used Mr. Color paints with some dark brown and black pastel washes for weathering as well as colored pencils for chips and scratches. To reflect the canopy slide rail, which isn't represented at all by the kit parts or the Aires upgrade, I added sections of stretched sprue to either side of the cockpit sill and painted them metallic grey with some silver highlights. (See the first photo also.) I applied some Airscale Luftwaffe cockpit placards to the side panels for some added detail. I think they really dress up the panels. I used the hi-res Smithsonian cockpit photo as the reference for the placards and labels. Some artistic license was also in play. I also added a leather strap for the map case on the starboard side. The Yahu instrument panel comes as a simple set of panels without a support structure. To mount them I filed off the detail from the kit IP and attached the Yahu panels using CA glue. It's a fun build so far. I'm following some of the other build threads on the forum for ideas and watch-outs and am also using the "tweak list" from Thierry Laurent as a punch list reference. Thanks for looking. Comments and critiques are always welcome.

thanks again guys! Mike, i just. saw your post... and i spent so much time to figure out how to create the extra fabric ayer on the leading edge... i finally. did it , but now too much trouble for nothing i guess :)))

my last built , enjoy :

Good enough....now on to the bottom side. From this photo, I'm going to say the bottom stripes have full black stripes and the white appears to have a black border. I have profiles showing it both with/without full black stripes and with/without borders on the white bottom. I also have sets of decals showing both ways too. I'm going to go with the photo. Probably the most accurate...

Hi Jay- pretty sure it’s a big hunk of steel. It’s necessary because the AT-38B has a fixed centerline pylon; and frequently hung either a 7.62 mini gun or SUU-20 bomb dispenser. The ballast is to correct the center of gravity when stores are carried on the centerline.. but even without the stores the weight was never removed..giving it a slightly aft CG, which was not bad for air to air training. heres the basic shape of the ballast counterweight - just need to true up the corners a bit..and reduce its width..it’s pooching the sides of the container out- cheers P