Slim

I think by Block D you are refering to the model designation. Viper blocks are, by and large, numbers. The Polish AF purchased Block 52 C and D models without the conformal fuel tanks over the wing roots. They started getting them in 2006 and will continue to take delivery until they can field 3 squadrons by 2012. I'm not sure if the new Academy F-16I will have the conformal tanks molded into the body of the aircraft, or if they will be an add-on. As long as they aren't molded in, I don't see too many reasons why you shouldn't be able to use this kit as the basis for a Polish D model. Of course, if you want a C model there are several other options in 1/32 scale.

The "I" Viper concept strikes me as a poor man's F-15E, but a very interesting variant of the old girl. I remember when we traded in our little mouth A model "Fighting Falcons" for the big lip C model Vipers. It had come light years away from the light weight, point defense fighter it was designed to be. Should have known...the USAF has never had a fighter aircraft that they didn't morph into every mission possible. I used to call the Viper the F-4 of the 90's. The Viper performs every mission the F-4 ever did, it just took them twice as many for some missions (WW and PR just to name two).

Jerry, I know I'm late to the party on this thread, but have been away on busines for the last three weeks. I did a search of my archives for a mention of Frank H. Sutton, and came up with a blank. You may want to drop a line to the Royal Air Force Museum or possibly the Battle of Brittan Society, both easy to find with a Yahoo search. The RAF Museum has a wealth of archival information and have helped me several times with my own research. The BoB Society's primary focus is on the Summer of 1940, but they do have a comprehensive ledger of every pilot who flew with the RAF, RCAF, or any of the other common wealth countries. If Sutton was killed in Dec of 1941 over Lybia, he would have been in the RAF training pipeline during late 1940 or very early 1941, so the BoB Society may have info on him. I can tell you that Sutton was not the first American pilot KIA during WWII. Billy Fiske was killed flying with No. 601 Sq in Aug of 1940 during the BoB. If you do find out more info on Sutton, I urge you to share with us. He sounds like an interesting subject. I wish you luck with this project.

That's a weathering job worthy of the name. And thank you for the details on how you achieved the look.

Beautiful build and a very interesting subject. Kudos!

I picked this kit up a few months ago and have it in my stash. I'll be watching this build with great interest. Looks great so far!

Great looking Phantom! The details in the wing fold are very nice. The more I mess around with dry transfers, the more I like them, especially for small markings.

Thanks for the encouragement, Ray. I'm going to give it a shot.

Both of your Malta birds are outstanding! The camo carried by RAF aircraft in that theater of Ops has always been a favorite of mine. I hope to do one myself in the near future.

A big thank you to Ray and dutik for the great advise and the links. I was going to start messing around with mixing up and shooting some colors on primed styrene sheets this weekend, but after reviewing the info from you Gents, I think I'll place a couple of orders before I start trying to boil up a witch's brew of colors. I would like to get the color and camo pattern as close to authentic as possible, but in the absence of any color photographic evidence, some of it will be historical speculation. This project will end up in my display case vice a model show, so I won't be sweating every detail, but will do the best job I can given my current skill set. I'm still a little worried about working with a full resin kit....I'm old enough to know what I don't know, and I certainly don't know what gottcha's there may be in a resin kit. I have used several resin pilot figures in last few months, and the medium seems fairly easy to work with. Having said that, a full 1/32 kit is far cry from a pilot figure.

Ray, the profile I have for Litvyak's "White 23", which by all accounts was a Yak-1b, is a speculative rendering of what the camo pattern may have been. It seems that known photo's from the time were focused on Lilya, and not her aircraft. Unless I come across some evidence I've over looked, I'll use the camo pattern from the port side profile I have now, and do some historical speculation about the starbord side and upper wings. The upper camo colors were most likely some shade of Tractor Black over some shade of Tractor Green. I plan to start messing around with some color mixtures next weekend. I'm still a little up in the air about the lower surface color, but I'll make up my mind on that before I start the construction. The profile that I'm using for her "White 23" can be found in a few places on the internet, including here: http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/litvyak.htm

Very well done! Great description of your painting technique.

For my next project I'd like to build a Yak-1b as flown by Lilya Litvyak, The White Rose of Stalingrad, during the Summer of 1943 while assigned to the 73 Guards IAP. I have all the research materal and several color profiles of her aircraft, but am coming up short on options for the aircraft itself. So far it looks like the only Yak-1b in 1/32 is the Montex resin kit. While the Montex kit looks nice and has some good reviews, I've never built a full resin kit before and would prefer to find something in plastic. My question is, have I overlooked an injection molded kit out there, maybe something from back in the day that's no longer in production? Any help or advice would be appreciated. Also, I'd like to hear from anyone who's built the Montex kit. I'm not totally opposed to trying that kit, but the full resin has me a little nervous.

I can't wait to see the proof sheet, but you certainly have my intrest peaked with this selection!

Great looking finish on that one. I can't wait to read the article in the magazine.