Bryan

I hate to publicly out my stupidity...but I have to confess...I don't get it.

That A400 sure is a cool airplane. It looks like the offspring of a C-17 and C-130...."mating".

No...he's not. Not human I mean....

This seems to be the case with all forum search engines, at least all of them that I have used. I belong to a couple of sites that use Vbulletin, and the search engine is utterly useless. The only time I have managed to find anything with it is if I know the post I am looking for has a longish, very unusual word in it.....which is almost never the case.

Totally agree! The P-47 is the real deal. I think a warplane needs a degree of brutish, purposeful, ugliness. I find the P-51 a bit boring in its perfect lines. Sort of like a "perfect" supermodel...in that flawless beauty is boring. My favorite aircraft: P-47, Typhoon, Tempest....in no particular order. That first image in this thread from 2004 makes me want to build a P-47 and duplicate it.

It is not only incredible having followed this all along, but the results are spectacular... What I mean is, in modelling often hours/days/weeks/months can be expended on work that does not really "pay off". I know we have all experienced it....going to great lengths to detail or paint or finish something only to find the result was not worth the effort. In this case, the result is a masterpiece and the effort was unquestionably worth it. I honestly don't think it would be possible to make a better, more spectacular scale replica. I don't necessarily mean in the sense of precision scaled down replica of the actual aircraft (which he has also achieved BTW), but more in the sense of a model that captures the exact "essence" of the real thing. Success like this involves a lot of intangibles beyond simply making a smaller replica of the actual aircraft. I imagine that is what we all strive for, within the huge limits of our respective levels of skill and determination....but in this thread we have actually seen it accomplished.

Fantastic result! I really like the silver scheme....accentuates the lines of the Tempest. Very clean flawless build.

I didn't understand that either. That is about the size class of the biggest of the non-nuclear US "supercarriers"...like the Independence, JFK, America, etc....they were all able to handle large CTOL jets including the F-14....which was a huge aircraft. There is no way the VTOL F-35 will have capabilities equal to the conventional variants....surprising the UK traded that away.

It's not just the Bradley. Most new weapons systems receive biased critical analysis from the media. I remember the M1 Abrams, the F-15, the Ticonderoga class cruiser (and Aegis weapons system), and the Apache helicopter all receiving harsh criticism....and all have evolved into effective weapons. The F-15 in particular was lambasted as being too big, too expensive, and too complex. And I think everyone will agree it has proven to be an effective warplane. We will just have to wait and see....it appears there is no going back now....as far as the F-35 is concerned. It will take many years to get some idea of the true quality of the F-35.....since the military always overstates the effectiveness of new weapons, and unfairly denigrates older ones (like the F-111, A-10, etc).

I don't know if I would say that picture is "beautiful"....but it sure is interesting....and useful from a painting/weathering perspective.

That single engine must have a hell of a lot of thrust....never saw the afterburner lit once.... The close up appearance of these new generation warplanes is always interesting....they look like they were carved from one piece of metal...or concrete...or something. Point is you don't see the normal panel lines and rivets. I know that is for stealth...but still interesting.

To me....FWIW....the green looks about right but the grey looks much too dark. The difference between medium sea gray and ocean gray is actually pretty subtle. You can tell they are different where the two colors meet up low on the fuselage, but viewed separately they look very close in color.

I have always been interested in aircraft powered by the ultimate piston engine, the R4360 Wasp Major....hence my attraction to the Hughes XF-11. Funny how you can always tell R4360 powered aircraft just by the shape of the cowl.

Ok....he's not really doing it. He had contact a few years back from space aliens visiting earth, and in addition to being "probed" he acquired some of their advanced technology. That's what it is. You heard it here first....remember that.

The problem for me has never been the cost so much as where would I put the thing when I am finished building it. The basic size and shape of aircraft models makes them space-consuming already. Must resist 1/24.....must.....