jenshb

Like this! I don't know how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, but I an faairly certain the SAS 767s had P&W engines, whereas the Zvezda kit comes with GE engines only. The differences are subtle however. (shorter and more rounded hot exhaust cowling). Sergey Druz makes the correct P&Ws, but they are expensive.

If anyone is interested, I am happy to sell my MDC kit. It is complete and includes the MCD late war rockets with 60kb warheads. £100 plus postage (recorded delivery). PM me if interested.

The Hasegawa kit is not a YF-16, but represents the F-16 Full Scale Development aircraft which is slightly larger in length and span - cue the larger nose for example. It's a real classic kit and was outstanding when it was first released in the late 70s. Hasegawa did make a YF-16, but that was in 1:72, and was later retooled and re-released as a YF-16/CCV with canards on the air intakes.

That looks very credible - perfect "What if" in my book.

Just caught up on this, and it has been very interesting to see the failures and successes. This really highlightes the fact that it is not as easy as clicking "Print", and then a perfect specimen comes out. As with any technology, it requires the willingness to learn to build experience so you know what works and what doesn't. Regarding the launch tower, would it be better to make the basic structure from plasticard cut on the Silhouette rather than relying on the resin? Alternatively, a firmer, more robust resin may be the answer?

This project certainly seems to question a lot of things we thought we knew about the Spey-Phantoms, and a larger diameter nose wheel leg for the double extendable fuction makes sense as you effectively have a hydraulic piston inside a piston, so they can't be the same diameter. Good catch that.

Will you be doing a full rescribe job for panel details on this one, or sticking with control surfaces?

I'm working on two Kinetic F-16s (Gold tooling) at the moment, and I think it will be too fiddly for a beginner. The Tamiya kit has better fit and is less fiddly in my opinion. The Hasegawa kit is surprisingly good for it's age, requires a little more attention, but has fewer parts so overall more manageable. Some filler will be needed, but nothing too drastic.

That was nice of Italeri. Looking forward to seeing this project through.

The G-model also had bulged main wheel doors to accommodate the wider wheels and tyres. Your reference book may show this detail.

Yes, there is a Mosquito SIG. The Shorts Flying boat was scratchbuilt in 1:48.

Will the likes on Hannants and the 48ers still be able to sell these decals, or will USMC Insignia LLC now be the sole outlet?

The lower photo makes it look like it's been winter camouflaged:)

Looking at pics I took of the airworthy Mk. XIV on Duxford, there are no panel lines on the lower wing. Other pics seem to confirm that the panel exists on the upper surface only so there is a panel line and rivet line along the apex of the leading edge connecting the inboard and outboard panel line on the upper surfaces.

For your F-15 project, you will want to pick up this decal sheet: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/DD32036?result-token=CT7r1 I don't know if the period of the decal sheet would mean the ACES II seat or the Escapac seat. The illustration shows exhausts with turkey feathers, so you may have to get a set of F-16 exhausts to cover that base as I don't see any turke feathered exhausts for the F-15 available. However, they were removed early 80s from my understanding. Hopefully some F-15 experts will chime in. And these wheels (they are intended for the Revell kit, but I am sure you can adapt to the Tamiya kit): https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/RS32-0020?result-token=CT7r1 As for references, you can't go wrong with the Daco book on the F-15A/B.

For those in the UK, Time Tunnel Models are able to supply the necessary sprues from the VIII kit. There may be others too, but I have only used TTM, and have always had excellent service from them.

Finished this kit a couple of months ago. It is indeed a big, scale plane rather than a big-scale plane:) The biggest let-down in my opinion is the decal sheet that is lacking a complete set of stencils (no intake warning chevrons for the inboard faces of the nacelles for example), and the walkways aren't right either. Got a set of custom printed decals from Vingtor Decals for "Vingtor". The plastic requires a bit of trimming and lots of dryfitting, and adding some missing aerials. Engines are early configuration, so the hot exhaust needs modifications if your particular airframe has the Performance Improvement Package engines. Still, the end result is quite rewarding.

Nothing, other than taking the kit back and giving you a refund. Then the shop will be stuck with a kit with missing parts.

Here's the location of the drain port on the starboard wing. This is the operational Mk. XIV at Duxford. Closeup of the drain port. The intervals are 1 cm (10 mm).

Regarding the wing, this was based on the Mk. VIII wing, so would have the leading edge fuel tanks and the drain point on the lower surface. Need to check if the lights on the lower wing were in the same positon as the Mk. VIII too. Way back in 2014, we went to Japan, and I could afford to buy a Tamiya Mk VIII and XVI with the idea of crosskitting them and a bit of converting to make a Mk. XIV low back. The leftovers can be used to make a "vanilla" Mk.IXc.

From memory, the "acemaker" gyro gunsight was introduced in April 1944, and it first went to aircraft equipping fighter squadrons, rather than fighter-bomber units. If your aircraft was built before then or around that time, I would say the earlier gunsight would be used.

Presumably the resin cockpit is designed to fit the Revell kit? If Revell did indeed copy the Echelon kit, surely, the resin cockpit should fit the vacform with less problems considering vacforms generally have thinner walls than injection kits?

Yes, the French call the blended wing/fuselage fairings "Karman fairings". The Airfix and Heller kit are from the same tools. Jens

I don't know what the designation was, but it was an adapter pylon for the Penguin that also housed electronics to simulate the missile, enabling the pilot to train on launching the missile and making it find it's target. It wouldn't be a standard F-16 pylon. Jens

Some grat modelling going on here. Didn't know the Karman fairings were so wrong in the kit - would have thought Heller got that right. Jens