HobbyZoneUSA

No prop motor. I added a Light Genie to the model which allows for remote control of lighting in the model. When I was first learning to fly with the CAP in the early 1970s, the squadron had a huge wall-mounted training aid for the switches, relays, and lights for cockpit, navigation, identification, etc., for the P-47/P-51 which the Light Genie could mimic. One effect is steady or blinking nav lights which, in the model, are LED and fiberoptic, and two types of cockpit lighting like these:

This is the Hasegawa 1/20 Ma.K. Grosser Hund

The fuselage is finally together!

Black Panther was one of Marvel's best to date. Infinity War indeed left us hanging as well, but Deadpool 2 was just the non-stop belly laugh to make up for it.

Here was a project on my bucket list that finally got completed.

A little progress inside the Tiger Moth cockpit. The new panels and interior are coming along, the pilots' restraints will be installed next.

Here is a recent build - the 'Barkhorn' release of the Hasegawa 1/32 Dora. I built one of the Hi-Tech Doras years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the build, but it was quickly disected by my local IPMS crew. When I moved over a decade ago, the model didn't survive, so I had a replacement on my 'bucket list' and finally got to this one. The new-tooled Dora is nicer and with the exception of a Yahu instrument panel and Eduard seatbelts/rudder pedals, the kit was built OOB including the decals.

FYI all, I just received a press release that MRC has become the US importer for Italeri once again. The F-104s are in this initial shipment and according to MRC, the shipment is all but sold out before containers arrive. ETA to MRC is the end of July and hobby stores around the country should see Italeri back on the shelves soon after.

Indeed. I have a strange tripod designed for tablets/iPads which worked fine as long as I didn't try to slide it out of the way. If it works, don't mess with it.

I've wanted to build this kit for years but have been put off by rigging. Since I have two in the stash, I am building this one for experimentation before I go AMS on the next. Above is ths 'stock' fuselage interior and 'floor'. The molded-on details inside have got to go and that floor needs work to be the centerline pedestal for seats and control hardware. Here the interior details have been removed and the holes for the canopy rails (Canadian version) have just been filled with Mr.Surfacer 500. The tube framing process has started inside the fuselage. The molded-on compasses have been removed from the instrument panels, and the new wood floor is finished and ready to mount the centerline pedestal. The instrument panels will get the Airscale treatment next.

I pulled the canopy back off the A-4 and removed the armored back and strut/brace. It didn't matter which way I moved the brace, it wasn't anything like the part in the Hasegawa kit, so I reinstalled it and readjusted the armored back to the upright position for takeoff and landing.

If I'm interpreting the photos correctly, the revetments are eight panels deep and six-to-seven panels wide.

Here's proof that the old Vintage Fighters Thunderbolt can be tamed, this one being out of the Kinetic box:

So one of the great mysteries for me after finishing my F-5E, is why this kit has the AIM-9B and AIM-9L but no AIM-9J. The vast majority of F-5Es were sold abroad with the AIM-9J and the aggressor birds carried the AIM-9L during and after ACEVAL/AIMVAL. If we have the adversary birds as decal options, why no ACMI pod (guess what's going to happen to my AIM-9s)? Having AIM-7s as an option made me wonder what research source was used for this kit? Yes, the (lack of) intake trunks was another mystery, but painting the inside of the fuselage black minimized that potential eyesore. Backdating the kit to an early F-5E turned out to be straightforward, especially with all of the good information in this thread, so thank you all!