I took this photograph of the interior of an MH-60G over the Mediterranean in August 1995. Notice the two piece Stokes Litter, and the Ammo cans in the center.
I'm going to forego the formalities and get right to the numbers.
As of today there are 570 orders in the queue.
Our goal is to ship a minimum of 150 orders per week.
At that rate folks at the end of the line won't have their order shipped for another month.
I finally got my hands on this much sought after Wolfpack set - I got carried away when I saw it on eBay and paid a crazy price for it, but now I can finally get going on a project I have long desired to do.. And have some leftover AAM-3 missiles for my F-15DJ project
The following pictures I post may be a little controversial, but not intended to offend anyone by any means. After all, it is just plastic bits we glue together and paint right. But there is a history to it..
I am in possession of a photo where the pilot "communicated" in a somewhat "unfriendly manner" to somebody in the vicinity of his aircraft. I personally found the picture quite amusing, regardless of the pilot's slightly rude gesture. The problem is that I lost a bet where the stakes meant that I had to model my pilot in the same manner as the guy in my picture, if I were to lose. Well, I lost so I had to make him.. As mentioned earlier, I used the Tamiya pilot figure but obviously had to modify him ever so slightly
I hope you like him and don't judge the poor fella..
I wanted to do this build in this exact configuration, but in order to do this I had to cross a few hurdles:
First, I had to correct the Tamiya AIM 120's to more accurately represent the practice missiles carried here. The included Tamiya missiles are the live ones but the practice 120's have a slightly less pointed/blunt nose:
Done:
Similarly, the AIM 9 carried was a practice one. Other than the live missile, the practice missile has different fins that do not have the gyro ailerons at the tips but are essentially just flat plates. New fins were scratch built:
I'll be adding the kit supplied pilot figure, hence the lack of added seat belts. Naturally (it's Tamiya ), the kit pilot fits perfectly onto the kit seat..
I masked and painted this handle.. Quite happy how it came out:
After fiddling with the gear I moved on to the cockpit. Initially I considered combining the Aires cockpit set with the Quinta set, but it turned out that the Quinta set doesn't fit the Aires panels well. My options were therefore Aires cockpit or kit cockpit with Quinta set. I decided that the kit cockpit with the Quinta set provided the best result and went for that option..
Removing the raised kit details:
Kit cockpit after Quinta addition:
To get a more realistic look I masked the black panels and instrument portions of the Quinta set and sprayed the grey areas to match the rest of the cockpit. This took a bit of time but proved very much worth the effort.
My hunch is another 1/48 McDonnell Douglas F-4.
I was hoping for an F-4EJ (which entered JASDF service almost exactly fifty years ago), to do a Falcon/Sparrow alert bird which actually looks like an F-4E hardwing, but an F-4J would be bad too — diverting precious funds into that scale for the personal Crimbo budget.
So, perversely, I'm hoping nothing appealing, and it's just a giant scale motorcycle or radio controlled tank.
Some very sad news earlier in the year with Ps.John of AIMS having to cease operations due to a very cruel and debilitating condition.
This made it pretty much the last chance to grab some AIMS gear for the Ju.88 kits I have in the stash ... which I did!
A very unloved (by the shipping companies) box arrived back in early June ...
Fortunately (due mainly to Johns diligence in packing the goods for the obviously rough ride!!) ... the contents remain in pristine condition.
And in conversions now, we have 1x Ju.188 A/D for the A-4 kit, 1x Ju.88G-6 for the A-4 kit and some replacement parts for a G-6 conversion to the old A-1 kit ... plus some Master gear for upgrades!
I have no idea as to where all this stuff goes or what parts are for which conversion - but I'm sure the CD will show me some when the time comes ... which is not yet ...
I've managed to collect a few resource books on Wehrmacht gear over the last year - I don't think I've been posting them though ... there's the elusive hardcover edition of the Tiger book still outstanding ... but Thomas Anderson (NOT - a program writer for a respectable software company that goes by the alias "Neo") writes some good material and seems to know his subject matter very well.
And then in July a box arrived ... with a long time wish was delivered ...
My favourite tank chassis in 1/16 scale ... the workhorse of the Panzer Divisions and a favourite of most crews ... the Panzer III ...
Ok - so it's not my absolute favourite which would be an Ausf.L, M or N ... but if someone (looking at you Trumpeter!!) would release a Pz.IV Ausf.F1 or D with "The Stump" 75mm - then I'm in business to create an N out of the coming Heller 4-in-1 kit.
Once the Gecko Pz.II Ausf.F is released I'll have a comprehensive 1/16 set (thanks to the recent purchases below this post) ... And while the Hobby-Boss Tiger.I doesn't know which version it quite wants to be (early, mid or late) and isn't the BEST example (when compared to the super expensive Tamiya option) it IS, Bang-for-Buck, a better option especially with all the AM getting around now ... unless someone else has a GOOD one, for a reasonable price, in the works?!?!
So ... now were up to date with the older stuff ... we're into the recent acquisitions ...
Since the sale of my ute happened just over 2 weeks ago (raising deposit funds for my house and land deal!) I had to Uber it into to the shopping centre where my post office is ... and order an Uber XL for my return trip due to the package sizes!!
Opening the big box first ...
There was a couple of Academy 1/35 scale armour kits that I've been waiting to get my hands on ... Academy has come along a fair way in recent years and reviews of these two kits were good ... simple builds, no internals - but great external detail and accurate giving me 2 very good North African options ...
I bought the first release of the Takom StuG.III / StuH.42 ... I should have waited ... This early version of the StuH.42 - with the muzzle break - was what I was after ...
It doesn't come with metal barrels for the guns like the "Late" one did ... but I doubt it will make much of an issue with the barrel being slide moulded and so short anyway ...
Next was (aside from the still pending Gecko Pz.II F) the final link in the 1/16 chain ... a Pz.I ... and just to prove that no matter how long you've been researching stuff, there is ALWAYS something new to learn, During this exercise I found that there was VERY obvious differences between the Pz.Ia and Pz.Ib ... notably, the extra length in the chassis and the resulting extra road wheel!
... And finally, after a wait spanning eons (seemingly!) ... in its own little box of protection ... was this ...
... Except ... it's not a B.II ... because that would mean RADIAL engines, yes?? ... I think they mean either a B.I or a B.III surely??
Definitely a B Mk.I or III then!
Anyway ... before I bought it, I asked Frontline to open up the box and check the transparencies (knowing what an epic s*** show that was at the beginning of the release run!!) ... thankfully Border (probably realising this was a make or break moment for them) got onto the issue rather quickly - and my customer service rep advised that they had revised their boxing ... and added a separate box inside the kit to assist with protecting them. He checked them any way and left this note inside the box to prove it.
You'll note that in order to fit the protective box within the original kit box ... a whole bunch of sprues needed to be re-arranged, which in turn mean that they protrude about an inch or so above the bottom section of the kit box and so the box top will not completely close. Here's Border Models cunning little solution to that issue ...
A banner at the base of the kit box bottom!! Correctly marked B/Mk.I/III this time ...
And coming now, to the final package ...
I discovered a while back, while doing some research on the RAAF Mirage.III ... and some rather interesting reading on the delayed acquisition of the RAAF F.111 (geez I'd LOVE to get a 1/32 Aussie Pig!) ... that Australia "borrowed" (leased) some F-4 Phantoms as an interim sweetener ...
As until recently, I had never really had an interest for jets (excepting the end stages of WWII), I'd only ever looked at the F-4 in passing. But in deciding to build an RAAF one I've noticed how an incredibly interesting design it was ... leagues ahead of it's competition worldwide at the time it entered operational service, extremely versatile in a number of roles and with a 60+ year service history in multiple nations - some of which opposed each other in conflict!
Then came the research - which 1/32 Phantom to get? ... Thanks to the input of many who've gone before me - Tamiya was the wining candidate in the brand stakes, but getting the correct variant has proven a little tricky ... after a few hours researching the 'E' variant (and finding out that the Japanese 'EJ' variant is pretty much the same bird), then came the shopping ... It seemed that just about every available E/EJ variant going was asking drug money (due to the shortage of available kits!) ...
I kept up my google searching, changing up the search parameters and playing around with various SKU's before finally finding one in a place in Japan called "Japan Figure" (specialising in figurines from various anime shows, Gundam etc). At just RRP plus DHL shipping (which is fairly inexpensive from there considering the sort of cost in USA for example) I managed to get this - still wrapped in plastic!!
So now I just need some GT resin gear (intakes and cans) along with some RAAF decals and 3D cockpit decoration.
There is more on the way ... but since it won't get here until after I fly back out to work ... I'll leave those stories for later
Thank you gents. Niels, this is one of future stuff on my list. But cant tell you when it be done...
Four new sets released today. (all designed for Tamiya kit)
32032 F-16 Early FOD set (small intake/PW nozzle)
32033 F-16 Late FOD set (big intake/GE nozzle)
48016 F-16 Early FOD set (small intake/PW nozzle)
48017 F-16 LateFOD set (big intake/GE nozzle)
Please welcome to www.kopeckyscalemodels.com
Thank you!
Hrvoje reacted to Zorro in 1/35 Scale MH-60G Pave Hawk II
