Oldbaldguy

I said up front that I hesitated to comment on the interior color of this model and I should have listened to myself but I knew what my several fabric covered airplanes liked like inside so I thought I was safe. Then I looked it up too late. There is in fact a “famous British red dope” that contained iron oxide to ward off fungus and other nasty things. It was applied as the first coat on any Irish linen fabric job and would have shown through to the inside. So. There it is. I know much less than I thought I did, which is often the case when you reach your dotage and a bit embarrassing

Well, there you go! Learn something new everyday!

I hesitate to post this for any number of reasons, the greatest of which is that this may be taken as a criticism of this wonderful build when it is not meant to be at all. I mean only to share a bit of information about the pitfalls of relying on restored museum pieces as accurate sources. I noticed that this build and another in a larger scale seem to use the same photos as resource material for the color of the interior of the fuselage. The pinkish red color on the inside of the fabric covering as seen in the source photos comes from the use of modern synthetic fabric and chemicals when

So I ask myself, "Where will he display this wonderous thing once it’s finished? Surely he’ll not hide his light under a bushel in the attic where mine end up.”

The overall gloss gray paint scheme the Navy used briefly was a cooler/bluer gray than warm light gull gray. Looked good but I don’t remember it being around long on tactical airplanes, although you saw it a lot on special mission airplanes like Whale variants going back to the late 60s.

Nice paint job, whatever it is.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Navy avoids separate boarding ladders for their airplanes whenever possible. One less thing to store on the boat or to blow around the flight deck. Some designs by their very nature required them: F7U, F3H, A-4, RA-5C, etc. Everything else came equipped with a way to get in the thing.

If the real airplanes were anywhere near as elegant as this model, I would have been terrified to fly one for fear of getting a smudge here or a ding there.

An Air Force pilot with some time in the airplane summed it up best, I think, when he said that you cannot look at an F-35 as a highly computerized stealthy fighter/attack jet and make it work. But once you realize it is a networked flying iPhone with guns and bombs, then it all starts to make sense. I’m not even close to that generation, so I’ll have to take his word for it. After 25 years, you’d think they’d have the bugs worked out. Apparently not. Oh, and it can’t hang with an F-16, so there’s that as well.

I’ll bet it was very cool flying a Spad anywhere!

Then you’d better get on with it. You are not the only one moving here. Houses are in short supply with near zero inventory in some price ranges. Bidding wars and cash offers are the norm these days and people are buying sight unseen. And the burbs are moving farther and farther out.

The slats on the S models look like something off an airliner. I’ll bet the Navy optimized the S’s to work better around the boat - better off the cat with a heavy load and in the groove - whereas the E never had to deal with any of that.

Hunh. Wonder whose idea it was to mod the airplanes to begin with and why? Obviously some body thought it would be a good idea, although acquisition types and senior leaders are notorious for not asking the people who have to use the stuff what they think of it before they buy it.

Bottom line: as long as you don’t try to make Georgia into California, you’ll be fine, no matter what you drive. We will need to talk about the Braves and the Dawgs, however. Seriously.

JDB or JBD as in jet blast deflector?