Dave Williams

Is that the one where the German Air Force consisted entirely of all red or black Fokker Dr.1s?

Yes, it is. Hence the problem of a company spending the money on making a large mold of such an aircraft. Also, there is only one user and only one paint scheme (not counting a “naked” unpainted one). One can argue that the F-35 is somewhat similar, but at least you could get three different version out of a mold, plus multiple users that broaden its appeal.

I don’t have an issue with Tamiya decals. Just use Solvaset on them. To expand, it’s a matter of just having a second type of decal setting solution on hand for the thick decals (Tamiya, Hasegawa, Cartograf). I don’t think it’s a hassle or expensive to have more than one brand of decal setting solution around for different decals. I have a large bottle of Solvaset that I bought years ago and has many more years of life left, plus the expense is a drop in the bucket compared to the money I spend on kits, decals, and resin. I think of it as just a different tool for different uses, like using different brushes, or glues, or knives.

The problem with the F-22 is that it’s a one-off mold. You can’t make different versions from the same mold like you can with many other aircraft. Also, it’s physically large. I’d say Italeri has the best chance, based on them getting into big scale aircraft recently, including the F-35, but it’s not high because of the one-off factor. There is zero chance that Hasegawa, KH, ZM, or Special Hobby will do it. I think the chance of Revell doing it is pretty low, at least for quite a while. It’s probably not a good choice for a company to spend money on when they are just recovering from a bankruptcy. Trumpeter used to be heavy in 1/32 scale, but their releases have really slacked off in recent years. They seem to be focusing on 1/35 armor and 1/48 aircraft and don’t see them doing a one-off (probably why the TBD was never released). Similarly, I don’t see their sister, HobbyBoss, doing one either. Tamiya can be a wild card, but I don’t see them having a successful business case for making one, unless someone very high up has a massive desire to see a kit. Their 1/32 kits have been pretty mainstream so far. I don’t see a kit coming out anytime soon.

The main thing is that the nose gear is far too skinny in the Revell F-4s.

Great! Then I’m in for the full set!

I choose full set, assuming that the main gear would be correct with extra detail. If the intention is that the mains would just be cast copies of the kit gear, I’d take just a correct nose gear.

Unfortunately, it’s not a joke. Almost everything on the SH website is, and has been for years, out of stock or coming soon. About the only reliable way to get anything from them, and even at that probably only newish stuff as a lot is probably OOP, is to get it from them at the US Nats. Honestly if you want Revell F-4 stuff, you are better off getting things from GT Resin or other companies that produce products and make them available. I think the SH stuff is great, but to be honest, it’s not worth the massive effort to try and get anything from them, especially since the chances of success are very low.

Good write up about the 1/48 KH Voodoo here. http://www.themodellingnews.com/2018/07/dry-fit-review-gary-pieces-together.html?m=1 Make your own call about whether it’s better or worse than the Monogram kit.

WNW Albatros kit now in stock at Sprue Brothers.

No, they did not, nor did they have any of the extra pylons, or other S modifications. In fact, the TF-104G-M modification removed any combat capability from the two-seater, including any weapons wiring, and removed weapons modes from the radar. They were flying trainers only.

The rear section of the canopy is pretty different.

Got my kits today. The kit has the “normal” B-wing instructions with an additional flyer for the limited edition changes, so it’s easy to see the differences. The physical differences in the kits seems to be different missing access panels exposing the associated internal structure underneath. The “limited” plastic has a panel section of the rear of the main wing missing, while the “normal” kit has a small panel on top of the main wing near the engine section missing. The changed parts (including the different pilot) are on a sub sprues that take up a corner of one of the main sprues. There is a blank section of the main sprues where the corresponding “normal” parts would be. In other words, each kit is unique and neither contains the parts for both boxings. Also, this kit only includes the decals/stickers for this boxing, although the only real difference I can see is this version lacks the orange “meatballs” that are on the normal ROTJ version. The LED is really compact, being an LED bulb in the center of a small plastic disc that has battery holders for two LR41 batteries, with the disc being plugged into the front of the engine pack before insertion into the body. A clear plastic part acts as a light guide to the four exhausts. Minor annoyances are that marking/color guide for the limited instruction sheet is in B&W instead of the color on the “normal” instructions, and the box is entirely black and lacks the color photos of the built up kit on the normal boxes. However, color photos of the limited edition build up are on the web if you need them. Overall, a very cool kit!

Yes, Revell. Here are the instructions. https://stage.revell.de/fileadmin/import/images/bau/00452_%23BAU_JUNKERS_JU88A4_TECHNIK_V01_01_LOW.PDF I was curious how the cockpit light worked since the box photos just show a blinding glow from under the canopy. It looks like you just stick the bulb under the rear of the upper fuselage above the radios. Seems pretty gimmicky to me, plus it’s pretty expensive.

It’s possible there was a slip up at Eduard. I recently got a 1/48 Draken pylon set and the decals in the set were for a different set. I’m sure it happened at the factory since they were just simple pylon stencils, not worth anything by themselves, and the number on the decal sheet was just one off the number of the set, so it probably just got mixed up.