thierry laurent

Mason Doupnik announced his next release in his terrific walk-around book series (CAVU publications) and it will be dedicated to the Marines Harrier. No doubt this will give you the reply if you are not in a hurry.

The antislip coat was a tar-like-based one. So initially it was not dead flat but with the climate effects the finish became duller and this also applied to the yellow body color. However, it was not uncommon to see bright spots here and there coming from oily items put/stored on their top.

I agree that the price is quite heavy... Along the years I got mules from PWMP, Verlinden, Zoukei-Mura and Videoaviation and if some are better than others all are usable with a little bit of work. The strange think is the dimension differences between the various kits... I will probably get a single 'A' with generator from Reskit.

I would not be surprised finding they moved the remaining smaller tractors used on the first supercarriers from the mid-fifties to the smaller ones when the mules were delivered during the next decade.

Mules were standard on supercarriers but too bulky for the smaller classes such as the not enlarged Essex ships. So, indeed, this depends on the ship and era. No issue on the Enterprise or Forestall but I should check if they ever arrived on most smaller ships such as the Oriskany or Shangri-La. Out of my blurry memory (currently sick with a Covid-like illness) I'm not convinced this was ever the case.Typically, smaller units (like the MD-1 that appeared during the fifties) were still used.

I guess my remark possibly applies as well to the way they trade with resellers! The only plus of the Renaissance set is the fact it is better than the Anyz one for an end of fifties/beginning of sixties western harness.

Hi Bill, To me at least the mark A and possibly the B (later) were used on carriers before 1975. I do not remember having ever seen a mule on an SEA air base picture. Hth Thierry

Take care as close to all old colour charts have noticeable naming errors that were corrected later by authors such as Michael Ullmann. You can probably copy such colours but do not rely on their naming conventions for late war hues.

Nobody ever said that blue should be used on late war Luftwaffe fighters! The issue came when people making hypothesis without firm evidence allocated the 83 number to one of the fighters camo colors. We had an even worse case with the alleged RLM 84!

Ordering from Renaissance needs patience as they look to be old school with regard to technology use. So you need to be patient and not hesitate to send a reminder if things do not move. To me this was Ok but it is true we are sharing the same native language.

Actually I'm still surprised some people do not think RLM83 is a blue colour used on maritime schemes because evidences were found at least close to 20 years ago...

Hello, Various sets were released but are OOP for long and appear on auction sites from time to time (such as the Verlinden or Reheat ones) . Currently the following links are probably showing the only available options: https://www.renaissance-models.com/ter/index.php/avions-toutes-echelles/echelle-1-32/produits/957-boucles-de-harnais-modernes Or https://anyz.io/shop/product/AN056 Hth Thierry

Years ago I got one nail varnish bottle shaker powered by a transformer. This is cheap, efficient, has no batteries and accept all bottle sizes. This has exactly the same function than a hobbyist paint shaker but the price is divided by three...

You meant there was a bit of Rapier in the Firefox...😉

Yes it has.

Actually the Cobra company UH-1N nose is cheating. It 'looks' better as it is less blunt than the kit one. However the issue of the plastic part is not linked to the tip cross section. The windshield should be shorter and the nose should consequently start higher, giving the feeling it is pointier because there should be a harder slope on the top. I think Cobra choose the best compromise considering the kit issues. Recently I had a look at the resin part a friend has as I wondered how the correction of the master was done. This is not that difficult to do oneself. The guy who made it started with an horizontal cut done from the middle of the tip and going to each side but stopping some mm before each side end to keep the part integrity and add it easily on the fuselage. Then he used files as the more you go far from the tip the less the height of the cut has to be important. Seen from the front you should get a kind of flat crescent shape. When done, he added inside the center of the nose a vertical bulkhead going from its rear to the tip (surely glued on the nose bottom). Finally he forced the two horizontal halves together to be sure the top section was following the top of the bulkhead and glued, puttied and sanded the seam between the halves. This gives a pointier nose!

Actually it is not that easy to release USAF SEA scheme decal sets for such Skyraider marks. There are far less pictures than for the single seaters. There were far less nose arts and it is very difficult to find different views of the same airframe. I realized that when I did the research work for the Zotz sets.

And I forgot: I also received various free goodies!

The other types dropped dinghies and/or led the rescue patrol boats to the pilots floating in the Channel!

I do not have this set but ordered various accessories from them as their catalogue is huge. Delivery was not a very quick one but the parts printing was flawless and the price quite attractive. Recommended.

Releasing 2000 boxes of this kit would not be profitable if 95% of the contents would not be recycled. So this is not comparable with the Airfix 1/24 mainstream marks release.

There are other options besides the excellent Archer ones. Micromark, Eduard, Quinta and HGW have different types of positive rivets in their ranges.

At last plastic recce Spits...!

I have one. I'm using it for vacforms (quicker work), very fragile resin parts, brittle canopies and a lot of 3d printed parts. This is rarely an absolutely necessary tool but when you have it to clean very fragile or intricate brittle parts, this helps noticeably. Honestly I only got one as I could purchase it as a professional tool because the best ones (typically made in Japan) are quite expensive.

Well done! Typically the kind of project I'm loving!!!