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Hello all, I'm new here and wanted to share a recent project, one that is nine tenths finshed - but may benefit from being shown from the beginning. I've loved Phantoms since I was a child - their taut, 'business-like' appearance and reputation for power and speed always appealed. Later, as a young(er) adult I was also fortunate enough to see, courtesy of Her Majesty, an RAF version engage ground targets with its vulcan gun. Not something to forget in a hurry. Anyhow, my build is a US Navy version, namely the VF-92 aircraft flown by Curt Dose and Jim McDevitt in their successful raid on Kep airfield in 1972. It is a fascinating story - engagingly told by the pilot himself here . I also like the white noses of that squadron and the 'I-don't-give-a-damn-whether-you-can-see-me-or-not' attitude of the overall schemes of that period. My version is a bit different from most models of this or similar subjects, however. I set out to build-in the following features: working flight controls, retractable undercart, wheel suspension, working lights, illuminated cockpit and gunsight, openable canopy, deployable flaps and arrester hook and spinning compressor blades. It is, as you can imagine, quite a lot to pack into a model, even of this size. And how well it works, well, you'll be able to judge for yourselves. Why? Well I had some success doing some of this with a 1:24 Trumpeter Hurricane a couple of years back and fancied the challenge of mimicking the very different operation of a jet's controls - more on that later. But generally, I like the idea of a model being able to show some of the life of the real thing, so the model can sort of explain itself in other words. Some other boat and vehicle projects I've done in the same vein can be seen here if anyone is interested. Where to begin? I started with the wheels, imagining - wrongly - that these would be straightforward, especially after the nightmare complexity of the Hurricane. But, in reality F4s have, like a lot of naval aircraft, quite complex wheel geometry - not apparent when you look at them - to say nothing of the linkages between the landing leg itself and the secondary doors. So I had to make each of the main struts in brass, and adjustable in all axes, so I could firm up on the motion when I had worked out what it should be. You can just about make out the screw that will tighten the landing gear when the correct angle was worked out. Next discovery was that the gear struts themselves are almost certainly not quite in the right place on the model. No matter how I tried to work it, the wheels and doors could not function properly, this close to the fuselage. And indeed if you compare the wheel doors to available drawings, the secondary door (the little outboard gear door on each main wheel) is larger in real life than on the model. I concluded the wheels must be about 2 or 3mm too far inboard. I also wanted the wheels to turn freely so fitted bearings. You can more or less see that the strut itself looks like real chrome... and that is because it is. I found this remarkable - as in easy to use - kit from the US that allows you to chrome up (well polished) brass tube and I made a lot of use of it on this project. The oleo struts are supported by small springs in the cylinder. The slot in the oleo is to keep the wheel pointing in one direction as it slides up and down past a locating pin. The nose gear works the same way. You can see I had to replace the plastic 'scissors' as the orignals would break quickly when the gear moves up and down. Here you can see one of the main gear struts in the retracted position. The scissors are from the Eduard set and are useful for this kind of project, as long as the pieces are soldered rather than glued. You can just about make out what turned out to be the solution to the geometry issue. The main hinge is angled downward in the forward direction and slightly outward from the fuselage in the horizontal axis. This general arrangement was found by experiment - and confirmed by photographs. It is also worth mentioning that either the model wing section is too shallow or the gear too deep but, as supplied, they cannot possibly retract and I had to narrow the tires and wheels by about 1.5mm. Also, there is a sort of connecting piece across the well that is severely in error and prevents retraction, whatever the shape or thickness of the gear. That had to go. But because no one will see in the wheel well I have not replaced it with a corrected part. Hope this is of interest. Next up, engines and fans...

Some pictures from the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field, Topeka, Kansas. A collection of aircraft, mostly from the cold war era. One of the notable displays is a Lockheed EC-121T-LO Warning Star (FAA Reg. Number N4257U). These pictures were taken in 2006. The interior has an interesting choice of colors.

Hello and good day to you all. At first, for all the large scale plane lovers happy newyear. After i saw the build of Ian his Early Warning Star i tought:"Wow, this is big and this is SUPER". So i order a Connie at Tigermodels. Almost a year now it was parked on a shelf in my hobbyroom. I think it is time to make a little start now. The idea is to build a EC-121R Batcat. A Connie that flew during the Vietnam war. The plane flew as a relay aircraft over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. A lot of sensors were dropped on the trail. The sensors send its signal to the Batcat. They pass the signal true to a base. This was a small part of operation Igloo White. My Batcat will be the famous Da Nang Glider. Plane number 67-21487. This plane had it's four prop's feathterd during the flight. The plane made a emergency landing on Da Nang airbase. So here are some pics. A Batcat over the trail http:// A pic. in one of the many books i have about the Connie http:// The body finaly on the workbench http:// The main body filled with foam. http:// So this is it for now.

Well I heard about the fellow youve been dancin with All over the neighbourhood So why didnt you ask me baby? Didnt you think I could? Well I know that the boogaloo is outta sight But to shake a leisure thing tonight Would it happen to me and you baby? I wanna show you how to do it right... Do it right. uh huh. do it right. do it right, do it right, do it right, Do it right! Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! [chorus] Twist it! shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it baby! Here we go loop di loo! Shake it out baby! Here we go loop di lie! Bend over, let me see you shake your tail feather (bis) Come on, let me see you shake your tail feather (bis) So - talking of Tail Feathers... Tail fins have been primed with Halfords grey plastic primer and laid over a blown up scale drawing from priginal Lockheed plans. Dimensions cross checked and shape corroberated against photo's. The moulded fins are too short - luckily by about the thicknes of the tailplane. You can see the fin being split in two where it will go either side of the tailplane - along with the cut-out rudders. Here's one half after surgery. A lot of cleaning up and re-shaping will be needed... Here's the tailplane - smoothed - shaped/corrected - and under multiple coats of primer... Have fun... Iain