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The gray in the wheel wells called for by 1-1-4, FS16473, is noticeably darker than the underside gray of the SEA scheme, FS 36622. When I was stationed at what was RAF Woodbridge, our F-4s all appeared to have white undersides, which is how I have always done them, as it was much lighter than FS 36622. Could have been due to weathering and the scale effect of putting FS 36622 on a 72nd scale model. For what it is worth, the F-105D at the Travis AFB Museum, IIRC has gloss white wheel wells. It was painted in a one off desert camo scheme in the early 80s. Later, Dave

Looking over the March 1978 version of T.O. 1-1-4 shows the following: F-100 Natural Metal Landing gear aluminum, wheel wells 34151 SEA Landing gear gloss white, wheel wells 16473 (aircraft gray) F-105 Natural Metal Landing gear and wheel wells aluminum SEA Same as for F-100 Later, Dave

65 X and the yellow lightning bolts are from a unit in the Med. The fin and rudder were painted a medium blue with the yellow lightning bolts. At the moment the exact identification of the unit escapes me, I'm thinking either the 78th,79th or 325th FG. Darn this getting to be an old bugger! Later, Dave

CAM Decals sheet 72A009 has white letters and numbers in Navy style. Nothing there though for making up a unit designation like VU-5 for example. White naval lettering and numbers decal sheets have always been in short supply over the decades I've been in this hobby. Hopefully the CAM sheet is still available, but don't hold your breath. Later, Dave

in actuallity it depends on the time frame that you want to build it in. Air Marshall Robb had SL721 at two different times. The light blue was February to July of 1948. He had it again in a dark blue finish from October 1948 to September 1951. This information comes from the Lifelike decal sheets 72-006 for the light blue paint job and 72-024 for the dark blue finish. Despite what is shown on the instructions for the sheet with the light blue finish, the aircraft always had the standard wings. The Vintage Wings of Canada web page on this aircraft shows this very well. Later, Dave

I have tried dozens of times and it NEVER let me create a new account. I never had one with them before. I have posted about this before in an earlier thread and got nowhere with that either. I always meant to call them, but with the time difference between Denmark and California, I never got around to it. Like I said, SleeperService was able to help me out and I got the decals that I wanted earlier this year. I haven't used any yet but am looking forward to it. For now there is nothing I want to order but in the future you never know! Later, Dave

Therein lies the rub. IF you do not have an existing account with them, YOU CAN NOT CREATE ONE! I tried a bunch of times over several years. Numerous e-mail messages were sent asking for assistance, but I NEVER GOT A REPLY! Finally Sleeper Service, who may check in on this thread, took pity on me and ordered the sheets I wanted along with his order and I paid him back through Pay Pal. I can't garauntee that he will make the same offer, but that is how it is with Stoppel. Later, Dave

OK, I'm intrigued here. Why is a BUFF more "Christmasy"? Is it because of Linebacker II, the so called Christmas bombings of North Vietnam in `72? If you are thinking of NORAD tracking Santa, then one of the deltas, either the F-102 or F-106 would be more "Christmasy". Later, Dave

Found a decal sheet for the CH-3C at the Wolfpak Decals site. It is sheet 72-075: http://www.millcreekconsultants.com/WP72-A075.html One thing though. The decal sheet has the serial number in white, whereas the photo clearly shows it in black! Should be simple to make my own decal for the serial number. Hope to have this sheet on order within the next day or two. They also list the color as FS 16087. Later, Dave

If'n I do buy one or two, it will be Drone Director markings for me! Hey Hannant's, there is an area for you when you come out with decals for these things! Later, Dave

I have several other Sword kits in the stash, to include two Harrier T.4s , the two seat Lightnings, and of course the AEW Gannet! Hopefully these will go together easier than the T-33! Later, Dave

I don't expect Hasegawa or new Eduard or Tamiya quality. I do expect that when you attach the wings to the fuselage that you will have the correct amount of dihedral, or no dihedral, what ever the case may be with the actual aircraft. The SH P-59 kit ended up with anhedral. When they have locating edges for the cockpit floor, I would also expect it to fit correctly, not droop because the floor is too skinny, or be up at an angle because the floor is too wide. Their BT-9 has the floor too narrow, and the NP3B had it too wide. Lots of sanding to finally get it to fit properly. The aft shelf in the BT-9 kit will go where ever it damn well wants to, not where it should be. There are no locating edges or pins or anything of the sort. So now on my completed model it sits low and to one side. I have bought a Pavla resin cockpit for the next one I build even though it will be a little short in length. I will just make a cut and add some plastic sheet to get it to the right length. Now then, did SH really do a test build to make sure things would end up where they are supposed to be? As far as I can tell from the kits of theirs that I have attempted to build and actually finished, HELL NO! After trashing about four or more kits because of impossible engineering (think LeO 37 with myriads of struts and mere dimples to suggest where they are supposed to go, or Nieuport-Delage 621 with main struts that will never, ever, allow the top wing to go into place as on the actual aircraft). The NP-3B is over engineered with way to many pieces for piddling details better served by one part with the little details already on the part. It was also the first SH kit I have been able to actually complete! Once I got the fuselage on the BT-9 buttoned up things went a lot smoother and it was finished as a Swedish pre-war trainer. I have had far fewer problems building AZ kits, but I still buy some SH stuff for the diversity of kits available that no one else has done or will do. A Model is another company that makes you wonder if they ever do test shots of their kits. Lots and lots of sanding and filling on their TU-128, and I have at least one fuselage compartment wall on the Piaggio Avanti that will need some work before the fuselage can be buttoned up. So excuse me if I want to wait for reviews and WIPs to come out first before I plunk my money down on the Sword Furies. Later, Dave

Special Hobby announced an FJ-2 years ago (it is still listed as a future release and Hannant's), and I have not had a lot of luck with their stuff either. I did manage to see a sprue shot of the FJ-2 and based on that it looks a lot better than the T-33. As to an F-80, I'll go with the Airfix kit I have in the stash along with the Airwaves etched brass set. I also have etched brass sets for the Hasegawa T-33s. As far as Furies go, I have both the Valom and Rareplanes kits of the FJ-1, and the Emhar FJ-4B. With a detail set and lots of sanding in the rear I should be able to get it to look like a straight FJ-4 instead of the FJ-4B. Nobody has announced a new FJ-4 kit and you can't get there from the FJ-2 or FJ-3. Later, Dave

The only Sword kit I've built so far was the T-33 and I will never buy another T-33 from them. Major sanding required on the upper wings at the root in order to get the fuselage and wings to fit anywhere near where they are supposed to. The coaming over the pilot's instrument panel was a separate piece and that was a pain to get to sit right as well. The whole front end engineering was rather strange and illogical. I have the old Hasegawa and Heller kits and now also the Platz kit and the engineering in the area as far better. Hopefully they have learned something from the way they did the T-33, but I will hold off a bit before buying any of the promised Furies. Later, Dave

I planned on leaving off the box as that was used only for an exercise. I'll have to check for the color used on Army C-21s since that would have been the color used. I recently acquired the old Revell kit so that started a search for possible finishes. Besides knocking down all the rivet heads, I will also have to get rid of the stub wings on the sponsons since the early aircraft did not have them. Thanks for the info. Later, Dave