niki

Hi Dann, one could maybe argue that the Condor kit sports some good-enough contours and perhaps it even scores in the dimensional department, but given alternatives for the 9.12 (MiG-29A) such as the Airfix, Italeri and Trumpeter kits (listed here alphabetically and all with their own little faults), as Giorgio already mentioned, you would certainly be guaranteed a more enjoyable build and a finer detailed result by going for either of those other three labels.

Yes, the owner has been doing the local modelling community here a big favor over the last two decades, importing kits from both the West and the East. For us locals, prices have always been competitive when compared to ordering by yourself from abroad and covering P&P and even customs fees. Should you guys in the E.U. find a good deal in the shop, it comes with the additional advantage of fast postal transit times and lack of any additional customs/ handling fees at the destination. All decals and kits under the Parcmodels label are sourced from the Ukraine, so quality is that that you would find in other products stemming from there: good enough not to ruin your day

If you go that route and don't have a better source for the decals, you could just go directly to Parcmodels/ Hobby-Park: http://www.hobby-park.ro/en/produs.php?id=5442&page=1 Even though they are dirt cheap, they are thin and do work just fine.

HobbySearch has got it listed at about £25 plus shipping. That probably more than qualifies as 'bearable' for those needing just that extra bit of additional Tomcat hardware. I remember being very excited when those Model Graphix magazines came out, but in the end I could not justify the expense (incl. S&H, VAT and possibly custom fees) for a 1/72 kit. It sure looks very nice, but so do all the Hasegawa, Fujimi, Hobby Boss and Revell Tomcats in the stash, if you ask me. http://bestanimations.com/Military/Planes/F-14/f14-tomcat-animated-gif-1.gif

The Osprey "US Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965–70" book says on page 91 that F-4B BuNo 151488 was lost near Hanoi in November 1967 and never flew with VF-111. Can it be that two different airframes would have been identified by the same Bureau Number?

Hello Sergey, a bit late this reply and hopefully you would have solved your problem by now. If not, I'm afraid I have: 1. Bad news - I am not able to help with precisely 3-view shots as requested. Sorry. 2. Worse news - you may want to lose the cat Intolerable to mess your build up! Seriously though, I did manage to take these pictures of said HUD part from my kit. Ruler is in millimeters. Feel free to look at the biggest resolution (~ 2800*2100) available: https://www.flickr.com/photos/niki_g/37221191382/sizes/l https://www.flickr.com/photos/niki_g/37221188962/sizes/l https://www.flickr.com/photos/niki_g/36994834520/sizes/l https://www.flickr.com/photos/niki_g/36994837490/sizes/l There are some intricate shapes alright, but don't be too harsh on yourself when potentially scratch-building the piece: it's a very tiny affair indeed, so a slightly wrong angle or missing curve on the HUD won't make the J-10 uglier Let's see the finished model once completed Cheers, Niki

Somewhat late, but maybe still of help. From Zvezda's website: http://www.zvezda.org.ru/en/distributors It was using the contact details above that I managed a couple of years ago to obtain a replacement for a faulty canopy from Zvezda's Su-27 kit. All it took was an e-mail to the shown address with details of the kit, where and when I did purchase it and [in my case] pictures of the problem. An e-mail reply came in a matter of days with an estimated time frame for solving the problem and, indeed, five weeks later the replacement sprue arrived at no charge. Cheers, Niki

I, for one, would go that route. This fellow did a similar job in 1/144 (taking the somewhat misshapen Revell winglets and turning them into sharklets): https://modelbrouwers.nl/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=42327&sid=0392d5a4dbaca8a9b05078f02a8a6aff Not a 1/1 match but, as you said, close enough. Cheers, Niki

Thanks, Ken!

Well, it "only" took one and a half years. I'll be on the lookout for a box P.S.: Colin, one day. One day, for sure!

Has any of you got both the Italeri and the Trumpeter Su-34 in the stash? I wonder if one could just cut off the nose from the Italeri kit and graft it to the Trumpeter fuselage? I am thinking here about the dimensions of the cross section in the fuselage where the nose starts. I noticed Antoine mentioning a resin upgrade coming up, but I try to avoid using resin whenever possible and as I already have the Italeri kit... Cheers, Niki

The A2G LanceR A variant was the lower cost (lack of Elta 2032 radar) cousin of the LanceR C. There was stuff the LanceR A couldn't do compared to the C, but nothing really the A could do that wasn't accessible to the LanceR C. Anyway, after the LanceR A was sent into retirement, the LanceR C officially became what it had been from the beginning: a multirole (I'm referring here to the ability of conducting A2A and A2G missions - not getting into the theory and true capabilities of a multirole...). Mind you, a targeting pod hung under the belly isn't automatically associated with an A2G mission. They do use it for A2A target identification at greater range also. Lots of choices for you then of things to put under the wings.

Great WIP of a beautiful looking bird! Thanks for sharing, Niki

Man, that's some serious hardware... Looking forward to seeing them finished!

Maybe switch the Spice and Kh-31 between them? Looks like with the Spice on there, the R-77 are "hitting" the Spice's wings... Great progress of a crisp build! I always get inspired by such ideas Cheers, Niki L.E.: I see the R-77 are not quoted in your weapons list, so maybe they're not staying?