ModelMod

I have been following this thread as I'm planning a similar FAW.9(R) project, so I'm very grateful to @Navy Bird efforts on his beautiful work. Now, I'm also very interested in those 3D parts! How can I purchase them? 😀

I have no idea when did those treaded tires first come into use, in fact, I'm trying to find out the same thing. So far, I've only been able to find a photo of a Beau with those tires, the one preserved in the US Air Force Museum in Ohio.

Check the 2019 Italeri catalogue, several Fujimi reissues are planned.

Outstanding model! A beautiful masterpiece, as usual with Libor's work. Just an observation: Crippa's 339 was armed with ZUNI rocket pods, not Matra, and have all four hardpoints installed. During the attack on HMS Argonaut, apparently just two ZUNI pods were carried on the inboard pylons. Fortunatelly it's an easy fix, and the pods are available at Hasegawa Weapons Set X72-1.

I think it's very unlikely to be a reissue. The 1990's MPM kit has been long OOP, and in fact is one of the very first injected efforts from the company. A very few of the "red box" MPM kits were reissued in the "Upgrade Series" white boxes in the late '90s, and after that were deleted from catalogue. As far as I know, those moulds can not be injected anymore. In fact, none has been reissued. One of the box arts shows an FH-1 with external fuel tank, that feature wasn't included in the old kit. This are greats news, that's for shure!

I understand that the first carrier trials of the Alizé were aboard HMS Eagle, 1958 as Arromaches was in dry dock by the time: http://www.ffaa.net/aircraft/alize/alize.htm Perhaps the decision about it can be based on a logic of "Early", "Mid" and "Late" versions, and of course, the Indian Navy ones, if the kit is actually the Alizé. Maybe two boxes would have been enough, I don't know. Anyway, it's a nice aircraft, so it would be a nice subject.

I can't think of four different boxings for just the F4U-4B alone. And if I'm not wrong, more than 1700 Fireflies were produced. It's a good one, but I think four boxings would be too many... and we already have the 1/72 Azur "Armée de l'Air & Aéronavale" kit. What about the Sea Venom / Aquilon family? How many were produced? I can dream on four boxings: FAW.21 / 22, FAW.53, Aquilon 202, Aquilon 203. The Vanneau family also come to my mind, and certainly come close to some of FRrom's hints, but AFAIK it only served in Algeria. The 474 was the Aeronavale version but I understand just the prototype was carrier-capable, and the sea trials were apparently done aboard the Arromanches. I think it didn¿t serve in the Pacific at all and, as you noted, there were more than 300 produced. Nice family of aircraft, though. I have my suspicions about a possible (french) subject that meets all requirements published so far, but I'll wait for further information... :-)

Some of the latest announcements from AZ Model are very probably Pavla-based, as some of their releases under the Admiral, Legato and AZ brands in the latest years have been. For example: - AZ Model's P-26 Peashooters (#7218, #7219 and #7220) are based on the Pavla #72046 kit. - Admiral's Fairchild Forwarders (#7231, #7232, #7233 and #7234) are based on Pavla #72029. - AZ Model's range of Tiger Moths (#74008, #74015, #74022, #74070, #74071, #74072, #74073 and #74094) are based on Pavla #72051. - Admiral's Oxford kits (#7233, #7234, #7235, #7236 and #73085) are based on Pavla #72041. - The three Admiral's Vultee Valiant kits (#7237, #7238, #7239) are based on Pavla #72028. - There's one Admiral (#7222) and three AZ Model (#73059, #73060 and #73067) Mitsubishi Ki-30 kits based on Pavla #72016. - There are two AZ Model (#7224 and #7225) and two Admiral (#7211 and #7212) Vought F6U kits based on Pavla #72010. All this noted above are not exactly Pavla repops: some resin pieces of the original Pavla boxings now are in the plastic sprues, new inyected canopies have replaced the vacuforms from the original releases, and the photo-etched frets (when included) are way different in layout and contents, but the basic plastic pieces remain basically the same. In one way or another, it's nice to still have these models available. In view of this, it seems fair to assume that this selection of the latest announcements from AZ Model will be Pavla-based: - The Kawasaki Ki-102 Randy was in Pavla's catalogue (#72008). - The Grumman G-44 Gosling was in Pavla's catalogue (#72023). - The Vought OS2U Kingfisher was in Pavla's catalogue (#72025). - The Cessna UC-78 Bobcat was in Pavla's catalogue (#72022). I remember that in this same forum there was a mention about the AZ Model acquisition of Pavla moulds some time ago, but I can't find that thread right now. Of course, we are not talking here about ALL recent AZ Model or Kovozávody Prostějov announcements, just the ones related to previous Pavla kits. There are a lot of new kits coming from AZ Model wich are 100% new moulds, and I'm glad to see so many new kits announced for release! Hope this information to be helpful to you.

There's something odd in this recent Sword Banshee, a strange omission also found in their recent F9F-8P Cougar. Both previous Banshee kits featured prepainted etched frets from Eduard (all photos from Modelimex): #72077 - F2H-2 Banshee Source: https://www.modelimex.com/1-72-f2h-2-banshee-2x-camo-pe-parts #72078 F2H-2P Photo Banshee Source: https://www.modelimex.com/1-72-f2h-2p-photo-banshee-2x-camo-pe-parts Now, the latest F2H-2N Banshee nightfighter includes a plain brass etched fret: Source: https://www.modelimex.com/1-72-f2h-2n-banshee-nightfighter-2-decal-vers Curious, since all three etched frets feature a similar design (something logical, of course) even in the inclusion of the instruments panel backing piece, where the dials are printed in the prepainted sets. Fortunatelly, Sword included a backing film to solve this issue. Now, something similar happens with their recent F9F-8P Photo Cougar, whose etched fret has all the appearance of having been designed to be prepainted, but it was finally released as plain brass and acetate: Source: https://www.modelimex.com/1-72-f9f-8p-photo-cougar-2-decal-versions Even the instructions sheet shows the instruments panel as a tipical prepainted panel, with backing plate, not film: Source: http://www.hyperscale.com/2015/reviews/kits/sword72087reviewmd_1.htm Certainly this does not affect the buildability of these models, but I was surprised to find this difference amongs the three Banshee kits. (By the way, Sword's Strikemaster / Jet Provost does not include any etched fret, but Isuspect that maybe this was considered in the original planning of the kit: the lack of seatbelts for both seats maybe is a hint, as the small sprue containing instruments panel and little pieces that could have been made in etched brass... but this is just speculation. It would have been nice to have a nicely detailed cockpit with such a large bubble canopy!) Beyond all this, is great to see Sword releasing such interesting subjects.

Another boxing just announced by Special Hobby, "British Single Seaters": http://www.mpmkits.net/2015/07/sh72322-folland-gnat-f-mki-british.html Apparently this boxing will also include decals for an airplane from the "Top Shots" movie!

Just posted on Valom's website: http://www.valom.net/pripravujeme_en.html

Here's the PDF: http://www.eduard.com/store/out/media/48132.pdf

That's right: the weapons sprue included in this kit is exactly one of the sprues from Trumpeter's A- 7E : Source: http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/tru/kit_tru_2231.shtml

I was puzzled by that one, too! And yes, it seems to be a USN zap. What a pity that is not included in the kit's sheet. According to the Warpaint bok, in a photo of XL450 (page 34) the caption mentions that the zap is "a large squadron badge belonging to RVAW-120 acquired during a period when the flight was disembarked at NAS Norfolk, Virginia early in 1976". A quick search gave me this image: If I remember correctly, the Alley Cat additional decals for their AEW.3 resin kit includes an XL450 option with that zap on its fuselage. About the "B" Flight markings, I'm a little confused about the cartoon bee orientation. The Sword's kit decals shows both bees looking forwards, but I thought that the port bee should be orientated forwards, while the starboard bee should be looking back. Again, Alley Cat shows this orientation of the cartoon bees on their XL472 markings: This photo of XL471, dated 1977, shows the starboard bee looking back: http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1155060/ I'll try to dig a little more on my references. It would be interesting to resolve this issues.

Another "Future Release" recently listed at Hannants: #72092 - McDonnell F2H-2N Banshee Nightfighter - http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW72092 The previous F2H-2 / F2H-2P are great kits. Now, can we have a new mould of the F2H-3/4 Big Banjo, please?