Afterburner Decals

Instead of putting a ton of qualifiers in here, can I just say that is one of the nicest vpers I've ever seen....and then ask about the scheme? I don't have that release, but is the 3-tone scheme still being shown by Tamiya in their instructions? This isn't critique of the model because its executed brilliantly, but watch the Tamiya painting instructons as they haven't gotten them right yet. That jet is 2-tone and all Tamiyas subjects have been 2-tone schemes. Again, superb model man, really first rate!

Some more for ya....

That's a big 10-4 good buddy....this winter, maybe spring. The 555th is printing right now, the buzzards are next (WICKED sheet with a bunch of noseart) and then the flagships....couple of 3 permutations of the wing jet, the OG jet from 3 eras and the OSS jet. Also, gotta kick the 23rd out. What are you seeing about the AR door #s? Need more build pics dammit! Little teaser:

I tend to agree with you, but at the time we were under the impression that we were bound by the same colo(u)r restrictions as we were with MicroScale....which is a choice between 2 reds....one that was far too dark and one that was far too orange. (the color in the tiny bee was the "other" chice for red) Normally it doesn't make a ton of difference on most things, but I thought it might on those tailflashes....which is why I ever-so-thoughtfully provided you with the markings for the inside of the tail flash separately in case you wanted to merely paint the red band or use some red solid decal film. The flashes turned out just a smige dark, but they are certainly in the ballpark. As we've evolved here we aren't bound by the same restrictions as we were. I also tend to agree about the dark grays, though on that sheet they came out pretty close. We print that color in Federal Standard 36118 now instead of the pantone we were using and it looks a bit better. That's a bang-up job there Rich, it surely is!

Yeah.....not so much I bet. Pretty much they're done with the F-15E quality stuff. The Super Bugs were just awful, and that was a concious, $$$ decision by Revell. I'd honestly rather Trumpy gave it a go. Hell, if Airfix wanted to make a fin like their Lightning......mmmmm The Tiffies wre RoG correct? Ain't that a whole different animal these days?

The RAAF calls them HUG (Hornet Upgrade) 1 or 2, but they are essentially the A+ config. The most visible difference is the dummy catapult bar on the nosegear.

The additional chaff buckets are in the Eduard set. It also contains the 2 "lawnmower blade" scab plates for the base of the tail if you are doing the current block 32s. If its an earlier era jet, it won't have them. Which one are you starting with? You got the very last of those sheets we had, LOL! We're gonna reprint it for Tamiya plus 3 1/32 jets here in a bit. If you don't have Jake Melampy's viper book, do yourself a favor and pick one up. Helion in the UK is his european distributor, but you can also order from him directly. http://www.reidairpublishing.com/RAP02.html

Yes....it does

HOLY CRAP!! Nobody ever called me "decent" before Here's the gouge on the colors.....I agree....the tail codes are too dark....all the FS 36118 markings are too dark....on everybody's sheet.....but here's why: The colors on these things are somewhat of a black art because there are SO many variables. We use standard pantone colors.....Cartograf can match to FS colors, but I'm not happy with them either as they are too light, and thus don't match the available paint very well....there seems to be no happy medium with gunship it seems. The 36270 is way too light....put a light gray stencil on the light gray paint and see what I mean. A custom mix is possible, BUT....big BUT, its expensive....you cannot guarantee consistency from print to print, and you have no way to gauge that until you see it in the flesh, and if its wrong...well thats bad. What happens is, the further away from the color the decal is supposed to represet, the better it looks to the eye. The too dark markings look ok to me because they are set back apart from the demarcation lines for the most part, and too dark looks a lot better than too light. The major problem is matching the decals to the multitude of paint available....no 2 are the same, so which one do you go with? We tend to go with Model Master merely because of availability, but I personally prefer Gunze. Its more accurate to my eye, but it throws off the look of the markings....we are matching the colors not to the actual FS colors on the real jets, but rather to the available paint for the models....does that make sense? If we printed them exactly matched to the real FS numbers, they'd look awful on the models since the paint isn't exactly matched. In terms of F-15 colors, we use 2 different color grays than anybody else, which we think looks better, but the viper colors we didn't mess with....they are the 2 best out there for the most ammount of paint, and its much easier to lighten them with weathering than darken them. Its a "best option in the face of no perfect one" type of situation. The naval colors are the same way....we use the best available pantone color, but if you put them on a real jet, they'd look terrible. The viper colors are very close....not perfect, but very close. Like I said, black art.

Hey Gary, Why is it that this is the first time I've ever seen that picture? At some point, can I just get you to burn me a disc of your pics? There isn't any freaking telling what you have squirelled away, and finding out about it piecemeal is just tedious. I'm RIGHT in the middle of researching PACAF F-4s..........

Its going to be included in the instructions for the new OT sheet here pretty quick. The TER-9A is just the standard viper TER. Shawn Hull is working on a BRU-57 as we speak, as well as SDBs.

The JDAM part is attached to existing bombs.....the first ones they used in Iraq back in fall '04 were early 80s vintage supposedly. They use the Mk 82 500lb one for both GBU-38s and GBU-12s. The covers are a fuze package. This is the BRU-57. This is the currently cleared ordnance for vipers

Those are GBU-38 500lb JDAMs on a BRU-57 "smart rack.....and a Sniper targeting pod. On the other side hangs a GBU-12 LGB....I LOVE CCIP!!! Most USAF markings are stickers these days.....which is funny since they leave noticeable clear borders with silvering.

Because people are just different, that's why. Its no more or less simple than that. Its just the way it is. People just like different things, have different "standards" and get different things from their hobby. Its like that everywhere else in life too. The difference is, nobody lights into you for being "irritating" because you view things a certain way. You term it "bash" and I guarantee you, that isn't the way Mike, or anybody else views their comments, and it isn't up to you to label it.....unless you'd like your comments to be viewed thru the prism of somebody else and have them labeled and largely mischaracterized. Again, how any other person chooses to participate in this hobby should affect you >< that much. Unless you are trying to tell me that there isn't room for everybody's POV....which I don't believe you are, you have to allow for people who don't see things like you do. Nobody ever forces you to participate in "bashing" if that's what you'd like to term it. It appears that what you are trying to get me to buy is that only people like you need apply, and wouldn't things just be ducky if everybody would just "see the good in things". People who say things like "well, it LOOKS like a spitfire to me" do not view things the way I do. Yup, it does look like a spit....in asmuch as it doesn't really look like a P-47. Yet, it would be the absolute height of arrogance to suggest that they alter their POV to more closely resemble mine, because I am apparently just unable to let them enjoy their freakin' kit the way they want to. Nobody makes me buy or build crappy kits, and the fact that some people do and LOVE them affects me not in the slightest. The crappy kit fairy has not a single time snuck in my shop and replaced my beloved Tamiya kits with Starfix ones....ever. On the I-Net, I can choose to participate in what I want to....nobody makes me read threads that are syrupy with false praise for bad kits. I don't forsee a time when that will occur. When it does, I will stop going to the net. People have ceased discussing the KITS and divided into HOW they discuss them, as if it actually matters to the inanimate box of styrene. I am forced to return to if you are allowing the opinions of another modeler about how he views any aspect of his own personal hobby to affect you and your enjoyment of yours, then the answer is not external, and never will be. If what another modeler says about a plastic model kit "irritates" you to the point where you feel you must call them names, label them and castigate them, because it is your feeling that there isn't enough room for everybody......well, you know where I'm going with this then..... If we all did it the same, how boring would that be?

Well, again....here's what eludes me.....so what? What is it that "irritates" you about what another guy likes or dislikes about a model? Why become SO emotionally invested in a lump of styrene that you'd castigate the opinions of other real life, flesh and blood fellow modelers "whining"? The fallacy of poor picked on Trumpeter folding shop because bad ol' internet rivet counters take them to task is well proven....they just don't care....they just don't. The guy who runs it said so. "Don't care...not our market". The only people who seem to care is you and ol' Joe Bob, and it seems that if those who enjoy discussing kits and whatnot apparently have to agree with you, or its pretty much open season on them. Nobody is coming to get your kits, nobody calls YOU names because you accept blithely whatever is put out there, nobody is running any model company out of business over what gets said on the I-net, nobody dies, the sun still rises and and nobody....NOBODY on earth says that YOU cannot be satisfied with any aspect of any kit ever made. Nobody says that. Buy them, build them, be thrilled to death with them, run around the room making airplane noises.....if what any other model geek on the internet says about a kit affects YOUR personal enjoyment of said kit, I have to suggest that the problem does not lie with him.......I'm just sayin' Keep your sprues empty mon ami! My GOD....has it REALLY been that long? Hey, a blind squirell finds a nut occasionally