Giorgio N

I seem to remember that not too long ago KP announced that they would rebox the Frog kit with new clear parts in 2026. Pretty suse it was announced on this same forum. PS: said that I wouldn't say no to a new 1/72 Firefly! The Airfix and Frog kits are old while the Special Hobby ones were not the most accurate and are not the easiest to find. Not expecting one from Airfix though, unless they reissue their old kit in the Vintage Classic line

I think that again it is an error induced by confusion: Italy did indeed receive two former Turkish Spitfires but these were Mk.IXs acquired in 1949: PV140 (that became MM4286) and RK803 (MM4287). Guess that the writer of the article mixed these with the Mk.Vs

It's always possible to try again next year, I've seen proposals fail one year and succeed the following one so who knows, this may well become a reality in 2027. In the meantime, I would suggest trying to build subjects related to this GB into one of the GBs that will get through if this is possible. For example, since I chose Rhodes as "my island", I may build a Bf.109 based there in the 109 STGB

Thanks for the list @Geoffrey Sinclair ! One thing worth keeping in mind: the dates indicated for the Mk.Vs are those when the aircraft was officially assigned to the Italian air force, not when they started serving with what was known as the Cobelligerant Air Force. Most have two dates indicated: one in June 1945, that is when the aircraft were given to the "new" Aeronautica Militare. The second is in 1947, that is when the aircraft received the Matricola Militare (MMxxxx), that is the standard serial number system used by the Italian military forces. Before it was decided to assign an MM to all aircraft given by the Allies during the war, these were identified by their original British serial number (or US serial for types like the P-39) Many of the Mk.Vs that received the MM in 1947 were not operational anymore by then but since they were officially on charge of the Air Force they were assigned one

This should fit fine in the Not Usual Color Scheme https://www.caracalmodels.com/references/cd72067/cd48120ref1.jpg

Like all F-4S

That article got things a bit confused.... For a starter, 352 Sqn was an RAF unit! And so were all Greek manned units (335 and 336 Sqn.) and the Free French ones were too. They may have manned by foreign personnel but they were part of the RAF and complied to all RAF standards. The USAAF aircraft are a bit different: the USAAF used a good number of Spitfire V and some Italian aircraft had previously served with them. However these aircraft had been returned to the RAF when replaced by other types in USAAF service and they were all given to RAF Maintenance Units that refurbished them before issuing them to other RAF units. The above means that regardless of their previous service, all Italian Spitfire Vs were supplied by the RAF and were finished according to RAF regulations.. or at least the interpretation of these regulations of the local MU, that opens a different can of worms as MTO based MUs are known to have applied schemes that varied in various aspects from the official ones. Things didn't change during the service of these aircraft in Italian markings: the unit was under control of an RAF wing and while daily maintenance was resposibility of the unit maintenance group, anything above a certain level was the task of 110 MU of the RAF The mention of aircraft from Turkey is on the other hand very strange: by 1947 the Spitfire Vs had all been assigned to the pilot school in Lecce as it had been decided the previous year to replace them with Spitfire IXs. By the end of the year there was only one operational aircraft and the type was officially retired a few months later. There would have been no need for any Spitfire from Turkey, more so as there were plenty of Spitfires in the RAF depots in Italy. Have to say that this is the first time I ever heard of any Spitfire coming from Turkey. In general when it comes to books this is the one that includes more material on the Italian Spitfires: https://www.larmadilloeditore.it/prodotto/spitfire-italiani/ The chapter on the camouflage schemes is IMHO not the best, particularly when it comes to the wartime schemes. The authors sure know about the operations of these aircraft but I have a feeling that they didn't have a deep knowledge of RAF regulations on the matter. There are also several errors in the captions and the text when it comes to certain details (Vbs mistaken for Vcs and so on). At the same time the number of pictures included is very good and the history of the type in Italian service is told very well, also throwing light on some lesser known aspects (like the use of recce configured Mk.IXs).

Whoops, didn't realize I wrote 828... of course it's 818, 828 was a typo

That thing looks big! Wonder how it was carried. 56-0749 was used to launch test rockets and these were small enough to fit under the fuselage. If one of the F-104As was used, then the would have had to fit under the fuselage as well. Speaking of test Starfighters, I should buy me a set of the Caracal sheet myself, there are at least a couple of aircraft I'd loke to build from that. I also want to build a later NASA aircraft in the later white/blue scheme but have decals for these. Just have to decide between a single and a two-seater

That is the variant I'm waiting for! Thing that didn't prevent me from buying a "regular" A-1 but I was a bit disappointed to see the A-3 offered only to club members

ANR 109s are an interesting subject! I have a couple planned myself, one of them an Eduard G-10 like yours but in 1/72 Said that, I wouldn't consider their markings as much less problematic than the nazi ones: the forces of the RSI puppet government behaved no better than the germans, killing civilians in quantity, burning houses, rouding up people to be sent to concentration camps and spreading terror across the Country, both on their own and in support of the German army and SS units. Of course the air force only focused on their activity, mainly air defence since there was not much else they could do at that point in the war.

Personally I was more surprised of the opposite: how could a very popular type like the P-40 lag so far behind ? That this stgb has caught up with the most voted ones makes sense to me considering the number of kits on the market and the many interesting markings the Curtiss fighter wore.

A drawing template is still useful: it can't be used directly on the model of course but can be used to make a scribing template out of plasticard, acetate or similar material. Just put the sheet under the template and then use a steel needle to cut through the material

It's a typical early Esci kit, very basic with fine raised panel lines. The shape is not great, with a few very visible problems, in particular the length of the hump behind the cockpit. being the only option apart from clones of the same kit, there's not much choice... Neomega used to make a nice cockpit, that the kit really needs

NASA used a number of F-104 variants. In 1959 however there would have been only early Starfighters: - The 7th YF-104, part of NASA fleet with number 828 - 2 USAF F-104A, that don't seem to have received NASA numbers - 1 F-104B, that however only arrived in late 1959 so it's unlikely to have been used in such tests. In addition there may have been a number of other USAF aircraft temporarily assigned to them, I would have to check. Now with the exception of the 2-seater, all would have been F-104A. There's no OOB kit for an F-104A in 1/72 but the Revell F-104C would only differ in small details so it's a suitable option. It's not the best F-104 kit around but it's the only one currently available that allows an early short-chord tail Starfighter to be built. It's also been sold in a Monogram box and is currently available as a rebox from Academy, so easy to find. One alternative that can be found in the pre-owned kit market is the Esci F-104C, later reboxed by italeri as an F-104A. It's less detailed than the Revell one and the canopy does not look right but it is also better in some areas. In general the Hasegawa kit is the best around but they do not offer anA from the box so building one needs some work and a set of aftermarket wheels. IMHO it's a very doable conversion Fine Molds has recently announced a new F-104J that judging by the parts hints at a future F-104A/C as well but none has been released yet. This promises to be the best around. Regarding the colour scheme, I believe the one seen on 56-0749 would be the correct one for the era (actually this aircraft, one of the two ex USAF ones may well have been the one used for the tests) https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/f-104-starfighter/ Natural metal with white/grey wings and dayglo on the tail, wingtips and behind the radome, with NASA titles in a black-bordered yellow band on the tail