Giorgio N

As a self confessed Tomcat fan, I have to take part! More so as since Dave is a true Tomcat enthusiast and connoisseur, I can not disregard his call. Mine will be a 1/72 model, I'll decide kit and subject closer to the start. No lack of options considering the over 25 kits and the good number of decal sheets in the stash...

I cast my votes first thing this morning before even leaving my bed. Should this GB finally go through, I'll build something from the various colonial conflicts, like a Skyraider or an A-26 (if I find somewhere to display it...). The Invader would be something I'd really like to build, I love the combination of overall black with white roof and tricolour on the rudder

Hasegawa and Fujimi offered lowered flaps and slats decaded ago but none gave a really accurate representation of the flaps. Should Tamiya offer this option in the future they will hopefully do better (GWH also offers lowered flaps I haven't checked their parts in detail yet although I have a couple of their Tomcats)

There's one being built at the moment in the WIP area of the forum, worth a look!

Hard to tell for the simple reason that none of us has seen the Tamiya kit yet. The price is also not confirmed everywhere and may vary in the same way the Academy kit varies. I've bought my Academy D for € 24, doubt that the Tamiya kit will be only slightly cheaper.. at the same time Academy's A seem to sell for €30-35 and should the Tamiya Kit cost around €40-45 it would indeed be only slightly more expensive... until all these details are sorted it's hard to tell. One thing however can be said: the Academy kit includes a lot of parts for different variants, the Tamiya kit from what they have shown til now seems to have only the parts relevant to the D. Tamiya will sure offer other variants in the future, the sprues seem to indicate this. This is not much a problem for the D but if building an A the Academy kit offers parts that allow the modeller to build different configurations through the whole career of the Tomcat (excluding those with the early beavertail). Tamiya will likely force the modeller to choose the box depending on the sibject desired, as they did with their 1/48 kit

Alternatively, a good choice for a Sicilian car would be the blue 1989-90 Fiat Tipo as used by Inspector Montalbano, the main character in an Italian TV series that had quite a good success in other countries, including the UK. That Tipo has become as famous as the character here and is now a symbol of the series, so much that has been retained through the whole run of the series. Not sure if a Tipo of that vintage is available as a kit though Probably more interesting for car modellers, Sicily saw for many years one of the oldest car races, the Targa Florio. This was held from 1906 to 1977 and many important cars raced it. In 1978 it ceased to be an international event and became one of the events of the national rally championship

When Totò Riina, then "boss of the bosses", was arrested after many years in hiding, he was passenger in an old Lancia Ypsilon, the kind of generic small car that can be seen aplenty in every town in Southern Italy. That is not unexpected: the Mafia does not need to get noticed, they blend within the background without showing off. The locals will know who they are anyway. So I'd say a typical car could be something like a Fiat Punto, better if from 15-20 year ago....

Thanks ! Originally the finish showed even more variations. Then I realised that the mix I had used for the darker areas was a bit too red for the MAP colour so this morning I painted some Lifecolor Dark Earth on top. The tonality is now more accurate but I lost some contrast. That will teach me to wait for a time of the day with good natural light before spraying...

I like that they have included the two aircraft with the experimental splinter schemes, Not that these required different markings but it's a nice touch, Personally I would have also included titles for the old IIAF designation, used not only during the reign of the Shah but also in the first days of the Iran-Iraq war

Sicily would open a lot of possibilities for aircraft modellers! WW2 Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica units, postwar US Navy types at Sigonella, many of the aircraft involved in operations over Libya.. should the GB go through I'm sure someone will choose this island

Well, yes the mix did work very well! Paint sprayed beautifully giving a very smooth finish and I had no paint drying on the tip. Very happy with this! I forgot to take a picture of the first coat of lightened Dark Earth so all I can show is this colour after my usual postshading work: As usual, I hope that the various clear coats will not flatten the effect too much...

Let's show some paint! Since my subject featured white ID bands, these had to be painted first. A coat of Tamiya white on wings, elevator and fin, were sprayed first, followed by the same mixed with some grey to add shadows... shadows that are quite hard to see but trust me, they are there The reason I used Tamiya paint is their white covers really well. It's also a tough paint so will resist better to having masks on for several days. Speaking of masks, I simply used masking tape for these: All other colours are from the Vallejo and Lifecolor ranges of acrylics. To thin these I've used for the first time a mix I found proposed here: Will it work?

Sounds fun! Thought about Sicily but it would be too obvious to build something based in Italy so I'd like to book the island of Rhodes in Greece instead

One other variant with the Avon 200 exhaust was the only T.12, that served for several years in a striking white/green scheme. IIRC this was the only Avon 200 powered two-seater in British service

The D has been in my stash for a few months by now, guess we all forgot to mention it here before. It was of course expected as most of the specific D parts were already in the sprues of the first issue