Ben Brown

@erix700, the 2019 release was the version I was lucky enough to find a couple of years ago. At the time I didn’t realize it had Cartograph decals and automatically started to use an aftermarket set from Studio 27. Those weren’t much better than the original issue decals. Imagine my surprise and happiness when I noticed the “Printed by Cartograph” on the kit decals! 😄 I’d love to get another one (at a more reasonable price) and build the blue & white one I saw run at Road Atlanta a decade or so ago. Ben

I can't remember if it's the ESCI or Italeri kit, but one of them has the trough for the drag chute cable on both sides of the fuselage. It should only be on the portside. They're both good little kits, as are the Revell F-100D and AMT F-100F. I personally don't think there's anything in the Trumpeter kits besides the slats that's good enough to carry over to the ESCI, Italeri, Revell, or AMT kits. Doubly so for the F-100F.

Looking good! If those old kit decals give you trouble, Indycals makes several Martini decal sheets for this kit. The reds on the decals are true fluorescent red. Just note that he's going on hiatus until September starting June 6. Ben

That turned out great! Ben

Sadly, gone now. Just looking at how much effort the Collings Foundation is having to put into getting their F-4D back in the air, an F-14 seems almost out of reach. F-4 parts are probably a lot more common than Tomcat parts. Ben

Looks like SpotModel still has a couple of SK Decals' sheet for Rossi's car left: LINK Those are the ones I used on mine. Ben

I recently built that kit and really enjoyed it. Are you using the kit decals? Nunu's are some of the best manufacturer's decals I've used. If you don't want to shave the insides of the rear wheel wells to make the too-large kit tires fit, Decalcas makes some very nice 3D printed wheels/tires that are the correct size. I got mine from SpotModel. Ben

I just read that race car driver and Paralympian Alex Zanardi passed away Friday. RIP, sir. Link Ben

I had trouble with their web site being slow a few weeks ago when I tried to order, but was eventually eventually able to place my order. Ben

That's looking great! I love it! I thought the liveries Porsche ran on the 991.1 RSRs were pretty boring. They would've looked so much better if they'd done something like what you're doing here. Yours is so much more flashy and memorable. Ben

It's not ''Oh no, not another GT3RS,' it's "Ooooo cool, another GT3RS!" Yours turned out great! I like the color, too. Ben

This one (as well as the midair at DCA last year) hits far too close to home for me, too. I used to fly CRJs into La Guardia often. My heart goes out to the people on the jet and fire truck , but also to the poor controller. I noticed that when the US Transportation Secretary was specifically asked about whether or not the controller was alone in the tower, he gave a word salad non-answer to a question that had a simple yes or no answer. I won't comment further on the ATC staffing at US airports, other than to say it's been criminally neglected for years. Ben

I would love to see that jet fly! The Diesel Thunder Aviation page on YT is great. They also recently posted a long video showing them doing engine runups on the F-4D. You can hear the short-nozzle J79 hoot at higher power settings. Ben

WOW!!! That is beautiful! Ben

I was curious about that, too. I wonder if they used the five-spoke wheels up front due to the higher stresses put on them because of front wheel drive and steering? The rears wouldn't be under so much stress, so they wouldn't need the added strength of the five spokes and could reduce the weight of the wheel by using the four-spoke version. Just a wild guess, though. Ben