LeVi Tophatter

Hmmm... I'd still make a bet on Hasegawa pumping out the F-35B and F-35C before anyone else, they've setup their tooling to make it relatively quick and easy to do... The other companies so far haven't seemed to have taken such a modular approach. On the other hand, the Cyber Hobby (Dragon?) releases look pretty good, apart from yet another F-16CJ Block 50!!! What the fascination with this particular 'Wild Weasel' is, is a mystery. An MLU, ADF or workhorse Block 30/32 would have been nice, endless colourful options too... Rant over and padded cell door slammed shut.

No probs Wardog. In 1/72 scale and with the Fujimi A-4E/F nose section to hand, I would just flatten the bottom of the bulged section even more for that sharper look. Sectional-wise, the A-4E/F appears very close also. It's quite bizarre! If I had both the Fujimi A-4M and A-4E/F kit's, I would just chop off the hinged nosecone from the A-4E/F and fix it to the A-4M front fuselage. Sort out a few panel lines and the strips on the radome, etc. and I can see a 1/72 scale A-4AR...

Without clothes... Nissan GT-R LMP1 Looks more like a 'Hot Rod'/Techno-Rod than race car...

The Fujimi kits are wonderful indeed. I would add that the A-4AR nosecone/radome appear the same as the Fujimi A-4E/F kit I have in my hands right now, including the undernose 'flattened bulge' and most of the panel lines and vents... The most noticeable difference in 1/72 scale (to me) are the lack of 'strips' on the radome Fujimi A-4E/F kit: The pink arrows highlight a panel line where you could cut off this nose and graft it onto the A-4M kit... I compared the kit parts above to the photo's below, not at all scientifical but... A-4AR Side profile A-4AR underside A-4AR Radar, the tiny ARG-1 antenna looks to be the same width as the gimbal!!! This one also has a different antenna (white) under the hinged nose to the ones above.

Oops, sorry folks, I got myself in a right muddle. I know of the VISTA but the GE engine white, orange, and blue jet was this one: F-16D 416th FLTS 'new scheme' Not as pretty a scheme as I remembered it... I was probably thinking of this jet and somehow muddled the two together: F-16AM Norwegian 100th Anniversary The Hasegawa VISTA kit was alright with very nice cartograf decals for the P&W config. but the few resin parts included weren't great. Wonder why it was never released in 1/48?

'Shake, Rattle and Roll!!'... This was also the only option in the Hasegawa 1/72 kit, shame the decal film was so thick with the red/orange bleeding into it... Off topic a bit but I'm sure I've seen a GE engine 'Test Pilot School' F-16C with blue bands over the white/orange colours, looked a little bit like the prototype scheme. Very nice from memory.

Super thread, some excellent reference material. Thanks for your willingness to share this gold dust amigos.

And about time too!!! Really like the oddball cammo scheme on the -123K

Litton AN/ALR-45 RWR on wingtips and tailcone Tracor AN/ALE-39 countermeasure launcher, you can just about make it out on the far left within the RH hinged panel behind the airbrake ram here. So that's where it lives, here is what it looks like as full system. Just piece the two together... This is the clearest I could find too. Didn't our Harriers use the same countermeasure launcher during the Falklands action, or was it something a little more British ie. good concept, massively overcomplicated in practice...?!

Nice, I wonder if the nozzle actuators will be in plastic or in a more realistic photo-etched material...??? Yes, the Hasegawa kits are great but they are an expensive minefield if you want to build a specific F-15 variant OOB, other than an early to mid 1980's F-15C/D, pre-production F-15E or up-to-date F-15 Strike Eagle series. Everything else in-between, needs cross kitting, aftermarket or both... I prefer the ESCI kits over the Academy, it's just that they are hard to get hold of. The ESCI kits have better finesse over the Academy kits in terms of panel lines, slender forms, etc. Also, the ESCI F-15A/B/F-15E Prototype kits come with beautifully detailed early mainwheels, so you can actually build a late 1970's through 1980's F-15A/B from the box. I planned to use the MSIP parts on the Academy F-15C MSIP II kit to update the ESCI F-15A/C kits as they are so similar. Soz for the thread hijack!

Hasegawa Finemoulds weapons sets, anybody... .Bit odd that this 'optional extra' weapons sprue has the missiles, bomb racks and LANTIRN pod but the BOL missile launchers are on the main sprues of issue 1. Gives me the impression that the inevitable F-14A kit will be in it's 1970/80's guise...

Nice. These 'Lab Rats' tended to be much cleaner than the grotty grey ones, most of the time they look almost pristine (from a short distance). Hardly ever seen these jets carry weapons apart from AIM-9's of the wingtips and fuel tanks. I'm sure these particular jets were primarily used to train 'advanced' and or test pilots. Here she is in slightly different markings around the early 1990's. Here she is again, Where's Wally style.

Hehe, watched the series so far on demand whilst babysitting looking after my lil' cousin (7 and 3/4). It's just right for the kids I reckon. I personally couldn't get into it, just another generic CGI deal... . But then it's not for us lot... TB1 - Want. Now. If Brains is supposed to be 'Indian', then I'm Methuselah. I don't think any kid cares, unless some adults made them more 'aware' of this... I agree with Kallisti, such polarising and populist politics on a kids show = wrong . John must be on tranqs', he should be a savage, raving lunatic, stuck in that orbital call centre. Someone please give him an escape pod...

Very true, in fact it appears as though it was the first 'fighter' aircraft to have a modern phased array radar, very early 1980's... The MiG-31 will probably still be a very capable jet in its role. I would like to see someone make a Boneville racer using one of its engines ...

Hi Niki, Just as Jinxman has found, that specialist shop is massively expensive. I could almost buy a brand new 1/32 F-14 for what they were charging, I guess that's what happens when you go through a 'middle man' of sorts... HLJ and private warehouse is the way to go, very flexible.

Didn't think the F-15SA's are ready for squadron use yet... Though that said, the last image is an upgraded F-15S with General Electric F110 engines, in what seems to be the 'Mod Eagle' scheme. Thought the upgrades to the F-15S jets were to be implemented after (or as) the F-15SA was (becoming) operational. Oh well.

Good deal for everybody. Are all these magazines part of some larger 'parent' corporation or something? Only wondering as the Zero type 21 and type 52 were released with the Model Graphix magazine and the Zero type 22 and 32 were released with the Scale Aviation magazine... Just a bit confusing where different variants are being 'combo'd' with different magazines. .

I just thought it a bit odd that with all this fabulous detail, the flaps and slats are not separate nor 'postionable'... In the odd world of opinions on the 'net, this could well be enough for folks to trash the kit, along with the 'issue' that it comes with no weapons or pilots... Anyway, I was thinking the same about taxes and books but in this case, the book comes with a box of plastic attached to it...

Post #9... A moment of convergent thinking amigo!!! The Hasegawa 1/48 outer wing pylons are the same as the ones in the image above, why they are included, who knows as they were not used operationally by the 'masses'. The outer wing pylons on the F-15SG are quite different to the ones above, would love to see a ground shot of how the dual missile launchers are fitted...

Utter, utter madness... How anyone can tool a 1/72 injection mould in with stitching on fabric is beyond me. Anyway, you can never have too many of the kits you like, especially F-14's...

Did see them in the other links above and though this setup is a bit crazy, potentially 10 AIM-120C's loaded up in one go... Reminds me of the F/A-18's 'dual launcher' setup. All that re-enforcement work on the wings and vertical tails looks odd too but it has been said that these areas are 'all new'... Anyway, seeing as all these new generation Strike Eagles basically glean technology off the F-15SE Silent Eagle, the cockpit of the new F-15SA could look very similar to these working concepts by Elbit: Rear 1 Rear 2 Some guy sitting in the simulator

Super link! Just sent them an e-mail, hopefully there isn't much (or anything) 'added' on top... Thanks!

If 1/72 scale, I'd use the Hasegawa F-15SG 'Singapore Air Force' kit (suggested above), as from a modelling perspective, it has everything you need in the box apart from the outboard wing pylons and suitable decals. The outboard wing pylons can be easily scratch-built out of plasticard (an F-15C carrying AGM-88 HARM on these pylons), the decals could be custom printed if doing the colourful, snazzy 'retro' prototype markings (as they are black, in KoenL's link above). You could also wait a few months until Hasegawa inevitably releases an F-15SA kit with suitable decals and injection moulded outboard wing pylons... If 1/48 scale I'd use the Hasegawa F-15E 'Tiger Meet 2005' kit, as it includes the outboard wing pylons (tooled from the beginning). You will need to get a set of GE F110 nozzles (Aires?), scratch build the triangular antennas below the rear cockpit, the awful looking 'shotgun' ECM tail booms and use slightly larger fairings on the tops of the tails, as well as tackling the decals... Custom print black decals or use 1/72 USAF national insignia, numbers and letters. You could also use the Academy F-15K 'Slam Eagle' kit but will need to scratch-build the scratch build the triangular antennas below the rear cockpit, the 'shotgun' ECM tail booms, the outboard wing pylons and use slightly larger fairings on the tops of the tails... Happy building!!!

Same here!!! Such detail, can't wait to build this thing. To be honest, the total cost in delivered to this part of the world is very similar to the current prices of the 'limited edition' Hasegawa kits... Without the possible 'import duty' of course... Still surprised that this has actually happened!!!

The problem with eBay (as usual) is that folks tend to want to make an absolute fortune, even out of an incomplete set, just the sprues without the magazine or even boxes... Usually an equivalent of £25-£40 just for the sprues, get off your rocker Doris!!! Better off just buying the complete issues as new. Anyway, I'm sure that at least an F-14B will follow, as various variants of the Zero (and other WWII Japanese kits) were released with other magazine collaborations. I did note that although you get the radar, avionics bays, IFR probe bay, gun/ammo bay and engine bay, the slats and flaps appear to be moulded retracted!!! Maybe they can be cut an positioned? Not a big deal anyway I'm in the same mindset as Giorgio, I like the F-14 and this will be too good an opportunity to pass up. We all tend to pile money into the subjects we love... Inevitably, as good as this kit will be, I can see it getting a walloping for A. its price and B. it contains no weapons... Whatever happened to that mystical 1/48 Tamiya F-14...