KRK4m

That's exactly what I meant - thank God it's December 2023 and there's a good chance (if not certain) that this new fuselage and tail will be mated to the wings and engines of this "2023 new tool" Hawkeye by Heller, and not to the old Fujimi junk. Cheers Michael

Thank God that this is new for 2024, and not, for example, 2022, because then it would only mean a new fuselage and tail for the 50-year-old Fujimi kit, which Heller repacked 15 years ago. Cheers Michael

IMHO this difference in the optical perception of the Swordfish lower and side surfaces is not the result of a difference in colour but a difference in gloss (after all, colour is only an impression perceived by the eye). All lower surfaces in this FAA and Coastal Command scheme were glossy, and the fuselage sides and vertical tail were matte. But they were all equally white. Cheers Michael

Actually I don't have any USAAF ones on hand (although I suspect there were some), but I remember that 50 years ago I was building a 1:72 FROG P-38L (Chinese Nationalist markings) in OD/NG. Contact me by PM and I'll send you the profile. Cheers Michael

I have this kit ordered in five LHSs in Krakow. Exito, Phantom, Emodele and Agtom did not have it yet, and PJB (mojehobby.pl) only received a dozen or so pieces and only completed foreign orders. That's why I'm still waiting, and I'm in daily contact with PJB. And notice that Hannants has had plenty of it for over a month. Apparently, it is closer to London from the Czech Republic than to Krakow 😉 Cheers Michael

I have done both, i.e. Airfix with Italeri and the full-sized bird and then Sword vs. the aforementioned trio. Unfortunately, I was not able to compare the new SH kit with the three previous kits and the original a/c. SH treats Poland as a 3rd category market and for now this model is not available here yet. Cheers Michael

You all probably know this photo of three Kittyhawks in flight over Alaska. http://p40hawksnest.com/Survivors/AK905/AK905.html Two details catch my attention. First of all, the band around the rear fuselage is much lighter than the undersurface colour. And secondly, the reflection of light on the LZ@V and LZ@E fuselage roundels - the original insignia is matte, the camouflage is of course also, and the (ex-yellow) outline is obscenely shiny. Hence the conclusion that it was not OD, but some very glossy (IMHO dark blue) paint found in the airfield warehouse. Cheers Michael

As the Holy Bible says: the last will be first and the first will be last, the first of the Polish Merlins (RAF ZR285, s/n 50285, LMW #6201) first flown on July 19, 2021 still resides in Yeovil. Keeping to this biblical principle, the first one delivered to Poland on August 7, 2023 was (f/f on November 22, 2022) the last of the four ordered, ZR288/50288/6204. The remaining two are also already in the hands of the Polish Navy: ZR287/50287/6203 f/f on June 23, 2023, flew to Poland on August 16, and ZR286/50286/6202 f/f (2 years ago) on November 6, 2021, flew to Poland on November 9, 2023. However, what I am most curious about now is whether the remaining 22 Polish Merlins will be in the 411 (RAF HC.3) or 512 (HC.3A) configuration. They will definitely have a ramp, and they won't have all the marine oddities like foldable rotors, sonar and ASW radar. Unfortunately, their overall OD scheme will not be as colourful as the naval camouflage of the first four. Cheers Michael

AFAIK the first batch of four is serialled ZR285-288. ZR287 and 288 are already in Poland. ZR285 is still at Yeovilton. Thus ZR286 is the 3rd delivered - Janneman can be right. Cheers Michael

Yeah... this is only #2 of 26 ordered. The first one arrived 4 months ago, but I hope that the pace will be faster than 3 a/c a year 😠 Cheers Michael

Somalia Cheers Michael

Yes, Paul, nothing is ever simple. And that's what I love about this hobby. If it were simple, as one of our friends from BM once said (I can't find which one today - please forgive me, because The Classics should be quoted with full titles), it would be called football. And that's how I know why I'm not interested in football Cheers Michael

Great thanks, @EwenS and @Paul Lucas. This January of 1957 freaked me out a bit, but (correct me if I'm wrong) this change in the FAA aircraft pattern was not just the colour, but the demarcation line level too, right? With white undersurfaces, the vertical tail is dark, the ROYAL NAVY inscription is white, and the line runs exactly halfway up the fuselage. In the old scheme (Sky undersides) the line ran much higher, the fin was light and the letters were black, right? This means that b/w photos are sufficient to clearly identify colours. I hope so, although I have found an exception and the house of cards is about to collapse. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Havilland_DH.112_Sea_Venom_FAW.22_‘XG730_-_438’_(50113089571).jpg Cheers Michael

Thanks a lot, @EwenS. A few years ago you already explained to me that there was no chance that after August 1957 (when the Gannets of 814 settled on Eagle), the war-worn SeaVenoms of 894 (operating at Suez from HMS Albion) would no longer wear yellow and black stripes. However, there is one more thing that bothers me: were the undersurfaces still Sky Type S in 1957? When did the FAA replace it with white? Cheers Michael

Perfect - then how can I date my configuration: Gannet, Sea Venom, Seahawk (of course there can also be a Wyvern, Whirlwind or whatever you want below deck) ? I mean the period as soon as possible after January 1, 1957... Cheers Michael

As you can see, I also faced the same problem about 7 years ago. Not only does the Fujimi kit resemble HMS Eagle only in the side view (in the top view the deck is too narrow by 5 mm, dimnishing to 3 mm at the waterline, which makes the angle between the flight deck axis and the keel line incorrect), but also the air wing consists of two types from the 1940s (Seafire and Sea Fury), which were never deployed there (and were withdrawn from FAA service before the 1952 comissioning of HMS Eagle), and two others typical of the 1960s. But since I was also missing many other - mainly USN - carrier planes, I spent the 120 E and ordered a set of 60 planes from SNAFU via Shapeways. In the case of SeaVenom, they messed up the proportions (the length was 1:600 and the span was 1:800), but I sent a photo and as part of a complaint they sent 5 new SeaVenoms - this time precisely in 1:700 in both directions. To sum up, I am satisfied - my HMS Eagle (1957 fit) now has 4 Gannets, 5 Venoms and 6 Seahawks. Just one note: be very careful when cutting the planes from the frames - the material is extremely brittle and small details (mainly the front wheels) tend to break off during this operation. Cheers Michael

It's a French plane and it reminded me of an old French proverb: Dans la nuit, tous les chats sont gris. And to paraphrase it - in a black/white photo, all colours are just shades of grey. Of course, you have the right to build it in German markings, but there are so many ambiguities here that I (if I had such a crazy idea to build Arsenal-Delanne) would build it in French markings. Certainly the band around the fuselage and the rectangles on the wing undersides next to the crosses are not the same colour as the rest of the undersurfaces. If we assume that the bottom is GBC, they may be yellow (or red). If the bottom is all yellow, then only the red option remains. Fins and rudders are definitely yellow - regardless of whether the swastika is on a red stripe or directly on a yellow background. Cheers Michael

Considering the large number of "new tools" H75 in the 21st century (Azur/SH, AML, AZ/KP, and ClearProp), I would definitely bet on the Bearcat. I think I need to write a booklet about the F8F Cheers Michael

Overall, the P-36 and Hawk 75 are one and the same aircraft. Although when entering the market with the P-51B/C, Wojtek Bulhak announced that his entire modeling adventure with aviation began with a booklet that I wrote in 1980 (he even holds it in his hand in his avatar), but I do not suspect that he was guided only by my choices in life. Why am I saying this? Because the Mustang was the first booklet I wrote, and the second one was... the P-36/H75 Cheers Michael

And it doesn't bother me at all. If you want, you can always sprinkle some glue in several places. I have already built their Yak-3, Yak-9 and Fw-190 (and previously IS-2 and ISU-152) and they look great. If they wanted to make the LaGG-3 and Yak-9U the same way, it would be perfect. Cheers Michael

Well, I can't believe it! The original ancient Yak-1 in 1:72. Without those stupid Brengun PE frets! Please 3 for me - even today. Cheers Michael

In my opinion, a good 90% of the guys writing in this thread are crazy about the F-84F. So maybe someone, a few years ago, came across a certain cool Turkish website that I looked through from cover to cover a good dozen times, but - as naive as a child - I never copied (almost) anything from it. There were, among others: USAAF numbers of all 850 or so F-84G, F-84F and RF-84F, which reached Turkey via various routes (from the USA, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and probably Norway). For most machines there was a short history such as: date of acquisition, country of origin, previous user codes, assignment to a unit in THK and date of withdrawal. There were also colour profiles and photos. What's more - it was not a website about F/RF-84 only, but about all THK planes since 1945 - T-33, F-86, F-104, F-5, T-38, etc. And it was bilingual - one column of text in Turkish and the other in English. But now to the point: Turkey was (after the USA) the second largest user of the F/RF-84. So next to the Yankee (Airfix) F-84F I want to put the Turk (SH). And years ago I copied one profile from that website: F-84Q, 52-7142 (so long tailed), ex-KLu P-110. The problem is that the profile shows the plane shortly after being transferred from the Netherlands, still with the large white "P-110" on the nose (and a small one on the fin), but in SEA camouflage (or its Belgian mutation). But AFAIK the Dutch F-84Fs flew in the grey-green NATO camouflage, and only the Belgian ones in the three-colour SEA camouflage. What's more - only at the end of their service, because they also started in NATO one. The F-84F that I received from the Belgians for the Polish museum was also three-coloured, but had original two colours underneath (and a PRU bottom), which we restored to it. https://www.polot.net/pl/republic-f-84-kontra-mikojan-mig-15-497 To sum up - did any of you come across this website a few years ago? Does anyone have a copy of these tables with the list of Turkish F-84s? Does anyone have copied colour profiles of Turkish F-84s? What happened with these Dutch F-84Fs: were they repainted in SEA camouflage in the Netherlands before being transferred to Turkey? Cheers Michael

I confirm - I have both Caruana and Cox drawings. They differ in places (printed as 1/72) not by 1 mm, but sometimes even by 4 mm. Then one manufacturer takes one set of drawings and another manufacturer takes the other set. And their models are as different from each other as Mystere is from F-86... Fortunately, both @bentwaters81tfw and I have a real F-84F in our own backyards. Cheers Michael

10 months passed and another rabbit appeared in the magician's hat to pull https://clearlydev.com/product/mil-mi-4/ The link does not open on every computer (I have 3 at hand, it only works on one), but I will briefly describe it: two-colour camouflage with dark green spots on a light grey background (like Mi-24 and Mi-17), light blue undersides. Red side number 27 high behind the crew cabin, large red stars on the clamshell doors, the third (smaller) one on the ventral gondola floor. On each side of the hull there is a set of three UB-16-57 unguided rocket launchers. What do you think - true or fake? Cheers Michael

I'm afraid of what @Borisz will reply to you Cheers Michael