Collin

Trying to just have fun with these Airfix kits. This is their PR XIX done up with Xtradecal X48-118 for RM643/Z. The only non-OOB part is the exhaust stacks. Clear glue still drying on the camera ports. Marbled on a PRU Blue color from SMS....great paint. Xtradecals....great as well. Kudo's to Airfix for allowing in-flight builds....they give you the parts to build gear up which I really appreciate (wish all kits did this). The issue I have is the pilot figures. I painted the kit pilot up and it really looked great. To get him to fit in the cockpit...I ended u

Kudo's to you for continuing on. This kit has defeated me twice. It's a terrific subject...even more in 1/32. Cheers Collin

VH-92's are flying out of HMX-1 around DC currently...along with the current group of VH-3's. I've seen the new birds up and down the river south of the Navy Yard on a more frequent basis (along with seeing them down at Pax River). Cheers Collin

MLT: Mr Leveling Thinner. Cheers and glad you all enjoyed it. Now if I can just find some aftermarket GR.1 decals... that Revell Kit is calling my name from the stash. Collin

Primer coat of Alclad white was used and lightly sanded after drying. Then I used Model Masters plain old International Orange thinned with MLT. After the orange was on I took a airbrush cup of MLT and misted it over the orange to level it all out and it really adds to the gloss finish. You have to be careful with the gloss Model Master paints, it’s very tacky. All orange parts sat in my small closet that my home furnace sits in. It’s very warm in there and it baked on the orange finish. After 2-3 days it was hard as a rock. No issues handling it after that painting the walkways and decaling

Last build of 2020. Hasegawa kit, modified with antennas removed and some aftermarket seats/intake covers/exhausts (since I ruined the kit ones). Straight forward Hasegawa build and the raised panel lines are perfect (IMO) for these solid International Orange schemes. Pretty much any picture you see of these aircraft, they are not weathered...so I kept the same for this build. Still debating if I want to put a white belly tank on. Caracal decal set CD48176, by far the best decals I have used recently. Cheers Collin

Salty Dog Squadron. VX-23 DFCS F-14D. You can see on the wings where the day glow orange wingtips are painted over in newly applied grey.

Light Gull Grey is the main color. That was the standard topside color (over white) for naval aircraft during the 60’s thru early 80’s before the low-vis grey TPS schemes started coming into service. Cheers All Collin

Confession time. Notice I didn’t take a photo of the bottom? I lost the tailhook someplace in the man cave, so right now she is technically 99.9% complete. She’s good enough to go in the display case at work, but the missing piece will bug me. The joys of model making. Cheers Collin.

Title says it all. Caracal Models Decal sheet CD48177, highly recommended decals. Cheers Collin

MicroScale 48-1091. 63rd FS/56th FG.

Tamiya base kit, aftermarket 2-stage Merlin engines (Jason Chatwin's original castings, recently reproduced by Brengun -BRL48124). Resin conversion pieces were great. Needed an in-flight bomber Mosquito to keep my FB in-flight Mosquito company on my work desk. Fun conversion, learned some valuable lessons in re-scribing and once again realized I need to improve my canopy masking. Prop Blur props utilized. Aeromaster 48-552 markings corrected for ML907 (HS-B, not GB-B as the markings state). Pilot and Nav figure in there if you can see them. I realized on this build

From Mr Vark: About 30 AGM-65As were fired during an operational evaluation in Vietnam. Four hundred AGM-65As were transferred from U. S. stocks to Israel during the 1973 War with 69 of those being expended. Of these first 99 launches, 87 hit their intended targets. 555th I’m trying to upload the photo. F-4D or E with triple rail launcher 3xAGM-65A’s

I will ask Jim Rotramel (MrVark)....expert in that area. USN didn't have them....USAF....don't know for sure. It was just coming into inventory. I know we sent a bunch to the IAF at the tail end of the YKW in '73. Cheers Collin