Hoops

There are really good photos of both of the cockpits in the link Inposted above. The differences between a normal A-10A and the N/AW front instrument panel that I noted are as follows: 1. The weapons selector panel is moved to the center 2. The flight instrument "6 pack" is moved to the left side 3. An "up front controller" for the HUD is added to the upper center that stands proud from the instrument panel. It seems to have controls for the LLTV, radalt, and others. The right side of the panel seems to be the same though. Now this based on the early configuration covered by the New York digital archive, which I would associate with the taller tails and initial testing. The ARC photos are much less complete but you can sus out some, but not all, of the differences, and it is still different from the normal A-10 instrument panel

There was only one aircraft converted to the N/AW configuration 73-1664, and it is on exterior display at the US Air Force Flight Test Museum on board Edwards Air Force Base. The aircraft was based on one of the original Full Scale Development aircraft, so there are some minor differences between the N/AW and a production A-10 despite the two seat cockpit. I'm not a 1/32 scale modeller so I don't know how many of them Trumpeter represents or not. I know that the cockpit did have some changes throughout the aircraft's career, the photos on ARC seem represent how it was at the very end after being retired, and there are a bunch of photos here from the aircraft early in it's testing: https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll109/search/searchterm/a-10 all weather There are some minor difference between the front cockpit and that of a standard A-10, it may be close enough for your preferences to just use a standard set. I've made line drawing for the aircraft and rear cockpit to support my conversion in 1/72 scale, but haven't actually started the project yet. Cheers, Hoops

Really good job Chris, The kit is "challenge" to say the least, and I'm glad that the transition from fuselage to exhaust worked out as well as it did. Congratulations on a great looking build! Hoops

OK, down the rabbit hole we go... I have no confirmation of this as an amateur internet sleuth, but I think that there was at least a static installation of the M197 turret on a line OV-10D (i.e. not the two YOV-10Ds 155395 or 155396) with VMO-2 at Camp Pendleton in the 1980s. See this link to an archive of an old Ebay slide auction Looking at the background there are a few other aircraft visible 155483 and 155484 (side number 27). Another picture of 155484 can been seen here on Facebook from Detail and Scale, showing the 27 side number on the nose. This photo on Flickr shows a whole line up of VMO-2 Aircraft on the Pendleton flightline. Of note 155484 is all the way down at the end, and can been seen with the same tail markings as seen in the background of of the ebay slide above. The aircraft with the M197 turret installation is side number 22, but it's BuNo cannot be seen in that photo. In this Flickr photo, the tail for "22" is visible and is clearly BuNo 155466 and the machine gun sponsons have been removed from the fuselage! With both aircraft are painted the same across the multiple photos and interpolating from incomplete data, and I think that the slide previously sold is of 155466 with a M197 at least temporarily and statically installed. I doubt any of us have it, but it would be amazing to see more information. Cheers, Hoops

CT7567, This is the diameter that I am looking for: Bell_AH-1J_Sea_Cobra_2_(4685837287) by J2Hoops, on Flickr From that I think I can interpolate the rest of the measurements close enough to look the part in 1/72 scale. There seems to be two versions of the turret that were installed on OV-10s for various "NOGS" tests. The first version that deployed to Vietnam, has the turret mounted at the very aft of the center fuselage. This version had a larger aerodynamic fairing between the fuselage and the turret itself. The turret seemed to be mounted at a slight downward angle, and is the version depicted rather basically in the Airfix kit. It seems to have had the same shroud around the gun itself as the AH-1, but the bottom rounded "pan" was sometimes removed it seems (see your third photo) yov-10d_canon by J2Hoops, on Flickr There also seems to be a later version of the installation, where the turret was mounted immediately behind the rear seat. This version had only a very short (vertically) spacer between the fuselage and the turret, which had a much deeper, hemispherical, shroud around it. Link! as well as your 4th photo. There are also some images of this version of the installation without the lower "pan" portion of the shroud installed either. This later turret is the one that I'm more interested in, as I really don't like the look of the three color camouflage or the early FLIR. I think that the later AAS-37 FLIR is more visually appealing, as well as either the overall dark green, or dark green over light grey camouflages. I would be designing the turret in CAD and 3D printing it, but would use the Master M197 Barrels. Cheers, Hoops

I was able to find a copy of the Aeroguide volume on the Tornado F3 Variant. In the book it is stated that the the fuselage extension behind the cockpit is 21" long. Problem solved! Still looking for the diameter of the AH-1 Turret though, Cheers, Hoops

Good afternoon! I have two questions that hopefully somebody can help me with pretty easily. 1. What is the diameter of the of the M97 turret (uses the M197 Three-barreled 20mm gun) on the AH-1. I've done a bunch of searching online, but can't find an answer. If someone has a kit in 1/72 and just wants to measure it, that would also work fine. I'm looking at the possibility of converting a 1/72 ICM OV-10D to the late Night Observations Gunship (NOGS) which incorporated a modified version of the turret 2. How long was the fuselage extension behind the cockpit of the Tornado ADV? I've found that the extension for the longer engines was 14", but how large was the extension behind the cockpit? I happened to pick up a Hasegawa 1/72 Tornado ADV as a junk kit with no decals for super cheap and am kitbashing it with the Revell kit in the same scale. The kits break down differently so it's not easy to figure the size of the forward plug. Thanks! Hoops

See the analysis here: https://soyuyo.main.jp/f4e/f-4e-1.html This shows the difference between the two versions compared to the actual aircraft. The newer tooled canopies, and forward fuselage for that matter, are more accurate on the shorter nose Phantom kits. He goes a lot further to correct the minor shape errors in the kit than I would, but it has a great looking result in the end. Cheers, Hoops

The One Man Model doesn't have the ALR-66 spinning DF antenna on the bottom of the fuselage (looks like R2D2) that this CAD rendering does. The ALR-66 is not installed on Japanese P-3s, but is on a lot of other countries that have the AIP/CUP/whatever update program. Additionally, he has no external stores either, so I think this is something new. Revell reboxed the Hasegawa kit about a 12 years ago or so and seemed to have scratched that itch as they have not done it since. As the P-3s are on their way out, I doubt that they would tool a completely new kit for the home market. We might see another reboxing of someone else's kit for any retirement schemes, but I would bet on Academy between those two. Hoops

Always exciting to see your updates and progress Serkan, I look forward to see more! Hoops

If somebody wants to get really accurate, all of the US Navy/Marine Corps 200 Series UC-12s (B/F/M) had the high floatation landing gear. That means that the main wheels are the same size as nose wheel, and extended below the gear well on the engine nacelle when retracted, requiring the main gear doors to be shorter. The kit has the standard main wheels and full length gear doors, so a little bit of work may be required. Cheers, Hoops

@canberra kid Hi John, Here are the fruits of my labor: Harrier Vinten Recce Pod v2_2 by J2Hoops, on Flickr Harrier Vinten Recce Pod v2 by J2Hoops, on Flickr I know there are some panel lines and latches missing, but I am OK with that. A lot of it will be lost with the dark paint and hiding between the gun pods. Thank you again for the help! Hoops

Thank you very much John, I can tell know that the panels are little bit more complicated than the six concentric rings around the main body that Airfix has on their rendition. I suspected that was the case after seeing some photos with the access hatches open, and now I know where to place them. I appreciate your help, and happy modelling! Hoops

@canberra kid The photo links seem to have been broken, would it be possible to upload them again? I'm working on the pod in 1/72. I know that they come in the Airfix kit, but I'm drawing them in Fusion 360 to print as I think I can get better fidelity that way. Thank you very much for the help! Hoops

Impressive research Jonathan, thank you very much for the detailed description and the in depth data. I appreciate it very much! Looking at the table, it seems as though you could represent an aircraft with any of the four possible combinations and be accurate. Unfortunately I don't have any of the Isradecal books in my reference library, so I greatly appreciate your assistance in the matter. I'm a 1/72 scale modeler and I will be converting a Hasegawa F-4E for the task. Currently I have the Maestro Models external refueling probe, and the Sky's Decals sheet (72008). That being said the Red color used on the Sky's Decals sheet seems much to bright to me, and I think that I will pick up the DXM sheet that is currently available when I put in my next order with them. I will just draw up print the serial numbers for the particular aircraft that I decide to build. I like both the "Bats" and "The One" squadron markings, so either would be OK. To model some of the other differences I've been working on CAD models in Fusion 360 in preperation for the future purchase of a 3D printer: F-4 Kurnass Forward AIM-9 Rail v3 by J2Hoops, on Flickr F-4 AGM-142 Inner Pylon v4 by J2Hoops, on Flickr F-4 Kurnass Rear Chaff_Flare Buckets v2 by J2Hoops, on Flickr They are not BAM level detail, but it's good enough for me, especially in 1/72. I'll have to see how well they look once I get a printer and try them out. Again, that you very much for the information! Hoops

Awesome, thanks Tony. I'll look for TISEO or not on the wing and adjust appropriately. I'm planning on building a Kurnass 2000 and I've seen pictures of both with and without TISEO, so looks like there were both iterations upgraded. Cheers, Hoops

Good afternoon, Did the Israeli F-4Es ever get the reinforcing strap on the belly? As I understand F-4E production started getting the thicker belly skin with 71-0237, solving the problem straight from the production line and eliminating the need for the strap. Israeli aircraft were from batches both before and after that serial number cutoff, however. Were the earlier ones retrofitted with the strap? Thank you very much, Hoops

The same modeller has a library of the .stl files (including the corrected nose) if you have, or know somebody who has, a 3D printer: https://soyuyo.main.jp/harrier2+/harrier2+3.html#3d That can be an alternative to the Flying Leathernecks parts. Liebe Gruesse, Hoops

Please see the comparison done here by a very good Japanese modeller: https://soyuyo.main.jp/harrier2+/harrier2+.html I can't help but notice it. Hoops

Watch out, the Hasegawa supplied nose for the AV-8B+ is significantly undersized in diameter. Flying Leathernecks has announced a 3D printed replacement that fixes it, but I do not believe it is on the market yet.

I'm partway though a stalled build of one of the Minicraft boxings. Overall, I don't think it's a very good kit, I don't have it here with me now to pull out and look at it, but from memory: Fit is not very good, especially mating the wings to the fuselage. Expect to have to do a lot of cutting/grinding on the wing tabs to get them to line up correctly with the fuselage parts. Similarly, if you want to build it with the ramp closed, you're in for a lot of work to try to get a good result, I want to say that there were some gaps greater than .5mm, but I could be wrong. The clear parts didn't fit very well either, mine aren't glued in yet, but I wanted to say that they were going to need some pretty big shims to match up with the fuselage. One of the most common squared off tail "stinger" is not represented in the kit. For Minicraft at least, only the "J" model boxings had the extended gear sponsons, even though a huge number of earlier C-130s had it as well. The engine nacelles on the four bladed prop versions are wrong at least, I don't know about the six bladed prop version. There was a resin correction set, perhaps from Brengun? Here is an old thread on ARC that provides some more detailed descriptions of some accuracy problems: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/295573-1144-minicraft-c-130j-hercules-good-bad-or-indifferent-cant-seem-to-find-a-review-anywhere/ I think the best option might be to wait and see what the forthcoming GWH kit looks like. Cheers, Hoops

Unfortunately the Kazakh birds are all Ms, I'm really interested in doing a K with the big window pimple nose housing the Kaira electro-optical system, thank you though. Cheers Andre, I scrolled through all of the galleries, and unfortunately the K's in Germany were pretty bland. Bort numbers, intake warning text was about it. The Ds and Ms had little bit more going on though. Thank you for the leads though! Hoops

While used on the MC-130H the DIRCM (Directional Infrared Counter Measures) on the aft of the fuselage has been mounted on lots of other versions of the C-130 as well. I wouldn't necessarily say that it predicts the future of any particular version. Here is a photo of a "normal" C-130H with the same DIRCM:

Out of production at this time, but maybe you can find these decals second hand: http://www.twobobs.net/contents/en-us/p263.html Hoops

That picture is from a sim or something, and not accurate. The real aircraft was a F-16N, with a GE engine, early style missile rails, could not carry AIM-9X (were retired before the missile was fielded) did not have the antennas in front of the canopy, etc. This scheme appeared in the late 80s or early 90s, but there are decals that have been made for it. Probably even precut masks?