Hoops

@bobsyouruncle Thank you for the hard work to coordinate and upload the photo! I've updated the decal artwork, please see below! g3738-0-6-3 by J Hooper, on Flickr @TimB @NG899 Thanks for the input! Please see the profile below updated with the feedback: g3738-0-6-4 by J Hooper, on Flickr I have one last question on XV809: Xtradecal has a yellow "AF" on the outrigger gear fairings, but from what I can make out on the photos it looks like there is only an "F" present. Can anyone confirm or deny? Cheers and thanks, Hoops

I think that there are pretty clearly three colors used, as evidenced by the detail here: w8O1WqV by J Hooper, on Flickr

After some tweaking and incorporating what I think is the three tone demarcation lines, here is the result: Edit: Updated Profile below! Cheers, Hoops

@TimB Amazing photos! Thank you very much for sharing and for providing feedback. Edit, looking closely at the third photo, taken from the left rear, I think that there might be three colors to the camouflage. Take a look at the fairing around the outboard landing gear. To my eyes, there are clearly three colors to see there. There are also some aspects on the sides of the fuselage, where a slightly lighter color of grey is noticeable. It can be difficult to pick out exactly where. If so, I think it would change the accepted modeler's understanding of the camo scheme! I'll put them all to good use, Cheers, Hoops

Thank you for the input Bob, I'll definitely have to pick up the AirDoc Book. Looking forward to any response you get. @TimB Thank you for the extra information regarding the serials on XV738. I had a suspicion that the serials were not applied under the wings based on the low visibility markings and the smaller sized serial number and roundels. It just seemed that if applied it would not have fit with the rest of the marking decisions made when painting the aircraft. Edit: Updated Profile below! Cheers and thanks! Hoops

Thanks JagRigger, that inadvertently answers the same question that I was wondering about for the Jags as well! @NG899 Thank you for your very indepth response, it was very helpful. I'm mostly looking at RAF Germany based aircraft at the end of their service life, so I think it's fair to say that they didn't have the underwing serials. I haven't picked up the AirDoc book yet, but I've been considering it, as I'm sure that it would be a good reference. While on the topic of Harrier GR3s, but not directly related to the previous question... Much like any project, once I got into it I started looking at other contemporary GR3s and was intrigued by the Match Coat trials aircraft. XV809, the green painted aircraft, seems to have a badge applied below the windscreen on the right side of the aircraft for a time, but those photos available online are too far away to see any detail. It was clearly painted over at some point in time as well. I've also seen similar touch up spots on other 3 Squadron aircraft, but haven't stumbled across any other photos where the badge is visible. Does anybody know what this badge was? Or have a better image of it? Edit: See Below for updated profile... Thank you very much! Cheers, Hoops

Good afternoon, Looking at lot of photos of grey/green Harrier GR.3s I get the impression that at some point in time the large serial numbers were no longer applied on the underside of the wings. My basis for this observation is that a lot of the preserved aircraft in museums, clearly in original paint and not restored, have no large serial numbers under the wings. That would lead me to believe that at some point time, they stopped being applied, and by the end of the aircraft's career for the most part they were missing. Is this a correct deduction? If so, about what timeframe did they serial numbers stop being applied? Cheers and thanks, Hoops

I think that 144 would be a great scale for this kit. As much as I would love a 1/72, that would be too large to manage. I have long considered the Anigrand kit, but it has some issues and the price point put me off. Don't get me wrong, the price is appropriate for what you get for the large resin castings, but it was just too much for my personal budget. As an aircraft builder, I have the Takom MAZ-537 double kit as a prime mover to go with a Tu-22M3, and it is a beautiful kit. If the Lun is up to anything close to that standard, I'll be in. Cheers, Hoops

Special Hobby has been pretty blatant in calling out the dual combo pack in their advertising. I would tend to agree that this is probably just a single kit, but the box art depicts the two different versions that can be built with the parts inside. I'm curious if there will be any resin to account for some of the aircraft differences, or if we'll see a small additional sprue like with the F.1CR. Either way, I'm getting one, maybe two of them. This is the kit I've wanted most since the new tool F.1 was announced those years ago. Cheers, Hoops

I'm planning to do a styrene sheet framework and surface, probably backfilled with Milliput to give it rigidity and strength. That way I can scribe and detail the exterior easier than if the whole thing was out of Milliput. I want to build Phase II, and I drew the decals for it. They were to appear on a Wolfpak decal sheet sometime this year before Mark passed away. I had also had them ALPS printed, but the orange color on some of the stencils didn't work out very well, coming out dithered. I can get most of the orange warning decals from the spares box, but there is a battery location stencil on the left lower aft of the fuselage that is missing. Cheers, Hoops

And the horsal fins in front of the horizontal stabilizer, the extended vertical stabilizer, the UARSI refueling receptacle on the top of the fuselage, the DC-130 style thimble nose, all the various external structural reinforcements, etc. etc. etc. Although if displaying the flaps retracted, it would probably be enough to heavily scribe the appropriate lines on the underside of the wing, then add all the hinges and reinforcing strips. Displaying them extended would be another story, however.

Despite how awesome it would be, I don't think that you will ever see a commercial conversion to the YMC-130H Credible Sport. The sheer breadth that the conversion would have to encompass would make the costs so great, I don't think there would be enough market to support it. I'm partway done with a conversion in 1/144, and the work has been significant. I haven't even gotten to any small details, just the major parts. I spent even more time poring over every second of available video and image that can be found to draw up scale plans to inform the conversion, and that took much more time than I've spent on the plastic itself. Sometimes I tell myself I'll conquer it in 1/72 as well, but I really don't know if I want to put myself up to that. Cheers, Hoops

Zombie thread revival! Doing a bunch of research, I stumbled across this thread as well, and this is what I think that the approximate FS Colors are: http://www.colorserver.net/showcolor.asp?fs=34424+34172+32563 And here is a profile with those colors applied: rect14066 by J Hooper, on Flickr Cheers, Hoops

A bit late to the party, but doing a bunch of Jag research the last few days for some decal artwork, I found this thread. In the course of my internet dragging, I also found a few images of Grey/Green Jags with the overwing pylons installed: Jaguar Appreciation Society #1 Jaguar Appreciation Society #2 Jaguar Appreciation Society #3 Jaguar Appreciation Society #4 Jaguar Appreciation Society #5 I'll bet if somebody was motivated to do so, they could find a number more in the vast amount of photos uploaded there. Cheers, Hoops

@scotthldr and @Blimpyboy Thanks for the photos! I think that there is enough there that I can get most of the scheme except for the underside. I might just have to do a bit of educated guessing. Cheers and thanks! Hoops

Good evening, I stumbled across this photo of a updated and change camouflage scheme applied very late in the Omani Jaguar's career: Airliners.net link There is another a two seater taken from the same position also on Airliners.net, but doesn't provide any more information. The markings look to be the same as any other Omani Jaguar, but to map out the camouflage scheme, other angles would be required. Unfortunately this is the only photo I've found of this late scheme. I'm guessing a language difference has hindered the search. Does anybody know of any other photos? Cheers, Hoops

Good morning, I've completed the majority of the construction on my F-4EJ Kai kit, and have put some initial paint on it. To echo the statements of others, the details are far superior to the Hasegawa kit in all regards. That being said, the parts on the Fine Molds kit need more prep along the mating surfaces to ensure a tight fit. I didn't do enough initially during the build, resulting in some gaps that needed putty, and thereby destroying some of the amazing surface detail. I do have one complaint, I think that the panel lines are a bit too fine. They are VERY fine, and I'm going to have to be very sparing with the paint, and will skip a clear coat before the decals. Otherwise I think they will be filled in and not take a wash. I have two more on pre-order, the Panthers and RF-4EJ boxings that are forthcoming, and am looking forward to them as well. Cheers! Hoops

This is the kind of quality content that brings me to this website! Hoops

My local hobby shop here in Japan had a pretty large stack of the F-4EJ Kai's when I went the weekend after release, but those were all quickly sold. No sign of any more on subsequent visits, I think your hypothesis is probably a pretty good one. This matches with the street prices I'm seeing at the local hobby shops as well. I've build a number of Hasegawa Phantoms over the years, and I'm very familiar with where I have to pay attention, and what areas need work. Building the FM F-4EJ Kai right now, i don't have that advantage, and I'd finding those things out right now. For that reason, it's making some things a bit more "difficult." I think that FM is a far better kit and I will be picking up the RF-4EJ and 8 Squadron boxings in the spring. Cheers, Hoops

Thank you for the upload, saved for personal reference! Hoops

They happen to be RADALT antennas in this case. Also of note in the photos is Panel 901 that is only present on the RF-4EJs. I'd be willing to bet that won't be pointed out on the kit, but you may scribe if you are looking for just a little bit more accuracy. Hoops

I agree that the detail is soft. The recessed panel lines are almost non existent, and will disappear under even the first coat of paint. The AIM-9E looks really wonky to me, the forward fins are too big and set back to far. I think that the chord of the forward AIM-7F fins looks too narrow, but it's not as noticeable. Something about the forward fins of the AIM-9M is not right, but I'm not sure. I think that is because the front of the forward fins has a blunt end rather than a continuous slope into the missile frame. Small details on the Fine Molds ASM-1 and ASM-2 are better, but they suffer from the same panel line issue. The Hasegawa set retails for about ¥600-700, but the Fine Molds set for ¥1400, I don't think it's anywhere near as a good of a value, and I will not be purchasing it again. Affirmative.

I picked up the F-4EJ Kai kit today from the local hobby shop for ¥3140 and the associated weapons set for ¥1400. There is not much that I can add about the Phantom that hasn't already been said, but I took some sprue photos for those that might want to take a look. Link to the album Here are some photos of the weapons in the weapons set. I will admit that I'm pretty underwhelmed by it, it is almost like there was a completely different team when compared to the Phantom kit. I would prefer the Hasegawa offerings in their weapons set over all of the Fine Molds missiles. Link to the weapons album I hope these help inform the discussion. Cheers, Hoops

There is a bit of a learning curve to using vector drawing programs. I use Inkscape, a pretty powerful freeware bit of software, and it's pretty good. I've had the die cutter for a few years now, but really only recently have I started using it more. P1030822 by J Hooper, on Flickr I primed the exhaust black, and used the Silhouette to cut out masks for the exhaust plug, the petals and the canopy. There was another piece not pictured that I cut to mask the intake plug as well. P1030827 by J Hooper, on Flickr Wing root reinforcing plates cut with the same run, now applied. I still need to scribe a few lines in them, but I'm waiting for the glue to dry. P1030823 by J Hooper, on Flickr Cockpit painted, dry brushed to highlight details, decals, wash applied and installed. The ejection seats seem to have the black sheepskin seat covers applied in real life, so I painted the cushions black. RAM panels around the nose RWR antennas were also cut on the Silhouette and now applied. P1030826 by J Hooper, on Flickr Overall shot, next step is do spray a coat of primer to check for any flaws that need fixing. Then comes camouflage. I've scanned the instructions into the computer and copied the pattern to print a set of masks out. After that I'll just cut the masks and use to paint the aircraft. Cheers, and thanks for looking, Hoops

Good Afternoon, Some work in progress for one of the attractive Arctic Aggressors from Eielson AFB in Alaska. Decals will be from TwoBobs. I've started with the Hasegawa kit in 1/72 scale and am doing some light work to address some of the weaknesses of the kit and a bit of extra. I'm not trying to super detail this aircraft, but out of the box, it is a bit simple for my tastes. P1030808 by J Hooper, on Flickr Some detail added to the glareshields and updating the gun muzzle vents to late type. As molded, the kit has the early vents, not accurate for this aircraft. I also opened up the muzzle recess a bit. I've found that the canopy is a bit too narrow, so a small strip of .12mm sheet on the right side smooths the transition nicely, once painted the canopy also hides it well. P1030813 by J Hooper, on Flickr A bit of detail added to the ejection seats, there won't be much else visible once the canopy is on the aircraft. P1030810 by J Hooper, on Flickr I cut the fuselage reinforcing plates out of .12mm sheet on my hobby die cutter (Silhouette Portrait). This was my first attempt cutting styrene with it, and it worked out really well. The panel lines on the kit around the base of the tail are correct for a F-16A/B, but not a C/D so I filled and rescribed as appropriate. The tail lights were drilled out, and filled with some clear sprue. P1030820 by J Hooper, on Flickr Vent added to the vertical tail and the incorrect longitudinal panel line filled on the horizontal stabs. P1030816 by J Hooper, on Flickr Intake and exhaust plugs added to use the artwork provided by the Twobobs decals for those plugs. Also simplifies the detailing! The wide mouth intake was borrowed from a Hasegawa F-16CJ kit. P1030819 by J Hooper, on Flickr A cross section of the ordnance, under the wing pylon is a scratch build Elta EL/L-8212 lightweight jamming pod. Everything else is sourced from Hasegawa weapons sets. P1030815 by J Hooper, on Flickr Straight from the box, the Hasegawa wing tanks are more of a vertical oval. To fix that I sanded down the mating surfaces until they had a circular cross section and added some appropriate detail to the aft of the tanks. P1030814 by J Hooper, on Flickr This aircraft has the late type lightweight wheels, which nobody has really done well in kit form. I sent the artwork to the die cutter to make the face and added the hub out 1.2mm rod. It could use some bolt heads as well, and I considered using stretched sprue for it, but in the end decided that the effort would not be worth the result. P1030812 by J Hooper, on Flickr Detail added to the main gear well, added a vent just aft of that. I filled in the inaccurately shaped chaff/flare buckets, and rescribed appropriately sized ones. Beginning in 1987 build years, the aircraft had four of them, so those were added forward on the port side as well. The panels around the tail hook were also die cut. Next will be to paint the cockpit and assemble the major parts. Cheers and thanks for looking! Hoops