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JE5TAR

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Everything posted by JE5TAR

  1. Thanks for the replies, it's pretty much what I thought. I stick to using the Academy wings and probably just use the wing fold mechanism. I wonder if Airfix actually knew there were different built states and chose this specific one.
  2. Quick question. Im looking into kit bashing the Airfix 1/72 folding wings onto the Academy F-4J. When looking at the panel lines though the Airfix kit looks totally different. I intitally assumed this was a UK variant thing but after further research I can find no Phantom from any variant that looks like the Airfix kit Does anyone know whey they've done it like this? Cheers
  3. This would make more sense, especially now there's a Academy/Airfix arrangement with the tanks. Would love the F-14 to be Academy as well. They need a new category though as they're not really new tools, just new to Airfix.
  4. I don't think there's any Airfix /Revell collaboration going on. I believe the Top Gun Airfix kit is just the old Airfix kit with new decals.
  5. Exactly the same number as their existing F-18a kit from the 80s. Suspect it's just that one with new decals.
  6. Thanks for the positive comments. I remember about the pilot having a ciggy after parachuting down. I was tempted to do a before shot with the plane and an after shot with just the pilot figure on a grass base I was in the static park at the time photographing a Tornado F3 so I only had a wide angle lens on my camera. I did get a couple of shots but the plane was just a tiny speck. I also remember that many people assumed the show would be over after that and started to leave, which the organizers weren't ready for. This coupled with some of the exits being blocked mean that I didn't get home til 2am
  7. Hard to believe but its been 25 years to the day since the Mig-29 crash at IAT Fairford. I still have vivid memories of that day as it was my first visit to Fairford. I've been wanting to make a model of one of the Migs for years but never quite got around to it. I figured the 25th anniversary would motivate me to build it. The kit is the Zvezda 1/72 Mig-29S with decals from the Hasegawa special. The yellow, blue and black were all masked and sprayed as the Hasegawa markings didn't fit the Zvezda kit. The build went together really easily and my only complaint about the finished model is that it seems to sit far too 'nose up'. Some surgery is needed on the front u/c leg I feel. The biggest challenge was the heat, its too hot to spend any extended time modelling at the moment. As i only finished this yesterday I only had time to take a couple of photos outside. I'll do some 'studio' photos when its a bit cooler! For added symmetry the base its on is one I made 25 years ago out of an old cornflakes packet! Any comments or questions welcome John
  8. What's the provenance of the Vampire FB3 as their old Heller moulds are for an FB5?
  9. Quick chat with the designer earlier confirms they are designing with a view to several releases. Mock up on stand had both types of tail planes, RAF specific load out and rounded tail fin. Expect all variants of spey phantom at some point.
  10. A few years ago I would have picked up all this 1/72 releases just out of interest. Now I'll probably get no more than one or two. The reason is cost. Hornby (unsurprisingly) have steadily and significantly increased prices on new releases. Look at the cost of the two Beaufighter kits as an example. Airfix no longer stacks up favourably against many European manufacturers in the value for money stakes. A few years ago I'd have cheered if Airfix had announced an RAF Phantom as I'd no longer be stuck with importing the Fujimi one. Now I just think what's the point as if they did do one it would invariably be more expensive now than Fujimis.
  11. Thing is it's not though, the saturation may be a bit high but the white balance is spot on. One advantage of using a mirrrorless camera is I can adjust the white balance until the screen matches exactly what I see in front of me. Check out images of the real plane, it's really very blue! I used H25 and H323, I think there actually called out on the Academy boxing if this kit and are the closest you can get until someone colour matches them.
  12. Hurricane metal wings and beaufighter conversions! This could get expensive. I've a hankering to do at least one of every beaufighter mark and may have no excuse now.
  13. Great build, the red oxide treatment looks spot on from the pics I've seen of this aircraft.
  14. Despite being my favorite modern jet and both being born in 1977 this is only the 2nd flanker kit I've made in 26 years. I have plans to build may more but was drawn to do this two tone bright blue scheme first. Coming off the back of building hurricanes and wildcats you forget how big the damned thing is. This is a fighter that is nearly as long as a Lancaster! This was the first Zvezda kit I have built though it wont be the last, a beautiful kit to build with only a few breakdown compromises to allow other variants to be tooled. Painted using Mr.Color acrylics with a bit of oil paint weathering. Any comments or suggestions welcome
  15. Thanks for the positive comments. The answer to this is actually both!. After test fitting a photocopy of the decal I decided that it didn't seem to fit at all. I therefore sprayed the thick white band and used the decal with the white band cut off for the triangles. Cutting the white band off meant I could bend the remainder of the decal around fine. All the triangle bits on the phantom were too small and fiddly to mask and spray hence my need to find an exact red match for the decals. I've never really though about posting in the wip forum. I think i'd need to be more disciplined to document the builds. The tiger stripes were a bit of a problem. I had intended to use the kit decals and thus sprayed the model black in preparation, but after discovering how un-usable they were I went to plan B. This involved photocopying the decal sheet, cutting out the black stripes and prit-sticking them onto masking tape. These were then applied to the model and after masking the rest of the black areas the yellow was sprayed over a white primer coat. I developed this technique a few years ago when building model cars and did a write up in a build I described on a site I experimented with: https://sites.google.com/site/monkeymodeler/model-reports/paintingthe124thwavebenettonb193b1994testcar Photocopying decal sheets is a very useful way of ensuring any related making you need to do will match with the decals once painted.
  16. Only taken a year but finally got around to photographing my recent builds. Most are run of the mill stuff that isn't worth posting but a few I quite like. These two were straight from the box builds though I elected to spray the tiger stripes rather that use the awful kit decals and the results came out quite well. The red on the other phantom was a citadel miniatures red as none of my military colors were bright enough. Any comments or suggestions welcome
  17. Looking at the test model at Telford the new cowl is the only difference. The fuselage remains unchanged. The guys manning the stand were unaware there should be any differences. If the designers knew they've chosen to ignore it.
  18. Thanks for the comment. It's great to hear from someone who worked on the actual aircraft. Out of interest how accurate was I to show it with a full weapons load? I couldn't resist rockets and nukes but did they ever fly with such a loadout? Clogged, the shadows were tidied up a bit in Photoshop but there was only minimal processing in the images.
  19. Both look fantastic, I love the new bright blue scheme. Will have to pick one of these up at Telford now. Ken, what number AKAN paints did you use, I ask as I've got a few already and I'm hoping I don't need to buy any more.
  20. Thanks for all the positive comments. The intake cover was just some aluminium foil shaped and painted. I did attack the decals with both daco and micro sol solutions and it did improve them a bit. I think I just left it too late. The backing sheet had yellowed and some of the decals took a long time to separate in the water. They are stored in a cupboard at room temperature but nearly quarter if a century is a long time. I've never had any issue with Daco decals before and I've got several more colourful f-16s planned!
  21. Hope someone can help me with this its been doing my head in! A while ago I came across a picture of a 111sqn meteor that I thought would make a nice model but I can't find the picture anymore. It showed a camouflaged meteor (probably f8) with a dayglo nose and wings. It was part of a 111sqn anniversary lineup with hunters, lightning's and a hurricane. I believe the meteor had/ was serving as a squadron hack. Does anyone know where I can find this picture? Cheers
  22. The problem with putting off a project for 20 years is that when you get around to it, it can be too late. I bought the DACO deacls for this model over 20 years ago but only now got around to using them. Unfortunately they had badly degraded resulting in epic silvering. I completed the project anyway and its not too noticable in daylight, though terrible under artificial light. Depressingly not one of my best as its one of my all time favorite schemes! Any comments for suggestions welcome John
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