72modeler

FAC2 might be forward air controller squadron 2, and GAL might be General Aircraft Limited- found these by searching under 'RAF xxx abbreviations.' Not going to stake my life and reputation, such as it is, on these, though. Bet Graham B will know! Maybe this Spitfire was repaired or refurbished by GAL, thus the notation? I leave this one to my distinguished fellow modelers! Mike

Ettore, Bellisima! You should be proud of this one- not a version very many know about and very surprising for MPM to do this version. A-20's seem to be ignored by modellers and have never gotten the praise or recognition they deserve, unlike the B-25, B-26, and A-26. Very clean workmanship, beautiful paint job and colors, and very subtle weathering. I hope when I get around to doing a Boston/Havoc, I can do half as good a job as you. Thanks for sharing your work. Mike

I echo the praise the others have heaped upon both builds- very nice modeling! I think both would look killer in Finnish AF colors and markings, but would have to be 'what-ifs' Every once in a while, a Starship flies over my house, and they have a very distinctive sound. Thanks for sharing your work! Mike

A6, Very nice build of the 'Flying Clog!" My very favorite flying boat- you have a real way with seaplanes, so it appears. (Soooo, when are you getting the A-Model JRM Mars? Ha!) Seriously, keep 'em coming! Mike

Patrick, a phabulous Phantom! My very favorite version and scheme, too! The Fujimi kit has nothing to be ashamed of, that's for sure- it was the 1st 1/72 Spey-powered F-4 to be accurate, IIRC, and until the Airfix kit comes out, is still the one to beat! Very restrained weathering an streaking, as well. Well done, Patrick! Mike

Do these help? http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/Short-C-23A-Sherpa-330-200/1010024/L https://www.pinterest.com/pin/449585975284802632/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/449585975289029545/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/311241024237969862/ https://www.google.com/search?q=c-23+sherpa+usaf+colors&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=EHJxtXFS3ADNlM%3A%2CKSEGVx3H23ToxM%2C_&usg=__DeIjxtyRZZN-ZeTsn0GZc-R-69Q%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9y5W8xdLXAhXJxFQKHVo2BgEQ9QEIMjAE#imgrc=cR9fR1rPfhgLjM:&spf=1511366117569 On the last one above, note the black-painted areas to hide exhaust staining- never noticed that before! I thought I had a 3-view diagram that showed the pattern and colors for the C-23A, but can't seem to find it just now- I will post it if I can locate it. The colors, IIRC, are: FS34092 European Green FS34102 Medium Green FS36118 Gunship Grey I did notice, in looking at numerous photos, that the camouflage pattern varies from aircraft to aircraft- I am assuming that the T.O. concerning colors and markings had a basic pattern that individual paint shops used as a guide, but I could very well be wrong, as the newer aircraft aren't in my limited area of expertise. Maybe the OOP Aeroclub C-23A kit had a colors/pattern drawing that a BM'er might be able to share. I also bet Giorgio might be able to help you, as I seem to recall his posting some color reference information on Sherpas. Good luck- it's a pretty neat-looking little spud in the three-color scheme! Mike

Stefan If this kit is brush-painted, I'd love to borrow your paint brush! Fantastic job on one of my favorite kits from Italeri- RLM 72/73 colors are spot on. Well done! I'd love to see Revell/Germany do new-tools of the Italeri seaplanes and multi-engine kits. Mike

UR right- a very unusual but attractive scheme! The old Matchbox kits cleans up pretty good; you should be proud it it! Mike

A beautiful job on the most beautiful floatplane design- your usual great build and finish, Fuad! Mike

Jonners, Fantastic reference! Even better than the one on the P-51 SIG site! I knew of three variations, but not the others; grateful to you for the hard work in putting your post together and for sharing it with all of us...pretty subtle contour differences that I doubt we will see in injected or vac form, but at least we have the 'big three!' Mike Since I'm a native Texan, gotta be a Dallas hood for me!

Good to hear your voice, John! Hope you are doing well. Mike

Bill, Words fail me! Everything the others have said about what you have done goes double for me. What an incredible display of craftsmanship! You actually made the ugliest F-111 into a beautiful airplane. Well done, sir! Mike

Martin, Check out this photo I just found; it appears to be a gun-nosed A-26, but direct your attention to the RH engine; see the four outlets connected to the two exhaust pipes? Confirms the two into four at that point, but still doesn't reveal whether or not those two pipes are fed by more than two cylinders. I still wonder how the front and rear row of cylinders are connected to the exhaust outlets. (All right, worms- back in the can!) Mike https://www.pinterest.com/pin/265149496790578476/?utm_campaign=category_rp&e_t=bfe73c3465ca48a9a8ee3ab13668c308&utm_content=265149496790578476&utm_source=31&utm_term=4&utm_medium=2012

I had the same walkaround, Jari. Each of those indented areas have four exhaust outlets, and I think that's all that Martin needs to know to do his model, but what I was trying to figure out was how the individual exhaust ports from the 18 cylinders in the two rows was combined/trunked/siamesed into four groups of four exhaust outlets on each side of the cowling, for a total of 32 exhaust outlets. I know that using the multiple small outlets is to reduce the flare of the aircraft's exhaust at night, so on many aircraft the number of exhaust outlets is going to be more than the actual number of cylinders...I was just curious as to how the exhaust was plumbed from the cylinder to the outlets. (Are we model builders a crazy bunch or what?) Mike BTW- thanks for sharing the walkaround!

Martin, After looking through the numerous walkarounds on the Invader that I have, it appears there are three recessed areas on each side of the cowling immediately aft of the cowl flaps that contain the exhaust outlets. The uppermost recess on each side has two pairs of exhaust stacks, with four outlets in each stack, The remaining two recessed areas each have one stack with four outlets in each one. Now comes the confusing part, at least for me; the R-2800 engine has eighteen cylinders, so how are the exhaust manifolds configured to fit the exhaust from eighteen individual cylinders into the 32 total outlets? I did find a photo of a pair of A-26 exhaust stacks for sale, and each one had two exhaust pipes feeding four outlets, which would seem to me to indicate that exhaust from two cylinders fed the four outlets, but if that's the case, that only accounts for sixteen of the eighteen cylinders. This doesn't affect the number of outlets, which is what you were asking about for your model, but now I'm going bonkers trying to figure out how the exhaust was routed. I was not able to find any photos in the walkarounds or print references I have that showed the exhaust manifolds. There was an A-26C at our airshow two weeks ago, and if I had seen your question earlier, I could have checked this out and taken detail photos. Maybe somebody who knows Invaders better can shed some light on the subject? Mike

That's why I am 72 modeler....what I know about 1/48 kits and accessories will fit on the top of an Airfix rivet! Ridgerunner- Special Hobby has had the Invader as well as several other kits on their future release list for more than a few years...will believe it when the sprue shots are displayed on BM! Mike

I am impressed, Graham! I went back and rummaged through my two unbuilt Monogram kits, and lo and behold, they do look like they have the flat plate canopy, although the framework looks like it is simplified. I found an A-26 website that has some good drawings and other reference material- maybe it will be useful! (The last time I built the Monogram kit was in 1958, so my memory was fuzzy as to 1/72 early A-26 canopies, but since the kit is a little off from being true to scale, can I at least have technicality points? I loved the box art of it taxying out! I do recall the original box price was 60 cents from the Myrtle Beach AB BX, as my Dad bought the kit for me!) Mike http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id245.html

RR, No resin 6-gun nose for either 1/72 or 1/48 scale A-26B's that I am aware of, but I have attached some links to photos of both types for you to examine. I think the nose contours for both the 6 and 8 gun noses were the same, but the access panels were different. Be aware that early production A-26B's had the flat plate canopy, with egress hatches that were hinged at the front, while later production examples had a bulged canopy with egress hatches that opened upward and outward. I'm not aware of any vacform flat plate canopies in either scale- the 1/72 Falcon sets only have the later bulged canopy, and it is engineered for the Airfix kit. (More than ready for Airfix to do a new-tool Invader in 1/72 scale, as the Italeri kits, while pretty nice, have some issues- most because they tried to get too many versions from the same molds, but the oil cooler intakes on the wing are undersized and lack the proper contour around the lip.) Do these help? Mike https://www.google.com/search?q=Douglas+A-26B+gun+nose&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj05o3iw77XAhWKslQKHRx2DU4Q_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=654#imgrc=-oFQA6dhYwpv6M:&spf=1510678459868 http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id488.html http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Aircraft/A-26_Six_Gun_Nose.jpg http://ww2live.com/sites/default/files/images/20161108184404.jpg http://www.aviationspectator.com/files/images/Douglas-B-26-Invader-25.jpg This one from the Squadron Signal In-Action http://napoleon130.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/candev.jpg http://www.aviation-history.com/douglas/a26-9a.jpg

I'm not sure if this is the best location for this post, so I took a guess. (Mike, if you need to move it to another location, please do so!) This is a beautiful restoration of a P-51D-5 flown by Texas native Jack Ilfrey, an ace of the 20th FG. He also flew a P-38J with the same name. This Mustang is a faithful replica to the original, with the exception of the dorsal fin strake, which was not fitted to the D-5 that Major Ilfrey flew. This Mustang is based here where I live and I get to see it every time Bruce flies it, as the traffic pattern takes it over my house! Got to see it again last week end at our bi-annual airshow. Bruce is a former USN F-18 pilot who has an opthomology practice here in San Antonio, and in addition to being an outstanding pilot, is one of the nicest people you could hope to meet. I am waiting for my 1/48 Airfix Mustang to arrive so I can build it as a tribute to both airmen. I hope you enjoy the photos. Mike http://midwestaero.com/site/Photo_Gallery/Pages/Happy_Jacks_Go_Buggy.html

Not surprising- that generation didn't talk about what they did very much after they came home, and certainly weren't boastful about it. You certainly can't judge the book by its cover! I really feel it's up to my fellow serious modelers and enthusiasts to keep what they did alive and pass it along to the next generation, although there seem to be fewer of them, in my experience. I have a dear friend whose uncle flew Tomahawks, Hurricanes, and P-47's in the CBI, and neither of us can comprehend what it must have been like for a 19-year old to be throwing a 2,000hp fighter around the sky on a daily basis back then. Mike

Replicant, Well, you've done it...again! Hard to believe it's the old Matchbox kit. I am always impressed by your work, both the quality and the volume! Don't sweat the aileron mistake; long, long ago, when I was just beginning to airbrush and use filler, I built the Frog Mosquito BMk IV- opened the bomb bay and the entrance door, and did a lot of exhaust streaking and chipping, and was feeling right proud of myself, until one of our local experts gently pointed out to me that the Mossie, being of wooden construction, would only show chipping around the engine nacelle, which, of course, I knew, but had forgotten! I still get flak on that one when we old-timers get together! (As an aside, sure wish somebody would give us a new-tool F9F-4/5...are you out there, Sword? Hobbyboss?)

Michael, I'm glad I was able to help you in some small way on your Mitchell project; I think you did a great job- don't sell yourself short; pretty darned good coming out of retirement model, if I say so. You did a great job on the conversion, too; I knew you could pull it off. Thanks for sharing the story and photos of the aircraft and crew, especially during the Veterans Day week end; these young men were truly the best generation and it is our legacy to maintain and continue documenting their service and sacrifice by building and sharing our models. Good on yer, Doc! (OK, now that you're on a roll, what's your next project?) I have three tribute models in the queue to honor some great pilots whom I have had the honor to have met- one is an RAF Group Captain who flew everything from Tiger Moths to Lightnings! Well done, sir! Mike

What James said. See if this link is helpful. Just being selfish, but wish Airfix had released the FGR2 first! Mike http://phantomphacts.blogspot.com/2014/05/differences-between-phantom-fg1-and-fgr2.html

Graham, Not that it makes any difference for modeling either one, but did the SH Mk 1a's and b's have naval radio equipment replacing the standard radio fit? Mike

Have you seen these? Doesn't look like the panels you described are armor plate, but there is no way of knowing if this museum Mk IV is original or not. It also doesn't appear to have the armored radiator housing normally fitted to Mk IV's and the three Mk V's Hope these photos will be helpful. Mike https://www.flickr.com/photos/nilsmosberg/22859301817 https://www.flickr.com/photos/nilsmosberg/22885558089/in/photostream/ https://hiveminer.com/Tags/aeronautical,preserved