72modeler

Thanks, Martin! Will look into getting my other drawings scaled out. Thanks for the heads-up! Mike

Nachos, anyone? Mike

TT and Sabrejet, SJ- in the diagram you put in one of your earlier posts, labeled H-181-00-2A, that showed fuselage stations from front to back, am I correct in assuming those measurements are in inches? If so, I plan to photocopy that illustration in 1/72 scale so I can get a better handle on the length issues that have been pointed put regarding the Sword FJ2. BTW, the work you did on that forward cannon port really changed the look of the nose! TT- after re-measuring the Sword FJ-2 wheel track, using your suggestions and the 1/72 drawings I have, it appears Sword got it correct at 9 feet! I also located my Falcon 1/72 vacform triple conversion that had the FJ-2 fuselage; they got the overall length and the upper nose contour from the windscreen to the intake lip right on the money! I can use it either as a guide to fixing the Sword kit, or might even graft the upper nose section onto it- might even be a big step towards correcting the Sword intake issues, too. Going to take the NAA 3-views to my local photocopier and get them enlarged/reduced to 1/72 scale, and put the Sword parts on them to see how/if the aft fuselage length issue is worth the hassle of correcting, as well as checking the upper nose and intake contours against them. I'm still trying to digest the fact that the Hasegawa Sabre Dog wing is 6" short in span....off-topic, but hoping Airfix will do a new one to replace their original issue! (With different fuselages and sets of wings, they could do a D/K/L) I have family coming to visit for two weeks, so it might be a while before I can get back to all of you with my findings. (Thanks for the break, you say?) Don't do anything crazy while I'm gone- SJ will probably have his ready for paint by then! Mike

I can only echo what the others have said. The very best rendition of the silver-grey undersides that I have seen on a model so far. This is not a model, it's a replica! My very favorite scheme, too! Mike

John, You should be locked up for your own good- you sure did a great job on this one! Never really realized what a huge wing that version had, even more so in 1/48! Soooo, what's next? Mike

Yury, So which photos are the model and which are the real thing? Wow! Incredible build- I can only imagine how big it must be in in 1/72 scale! Yours is the first one of any version that I have seen built in 1/72 scale, and I think you have set the bar. Great photos, too! Mike

Libor, Beautiful markings and an excellent build! Very, very clean- both the decals and the finish. In my opinion, the Brit and the Connie were the two most beautiful propliners ever! Well done, sir! The Roden Britannia is my only 1/144 scale kit, and I hope I can do mine half a good as yours! Any problems with the kit, by the way- it looks to be a very good one. Mike

I agree with Smudge- after doing a search for photos of aircraft in the grey/white scheme, it looks like white rudders, elevators, and ailerons- upper and lower surface. Flaps appear to be white on the undersurface, but some could be either grey or white on the uppersurface. I am thinking the ailerons would be in white, because if they were overpainted in grey, it would upset the balance of the control surface- flaps, being metal-covered, would not have that problem. Just an uneducated guess, you understand! None of the photos I could find in the Naval Fighters vol. 5 by Steve Ginter of T-28's in the grey scheme showed the uppersurface of the flaps or ailerons. Definitely the best bet is to find a photo of the one you want to do, but sometimes that's impossible; as they say, never trust a profile without a photo! Maybe TT can shed more light on the subject. Best I could do- sorry! Mike

Jawohl, mein Starfighter freund! What can I say? I gotta stop trolling on BM in the wee hours, as the brain/eye interface doesn't seem to finction very well! Pretty nice build, though. I thought he did the silver-grey undersides color better than I have seen in a long time! Regards! Mike

Does this help? Mike https://www.google.com/search?q=Spitfire+canopy&tbm=isch&source=iu&pf=m&ictx=1&fir=5XE-Ozh9mal7nM%3A%2CFhWsmlu4b1SPYM%2C_&usg=__95s7tfY7YiPgTs0ARjYpbe5VFbw%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiLmb_N9ZHXAhUJ1CYKHUKhCvEQ9QEIZTAA#imgrc=YR2NnHF6JVy5pM:&spf=1509145665654 https://www.google.com/search?q=Spitfire+canopy&tbm=isch&source=iu&pf=m&ictx=1&fir=5XE-Ozh9mal7nM%3A%2CFhWsmlu4b1SPYM%2C_&usg=__95s7tfY7YiPgTs0ARjYpbe5VFbw%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiLmb_N9ZHXAhUJ1CYKHUKhCvEQ9QEIZTAA#imgdii=XgoW_dRQpnU70M:&imgrc=YR2NnHF6JVy5pM:&spf=1509145665654 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/353743745717093001/

Martin- Did you see the 1/48 Hasegawa F-104G in WGAF markings in the Ready for Inspection forum? Check it out- I thought of you when I saw it. Mike

One other thought- how did you get the pilot's oxygen mask to fit over the handlebar moustache? Mike Yes, I know- I'm one sick puppy!

If you think this is a lot of traffic on a single release, just wait until somebody releases a new-tool F-94C, F9F-5, or F-3H in 1/72! Bless the folks at Emhar, however, for doing two of the three. Mike

I found this photo just now. Very interesting C-123! I'm guessing the wingtip pods are auxiliary jet engines, possibly because it is ski-equipped and needed the extra power to unstick from ice or snow when fully loaded? It was evidently used by the AK ANG, and I found photos of it preserved outdoors at an Alaskan AB which closed and the aircraft was moved elsewhere. Just curious- does anybody know more about this Provider? (Photo via mediadefense.org) Mike

AW- One of the nicest F4C's I have seen in any scale. Beautifully restrained weathering and panel lines- looks like it's ready for Robin to kick the tires and light the fires! Well done, and a wonderful tribute to a fighter pilot's fighter pilot- well done! Mike

Steve- here in the Colonies, nasty has a very positive connotation when referring to an airplane, automobile, or female....purposeful? That's like saying a Tiffy was "rather pugnacious." or a Rolls-Royce Merlin at full bore was "somewhat melodious." Ha! Cheers, mate! Mike

Gene, CMK made three resin detail sets for 1/72 Sabres: 7112 was for the cockpit; 7114 had the speedbrake doors and wells, and the ammo bays/doors (the speedbrake wells are not identical, from one side to the other) and 7113 has the wheelbay and all fairing doors. Red Roo also made a resin wheelbay set for Sabres, IIRC. You can look them up by their stock number to see the contents. I have some, but not all- will have to check my "stash" to see which one/s I have. I figured the F-86 slat segments and actuators in the resin sets wouldn't be an exact match for the FJ-2, but as you stated, will be easy to correct. Does this help? Mike

No sir, not in the least snarky or superior- I reckon you have forgotten more about this subject than I will ever know. Your suggestions about getting a more accurate track figure are good ones, and I think puts the FJ-2/3 track within 'acceptable' limits. The Hobbycraft/Academy F-86E/Canadair Sabre kits are the only ones, to my knowledge, that have positionable slats, but both kits have them molded on a 6-3 wing, so their wings can't be used on an FJ-2/early -3 without modification. What I have seen described in build articles is that the 6-3 section is removed behind the edge of the slat well on the HC/AC kit and is grafted onto the wing of the kit you are using, after the corresponding section is removed from that kit. The slats themselves are separate, and are cemented to the slat wells, which have the slat tracks molded onthem. Cutting Edge also made a very nice resin set of slats and slat wells/tracks to be used on the desired kit after removing the corresponding section from the wing, They sold the slats by themselves, and also in a conversion to make an F-86A from an F-86E/F, which had the slats, new rear fuselage with the small fairing for the non all-flying stabilizers, as well as a resin v-shaped windscreen. The CE sets, sadly, have been OOP for a long time. I would think this would be a good seller for one of the aftermarket resin outfits, as it could be used on F-86's as well as FJ-2's. Again, thank you for your assistance to all of us. (Next up is looking at all my Sabre/Fury wheels to see if they are any better than the ones in the Sword kit, which look pretty good.) Mike

Fishbed, Very nice! There's something about the Mk VI, with that 4-bladed prop and extended wingtips on a Mk Vb airframe, that gives it a nasty look. Very clean build, and the AZ kit looks to be a good one. Well done! Mike

Corsaircorp, Wings was a maker of some excellent, well-detailed short-run vacform kits, as good as and comparable to Eagles Talon, who also did the Fireball. When MPM released their injected FR-1, I sold off my Wings vacform, but kept the Eagles Talon one. I have attached a link to illustrations of many of their releases. Esoteric were probably the best of the vacforms, along with the last series from Rareplanes, and did an amazing assortment of golden age USN biplanes and monoplanes, almost all of which I have, but haven't yet screwed up the courage to do one, as I need some vacforms under my belt so I don't ruin one, as it would be pretty much impossible to find, much less afford a replacement! Mike https://www.google.com/search?q=list+of+Wings+vacuform+kits&biw=1280&bih=654&tbm=isch&source=iu&pf=m&ictx=1&fir=K9Ywmco751A3JM%3A%2CwnPbOTFANOId6M%2C_&usg=__05SJpghCha_pQXjbK8uoMMeiHyg%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEpqn96Y7XAhUKKyYKHZOaAFoQ9QEIQTAF#imgrc=K9Ywmco751A3JM

Probably a given; I'm just guessing here, but Airfix would need to address the major/noticeable changes listed below to cover early to late P-51D/K's (Some of these seem to be on the sprues already.) I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones I can recall reading about. two different dorsal fin fillets; fin without dorsal fillet two different styles of instrument panel shrouds two different types of gunsight two different seats three different props three different cowling vent panels: perforated, louvered, and blanked-off three different sliding canopies tail warning radar faired and unfaired exhaust stacks at least three different radio fits IIRC, fabric and metal-covered elevators at least three different tire tread patterns at least three different styles of rear-vision mirrors I'm not going to buy another, later release just to get the filletless fin- I will just modify the current release that I have on order. That's what I get for being in such a hurry to get the new-tool kit and for Airfix not being really clear as to the options included in the first release. (Besides, it's not my scale, anyway, but a beautifully restored Happy Jack's Go Buggy P-51D is based here where I live, and Jack Ilfrey, the20th FG pilot of the original, was a Texas native that I had the honor and pleasure to have met and chatted with a few years back- the model will be a tribute to him.) Mike

WIP- Thanks for posting the photo! I had also found it a while back, but forgot to save it and couldn't remember where I had seen it. Yes, I meant to say turbocharger- forgot all about the mechanical one. Thanks for catching my mistake! Mike

TT- I think I measured center to center on the struts, forgetting that the wheels are inboard on each side and should have allowed for that; good catch! I will correct the track reversal in my original post- it was 11pm CST when I was working on the wings, and my Mk 1a eyeball/brain interface starts to break down! I know the slat segments are different, but was looking at total length and chord, as I will correct the slat segments when I pull the ones from one of my Academy/Hobbycraft kits. I used to teach earth science and wish we used metric as the "official" system; it does get tiresome converting back and forth. I will measure the wheel tracks on the kits again and see what I come up with. Now- for the nagging question all the AMS'ers out there want to ask you but haven't- what is the FS equivalent for the relief tube? Ha! Thank you, Tommy, as always for your input- sorry for my ineptitude! Mike Tommy, I went back and measured the width of the wheels on all the kits- they all came out to 6" in width, which I think might be too small? (I measured from edge to edge of the wheel/tire proper, but did not include the large disc brake assembly on the inboard part of the wheel hub.) Splitting that in half gives 3" inboard from each strut, for a total of 6" less track from my initial and incorrect wheel track observations. Here are the corrected figures, from wheel center to wheel center; I re-measured the distance between the struts, just to be sure, and subtracted 6" from that...still all over the place but a lot closer to the published specs. What do you think? We have an F-86A here at Lackland AB I could measure, but no FJ2/3, with the closest one to me being at Pensacola! Here are my corrected measurements- take the Hasegawa kit with a jaundiced eye, as it's 6" short in span. I hope this helps. 9.75' Sword FJ2 8.75' Airfix F-86D 8.75' Hasegawa F-86D 9.5' Fujimi F-86F 9.025' Academy/Hobbycraft F-86E

Now I am confused! During halftime of the basketball game with our beloved Spurs, I hauled out the kits listed below to see how their wing spans, chords, and main gear tracks compared with the Sword FJ-2, which I finally have in hand. I hope you will both trust my measurements and check them against my findings, if you have access to the same kits. Very interesting but confusing results! I used 37' 1" as the span for the FJ-2, F-86D, and F-86E/F with the slatted, narrow chord wing. For the main gear track, I used 8' 3" for the FJ2/3 and 9' for the F-86E/F/D, with both measurements coming from Tailspin Turtle's posting. I was not able to find a wheel track measurement in any of the references I had, but I did find in a couple of written sources that the FJ2 had its wheel track increased by 8" over the F-86. (Sabrejet- do you have an F-86 wheel track measurement in your references?) The kits I used were the new Sword FJ-2, the Airfix and Hasegawa F-86D's, the Academy/Hobbycraft F-86E, and the Fujimi F-86F (The Fujimi and Academy/Hobbycraft kits have 6-3 wings, but I was using them for wingspan and wheel track, as we all know they are wrong for an FJ-2.) Fujimi: 37' 1" span, 10' wheel track Academy/Hobbycraft: 37' span, 9' 9" wheel track Hasegawa: 36' 6" span, 9' 3" wheel track (The span was a real shocker, as I have never read anything about it being too short!) Airfix: 37' span, 9' 3" wheel track Sword: 37' 3" span, 10' 9" wheel track The Hasegawa and Airfix wings did have the correct chord for the slatted wing, so Sword got that right, Tommy, but the Hasegawa wing was short in span; the wheel tracks were all over the map, but I don't have a figure for the wheel track of either type in my references, so I have no idea which of these are correct- they don't even match the tracks that TT listed in his blog! The Sword kit is very, very good, as you all have indicated, and I see and agree with the errors pointed out in the topic discussions; none of them really blatant and most can be easily fixed, with the possible exception of posing the slats open, but some cutting and transplanting a set of Academy/Hobbycraft/Cutting Edge Sabre slats onto the Sword kit isn't really all that difficult. The wheel track issue has me stumped, and taping the kit parts together, it isn't really noticeable, but maybe TT and/or SJ can help me out there. IF the NAA 3-view drawings are accurate, I can get them enlarged to 1/72 to do some more comparing; I have the Warpaint 1/72 FJ2 scale drawings, but do not know if they are accurate or not. Anyway, for what it's worth, I hope my observations are accurate and will be helpful! Please let me know if I am really off the mark on what I described, as the last thing I want to do is misinform my fellow modelers! Mike BTW, the Spurs won and are 4-0 to start the season!

Just found this. You can clearly see why the belly and fuselage of the Jug was so portly- that's a lot of plumbing and ductwork to enclose! Great modeling possibility....if you're really crazy! Enjoy! Mike https://www.pinterest.com/pin/350366045987114669/?utm_campaign=category_rp&e_t=c2fe5d01206948a7b16466e6ff275a55&utm_content=350366045987114669&utm_source=31&utm_term=2&utm_medium=2012 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/529102656211541476/