tempestfan

Odd they have no consumer service when they have/had been moulding kits there for some 20 years at least, but probably those activities are entirely unrelated. 71-0291 -the E demonstrator - was a TF-15A from the development batch, not a D, but it may have been brought to D standard at the time it was used as demonstrator.

F4-J instead of the correct F-4J. Sorry I'm pedantic...

Good that the truth is finally uncovered and settled. But you should have waited just another three weeks...

Would have to check, but I think both the raised and recessed detail kits were discussed in D&S 7 and 12, and am fairly certain they were still distributed by Minicraft. Is that typo in the designation Minicraft-specific?

Looks like the Park Plastics kit, except for the separate port tailcone - or has that broken off ? Pics of the Pegapan kit - which probably is from the same mould - here.

The Import taxes are not the shop's fault, nor are the postage costs I have yet to buy directly from Japan, but I think I have read (and actually used HLJ's calculator a couple of times, which confirmed this) that postage for single items is relatively low, and you might stay under the customs threshold that way. As a comparison, I asked at the Bancarella in Turin two years ago what it would cost to send a single Ali d'Italia booklet to Germany, and the reply was 16 €... for a single 48 page or so booklet - not his fault either, but in the past couple of years overseas shipping costs have soared almost anywhere.

I am aware/seem to recall early F-16s had Stencel seats, but think have only read references to the Escapac in the F-15 context for early machines. Which would seem fairly logical as it was an MDD product, just like the ACES that replaced it.

Supermarine Attacker: No, unless portrayed in a certain "post-landing" mode.

I have the ancient DanMil issue featuring the D, which I think also has a stencil plan drawing. If it's of help...? Guess a scan would work better, otherwise I could bring it to Milan. I know, I have a PM to Reply to...

That Looks tasty A range I have never seen... Early 70s ?

You Are right, typing on the phone I used an abbreviation... The Corsair drawings were published when they were still in newspaper format, and they were definitely among the better ones, unlike e.g. the Vixen set .

Indeed, the F-4 drawings suffer from a fairly noticeable flaw IMHO in that the relation of wing leading edge to the intake trunks is off. The original F4F and F6F drawings also have various errors. I‘d have to check but there may in fact be two sets of A-7 drawings as the original 1979 paper cover booklet was replaced a couple of years later, which may have had new drawings. As the Matchbox Corsair features the highly unusual treat of detail in the main u/c bays, with some similarity to the Airfix in this respect, I suspect both may be based on „official“ LTV drawings that IIRC were also published in SMI and are available (or were when I last looked) on the Vought website. Another set of drawings by Bob Migliardi was printed in a fairly early issue of AvNews - I‘d be surprised if Chris @dogsbody doesn’t have it in his library. It would probably be fun to establish to which extent five sets of drawings of the same subject can differ...

To be pedantic: I think it’s either TF-15A (original designation) or F-15B but not TF-15B. As for seats, the development batch used the Escapac, and possibly also very early production machines, but the vast majority including all Cs had the ACES II. The original Aerofax stated the Heyl Ha‘avir retained the Escapac, but that may have pertained to the first delivery of development batch airframes only. A and B originally had „spoked“ wheel hubs that usually were dark, C and D had hubs with eight holes that were usually white, but those hubs were also retrofitted to As and Bs. Similarly, the exhaust petals aka turkey feathers were removed from As and Bs in USAF service, so an A in its later career would look very much like a C.

If you look hard enough on the scalemates pic, you can see the 414 and the 86 in the Serial.

IIRC the night fighter special results from HobbyTime including a generic sprue of assorted underwing stores not really related to the Mustang that was also sold separately and may have been the first aftermarket kit in history. Also IIRC, the surface detail, parts arrangement on the sprues and wheels differ between the kits. Edit: The Serial in the HT kit appears to have been 44-14861, bith the sme VF-L codes.