Balloo

The front section and the larger aft portion went together perfectly. A big thank you to the Japanese engineers from Hasegawa - great job. It took just a few moments to clean up the wing parts - it's only two pieces per side anyhow. Minor sanding is necessary on all the parts. Looking forward to a coming off day to continue. Feel free to point out any inaccuracy you notice. There is still room for improvement. Cheers Balloo

In this respect I am proud of the cockpit, as it turned out: Please note the emergency escape handles, the co-pilots additional joystick and the rest of the stuff, I added. I will leave it that way.

While drying, a worked on the gear bays. Yesterday all the things were dry and ready for first assembly.

A proof of life from my side. Had a few problems accessing my photobucket account. Can't tell, what the problem was, but now it works again. As I am working full time, only a slight progress: I was able to clean up the Verlinden Resin stuff and give it a base coat. I found the cockpit detail o.k., but decided to go a bit further and produce the thrust levers, gear lever, flap lever and so on.

I love the cockpit details. Well done!

I am going to use a few kit supplied decals and the rest will come from different sources. The tail code will be provided by Verlinden. Hopefully the 30 year old dry transfers still work. This is the plane, I want to depict: United States Air Force Historical Research Agency - Maxwell AFB, Alabama, by Wikipedia I have started two days ago, but have trouble accessing my photo bucket account. I will enclose pictures, as soon as I can.

Good evening fellows, I have a nearly 20 year long relation to these Hasegawa model kits. One of them accompanied me from the last days of school, through my military career and over commercial pilots training to every base I served at. I never dared to build the kit, just opened up the box, glared at the exquisite detail and perfect craftmanship. When I found the announcement for the STGB I thought: Time to finally build it. In the last few weeks, I just needed to decide, which one to tackle. The F-111.net provided interesting information for all of my kits. So it will be this one: As previously said, the detail is excellent. I will be using some aftermarket pieces to build a specific vessel. I chose to do aircraft AF67 081 with tail code LN from Nellis, Las Vegas. The aircraft was transferred to Takhli and Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, where the tail code changed to HG and it received a yellow stripe. The vessel flew regular missions for the 429th TFS / 347th TFW, until it ended up at AMARC on June, 21st 1991. So my plane will be a survivor. F-111.net states, it flew with four Mk. 84 bombs on the pylons. I obtained two very nice sets from Eduard and plan on using them. Wishing all of us a good hand in this job. Balloo

Plan me in on 72nd scale. Cheers.

Hi trickyrich, I would like to join in on the Group Build. I have a few F-111s in my bench. Let's get surprised, which one will be in the closer look. Regards Balloo

@Procopius: Please give a BIG Thank You to Mr. Andrus. That was helpful. I have found looked the westin553 site up and down before. It is a really good source of information. So no more excuses, will be starting work on the Constellation. @Tom, Jason and all the other supporters: Thank you. Wishing all of us, a good hand in the work to come.

Thank you Gentleman for your interest in that subject. I hope I will be able to meet the expectations. @Procopius: Please leave Mr. Andrus, my compliments. It is really great to have a former crew member sharing his experience. On the picture below, could you please ask him to identify the two sections in the green and red circles? The index just says #14 is the "Aft Seats" and #21 is "Table and Benches" I have found a photo of what could be #21, but I have no clue as how #14 looks in real. photo courtesy: USAF Technical Manual EC-121R Next thing colors: If you get the chance, please ask Mr. Andrus, if he still can recall the colors of the cockpit instrument boards. I have seen pictures with nearly black, dark grey and light grey boards. Maybe he still remembers it after all the years. The same goes for the seat cushions: I have seen red, orange, dark green, light grey. Maybe your source could chop in with an idea. I know, it is asked a lot. But when do we get a chance to ask for hand's on information? Thank you very much in advance. Balloo P.S.: I am remembering a few "war stories" I have heard, when I was in pilot's training and later on the line. It's sad, that all those old story tellers are already retired. Nowadays I here stories from the right seat, that start with: ...back then at the flying school, there was that guy...

@Procopius: Thank you very much. If you really should get the opportunity to ask for hand's on information, I would have a few question concerning colors and basically the arrangement in the aft of the plane. That would really be helpful. @Lain: Yes, I know the shark mouthed Conny. It looks really amazing. @all: Thank's for the support.

Yeah Thank you, plastered it with three different aluminium foils.

As mentioned before, I am really looking forward to the GB. Somehow I need a kick in the... from time to time to finish something. The last built with Britmodeller was an inspiration. Ah by the way, I have been tackling a 1/72 Conny before, so I know a bit of the deficiencies of that particular kit: Another kit on the shelf of shame. Not many things to do, but it rests on top of the shelf and keeps looking so angry at me. Wishing all of us a good hand in the GB. Balloo

I will be using some aftermarket parts: First of all, ExtraTechs excellent etched parts. I have been using them before and they have a good fit. Secondly, HaHen's brilliant representation of the Conny's engines: Wolfpack provides the decals for the GB. PlusModels provided me with a nice set of dropped flaps: And finally AeroClub with a set of legs, as the Conny will be rather heavy on her feet. But I don't know, if I will use them in total.

I will be using the old Heller kit. It has some issues, but most of them can be overcome. The inside of the box looks as tidy as the outside apart from the two large fuselages:

Hi folks, this is my second GB with Britmodeller. I am looking forward to the contest. As the title says, I would like to contribute a Lockheed reconnaissance plane form the 60s. I give my best to let it look a bit like on that picture: photo courtesy: U. S. Air Force photo KE 35179 So, if anyone out there is the real Lockheed Constellation crack and finds something going terribly wrong with my built, please let me know. I am always open to feedback.

Looking forward to your building. That one was on my closer list as well, so I will catch up on your hints during building. Balloo

I forgot to put the scale on. Sorry. They are all in 1/72nd scale. @Bonhoff: Go for the BUFF, I gonna skip it. So it's the Starlifter or the Bat Cat.

Hi Folks, I'd like to participate with something large. Maybe a B-52D, an EC-135R Bat Cat or a C-141A. Haven't decided yet. Well they are all in my stash, so I don't need to order, I can still flip a coin on short notice. But somehow I tend to grab the Conny, she is looking down on me from the top of my cabinet for years now. Looking forward to the start of the GB. Cheers, Balloo

Sorry Houston, I think I got you wrong. You have PM. Balloo

Hi Houston, Thank you very much for your reply. To be honest, I didn't expect that much positive response. Well, you asked for the base: I have taken a few pictures at different airports. This one is from Berlin Tegel airport. Standing at the C-Terminal, looking north to the military ramp. Usually German Air Force One (an A 340) is parked there. The picture has been taken with an old Pentax LX film camera and then been reproduced in 50 x 75 cm. I glued it to a strong cardboard using double sided adhesive by 3M. When you want to give it a try for yourself, please take the picture from eye level, but omit too much from the ground. The more sky on your picture, the better, believe me. Then just place the background behind your model and take a picture. I still need to do a ground plate, which I had no time so far. Balloo

Hi Tom Cooper, you convinced me. I had a look for the videos, couldn't find the F/A-18C with the GBU's, but anyhow the F-16's and F-15's wear them. So I will place two of them under the empty pylons. Besides, just sitting in an Abu Dhabi hotel and guess what I have seen yesterday? A flight of two Saudi F-15's, but they were too far away for a look on their weapon's loadout. When I will be at home, I will post pictures with the GBU's. Thank's again. Balloo

Hi Tom Cooper, trank you for the input. I gonna have a look for that video. I have a few GBU-12 around. And two pylons are still empty ;-)

Trank you very much for the support. @AngstROM you are absolutely right. Maine Coons. They are our kids. So lovely and supportive in any way. There is no box on earth a Maine Coon wouldn't fit into. No matter how small, or how long to jump into it.