Zaggy

Martin, no stress - as I said, I'm Australian....and we're a pretty laid back bunch. And just to prove that I waited until posting this subtle reminder that its now MONDAY, until it was Monday both here AND in the UK - see, I'm not one of those MUST HAVE NOW types; I understand time zone's and time frames! Hehehehe So... What have you got for us? (And would you mind me dropping you a line with a suggestion or two, re: the Tooms?) Dan

This maybe of help to people here too --> http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=148643 D

If in 7. you mean the Big Rectangular Fairing, like the FGR2, then NO! If you mean the smaller, bullet fairing on the trailing edge, then yes... And in 6. RAF jets had a different form of stab reinforcment to the USAF, etc, which were present on the F-4J(UK)'s. And then there is the underwing Strap reinforcement too and outer wing reinforcements... D

Low Viz AD Phantoms - yep, count me in there too... No pressure, because I'm Australian and thus more laid back, but next week will be fine... (Today is friday, Remember!) Dan

That is absolutely mental! Bonkers. Madness. Insanity! BUT at the same time, I love the fact that someone is going to hassle of making and selling it! XB-70 fans will just love it and I will love being able to see someone who has built one potentially have to knock out half a wall (and hire a truck) to get the thing to a show; but the world needs this sort of crazy... Bottom line, I don't want one - but hell yeah I approve of it! (and lets face it, most of us here are probably delusionally crazy anyway! I have more Fw 190D's (Eduard, DML, Dragon, Tamiya, Hase), Ta 152's (ZM, PCM, Trimaster, Falcon, DML/Dragon/Hase/Italeri, Aoshima), F-14's (Hase) and FA-18's (Hase Classics and Supers), than I will ever have time to build; but I keep buying them, as well as 'spontanteous' buys/projects - to me, that's kind of crazy... But I keep on doing it! And A-7's (Hase) and Bf 109G/K's (mostly Hase) and He 219's (ZM, Revell, Tamiya) and Avon Sabres (HPM) and F-4's (Academy and Hase) and F-16's (Hase, Kinetic and Tamiya - most to be become Adversaries) - should I continue?) Dan

@Andrew - I beleive you are correct re: the wing tip low intensity lights! @XV571 - Yeah the (mis)matching of colours on the F-4J(UK)'s definitely make them interesting! And yes 18" for the 43SQN intakes looks about right (so all these decals I have that work out to be about 15" are useless... ). As for decals, I BELEIVE I have an AirDoc sheet on its way from Czech (fingers crossed); I've heard of, but never seen the Aeromaster sheets (but 48-558 sounds like a winner, if I can find one). The Dry transfer sheet I have seen but the owner of was unwilling to part with it (rightly so, in my book), but these others... Maintrack and Almark, I have not heard of the companies at all... Research time for those! Cheers guys

Yep... No two really looked alike. Some looked Grey, some Blue, (in the same frame)... Some even looked Green at times... But as we all agree, colours do weird things on film and on screen (unless you're anal about Pantone Calibrations like I am) and in 'personal interpretation'... Dan

...and that worked so well for the greeny-bluey F-4J(UK)'s

By the way, just to add to the low viz roundel and F-4J(UK) and FGR.2 and etc, 'stuff'... The F-4J(UK) was delivered with the outer wing reinforcing already done - in this image, it looks like the reinforcment (just above the hinge) is fairly new, owing to the primer and sealant visible. Note also the 'upside down' RAM air intake just behind the radome, prompting me to ask if this F-4J(UK) may have 'donated' its newer outer wings to an FGR.2 and eventually gotten a 'recently modded' set back that had previously been on an FGR.2 - hence the RADICALLY different roundels and the 'gut feeling' that the lower wing colour is not FS36440 (look at the lower grey colour on the side of the rear fuselage, in front of the exhaust), but is in fact The 'Light Aircraft Grey' BS.627 colour. The Intake roundels I feel are likely faded a bit, but that underwing roundel is messing with me (possibly a trials variantion?)... On the subject of colours and sizes though, it seems that: i) 15" roundels (or bigger?) did exist (which appears to possibly make one of the Hasegawa Schemes ok on size?) - referring again to Patrick Martin 'British Phantom' book, see pgs92-93 for pictures of FG.1 XV571 (43SQN) in THREE different guises, wearing NOTABLY larger roundels on the intakes. It also appears to be wearing an alternate, trials camo. Additionally, further 43SQN examples can be found on pg12, in the form of FG.1 XT875 (43SQN K), FG.1XV571 (43SQN A) and FG.1 XV581 (43 SQN E), leading me to to the conclusion that only 43SQN flew with these larger roundels and ONLY on the intakes (it appears that the lower wing roundels were standard 12")? ii) the darker pastels as supplied in Xtradecal X48071 (23SQN) and X48080 (74SQN) sets do seem to be ok for a LIMITED number of jets (although the size is still wrong). See Martin pg77 for an image of FGR.2 XV485 (23SQN P) and again pg103 for an image of FG.1 XT864 (111SQN U) and again on pg34 for FGR2 XV432 (29SQN J) and FGR.2 XV412 (29SQN H)... So there maybe more! Continuing on the colour slant, there is also a experimental variation on Martin p77 of FG.1 XT870 (111SQN S), which has a fair more vibrant 'red-pink' (much like on the lower surface of our F-4J(UK) above - possibly the 'wing donor'?) aspect to the national markings (also has a very interesting Low-viz 111SQN marking on the nose)... iii) And a final observation that one of the Low Viz trials jet, FGR.2 XV418, which featutured full size 36" roundels in all locations (Martin pg76), in a slightly darker pastel colours than the final versions (92SQN in 1978), may have served in those roundels with 23SQN/1435FLT, thought with a smaller fin flash (blurry picture, Martin pg58) - however, I will say the Photo from Stanley is blurry, and was taken in 1988... Going to have to look for more pics of XV418 to be sure of this; BUT just putting the observation out there, in case anyone else is interested. Cheers Dan

I have the feeling OzMods might have done them in 1/32 - definitely did them in 1/48. Hmmm, having done a quick search maybe not in 1/32 - but scale side and bottom 'illustrations' (I wont call them plans, due to the quality) could at least give you the basic dimensions, which if you HAVE to build them, can be supplemented by reference pics, for something that'll at least look accurate to the eye! http://www.atlantic-air-combat.com/Weapons.A/Illustrations/0.70mm.Rocket.Launchers.gif

Here, here... I've not built the Voodoo (not my thing), but what happened to test fitting and modelling skills? Some of my favourite kits (of which I have SO MANY in the stash) are reknowned for 'bad fit'; Hasegawa F-14's (25 of them in Stash) - fit is fine if you take your time and do some dry fitting; Trimaster/DML/Dragon Ta 152H (18 in the stash) - fit is fine if you put a little spreader under the cockpit to make the wing seams tight; Eduard's Fw 190's (37 in stash) - fit is fine if you understand all those internal bits dont always meet at 90deg and lightly tack things before final fixing. Many people seem to expect shake and bake these days - well, I have news for people; Plastic and Resin both 'settle' over time (which can result in shrinking, warping and other changes). And modelling is like any other building process, where things like 'measure twice, cut once' is core. The moral of this minor rant, test fit things! Look at how the thing goes together and try to identify problme area's before you get to them (like my MQ-9 needed some suble sanding and remodelling to get it to fit with almost zero filler - it also needed the 'one piece' wing sub assembly cut into two pieces like regular wings, to allow the wings to be better aligned and the fuselage to better fit) and engineer a solution! D

@Andrew - cheers mate... So the official sizes are 12" Roundels and 8" Serials, good... Means the Xtradecal 29SQN Sheet is USELESS (as I only bought it for the roundels and the Falklands 'Crest' - was going to make the Maltese Cross and the 'D' decals myself, but making the Falklands Crest would not have been much extra work!) and the 74SQN Sheet needs work (Roundels are now useless and the SQN Nose Markings needs an Orange overlay decal made to correct the Colour of the Tigers head. The 'US-applied' Serials and Ejection Triangles are OK though). As for spare decals, don't stress it mate - the Xtradecal Low-viz colours seem pretty good to my eye (and match the British Phantoms book very closely)... Seems I will need another lot of Xtradecal X037-48 (RAF D Type Roundels and Low Vis Pink/Pale Blue Roundels) though just to cover the projects; unless someone has used all the colour D-types and has no use for Low Viz? That said, if you have a heap spare, I'm not going to say no to a helping hand (is there a better RAF Pale Pink/Blue roundel/fin flash sheet out there?)... Drop me a PM and I'll shoot you my email address. The 228OCU jet I wanted to do will also now need pretty much all custom decals (Such as the 64SQN Criss-Cross pattern either side of the roundel, made from slicing up left over fin flash decal), but at least the Hasegawa Scarab Beetle looks about right. Might need another X48-045 (RAF White Letters) for 8" serials and things like the 'CO' code on the 228OCU jet. Interestingly, the 111SQN Black Spined jet (XV574 - Z) on the Hasegawa Sheet gives me the Roundels and Serials that are pretty close to right sise, but a shocker of a colour - the rest of the markings look fine... Might build it, paint it, apply all the decals short of the roundels and see how the look with all that black - at worst, i'll just need to replace the roundels, then colour match and print the stylised fin-flash in better colours on white decal paper. The offer of spare roundels is very kind - though if I get second Xtradecal X037-48 set, I'll be fine... What seems to be proving more interesting is Stencils now! I got myself a set of the Icarus 'White' F-4 Phantom decals, only to find they're printed in light grey - all emails to Icarus on the subject have gone unanswered. Doing the Wing Root walkway stencil in white isnt too hard with an etched Brass Mask, same as the boarding ladder stripes and Colour Ejection triangles (just white decal); but the smaller stuff will prove a challenge. Trust my love of low-viz and my AMS to pick a subject that is (I feel anyway) under-represented with regards to aftermarket decals! Does anyone know of any 'white' F-4 phantom or RAF AD-scheme stencil sets? What I have noted in all the checking and double-checking and comparing and etc, the Roundels I am happiest with are those on the Xtradecal X037-48 (RAF D Type Roundels and Low Vis Pink/Pale Blue Roundels) sheet - and those colours happen to almost perfectly correspond to the Caracal Models CD 48077 (MQ-9's) Sheet; a project that is nearing paint now! Another future projects is a Typhoon T.3, making use of the Two Bobs 48-180 (EF-2000 Perfect Storm Tiffies) - the roundels are the correct size, but like most things on the sheet (like the ZJ numbers) are way too dark (maybe I will need another TWO sets of Xtradecal X037-48, hahaha). As some one who models Primarily late WW2 Luftwaffe as well as the odd late RAAF (got to fly the flag ) and USN jet, I got to say, I am rather amazed at how hard it is to get accurate decals for what I thought would have been a pretty popular subject (ie, RAF Tooms) - still, what's the point if its too easy ........ So now that the Roundel and Serials size/colours seems to have been established, a set of the AirDoc's decals have been ordered (thanks again Andre), anything else that anyone can think of to help me? Such as spare sets of the Revell decals (for the stencils), other RAF AD Toom sheets that we colonials may not have heard of, and/or other advice? Thanks again lads Dan

Cheers Andre... Ordered - not cheap, but fingers crossed. Now just to sort out Roundel sizes and colours and etc.... Anyone? D

Actually, in addendum to the above, I am looking at a pic of ZE361 (F-4J(UK)) and perhaps there is some fading at play, but the roundel colours very different on the lower wings and Intake respectively - and neither look like any of the sheets I have! See --> Dan ------------------------- Newcastle Australia

Greets all, Long time Lurker, first time poster - but I am looking for some assistance regarding the Roundels used on the Air Defence/Low Viz Phantoms. I'm working through a little project to do some of the colour tail jets (Black - 74SQN F-4J(UK), Black - 111SQN FG.1 (Hase Kit Scheme), Blue - 228OCU FGR.2 (Hase Kit Scheme), White - 1435FLT FGR.2, Red - 92SQN FGR.2 and probably the 19SQN all Blue jet to finish off) and due to some off the 'questionable' colours were see on the Hasegawa Sheets (for 228OCU FGR.2 and 111SQN FG.1), I went in search of better roundels. I also went seeking decals for the other schemes (by the way, anyone want to part with any good Low-Viz RAF Toom decals?) and ended up with Xtradecal X48071 (23SQN) and X48080 (74SQN) for bits and bobs. Then I went and bought Xtradecal X037-48 (RAF D Type Roundels and Low Vis Pink/Pale Blue Roundels), which only give me 12" roundels and very different colours and X48-045 (RAF White Letters) for 8" lettering... So I went and did more reading, which has prompted a few questions: 1) The Hase and Xtradecal sheets seem to be supplying 15" Roundels and by my measure, 9" serials; is this correct? Some reference materials (such as the excellent Patrick Martin 'British Phantom' book) seem to be quite definitively stating 12" Roundels and 8" Serials... (which will make recreating the 228OCU markings even more fun! I'll probably just 'live with' the Hase 111SQN decals, unless there suddenly comes an aftermarket option or I bite the bullet and print some of my own decals up) 2) I understand there were two 'variations' in the Pink/Blue colours used on the low viz roundels - what are these two variations and how do they apply to the Toom? Again, looking at the Xtradecal sheets, the 23SQN and 74SQN sheets are comparatively darker to the 'generic' sheet (particularly the pink colour) - and referenceing the shades in the Patrick Martin 'British Phantom' book, I would hazard a guess the 'generic' Xtradecal sheet is the winner. 3) More a plea than a Question, anyone have any leads on some of the better aftermarket 'Toom sheets? Really want to do the Blue Tailed 226OCU 'CO' jet, but the Hasegawa decals get nastier the deeper I dig - And what are the Revell 92SQN Red Tail decals like? Does anyone have a spare set of those? Of course there is always the Holy Grail - the Airdoc set.... But yeah, any expertise regarding 1) and 2), would be much appreciated Cheers Dan ------------------------- Newcastle Australia