helios16v

He's good at that. Flushed my play money the other night after a "hey check out this recce conversion"...which led to the inevitable, "well, if I'm making an international order, what else would I like that isn't readily available to me?" And I will now have to buy another kit for it..... Another Z-M Phantom no less.

A USAFE D was a contender for me...but I didn't want to do more or less the same build back to back. Need to finish up my anti-ship Rhino before I jump into this GB proper. Never! Not many missions 1 variant of Phantom or another can't do. And so many delicious flavors of schemes & operators.

Nice result! I airbrush thinned down Tamiya clears for my tinted windscreens. One thing I do though is keep a fresh piece of white paper handy I can use as a back drop to get a feel for how much tint I've layered up. I prefer a prefer light tint myself (personal preference)...something you may not notice at first glance once it's installed..

Sounds like a proper way to spend a vacation. Sorry to hear about the illness going around the fam. You certainly seem to be making the best of the time though. Wishing a speedy recovery to you guys. Certainly seems to be a bit of anti-ship action going on. The 2 leading builds I'm considering also fall down that route (as is the F-4EJ I'm still building from the STGB).

You do cracking work w/ that PE.

Coming along nicely Pappy. Love all the modifications...you are making me want to do something stupid and probably get in over my head. Again... Generally I only go to the Quinta/Eduard cockpit items if either the provided kit details are non-existent or if I'm doing a conversion/back-dating/up-dating. I'm glad they are available, and hope they are successful so they continue to produce products so on those occasions I do find the provided details lacking I've got options. Since I usually build canopy closed (due primarily to dust), I'm usually satisfied w/ a simple drybrush and wash to make the details pop. Having the choice to use them or not makes this a wonderous time to be a modeler. We've got it good.....despite what some of the complainers (not necessarily in here, just in the hobby in general) would have you believe.

I do the same thing w/ PE. How visible is it divided by how much of a pain is it to install. If the perceived value is greater than 1, press on. If not, sod it. Most will never see it anyways.

Oooh, that'll make a few holes. I'm having fun sorting through all my available options. So many choices, though part of my decision will be in deciding just how involved I want the project to be. Anything from a fairly simple 1/72 OOB build, to a 1/48 bird w/ nearly half the plastic replaced by resin.

Cheeky little buggers sneaking into the carts when we aren't looking...

Hmmm, I might need to track down that 2nd book one of these days. Especially now that my IDF F-4 plans have morphed slightly no thanks to you.

Enzo will be proud.

Woot! A Prowler!

Don't let the Matchbox guys see you building this in here, they might have a heart attack. Love the SLUF.

I would be inclined to allow permanently based equipment. So for example, USAF aircraft assigned to Kadena AB, Misawa AB, Yokota AB, CVW-5 squadrons out of NAF Atsugi, or ships home ported out of Yokosuka or Sasebo. I'd lean towards a no for transient/visiting equipment. @trickyrich will have final say, once he has an opportunity to drop in.

Dave's a rockstar.

TPS schemes from the 80's through the mid-90's were very low contrast for most of their markings. Starting in the late '90s they started adding more contrast. This pic is from '95, you can see the kitties in the background have very low contrast markings. The modex and tail markings were about all that really stood out. The trapping VA-95 A-6E had been repainted just prior to cruise (farewell cruise) and had "non-standard" markings for the time.

Lovely work.

Anyone else hear Motorhead when Col said "Ace of Spades"?

I've actually got a couple sets of those for an eventual CVW-11 dio w/ 1 aircraft from each squadron of my '95 deployment. Not sure when I'll get to it, just been acquiring the bits. If I did enter an -18 though it would be one of those.

Rocket launched Starfighters? Who's gonna do it? http://mechtraveller.com/2021/01/rocket-assisted-f-104-starfighter/

Looking good. I just bit the bullet on a Silhouette cutter as well. Haven't played with it yet though.

Pappy is definitely a bad influence...got to watch out for that guy.

Damnit, don't tell me that.....

I'm currently resisting that one too...despite the fact I can basically get one for free. I'm trying to find other tooling that I can burn my 15 year work anniversary points on. The Silhouette Cameo 4 landed earlier this week...and I've still got enough left over for Tamiya's late A should I not find anything useful (or resist any longer).

I don't know...maybe a week or 2? Now I did say merely attempt...I'm certainly not going to hold my breath.