fubar57

One of the books I have show the racks in the same location as your top photo. The lower photo shows 1000lb bombs and these used similar but larger racks.

Re: RF-4C. In the Detail & Scale book, "Colors & Markings of the Recon Phantoms"; "Shortly after the hostilities commenced in Southeast Asia, the Air Force developed what became known as the Standard camouflage scheme. Technical Order 1-1-4 directed that two greens (FS 34079 and 34102) and a tan (FS 30219) be appled in a specific pattern to the upper surfaces and sides of the aircraft. A very light grey (FS 36622) was to be painted on the undersurfaces. As was the case with most combat aircraft in the Air Force's inventory, a pattern using these colors was designed specifically for the Phantom. Technical Order 1-1-4 did not differentiate between the different Phantom variants. The drawing used in the tech order was of an F-4C, however the same pattern was intended for use on the RF-4C as well. The only change required was to extend the camouflage scheme further forward on the RF-4C's elongated nose section."

Lovely looking machine

This one is dated 1968...https://daveplattmodels.com/Links/US Military Markings/USAF & USN Markings MIL-M-25047C.pdf

This might help....a bit. Its dated 1964. Title: "Exterior Finishes, Insignia and Applicable to Aircraft and Missiles" MarkingsLooking for a later date. https://www.f-106deltadart.com/manuals/T.O. 1-1-4 (1964).pdf

Lovely work Giorgio. I need those pens......for reasons George

Very nice and great finish. I have these in the decal stash

Great shots

I honestly don't remember. I just went down and looked at it but under the clear parts it just looks dark so it could be dark green or XF-69 Nato Black. I tried enlarging the best photo I had of the area but no luck. Maybe you can get a better guess

Good stuff John. I have the same jig as you and I'm finding that a painted model is sticking to the elastic bands and at times removing paint. I'm looking at replacing them with felt or cloth. George

Ahhh, you're building the late version MiG-3 with the longer exhaust shroud. The one above is the early version with the shorter exhaust shroud and yes it is still a bit on the thick side. I also built the late version and painted the seat and floor Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green. I painted the side-walls Gunze Sangyo H67-RLM65. The boxes were painted dark green though they could also be black, I got this from Massimo's very fine site

I totally forgot about the exhaust area and agree with Seawinder. What I did was remove the area with a fine saw... And then file and sand to the approximate shape. Glued it on and filled in the gaps. This is how it looked and where I ended up. Not perfect but better ....and finished. Sorry for the thread hijacking

Haven't built the ICM kit but I've built two Trumpeter ones and aside from the above mentioned issues, enjoyed them. One minor issue that also cropped up was the placement of the radio deck in the instructions. In the instructions it looks like the front of the deck is attached to the bulkhead but in fact the front mounts on two small tabs on the fuselage sides

Agree with all above. If its the 1:48 kit, be warned about the fit of the panels around the wing intakes and upper cowl is not the best and will require lots of trial and error but in the end works out

Fantastic weathering. From the link to Massimo's site that you posted, "...The plane is known to have been flown by Georgy Kostylev, that wrote: At the beginning of the war, I got the type of plane LaGG-3 . On the lists of the regiment, she was listed just under the number " 64" , but I gave to her a different name . I called my plane "Columbine" . For beauty. And after I shot my 10th enemy plane on her, I renamed her the "Tale". On "Columbine - Tale" I fought the entire first year.

Yellow and red are a right b***ch to get right. Putting a white under-coat down first helps

One thing I’ve found about using Vallejo is to let it set for a minimum of 24hrs before masking. When masking, detack the beejaysus out of the tape and when removing it, go slowly and pull away at an angle. For me at least, I have removed no or very little paint and if paint did lift, it was less than when I masked Tamiya paint

Great looking model and brush painted to boot. NAS Melbourne was in Florida though at first glance I thought Australia as well. http://www.nasmelbourne.freeservers.com/

I can't comment on the colours but it looks great to me George

Beauty. Enjoyed following the build George

I use puzzle glue as well Lots of different brands out there and probably PVA as well. Dries clear and I have picked up a 1:48 Spitfire by the canopy after the glue had set up.......gently

From one George to another, well done

You did great with this one, well done George

Can the bomb bay be accessed from the navigator's station?