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11bravo

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  1. 11bravo
    While I think some of the pics above could be simply stained white stars, there are multiple examples of uniform grey stars and bars on 8th AF Mustangs. Including this one (that was posted above): I don't think there is any way you could make the case that Circle-H simply had dirty national insignia. It's extremely uniform and there is no sign of that dark grime anywhere else on the fuselage. Why would the hard working ground crew have taken the time to wipe off the metal fuselage and left the stars and bars filthy?
  2. 11bravo
    FWIW, I recall reading about this subject ages ago in a long defunct airplane magazine. Supposedly, the grey painted stars were favored by southern pilots to celebrate their confederate heritage (grey was the color used by confederate troops during the US civil war). No idea if this is true or not but to be honest, I'm kinda leaning towards this. Simply greying out the fuselage stars on a brightly painted, NMF aircraft really does nothing to reduce it's visibility. If 8th AF was really concerned about this, they would have eliminated all the bright colors used on noses, fins, flamboyant personal markings, etc.
  3. 11bravo
    I used good old Model Master Engine Grey for my Corsair motor. Seemed to be a pretty good match with the period color pics I've seen. Only thing I needed to add in the pic below was a gloss coat.
  4. 11bravo
    For some reason, I was really drawn towards a single-color post-war scheme. Just for a break from the regular grey/green. Surprised there aren't more decals out for this kit.
  5. 11bravo
    Funny, I was just thinking about possibly building this kit. Didn't see many aftermarket decals for it. I think pretty much any resin / PE set for the Mk. IXc will work for this kit.
  6. 11bravo
    I'm building the 32nd Tamiya F4U-1D, with Fundekals decals, representing a Corsair flying off the USS Block Island at end of WW2. In Fundekals really amazing instructions, they have some color pics of these Corsairs being loaded with HVAR rockets. The noteworthy thing is that the rocket warheads appear to be a creamy-white color, not the usual OD. I kind of like it, makes for a bit of extra color for my Corsair but I'm curious how common this was. Haven't seen any other pics of HVAR's in this color. Anyone have info on how widespread this was? Did HVAR's come with smoke or WP warheads? If you want to check the pics out, the link to the decal instructions is here: http://fundekals.com/images/whistlingDeath/F4U_Inst_Final_7_30_18.pdf
  7. 11bravo
    A fascinating subject. When I wrap up my current build, I plan on building a Korean War F-51 out of the 32nd scale Tamiya kit. I posted on LSP asking this same question and get pretty much the same answer - some were black, some were WW2 spec green. Depends on where the Mustang came from. If it helps, a kind gent posted this picture. Gonna be fun to do some weathering similar to this, those Korean Mustangs had the crap kicked out of them.
  8. 11bravo
    Super useful. Shows what a WW2 spec cockpit really looks like. Can't go by pictures of warbirds or museum aircraft, those cockpits have been stripped of most WW2 operational equipment.
  9. 11bravo
    Seems to be some concern about this kit being covered with recessed "rivets" as KH did on their 1/48 UH-1H Huey kit. The real H-6 is covered in RAISED rivets which need to be replicated. Really hope this isn't the case, if so, I'll pass on this one and stick with the Dragon kit which really isn't that bad to begin with. Honestly, in 2017, there is no excuse for not replicating these. Dragon did it 15 years ago, KH should be doing the same. If not, might as well go full retro and release the darned thing with raised panel lines.
  10. 11bravo
    Watch it, if you bring stuff like that up, you get classified as a "hater". Unfortunately, it's true. The surface detail is horrible. Inverted dimples instead of rivets, panels that are supposed to be flush that instead are a couple of scale inches thick, raised foot well covers, etc, etc. The excuse was made that it's too difficult to replicate raised rivets in 48th scale, yet somehow Eduard was doing this 5-10 years ago. The bottom line is that it's certainly the best 48th Huey out there, although that bar is set exceedingly low. However, it's not even close to the state of the art when compared to other new kits. It's simply a well researched kit that was let down by poor execution by the manufacturer. I'm just hoping that if they ever get around to releasing this in 35th (which appears less and less likely), they take the time to correct these issues. KH has the potential, some of their newer aircraft kits look fantastic. If they do, we'll have a winner.
  11. 11bravo
    Anyone know how well this kit is selling? The reason I ask is that supposedly KH was going to release a 1/35 UH-1 (my preferred scale) if this kit sold well. I'm lucky to have a brick and mortar hobby shop somewhat nearby, in speaking with the owner, he told me that according to his distributor, sales of this kit were pretty bad. Hoping this is not the case....
  12. 11bravo
    Good luck rigging that elevator. 10 wires, all feeding into one? Good luck....
  13. 11bravo
    It seems like this kit has dropped off of KH's radar. In the year and half since announcement, we've gotten a few CAD's, boxart and pic of the canopy. KH has ceased all talk of this on their FB page. Got a PM from someone who is supposedly in the know that it's no longer in the queue for production. No idea if this is the case or not but given the lack of progress, seems plausible. Disappointing but not the end of the world. The Dragon kit is actually pretty decent and builds up quite well.
  14. 11bravo
    For a kit that was supposed to be released 7 months ago, we now have the clear sprues and box art. Does anyone have info on when this one will actually be released? I've also been asking on other sites if they plan on accurately modeling the fuselage with the raised rivets that are so prominent on the real thing, or are they going to go with the recessed ones as they have done on all their other helo kits. Any info on this is gratefully appreciated. KH has ignored requests for updates on their FB page, which doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence...
  15. 11bravo
    I doubt that. It appears that it was just poor attention to detail on the part of the folks designing the molds. They did the same with the footwell covers aft of the pilot doors. Just didn't understand that they were flush panels and replicated them sticking out. That's going to be a real pain to fix since you need to sand it flush and then scribe the correct shape into the side of the fuselage. Multiply that by 4.
  16. 11bravo
    Also note that the kit has a very heavy horizontal hinge line on the aft engine cowling that will require some careful sanding to remove. It doesn't exist on the real thing, not sure what KH was thinking. Also, they replicated the footwell doors on the column aft of the pilots seats as raised panels. In reality they are flush. Those will need to be sanded off and rescribed, which (for me at least) would be a bit of a tricky task. See below...
  17. 11bravo
    That surface detailing is, to be generous, "rough". Raised panels (1" scale thickness, must be replicated tank armor plating), dimples instead of the prominent raised rivets which cover the real thing, that huge horizontal hinge on the engine cowling. No reason why, in 2017, one cannot replicate raised rivets accurately in 1/48th scale. Heck, Eduard mastered this years ago on their Bf-109G kit. I truly hope they won't just scale up this kit into 1/35, going to look really bad. KH did a great job on so many other details on this kit, really hope they'll correct these issues.
  18. 11bravo
    Might want to hold off on that Viking funeral Colin. Kittyhawk has dropped this kit from their "Coming Soon" section of the website. Now replaced with a 48th scale kit. That's too bad, I have zero interest in helos in that scale. They already apparently deleted the CAD's for the MH-6J, now they've dropped the 1/35 scale Huey. Very disappointed....
  19. 11bravo
    Yeah, I've gone through all of the ARC threads, still missing that elusive picture.
  20. 11bravo
    This is probably a longshot - I plan on building a very unique Littlebird variant (one operated by a unit known as Seaspray, circa 1988) and am looking for any reference pics that show the FLIR display in the cockpit. As noted, this was an older Littlebird variant that had the original T-shaped instrument panel. Although there are plenty of pictures show the cockpit FLIR display for the current type of instrument panel, I have found nothing online that clearly show the display as mounted to the older style panel. Any info is greatly appreciated.
  21. 11bravo
    Wingnuts awesome (and now sold out) D.VII kit. Only aftermarket was some resin bits for the engine. Otherwise, I just added some wiring for the engine, everything else is straight out of the box. Kit decals with the lozenge oversprayed with a dilute brown to replicate the tinted varnish applied to most D.VII's in the field. Fantastic kit and best of all (from my perspective at least), minimal rigging. Sorry for the horrible picture quality!
  22. 11bravo
    Love the linen effect on the wings. Absolutely outstanding! Wish I had purchased this kit, it was always on my to-do list but unfortunately, it sold out rather quickly. Looking forward to more updates.
  23. 11bravo
    Very interesting aircraft if the paint is truly original. If so, it seems to put into doubt the theory that all British camo was hard-edged. This is, at best, a very rough paint job. Which makes it all the more interesting if it's indeed original. I believe I read somewhere that the Ju-87 in the background is although in authentic colors. How common was it for Mk I and II's to be repainted in grey / green once assigned to 2nd line duties?
  24. 11bravo
    I can't speak highly enough of SP Designs. I received everything ordered within two weeks maximum. The quality is first rate (plus, no one else offers these subjects) and the price is crazy. I think the BMP-1 upgrade kit came with a new turret, smoke discharges, fuel filler port, air intake vent cover, rear doors and overhead troop doors, hatches and searchlights. All of these parts replace incorrect ones on the Trumpy kit and the total cost was $6.70!! If any other outfit offered a kit like this, it would be $30 or more. http://modelsua.com/BMP-1-correction-and-detail-set-turret-troop-hatches-and-doors-etc.-1-35-SP-Designs-308.html Really can't go wrong with his stuff. I've got the BMP-2 late turret (with the anti-radiation foam panels) and correction set, I'll probably do a cold-war war BMP-2 next.
  25. 11bravo
    Thanks Rob! I'm on the fence about the weathering. I find overall green finishes are the hardest to weather. I may have overdone it but the pics I saw of other BMP's from the same unit in Chechnya showed them to be pretty filthy. I may take a crack at the -2 next. I've got the SP Designs update set and the best part is that the Trumpeter BMP-2 kit has "rubber band" style tracks, not the individual links as on the -1. Those links were the worst part of the entire project. John
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