Plastikschrottler

Great result from that kit. Thanks for sharing your memories. Actually I have memories for that kit too: My sister and I went to the local hobby shop with our dad in the late 70s or early 80s. My sister got that kit, which she did in the Candy Cane scheme. I still think I came out better though: I got the Esci F-16A course I instantly loved the shape of it. Still remember my dad saying that it is science fiction 😁. Did it up in Belgian markings in the SEA scheme, as they had their 104s. Good days...

The new Brassin TIALD pod comes with the decals for Sandra and Tracy. TIALD instructions

Fantastic conversion! Would have never thought of converting the PR Mk.XIX. 👍👌

Really nice Spit. Love your NMF and would like to know how you achieved it. It was a pair of Mk.IXs operating against high altitude JU-86s. Both were stripped off any unneeded equipment including the paint to increase their altitude performance. They operated together as a hunter/killer pair. The one modeled by roadrunner had only .303 machine guns to inflict some damage and force the JU-86 down, where the second one, armed with (heavier) cannons, could finish it off. Cheers, Joerg

Brilliant work. A F-86A is "on the list" and you showed how it is done. 👍

Very nice 109. Love your finish. Cheers, Joerg

Best Aardvark ever! Cheers, Joerg

Lovely Phantom. Really sad to see them go this May. Cheers, Joerg

David, what a beauty. All the work really paid off. I absolutely adore your Viper and hope mine turns out half as good. All the best, Joerg

Ace job! Fantastic finish on your Folgore. Cheers, Joerg

David, it is just beautiful! Your build is a real inspiration. Heck, I've never had any interest in those black nosed Vipers, but last night I even searched the internet for pics... Aren´t you going to put any weapons on your model? I´d probably put an AIM-9J acquisition round on one of the rails. But anyways, super job! Cheers, Joerg

David, I wouldn't bother about something as a side panel angle either, but effectively the front side panels of the tub (where the side panels angle up towards the IP) are way too steep. This steep angle means that the IP sits too far back and Aires came up with the smart idea to just cover that up by adding a goofy flat part to the IP front, which just does not exist on the real thing. On a plane as the F-16 with its one-piece canopy hinged at the back this just stands out. I know what I am talking about, as I actually ruined one kit to find out, which now has only a chance to be converted to a twoseater at some time. It really hurts me to see people build their Tamiya Vipers with an Aires pit, putting in a lot of effort and by that ruining the look of it. Thinking about it, I might as well open up my own WIP thread starting as of where I am now - I didn't care to take pics earlier. You will have to live with very slow progress though... Regarding your pics. Yes they do seem a little grainy/soft. Might be because you are using Photobucket. I had the same problem in the past for my "summer hobby": Aviation Photography. Photobucket compressed the pics to a point where quality went south. I know some guys manage to find a solution for that and somehow manage to still post sharp images using Photobucket. As I am no good in Black Magic, my solution was rather simple: I converted to Flickr. No problems ever since. Cheers, Joerg

David, my Viper is already too far in progress to enter it in the group build. That said, at the speed I am building, I'd still have a hard time to finish it in time. My build speed can be described as "glacial".... The fuselage is basically built up, with a few things still to be ironed out (e.g. I had the same fit issue you have described on the nose side panels and still have to fix that. Also the front intake piece still has to be build and I complicated matters by opening the communications panel on the port side. I still have to scratchbuild that. A lot of things you described in your WIP are familiar to what I did, although we came to different solutions. For example, as the Aires cockpit does not fit the Tamiya kit as in being too short, I built up a hybrid Aires/Tamiya cockpit. What worked really nice is fitting the front part of the Tamiya IP hood to the rear part of Aires in order to keep the way nicer IP from Aires. Currently I mainly worked on the load out which will be two inert Shrikes, a AIM-9L acquisition round, an AMA pod, two 370 gal. wing tanks and an ALQ-131, which was pieced together from Hasegawa, Hobbyboss and Kinetic parts, as there sadly isn´t a correct pod available in 1/48 (hear me Eduard?!?). If you are interested I can take a few snaps and send them to you. Cheers, Joerg

Beautiful model of a beautiful aircraft. Think I have to get one of these myself... Cheers, Joerg

Dang! Phenomenal model. Just love all the details and the fine finish. Cheers, Joerg

WOW, what a beauty. Glad you didn´t give up. Cheers, Joerg

David, fabulous work on your early Viper. Really like how your IP and Seat turned out. They certainly look the part. Makes me go to the model room and work on my own Viper, which is an early C-model from the 52nd TFW, based here in Germany in the late 80s (aka "my youth" ). Cheers, Joerg

Cool project. Will be following this.

Thanks for the In Progress pics. Looks like some effort, but the result certainly justified it. Cheers, Joerg

Happy New Year! Lovely Fishbed. Would really like to see some in progress pics of it. Smashing job! Cheers, Joerg

Excellent build and superb paintjob! Love the scheme. Cheers, Joerg

Brilliant job bringing this old kit up to todays standard. Finish ist top notch too. Cheers, Joerg

David, absolutely fantastic build. Actually made me sign up, so I could post a reply. Really looking forward to the next post. You may want to put some additional layers of clear on the fuselage roundels on then break the edges of the decal film with some fine steel wool to make the decal film disappear. Cheers, Joerg