CT7567

To be frank, you're fighting a double handicap by looking for modern era (vs. WWII - Cold War) decals in 1:72 (vs. 1:48). Particularly in the US, the already diminishing number of producers for modern subjects is almost universally in lockstep with the mantra "1:72 doesn't sell." The late, lamented Wolfpak seemed to buck that trend successfully, but unfortunately that loss probably won't ever be filled by another firm. Probably the best aftermarket decal producer left standing that offers 1:72 modern subjects is Caracal Models: https://www.caracalmodels.com/72scale.html Note the owner/operator Kursad maintains a subforum on ARC where he announces upcoming new releases and reprints, as well as taking suggestions for new subjects. Although nowhere near as prolific as they were circa 20 years ago, another producer still in the 1:72 modern game is TwoBobs: https://www.twobobs.net/contents/en-us/d4.html A lot of what you are looking for may have been covered by Bob(s) in the past but now OOP - you might check the "Sold Out' section of their website, the try your luck fishing the Bay of E, or placing a want ad on the buy/sell section here. With the nature of a lot of their sheets being multiple subjects from the same squadron/wing, your chances are decent someone may have a spare set that went unused.

The ALQ-126 antennae were first added during the J production run, and near-concurrently added to the Ns being upgraded from F-4Bs. By the time of the Js being upgraded to S, most (but not all) Js had them or they were added during conversion. The longer fairing on the older airframes was due to having less internal room available for the required wiring. Summing up: B: none J: short antennae, added mid-production (beginning circa 1972, most airframes by circa 1975) N: long antennae, on all airframes (added during upgrade from B ) S: short antennae, on all airframes (added during upgrade from J if not already present)

Check out seaforces.org page for VF-31 to see a range of historic photos of the Tomcatters from their early postwar days to the F-14's farewell (the Super Hornet era is covered on the corresponding VFA-31 page). https://www.seaforces.org/usnair/VF/Fighter-Squadron-31.htm Although not all the seaforces images give precise dates, it's apparent that the Felix sans yellow disk covered two separate periods of the F-4J era: circa 1968-1972, then again from circa 1978 to the retirement of their Phantoms in 1981. Notable differences between the two include the later era lacking white undersides and control surfaces (all gull gray), and as @Mycapt65 spotted, the ALQ-126 DECM antennae on the intake "shoulders" (added from circa 1975). The white drop-shadowing of the modex numbers seems to have varied throughout the Phantom's service, possibly being slightly more common on the CAG (100) or squadron CO (101).?& The 1972 issue date and the white moving surfaces of Airfix's kit make the subject one of the 68-72 batch, which I don't recall ever seeing done in a 1:48 aftermarket set, but one of the other Tomcatter types (possibly even at a different scale) may give you what you need.

I know better than to trust my memory alone, but I'm reasonably sure it was in the standard "ghost" adversary scheme, possibly a VF-126 bird (whose star tail marking would look like USSR insignia from a distance). I'm 98% sure it was a Navy N-model because I actually had recently built a Testors F-16A kit painted up as a Top Gun bird (my only reference was a pre-delivery artist's impression from George Hall's non-fiction book Top Gun). The series was never released on DVD so only a few VHS transfers seem to have made it to the 21st century interwebs. I'll have to try some heavier google-fu this weekend and see if I can find any screenshots from that episode.

In the 1988 TV season (remember those were an actual thing?), ABC tried to capitalize - a bit late - on the Top Gun craze, with "Supercarrier" - a weekly drama series about crewmembers of the fictional USS Georgetown, CVN-67). It's probably better remembered by modelers than some of its actual stars, since it didn't even last a full season but Testors/Italeri released themed boxings of several of their then-current kits (1:72 Harrier, Hornet, and Tomcat, as well as their 1:720 Nimitz-class with the Georgetown's hull number). Episode 3 of the series featured a defecting "MiG-28" played not by the famed black F-5Es, but the newer F-16N - which in the improbable plotline, managed to survive a barrier landing on the carrier's deck! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercarrier_(TV_series)

I only read the thread after the title edit, and afraid I'm still a bit confused as to your question. You seem to be saying that the nose in Revell's 1:32 F-15 family (variously released as an A, C, B [E Demonstrator], D, or E) has some issue with its nose molding? (AFAIK this is the same part in all.boxings). I have the A/C release, and there's nothing I can recall seeing or reading about that's egregiously wrong. Referencing Tamiya's vintage 1:48 kit doesn't really help since that kit is likewise not widely reported as having any serious shape problem with its nose. Can you be more specific with your critique, and also let the forum know if your intent was to ask for a correction (method of reshaping or aftermarket replacement), or perhaps simply to inform others of the issue you've observed?

By far the best single-source resource I'm aware of for postwar US carrier deployments and air wing assignments is gonavy.jp - you can search by air wing or by carrier and find listings for every cruise detailing the aircraft types and squadrons aboard. Lisiting for CVN-65, from her 1961 shakedown to her last deployment is here: http://www.gonavy.jp/CV-CVN65f.html

Never seen or heard of an aftearket tank, but for the basic shape and structure I would suggest browsing railroad offerings for above-ground fuel tanks. Working out the correct size/scale to match your 1:72 Herk may take some research, but this type of accessory should get you close.

The comment on f-16.net seems to have the text correct, but I question the accuracy of a ram being the animal depicted. It seems more likely to me that it was a moose, as what can be seen of the graphic appears very similar to this vintage T-shirt design

As a hypothetical, and under the "it's your model" rules, I think you're fine following that scenario. I did notice looking back again at the linked image that the airframe has a non-standard pitot, longer and with multiple telemetry devices, and it also has a spin recovery chute rig visible just aft of the vertical tail. It doesn't appear to be one of the original FSD airframes but those features suggest it's a test flight of some kind. I wonder if @Old Viper Tester might have any insight?

For the era of the F-16N (late 80s-early 90s), the ACMI (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation) pod would be similar but simplified - basically a tube with tapered nose and pitot, but none of the other antennae or appendages. Colors seem to vary but nose section (corresponding to a Sidewinder's seeker head) were usually gloss/satin black with fluorescent red-orange (FS 28913) being the most common body tube color. Typically paired with an AIM-9L acquisition round (FS 15109 blue body, no rear fins or rear fins without rollerons).

Doubtful of a six- Sidewinder load ever being "operationally used," but the photo in THIS LINK shows what's captioned as an F-16B carrying such a load. Likely only the A/B models (pre-MLU/ADF upgrades) would be candidates for an all-heat seeker load, as once AMRAAM was cleared/compatible it gives substantially greater range (plus benefits of active radar over IR) for only small added weight/drag.

So it's an XS non-LS kit of the XL? 😄 If you're looking for "out of the bottle" paints you might try following the USN version of the "Heater-Ferris" (sic) scheme, as used on several Reserve and Marine F-4Ss, at least one Topgun F-5 and Skyhawk, and the namesake Heater's VF-1 F-14A. Those were: 35164 "Intermediate Blue" 35237 "Medium Gray"/"Blue-Gray" 36307 "Medium Sea Gray" 36375 Light Ghost Gray

The kit weapons tables are valid (at least mostly), the use of Mk 84 vs Mk 83s is a peculiarity of the USAF. Both the 2000 lb and 1000 lb class bombs were cleared for use, but for some reason, at least since Vietnam until very recently, the USAF only maintained 2000 lb (Mk 84) or 500 lb (Mk 82) class ordnance (USN/USMC have always kept all three available). You could probably find export F-16 operators that used the Mk 83. Don't know why you're getting blocked from dstorm.eu, but you might try plugging the link above into the wayback machine as a workaround - that site archives other sites periodically, and AFAIK the dstorm.eu info on the F-16 has been posted for several years now.

The Belgian F-16 fleet had the extended tail fitted for ECM (electronic countermeasures) rather than parabrake, although the ECM was not installed for some time - which probably accounts for all the "empty" photos. See the section on Carapace ECM here: https://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article2.html

Great choice of subject! I hope you don't mind a few notes that may help accuracy for your build: I'm inferring from the profile you posted (and the fact it's the only A-model on the Printscale sheet) that you'll be doing one of the NY ANG 174TFG "Boys from Syracuse." These were early Block 10 airframes, and thus had the original small horizontal tailplanes, not included in Hasegawa's boxing. These are available in any of Revell's 1:72 F-16 kits (particularly surplus in the C/D, which never had the small tails), or you could trim back the kit stabs (even with the leading edge of the 45-crop on the rear corners). Also noticed that your planned weapons load was 4x Mk 83s (1000 lb GP "slicks"). To be accurate for a USAF Desert Storm load, those should actually be the 2000 lb Mk. 84, available in the same Hasegawa set as the 83s. My understanding is that although the F-16 was cleared for both types, at least since post-Vietnam the Mk 83 was only used by the US Navy and Marines (this also applies for derivative weapons like GBU-16 using the Mk 83 as a warhead - until only recently, when a 1000 lb JDAM was needed to fit in the F-22's internal weapons bay). The 174th also made the first (short-lived) attempt at using the GPU-5 Pave Claw cannon pod at the start of Desert Storm - two of the pods come in Weapons Set 3, if you want to do something more unique than a "dumb bomb" setup. For more info on the 174th airframes and armament in Desert Storm, check out the following link: https://www.dstorm.eu/pages/en/usa/f-16.html

The fuselage section adjoining the wing root on a B-52 is behind the crew cabin and in front of the bomb bay, so other than the (stowed) forward landing gear there's not much to see. For similar reasons, there's not much aftermarket that would be useful for that portion of the airframe. The good news would be that you could probably combine kit parts and some scratchbuilding to represent a passable impression of the structure. A quick Google image search for a cutaway to illustrate turned up this wood wall art that gives an impression of the side profile as if the skin were transparent, showing the task you'd have ahead of you. Also worth noting, the majority of currently available detail sets for the BUFF family are designed for the Italeri G/H or the Modelcollect family. The variant differences for your purposes are mostly negligible (only an ALCM G has a visibly different wing root), but there are fairly significant shape and dimensional diffrerences between the different manufacturers that may negate any benefits of starting with aftermarket.

I'm no expert but my understanding is "dynamic pricing" is, to some degree, automated - usually driven higher by (perceived, or more precisely calculated) demand, but on occasion lower. It's also why you sometimes see an item that's off the norm by an order of magnitude. So maybe not so much a typo, as someone trusting "AI" to do a job without sufficient human oversight in the loop. (The price jumping from $10 to $80 suggests this as well, since several of us ordered the kit recently, and by comparison the J-models are listed for only around $60). It's also possible this was just a temporary overstock for a particular seller/supplier - too many of this bulky kit on the shelf, so they drop it to a clearance price. There are US stores like Ollies (and until recently Big Lots) that build most of their inventory that way. In any case, glad to hear your purchase is on the way - thanks for sharing the deal while it lasted!

As of this evening that particular seller shows a 58% rating with quite a few comments indicating non-delivery of purchased items - so this may well be a case of "too good to be true" (but I should find out by February 11 😏 If you're missing Zvezda's engine nacelles for a J-model but have the kit wing, it may be easier to do what had to be done before dedicated kits of the J-model were available: aftermarket nacelles. These were produced by several different sources but availbility has fallen off since the dedicated kits from Italeri and later Zvezda came on the market - most, possibly all, are designed for the Italeri kit since it was the most widely available, and generally considered the best kit, prior to Zvezda. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/attack-squadron-72036-c-130j-hercules-engine-nacelles--639090 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/ozmods-ozconv7211-c-130j-hercules-engine-nacelle-and-prop-correction--146522 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/brengun-brl72170-c-130j-hercules-engine-set--1215523

MiG Killer 90-0778 is a Block 42 (I say "is" because at last report this airframe is still flying with the training wing at Luke AFB, wearing a special desert scheme since circa 2022 - LINK). So the engine is a Pratt F100, and as with all Pratt airframes she has the "smallmouth" intake, not the larger version adopted to give the GE F110 more air. 1:48 isn't my scale, but I understand the kit you have includes the correct exhaust and intake (not for use with the kit options).

Although several of Tamiya's AS- series sprays are matched (to varied degrees of acccuracy) to FS595 colors, none of them are labeled with anything but generic names that can be confusing ("Gunship Gray 2" or "Medium Gray" ain't exactly helpful). The colors referenced from Tamiya's instructions for the F-35A and B are actually the F-16 3-color scheme (aka Hill Gray I), which was only worn by the X-35 prototypes. AS-26 Light Ghost Gray = FS36375 AS-27 Gunship Gray 2 = FS36118 AS-28 Medium Gray = FS36270 All of the above are passable, not perfect, matches to the referenced FS 595 colors. Recently - i.e. maybe not yet on your LHS shelves - Tamiya added AS-33 "Camouflage Gray" which is reportedly a match for FS36170, the main color used on production F-35s. As alluded to in the responses above, the stealth paint has a subtle metallic/irridescent quality that AFAIK AS-33 makes no attempt to replicate (FS36170 is a plain pigment, the "sheen" is a unique characteristic of F-35 and "dark Viper" F-16s finished in the color). The lighter gray leading edges and "RAM tape" (sic) details on early production F-35s are, to the best of my knowledge, FS36270.

Honestly, 16081 (and 36081) are both warm gray "in reality" and I could see calling it "green" up close, in a similar way to German WWII "field grey" being technically a green color. As a gray (neutral) 16081 tends to reflect a lot of its environment when seen from a distance, and since that environment is obviously sky/sea most of the time photos seem more blue (even before issues with processing, film, etc).

Technically it should be 16081, as the finish is gloss not matte (36081, the matte version of the same color, is better [but only informally] known as Euro I Gray"). This was the only color worn by Seasprites before the last F/G models went to TPS grays, but very frequently modelers - and sometimes instructions - mistakenly call for blue, since as you get a sense here the gray scheme can at times appear blueish (similar to British Extra Dark Sea Grey).

The Zvezda kit is also the only one that includes optional parts for the early style "platypus" tail section rather than the later "beaver tail" - see discussion from this post Worth noting that to show an open rear cargo ramp and leave off the bulky parts like wings, your cut will need to fit in a very narrow vertical band (and you won't have much, if any, cargo bay forward of the ramp, so some type of tromp l'oeil may be needed).

Looking closer I see the difference you mean. I also noted that the AL-7/21 "petals" seem to have multiple circular (lightening?) holes on each side, whereas your derelict has single holes in a similar location. Digging a little more with those characteristics in mind, I believe the Tumansky R-11 is your winner, as seen here