Ben Brown

Thanks! Usually when I say an absolute like that, someone will post 20 photos proving me wrong. 😂 Cheers! Ben

What little bit I can find, TISEO was installed starting with 71-0224, which was also the first F-4E with the thicker wing skin and therefore no reinforcement strap. I can’t say “all” F-4Es after 0224 had TISEO, because I’ve never seen anything saying so, and there were possibly exceptions. I do have a list of ARN-101 jets, courtesy of the F-4 Google Group, if anyone is interested. Ben

I guess there's a third new F-4E-specific sprue somewhere that has the TISEO? All three aircraft depicted on the decal sheet had the TISEO and ARN-101 mod. Ben

Nunu 911 GT3 RSR, if/when they release it Aoshima Subaru BRZ Aoshima Lamborghini Aventador Tamiya Jägermeister BMW 635 CSI Hasegawa Porsche 944 Turbo And, if I can locate a decent 1/24 slot car body to combine with a Nunu Audi R8 GT3, a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo Ben

Beautiful! Ben

Great subjects! These new GTP cars look great (except for the BMW). Maybe Wicked can eventually expand their line to include some much-neglected modern GT3 cars, too. Ben

Thanks! I had shelved the project but picked it up again just this past weekend. I'm planning to experiment with clear flat and very thin flat white to see what happens. Using acrylics, so I don't permanently screw something up! 😄 Ben

This is Fujimi’s curbside MR2 Turbo kit built out of the box. It reminded me of Monogram’s simple but very nice 1/24 car kits from the ‘80s, except better-fitting. I took about 1.5 mm off the tops of the front coilovers to try to lower the nose a little, but it could stand to go another mm lower. Paint is Splash Paint’s Toyota Supra Deep Jewel Green, standing in for the Dark Emerald Pearl used on the MR2. My dream car project is to get one of these and drop a 300 hp Toyota V6 into it. Ben

Accelerated down a highway on-ramp behind a pretty silver McLaren 570S yesterday. No, my turbocharged MX-5 couldn't keep up! 😂 Also, I've been seeing this Bricklin driving around town over the last couple of weeks and saw it again Wednesday. Turns out, it's up for sale on Bring-A-Trailer. I think I posted this pic in the previous thread. Ben

Ah, I completely missed the reference! 😂 I have to admit, the F-35 is growing on me. Ben

I’ve read that the USAF pilots are calling it the”Panther.” I guess that’s cooler than “Fat Amy.” Ben

I agree that closing the open panels is challenging, because they fit poorly when closed. Tolerances between the engine bay bulkhead, main gear wells, speed brake wells, and gun bays are so tight it's easy to throw everything out of alignment. Start with the engine bay bulkhead and work your way forward. I left the gun bay parts out because of fit issues. Whomever at Kitty Hawk decided to use photo etched parts for the cockpit consoles and instrument panels needs to be kicked in the groin. To my knowledge, there are no cockpit upgrades available for this kit. I decided to use some resin seats from Pavla to try to distract from the featureless cockpit, but the cockpit floor is too shallow. I sanded so much resin from the seat bottoms that the seat cushions are basically resting on the cockpit floor. The KH kit is dimensionally larger than the Airfix/Heller Jag, so Paragon's afterburner nozzles and T.2 conversion and Phase Hangar's intakes made for Airfix won't fit the KH kit. Phase Hangar does make intake ducts for the KH kit, since KH didn't include any. The engine inlets on the KH kit are too large for the mating surfaces on the fuselage, so you get a step between the inlets and fuselage. Install the inboard sections first and then sand the outer sections until they fit without a step. Good luck! Ben

Scale Finishes (LINK) also has a lot of NASCAR colors. He has a special section devoted to Salvino's kits. The web site is a little hard to navigate. He ships internationally, but read the FAQ about how he does it. I haven't used his paints, yet, but he gets good reviews on the car forums I frequent. Ben

In all of my years of studying Phantoms, I've never noticed that step! That will be an interesting project if one decided to try to replicate it. 😲 I used 0.005 styrene to make the strap on my 1/48 Hasegawa F-4S. I agree with @Motty that the photo etched one provided in the kit was difficult to use. Cheers! Ben

Beautiful! Ben

It would probably be for the best if they provided the wing strap as separate parts. Then they’d be able to use the wing without it so they could release a late model F-4E, too. Ben

I saw this Bricklin in the hardware store parking lot last Sunday. I haven't seen one since the '80s, and this was the first one I've seen moving under its own power. Back then, a local shop had three of them in the back lot in various stages of decomposition. Ben

That’s looking great! If you don’t want to use the provided screws to hold the pod in place, I found some 1 mm thick magnets on eBay that will fit in the gap between the fuselage and the pod. They’re just strong enough to hold the pod in place. I ended up gluing some to the top of the pod and a couple more on top of the crossbar. Artistic license! 😀 I would have tried to hide them under the crossbar and inside the pod, but I didn’t think of using magnets until after the pod was built. Ben

Beautiful! Ben

Wow!!! Ben

The Monogram 1/48 kit is a mashup of the B and C. It has the C rotor and cabin section but a B tail boom. Cobra Company made a resin set to finish the job of making it a C; I think Lone Star Models sells it, now. The HobbyBoss 1/48 is mostly a B, with a C tail boom. Many Bs were modified as such. It has simplified detail, especially in the cockpit, and some incorrect details, but it’s a relatively simple build. The Monogram kit originally dates back to the early 60s, so it’s showing it’s age and will fight you every step of the way. I’ve seen some builders use bits from the Monogram kit to dress up the HobbyBoss kit. That’s probably the path I’m going to take on mine. Ben

Regarding the optional mirrors… @galaxyg, beautiful work! Ben

The seller appears to be "Jim Heller Decals and Custom Cars." I did a little digging and found this thread on Reddit. There were comments on a couple of other forums about stolen artwork, but there were also a lot of mentions of this seller without any negative comments. Ben

Strange, I can see the pics fine on my iPad but not on my PC. Thanks for the explanation. It’s too late to do anything for my current FG.1 build, but I’m going to save the info for future “airplane nerd” conversations. 😀 Ben

Thanks for the reply, Antti! Unfortunately, the pictures are just showing up as little boxes that say "spacer.png." Ben