Tiger331

So why was the AUW (Basic Weight without freight/role equipment) for the C-130K more than that for the C-130E/H. We always had to factor this in one calculating marginal weight loads for items such as a full ammunition load. I cannot think of any other element of the airframe that differed markedly from the C-130E/H (unlike, for example, the F-4K/M with the much heavier Spey engine)

I was specifically referring to Little Rock. The first time I went to LV, I absolutely hated it.......everyone's opening line was "how much have you won/lost ?"....on the assumption that you only went to LV to gamble. I went back twice more and then got a new assignment only to find I had not 'escaped'.....in fact, instead of going for 7-10 days at a time, I was going to be there for 3-4 months straight. The good thing was they put us in a modest motel off the strip and we socialised with the 'real people' of LV so it was a totally different experience....as you say, we got far more healthy socialization. Anyway, we are getting a bit 'off topic' here.....we need to swing this back to a discussion about the merits of the new Zvedza C-130 kit which has to be one of the most anticipated kits of recent years. I'm really looking forward to the prospect of no longer wrestling with the Airfix, Esci or Italeri kits (although I did enjoy them at the time).

No.....we had our own 'Operational Conversion Unit' as it was called........which IIRC 'borrowed' aircraft from the 4 x Squadrons based at RAF Lyneham when I was there in the 1980s.....you were right though. We probably had no more than 45-50 frames at Lyneham at any one time, what with majors or C.3 (stretched) conversions going on at Marshalls of Cambridge (the UK sub contractor). We did go through Little Rock a lot though, especially on the 'southern' route to Nellis to support RED/GREEN FLAG exercises.....nice place.

Sorry, Although I personally hate the phrase, I'm going to quote it here (before anyone else does)........"Because the Panda and Meng kits of the ZSU-23-4 Shilka do not make any money for Zvedza". Personally, I will look forward to this one and see how it compares with the Meng kit that I recently acquired.

Rich, Thanks for posting the video....brought back some happy memories. As you can see, the RAF C-130 had a truly flat cargo floor with a series of apertures into which one inserted the 'mooring points' (right now I cannot remember what we called these). This was the heavy duty metal 'loop' used to secure the hook end of the cargo strop or chain tensioner (depending on the nature/weight of the load). These loops were proud of the floor and would today be described as 'trip hazards' by the HSE but back in the day we just got on with it !. Any other role equipment (roller conveyor for example) had to be fitted on top of the floor and used standard fittings exactly the same as those used for the mooring points. The floor was truly solid...no flexing sensation as you walked across it which was in contrast to the standard US floor. The US floor had recesses which housed the permanently fitted mooring points which simply folded down when not in use, rather like those you find in the back of some SUVs. Very practical in one way because you never risked the danger of going down route only to discover that someone from the role equipment bay had forgotten to load the box of loose mooring points for your role change (yes, it happened from time to time) but it was a little more difficult to keep the floor clean and they could be a potential foreign object damage (FOD) hazard (its amazing what one relatively small bolt or nut can do if accidentally kicked off an aircraft onto the pan). IIRC (although it is now over 25 years since I was last involved in the practical loading of a C-130, the US floor housed the roller conveyor which was 'flipped over' if needed for a pallet load (although I may be getting confused with the C-17). In any case, the USAF in particular hardly ever operated the aircraft with 'flat floors' (i.e. no pallets) since they never really worried about running out of cargo space - they just called up another of their 800+ C-130s to take up the slack unlike us who filled every aircraft to the gunwhales !. Anyway, a bit off topic but I hope Flightpath look to revisit their C-130 detail set to fit the new kit or some other enterprising manufacturer comes up with a brand new one.

The introduction to service of the C-130K is slightly before my time (!) but, as I understand it, we (the UK) determined that the standard Lockheed supplied floor and the compatible load restraint equipment (floor points etc) was insufficient for our needs. As a result we had them install a much more solid (and therefore heavier) floor which IIRC used the same type of floor restraint equipment as that used on the VC-10, Britannia etc. As a result, we were unable to exchange pallets etc with our US colleagues (or indeed other NATO or Commonwealth) countries that all used the US 463L system on joint exercises/operations etc. Shortly after I started with the ATF we decided to buy adapter kits so we could use the 463L pallets but the 'logistics' of ensuring we had the right pallets in the right locations around the world then became a bit of a challenge for the Air Ops and Load Planners. On more than one occasion we turned up 'down route' (normally somewhere like Gander, Dakar, Bora Bora, Guam etc) with the 463L adapters in place (which also resulted in a minor loss of clearance heights for the pallets) only to find the 'standard' RAF pallet (which was wider) presented for loading !. Most loads 'bulked out' rather than were 'weight out' which could also be a game changer with the loss of height clearances. Cargo floors and pallets appears to be a rather simple concept but, in reality, it can be quite complicated. One consolation with our load system for the ATF was that if a load was secured properly it would never move. So the story goes, an Argosy (I think) conducting a low pass in the Middle East sometime in the sixties hit an object on the ground and cartwheeled before being almost totally destroyed. Once the dust had literally settled those that went out to the crash site found and almost complete floor section with a Land Rover still securely tied in place.

I feel sure that some enterprising aftermarket supplier will come up with the standard RAF floor/ramp surface in P/E and then your RAF C-130 will be even more accurate since it will have a floor heavier than that found in any other 'standard' C-130E/H of the time with a concomitant reduction in payload !

The Hawker Hunter is, without doubt, one of my favourite aircraft of all time. I was never really sure about the Swedish Air Force scheme until I saw this particular example perform during the Sola-Stavanger Airshow in 2012. Operated by the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight it is, of course, a ex-Swiss Air Force Mk.58 but the pilot produced, without doubt, the best Hunter display I have ever seen.......and I have seen plenty over the years. The weather on the day certainly helped and since I was actually working at the show, I was able to congratulate him after the routine which was good. Now having seen your excellent rendition of an accurate Flygvapnet F.50 I'm totally sold on adding one of these to my ever increasing list of Hunter projects !. Truly superb model. Well Done, Sir !

Sven, Thanks for a GREAT set of photos of this NF-4D. I have a Zoukei-Mura kit earmarked for very same aircraft, using the old Cutting Edge sheet (CED48-013) that includes this airframe. I will be swopping out the crest decals on the Cutting Edge sheet for better examples from Hypersonic Models though. Again, many thanks for sharing

A little more progress overnight. The main wings go together very nicely, sandwiching well fitting undercarriage bays in the process. I remembered to drill the holes for the stores pylons this time !. The one area, so far, where I have discovered a less than optimal fit is with the 'blanking plate' at the rear end of the forward AIM-7 missile bays. According to the instructions you only fit this component if you are NOT going to fit the AIM-7s. As you can see the area needed a bit of filler to ensure they were faired in properly. I tried to minimize the amount on the outer surfaces by using filler on the inner (unseen) surfaces, with limited success. Take care with the alignment of the outer wing section. There is a step but DO NOT be tempted to align or sand it flush. The step is meant to be there in order to help align the outer, upturned, wing sections. That said, I was a bit concerned with the gap towards the rear of this section so I have used a small plasticard shim (sorry for the quality of the photo). I also took time to address one of my pet 'hates' with some jet fighters - joining, sanding and applying gloss white paint to engine intakes !. In fairness the Z-M parts go together pretty well and are 'buried' quite far within the fuselage so any blemishes with ejector pin marks, badly applied paint etc are quite well hidden.

In the meantime, here are a couple of shots of the two fuselage halves temporarily mated to check the overall fit and alignment of the two Hypersonic resin parts. The single piece Zoukei-Mura fuselage spine also helps with this check....the quality of Jeffrey's (of Hypersonic) resin parts really shines through here with the spine part fitting as well as it does with the original Z-M fuselage parts.

I must admit that when these kits were first announced, I was in the 'why another 1:48 F-4 Phantom ?' category of modellers, especially after Academy had brought out a very nice family of F-4B/N, C/D and J variants shortly before the first Zoukei-Mura F-4J kit hit the streets. Since then I have been somewhat swayed by the ease with which these kits purportedly go together and the slightly more accurate canopy outline. I will readily admit that the Hypersonic correction parts are probably in the 'nice to have' category for the majority of builders since the kit does look good out of the box but I wanted to hone my skills on some fairly easy resin correction parts before tackling a more complex build. I am sold on the Hypersonic parts though and will use them on all of my future Z-M short nose F-4 builds - I understand the fuselage contours have been corrected on the first of the forthcoming long nose F-4E kits though. Glad you are following but I should warn you that my builds can be somewhat 'glacial' in speed although I will try my best with this one. I will not be able to help with tips on the Mk.7H ejection seats though since I am looking to fit a pair of the Aerobonus seats with crew figures during this build. Cheers for now

Hello again, Progress has been slow in recent weeks but I'm back on the case now. Managed to get the cockpit together and a bit surprised to find some ejector pin marks on the floor. Fortunately they are on a level surface and some filler took care of them. I'm now looking forward to detailing the cockpit although I'm undecided about the use of Airscale instrument decals yet.....I'll see how the I/Ps shape up with some dry brushing first. More to follow in the next couple of days, hopefully !

Very niiiice.......A state-of-the-art 1:72 Northrop F-5E Tiger II is long overdue so I will look forward to this one. The decal options all look very good too.

Excellent........As others have already said, the weathering is just right. Great model of an unusual subject. Nice to see the A Model built up. Well Done, Sir

Another masterpiece, Russ. I too like the subtle weathering which looks very realistic. You have done a great job with a challenging kit but that IS the joy of modelling, as opposed to assembling. Well Done, Sir !

Interesting thread that I have only just discovered in spite of the fact that I often ask myself this very question !. I guess for me, it was my late father's initial influence combined with regularly moving from one exotic location to another. My earliest memories were of 'out of reach' (in terms of price) Lindberg airliners in Libya in the mid-1960s. IIRC my first model was an Airfix 1:72 Spitfire Mk.IXc, when I was around 7 years old and by then living in Singapore. Airfix and Frog 1:72 kits were in abundance then and at reasonable prices, with the 'Battle of Britain' film influencing much of my early work. I stuck with 1:72 for most of the next 25 years although my interests at migrated from WWII to Post War subjects and British Commonwealth material in particular. Seeing all those RAAF Mirage IIIs, RNZAF A-4Ks and Singaporean Strikemasters and Hunters, together with RAF types subsequently operating out of Akrotiri, Gan, Gibraltar, Muharraq, and Luqa piqued my interest well into the 1980s. At some point in the 1990s, I started to migrate to 1:48 scale while maintaining a primary interest in the same genre/era. In more recent times, and as a keen aviation historian, I have taken to modelling/collecting types that have operated or can be associated with, the countries where I have been living and working over the last 15 years so anything from the Italian/Norwegian and N.E. European (Baltic Sea Region) campaigns during WWII, together with the Balkans. Since I now live and work quite close to the Russian border and have regular access to a host of Former Soviet Cold War era hardware, my interest in Mikoyan and Sukhoi products has also significantly increased so I am very fortunate that so many manufacturers are focusing on these subjects in 1:48 right now. This also allows me to combine this interest with Post-WWII regional conflicts. One of my sub-themes is 'aircraft I have flown or flown in' so I often have to stray into other scales, including 1:144 and 1:32. Suffice to say, it's quite difficult keeping track with so many great kits/subjects out there !

Two French Armee de l'Air Mirage 2000s have just gone over our city centre apartment twice at 500'. I suspect it may be in connection with Estonia's re-independence day which is commemorated today.

Thanks Lee, I have had a quick look and will definitely go back and check out those videos. Thanks again for the tip Mark

Yes......I have one !.....but, it's going to be a lot of work and I do not have so much time right now.

Yes.......all a bit frustrating really.............I've been waiting 10 years for a kit to reproduce this little beauty from Slovakia !. I used to hitch a ride on this particular aircraft a lot while serving on a mission in Sarajevo.

I would be very wary of the quoted UK RRP. My LMS is full of Zvedza kits and they are all very competitively priced in comparison with the British, Chinese and Japanese kits on sale (I find that there are quite high levies on imported luxury items, such as plastic kits, here in Estonia). The oft-quoted cost of a Roden 1:144 C-5 Galaxy does appear to be a one-off anomaly from that particular company but I am not aware of a similar situation with Zvedza to date and I very much doubt they would want to curtail potential sales of such a popular kit. The elephant in the room however is the possibility that the ongoing sanctions are seriously skewing the price of manufacturing products in Russia and then exporting them but we have not seen that with recent kit releases such as the 1:144 Tupolev Tu-134UBL or 1:48 Mil Mi-24V/VP Hind, both of which command reasonable prices. I would suggest the Zvedza C-130 kit will work out at circa 55-70 Euros tops but we will see.

One of my favourite 60's era airliners, along with the Caravelle, Comet and DC-8. Great job so far........keep up the good work.

Totally agree with the 'alien concept' of using Saints for commercial aircraft. It was my first posting and after my initial disappointment at not getting a flying station I soon discovered that it was just as good......especially with the slightly eccentric resident pilot/navigator team who conducted the post-major test flights on Phantoms and Buccaneers.....the fly-bys seemed to get lower with each one conducted !. In my day, the place was littered with Avro Vulcans and Canberras waiting for the scrap mans torch.

Chris, They are ribbons. I suspect they have been there since 9 May as many in the Ethnic Russian Estonian community make the 'pilgrimage' to this site and the 'Bronze Soldier' that stands in the Estonian Military Ceremony in Tallinn. On that day, thousands leave wreaths and laurels of flowers and ribbons but others leave them all year round so there always appear to be fresh flowers at both of these sites, as you can see in the photo. There are a couple of T-34s in Estonia (including one that was recently pulled out of one of the marshes) but this is the only one in public display with former Soviet markings. I'm hoping to visit the Estonian War Museum soon and will try to get some photos of the other items on display. Thanks for looking Mark