Steve McArthur

There seems to be a lot of confusion about MSIP II. It was an update introduced during the F-15C production run and it ended along with F-15C production. Earlier planes were brought up to this standard. Few of the updates in the Wolfpack set were due specifically to MSIP II, but other upgrade programs. You really need time dated photos of the plane your interested in at to know the configuration at a given point in time. The only external visual indicator of the MSIP II updates were the RWR on the right tail spike and the split right rear formation light.

There's the Valom Islander in 1:48. The Islander first flew in 1965, but I don't think it was in UK military service until 1989.

@NFR Have you looked at pictures? Your own eyeballs or a simple Google search ought to be able to turn up most of the differences. But off the top of my head: CFT pylons are completely different. The Ra'am has pylons like the F-15E, the Baz CFT's only have the 4 shoulder mounts used for missiles or a Elta ECM pod. Cockpits were very different when delivered. The Ra'am had multifunction displays from the start where the earlier Baz were old school steam gauge cockpits. No idea how the IDF has modified the F-15 Baz over the years. The back seat was modified from the start to support delivering precision guided weapons that wasn't a capability the USAF used in their two seaters. They were doing this before the F-15E existed. I've never found a photo of an IDF F-15B/D rear cockpit. For some reason the IDF doesn't share details on update programs. F-15E/I landing gear is different with bigger tires & wheels and bulged main gear doors. The F-15E/I nose gear has the "Donkey Dick" mass damper that isn't on the Baz There are numerous panel line differences as the access panels on the F-15E/I are different, so maintenance could be performed without removing the CFTs first. The need to drop the CFTs for maintenance was a big driver for why the USAF didn't make much use of them on the F-15C/D. Antenna differences and these changed over time. The Ra'am kept it's turkey feathers, while the Baz doesn't use them currently, but they kept them longer than the USAF. Gun loading door is bulged on the Ra'am as it has a different ammo magazine and feed system. Radome on the E does not have the urethane boot on the tip, but it is common to see E radomes on F-15A/B/C/D The E model horizontal stab has a reinforcing strip along most of the span. D models did not have this, but I think these were retrofitted over time. And to mix things up a bit, the last 5 F-15Ds delivered were F-15E airframes finished to a F-15D type configuration. At the time they were built McDonnell Douglas had already ceased production of the C/D variants and only the F-15E was in production. This was before Congress authorized the sale of the F-15I to Israel. I've read this in many sources, but I've never really seen what this meant in practice or tried to track down details for these. Edit to Add: @NFR If you want to use the GWH F-15I instead of the F-15B/D kit, go to Scalemates and download the instructions for both. Look at the sprue lists and compare step-by-step to figure out what exactly is in each kit. What if anything is missing from the F-15I kit to build the F-15B/D? These are the parts you need to worry most about. Many of the early F-15E kits (Hasegawa/Academy) were just F-15B/D kits with different cockpit panels and CFTs. Eventually they started adding sprues to fix some of the other details, but still remained essentially F-15Ds with "add-ons" to get an F-15E. It wasn't until the Revell F-15E that we got a true F-15E that would take worked to backdate to a F-15D. I don't know which way the GWH kit works.

I think this may be the GTS Exhaust Port from that page:

@RWestcott Just starting out I'd say just get used to working with your first airbrush before buying another. Something around a 0.3mm is a good general purpose nozzle size to start with. It is big enough for most media and can produce decently fine lines with practice. Once you get some experience with whatever you first buy, you will have a better idea of it's limitations and features you may want on a next airbrushes. Many, many people are happy with one airbrush in their toolbox and don't see a need for others, then there are others (like me) that seem to collect airbrushes as much as we add kits to the stash. Good luck in your quest.

I don't, never have, don't see the point. Just keep your brushes clean to avoid cross contamination. I might use any of my airbrushes to spray anything I have on my desk that is a mix of acrylics, enamels and lacquers usually all on the same model. I usually pick the airbrush to match how precise do I want to be (nozzle size, single vs double action) and how much paint I need to use (cup size). Just coating a plane with primer is often a Badger 200 or Paasche H, but I've also shot primer through a 0.2mm Iwata HP-A when I just had a small part to do like a resin cast ejection seat that didn't need much paint for the task.

Cheap Chinese stuff is a crap shoot. I generally advise against cheap airbrushes found on Amazon unless you know what you are getting into. Many of these can have serious quality problems that a beginner has no idea how to troubleshoot. Often they don't have the experience to know if the problems they encounter are bad hardware or self induced. Even the compressors can be hit or miss. Even if the compressor works out of the box it could be fine for years or fail in a month. I'd risk buying a Fengda 186 compressor with a tank for a first compressor, you can always send it back if it doesn't work on delivery, but look for a name brand airbrush over generic Chinese airbrushes. I'd look at the brands sold by sites that specialize in airbrushes or art supplies, someplace like airbrushes.com that is in the UK. At this site I see Iwata, Badger, Paasche and Sparmax along with spare parts for these brands. Iwata is the top of the field, Badger and Paasche are from the USA and a little pricey in Europe. Sparmax used to be one of the "budget" brands before China flooded Amazon with generic junk. Sparmax is a good airbrush company made in Taiwan. I'd take a Sparmax over anything from mainland China. For a starter airbrush I'd look at a 0.28-0.35mm nozzle size with a fairly large (7ml) paint cup. Anything you buy should have spare parts available which are available from a site like airbrushes.com. Many of the Chinese ones assume you'll throw them away and get a new one when they break or just use generic spares that may not work the same. My suggestion would be to just get an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS and be done with it, it'll last the rest of your life. I have several Iwatas around 40 years old. For a list from what's available at airbrushes.com in my order of preference: Iwata Eclipse HP-CS Iwata Revolution HP-CR3 Paasche Talon Sparmax Max-3 A left field choice would be a Badger 200. I started with one 45 years ago and used it for 20 years before I got another airbrush. I used mine yesterday for primer. I find a single action airbrush simpler to use, but it takes a bit more effort/planning to do stuff like camouflage with a soft edge between colors where I can just freehand it with one of my other airbrushes.

Tamiya also has a Super Strong you might try. I have all three and use the weakest that the decals will react to. The last bottle of Solvaset I got seemed to be weaker than it had been in the past, which prompted me to give Tamiya a shot.

@Pappy from the cockpit photos I've seen it looks like it retained the F-5A gunsight just so they could try some dogfighting. A full up HUD like we think of them was still in the future when the F-5A was designed. Adding a HUD probably wasn't necessary for the program and would have added to the expense. No idea on the tires and wheels, I agree they don't look like F-16 wheels. I've never really research the X-29 as no kit exists in my preferred scale.

ONLY the forward fuselage from a pair of F-5As were used, i.e. everything bare metal from just aft of the canopy hinge. Everything in yellow primer aft of that was unique to the X-29. All the load paths for wings and canards are totally different from an F-5/F-20 along with landing gear bays for F-16 gear. It would be an insane waste of time to try to recycle an F-20 fuselage just because they shared the same engine.

On their facebook page they showed sprues back in 2022 and said it was coming out later that year, but have not responded to any questions on a release date since then.

A lot of F-5s used versions of the Martin Baker Mk.7 seat very similar to the F-104 seat. Iran had IRQ7A and there is a Brazilian BRQ7A on eBay right now. And another listing for a tech manual CD that references the X-29. I did a Iranian Saeqeh a few years ago and used a F-104 seat without the pull rings for the seat.

After dealing with the decals on the Hasegawa F-2A I bought a mug heater and a small metal pet food bowl to keep my decal water hot. I was finding they just did not want to release from the backing paper unless the water was hot. I also bought all the varieties of Tamiya's Mark Fit (normal, Strong & Super Strong) and a bottle of their decal adhesive.

When you intentionally backflow your brush by blocking off the entire front end, you have changed the conditions. You are blocking the air path and the paint path. The air has no escape but to flow back up the nozzle into the paint cup. The OP is not doing that, he gets bubbling without blocking the front of the brush. In the case of a clogged nozzle, the paint isn't flowing out for the air to ever interact with it. Air should just vent out the front of the brush, no paint and no bubbles in the paint cup, again path of least resistance. This isn't like a spray can, the air isn't pushing paint out. It's sucking paint off the nozzle. The air and paint don't meet until they are outside the airbrush. This is an Iwata type airbrush but all airbrushes are similar. The nozzle tip protrudes slightly proud of the nozzle cap. If it didn't the air would backflow into the nozzle. Paint is around the needle inside the nozzle, air is venting through the gap around nozzle. You can see where the blue paint is being picked up by the air flow. For air to bubble into the cup something else has to be wrong. A long enough crack that leads back into the nozzle cap could cause this, but like others mentioned a crack is more likely to cause spatter and other paint pattern problems. The most likely spot for a problem is where the nozzle screws into the the nozzle post. Iwata airbrushes rely on the metal-to-metal mating surfaces at this joint to be precise enough to be airtight. Wear and tear (overzealous cleaning) can lead to imperfections, so a little beeswax on the nozzle threads tend to seal this up. When Iwata ships new brushes they have a little red sealant on these threads to start with, but don't sell it or even describe what it is. Instead they have there own branded thread sealer that is just beeswax in a Chapstick like tube I use it every time I reinstall a nozzle whether it's been leaking or not. This photo is a cutaway of an old style Badger nozzle, but all airbrushes with threaded nozzles are similar. The nozzle threads into a post that the air flows around as it exits the nozzle cap (air cap in Badger terminology). This also shows why the nozzle needs to protrude slightly from the nozzle cap (or air cap) This is the point of least pressure so best vacuum to draw off paint. To be clear this is a cutaway showing the separation of paint and air paths. I think this is based on an Olympus airbrush with a detachable head like a Custom Micron or the Creos PS-270/289. The points of failure where air could enter the paint path and cause bubbling are any point where there is a joint in the paint path with air surrounding it. So that's where the nozzle screws onto the nozzle post and in this case where the center of the head base slots into the body. This style of brush typically uses an O-ring for the air seal at the head base. Badgers with detachable heads and H&S drop in nozzles use a Teflow washer to seal against the body that can be crushed over time leading to the bubbling problem. Backflowing is unlikely to blow by the needle packing seal unless the paint cup is blocked for some reason, path of least resistance again. It's easier to vent to atmosphere in an open cup than flow past that big open area and push through the needle packing. The threads around the perimeter of the head base or nozzle cap are just keeping air inside the airbrush and if these leak you might not see any effect if it's minor or you might get pulsing in the air flow but have nothing to do with bubbles in the cup unless the nozzle cap just isn't fully seated for the nozzle to protrude like it should.

For really troublesome dried gunk I have a metal reamer (the gold tool in that ad) that I've used, but you have to be very careful. I insert it so the nozzle is still loose and just roll the nozzle along one edge to scrape the inside. You don't want to push the reamer in with any force that might split or deform the nozzle. I really only pull this out on some of the used airbrushes I've gotten off eBay that have god know what baked into them. I got one that I'd swear the previous owner had dunked the front end in latex house paint and let it dry into a solid block after he wiped off the outside. Usually interdental brushes and paper dental points are enough and have less chance of damaging the nozzle. That is if I have to take the brush apart. I only tear down a brush when I have problems. For daily clean up I just spray cellulose thinner through until it blows clear and use an old paint brush to scrub loose any paint I can see in the paint cup. Then pull and wipe down the needle. While the needle is out use a cotton swab dipped in thinner to wipe around the bottom of the paint cavity. I also spray a couple drops of thinner through before I try paint when I first pick up a brush for the day, just to rule out problems before I load paint. Yes the needle packing seal is the seal between the trigger and the paint cavity that the needle passes through.