guillaume320

I can see a Kinetic Mirage IIIRS on that particular stand... Is that a hint? 🤔

They did, but it was a IIIC/B, not an IIIE/O/R/RD/EE/EA. That's why I was suspecting Kinetic as those versions can be covered from that specific kit... G You beat me to it! 😁

Oh dear 😬😬😬

Heller 1/48 Mirage IIIE/O/R/RD/EE/EA and F-104G... Could those be Kinetic reissues?? 🤔

The Revell Tornado kits in 1/48 are definitely delicate to put together. The transition from radome to fuselage is definitely something to watch. -On the GR or IDS kits, the dome shape of the radome should extend to the next panel line (the physical line between the kit radome part and the fuselage needs to be blended in completely). On the kit built as such there is one panel line too many. The first molded panel line should be the base of the radome. The overall kit length seems correct, but the radome part too short and the actual fuselage too long. This is however easily fixed. -On the F.3, comparing the picture Dave Fleming posted and the actual kit, I would conclude the following: Between the radome and the windshield, there are 2 distinct vertical panel lines. The kit and the real aircraft match here. However looking more closely how the radome shape transitions to the fuselage, I do see a difference. On the real aircraft, the radome shape is kept till the first panel line. On the kit, the transition starts more forward, right at the base of the radome itself. To me this gives the Revell kit that pinched look. A bit of filler could solve this (I plan to do just that). It will be a little bit more tricky than on the GR, as the radome separation will need to be rescribed. I hope my words make sense because it's not always easy to describe On a sidenote, other things (easily cured) that might make the Revell kits look a bit odd at times are: base of the windshield needs to be completely blended in, wings need to have some anhedral (completely straight when oob), the speedbrakes when positioned open need to spread out a bit (on most ones I've seen they are glued on too vertically), not enough forward wing sweep, tip of the fin should not be diamond shaped... Well the list is quite long... G

Will we also see the FRADU T.8C with the Harley light in the nose? 🙏🙏🙏

This is just insane 😎🍿🙌🏻

The ‘vanilla’ 1/48 F-104 (Hasegawa) reissue seems to have been dropped.... A shame because I was looking forward to the decal sheet ☹️

I find them way too rounded on the outer point. Also the splitter plate with the fuselage is pure fantasy. It's doable to fix it, but as I'm a 'serial Hunter builder' I'm glad those days are over! I agree converting the Academy to two-seaters gets rid of some of the most obvious issues 😀 G

The Academy Hunter does have some good points, like the fine and crisp panel lines. Also the flaps are more detailed than Airfix, and the wing pylons have better proportions. However the whole kit suffers from weird shapes and dimensional inaccuracies, from the underscale cockpit to the bulbous nose, the windshield, air intakes, etc.... I won’t be buying any more Academy Hunters that’s for sure. Airfix anytime for me! G

I flew to Niamey few months ago... I also saw German C-160, French C-135FR and Atlantique. And a Ramstein marked US C-130J came in shortly after us. I didn't manage to spot any fighters while I was there though. G

Also some Belgian (and possibly Dutch?) F.4's received the dog tooth modification...

Agreed... All boxes are similar enough except few detail parts. You can easily make a Gr.1 out of a Gr.4 box G

The base kit will be reissued this year by Revell so should be available again plenty cheap..

Really? That would be awesome!!! What’s the source of this rumor if I may ask?

Hopefully some ‘vanilla’ schemes included with the Tornadoes 🙏🏻 The German ASTA boxing promises new parts. Maybe a set of HARM missiles going by the picture? I remember first time test shots where shown at Telford years ago there were HARMs displayed. An ECR is doable if those are included... G

My bad for having posted in this thread... But I see double standards. The Eduard 109 for example gets one single thread for all variants. The Airfix Hunter a separate one for the F4 and F6. Then the F6 gets renamed to include the Aerocraft two seat conversion, while Aerocraft have their own thread in the manufactures forum? I know it’s not a science, but you get my drift. I vote for both threads to be merged and just renamed ‘Airfix 1/48 Hunter’ 😅 G

That being said, the way the leading edge is done might put it out of the range of the more casual modeler who might lack the equipment to achieve a nice cut... 🤔

I’m actually not unhappy with the way it’s done. As long as the cuts can be done precisely and the new parts fit of course. I particularly like the flexibility this offers. Especially because some early F6’s were delivered with straight wing, and some F4’s (eg some Belgians) had the dog tooth retrofitted... So now we can easily mix and match to get the particular airframe we want 😀 G

https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/news/workbench/classic-airfix-jetfest-to-end-2019?sfns=mo Boxart, sprue shots and decal options for the F4/F5/J34 confirmed! Thanks Airfix for including a Belgian option 😀🙏🏻 Also seems like a GA.11 nose on one of the sprues? G

The B43 and B57 (as well as the B61) are included in the Daco F-104 upgrade set, sprue E. (Sprues can be purchased individually from Daco if not in need of the full set...) G

Yes those look like the large ones. I have no clue about their capacity though! Looking forward to see the result 🍿 Smashing job so far!!

Excellent article 👍🏻

Looking at pictures it seems the larger tanks aren’t carried very often in recent years, mostly small ones. Two more interesting shots if you allow: first one again with the large tanks inboard, and Orpheus pod on the centerline https://www.airliners.net/photo/Italy-Air-Force/AMX-International-AMX/4227433/L Next is the configuration I want to make my single seater (one day!), also Orpheus with the small tanks: https://www.airfighters.com/photo/102058/M/Italy-Air-Force/AMX-International-AMX/MM7132/ The Orpheus in the Kinetic kit can go straight to the bin (underscale). Thanks god I’ve got some spares in the Daco F-104 upgrade sets 😀 Apologies for highjacking your WIP.... Looking forward to more updates 🍿 G

Those last generation composite fan blades are a royal pain in the back to paint accurately though 😅