Navy Bird

Fantastic trio! I love them all. I need to tackle an F.1A or F.3 someday... Cheers, Bill

Love it! There is just something about the Stringbag, she looks so hopelessly outdated for her time period, but she made so many great contributions to the war effort. Beautiful replica, you have something to be proud of. Cheers, Bill

Very nice diorama, and one of the best jobs I've seen on a quarter scale Monogram Thud. Bravo! I have the Hill AFB wrap-around decal sheet for the F-105 in 1:72 scale. There's three schemes: SE Asia camouflage, European 1 Camouflage, and the Desert Fox mentioned above. One of these is intended for my Trumpeter F-105D, but I really can't make up my mind for which one! Maybe I should he one that covers the most rivets... Cheers, Bill

I always hated that scheme when it first came out (mid 70s) but now that I haven't seen it in years, I kinda like it! Maybe it's because I've grown tired of modern jets that are grey on grey on grey. Or maybe I'm just getting old... Anyway, nice job! I can't see any indication of the nose job, and that's quite a feat without repainting the whole aircraft or ruining some decals. Cheers, Bill

As usual, you have us all dropping our jaws and drooling with envy! Fantastic work, it makes me strive to do better. Thanks for sharing! I believe you can get these from Gunze in Poland. I just can't get them to ship to the US! http://www.gunze.pl Cheers, Bill

I love the special liveries, and it seems like Phantoms have more than their share! Very nice job here, I like it a lot. Cheers, Bill

Very nice job, I like it a lot. Got the same kit in my stash (wait, I think everyone has said that in their comments). Which means one thing - this is a sweet little kit! I hope we can all do a fine job like Chadders has! Cheers, Bill

Felix Rules! Nice job, I love the Glossy Sea Gray Cats! It's too bad that didn't carry over to the F-14! I have the little 1:72 scale Sword Bearcat in my stash, does anyone know of an aftermarket sheet with the above markings? Cheers, Bill

Wow, that is just beautiful! Great job!! Two questions: How did you get the great gloss finish? I've been trying for years to get a "scale" gloss, and you seem to have nailed it. How did you get the light edges to the dark colours, like around the instrument panel coamings? It can't be a wash, as I would think it wouldn't stick there. Some kind of pencil maybe? Cheers, Bill

For what it's worth, I use Gunze H72 Dark Earth and H73 Dark Green, both in the "RAF" sequence of their colour chart. They're a tad lighter than the Testors colours (which I also have) and they look pretty good to me. However, the Gunze Dark Earth does have a smidgeon of that "chocolate" look to it. Cheers, Bill

Felix Rules!! Very nice rendition, and I second the comments on indoor photography. I was never able to get good indoor photos until I set up a booth with photo lights. A lot of indoor light fixtures don't have "daylight" colour temperature, so you have to adjust your camera's white balance, etc. to get correct colours. Cheers, Bill

There is great modelling going on here! Very nice result. I love the schemes that are colourful, but still historical. You can only build so many grey jets. Cheers, Bill

Lovely, after I just obtained a few bottles of Gunze Aqueous RLM83...not easy to find in the US! I had to resort to having business associates in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Frankfurt acquire these for me. Hopefully, the end result will be that RLM83 is still green, and not blue, so I can use my paint! Cheers, Bill

Hi Phil, Have a look at the timeline on this page: Link It appears to be the MPM kit as you suspected. Revell had their own A-20 that goes back to the 60s, but it did not have recessed panel lines. Cheers, Bill

Great stuff! The history and science behind the camouflage colours is always interesting for me to read. Nick, have you ever encountered the designations of No. 12 Blue-Gray and No. 10 Light Gray? If so, where did these designations come from? From a modelling perspective, it appears that PRU Blue may have its place as one of the colours that could be used to depict a weathered and faded USN plane from the 1942 period. My thanks to all for sharing this information. And Don, I was remiss in not commenting on your Corsair. Great job! Cheers, Bill

Hi Steven, What I said was that "using" LGG was a given for this model, and that was based on using the IPMS Stockholm chart that shows M-495 Light grey as being close to FS36440. I didn't say that LGG was M-495 (or No.10 if that is a real designation). That said, I don't have access to the chips in the Monogram book, and it sounds like you do. Can you elaborate on how M-495 is different than LGG? Since this color seems to have been "specified" as you say (whereas the blue-grey wasn't, as you said there is no standard for it and other sources agree) I would be interested in your interpretation of the light gray. Is there a better FS or ANA match other than LGG? Thanks! Cheers, Bill Here is a reference (other than Wikipedia) that shows a "No. 12 Blue-Gray" - Link And one for "No. 10 Light Gray" - Link

It's in the Wikipedia article on USN Aircraft Camouflage. Not the best source, of course, but the dates for the change between these numbers do correlate with the dates for USN orders shown in the Don Color site that I included in a previous post. Don Color states that the exact shade of these colors were not specified, as you also stated. So there is no exact shade or answer - although if the USN passed out color chips in late 1941, and got a darker color, that may correlate to the adoption of Nos. 12 and 10 on August 20, 1941. I'm asking these questions on behalf of another modeller who is doing an early Dauntless. I think that using Light Gull Gray on the undersides is a given, but I'd like to give him some alternatives for the top. Looks like this one may be almost as bad as Olive Drab! Cheers, Bill

Great replies, everyone, thanks so much! And yes, Nick would provide a nice analysis for us! Nick, where are you? Cheers, Bill

Hi mates, Most of the sites I've visited say that the USN 2-tone camo had No. 12 Blue-Grey on top and No. 10 Light Grey undersides. The 2-tone scheme prior to 1941 was M-485 Blue-Grey and M-495 Light Grey. Most references seem to say that these were essentially the same colours. The closest match to the Blue-Grey is often cited as FS35189. When I search for paints that match this FS number I get PRU Blue! This doesn't seem quite right to me, as I can't see PRU Blue as being the topside colour for a 1942 Dauntless! Any advice? Cheers, Bill

I just bought this kit at our local club contest this past Sunday. If I can make it look half as good as yours, I'll be happy. Great job on your Scooter! Cheers, Bill

Beautiful job! The Type 300 was the start of the most amazing story in aviation history, and you've done it justice. Thanks for sharing! Cheers, Bill

Very nice indeed. I have a couple of these waiting in the stash - I should get back to modelling and stop typing! Cheers, Bill

Thanks - I had a look at their web site. I probably never noticed it before since it seems to be aimed at armor modellers. I've never built armor because I can never find a spot for the wings! Anyway, their site has lots of new toys to play with! Brano's Tomcat here is the most realistic Tomcat weathering I've seen in 1:72, I will use this for reference on my next Cat! Cheers, Bill

Looks very realistic - I'm not familiar with the AK Interactive Worn effect. How is that done? Cheers, Bill

Another beautiful model! You are a master! Note to self: bookmark this topic for future reference... Cheers, Bill