Captain Condor

I have had both the Frog/Novo kits and the Mistercraft/ZTS Plastyk and apart from supposedly being of the same aircraft they have nothing in common. The shape and position of the intakes is completely different on the two kits. Comparing them to the only drawings of Javelins I had the Frog kit intake position was the closest.

The Aki kit may still be available direct from Aki. I got one last year by emailing them but it is still horrendously expensive, especially when you get stung for duties and parcelforce's exorbitant charges.

I am currently battling with the Zlinek boxing of the VES Su-15 kit which my wife got for me late last year when she was in Russia. It does seem to have disappeared from many of the sites since then. Some of the casting is a bit iffy even compared to the VES castings, the main wheels for instance are unusable but luckily replaceable with after market ones. Some of the seat was also missing but I had a resin seat ready for it. The main castings for the fuselage appear ok and the front fuselage castings went together quite well. I am hoping to make up Blue 23 using the Mig-23 cannon pod. For some strange reason the Su-15 kit was more expensive than the Su-24 but still less than 1000 roubles which at that time was around £10. I also have the Gran boxing of the Su-15 which has a lot of flash on it though the castings themselves seem slightly better than the Zlinek ones.

For the Su-24 the Strim kit is still available in Russia boxed as a Zlinek kit. The transparencies are different and there are no decals but the kit itself is the same molding. I have both versions and have compared them. The price in Russia is just over £10 at current exchange rates if you can find a shop to send one over. Below are a couple of shops which have them. I have used both in the past but only for deliveries to a Russian address. http://www.hobbyforyou.ru/catalog/4541-35836.html http://model-ka.ru/products/frontovoj-bombardirovschik-vvs-rossii-su-24m-strim-172

Managed to find the identity of this aircraft. It is the third production SU-15TM (0315304) which was modified to test the installation of the Mig-23 gun pod and is now preserved at Zhukovskiy. The airframe number can be seen on the inside of one of the undercarriage doors. Thanks again to everyone for help.

Looking at the pictures and at other installations the Mig-23 installation looks the closest. The back of the fairing looks much the same so I will go along with the Mig-23 gun pod and assume the front was also the same. From what I can see of the details they certainly look the same. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Probably not as the Fencer is equipped with a single multi barrel cannon. The twin 23mm cannon pods fitted on most SU-15s and supplied in the SU-15 kits are much deeper than this installation. Allegedly the fixed cannons were only fitted to very few SU-15s.

I have seen pictures of an SU-15 with fixed belly mounted cannons in a special mounting. Unfortunately the front of the mounting is missing from the pictures. http://walkarounds.airforce.ru/avia/rus/sukhoi/su-15tm/ds_su-15tm_025.jpg http://walkarounds.airforce.ru/avia/rus/sukhoi/su-15tm/ds_su-15tm_024.jpg Has anyone seen any pictures with the complete installation showing the front fairing?

With regard to the Amusing Hobby version and when it might be available this is the answer I got from HLJ this week. Dear, Thank you for writing. According to the importer, Amusing Hobby is up and running just fine, but they did not know when Amusing Hobby can release the Conqueror tank. When we receive the news about the Conqueror, we will be definitely accepting pre-orders for it! Hope this helps! Best Regards, Kunihiko Matsugu HobbyLink Japan

Seen the release date in China for the Meng T-10m is 23/05/2015.

Anyone heard anything as to when the above might be released?

Thanks guys.

Anyone know if the Panda and Amusing Hobby versions of the Object 279 heavy tank are the same model?

I see the Modelsvit Tu-144 is now available in Ukraine. At $388 ($292.5 discounted) its way too much for me, especially if you have to pay duty on top.

Back when the Hawk was being designed the question of the aerodynamic load on the pitot came up to make sure it was strong enough. The guy calculating the aerodynamic loads in flight noticed though that the pitot was at just the right height for any ground crew to hang on to as they were leaning against it. Since the load from someone holding on to it was much greater than any aerodynamic load this was the load used for its design. Some time later a pictrure was seen of a Hawk with one of the ground crew leaning and holding onto the pitot tube. Job done.

For fans of really big models Parc Models in Romania have the above kit available for 173.33 euro according to their website. Not my sort of thing but looks a very good price for an EU country. http://www.parcmodels.ro/en/p_Hughes-H-4-Hercules-7068_1.html

Looks exactly the same model with the same model number. http://www.modelimex.com/1-72-aviamatka-soviet-air-carrier-system According to Wiki the Aviamatka was based on the TB3.

I see Modelimex are taking pre-orders for the ICM Zveno kit at 50 Euro. Makes you wonder why someone would just pay over £60 for one on evilbay!!

Currently $369 on ModelsUA site, though much cheaper if you have ordered from him before and get a big discount.

Just seen this is now available on some sites. A nice addition if you are into Russian jets. Miles

I was thinking the same, as a ramjet there shouldn't be a fan, just a compressor body of some sort. Perhaps the fan is from the model designers imagination of what it should look like. Nice model though.

When I started work in the aircraft industry as an aerodynamicist I used to work with one of the aerodynamisists who had worked on TSR2 and I am fairly sure that it was for stability that the wing tips were turned down on the TSR2. The winglets on modern airliners are completely different. Incidently we were never convinced that for a given lift there was any real advantage from the up turned wing tips. At a fixed incidence angle the wind tunnel tests showed a reduction in drag, but also a reduction in lift. When the angle was increased to regain the lift the drag went back up again. Miles

John You can buy direct from Prop & Jet if you write to Musa Zekoreev at [email protected]. He is very helpful, very friendly and very trusting. (I only had to pay for the models after they had arrived!!) He is also a lot cheaper than buying from any of the shops selling his products. The quality of his castings is very high and the accuracy of his models is supposed to be amongst the best. Miles

I have a few of their paints and have used a brush. They seem fine, just as good as any other paint. Miles

I have just received two sets of Equipage wheels from a web site in Ukraine. They were cheaper than Armory and much cheaper than the russian sites. In addition they have the official Equipage price list on their site so you can see the real cost. The site is aftermarket.com.ua. He did not have the wheels I wanted listed on his site but he was able to get them for me. It took quite a while but I was willing to wait as the price was so good. The other problem is paying as he does not take paypal etc so you have to send cash. He does not ask for the money until he has the goods ready to send. If you are after any equipage wheels I would recommend giving this site a try as a possible source. Miles