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Evening everybody... Id like to present my 1/72 Trumpeter F-107 Ultrasabre. I built in the “They also serve group build”. I built mine as 55120 which did indeed serve with NACA/NASA from 1957-59. I however was not inspired by the factory test scheme of silver lacquer with red panels. While researching NASA test aircraft looking for photo’s I came across two of Convair’s Aircraft. The Delta Dagger and Dart in a striking ADC Grey and Gloss Sea Blue scheme. Thats when the gears started to slowly grind through the rust that is my brain. I decided to build the 107 as a Whif in this scheme. Theorizing that NASA kept it for longer and decided to repaint it in a different guise at some point to match the Convair types. So I present you my F-107 circa 1971 in the later Scheme. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments, and or add thoughts. Dennis

As part of an Easter Blitz build run by my club I dug this one out of the stash for a quick build. It goes together quite quickly with little fuss after painting cockpit parts the interior green. The canopy is now on and has to be masked. Almost paint shop time.

Hello guys, with my Mig 3 finished, I decided to start my fourth Mustang in 48 scale. I'll be using Barracuda decals for the P-51D CY-G. The description on the history section indicate the pilot flew two aircraft with the same registration but with different builder numbers. What differentiated both aircraft was that one had D-Day stripes and the other not. I'll be building the aircraft that didn't have the stripes (because I'm lazy). Still, since I don't trust the nose checkerboards to conform the nose profile, I'll be masking and painting the nose checkerboards. This will be a fun painting project.

I'm looking for photos of the cockpit of the F-51H in ANG service. Were these repainted in black as the F-51D cockpits were? Secondly, are there any photos floating around on the internet that show the Texas ANG option of the Modelsvit 1/48 kit? Cheers, Erik.

P-51D Upgrades (for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard Brassin We’ve got Eduard’s new P-51D Mustang at the top of the heap in 1:48, and they’re filling all those remaining holes for the super-detailers with additional sets of Photo-Etch and masks, plus resin sets, which I’ll detail in a separate review. P-51D Upgrade Set (481000) This fret of bare brass contains detail parts to upgrade the kit in the cockpit and around the airframe. Starting with the aft compartment with skins for the boxes, additional parts for the sidewalls, rudder pedal skins, a new brass seat to optionally replace the tubular framed kit one, or to upgrade the bracing struts at the sides and top. In the gear bays there are additional hoses and clips to retain the bay doors when closed, with more hoses and oleo-scissors on the legs themselves. In the radiator bay there are new skins for the radiator cores and an additional internal structure with oval grille, with a new cooling flap at the rear. In the nose there is an insert that fits into the two options for the grilles under the nose, either mesh or perforated. Seatbelts STEEL (FE1021) STEEL seatbelts are etched from thinner material, which improves realism and flexibility in one sitting. Coupled with the new painting method that adds perceived extra depth to the buckles and other furniture by shading, they are more realistic looking and will drape better than regular brass PE. Tface Masks (EX663) Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy both inside and out, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. In addition you get a set of hub/tyre masks for the wheels and formation lights, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort. Decals (D48033) If you need some extra National Markings for your US P-51D then Eduard supply these as a separate decal sheet. These are printed in house by Eduard and should pose no issues. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all, I started this battle a few months ago with one of the Anigrand's resins I accumulated over the years. Thankfully I stopped purchasing them some time ago: as much as they can be tempting subjects for my tastes, the building experience is always somewhat painful! So let's start with the raw materials: Not much in the way of references: the program was terminated before any metal was cut so there is only a mockup (with two iterations) as reference and much imagination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_XF-108_Rapier Most of the material available is in this feature article and a similar one in Le Fana de l'Aviation n°527.

North American T-2C Buckeye. Pics thanks to Dennis taken at The Illinois Aviation Museum.

Started on my Yale, and after some time spent scraping the inside of the wing trailing edges to get a sharp result I moved on tp look at the instructions for the cockpit. It says that all interiors are Zinc Chromate. To me, that means bright greenish yellow., so my first reaction was strongly negative. Thinking a little, I suspect this means the tinted zinc chromate normally referred to as Interior Green, although the actual shade seems to have varied from one US company to another. I further suspect that the colour used by North American on its Mustangs, and possibly also its T-6s, has been mentioned on this forum before. Possibly even the Dull Dark Green available from Colourcoats (ACUS24) or their Green Zinc Chromate (ACUS22). But was either colour used on the earlier NA64 Yale, built in late 1939/early 1940? Can anyone help here?

North American F-86A Sabre (code FU-178/8178) For modelling notes this aircraft has had the leading edge slats wired shut and wing fence added. Both for flight safety reasons which the original A model did not feature. Pics thanks to Martin.

Ready for inspection the Airfix 1:72 North American P-51D Mustang. Is a straight forward out of the box build, and my first experience of painting using Humbrol silver. I'm fairly pleased with the overall effect (I'm brush painting not airbrushing). In future I won't be painting the silver first as masking it was a nightmare (bits peeling off with the tape). I've gone for minimal weathering as I like the shiny metal finish of these planes. All in all a nice little kit.

Hi! My little 'stang! Kit manufacture: Airfix Scale: 1/72 Type: North American P-51D Mustang Extras used: Scratch seat belts from tape . Paints and colours used: AK Xtreme Metals Aluminium, AK Dark Aluminium, AK Black Base Primer, Tamiya XF-7 flat red, XF-3 flat yellow, XF-85 Rubber black, XF-62 Olive Drab, Vallejo 71.010 Interior Green, various Vallejo colours for hand painting, AK Gauzy Agent, Flory Dark Dirt. So this is another kit I've been working on for another group build/SIG on another forums. It was all about metal finishes, and as I've never really attempted a true NMF, I thought I'd give the new excellent AK Xtreme Metals a go. The kit is a fantastic mojo-buster. Fit is generally excellent, detail is good, engraved panel lines are lovely. The only problems I had were a warped landing gear strut, so the wheel had to be superglued to the undercarriage door, and the antenna was so full of flash it was unusable and had to be scratched from plasticard. I'm fairly pleased with the result of the AK Xtreme Metal and I loved the AK Gauzy agent; self levels a treat and doesn't diminish the metal finish. I did have a problem at times with the AK stuff pealing away with the masking tape despite de-tacking and leaving the paint to dry for a week at a time. However it goes on a treat and looks beautiful. Comments, tips and feedback as always greatly appreciated. And here are my two latest completions hanging out with each other! There we go! Thanks for stopping by. Have a fantastic Christmas everyone, I hope Santa fills your stockings with plenty of kits! Val

After its T-6, Kitty Hawk is to release a 1/32nd North American OV-10D Bronco kit - ref.KH32003 See CAD drawings herebelow Sources: http://www.themodellingnews.com/2014/01/yee-har-kittyhawk-to-let-loose-large.html https://fr-fr.facebook.com/Kagero.SM https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=ms.639006636156204.639006599489541.639006522822882.639006542822880.639006722822862.bps.a.639006416156226.1073741960.224979750892230&type=1 V.P.

I bought this set for three quid at home bargains and decided to start work on it so next post I will have the interior,prop,rockets,bombs and fuel tanks. I hope you will decide to follow this topic and comment because I would really appreciate the support on my first model i'm posting on britmoddeler.

Hi, Another archive model from my shelves- this one for sure older that 12 years. This is P 51 D -20 Mustang "Jumpin' Jacques" of 3rd FS, 3th FG, 5th Army USAAF, Philippines-Okinawa 1945, pilot Lt. John E. Young. Currently this painting scheme is in Hasegawa 1/72 box, but here the kit is from Academy and decals by ESCI. NMF by brush. Comments welcome and regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Pics by Darwin of F-86H at the SAC Museum in Nebraska F-86H under restoration at the Combat Air Museum in Kansas, pics also from Darwin

Royal Danish Air Force F-86D, pics by Hans J

F-86F-30 - 52-4929 in the colours of the Skyblazers Aerobatic team, pics thanks to Mike (Bootneck) at the Valiant Air Command Museum, Florida.

North American Aviation T-6 Texan / SNJ / Harvard. Pics by Bootneck Mike of Aircraft operated by Warbird adventures in Florida, where he flew in one.

IsraDecal Studio is to release soon a 1/72nd North American Aviation T-6 Texan II resin kit - ref.IC72006 Another one with a f. vacu canopy... Sources: http://www.isradecal.com/#!product/prd1/4454523861/t-6a-b-texan-ii-1%3A72 https://www.facebook.com/isradecal/posts/727677370710229 Don't forget also Grand Models T-6 Texan II kit: http://www.hyperscale.com/2015/reviews/kits/grandt6apreview_1.htm http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234988703-grandmodels-172-t-6anta-texan-ii V.P.

March 1974, the Vietnam Conflict was still raging and while the USAF, USN & USMC had air superiority over the Vietnamese, the ground war is a different story. Between them they had an impressive line up of strike and bomber aircraft, but since the USAF retired their A-1 Skyraiders two years previously, only the USMC had fixed wing aircraft capable of COIN missions. The USAF needed to fill this gap in their inventory and fill it fast. Rather than go through the lengthy process of commissioning an aircraft from scratch they decided to look a suitable airframes from their inventory that could be adapted or converted for use in this role. The obvious choice was the OV-10 Bronco, all three services were using them to good effect and the airframe had plenty of potential. The main downfalls of the Bronco were it's lack of speed and weapon load, these were the main factors that would have to be addressed if a successful aircraft was to be produced. In 1970 the USMC had trialled the YOV-10D in Vietnam and although the design was eventually changed for the production OV-10D it was of great interest to the USAF as a way forward for their project. Addressing the speed issue, it was decided to dispense with the twin turboprops and install a small turbofan engine on the centreline in place of the cargo hold, this would enable additional wing points to be installed and used for forward firing munitions now there were no props to worry about. The intake for the engine was dorsal mounted to reduce the risk of FOD ingestion and damage from ground fire, this configuration also enabled hot turnarounds without the risk of ground crew being ingested. The YOV-10D had a FLIR turret mounted in a lengthened nose, no side sponsons and a ventral turret mounting a three barrelled 20mm rotary cannon. The USAF decided not to use the turret instead they kept the sponsons but replaced the four 7.62mm guns with two 20mm cannons. It was decided that the aircraft would be single seat only due to the fact that this was successful with the A-1, the additional space achieved through this would be utilised for fuel storage as would the space once occupied by the turboprop engines. All existing OV-10 avionics were moved to the lengthened nose and given protective armour, this would allow the entire avionics pack to be detached and replaced within minutes. The system could then be worked on independent of the airframe, this would greatly reduce the maintenance downtime of each aircraft. The FLIR system would be retained but as a revolutionary "split-system" installation on the front of the two booms., this allowed for greater coverage during maneuvering including inverted flight. The hard point count was increased to 11, while it was not able to carry the same weapon loads as the Skyraider, it was never the less a very capable aircraft. Trials started September 1974, in January 1975 three evaluation aircraft were sent to Vietnam, within weeks it was obvious that this aircraft was what they were looking for. In March 1975 full production was approved and by June operational units began to receive their aircraft. Because the designation A-10 was already in use with Thunderbolt II (in development) the obvious change from OV-10 to A-10 could not be made. Because it had undergone such radical changes it was decide to rename the aircraft completely, and so the A-11A Courser (they wanted to keep the horse reference) was born. Well that's the "little" bit of background info I've come up with. The kit will be Academy's 1/72 OV-10D, I originally bought it just for the props as I need them for my Grumman Goose, I've also robbed it of some rocket pod bits for my AH-1G. This group will save it just sitting in my stash forever and should be fun to build.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/hphmodels My guess: a re-edition from the HpH 1/48th Convair B-36 Peacemaker kit... V.P.

North American/Fiat QF-91C In 1961 the US DoD authorised the loan of two Luftwaffe Fiat G.91s for trials by the US Army. These were flown alongside Douglas A4D-2 Skyhawks and a Northrop N-156 (F-5 prototype). One was an Italian built G.91R-1, c/n 0052 that served with the Luftwaffe (BD+102) whilst the other was a German built G.91R-3 (c/n 0065) Luftwaffe EC+105. Although all three types were highly regarded none were deemed suitable for the role of Close Air Support or Forward Air Controller. Rumours abound that this decision was based on political grounds as the US Army could not be seen to fly foreign, (G91), Navy (A4D) or High performance USAF types (F-5) .... In 1965, however, with the US deeply embroiled in the Vietnam war the lack of a dedicated CAS aircraft to replace the venerable A-1 became far too visible. With the USAF reluctant to give up it's F-100s, even though they themselves needed replacement, the US Army dusted off it's reports and looked again at the G91, albeit now in the new Y variant, much favoured with it's twin engines and greater performance. New trials once again proved the validity of the dedign and with minor changes the type was authorised for production under license by North American Aviation. By 1970 the type had virtually replaced to A-1 and had also been adopted by the Airforce as a F-100 replacement. It went on to have an excellent service record both in combat and peacetime up until it's withdrawal in the late 1980s. It was not the end though and many airframes had a 2nd life awaiting for them. Post Vietnam cutbacks meant the conversion of F-102,106 and F-4s to the unmanned drone role was under threat. North American jumped in and utilised the experience acquired from the successful QF-86 and QF-100 programs to offer a lower cost solution. Slowly the ranks of F-91Cs sunning in the desert shrank as the majority of airframe not allocated to museums or the spares pile, were returned to flying condition with the ubiquitous bright red markings associated with their new lease of life. Some were mostly grey, others mostly green, a few had 2 or 3 colour camouflage, and a rare couple had special schemes. One thing was agreed upon by all - even the anonymous birds looked spectacular in their new feathers.

North American F-100 Super Sabre. F-100D 54-2196 painted in the markings of the USAFE Skyblazers aerobatic display team. At The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum Flixton. Pics mine.

Anigrand has just announced for August 2015 a 1/72nd North American T-39 Sabreliner "USAF UTX program" resin kit - ref. Source: http://www.anigrand.com/future_releases.htm V.P.

Special Hobby is to reissue its 1/32nd North American X-15 rocket plane all three variants kits - ref. SH32022, 32029 & 32031. Source: http://www.mpmkits.eu/search?updated-min=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=2 V.P.