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OK - I go to Rio on the 29th so this is a bit of a gamble......I started looking at the kit whilst finishing the A10 and Harrier......then I cut some parts from the sprues....then primed.....you know how it is!! The kit looks fairly shake and bake, simple colour (!!), with a bit of post shading can add some wear and tear.... Decals are from Wolfpak Recce birds, with a choice of the older white serials, 17964, or the later red serial, 17964 or 17980, which also had camels painted on after the Libyan raid in 1986. I lived in Lakenheath and remember the Habu well, going up to the end of the runway on school hols, early, to catch them launching and going vertical! I was on leave as a 16 year old Junior Para during the week before and the night of the Libyan raid, and the 2 Habu's were flying daily, so we knew something was up. The night 48TFW launched 24 F111F's, (6 returned as spares, 18 pressed on) and we could here the KC135 and KC10 launches from Mildenhall.....we thought WW3 had started - it was in fact the start of the attack phase of Operation El Dorado Canyon. The Habu's had been gathering intelligence and target photos in the week before. 17980 taken on 25 April 86, post Op El Dorado Canyon Later we heard about the strike in Libya and that 1 F111F of the 494TFS 'Karma 52' was lost, with both crew. http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/operation-eldorado-canyon-libya-under-air-attack-in-1986/ The Mildenhall SR71 story http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/mildenhall.html http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/oldstuff/2006/sr71/sr71.htm This raid operation was a distraction from their day to day role in the 1980s....strategic recce for NATO against the Warsaw Pact. The SR71A was, in hindsight, one of the main symbols of the cold war in my eyes....as well as the U2/TR1. The KIT! So, I needed 2 crew - you remember the doomed Hobbycraft F5E - the Pilot was rescued, converted slightly and made to look like he was wearing a 'David Clark S1030' Full pressure suit.....along with a Harrier Pilot that looked like a Spitfire Pilot in my last Sea Harrier build. A bit of filler and sanding and he was now in the rear pit! Didn't try too hard as when the canopies are closed you can see very little inside. http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/press_suit001.html Primed and painted the interior the standard US airforce colour. I then pretty much put it together! Be some work to do on seams, cleaning up the gear doors etc.....so I am on track....ish!