Cool Hand

I was thinking the same thing about adding a lip to the high side. The bottom seam lines up better with just some light pressure.

Got some work done this weekend. Pilot painted up and put in the bangseat. Pilot figure is from the spares box. No idea what kit it originated from. I had to amputate his legs to get him to fit in the cockpit. Intake trunk, cockpit, and bays for the gear and speedbrake fitted to the right fuselage half. Test fitting the fuselage halves together after. Pretty good fit, although the upper fuselage behind the cockpit has a nasty step. Problem is that the high side is already glued down to the cockpit bulkhead. I'

Despite VF-84 "Vagabonds" taking on the name and traditions of the "Jolly Rogers" in 1960, their F-8C Crusaders were never painted with the iconic scull and crossbones emblem associated with the squadron. It was not until VF-84 transitioned to the F-4B Phantom II in 1964 that VF-84 operated in proper squadron markings. But, as cool as Phantoms are, they are not nearly as cool looking as the Crusader. So I present to you, "What if the Jolly Rogers had Crusaders in 1965?" So the story is this: Production delays at McDonnell resulted in a shortage of F-4B's to the Navy. In

No, the 1964-65 scheme had a black flag emblem on the tail. While I have decals for the all black tail scheme, those will be used for a proper F-4J build.

I will be building an Academy 1/72 F-8E Crusader in VF-84 Jolly Rogers marking from 1965. Decals will come from the Vagabond Decals "Yankee Air Pirates" sheet.

Otto, do you have reference pics of the Czech 190's? I've never seen or heard of them before.

So lame.

I found this pic with 2 F-8E's with Y-racks. Both look more gray than white.

In case you have not come across it yet, the FalkeEins Luftwaffe blog has fantastic reference material. http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/

Yes, the 110G had leading edge slats like the other 110 models.

RLM is not brand of paint. RLM colors were the standardized paint shades to be used by the Luftwaffe. RLM specifically refers to Reichsluftfahrtministerium, the German Ministry of Aviation (1933-1945).

The profile I posted is how the plane looked when Wick commanded all of Jg 2 in November 1940. The double chevrons in the kit decals would have been the marking he used when he only commended First Gruppe, Jg 2 (Sept. 9 - Oct. 19, 1940)

I assume it will be this scheme. You need RLM 02, 04, 65, 70, 71 for the exterior and either RLM 66 or 02 for the cockpit.

Excellent build.

Yes. That would work for Jg 1. Have a look at Heinz Bär's Fw 190A-8.

I imagine that the red Jg 1 used is close to the shade that Jg 301 had on their tail bands. I would try to get close to that.

Great model and brilliant display stand.

Superb build. Excellent work.

It should be the armored glass unit. Unless I'm very mistaken, the frame and mounts will be painted RLM 66 like the rest of the cockpit. Couple of pics via google:

Wait, there's an A/B model TCS pod is in the D kit as well?

There are plenty of great schemes for the F. I'm sure you'll find more than a couple that will merit a build.

Yes, but some F's also had glass only on the left side. More importantly, the canopy frames changed from the F to the G. G models have thick frames on the windscreen and tilting portion. Armored windscreen glass was added to the outside on the F and was mounted inside the frame on the G. Other key differences between the F models and the G-2. The position of the fuel filler hatch is under the canopy on the F and on the left side of the upper fuselage aft of the canopy on the G. There is a round hatch on the left fuselage of the F, just aft of the supercharger intake.

I have to completely disagree with you. An F-111 or F-100 may be of more interest to you, but even if Tamiya were to develop kits of both of the same quality as their F-14. The F-14 line would sell more than the F-111 and F100 lines combined. The Tomcat is iconic to the level that the Aardvark and Super Sabre cannot even come close to. The F-14 is the license to print money, the others - not so much.

Very nice build, Darren. How easily do you think it would be to close the gear bays for an in-flight build? I had a Hasegawa build going a few years ago, but I was not happy with my attempt to close the gear, slats and air brake.

I'd love to see an A-6A from VA 196.