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Matt Walker

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Posts posted by Matt Walker

  1. Gary Wickham also did a good build review, with solutions for the fit issues, on The Modelling News page. Basically, for the fuselage top pieces, remove the alignment "teeth" from the spine parts,  and fill the holes on the body parts. Gives a much nicer result.

     

    BTW. This conversation has made me pull my KH 2 seater out of the stash. Might look good in Polish markings....

     

    M

  2. I moved to the US from Australia for work, 13 years ago. Being a fairly "enthusiastic" modeler, I started building again here, and looked for a local IPMS club, which happened to be the Bong Chapter in Milwaukee. FSM is based in Waukesha, just west of Milwaukee, and the guys from FSM were members. Paul Boyer, Aaron Skinner, Mark Hembree, Tim Kidwell, Elizabeth Nash, and many of the review modelers included. The club has a once a year competition, which I won Best of Show the first year I entered. Then a couple of meetings later, Aaron was moving around the room with an armful of new kits, including the then new F-5E from AFV Club. I jokingly asked if he needed anyone to review it, not thinking he would say "yes"! I've now done several dozen reviews for the magazine. So, it really was a little bit of "being the right person, in the right place, at the right time". A happy coincidence!

  3. Curt. Thanks! Growing up in Australia I read FSM from cover to cover also. It was the first mag available to me, and I found it to be such a great resource. Now I live in the US, and feel very honored to have been asked to be a review modeler. I hope that my small contribution is valuable and beneficial, and maybe "pays it forward" for the next generation.

     

    M

  4. Full disclosure, I was the one that reviewed the 2 kits for FSM. I still stand by my comments, but ultimately it is up to the individual builder as to what is more important. The HB kit builds very easily, with good fit and clean engineering, and produces a fair representation of the real jet. There are several detail sets available now for this kit, which while adding mising details, also brings the price paid, up. The KH kit is trickier to build, and seems "rushed' in many areas, almost like there was less input from actual modelers. But the detail and "accuracy" is better, and there are more options. This seems to be a common trait for the 2 companies. The same qualities evident in the respective Su-34's as well. The other consideration is, as you mentioned, price. If you shop around you can find them both for pretty decent prices.

     

    Good luck with your build. Be sure to post photos!!

     

    M

  5. Quote.. "But, I recommend you to use MRP paints, IMHO."

     

    I found AKAN to be closer in color to photographs than the MRP versions. Sure, it is nice to be able to just shake the bottle and spray, but if the colors are wrong....

  6. That armaments diagram is fine to show what it "can" carry, but that isn't what he is asking for. There are some photos of recent ops in Syria that show the 35's and 34's carrying relatively light loads of "dumb" bombs. It seems quite contradictory to use such a highly capable plane to carry 4 x unguided KAB 500's, or 2 unguided rocket pods, but that is what they're doing!

     

  7. Well, You certainly know how to build and paint models! very lovely, clean work. Thank you for the thread that you did earlier on the build and painting of the Su-35. It is an invaluable resource!

     

    Re the Su-27, having built both the Kittyhawk and GWH Su-35's, I will be waiting patiently for the GWH kit to arrive. Without a doubt, it will be the benchmark Flanker in "any" scale!

     

    M

  8. Yes, KH have improved in recent releases.

     

    Having built both kits, there is no contest. The Zvezda kit is fantastic! Clean moldings, with precise engraved detail,  excellent fit through out. The assembly sequence works! Breakdown of the airframe is sensible. The ejection seats are great representations of the K-36L, and appropriate weapons are included in the box.

     

    Where-as the KH has soft engraved detail, fit is "okay" for the most part (the engine air inlets are not great) and airframe breakdown just doesn't make sense. The K-36 seats are a joke. There is an overabundence of weapons in the kit, but there are not many that are actually appropriate to the aircraft. Yes, the decal sheet is a travesty! Not only are the wing walk lines incorrect, there are several other major markings where 2 identical markings are provided instead of left/right. The red markings have no white backing and are translucent. 

     

    Generally speaking, the Zvezda kit was obviously well researched, and great care was taken in the production of the kit, including someone actually making it to ensure fit and finish. The KH kit is very "approximate" in construction, feels very "rushed", and obviously no one actually built the thing before releasing it. (If someone "did" build it, and they still released it, then KH should be ashamed!)

     

    The Zvezda kit is a little jewel. KH? Not so much...

     

    M

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