Gary.Wickham

Hey Guys (and Gals) Some finished pics of my latest project. Hasegawa really pulls out all the stops when it comes to Japanese subjects. This is just a beautiful kit to build. Finished in Alclad NM. All the markings are painted (no decals, at all) Figures from Wolfpack and Tamiya If you are interested, you can see the progress pics (including stuff-ups) of this build on my webite. Its in the "On The Bench" section. http://www.scalespot.com cheers Gary

Very clever. Love your creativity. I might borrow some of your ideas ..... :)

One word. Inspirational

Thanks guys for your kind words. I picked up the Kinetics 1/48 E-2 kit last week. If it had some more interesting decals then I would have been tempted to get stuck into it right away :) Right now I'm working on a bunch of deck crew (Fujimi and Verlinden) figures and equipment to go along with the Hawkeye.

Hey Guys Some pics of my latest project. An enjoyable build using the kit decals, Wolfpack resin wingfold and some scratchbuilding (crew entry door etc) cheers Gary

Since the Vietnam war US Navy (USN) and US Marine Corp (USMC) GP bombs are distinguished by a thick ablative fire-retardant coating, which is designed to delay any potential accidental explosion in the event of a shipboard fire. Land-based air forces typically do not use such coatings, largely because they add some 30 lb (14 kg) to the weight of the complete weapon. (Source: Wikipedia)

Here's my method -> Modeling USN / USMC Weapon Thermal Ablative Coatings Picked up the basic idea from some fellow armour modelers. cheers Gary

Hey Ian Making good progress I see Painting looks good and I applaud you for trying some new painting and weathering techniques. Fortune favours the bold cheers Gary

So Bronco and Trump do share molds ?

Thanks Mate, looks like the kits themselves are the same (based on APLH's photos of the cockpit etc for the Bronco kit). Its the decals and weapons that seem to be superior in the Trump kit. Once I get my E-2C finished (soon), I might give it a crack Gary

Hi ALPH When u say the Bronco and Trump kits are not the same, other than the decals, is there anything else significant ? I have the Trumpeter kit and wondered if the actual plastic parts are different ? BTW, great job on the build and thanks for sharing. Its definitely inspired me. I might start work on it after I finish the E-2C. One last question, would you mind linking some of the sites you found best photo references on ? cheers Gary

Hey All Does anyone know the difference between the recently released JF-17 kits in 1/48 from Trumpeter and Bronco ? cheers Gary

Hi Ian I'm currently buildng the Has E-2C using the wolfpack wingfolds. They are definitely made for the Hasegawa kit, but you may be able to use them on the Fujimi kit. IMHO, you'd be better served by replacing your Fujimi kit with the Hasegawa kit as it an order of magnitude better and if your going go to the trouble (and expense) of buying a resin wingfold, you'd want to put it on the best kit available. If you like to see the Wolfpack set up close, you can see my build progress (in the On The Bench section) here: Scalespot.com cheers Gary

Thanks Guys Absolutely excellent information. Looks like I have a "lot" of scope for really loading this one up !! Perhaps 3 x TER's with Mk.82 Snakeyes and a Bullpup on one outer wing pylon. That should look suitably mean Amazing how much those little scooters could carry. BTW, seems like CAM Resin is the most common game in town for 1/32 ordnance. Any other options you know of ?

Hey Guys I'm planning on building the Hasegawa 1/32 "Lady Jessie" and found some photos with what look like Mk.82 loadouts with TER's etc This pic in particular shows "Lady Jessie" on the deck all bombed up. My questions are this. 1) Would bombs of this era have the ablative coating or not ? I suspect not because I understand the coating was introduced as a result of lessons learned from Vietnam. 2) Would these jets have a TER on the stb wing as well (ie would the loadout be symmetrical) ? 3) Would the TER have all three bombs loaded or would the inboard slot be free ? 4) The outboar