admiralcag

Nice! I'll buy the stand off of you. I built Rey's X-Wing as Luke's but it didn't come with parts for the Death Star base. Vern

Very nice, as always! Vern

That was my experience as well. Vern

I realized this may be a very recent change in policy. I got my parts a few months ago. Good Luck! Vern

Check the Kinetic website. I needed a replacement part and they were very helpful. Vern

There are some brilliant guys in the paint barn. Beautiful! Vern

I misspoke. The pylons were on 3, 4, 6, and 7. Personally, I have never seen anything on 2 and 8 other than missile rails. Doesn't mean there couldn't be. Vern

I got a Tamiya F-35 for my birthday. While reviewing the instructions, I noticed that flat white was called for on the landing gear & weapons bays and for the intake trunks. Aren't these normally gloss white? Since I have never seen an F-35 up close, I thought I'd reach out to the hive mind and see what you all think. Thanks! Vern

Correct. When I started as a technician with the COANG, we were flying wing weapons pylons with TERs on 2, 3, 7, and 8. 4 jets x 12 BDU-33's x 3 sorties per day with one load crew will wear you out. One of my crew dogs said it reminded of loading B-52s at Utapao... Vern

Neat! Vern

My old unit! I worked the Pave Hawks when they were new and I was young. Great pictures. Vern

Actually the wingtips were easier. Three bolts and one connector. The hardest part was holding the rail up while the connector was attached. I'm tall enough, so I used my head 😆 The underwing adapters were trickier in that the connector attached under the flap seal at a really ugly angle. This was the only cannon plug we were allowed to use a screwdriver on to tighten or loosen. We typically mounted the rail to the adapter before mounting them to the jet. Vern

Make sure you check you references. The unit I was in, which rainbowed Colorado and Alabama jets, used LAU-129s on the wing tips and AIM-9 rails on underwing adapters. Vern

LAU-129. Vern

Sadly, they went out of business a few months ago. If I had looked everywhere for something without luck, Thompson's would have it. I also liked saying hi to their cat when I visited. Vern

Hatch's Hobbies in Aurora, CO. They've been gone for at least 30 years now. The second one was Coplar Hobbies. They are still going strong. So many stores have gone out of business in the Denver metro area. Very, very sad. Vern

Pavehawks yankin' and bankin'! Ooo rah! Vern

I did one as well for the Revell Monogram group build. Not perfect, but I like it. Vern

I took too much time off from this build to finish other projects. I am back at it. I did a stupid thing a while back and decided to cut off the exhaust fairing from the top and bottom halves of the fuselage and use the one piece fairing. Well, the XL has a different contour than the A. So, I have been fixing that mistake. I started by filling the gap with 0.010" strip. Next, I laminated the fairing to the correct diameter. You can see where I goofed and cut on the wrong side of my scribing tape. Next, sand, sand, sand.

Very nice, sir! Vern

Plasmo does some great technique videos. Vern

Ooo rah! Vern Retired CO ANG Guardsman

Very, very nice!

Welcome back, boss. I hope things continue to improve for you! Vern

I have been working on many parts of the build, just not posting photos. Let's start with the exhaust. I found a YouTuber who was building a Tamiya F-16 Aggressor and showed how he painted the exhaust and followed his example. I was very pleased with how mine turned out, so I put a coat of AquaGloss on it, let it dry overnight (I think. It may have been longer.), and decaled. I weathered with a Tamiya Panel Line Wash and sealed it with Alclad Light Sheen. I thought the decals were well protected, so I masked them off and hit the inside with Alclad Flat. Boy, I was