ALF18

Thanks! I'm really happy the way it turned out. ALF

Fixed the problem with the snapped-off ejection handle. I used some small-gauge wire. My first attempt, I cut off a small length of the wire, then started to bend it. I realized that I needed tools to do that, so I got some small tweezers, squeezed... and the little bit of wire flew away somewhere, and probably will only be found when I'm done this model. My second attempt, I did the bending while the wire was attached to the spool, compared the radius of curve and length with the existing part, then chopped. A little CA glue, and the seat was ready to be fi

Well, with a small hacksaw, I managed to rid the seats of their blocks fairly easily. I did manage to knock off one of the ejection handles, though, so I'll have to scratch-build one. There are a lot of black parts in this bird. ALF

Cockpit coming along. I've put together a lot of the PE on the side walls, and chopped the resin canopy lock/unlock assembly from its blocks. I used Lumocolor permanent markers for the black colour of the toggle switches, the red of the guarded switches, and a Pilot brand metallic silver pen for the silver switches and buttons. I bent the PE for the map cases a bit open, to enhance their 3D appearance. Here's the canopy lock/unlock assembly. Only the front seater can lock and unlock the canopy, which is a good thing. Now for the long, pain

Hi Mike Nice to have you follow along. Indeed, the intakes look like something to be careful of. I know what you mean about the difference between a light plane and military trainers built in the 60s and 70s. When I did my primary flight training on the Beechcraft Musketeer, I remember the skin being thin and easy to push in with a finger. It made an unnerving metallic sound when released, as it vibrated back to its original shape. One night a Tutor stayed overnight in the hangar where I was practising my checks in a Musketeer at night. I pushed at the side - ZERO give. I knocked, and it

The details of what happened at Miramar (home of Top Gun at the time) in the summer of '86, when my trusty T-33 took me to a few NORAD exercises are highly classified. I was young and single, and thankfully NOT living in Shilo. 🙂 The women had no 'need to know' that we were driving T-Birds, and not fighters - the mask marks were enough. To quote one of my buddies: ''The pickings in the O Club were so good, even the single guys got lucky.'' Thank you Maverick, for 'inspiring' some of the lovely ladies of San Diego for us. Oops. Too much classified information... ALF

Full disclosure. I know the T-33 well from the inside. When holding over for 6 months between phases of my CF-5 training, in the summer of 1986 (yes, when Top Gun first came out), I flew about 300 hours in the mighty T-Bird at Base Flight, Cold Lake, Alberta. It was a quirky old bird, older than I was. The placards all indicated manufacturing dates in the mid 1950s. The instruments were old, including the J-8 attitude indicator, which we called the 'bowling ball.' It was black, and precessed (lost its vertical orientation) constantly. Do a 30-degree banked turn for more than

Did somebody say El Toro... ? LOL Here's the California coast, northbound toward Anaheim. I wasn't flying that leg, in our little Tutor. Now, a little further along, we're on final approach into MCAS El Toro. On the ground, we filled in some of the aircraft log paperwork before heading to Disneyland. We had a nice visit. Note we're wearing winter flying jackets, because when we left Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, it was -25C there. Our marshaller wore a wool hat (which we Canadians would call a tuque), because he was freezing. We felt quite warm.

Sadly, this NAS (Alameda) is no longer open. It was a great place to stop for a weekend visit. That's our little Tutor against the San Francisco skyline. ALF

I'm about to start a fun project. A few years ago, Czech Models came out with a 1/32 T-33 model. It has lots of goodies included, which I'll describe soon. I'm building the model as a thank you to Al Pelletier, from Vancouver Island, for his hospitality. Al was an AESOP (Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator) in the Sea King, Argus, and Aurora. His first military jet rides were in the T-33, in Portage la Prairie, back in the 60s. He's busy searching for decal options, and we'll figure out what natural metal scheme he wants. I'll be doing this one just like my CF-104D, in kitchen foil

LOL! I hope Canada Post gets some fast trucks... at this rate, your model will be nearly finished before the spine gets there. ALF

Almost forgot the comparison shot.

Thanks Shawn! Here's the finished product. It now sits on the shelf, near the single-seater that I did with Alclad a few years ago. I think I like the aluminum foil shine better. Thanks for stopping by, folks. ALF

Interesting that the kit is intended to have the speed brakes open. On the 104, speed brakes are NEVER open when shut down, unless maintenance has manually opened them. ALF

LOL! You win my vote for this one. ALF

I haven't seen the movie with the bird from outer space, but I did see a movie with an F-16 that can fly on Unicorn farts. Iron Eagle. ''How much gas we have left?'' asks the father, from the back seat, who actually is the only one qualified on the Viper. BTW, there IS a gas gauge in the back seat of the Viper... ''800 lbs'' (close to Emergency Fuel in a Viper) ''We have to run then'' as they fly away in full afterburner (which would burn about 500 lbs per minute, approximately). They then proceed to fly all the way from the north of Africa to Europe on fumes and Unicorn fa

Shawn, do you think the Kinetic part might fit? I have a few CF-18 A/B kits, and the parts look somewhat similar. I could be persuaded to build a dual with this kit, if you think the spine for the Kinetic single would fit your Hasegawa. Want it? ALF

Almost at the finish line. I used my usual trick of painting the red ribbon on the white pitot tube background by using a red permanent marker, visible beside the model here. I also made the little mirrors out of the PE in the kit, and glued the environmental control system tubing into the canopy frames. A little CA glue, and some support from my glue bottle and Future container, and they should dry in place. If the sun peeks out from behind the rain clouds tomorrow, I'll post some pics of the finished model. Thanks for stopping by. ALF

Loved it! I saw the first movie when I was a budding fighter pilot trainee on the CF-5, about to go onto the Hornet. This movie brought back a lot of the feelings I had from the first one, and some memories of life on squadron. This video, of a bunch of old Top Gun instructors talking about the movie, is extremely well done. They also liked the movie, and their discussion is frank without dissing the fun aspect (Hollywood touches) of the film. ALF

1/32 F-5A/B and T-38 1/32 Tutor ALF

Great job Shawn! I love the little touches like the exposed radar and the intake covers. ALF

Thanks 11bee! ALF

Had a great visit on Vancouver Island with Al Pelletier and his lovely wife Jo-Anne. Here's Al in the Comox Air Force Museum, with a huge Vampire that he finished for them. The decals are from https://www.abovebelow.ca/, which has taken over the designs from CanMilAir. The new owner, Andrew, has a fantastic printer that no longer requires decal film to be brushed on to use the decals. After our 2-week-long break, it's time to get back into modelling here. More progress coming soon. ALF

This is the stuff. I brush it carefully onto one side of the foil, and allow it to dry until it's transparent. If I'm not careful, the glue can leave small ridges (brush strokes), which show up on the model later. The key is to brush thin coats of glue, and smooth it out as much as possible before it gets too sticky and clumps up. I order it from this place: https://www.bare-metal.com/index.html They even mailed it to Canada. ALF

As Scooby said, the kids are definitely grown. The only worry is making sure any potential grandkids can be kept from breaking things... 😛 Good advice, A-10 Loader. I was thinking of hiring a designer. ALF