Camus272

The two rooms I've occupied in my house, I painted white so I could see what I'm doing. But, it's not as aesthetically pleasing or relaxing as more color.

I wonder what the time line is for conversion to E/F. One year? Five years? The Super Hornet just seems so big for their routine (yes, I do realize it's not an F-4, but still). I plan on seeing them in a couple of weeks and these two occurrences do not inspire confidence in me regarding safety.

I think this is very true. When I go to airshows, especially Aviation Nation at Nellis, I find myself asking the pilots over-detailed, geeky questions - mostly about paint schemes and aggressor markings. 95% of the time it's obvious they don't care what color the jet is painted, and many times I'll get some quick response that I know is completely inaccurate (although, sometimes it will be somebody like Shaggy who was the CO of the 64th and told me about the upcoming "blizzard" scheme and the effectiveness of aggressor camo against the local terrain.) Usually, I'll say "sorry -you just want

After a 30 year wait, I'm in for 5, maybe more if a two-seater comes out. If not I have some Kinetic A/Bs waiting to donate for conversions. I definitely want both originals and both NASA birds, but first up is a modern what-if.

It would be cool to do a computer animation for the targeting computer, and then make a mount for an ipad mini on your visor to play it. Brian

I was going to get one, but without being able to open the wings, it's not really an X-wing, which is pretty disappointing. Brian

Not only is this a noticable trend, but much of it is by design. In the 90s the Navy was promoting the new air wing which would consist of only F-18s and the common support aircraft which would replace the E-2, S-3 and EA-6 (until a 5th gen fighter could be introduced). The JSF was designed to give a single airframe to not only all of our services, but all allied countries. Given the development time frame of the F-22 and F-35, this MAY no longer be a great idea, but at this time there is no urgency (although this could change given the the development of rival fifth generation designs).

I've seen that mentioned in this thread and on Facebook, and they already have the 2016 dates announced but not 2015. One blog post said it was because a base inspection in November would interfere. Brian

It will be strange for there to be no home show for the Thunderbirds next year. I'm guessing the base inspection has something to do with Area II and Secretary Hagel's current review.

Hmmm, well intercepts of Russian flights along US borders peaked in 1987. SO they must have been more afraid of us in the 90s and 2000s than in the 80s.

Looks like just different decals, large pitot tube and metal blade antennas. Brian

Yeah, these days there are products just for this purpose, although I always use Blue Magic metal polish with great results. Brian

For the sake of completeness: F-19 in 1/144 (hey, John Lear says they were really produced :)) Brian

I'm guessing the references to the F-15, F-16, and A-10 are the CSAR and aggressor demos. Th B-1 and F-35 fly bys will be a welcome addition to the show. Brian

Welcome to Minnesota, I'm just up the road in Monticello. I second the vote for Powells. I've used them for years and found them pretty well stocked, although I'm not sure about military related items. Brian

I think this is important. I remember one manufacturer here had to constantly rip on another one. Although they had great sheets, that fact (along with some non-aviation/modeling comments on their instruction sheets) prompted me to look for alternative sources when I could.

Yeah, things are pretty disappointing, but if you at least get to see the Blue Angels that's a good thing. Last week they were in Duluth, MN which got covered in fog for the weekend. Nothing flew from Thursday until 3:45 on Sunday. The worst part was the F-22 demo was there - Taboo took it up at 3:30 on Sunday and started hitting clouds at 300 feet, so he wasn't allowed to do anything aerobatic (not even open the bays) and just flew a few passes. The only military static was one local F-16. Two F-15Es came in, but they were not allowed to be put on display so they parked way down at the e

A two seater would be nice, but since I have a couple Kinetic A/Bs, I doubt it will be hard to modify it with those parts. Now I need to actually finish something so I can start these when they get released. Brian

Habu, I've been wondering why you haven't moved to a new site? The info there could use an update to really be complete. I can't count the times I've used your info for reference. Thanks for the work you did put into it. Brian

Hey, I bought four and was looking at a fifth when they quit selling. I was trying to figure about the differences between the hasegawa, Tamiya, and Kinetic versions.The final version looked somewhat workable. I never thought anyone would release an injection kit, I've been waiting since 1987.

**** Yes!!! Sign me up for 5. I've had that many in my build list and I picked up a few Attic conversions to at least try to use the wings. I'm glad I haven't put in the time to start those projects yet. Brian

The second one (#528) did eventually get the splinter scheme in blue. I've never heard of the black scheme - I might have to add that to my build list . The Air Force spends about $35 million on the Thunderbirds and a little more on the F-22 demo and the heritage flight (which I don't understand at all, sending the Vipers to shows without flying their demo doesn't save any money). So, cutting the T-birds would just about cover the cost of the 65th. But, as we learned last year, cutting the T-birds does not go over well. Furthermore, I'm sure there are other factors in this decision - th

Yeah, I remember getting cable in 1991, and Wings was one of the great advantages of that. I have seen Great Planes on in the last few years, unfortunately I somehow deleted them from my DVR. It's a shame what happened to Discovery Wings - The Military channel could have been good - there were good shows like Super Carrier and the Blue Angels documentary that I never saw a second time. But it really became the World War II channel, so I'm not sad to see it go. Brian

I've seen some shows (pre-show practices) where they've had up to 3 jets break down. I've seen them pull in #7 and still have to fly as a 5-ship, and as mentioned there have been times when they've flown with 2 #7s. Given maintenance demands, there seems to be times when they have to rotate through lots of airframes. I've also been to Thunderbirds show where they bring #7 and a no-number jet, only to have a pilot get sick and they still have to fly a 5-ship. Brian

Polar Lights 1/350 NCC-1701 Enterprise 1/48 Revell B-1B 1/32 Tamiya F-16 maybe another 1/350 Tamiya Enterprise CVN-65 Other than that I can't really narrow it down. If you said I was limited to 10 Tamiya F-16 kits, I would have problems just deciding which ones to do. Brian