Camus272

Luckily, most of the shows I get to have the Thunderbirds and an ACC demo. Next week I'll see the Thunderbirds and the F-15E at Duluth, Of course there's not much chance of an F-22 demo at a T-birds show. Other than Nellis, that is. Aviation Nation is an incredible show. Last year was great, and this year will probably be better. Oshkosh is the big show, but I'm not interested in much of the civilian stuff, so Aviation Nation seems to be the one for military aircraft. Both teams have performed together a handful of times, and there should be another one next year at Andrews AFB May 21-2

I really hope this doesn't happen. I thought the retiring of the F-117 was premature, and the retirement of usable fighters over the last year was unnecessary, but this just seems too extreme. The B-1 seems to fill a uniquely valuable role that won't be replaced anytime soon. And the notion that the Block 40 F-16s should be scrapped is crazy, they certainly have some value left. All of these aircraft have filled needed roles in the current conflict, and even if they didn't, we still need to maintain a full defense force. If I believed in conspiracy theories, I would think someone is tryin

You should probably be more worried if you were actually out of town. While you're gone it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to leave a radio on at a decent volume, and double check all doors, windows, etc. Other than that I wouldn't worry too much. Brian

I want to see one of those "Air Force" F-14 Tomcats. Brian

Most from Great Models Also Sprue Brothers and Lucky Model, with a few from Ebay and Scale Model Supplies in St Paul. Brian

Of the ~200 kits in the stash, all are planned as far as what project they will end up being. I have a database for what kit goes to what project, as well as aftermarket decals waiting and what armament or extra resin parts are needed. Of those, around two dozen are on deck as priorites and from there about six are candidates for the "next" project, which is chosen by my mood when an opening arises. As others have said, planning is easy - finishing is the hard part. My rule is to only start 1 kit for every 2 finished, so I don't move up the list quickly. Given how quickly kits, resin add

I still have some on my shelf going back to 1987 (1/72 F-16XL). I just rebuilt an F-18 first built in 1988 (getting ready for this month's Blue Angels performance). So, I never really get rid of any - I'm looking to finish a very large collection which I hope will be impressive all together. Lower quality builds are in storage waiting for a rebuild when I someday get inspiration or a need for that particular kit. Brian

That wasn't what happened, as explained in dialogue in the finale which stated that it was all real and what happened, happened. They all died when they died, and met in a timeless place. The writers have said all along the island wasn't purgatory, but apparently they ran with that idea for the last 10 minutes. Brian

Well, I have a list of 2-3 dozen questions I wanted answered. I saw one person had a list of 62, all of which seemed reasonable. Some of them could have been left alone , but there were big ones like what would happen if MIB left the island. They never got close to answering that. Also , the omniscient ability of Eloise was never explained. There were also scenes the writers threw in knowing we would expect them to return to it, Libby's story & the outrigger shootout for example. I could go on and on. As for life and death, I'm all for the redemption elements of the storyline. But

One of the best shows ever made. The finale was absolutely terrible, I wished I had stopped at last week's episode. I just wanted some answers, not a made-up, feel-good, inconsistent theology. Brian

Thanks for the pics. It seems like we just got the 25s to replace the ADFs, but I'm glad we get to stay in the fighter business here in MN. I'm looking forward to seeings these at the airshow in July. Brian

Yeah, it wil be quite exciting to get the Raptor here in St Cloud. I've got my tickets already. I'm not sure why there are now so few ACC demos. With six teams, you would think they could get to at least two shows every weekend. Same thing with Duluth - Thunderbirds only. Brian

The light blue was straight model master 35183. Brian

Here's a photo of mine, see what you think of the colors. I'm skeptical of the Hasegawa recommendation of 35109/35164, because, as an example, check out an F-5E in the "grape" scheme. This scheme uses those colors, but looks nothing like the F-2. I'd be interested in seeing one done with those colors though. Brian

As a grad student of philosophy with an interest in aesthetics I have to agree with this. On the micro level, as a process, it is an art -as it requires artisan skills for construction, painting, detailing, etc, that not everyone can do. But the work, the final product, is not necessarily an artwork - that is something that reveals underlying universal truth. But then a lot of other things that are "an art" don't either - craft items, some woodworking, some pottery, some interior decorating, etc. These things seem to fall into the category of "folk art" rather than "high art." On the othe

There doesn't seem to be an easy answer for this question. I've seen the 35164 color suggested, but this doesn't look right at all to me. I used model master 35183 for the light blue and I like the result. For the dark I used 35042 (lightened up a bit). Brian

I think the loadouts with four bomb stations used centerline tanks. That would be even more of a problem with the F-16B, not much fuel there. Brian

72 is in the flogger scheme, this is actually the oldest F-16 aggressor camo currently in use. Cool pic. The 64th pilots told me back in November that they have been using wing tanks, but this is the first picture I've seen of it. Brian

Here's a scan of the 1/48 decal, hope it helps: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KiZjfqGNIgE/S4XzylWv.../s800/F-15E.jpg Brian

Thanks for the suggestions! Ace isn't responding so I will try these products. Brian

Does anyone know if Ace Resin is still selling their product? Their order page isn't working. If not, does anyone know a similar product? I really need to make some more RTV molds and ACE had really easy-to-use material. Thanks. Brian

I am thinking of picking one up, although just for the collection, as the Tamiya seems like a better choice. No ACMI or ALQ-188 here, just the standard kit. Brian

It's sheet 48-084, looks sold out right now. The markings are pretty basic: TAC insignia, WA tail code, serial #, basic F-16 stencils -all in black. I built one before that sheet came out and I just found all that in the spare decals box. If you need the paint scheme, look here: http://www.jpsmodell.de/dc/draw/f16ceur1.jpg Brian

Twobobs did a sheet of markings for the Euro I-painted F-16s tested at Nellis. The only major equipment mod that I know of was the Pave Penny pod. When the 174th TFW used them in Desert Storm, they were F-16A/Bs with GPU-5 gun pods, ALQ-119s and Mavericks. I believe they all had the standard grey camo and markings. Brian

I believe they will announce it in Feb/March, and I think they release six months at a time, so it might be a while before you know. Hopefully there will be more shows than last year. Brian