Spino

Did the sale on the next 40 go live yet? I’ve been checking all weekend.

I'm putting an Aires interior in right now...it's probably the best of the bunch. However, the F-22 interior is pretty plain--using Eduard to dress up the instrument panel and consoles, and then using the Eduard Brassin seat for the Academy (which is excellent--by far the best seat) may answer the bell.

One other thing to note on the Iranian aircraft--the flag on the tail changed after the revolution. The current regime added an inscription on the green and red stripes where it borders the white. FWIW, Airliners.net has some excellent pictures of IRIAF aircraft--just go to the site and do a search. While it won't necessarily help with exact stencils and markings they can be very useful as references.

Got one of them in my hands right now--the cockpit, seat and surface detail is actually very nice...definitely not like the Hasegawa cheese grater. The cockpit tub is actually very nicely detailed, especially considering the scale.

No--the Luftwaffe didn't have a radar missile with their F-4Fs until they integrated the AIM-120 with the ICE program as mentioned above. Some of the RAF Phantoms (specifically FG.1 or FGR.2) may have been modified for it but I don't know for sure. Cheers--Spino

The Marks are almost certainly right (only death and taxes are 100% certain)...looking at the original files, the one two pictures later matches the shadow exactly but I've never shared that picture (didn't like it as much). I was standing with two other photographers at the time...quite the coincidence in this case. What really made these pictures unusual is that there was almost no humidity, which is unheard of for DC in the late spring. Thanks for the close look. Cheers--Spino

I posted the picture for public use with no copyright...it was for sharing with friends and fellow aircraft enthusiasts. I'm actually glad it's being used, though I am going to ask if they'll give me a photo credit.

You post a Raptor picture on the Internet where people can get at it and it can turn up as box art! Here's their box art... Picture I took back at the 2008 Andrews Air Show...I think I posted this up on this forum back then as well. Someone may actually appreciate my other hobby. I just may have to get one of those Fujimi (DML?) Raptors. I'm actually looking forward to them, especially DMLs if it's an F-22A like they're saying, because Revell of Germany is the only game in town in 1/72 at the moment and DML has been producing some very nicely molded kits lately. That said, they're

Lucky Model listed a Hasegawa 1/48th IDF Weapons Set in one of their e-mail fliers, but they aren't on the site.

Wolfpack Design has very nice resin sets to turn the Hasegawa (or Academy) F-15C into either a MSIP -A or a MSIP -C. Has the instrument panel, antennae, some dry transfers for the chaff/flare dispensers, and some nice LAU-128 rails. I have a few of these that are slowly finding their way onto the appropriate portions of various F-15Cs--the quality and fit are quite nice. You can get them thrugh Sprue Brothers or Wolfpack directly. I second the recommendation for the Aires burner cans, but that's because I hate the five-petal assembly in the Hasegawa kit and usually wind up with something l

Gustav--the pit and especially the seat look REALLY nice. Looking forward to the weapons bay set. Cheers--Spino

I am not weighing in for one side or the other (and I am not saying anyone is right or wrong at this juncture)...but I'm still not convinced we can say for certain that it's wrong--or right--based on these photo comparisons. Look at the vertical tails--the picture of the model is dead-on perpendicular to the long axis of the aircraft--you can only see one tail. The other two have varying degrees of offset, which can throw off distance and curvature in real terms. Added to that is the fact that the photographs are significantly reduced in resolution from the originals, as you can see the art

My local retailer keeps telling me that it will be available in December. As for the loadout, 1 FW at Langley has dropped JDAMs, but I haven't heard anything about an asymmetric loadout. As someone pointed out on this forum earlier, you'll need to stick with AIM-9Ms for now, though. Cheers--Spino

Looks like, but not identical to, the Revell breakdown. Spino

I absolutely feel your pain. And that is why I am HOPING the Academy Raptor is a good kit--the cost breakdown from the Italerei Raptor I built two years ago is: 1 x Italerei Raptor--$24.00 Entire 2005 production run of Squadron Green Stuff to fill the gaps in the weapons bay mating area--$35.00 New workbench top to replace dented top caused by frequent frustration-derived head-banging and fist-pounding--$75.00 Amount of Sam Adams consumed to maintain some level of equilibrium--$50.00 Friend commenting on first sight of completed Raptor: "I thought we bought the F-22, not the F-23."--P