Tigermaster

For those interested, the shop is back open for some time at http://www.natotigers.org We still have like a 100 copies left that will be sold... there will be no reprint!!! End september we will also release a PHOTO-report (144 pages, hard back) about this years NTM, with a lot of inflight pictures by our own photographers and KATSU TOKUNAGA... Best regards Gert Weckx NTA

Here are some sample pages (not fully finished - production layout) of the book. Of course all the more modern jets and helicopters (Jerry and his team) will also be featured in the book. To keep track of page samples, we are as from now posting some on our facebook page from time to time Regards Gert

Jim, you can easily pay through paypal (which will offer you to pay with credit cards or, through your bank account) just fill in the form and when the book is ready we will send to the States! For the moment the EURO / USD rate is also interesting for US costumers... might even improve (for you guys that is!) today since all our ministers of finance seem to be discussing the EURO currency today! Regards, Gert

Hi fellow modellers, I just want all of you to be aware that in a few months a new book about the NATO Tiger Association will be published. We have been working on this project for 5 years! Till Jan. 1st you can PRE-ORDER this book (published in April 2011) at a special price on our website. After this date the price will go up considerably! Also if you pre-order now, you will have the chance to win a Breitling watch! (expensive one) Some details on the book: 432 pages, all full colour (unless there are only b/w pictures like in some of the early years) and Hard back edition... just go

PS'd, very simple: the CZECH are NOT ALLOWED by SAAB / SWEDEN to paint anything onto the 'leased' airframes. For the NATO Tiger Meets they always have to use stickers to put on the canards / tails so that they can be removed easily. Gert

Yes I have... www.natotigers.org Drawing decals is just something I do as a hobby from time to time. I'll be continuing working on them in the next week if I can find the time to do so. After all response here, I decided to separate the background colours completely from the black parts... which gives everyone the opportunity to finish the model the way he likes. - It will also overcome some of the problems I'm now facing with some of the complex curvatures / break up of parts.

Jens, the inclusion of masks also did cross my mind, however I think many decal companies are not familiar with the techniques to produce them. Actually, the masks would be rather simple... and I would do it that way in order to achieve the best result.

Hi all, thanks for the replys... I don't know who is going to produce the decals yet. Model Alliance might be one of the candidates as they print with cartograph in Italy. (And its the only company that can provide the necessary quality) I will have a look on decalsheet size and see what I can do about the gradient parts... I guess I will need to include them anyway to avoid to difficult masking jobs for some people.

Hello folks, Attached some previews of the Mont De Marsan Rafale of which I'm developing decals. Question: what would you like on the final decalsheet, only the black stripes or a large decal also including the fading orange to yellow to white colours? I guess many would like to airbrush these colours. An option would be to provide the stripes as black parts only so you can choose... but this will lead to a very large decalsheet and I'm not sure to find a producer interested in such an expensive sheet.

I'm working on some F-18's (Spanish, Canadian and Swiss) and noticed that they all have panel numbers painted on them. Is there any company that has been making decals for the F-18 A/C including those numbers... or is there anyone who has 4-view drawings indicating the numbers and there placements (in that case I would be able to do them myself) Many thanks Gert

The Revell kit is excellent to make a Dutch F-16, as you will need the parabreak housing etc. It also incudes different parts to make a PRE-MLU F-16 and some things like the PIDS pylons which are commonly used by European F-16 countries. Make sure you check enough references for antenna placement, I have been researching Dutch Vipers, and there are a lot of different versions depending on the timeframe they were flying.

Dave, thanks for you comments. Regarding the bird slicers, they were introduced on the Swiss Hornets in early 2005. The Tiger Hornet that attended NTM 2004 at Schleswig indeed didn't have them, but when the aircraft was used for the aishow season 2005 it was modified with them. Interesting other thing for people that also want to build this Tiger (using the Aviation Workshop decals): the droptanks were painted on BOTH sides, not just one side. So you need to buy 2 sets of these decals ! Also the tanks only seem to be used during the Tiger Meet! So they were never seen in combination w

Dave, I didn't know the Swiss are the only users of this pylon. Also they don't seem to use it often. I only have pictures of Swiss Hornets using them during NATO TIger Meet 2004 in Schleswig (Germany). As for the construction. When looking at the limited reference that I have on them, the pylon doesn't seem to be as thick as the usual pylons used with the Hornet, so I think converting one is not really an option for this. Hope to find some more and good reference soon ! Gert

I surely did check Dave's very usefull list of differences. Nevertheless, there are always some fine details that people might know about. To complete my previous posting: I can recommend the MAW update sets they are a real HIGH STANDARD and they provide a quick and excellent service.

While researching my upcoming Swiss Hornet project I noticed a (for me) strange pylon under the wing. Does anybody know if these pylons are available in 1:48 scale ? For a moment I thought these were featured in the Hasegawa F-18 E/F Superbug kits, but after a close inspection I noticed various differences between them. I assume they will be in a set mastered by Dave... but which is not yet available? Does anyone have more reference on this pylon (a drawing, detail photo's...) so in the worst case scenario I can scratchbuild them Thanks Gert