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Quixote74

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Everything posted by Quixote74

  1. Sorry but the pod in Hasegawa's 1:72 Weapons Set VIII is the later ALQ-188 - superficially similar but significantly smaller and with different shapes/proportions than the ALQ-167 @Sarathi S. was looking for. The ALQ-167 is the "Angry Kitten" now being used on USAF aircraft and drones, but the ALQ-188 is, to the best of my knowledge, only used by aggressor/adversary aircraft for training. Also worth noting, the ALQ-167 has been in service for 40 or more years so there have been detail changes and different sub-variants over that span of time (but it has always been noticeably diff
  2. Somewhat ironically given how closely the ALQ-167 is associated with USN late-Cold War combat types, there are actually two different toolings of Learjet in 1:72 that include the only injection molded representations of this EW pod: Learjet 35 from Sova-M: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/sova-m-svm-72019-gates-learjet-35--1245901 Or the C-21/Learjet 35 from the (in)Famous Mach 2: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mach-2-gp057-c-21-learjet--939741 In both cases these exist to allow building the various operators that use the pods on otherwise civilian
  3. Fortunately footge of the last flight of "Glamorous Glennis" in 1950 was used in the 1957 John Wayne film "Jet Pilot" - in glorious technicolor 🙂 Screenshots on the Internet Movie Plane Database HERE show Eduard's instructions match the colors as flown. Presumably the orange horizontal tail and the nose art were added when being restored for display at the Smithsonian (I don't have access to my library to confirm, but I believe it would have been restored to the all-orange scheme correct for Yeager's October 1947 flight when moved to the Milestones In Flight gallery of the then-new
  4. Great addition to a very nice build! Now you just need to set up a diorama with this bird parked next to a maintenance crew servicing an "invisible" squadron mate 😄
  5. Very nice! Was the radiation hazard "trefoil" on the nose something you had already, or is it made from shapes/scraps?
  6. All of your basic information seems correct, the only thing I might question is the era of your photo but it depends which operator is depicted (slatted F-4E/F is apparent from the image). Blue is the standard NATO color to denote training missiles, but you must understand there are different varieties of that training - some only for loading/unloading (but not cleared for flight), others for "captive carry" only, with or without the targeting devices of a live missile. What your photo depicts is what is known as an "acquisition round," which cannot be fired because it
  7. Just to clarify my note above, the command badge would be TAC (if present) - I think A-7s were even gone from the ANG by time of the ACC changeover. My bet would be no badges were on the original. The wikipedia article on the 4450th in its section on Team Spirit 84 specifically refers to pods for each aircraft that deployed, and further states they featured a "radiation warning tag over an ominous-looking slot on which was printed: 'Reactor Cooling Fill Port.'" Unfortunately the source referenced (a 69 page unit history) doesn't seem to actually include such details, much less any
  8. All but one of the badges on the museum display pod post-date the A-7D's retirement by the 4450th so I would be surprised if any were worn originally. The nose section has an ACC badge, which would have still been TAC during the 4450th's operations. The three badges at the rear are, left to right: 49th TFW - anachronistic on two levels, as the F-117s last official operating unit was the 49th FW (no "Tactical") and the 49th never flew A-7Ds at all. 37th TFW - the operating wing for the F-117, 1989-1992 - also never flew A-7Ds, since those were rep
  9. Would love to see some WHIF options for the RS-70 (aka "SR-70") recon/strike variant with some bare titanium and "ironball" black in place of the usual white.
  10. "Nuclear" may be a reference to the "REACTOR COOLING FILL PORT" stencil and/or the red/black diamond which is, IIRC, a warning label for high-energy RF output (i.e. radiation) as most frequently seen on jamming pods like the ALQ series. I wonder if this was flown in "full public view" prior to at least the initial F-117 acknowledgement, as it seems like an obvious joke - along the same lines as the staged "invisible plane" photos and gags. Outside their normal operating areas the pod(s) would draw some degree of attention to a top secret program you would think they preferred to a
  11. This was a gag worked up by the 4450th TFG when they were flying A-7s in public and F-117s in secret (before the stealth fighter was publicly acknowledged). Note the red text: "Klingon Cloaking Device" Top secret gear to hide your nuclear wessels and other sensitive subjects 👽🚀
  12. Looks great so far - probably too much to hope someone near Hill could get a photo or two of what's hidden by the cradle, but I expect the bottom is most likely spot for more antennae of any description. Thanks to @habu2's info I found a slightly higher resolution copy of the Hill AFB Museum IG image (linked). There's another partly legible warning stencil below the squadron badges, and some smaller text and rivets (as for another possible antenna?) just visible below the red/black RF warning sticker.
  13. With the discrepancies between the verbal descriptions and the photo (which is obviously a "museum" piece), there are a few possibilities. The pod in the photo could've had some elements deleted - e.g. antenna or applied intake parts removed - or just on the other side not visible in the photo. Or it's also possible that more than one travel pod got this treatment with custom differences between them.
  14. Assuming you mean the side of the circled area (what looks like a circular fill port is on the top), I'd bet on this just being a reflection of lights at the ceiling. Other than the bright wedge shape there doesn't seem to be any change in color/reflection on that section that would be there if there was any physical change in the shape - even dialing up the exposure and contrast to "enhance" anything that might have been there.
  15. Can it be done with the actual airframe? Yes: But it's rare, because the CG limits are touchy even with the wings swept full-forward:
  16. Certainly from an earlier timeframe but this photo shows the other side of 56-0735 in QF configuration, with the dayglo still fresh. The same site has a section on other QF-104As that may also be helpful for confirming general markings and timeframes. Unfortunately I don't see any with the tail/tank trim colors to confirm. A caption in a 1974 issue of Replica In Scale, found online from a source I can't link here, indicates the tail band as red/white/blue and tank tips as red/black. Is it possible the tail mark is a "command stripe" used somewhat haphazardly on some USAF types i
  17. I can't speak for how well they match the FS 595 colors, but if you're OK with spray cans and want to avoid mixing, Tamiya's AS series includes AS-13 meant to match 34079 dark green and AS-14 meant to match 34102 medium green. There seems to be some difference of opinion about whether AS-16 is a match for 36622 (the correct underside color for the standard SEA camouflage scheme) vs. 36440 light gull gray. Likewise AS-20, although labeled as "Insignia White," is actually a very light gray (far too dark/gray to match 37875, too light for a match to 36622 unless you're accounting fo
  18. Great to see this coming before the icecaps finish melting 😉 Will this correspond with the previously announced 1:48 set, or a standalone for Sword's new 1:72 release? Any decisions yet on subjects? (Sharing previous discussion links to save others some searching) http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/333530-sword-rf-8-crusaders/ 48-187 Future Release Discussion
  19. @Dutch and @Paul Boyer, apparently your collective efforts at kitbashing and conversions have satisfied the modeler's corollary of Murphy's Law: Mach 2 (I know, I know...) has announced a series of injection molded 1:72 DC-9-30 releases. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235132248-172-douglas-dc-9-30vc-9bc-by-mach2-box-art-release-in-november-2023/ @KursadA no idea if this would make a 1:72 release viable, but between the Atlantis/Aurora reissue and the fact aftermarket decals are a prerequisite for any Mach 2 build, I hope you'll consider it.
  20. I don't believe these were the same (or even installed) for all variants so it may help if you can be more specific on your subject. LSP has a sampling that shows the windscreen pitots on a couple of variants: https://www.largescaleplanes.com/walkaround/wk.php?wid=53 Primeportal has some Mirage IIIS shots that also show the pitots but not all that clearly (IIIC and IIIB walkarounds don't have the pitots at this location): http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/gunther_neumahr/mirage_iii_s/ This site has some better shots, also a IIIS.
  21. Looks like you have your request settled, but FYI to anyone else looking: KMC did a set of 1:72 "finless" nape canisters in resin, labeled as BLU-10 & BLU-32: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/kmc-72-7017-blu-10-and-blu-32-napalm-canisters-vietnam--148282 Kora does a similar set, though of lesser quality but still available, labeled as BLU-27s: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/kora-models-dsm72027-blu-27-napalm-bombs--1242766 In addition to the A-10, Hasegawa also included similar parts (for either napalm or baggage pods) in their 'old tool' F-4E/
  22. "Decent" is in the eye of the beholder, but some quick Google-fu turns up some options: http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/waEF111A.html https://www.daytonipms.org/ef-111-sparkvark Note: A) Most of these show preserved example(s) so as always there may be some variation with aircraft when in-service B) The EF-111As were all conversions of A-models so if there are specific details you can't find for the Spark Vark, try looking for the equivalent details on an A (in general if it wasn't part of the conversion it would have stayed the same)
  23. So there's a decal sheet that sold out so quickly it was difficult to verify its existence. And the suggested alternative for some of the subjects it included is a re-boxed kit that is now also sold out. What scale was this again? 🤔
  24. The issue you're seeing isn't a problem of the parts being removed from the mold too soon, it's that the panel lines of the tooling itself are soft/shallow. Having examples of all three AMT boxings and the Italeri ALCM G, I can confirm there's no noticeable difference in the molding itself. The only difference between them other than variant-specific parts and decals is that the Italeri pressings are molded in a darker and slightly harder plastic (supposedly because AMT's standard polystyrene mixture had a higher fexibility because the bulk of their production was for car kits, which often r
  25. The "too blue" mix actually looks too dark, but I think adding white would get you in the right zone. One of the advantages of digital photography being literally at your fingertips is that you can use an online color selection/ID tool to check colors pixel-by-pixel - just paint a test swatch of your mix, photograph in preferred lighting conditions (i.e. matching your most likely display location), and upload the photo to confirm scientific color values for the paint. There's some margin for error based on white balance, shade/shadow, and other factors, but it will keep you from u
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