-Neu-

As the title says, I need the two bobs rocking Rhino sheet. I built the hasegawa kit and painted it for the VFA-2, but then accidentally bleached the decals while sunning them to get rid of the yellow. I'd like to have this pretty soon, so PM me and name a price please. Thanks!

Incorrect! Modern hobbies does a resin set, which is very good on its quality, though I can't speak to its accuracy. http://www.modern-hobbies.com/cockpit-sets/a-10c-update-set-for-italeri-kits

Very cool! I'd buy one as well. Along these lines, is that Gunze sells a cardboard paint box that fits their paints and tamiya ones that I love. http://www.hlj.com/product/GNZDC901/Sup

What I wonder is how this will play with the campaign by various parties to get more Growlers built: will Congress defund the two extra aircraft and then send a request for more hornets? I think thats going to be difficult to defend politically and militarily, but it is Boeing... so I wouldn't be too surprised.

A big reason why its not used is collateral damage. 2000lbs is a big bomb, its one of the largest carried by the Navy and its designed to do a lot of damage. When you're in a close air support environment and/or striking targets in a built up area (which mostly is the case vs Daesh), you require weapons that do less, not more damage. That's why you have stuff like GBU-39B Focused Lethality Munition, and the Low Collateral Damage Bomb, which can be dropped in a city environment without risking taking out a city block when targeting a specific person, vehicle or whatever.

Well I'm done. I'm terrible with photos... I need to find a setup that works. Focus is kinda off on some of the photos too. Anyways. One of the big things is that I couldn't break the canopy to get the seat out to repaint it. So its not accurate, but its not too noticeable. Anyways... thank you all for helping me with this. I really really appreciate it. I'm going to send this on wed to its new owner.

I think he and others tried that first... it doesn't do anything to some of the pigments like silver, and others. I'll try makeup remover... that seems like a plausible idea.

No I think the F-15E squadron will remain. Rather its going to be a new F-35 squadron or another one re-deployed from a different European location like 52nd Wing from Spandahlem (not saying its going to be the 52nd... just saying that's what might happen.)

Well... I think Eielson, which is the first-non Continental US deployment, really fits the Pacific Pivot concept. Remember, having something forward deployed actually decreases the flexibility of a unit. You're more concerned about operating in your specific area and focus on its specific needs. You're also more vulnerable to a first strike. With Eielson and Lakenheath basically the USAF has deployed them to the theatre, where they can be employed as required during an emergency. As more of them come online, you'll see F-35s filter down to more frontline squadrons like 34th Operations Wing in

A quick update. So I'm nearly done. I built some BL755s... They aren't totally accurate: I had to improvise some white decals from different sets to get the stripes on the bottom. Then I hit the entire thing with some Alclad Flat: After which I attached the Bombs. I''ll need to put the formation lights on and colour the tail detectors... and then I'll be done. Hopefully I will have a sunny day before I send it of to its actual pilot. Thanks for looking.

Perhaps you or Waco has access to these numbers, but has been the average load out weight for air operations over Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade? I'd wager that its somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 lbs,.. maybe up to 2000 at most. Mostly a couple of -38 or a -32s of F-16s or F/A-18s. I know that's more of a CAS oriented load out, but that is really the reality of what aircraft carry in the age of widespread PGM use.

The cost of the fixed ICBM force is by far the lowest of the three constituents of the triad. You don't need to be constantly investing in training and flights, or paying for a nuclear submarine to house the warhead. I think it is apocryphal, but I heard someone suggest that the cost of operating the entire land based force is the same as that of one or two Ohio class SLBM. There are also advantages to ground based ICBMs. Its the most responsive and flexible weapon in the triad: it can be quickly retargeted by national command authorities, launched immediately, and arrive within an hour. T

Thanks Alf. I still don't know what I will do with the stores... which is a problem since I want to finish this tomorrow so I can send it express post. I've got the final gloss coat down, next its oil wash, then a final coat, with details added. Here are probably the final few photos before I finish it up... Thanks for looking...

Awesome Tony this is fantastic. Thank you.

Thanks Tony! Couple more questions... would 441 104s have a squadron mark on them? Also, I want to put BL755 cluster bombs on the model... was that at all regularly carried? Were there practice rounds? What sort of stripes were on them? OR would it be at all likely that they trained with a live round somewhere in Europe? Thanks again... this is frankly awesome.

Thanks guys. I think I've been given the wrong photo by my friend. I thought it was his from 441. Now its clear that it is not. I have another photo of his, with him in it and the 441 scheme. however its slightly off the nose, so its tough to make out the number conclusively, but it seems to be 883. Anybody have any thoughts? Was 883 in the squadron? Did plots get assigned long term to an aircraft, or did they use whatever was serviceable?

Sooo quick question. I'm trying to determine what is the red mark on the intake below the CANADA in the aircraft's photo: Its barely visible, but there is definitely something there. I thought It might be the squadron's seal, but there is no apparent white in the photo... and 441's checkerboard would be black and white... I looked at this youtube video of 441 during this time and it doesn't have a mark. Any thoughts?

Not a big update... finished painting a few days ago, gloss coated it last night and then I did a bit of Decalling. And here it is with the belcher bits decals I'm going to use. Should get most of them on tonight.... Thanks for looking!

Poopy... well, that's not good. I'll have to pop it out later and re-paint it.

Hey Guys This is actually going to be a christmas gift for a former Starfighter Pilot friend of mine. Alf knows him, but I won't put his name up for privacy reasons... but I built a CF-18 For him last christmas. This is going to be a pretty quick build... I think it will only be three or four posts. I'm going to use the Hasegawa CF-104/F-104J kit. Its one of the best kits they ever produce, even 20 years later: cockpit has excellent details, including raised buttons and an IP with a reasonably correct set of details. The seat is a bit clunky, so I'll use the Pavla LCII ejection seat, which

Thanks Hajo... I am familiar with them but I really like modern hobbies stuff... Its more detailed and easier to pose. I should have added a link too... http://www.modern-hobbies.com Customer service is great... and well, Its also a Canadian company, so I can't go wrong there.

Hey guys Sorry about the lack of an update. Basically I hit a bit of a roadblock with regards to pilots. Originally I wanted to use the USAF pilots from the F-16 Block 50 kits.... but they aren't the best. Don't forget those HARMs, you'll be seeing them later. I contacted Modern Hobbies, as they do a pretty nice set of 1/72 scale resin pilots. I purchased a pair and a few other things, and waited, then waited and waited some more. Finally A month past and I inquired about my order. They had sent it, and since it had been so long, they graciously offered to send me a new set free of cha

The best one IMO opinion is James Salter's The Hunters. It was based on his experiences in the Korean War, and is considered one of the best aviation novels of all time. http://www.amazon.com/The-Hunters-Novel-James-Salter/dp/0375703926

Exactly. From what I know first hand of the Canadian and UK systems, his work, or at least a summation (like Michael Handel's Masters of War), is required reading. I know second hand that its required reading in the US Army, but I'm not sure if it is for the Air War College. Whether or not that is a good thing, is a better question. http://thediplomat.com/2014/11/everything-you-know-about-clausewitz-is-wrong/ Boyd never had anything approaching that level of influence. I wouldn't even claim that he's a leading influence in the USAF. Mitchell, Douhet and Trenchard are more widely taught than

You do realize that carrier aircraft in the 1950s and 60s the Crash rate was 50 per 100,000 hours? That's 20 times the rate we have now. It was a different era. We barely tolerate 2.5 today...