arnobiz

Nice build of a really interesting aircraft (I wish I'd gotten a kit when they were available!), sorry that you had to re-do the exhaust fairing but it seems well on its way 👍 If you'd like to add the spin chute (assembled or only the brackets) they're available here by the way 😉 - I believe at lease the brackets were always on the XL, not sure why Kinetic skipped them. Looking forward to seeing it completed, Arnaud

Hehe there you are Kursad, what a poweful network! 🤩

This is the best I could find but I'll keep digging 😉 It should be enough if you know which institution is represented by each logo, I can see NAVAIR/NASA/DARPA but not sure what the last two are, most likely a test wing and a unit The markings appear to be symmetrical:

Indeed. It will just be a matter of time (like so many things lol)

Well I just happened to harvest as many information I could on the HARV last week 😋 Arnaud

Glad you like them Tyler! 😉

@Captain Tyler made me realize I had forgotten to announce our October releases, sorry about that, talk about business vs passion! This time we covered the most advanced Super Hornet features to date. Although some were not operationally adopted they still look pretty cool IMHO 😉 https://bam-models.com/product-category/f-a-18e-f-ea-18g/ I hope you like them, Arnaud Conformal Fuel Tanks (Designed for the Meng kit but also fits the Hasegawa kit) New Generation Jammer (NGJ, 2x per set) Enclosed Weapons Pod (E

Thanks. The objective was to improve the kit as much as possible without resorting to major surgery. I'll finish my own build of the PAV-1 soon (using the sets of course), I'll share the result 😉 Arnaud

Yep, full set (bottom and sides for each trough, six masks in total)

Amazing, both the build and the paint job. So nice to see a different Eagle, thanks for sharing! Arnaud

BAM Models released a masking set designed to replicate the tiling, if it helps. Here is a (rough) preliminary test result to give you an idea of how it works. Since the test I got new cutting blades so the masks are very sharp now 😉

Beautiful! I really like the appropriate weathering, not too much not too clean. Are the crew patches also on the FT sheet? Arnaud

Amazing result, congratulations Romain! Arnaud

The method I read several times is as follows: Secure the blades in their bent configuration with 3 supports, 2 below at the ends and 1 above in the center - This guarantees that they all have the same drop Put in warm water for some time (I guess 30' is largely enough) Check, if the bend is not enough increase the diameter of the end supports I hope this helps, Arnaud

Thanks everyone for the explanations/clarifications!! Arnaud

Are all pictures posted by the US military (i.e., on .mil websites and on divds) public domain and therefore totally license-free (when used appropriatly)? Just checking as I love them and find them extremely useful for modelling purposes 😉 Thanks, Arnaud

Stunning, thanks for sharing it with us! Looking forward to seeing more of your work here 😄 Arnaud

The key question is whether it needs to be engraved or not. If not, I really like Tamiya White putty: easy to use, sands very well, can be thinned down with lacquer thinner to be brushed in tight spots/thin layers. If you need to engrave the area, CA glue or white Milliput are my weapons of choice. A bit harder to use and sand but much harder so take engraving well. "Sprue goo", platic sprues melted in Tamiya extra thin glue, is also a good option as you can brush it on with the cap brush and it will has the same hardness as the surrounding plastic. Run some tests and

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. Time for the serious stuff now, namely the PAV-1 YF-119 exhausts 🙂 The fuselage needs to be cut a bit and new lines engraved, after which the 3D-printed exhausts can be installed easily. The last picture is admittedly lousy, it's the best I could get with my phone showing the whole thing up to the afterburner

Thank you John. There will be two sets: a PAV-1 conversion set and a PAV-2 upgrade set. Details will be released soon 😉

I then filled the PAV-2 specific vents and created the PAV-1 ones on the under belly:

Happy to have you onboard! Once the intakes were sorted, next item on the list is the multiple vents on the upper and lower fuselages. As mentionned earlier, PAV-1 vents are not at the same locations as PAV-2 vents, and the kit vents are very crude anyway (basically flat plastic with a scribed outline if any). I thus proceeded to design nicer vents (taking local fuselage curvature into account) and to integrate them on the kit:

My next build is going to be the HB YF-23, built as PAV-1. The HB kit represents the second prototype (PAV-2), which had in particular different exhaust nozzles and vents, plus a couple of antennae. The object of this build is thus to convert HB's PAV-2 into PAV-1. Yes, the HB kit has some overall shape issues but I won't address these here as they would require extensive surgery and I'm aiming for an enjoyable build I can finish within a few week 🙂 First, the intakes design makes them hard to paint as it creates a dead end for the air flow. It also does not feature any engine

Me too, it's one of the few sites I check daily 🙂 I'm thrilled when they publish build reviews, not so much with the Trumpeter announcements copy/pastes 😉

As is often the case with news announcements. Their build reviews are fantastic though!