Crash Test Dummy

VRC-50 US-3A "Miss Piggy" would be very welcome. I've got the US-3A kit in the stash and lack of decals has been a big roadblock.

ADFs in Foreign Service. Italy use to operate the type and had a couple specially marked planes. Jordan, Pakistan and Thailand currently have them in service. Pakistan uses a unique camouflage pattern. Jordan's went through the MLU program and can now use Sniper pods and LGBs.

Buy a couple glass pipettes or eyedroppers instead and just clean them out. I've bought eight eyedroppers over 35 years and the only problem is the rubber bulb will wear out after a couple decades or so.

From Wikipedia: A U.S. Navy McDonnell F-4B Phantom II (BuNo 152210) of Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) "Swordsmen" in flight during the Vietnam War. VF-32 was assigned to Attack Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVW-1) aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) for a deployment to Vietnam from 21 June 1966 to 21 February 1967. The aircraft is armed with Mk 82 Snakeeye bomb

Thermal protection wasn't introduced until after the Forrestal fire in 1967. Even then it wasn't an overnight change. I watched a video last week that had Skyhawks in 1972 using thermally protected Mk82, but non-protected Mk83 sometimes on the same plane. I don't know how common Snakeye fins were on Phantoms from carrier decks. The USMC on the other hand:

The underside was also white in that case. The planes had been in a air defense grey over white scheme and the green/brown camo was sprayed in theater over stencils and everything. It was a rush job and it showed. The paint deteriorated quickly. Important markings like US insignia, unit markings and major stencils like ejection warnings were reapplied, but they didn't bother with all the little stencils. The bottom color being white was close enough so it was left alone and still had the complete complement of factory stencils..

The advantage of the -30 is being able to carry more volume of cargo, i.e. more pallets or troops, but the weight limits are not that different. That's probably determined by the wing structural limits which is common between the two variants. The extra volume on the -30 is unnecessary for the aerial refueling role. This mission runs into weight limits before you run out of volume, even in the short 130s. The stretch version has a higher empty weight, so it's going to be heavier at all similar payload weights meaning longer takeoff and landing runs. There really is no advantage except for whe

Old Hasegawa decals can be "difficult" and those could be over 30 years old. During my last Hasegawa build I ended up buying a coffee cup warmer and a small metal cat food bowl to keep the decal water hot. A long soak much longer than any other decals I've used. I wait until the decal is loose on the film in the water is the only way I've found to deal with them. Even doing that several long skinny wing walk decals tore. I try to start with something small that won't be missed or is unused to get a feel for how the decals are going to respond. FYI, that kit is not really a Bloc

It's FS36622 "Camouflage Grey" same grey as the bottom color of Vietnam era South East Asia camouflaged planes. But, you can vary that lighter or darker. over different sections, so the missile is so monotone.

Prime with Mr. Surfacer 1500 Black or any other black primer for the black basing technique. Some swear by Badger's Stynylrez, but don't order it if at any point in shipping it may freeze in the back of a delivery truck. You should use a primer under Mr. Color or with most modern paints.

This is a question that would never occur to me. An airbrush doesn't care what kind of paint you put through it. For the first 20 years I had an airbrush, I only had the one. So anything that I sprayed went through it. That was mostly Model Master enamels with the occasional Tamiya clear. Now I use a broader range of paint types and own several airbrushes, but choose which airbrush based on the task not the paint brand. There are two paints I see more posts about problems than any other and MMP is one of them. @USAFsparkchaser if you are having problems with MMP I would question yo

Thank you for your most unhelpful opinion. I pointed out an error before his model was complete, the dick move is to wait until his model is done and then rip it apart for avoidable errors. I've pointed out to this person multiple times that many of his extremely basic questions could be answered with Google. The OP is too lazy to do "use Google BS" or too stupid to interpret the results and wants answers spoon-fed especially for him. Personally I have nothing against helping people, but I do have issues with someone that takes advantage of the goodwill of others due to his personal laziness.

@lgl007I'm not going to go through the Tamiya kit to figure out how to make a 1991 Block 25. That's why Google exists, you should try to figure it out for yourself instead of just asking the rest of us to do your research.

Nothing in spam, like absolutely no emails there, I check and purge that every few days. @Raymond Chung I requested a status on June 14th and was told: Two more weeks and still nothing but other orders are being fulfilled. The order status has been Packing since about June 3rd.

Would you mind sharing when it ships. I placed an order for 2 kits in stock from the US Warehouse on June 2nd and it still has not shipped 4 weeks later.

Block 25s didn't have beer can antennas on the wing leading edge during Desert Storm. They were a retrofitted later on

@lgl007 You need to get better at Google.

VFA-125 was the F/A-18 school house. It would be dire circumstances for them to deploy for combat. I don't know how much weapons training they would have done, but I wouldn't expect live weapons at all on their planes. Looking through the photos on the seaforces site it did remind me of the early oval cross section fuel tank. From photos on that site they were using it still in 1986, but it was gone in 1990. https://www.flyingleathernecksdecals.com/p/fl48-8053-fpu-6a-oval-fuel-tank-for-early-fa-18ab

Most of the plates around the spine and wing roots came later, but there were a pair below the canopy hinge that were on many Block 25s by the time of Desert Storm.

This article popped up in my news feed a few days ago. Or try Google maybe?

Topeka? Really? I'm 25 miles from Topeka and have been waiting for them to ship an order for almost 2 weeks. Status has been "Packing" for most of that time.

It would make it easier to answer your questions if you link to where you find photos like this It's on permanent display for a test squadron (VX-9), so take a guess. You can see the pads under the landing gear to keep the tires from looking flat in your last picture. Loaded like that a Hornet would probably fly for about 10 minutes before running out of gas. Timeframe is more important than what model of Hornet. Even old A's were upgraded to keep them relevant for USMC service. Your latest pics have GPS guided weapons that didn't exist when A models were in front

If you check the user's profile he hasn't logged in here in over a year and only had a few posts after his pictures of the MAD boom.

Google would give you the same answers.

Yes