Joe Hegedus

As far as I know, the reason for tinting the zc was to verify that a second primer coat was applied. The first primer coat was straight zc, the second was to be tinted so you could easily see that a second coat was applied. Since the aluminum powder to mix with zc to tint the primer (which, IIRC, resulted in a bright apple green color like the Model Master zc green) was in short supply, Indian Red pigment was added (iron oxide based, I believe) which resuted in the pink color primer. Anywhere that was specified to have a second primer coat applied would be painted with this tinted primer. I'm not sure if areas that were going to be painted with a finish color got 2 coats of primer or just one, but interior areas that did not get normal paint (pretty much anywhere other than the cockpit) got 2 coats of primer.

The standard F4U-4 would have the rocket stubs in the same place as the F4U-1D (which, on the Tamiya kit in 1/48, would probably have the same wing panels as the F4U-1A kit). The F4U-1A would not use the rocket stubs at all; only maybe a handful of test airplanes were fitted with rockets while developing the capability; it was not fielded on the Corsair until the F4U-1D version.

I'm not a materials engineer, but I think it may have to do with the specific formulation and also the conditions the material has been stored under. My experience has been mixed; I've had some old Otaki kits that almost crumbled taking parts off the sprue, and others that have been fine. Other manufacturers' haven't been quite as extreme as that, but again it varies for kits of a similar age. The old (like from the 60's/early 70's) Monogram plastic was somewhat on the harder side, so just because of that it would be a bit more brittle, but it did a marvelous job of holding crips details. I'm thinking of the early issues of things like the P-47s, P-51B, P-51D, B-17, and most of the other kits from that era (up til about 1980 or so, when they pretty much started molding everything in the medium gray styrene).

Yes. Earlier boxings of kits will generally have better quality castings. Be prepared to get aftermarket decals, though, as the don't necessarily age well and in many cases will be unusable. The exceptions to "earlier is better" are kits where the original kit had errors that were corrected in later issues (the Tamiya 1/48 Meteor and Bf-109E, and Trumpeter 1/32 Wildcat come to mind where the originals were inaccurate and the molds were updated/changed to make the kits more accurate). The other exception would be where a later release has different parts specific to a particular version of the airplane not included in the original kit (Monogram's Promodeler B-17 and P-39 kits come to mind; both have parts for versions that were not part of the original moldings). So, if you want a standard P-80, the earlier the boxing (release date), the better. As a bonus, in addition to the molds being new, the quality of the plastic used at the time was better as well IMO, so you have a much crisper molding to work with, as well as likely better overall fit.

Bear in mind that the Superscale sheet is likely undersized for the Hasegawa T-bird. In the 80s when it was printed, the only TA-4 kit that was available in anything close to 1/48 was the Fujimi kit, which I believe was in 1/50.

If it were me, based on that first picture I'd go with black on the fin tip for that airplane. The tip looks to be the same color as the stripe edging and, while hard to tell, looks a bit darker than the known red in the insignia to me. Between the first and second pictures, it appears that the stripe and tip match, and where the first pic has what appears to be a yellow diagonal stripe with black trim, the second appears to be just the opposite with a black stripe and yellow trim.

What habu2 said...

NIH syndrome coming into play?

I wonder how it would look with a variation of the scheme worn by E-4 (the spin test bird)? Put blue where the white was and yellow where the orange was maybe? Someone with better graphics skilz want to take a crack at it?

That would be FA-18E-9, an LRIP-1 jet.

Probably have to spring for this one; those 2 Pax jets are calling my name even if I have no idea when I'll want to build jets again. And the last Scooter in VX-5 markings is interesting, too.

How's the fit of the Academy wings to the Tamiya fuselage? That looks like a pretty straightforward operation.

That stinks. The PM P-47N is a bit fiddely to build, but ends up looking nice. FWIW, the ANG P-47 decals didn't come with the kit; they were sold aftermarket.

I'd settle for a good sheet of markings for "Torchy", T-square-27 I believe. The only decals I know of it are in the rarer-than-hen's-teeth Hasegawa issue of Monograms's kit. Edit, added image. She's a redhead with dark blue dress.

What "crappy Monogram decals"? Ain't nothin' wrong with the Promodeler decals, other than maybe having a difficult time finding them.