davetur

Thank you very much Thadeus, it sure helps, specially with the nice comparison picture you have added. Keep up the excellent work! (Although by the size of your production, it's clear you don't need encouragement!!! 😁) Cheers Davide

Hi Thadeus, I was browsing through your bilds and found these... veeeeery nice! As all of your numerous models. A question: do you, by any chance, remember which colors you used for the Syrian MiG? They look absolutely spot on compared to available Syrian Bis pictures! Thank you Davide

Hi Fred, testing is the best thing!!! I learnt it the hard way when I sprayed a coat of Gunze clear gloss over a camouflaged MiG-29 painted with Humbrol enamels, and it crazed the paint: not everywhere, only where the enamel layer was too thin. Had to sand down the area, respray, etc. etc. ... boring 🙃 Cheers Davide

Hi f5guy, from my personal database of color equivalence (of colors I actually own and can check visually, I mean), I can offer some suggestions: for FS30140: Lifecolor UA 085 is labelled exactly as FS 30140, and by looking at it, it seems spot on. Lifecolor paints are water based acrylics, but better thinned down with their own brand thinner, they tend to clog the airbrush if you stop for too long, so better spray on till you've finished. In terms of enamels, I have a similarity with Humbrol 62 which seems a bit too reddish, maybe possible to mix with Humbrol 118 and 119 which is simi

Sorry to reply so late Utley, I have been away for some time from my PC, which is the only place from which I post (the smartphone is too small for and old man like me to use 😉). Back to the point, that piece is definitely not painted, it could be anodised aluminum or even a magnesium casting or superformed part. Light alloys anti corrosion treatments can make them very dull. But anyway, I have seen that you've perfectly got the different metal tones on your GE engine: you are an artist! Cheers Davide

Sorry to contradict, Utley, but if the photo depicts, as I think, a Blackhawk engine installation, the part marked "NO STEP" is not what you call the (engine) exhaust manifold. It is the GE T700 duct that blows out the sand that is extracted by the T700 integral sand separator, blown outside by a fan which is in the nearly spherical part to the left of the duct. Having to deal with a cold flow (the separator is on the engine intake) the duct is normally made of painted composite material or aluminum. No need to use steel or inconel in that part. Having followed the T700 engine installatio

The last one is from a Japanese book, it seems the most accurate. Regarding the leading edge, I am not 100% sure since I painted it some time ago, but I think it is Gunze C-08 Silver (for sure not the Aqueous H-8). Happy modelling! Davide PS: PM inbound

Hi Pappy, here's the scans from three different books:

Hi Pappy, if it may help, I've just finished a Trumpeter late RA-5C in 1/72. I think most of the issues I've found also apply to the 1/48 case. Regarding your questions: Point 1: thanks, I did not notice that!!! I'm still in time to correct it on my model. Based on different drawings in different books, I've made some rough calculation and the trailing edge should to be 2,5 to 3 millimeters lower (in 1/48). Point 2: I'm almost sure it could carry external fuel tanks, although I don't recall having seen any photo of the RA-5C with them. Just on some A-5, but that's anothr

Glad that my misleading reply led you to provide a more complete answer than the one you provided on December 31st... 🙂. I live in Italy and I try to help with the references I have, for sure I've never been so lucky as to work on a real F-14 like you did! Cheers Davide

Apart from the P&W engines replaced by the GE ones (for which you could find a 1/48 source in here: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/katran-k4818-f-14d-exhaust-nozzles-opened-amk--1276170 or https://www.scalemates.com/kits/katran-k4819-f-14d-exhaust-nozzles-f-110-ge-400-amk-kits--1276172) I think the main difference in the cockpit between the A and the A+/B is the HUD. In the A the symbology was projected directly on the front windscreen , while the A/+B had a real HUD with a combining glass.

First... which scale? 1/32 or 1/48? There is a big difference in reply. Cheers Davide

Fantastic build... with the right back backdrop and natural sun illumination it will be mistaken for the real aircraft! Cheers Davide

Just for completeness, the only other picture I've found (later) of F-14s and RA-5Cs on the same deck is this, found on a 1980 book "CV: Carrier Aviation". This one: Interesting also the presence of an F-14 in Ferris scheme

Thank you, Erik Thanks Dutch! I don't know, I have got photographic proof of Tomcat and Vigilantes sharing the Nimitz deck from this thread: https://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=109865 From what can be seen, the only fighters on board seem to be Tomcats, of VF-41 (those are the decals I'll use, HAD 72217) and VF-84. Intruders and Corsairs as attack aircraft, plus Vikings