Nev

The old Salamander aviation fact file on the F-18 was published in the early 80s and has lots of colour photos of the Hornet prototypes, it can be picked up pretty cheap on Amazon 2nd hand http://www.amazon.co.uk/F-18-Hornet-Aviation-Fact-File/dp/0861011139/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361107135&sr=1-1

Time to share some progress! A second round of PSR, and the addition of the wing strengthening plates from the Tamiya detailing set Following a 2nd coat of primer, I pre-shaded the model, then added the first layer of camo, in this case FS36375 (White Ensign paint) My airbrush skills aren't good enough to spray freehand, so I prefer to use blu-tac masks - in the process of applying them here. Last night was a layer of FS36231 (Humbrol) Later today I will be applying the FS36081. I'm not too bothered if I don't get a perfect paint job, these birds are quite tatty and weathered, wi

Nice paint job. Did you spray freehand?

Nice. I have family in Newcastle - Maitland actually. Whats with the darker grey on the Hawk?

Really nice, you've got the colours and the weathering spot-on Nice Greek line-up too, although it could be improved with an F-4 or two ;)

I've only done the intake pour thing twice, but I've used Tamiya paint both times and its worked well, I think its a bit thicker than enamel paints so it fills the gap better. I give the intake a coat of white primer before sticking it together, so the pour is just to fill the gap, not paint the whole thing. Of course, you could always do what I intend to do on my next build and put a FOD cover in the intake... :P

Progressing slowly but surely every night. Ever get the impression a kit doesn't want to stay stuck together? Corrections required (thanks to macbain for his WIP thread) Et voila! Underneath. Taking a fair bit of PSR this kit....

Yeah, I picked up on that from one of your pics. Was trying to find an appropriately shaped piece of plastic in the spares box last night.

Quick question (more for my own benefit :P). Are the stiffener plates at the wing/fuselage join the only ones on these aircraft? I've struggled to get a really good topside picture showing them.

Outstanding paint job. Colours look bang on, and you've really got that faded/patched look :)

This. One of the greatest acts of valour in the entire war. I also love the quote from one of the CVE captains after he launched the last of his planes (steaming into the wind, towards the Japanese fleet), "Nelson be damned, lets get the hell out of here!" One Day in a Very Long War is also a great read written around Leyte Gulf.

Thanks Gary, I've only finished 4 models in the last 2 years, and I stopped building altogether for nearly a year, but now I'm finally getting my modelling appettite back. I remember when it came out, all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth over it in the Jets sub-forum, but I just don't have the "eye" for shape issues, they all looked the same to me! So no, I won't be correcting the nose. When I've finished I hope to have a line-up including Kinetic, Tamiya, Hasegawa and maybe even the old Revell A/B, so it will be interesting to see if I can spot the difference in nose shape th

OK, so it looks like we're officially encouraging each others builds :) Thats a fair old stash of resin, and FWIW, I've always loved Vipers with asymmetric loadouts, so I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

So here's the plan, to build a range of Vipers from the early F-16As right up to the F-16F Block 60, from original Light Weight Fighter right up to Bloated Whale. I don't intend to do every variant, just a range showing the progression of the type. If I can get 6 done in a year I'll be well happy (if anyone is interested, I'll post the proposed list) First up is the Block 15 OCU F-16As used by the USN for adversary work I'll be using the Kinetic 1/48 F-16 AM Block 15 MLU kit, plus the recently released Fightertown Adversary Ghosts decal sheet I've finished the cockpit, which was sp

Nice work! As someone who's just started cutting plastic to do this plane in 1/48 this thread is both a reference and an inspiration. Getting the paint scheme right is what worries me most due to the difficulty of realistically weathering without it looking like a bad paint job by the modeller! Regarding the medium grey, looking at photos there seem to be 2 or even 3 shades of it on some planes, I think its very hard to get the shade "wrong".

Brilliant, thanks Pete Its on the new Fightertown "Adversary Ghosts" decal sheet Chris. Hannants have just got it in stock.

Intrueged by the pod under the wing of this F-16. Anyone know what it is, and is it available in 1/48? Thanks http://www.airfighters.com/photo_92609.jpg

Thanks, but they are the special markings decals by Superscale I mentioned in my OP.......

Looking at building the Revell 1/72 S-3B, but I really don't like the garish "specials" on the kit decal sheet. A quick search on the internet reveals a couple of old SuperScale sheets, both with equally garish special schemes. Does/did no-one make any good old fashioned lo-vis squadron markings for the S-3B? Thanks

Great shots as usual Gary, I'm guessing I saw 2 of them myself that day. Walked out of work at ~1130 that day to see two F-15s dogfighting hard right overhead. Started at about ~2000ft I reckon, 5 minutes of turning and burning later they were down to about 1000ft before they bugged out. Clear skies, very noisy and very impressive. Even the office girls going for lunch were slack-jawed :) I work right next to the Humber estuary and a couple of times a year you might see F-15s or Typhoons or Tornados going at it over the river, but I've never seen them that low before. Great way to finish

Tamiya X-14 for the base coat, with a few drops of XF-14 to make it a little less Baby Blue (probly a few too many on this occasion). 50:50 mix of XF-18 and XF-8 for the darker blue. Pollie, yes kit decals and they were fine.

Built wheels up as I have run out of space on the shelves of my display cases, but there is plenty of room to hang from the shelf above...

Tamiya have the colours you need - XF-72, 73 & 74, JGSDF Brown, Green and Olive Drab. Yes, they are the colours used on their AFVs, but they are also the colours used on their aircraft. I used them on my Apache and they are spot on.

Hasegawa 1/72 kit, built as a plane from 303 Squadron, specially marked for the 2007 fighter meet. Lots of little mistakes that could do with touching up, but from a distance (or these fuzzy digicam pica) only I know ;) and since I started this a lifetime ago I'm calling it done, hence why its not in Critique Corner.

2 nights decaling gets me to this stage - sooooooo many stencils!! The next time I show this, it should be finished - once all stencils, details, touch-ups etc are done. 90% down, 90% to go as they say. FINISHED MODEL HERE!