PeepingBear

Here on ARC gorgeous models are shown regularly, but not every day does one see such a great project. The result looks very good, a wall decoration many would like to show in their rooms. It must be even more satisfying that this was a daughter & dad venture. Lyta can be proud of her dexterity and Stephen surely is one happy father, having the opportunity to do something creative with his daughter and see her skills grow. Three Hoorays from the land of the Red Baron!!!

You might try this link: http://originalundmodell.de/reviews2016_3/hahen-48060.htm There are rather good drawings of the scheme. Google will offer you more resuls, just enter "Norm 81 F-4F" HTH JCT

Hobby Boss' F-105? Well what about the missing centerline pylon for the typical load of one MER with six M117 bombs? OK it is a relatively easy scratch build, but it WOULD fill a gap. Regards Ian

Hi Midnightprowler, are you looking for the old Revell decals (USMC field greem over all with black markings, see here for an example: Box cover pic). I think I have that set available, but I will need some time to check this as it is in deep storage. If there is none available "over there", I could send you that set as a letter from old Europe. Best regards Ian (janteipel at web dot de)

Congratulations for a very well built F-16 model with a stunning display! Ian

Is ist just me or did anybody else noctice that the kit's parts for the scissors just above the rotating swashplate are a mirror image of reality? That seems the reason why the mast assembly of the Q+D build by KH looks strange. But I think it is an easy job to fix this: A cut in the joint and then reglue the parted plastic with the horizontal parts inverted. A somewhat tougher cookie is the missing adjustment for the hell hole roof (= base for the main rotor transmission), I think this should be glued at a slight angle forward-downward, because the whole MR assembly is tilted

Nose for IIIS variant... Hi to all, that nose was produced by Kinetic: Three "non-recon" noses were originally shown: a bulgy cone for the French "Cyrano" radar, a "straight and narrow" for non-radar Mirage III versions (5, V), and a less bulgy curved cone for the Hughes-Radar equipped Swiss variant. Model Peek's thread on ARC shows all nose styles, alas only the rece nose and the Cyrano nose are in the original release K48050. For a deeper discussion about the parts for a Swiss Mirage, please see my post on Britmodeller. So we have to build the RS first and wait for the Swiss chasseur.

Hi everybody! It seems more attractive to combine a HAS F-104 kit with Daco's F-104 enhancenment set (which is massive!). Without extra decals, the price for the basic kit and the Daco set is about the same as Eduard's offer. Eduard's previous beefed-up kits were really more attractive than this "Bundesfighter". Just my tuppence... Cheers to all Ian

Hi Janne! You wrote it crystal clear! I am very happy if smaller kit producers leave the boring path and offer something really new. If they are successful, chances rise that other exotic aircraft types get "kitted" - good for all of us. But the Viggen project seems like a misjudgement of market facts. At current prices, only afficionados and modelling nerds will buy Tarangus' viggen - even I am still really tempted... But with prices adjusted to the kit's quality, they could expect to "own" and saturate the Viggen market. Ah, back to modelling... Cheers Ian

Very instructive building thread! Thank you Janne for showing us your knowledgeable and crafty build of the new Trangus kit. I think many of us had really high hopes for this kit and now we see it's weak points it may be a bit discouraging, especially considering the price tag. (Just imagine the brutal bashing this kit would receive were it done and marketed by one of the younger chinese companies...) On the other hand YOU show us how satisfying and nice this model can be if built with some TLC. Tarangus should thank you for your efforts! Right now I am not as sure as I was a few moths a

URGENT SAFETY ADVICE Being a chemist may I please repeat and fortify some of the safety hints that have come up in this thread: Reasons why you do not want to use Oxygen or Nitrogen: 1. Pure Oxygen gas at higher pressure will spontaneously and explosivley ignite many organic solvents, oils and fats. NO extra spark or flame needed! Open the pressure reducing valve a tad too far and WOOF / BANG - there you go! With the solvent mixtures used in paint you cannot predict the "touchiness", but it might add some "spice" to boring painting tasks... [*] 2. High pressure bottles with Oxygen o

Hi from Germany! You will find several discussion threads on this topic, here on ARC and also on other forums. As beloved as the Huey is, some threads are quite comprehensive. One can end up with the feeling that there is no really "on par" 1/48 or 1/72 scale Huey model kit. I understand that emotion, the Huey being THE icon of the Vietnam war and a workhorse for over 30 years in so many countries around the world. Still Italeri's UH-1 is not bad, even the older ESCI kit will build into a good replica with the application of knowledge, research (thank the WWW) and classic modelling skills.

Hi all! I am pleased I could help. The WWW is really a boon for knowledge gathering if we combine our individual smaller contributions. I would like to build "Rigor Mortis", but I have a set of TwoBobs decals for an AH-64A with a superb dragon mouth... Just cool. But TF Normandy was one great opening success of DS. Ah, yes, these are the pods the Dutch use on their 64s. Hard to see, but the pic shows a RNAF (Netherlands) AH-64D. May I ask why your border patrol aircraft need ASE? Best regards Ian

Hi! The tanks are used on combat missions as well. Most famous might be the "opener" of Desert Storm: Task Force Normandy's AH-64As punching holes in Iraq's air defence system. This was disussed on ARC's helicopter forum, Jonathan Bernstein was very helpful supplying further information: Mission Leader was Then-LTC D. Cody in AH-64A s/n 68977 "Rigor Mortis" with Eddy (of Iron Maiden fame) Tail art. The Apaches were loaded with one tank, 8 Hellfires and 19 Hydras (one pod) plus 30 mm rounds. http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/task-force-normandy-fired-the-opening-shots-of-desert-stor

Seconded! Great Idea! I commented the appeal on FB. Let us hope. A quarter scale .50 cal M2 (M3) barrel with flash hiding slits at the end would be nice too, what with all the H-60es, OH-58Ds, H-53es etc around...

Weathered DayGlo Orange changes into a wild cloudy variety of full colour orange - yellow - off white. I would rather not mix the orange for an overall lighter tint but spray an irregular pattern of thinned yellow or white over the uncut DayGlo. Naturally the weathering is strongest on sun exposed surfaces. Photos on the WWW help getting a feeling for the realy look. HTH Ian

You have to use light irony grey paint and mix things up thoroughly... RAL 9006: White aluminium paint, ageing and dulling into dirty light grey. Furthermore shades of grey were morally utterly unacceptable during the 70es. Cheers Ian

Hi from Germany! Look for the most recent re-release by Italeri: I saw pics online, IIRC, they injected the clear parts in CLEAR this time. Found it again: http://shop.italeri.com/Products/6318-2622-v-22-osprey.aspx Maybe you can get replacement parts. I will surely try this option over here. HTH Ian

Hi from Germany if you still want pictures of / info about the wingtip AIM-9 rails, let me know. I have the F-104C kit 5433 (IMHO the original release), according to the instructions the underbelly rails should be used for the wingtips as well. Cheers Ian

Hi from Germany! Weeelll, IMHO, the Mono Hun is very good shape-wise (compared to pics mostly from the old D&S Walk Around book). Furthermore it has a lovely cockpit in need of only minor doodats to make it really busy (breathing and anti-g hoses, a better throttle, circuit breaker panels on the aft bulkhead beside the ej. seat). But the top-bottom-closing fuselage needs putty along the lines and sanding will destroy the (raised) panellines. Engraving Mono's Hun is not too tough a job, it was one of my first engraving projects, I finished it sucessfully. Fuel tanks are too short but ca

Hi again, your English is no problem at all. And yes, you got it right, RAL 7001 was NOT regularly used as the underside colour on F-4s and F-104s. The greyish looking undersides of many German jets is a result of weathering. Many kit instructions are wrongly labeling the underside colour as light or silver grey. You might be interested in a German website Don Color's aircraft camouflage. It is well researched and gives you loads of camo options. By the way, during the later service years, the RF-4E, F-104G and Alpha Jets were painted in a green-olive-anthracite grey lizard camo (called N

The perennial RAL 9006 or 7001 riddle.... Hi from Germany, for an F-104 or ( R )F-4 E/F with the polygonal Norm '72 camo scheme, RAL 9006 white aluminium is the correct underside colour. The Alpha Jets and the older FIAT G.91, F-86 and ( R )F-84 had RAL 7001 light grey undersides. But the aluminium dope paint agred quickly, turning into a greyish non-metallic look. Thus, depending on your inclination toward "aged" looks, you might want to mix some light grey into the pure RAL 9006 paint. All Luftwaffe undercarriages I ever saw on air bases and in our Luftwaffe museum were painted white o

Hello from Germany! That is indeed an F-4F of JG 71 "Richthofen" (based in WITTMUNDHAFEN), painted in Norm 81 B. The question remais open if the underside is variant 1 or 2 (see Don Color). BTW, that aircraft formerly belonged to JaBoG 35, see here: Airport Data May I suggest these websites for further information on the paint schemes: Don Color F-4F Norm 81 A / B, 1. variant 2. variant IPMS Stockholm's website has Urban Fredriksson's color comparison charts for further info on the colors and available products. Hope this helps Ian

Thank you for your answers! I also had the idea of using known lengths and compare relative sizes taken from pictures but found out that there is a conceivable amount of perspectivic distortion if the details are not the same distance from the camera. But I got a few more photos and I think I see clearly enough now to begin. Best regards Ian

Hello Kursad, would it not be sensible to wait fro the Tarangus Viggen to appear? If you are going to produce nice new decals and these do not fit the coming and presumably better Viggen kit, it might be disappointing in the end. Maybe Taranugs is willing to help you with some of their CAD data, they just recently posted (here IIRC) that the CAD is finished and that they want to cut the mould in hard metal due to the very good data. (http://www.tarangus.se/2013/03/06/bad-news-good-news/) Just my 2c. Cheers Jan PS: Thanks for your ideas on the OH-58 0.50 cal ammo box. (http://s362974870