ChippyWho

Oookaaay... Splints, sutures, clamps and ligatures: this is getting serious! 😄

Better pic of cockpit:

Well, 'Rumours of my death...' etc. Really HUGE apologies for letting this lapse for a mere five years, but when it came to installing the Aires 'pit I realised something was going wrong. Not with the fit (the Aires bits are allegedly for the Trumpeter Hun, but grafting them onto the Monogram plastic is eminently do-able), but the brief I had set myself. Whilst mulling this, I joined a Monogram Group on FaceBook, and that helped me nail the problem. Monogram kits are special; as a tribute to this fine community I wanted a special build -but the way it was going, we'd end up

Utterly amazing! The thing looks like it should actually fly...

I have now! Thank you for sharing this excellent news -not a part-work issue this time either, from the looks. (But how a Bf109 etched set is a 'Related Item', I'll never know...)

Superb! I do like a Lo-Viz Sluff.

These are some of my favourite markings on anything that ever carried them! But as far as I can tell, decal printers seem to have a fight with the light blue colour (the Xtradecal effort for the Dart in 1/72 is...bizarre). IMO, The Expert's Choice set for the Eagle looks by far the most accurate and is well worth having.

Absolutely -one of the items I naffed up was from an OOP kit, but Eduard still got me one!

You could do worse than trying Eduard's Support service -on two occasions now they have replaced parts entirely FOC when it was MY fault I lost the darn things! I tried to at least pay shipping, but they wouldn't have any of it. Click the little green tag at the bottom right, send a message and see what happens...

Only a fool, an absolute fool, would not want to follow this...and I pity that fool!

The rear section (Part #R1) of the Eduard ones looks like an absolute witch to clean up -the resin 'plug' sits right inside the front edges of the fins... I'd steer clear of anything in two sections anyway; the Tamiya ones are probably worth buying the Block 25 kit for!

Indeed they do, and it contains many fine items. Their service is excellent, and if your package is like mine it will arrive all wrapped in brown paper and proper string!

Diluted ammonia-based cleaner ('Windex', I believe, in North America) will make short work of removing the old paint/Future. Just apply & remove carefully and you shouldn't damage the plastic. To remove any scratches/marks from that process I recommend the suite of polishes by Tamiya, working through to the very finest one -or, so I'm told, regular toothpaste!!! The last thing I airbrushed with Tamiya clear was an HUD reflector; it worked out OK with much the same procedure you described...at the second attempt. Because, unless you keep the paint jar thread and plastic cap abso

I have the 1/72 Su-34 sets; tentative test-fitting would support the dimensional accuracy of most parts for the Italeri plastic. The account of an actual installation can be found here...the Good Bit starts on Page 2. (Would it not have been easier to shrink the real thing?!)

Zvezda indeed, as is the recent Academy boxing, which has a few p/e bits thrown in IIRC. For some reason, in Europe the original usually retails for a LOT less than either re-pop! Wonder if that goes for North America too?