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ESzczesniak

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Everything posted by ESzczesniak

  1. It's a good point and question. I learned a fair bit more about these birds building this one. Apparently the F-14D spent most of it's life in a "flat black". It wasn't dead flat, but not quite semi-gloss either. Models, particularly diecast, seem to still make it gloss black. This isn't quite accurate though. The F-4 had 3ish major variations. There were two F-4J's and later an F-4S. The early F-4J had the blue ribbons (as on this model), while the later did away with this trim. The early F-4J also had a "squished" playboy bunny, while the later got the normal "one". At l
  2. Thank you all for the replies! It's Tamiya XF-1 for the black.
  3. I’ve long had a F-4 “Black Bunny” on my list, and finally worked myself up to tackle the gloss black finish. This the is the 1/48 Zoukei-Mura F-4J. Quinta Studios cockpit decals were added, and the exterior decals are from Furball. The Quinta cockpit set looks great, but I honestly use these more to speed up a build if I’m not in the mood to spend time on the cockpit. So my use of them is variable. The Furball decals are decent, but not great. Their adhesion is on the weak side. I displaced a couple with a gentle washcloth wipe preparing for the final gloss coats
  4. I’ve long had a F-4 “Black Bunny” on my list, and finally worked myself up to tackle the gloss black finish. This the is the 1/48 Zoukei-Mura F-4J. Quinta Studios cockpit decals were added, and the exterior decals are from Furball. The Quinta cockpit set looks great, but I honestly use these more to speed up a build if I’m not in the mood to spend time on the cockpit. So my use of them is variable. The Furball decals are decent, but not great. Their adhesion is on the weak side. I displaced a couple with a gentle washcloth wipe preparing for the final gloss coats
  5. The schemes should largely be the same, as those are tied more to the squadron. With that said, there are often some “upgrades”. Slightly different style on the tails, new CAG birds, etc. So a CVW5 from Washington would probably look the same in 1/700, but not quite right in an aircraft scale.
  6. I was wondering about any advice others may have on doing touch ups on high gloss finishes. I have a VX-4 F-4J nearing the end. The final gloss is all Tamiya X-22. It's gone well, but there were a couple small spots I had to spray a touch up layer of X-22. On that matter, turns out cotton gloves still live a "finger print" (it's the cloth pattern) sometimes and nitrile rubber gloves seem to be the way to go. Anyway, no matter how you slice it, there is a small zone of transition from the nice gloss "wet coat" where the spray starts to feather out and it's not quite so clear an
  7. I don’t think anyone ever said it can only ever and an A-10C. But I think there are a lot of people that would like to be able to build an A-10C OOB. If they want to out parts for an -A in the box as well, sounds fine to me.
  8. You could say that about almost A/B/C variant that doesn’t add an extra seat. In modeling terms: 1) Different instrument panel and shroud. There is no way to make this a -C from and -A without new pieces (provided alternatives in kit, aftermarket, or scratch built). The new shroud is more bulbous and square to accommodate the MFS’s (there was only one small tv display in the -A vs vs two large in the -C). There are also a few extra lumps in the cockpit for the HMD sensors, but these are fairly small. 2) “New” wingtips to accommodate the MWS and wing tip chaff/flare dispens
  9. I’m hoping for an A-10C. Sure, a better A-10A would be welcome, but there’s no A-10C in the market at all (barring the extensive Phase Hanger modifications).
  10. To be somewhat pedantic, MSFS models an F/A-18E and DCS models an F/A-18C. There are some visual mods to make the legacy a super Hornet, but visual only. With that said, the whole MS flight sim franchise has historically been very basic flight models. MSFS is holding up better for GA aircraft, but military is typically very poor. The on top of that, MSFS makes it really easy to not think about loads. It defaults to 100% fuel. If my memory and numbers are serving me well, a rhino on full fuel load and no stores is about 5,000 lbs over max field landing weight, and 10,000 lbs
  11. I've only built the Hasegawa, but also have the Meng and Hobby Boss. Just looking through the box, the Hobby Boss appears overly complicated. They have options for open radomes, avionics bays, etc. If you're wanting to open them all up, great. However, for most that will build a bird not opened up for maintenance, it seems wasted. I haven't fitted any of them together, but the Meng appears to be more cleanly molded. It's not to say both don't look good, but there's something about the Meng that appears very well molded.
  12. I do agree! However, where things get messy is some of the white upper stencils duplicate the yellow. In particular, the 3 yellow hoist points on the outer wing fold panels have 3 white stencils in the same location that read "wing fold hoist point" with a white locating circle.
  13. Thank you for the reply! Searching "153783 Bunny" showed basically the same set of images I was getting for "F-4J VX-4", "F-4J Black Bunny", and "F-4J 3783". The Furball sheet is the earlier of the two versions. It has the blue/yellow gold bands and the squished bunny. I have applied almost all the white stencil data so far (just the side profiles to finish). These were clearly evident in pictures, although as you pointed out "fade" out quickly. Based on your comments I'll probably add the yellow stencil data too, which is mostly emmiter points, hoist points, and
  14. I am building a ZM F-4J as a VX-4 "Black Bunny". The sheet is for 3783. I can't seem to find a lot of photos through Google searching of this particular timeframe (most do not have the blue/gold bands). I can find a few and the white stencil data is pretty clear. I really don't know if I can be sure, but seeing a lot of the yellow service markings (jack points, hoist, etc) is hard. Hard enough, I'm not sure they were really on the airframe. And a lot of other people's builds don't seem to have all these yellow service markings either (although I know that could be a bad reference). Does
  15. It’s been available from the EU, and particularly the Netherlands, although stock didn’t last very long. Mine is out from delivery from Aviation Megastore. I think Hannants got stock recently as well.
  16. Thank you all! From the comments and picture, it seems white might be what they start out as. But quickly it gets very dirty and looks gray.
  17. Simple question, what color are the main landing bays and the wintip bays on a modern B-52H. Things I am sure I know from pictures are that the struts of the MLG and wintip wheels are white, and the inner main gear doors are white. I would therefore assume the main bays are white, but can't find any walkaround shots to be clear. And the inner door and bays of the wingtip wheels appears a zinc chromate type green to me. Thank you for any assistance!
  18. All, I am looking for a set of VF-111 decals from the Academy F-4B...I'm looking in particular for the rainbow color spread on one of the red sun rays on the tail. I'd be happy to compensate fairly or if there are trades you're interested, discuss those as well. Thanks for looking! Eric
  19. The two most glaring issues are: 1) (flight dynamics) handling at Vr. It is very sluggish in rotation, but then jumps off the runway. It makes speed management very challenging in the second segment climb since you gain a lot of speed during rotation. And 2) (AFS) it’s known to start a nose dive while in APP mode around 1,000’ without any warning or reason… or consistency. There are some other minor tags with the AFS, but more minor. The poor rotation handling really bothers me, because like AMS in scale modeling, I tend to be a bit OCD in flight simming and want to fly well by the n
  20. Take a look in to the FBW A32NX. It’s a freeware project. It started as tweaking the default A320 in MSFS, but turned in to a standalone aircraft. It is quite frankly well ahead of the CRJ. The flight dynamics are a bit off in the CRJ and it’s autoflight systems still run in to bugs. And if you’re in to the DC area, there are two separate add ons you can purchase, both made by Drziewicki Designs. One is for DCA airport itself. The other are all the landmark of the DC area. The landmarks are actually a decent upgrade over what’s in the sim already and adds even more the the runway 19
  21. I’m not sure what product I’m looking for though. Looking through the website, I’m not finding anything about storage.
  22. That’s not a bad idea. I could use the same binder for the plastic sheets I have as well. Any suggestions on the heat/soldering gun? The soldering gun I have is variable, but only on a 1-5 setting.
  23. I'm a little confused. I'm not seeing anything clearly related to this from the main page. Does he have a storage product somewhere on his site? The problem here is space efficiency. Most of the stock I have will fit a whole package in about 0.25" diameter. PVC pipe is larger diameter and thick walled, so becomes very inefficient for space. If I had large diameter stock, this would be a great solution.
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