aircal62

An early Sabre sheet would be most welcome especially some of the early AF units before the Korean War and also some of the ANG units like AZ

Love the Su-22's, but personally I have wondered for years why there are no new kits of the Su-7 in 1/48 scale. I have thought about cross kitting the Trumpeter Su-9 fuselage and stabs with the wings from the old Su-7 kit produced in the CZ republic, then ESCI. Kind of gives the look, but know there are a ton of detail differences.

Personally I'd go for the Welsh Models 72nd DC-9 kit over the Mach 2. Airline Hobby Suppy in Phoenix has them, they are more expensive than the Mach 2 kits. The advantage on the Welsh Models kits is that only the fuselage is vac-formed, the wings, stabs and engines are all resin, and very nicely done. One of the details of the DC-9 missed by most is the circular vent just under the left engine which is open while on the ground. Also the DC-9-30/49/50 had a revised and slightly longer fuselage/wing fairing. I'd go with Dutch's fuselage plugs for the Atlantis DC-9 fuselage, and use the Wels

I'd better not linger on buying this sheet, it's going to sell out fast! Lots of great birds on this. Lots of Orange and lots of DayGlo

Gabor, yes still a fascinating aircraft. 50's roots include the U-2A-D cockpit, fuselage around cockpit and canopy were basically from the F-104. The U-2R kept the fuselage cross section through the cockpit and Lockheed ejection seat. Nice to see that Hobby Boss unlike AFV got the fuselage behind the wings correct, as it should be a circular cross section and not have a crease and small change in cross section in it like the AFV kit has. Hopefully Hobby Boss got the wheel wells correct also.

Kursad, another great 104 sheet and one that is going to sell out very fast. On the GE logo, might you include the blue disk, and maybe the think white designs, but leave off the GE. Then you may also somewhere on the sheet have a small white GE without any notation as to what it may be for

Another possible new subject at least to 1/144 scale would be the C-46 now that Wolfpack will be releasing the Platz kit under the Wolfpack label. Should get better distribution than the Platz kit did. Might have some room on the sheet to add the Iconic Flying Tiger Airlines aircraft

Love seeing what Horizon is doing. The Atlas proved to be a very versatile launch vehicle. I am currently at the beginning stages of a kit bash of two kits attempting to build an early long tank Atlas Centaur.

Kursaid, you likely already know Phillip Fridell of Replica In Scale. On this F-104 you may reach out to him via his ReplicaInScale blog. Some how I think he has a bit of info on this bird - that the QF-104 in the picture you posted 60375.

With Special Hobby releasing their revised T-2 again in 48th scale, perhaps a sheet covering some of the training and aggressor schemes. Interesting that the TPS used the T-2 as their spin training aircraft and it wore some nice schemes too. One sheet, and done for the T-2.

Hopefully you can find room for the GE test bird as it has never been done in any scale. This is going to be the the best of your F-104 series and will sell out very fast.

I don't know the truth of the G man story, but John joked about it.

When those kits were produced they were considered quite accurate. But to understand the times in which they were designed and produced, accurate information was difficult to come by although there were lots of photos being taken at several airshows etc). Lockheed was happy to supply some very nice drawings with shapes and even cross sections, however all dimensions were removed from the drawings. Additionally cockpit photos were almost non existent, only a few photos of a trainer instrument panel and no sidewall details. John Andrews who designed the kit was very good at shapes and such (h

Bob I had forgotten about that article. Thank you for posting it.

On those early A model F-15's one of the things to look for is the speed brake. The initial speed brake was small and kind of squarish. It is depicted on the early Revell 1/48 kit of the Streak Eagle F-15. Tamiya F-15A represents an F-15 with a newer revised speed brake design which was longer with tapered sides. Another early F-15A kit was Fujimi's kit which had another short lived variation of the speed brake often seen on the Air Superiority blue aircraft, that being a strake on the top of the speed brake. The Monogram kit represents the final design of the speed brake and I do not thi

The bottom fuselage part looks really amazing! Very nice to have an A model 104.

Jon, you're doing excellent work on this kit. I always hated the Airfix had to have all the doors and cargo hatches separate. Just a lot of extra work to clean them up. Can't wait to see how she looks with primer

Jon, you are doing an amazing job on this kit. While the Airfix missed details of an actual production aircraft like the flap tracks, and a bulge in the fuselage just under the stabs, it looks like Airfix got a lot right. Looking forward to seeing your finished model.

Jon, nice work on this kit. The Airfix looks significantly better than the Revell kit. Are you planning on doing the white crown Eastern or the bare metal finish? I am watching your build with interest as a Tristar may be my next airliner build.

Raptor 777 some thoughts. If you have the Tamiya older F-15 kit, add on the left over Academy parts and enjoy it. If you have the Academy F-15 build it and enjoy it. If you have to have the best most accurate F-15C MISP or F-15E then go out and purchase the most accurate kit, as neither of the two kits you mentioned are going to be as accurate as the GWH F-15C or even the Revell F-15E. Trying to add on or modify an older kit to represent the current configuration of an aircraft or working to improve the accuracy when there are better kits out of the box can be a frustrating exercise. My

Paul, you make things sound so simple!! Incredible build and model

Dutch, I think your approach on this kit is the best way to go. It will look awesome sitting on your shelf. Paul that looks really amazing. A little bit of detailing here and there and you've got something really special. Do you have a photo of the finished C-9?

Beautiful build and one of the most beautiful paint schemes ever to adorn the F-4. The Marines seemed to have some of the most colorful and striking schemes on their phantoms. I buy a Hasegawa F-4J whenever I find them at a decent price as they are great builds and they look awesome built as your model testifies. Great work

Dutch, I've been slowly working on the same project to 3d print. Initially just to produce wing tips and flap actuators for the wings of the Aurora/Atlantis DC-9. I then began looking at a stretch for the early kit to make a series 30. The fuselage cross section of the Aurora kit is missing the double lobe and is like the Airfix kit of the DC-9 in that respect. So as I looked it became apparent that a new fuselage would actually be needed. But Douglas changed the fuselage/wing fairing between the series 10 and the 30 making it extend back further along the fuselage. So now the project

Yes they were there, two rows as seen in later 707 wings. Boeing had extensive experience with using vortex generators on wings with the B-47 and B-52