Brian P: Fightertown Decals

This is so awesome! I love the SU-27M/Su-35 and have long wanted to build either the brown or blue splinter. Those KokuFan photos were amazing when it came out. They were the basis for TOPGUN early splinter jets that I was fortunate enough to be around TOPGUN when they were delivered. I have the Kinetic Su-33 as the starting point and haven't decided how far in the mods I want to get. Remove the wing fold and larger squared fins are a must... thanks for sharing! Would love to see inprogress/mods pictrures... 😉 -brian

I still have a few of the 1/48 GE cans. They really were great for the time and still look good. Andrew - I'd venture there isn't a known price that they're worth. Put them on ebay and see what happens. Or I'd say $5-$12 a set is in the ballpark. Probably $10 is fair and notes that they aren't available... -brian

fyi, I can't post the big pictures here and I'm not resizing pictures to post but I can tell you VF-211 changed the paint job several times in 94-97. It had one scheme until June 95, a repaint Nov 95, repaint in May 96 and Aug 96. Late Nov/Dec 100 switched bunos. brian

1 Sized to Hasegawa because the Tamiya kit didn't exist when the sheet was made. 2 Naca vents. Don't know how that didn't get caught on the instructions and no one's noticed in 4+ years its been out. That mistake shouldn't have happened to begin with. 3. buno is correct 161271. 1000%. I'm looking at a clear picture of it. I shot VF-24 and VF-211 at Miramar, Fallon and on the boat from late 1993 until Aug 1996. 100 didn't become 16255 until after the squadron moved to Oceana, so Dec 96 could be correct. But for the date on the sheet, it was 161271. 4. The checkerboard will fit Tamiya mostly. The Tamiya tail is wider and shorter so some adjustment will happen. -brian

This is the decal sheet you want - Fightertown Decals 48085 is fit to Tamiya and is available. http://www.fightertowndecals.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=59 48065 was for the Hasegawa kit but for the CAG jet, will still work just fine.

Yeah, I’m just telling you what color blue the dogs were painting their jets. Pretty sure I goofed the color on the Fightertown 48083 sheet (if we sales out a color), but we did match the decals to the Fs color. Printing variations could have affected the actual color. I know Geoff Kruger built that jet and used a blend of Tamiya X-4 and another blue to match our decals. I don’t have or haven’t seen the Furball instructions, so I can’t help there. But the only 15044 paint they’ve used I know of was on their last cruise jets that we (Fightertown) covered way back on 48003. brian

The blue was 15102 True Blue. MM made it. MRP makes it - MRP384. Mr Color C65 is a very close match although I don’t know if they list it as an FS color. Tamiya also has a close match but don’t know the bottle off the top of my head. X-4 I think. Can’t tell you what matches the decals or what the decals were printed too, but the Navy color was 15102. brian

Just looking at it, I think you can get a good feeling for the level of details we did. Printed at Cartograf, fit to the Hasegawa kit and we did as much as we could think of. It's been sold out for awhile. If you're building Tamiya (or AMK), you want 48087 which is readily available. We added more stuff and details. I'm pretty proud of this one 😉 brian

Of course the pilot won't work. There is no pilot out there that's a Blue. Maybe use the Academy pilot and sand down all the detail... I'm just talking about the helmet for a seated Blue Angel 😉 brian

I was just trying to find who makes good Mk83's. Are these the same pieces that were in the BB Bombcat set?... Any chance of a straight Mk83 conical fin set? Nobody makes these. The old hasegawa weapons set bombs aren't even close.

That stashe makes it even cooler! Easier to remove that create 😉 It may not be easily available, but they are out there. I bought 4 online a few years back with no problems. -brian

Those closed F-14D GE nozzles will be most welcome! If you get that slightly curved shape correct it will look awesome! thanks, brian

You did one of the most awesome seated pilots ever made! And no matter what you create, there are always people that want it 'their' way 😉 I know, I'm one of them hahahaha. You keep making the figures that you want. I've found that's the best way to do aftermarket - make what makes you happy. For the time and effort it takes, you have to enjoy and invest the time. And then share what you're proud of and let the customers work it out. cheers, brian

Verlinden 1/32 TOPGUN pilot is perfect for a Blue Angel - HGU-33 with visor down, no mask 😉 -brian

Www.fightertowndecals.com 1/32 are all sold out but pop up online, at resale, ebay and retailers. 😉 brian