Brian P: Fightertown Decals

Quinta and Aires make sets for the Revell kit. As far as I can see, the Quinta fits the kit perfectly. I haven’t tried to match Quinta to Aires yet… fyi, I did use Quinta for GWH on Hasegawa F-15C. It took some trimming and I had to build a new main instrument panel for the Quinta parts.

I went thru a similar dilemma recently and decided the Revelel kit was a better way to go. Added Quinta cockpit. For wepsons, you’ve got a great range from ResKit, Eduard, Flying Leathernecks. And for pylons, wheels and speed brake there’s Kopecky and Phase Hangar stuff. Far better than any kit has and highly refined all.

Great topic! Built the Tamiya B and have the ZM S in the stash and want to build. I’ve held off a bit on the ZM kit, but don’t expect Tamiya to do a late S anytime soon. Decided to go all in with the ZM kit and aftermarket. Looks good, sounds good and everyone I know that’s built it, likes it. But it’s not the same as Tamiya. Unless Tamiya has one out in the next year, I’ll be building the ZM kit. Still debating if it’s worth using the Hypersonic fuselage corrections, or if I’ll screw it up and cost me the kit..: YMMV Brian

There’s 10+ threads of the exact thing here… either way you start, you need parts from the other kit. Starting with a D is easier I think. Or if you want dropped wings, the late A gives you everything but the daily engine doors, front fans and some exhaust parts.

Kinetic is making the weapons that way in part to have the magnets fit in. So you can change out a load and switch weapons around for display. And they’ve got the design to have the parts fit perfectly. They’ve been making big advances in fit and quality so why don’t we wait and see. This is a new generation of their molding ability so the old experiences don’t count anymore. brian

Pretty sure the moment Kinetic wants to state a specific release date, they will… and also pretty sure they could’ve released this kit years ago so it’s not an imaginary future date. I know there’s a lot of buzz for this thing and it will be a pretty spectacular build to see it done.

Love the Quinta stuff!! Far better than PE, durable and will last the life of the model. I don’t put it in water. Just touch it to a damp paper towel is enough to remove the ‘decals’. Then I put them on a dry cloth and do them all that way so I can apply them all at the same time. PVA white glue or CA both work great. I weather them with enamel washes and mask the big glass screens and shoot a flat coat. The decals have mostly semi gloss appearance except for the screens and glass dials - those are gloss. After a flat coat, remove the screen masks and add a drop of Future or gloss back to the

Fightertown Decals 48083 Tomcats at War Pt 1 http://www.fightertowndecals.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=63 VF-41 and others. The A’s never got JDAM though. Only GBU series for guided bombs.

Good call! IIRC, this is what Darren Roberts used as well. I mentioned Stop Sign Red, but pretty sure I meant to say Chevy Engine Red 🤦‍♂️😜. thanks for that Brian

All I can offer is we printed the decals to match the FS color and they match to the color chip perfectly. MM 12197 was always too orange. I always added a bit of Stop Sign Red. For MrColor I tested a 40/60 mix of Orange and Red. Came out as close as I could tell. Brian as

This is all I’ve ever wanted… the 703 Blue and 709 Desert

Super nice!!! I’m always amazed what you can accomplish in such a tiny scale. Congrats. brian

Those Tomcat gear look amazing! Order placed. Brian

Willing to use lacquer? Alclad, MRP, and MrColor Super Metallic are all great. And mask over well.

Excellent work! And even more amazing since it’s tiny 1/72.