Brian P: Fightertown Decals

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

You just got scammed. Look at the history. And good luck getting the refund. They will have tracking (even tho you will receive an empty box/usb cable) or the box will get rerouted... just buy from a reputable dealer and pay the $55 like everyone else. $20? Too good to be true and it is. There’s a reason all the listings are below $20. A 1/32 Trumpeter F/A-18F for $19? Yeah, it’s all a scam out of China.

It did have the blisters. We goofed and used the Buno from an earlier CAG Jet. There’s another thread about it here somewhere... CAG11 badge is on the inside of the right tail. There’s very few shots of this jet from the ODS cruise. I used a cruise book with a few shots to piece it together. Brian

Always wanted to build this one... Seen at the NAS Miramar transfer to MCAS Miramar ceremonies. My photo And yes, I have very high res shots of it, including a good tail close up. I wasn't thinking about decals back then, but the tail was too cool not to get a close up 😉

Those Katran nozzles have some really funky shapes and the shroud parts have some strange grid panel lines that don't exist on the real thing... - Closed nozzles aren't fully closed and close at a strange angle and have a kink, kind of like the kink in the F-15 featherless nozzles. - Open nozzles have too long extension of the inner petals. The 2 that I think are tops are: - KA. They have both the exhaust and full exhaust with tubes. They are amazing looking. There is the slightest step in the nozzles to shroud but it's almost not noticeable if done right. The tubes and final stage burners are works of art. - The Eduard Brassin set is about the best designed and fitting ones I've seen. They capture the complex shape and curves very well. I'd say these overall are the best bang for buck. And designed for the Tamiya kit. They fit perfect and improve on the already very well done kit parts.

eraucubsfan - send me your email and I'll dropbox you a couple of shots of 007 in the 2-tone we did the decals from. -brian

You can use 36375 for all the gray. I'd upload pictures but they are all 3MB or greater...

Totally different. brown/tan/sand. Different patterns and colors. Doing the 3-tone jet would require different markings. You could piece together a few parts but the brown alone would be missing...

Part of the issue with the slat/wings is that AMK didn’t mold the slat bay. They molded the wing smooth all the way and there should be a recessed bay for the slat. So I see in all the builds, people don’t have a mark for where to paint the red. Some have lots of red vs some with almost no red. And if you do too much either way, it looks off. Brian

I love watching this thread and am continuously impressed by your skill and attention to detail. Having built a bunch of the Hasegawa Tomcats, and correcting a few things, I still can only think the way to improve the Hasegawa kit is to build the Tamiya! Hahahaha. Beian

I always was under the impression it simply had to do with the part contract manufacturer. Nothing more than the later made parts had straight and different number of vanes... Just like some of the main tires had tread in the center (5 lines of tread) of the tire, and some didn’t (4 lines of tread)... bris

Dark Green 34079. That's what it is and what we match to print. Note the stars had 36375 centers 😉

Wow - can't believe we did that. And many, many years ago and it was never caught. Actual plane was Dark Green FS34079. Personally I don't like that color in scale. I don't think it has enough green and is too dark. But that is what the actual jet was painted... Field Green 34097 would be a good option for the repaint that went to the museum, but it's too light for the actual jet. -brian

The little circle vent on the starboard (right side) of both ‘weekly’ doors is only on the A with PW engines. It does show a lot of streaking. I’d guess AMK added (like Tamiya did) for future versions. AMK seems to have added a lot of ‘extra’ wear and tear type stuff. Some panels that they molded are added on sheet metal repairs, visible on a specific airframe. I’d fill it in with putty or if you’re doing that exact specific airframe (or just like the look) cover it with bare metal foil or very thin plastic... Brian