Sgt Spooky

PM sent

Yes, the L shaped brackets at the base of the tails. As I said, this isn't a Hasegawa kit, but the old Testors/Italeri RF-18D kit from the mid-late 1980s. The sprues in this kit were updated from their earlier F/A-18 releases (early to mid 1980s) with more accurate (but not exact) drop tanks, pylons, VERs, and included the LERX fences and a centerline pylon (although they are not called out to be used or even represented in the instructions). However, the tails still reflect the pre-retro fit A/B model tails, so the the brackets need to be scratch built, unless someone is willing to donate th

Thanks for the tips. I've been planning on getting the DACO book, but budget has been tight as of late. I'll try the methods mentioned and see how it turns out. Thanks much.

I've recently finished all the major construction on an F/A-18B using the Testors RF-18D kit. While this kit does have the LERX fences that were retro fitted to all early model bugs, it doesn't have any of the tail stiffeners that were added at the same time. I've tried various ways to scratch build some, but nothing has come close to looking remotely like the real thing. Anyone have any suggestions for scratch building these?

Still looking for this if anyone out there has one.

I need one or two burner cans for the 1/32 Revell F-14A kit. One of mine seems to have been lost over the years the kit sat on the shelves and really need to finish this build. Willing to trade or pay via paypal for 1 or 2 cans.

I recently came into possesion of an early 1/32 Revell F-14A kit (one with the rubber tires) from someone who was going to throw it out! They sold it to me for a dollar just to get it off their hands. Upon getting it home, I did an inventory of the parts and the only part missing was one of the burner cans. Seeing as a replacement part cannot be obtained from Revell as the kit is currently out of production, does anyone know if the Aires F-14B resin exhaust cans for the tamiya kit can be used with the kit with little or no surgery? I'd hate to have to trash the kit over missing one burner can

Thanks for the info. After reading your post I dug up a second kit from the stash and made a comparison. The gear struts on the build kit have notches in the strut for the gear door in slightly higher posititons. I acquired a set of SAC gear today and these match up to the struts from the second kit. The kit I'm building right now is from Monograms older release (the 1980's release with the Texas ANG/RCAF decal sheet) while the second kit is from the Monogram 2001 re-release (with 87th FIS and NY ANG markings). Think I'll just go with the SAC gear anyway.

I've been working on a Revell/Monogram F-101 for some time now and have now gotten to the main landing gear, but I'm a bit perpelexed by it's assembly. Is there anyone out there that has built this kit that has pictures of the completed landing gear attached to the bays? The kit instructions don't seem to be all that helpful and either I'm doing something wrong or I've got some major fit issues on my kit. The main struts are attached to the bay doors, but if I do this, the struts won't even touch the wall of the bay, which means the only thing propping the whole bird up is the bay door itself

I've been trying to find an F-15B kit to go with my 318th FIS decals in 1/48th, but have not been able to find a 'B' Eagle in 1/48th and decided to go with a 'D' and back date it. Any opinions on which is the better kit? And any ideas what needs to be done to back date it to a B-model? Any info appreciated.

Hmm.. Okay thanks for the info. I may have to do a Monogram kit with some parts from the Wolfpack ICAP II/III update set since I can't afford the asking prices on the out of production Cutting Edge update sets. I can't see backdating a Kinetic kit to match ICAP I, unless someone has extra monogram instrument panels.

I've recently come across the CVW-8 USS Nimitz Med cruise 77/78 decal sheets from Aeromaster and while going through the sheets, I noticed the decals for the EA-6B and was curious if anyone has built a Prowler using these decals? I only ask because I'm curious as to what kit was used and what configuration the real aircraft was at that time. I know the Monogram kit is supposed to represent an ICAP I bird, the Kinetic kit an ICAP III bird, but wouldn't 77/78 pre-date ICAP I? And if I were to use Monogram kit, any advice? I know a lot of work is needed to correct the inaccuracies of the kit, bu

Looks good from the preview. A 104 isn't on my list to build yet, but looking at those decals may be just the motivation I need to add it to the list. Need to finish my CF-101 and A-6E's first though.

I figured that's what I'd have to do, but I thought I would ask to see if anyone knew of any existed. Cheers.

Ah, thanks for that. Ordered and on the way!

Does anyone know where I can find some 1/48th scale Durandal anti-runway bombs or if they are included in any kits? I am looking to for some unique ordance to arm my 1/48th F-111, and thought they would look nice hanging under the wings of the Vark.

Thanks guys, that helps a lot. I'm sure you are spot on about the Revell length. I was able to find some stats and booster attached harpoons are about 15ft long, which equates to approximate scale length of the Revell Harpoons. As a side note, I was able to confirm the length of the origianl AGM-84E SLAM missles and and they come in at about 14-14.5 ft. I guess I can go ahead and cut the Revells down to the size of the Italieri Harpoons or use them as early SLAMs Thanks for the help, got better and quicker responses here than some other forums.

I'm hoping I can get some insight from someone here regarding the shape of the AGM-84 Harpoons. I have a number of leftover harpoons from my Revell A-6 builds, and recently decided to dig into my Italieri/AMT S-3's when I noticed that the harpoons included with those kits were very different in shape and size. At 1/48 scale, the Revell harpoons measure about 3 3/4 inches, with the fins far back on the missle body. The nose is also more rounded than some of the reference shots I've seen with harpoons. I always thought these look more like AGM-84E SLAMs (not SLAM-ERs) than AGM-84D Harpoons. T