oortiz10

Hey ARC, I think I'll get in on this. I have an Academy 1/48 'cat in my stash that I want to build up. I know it's not the most accurate or user-friendly, but it's what I have. I don't know what markings I'll use on it yet. I think Tomcats look best in VF-1 and "The Bones" markings, but I don't know if I want to "waste" one of my sheets on this kit. I might have to come up with something "a little different" for this kitty.

As terrible as 2020 and the pandemic have been, the lockdown and working from home have allowed me A LOT of bench time. I think I've gotten more built in the last 9 months than I did in all of 2018 and 2019. Here's my 2020 in chronological order. All except the Skyraider are "Covid builds". Monogram 1/48 AD-6 Skyraider Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire Mk. Vb Hobby Boss 1/48 A-7A Corsair II Hasegawa 1/48 A-4E Skyhawk Italeri 1/48 AH-1Z built as a AH-1(4B)W (Thank you Floyd S. Werner, Jr.) Monogram

WOW! What an output! Quality stuff too! Great work! -O

Hey gang, I'm wondering if anyone has any info on grey camo AH-1Js from HMA-773 and 775 during ODS. Specifically, I'm looking for info on colors, camo patterns and markings. From the pictures I've found (like these: 1, 2, & 3 and the ones in this awesome gallery) it looks like there may be 3 different shades of gray in the camo, plus another for the markings. Also, it doesn't appear that all the markings were "standardized", that's to say that it seems that markings differed from airframe to airframe. Also, it appears from pictures that some aircraft had black only

Here's Italeri's 1/48 AH-1Z that I converted to Bell's AH-1(4B)W demonstrator. I posted pictures in The Display Case but didn't post any here. I have a few more projects in the works that I think will get done before life "gets back to normal".

I like it! Very dramatic. Nice work! -O

Did you build your B-1 in-flight or use resin wheels? My wife picked up this monster for me at a yard sale for around $15. It's complete except for 1 main gear wheel. I need part #A90; inner main gear wheel. It's INCORRECTLY listed in the instructions as A88 Main Gear Wheel. It's the inner wheel half that does not have the axle. I'm willing to pay for the part and shipping. Please reply, PM or email me at oortiz10 at yahoo dot com if you can help. Thanks! -O *This is also posted in the Buy and Sell and Jet Modeling

Did you build your B-1 in-flight or use resin wheels? My wife picked up this monster for me at a yard sale for around $15. It's complete except for 1 main gear wheel. I need part #A90; inner main gear wheel. It's INCORRECTLY listed in the instructions as A88 Main Gear Wheel. It's the inner wheel half that does not have the axle. I'm willing to pay for the part and shipping. Please reply, PM or email me at oortiz10 at yahoo dot com if you can help. Thanks! -O *This is also posted in the Jet Modeling and Spares Box fo

Did you build your B-1 in-flight or use resin wheels? My wife picked up this monster for me at a yard sale for around $15. It's complete except for 1 main gear wheel. I need part #A90; inner main gear wheel. It's INCORRECTLY listed in the instructions as A88 Main Gear Wheel. It's the inner wheel half that does not have the axle. I'm willing to pay for the part and shipping. Please reply, PM or email me at oortiz10 at yahoo dot com if you can help. Thanks! -O *This is also posted in the Buy and Sell and Spares Box fo

Hey JP77, This was a fun build. I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid and loved the Sabre's markings. For mine, everything on it is paint. I freehanded the dragon onto some paper then transferred it to some tape to make my own mask. If you look at pictures of the plane or stills from the movie, you can see that the dragon on the real plane is more detailed. I didn't have very good references to use, nor am I a very good artist, so I shot for "close enough." Sorry I couldn't be more help. Thanks for bringing back this moldy-oldie. I'm glad you enjoyed my build. T

Links fixed. Thanks for the suggestion Carlos! -O

Hey ARC, This is a project that had been thinking about for a while. My plan was to build all the (major) USMC Cobra variants in 1/48. Before KH released their Whiskey and Zulu variants, the venerable (read: inaccurate) Italeri kits were the only options. I had read that the Whiskey would take a lot of work to make accurate, and the Zulu was a mix between the (inaccurate) Whiskey, Bell's 4-bladed (4B) demonstrator, and the Zulu. I realized that making either boxing into accurate-ish representations of a Whiskey and a Zulu was beyond my skills, so the kits just sat in the closet...until re

Ooh, this is a fun one. I'll play... I've gotten more done since March than I did in all of 2019! Monogram 1/48 F-84F Thunderstreak Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire Mk. Vb Hobby Boss 1/48 A-7A Corsair II Hasegawa 1/48 A-4E Skyhawk Los Angeles County's Stay Home order is supposed to extend until July at the earliest but likely August. I'm a teacher so I don't see the lockdown letting up for me until the Fa

PM sent. -O

Hey ARC, The title pretty much says it all. I'm looking for the skids from Monogram's 1/48 AH-1S skids. If you have an old junk kit or shelf queen you're looking to unload, please contact me. I'm posting in the Buy & Sell and Spares Box forums too. Thanks, -O

Hey ARC, The title pretty much says it all. I'm looking for the skids from Monogram's 1/48 AH-1S skids. If you have an old junk kit or shelf queen you're looking to unload, please contact me. I'm posting in the Helicopter and Buy & Sell forums too. Thanks, -O

Hey ARC, The title pretty much says it all. I'm looking for the skids from Monogram's 1/48 AH-1S skids. If you have an old junk kit or shelf queen you're looking to unload, please contact me. I'm posting in the Helicopter and Spares Box forums too. Thanks, -O

Thanks for the pats on the back, ARC. Hey longmc, yeah, if you really look at the forward part of the fuselage, you'll see the skinny nose and squashed intake. Again, only if you're really looking...or an A-7 expert. Otherwise, I think it looks OK built up. One other area you'll need to pay attention to is the rudder. On the kit it's too tall. HB modeled it extending all the way up to the fin cap. In reality, it only extends to the "kink" in the trailing edge. I fixed it by simply cutting off the extra bit and gluing it directly to the tail. After some fi

First of all, thanks everyone for the compliments. Much appreciated. I'm glad you like my Skyhawk and thanks for looking. Second, to answer your question Underdog, I use Testors' Dullcote Lacquer. I thin it 1:1 with lacquer thinner, and it gives me a nice dead-dull finish. Let me know if have any other questions. Cheers, -O

OK ARC, Here's the second of a pair I built for the Viet Nam Aircraft GB on FSM. I like the look of the Scooter without the hump, and a loaded Scooter is even better! Over the years I've seen photos of Marine Skyhawks with impressive CAS loads. I've had the decals for VMA-121 sitting in my stash for a while. This was the perfect opportunity to use them on a Marine Skyhawk in Southeast Asia. This was a loadout that almost wasn't! I had procured the necessary Mk. 82 Snakeyes to build my jet, only to learn that the airframe couldn't carry 12 Mk. 82s. The bombs in pictures

Hey ARC, Here's an A-7A I built for the Vietnam War Aircraft GB over on FSM. I was originally going to build a Corsair as it would have looked when deployed, but decided to do a test squadron SLUFF with this loadout. I liked the way the green sash looked on the VX-5's tail, so I used a little artistic license on my build. I've read a few reviews that bashed this boxing saying HB screwed up and made the Corsair look a little too much like the Crusader. Well, I can see that, but I'm more from the if-it-looks-like-a-(insert aircraft here)-then-it's-a-(insert aircraft here)

Howdy fellow plastic mashers, I just finished up my first Spitfire. (Gasp!) Yeah...I'll let you all catch your breath... I don't pretend to be a Spitfire expert, but I've always enjoyed the lines of the Spit, especially the clipped wing version. When I saw the green-on-green camo version on Eagle Strike's sheet, I knew I had to build one. I picked up the decals before I had the kit, but not long after got my hands on Tamiya's super-nice Mk. Vb. Now, by no means am I a rivet counter, but I wasn't able to find any concrete evidence that this camo

Hey Joe, sent you a PM. -O

Jari, Thanks for the information. I looked for Mk. 81s in 1/48. Eduard makes sets of 6, but two sets to complete my Skyhawk would cost more than the kit itself! I think I'll go with napalm on stations 1 and 5, TERs with Snakeyes on 2 and 4, and gas on the centerline. Cheers! -O

Hey Don, great topic! Heck yeah, I've been building! I finished Monogram's F-84F Thunderstreak, I'm finishing up Tamiya's Mk. Vb, and I'm in the middle of Hasegawa's A-4E. I'm a teacher, and my district's already decided to close campuses for the rest of the year. That means I'll have plenty of more time for building. After the Spitfire, I'm not sure what I'll be starting. I'm planning on having a couple of builds going at the same time. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is building. Everyone stay clean, stay healthy, and stay indoors! Cheers!