efd327

EB-57Es used the Douglas ESCAPC. It had a dual overhead ejection handle like those fitted to the F-4 seats. Also the B-57G was also outfitted with the Douglas seat.

According to The Modern Phantom Guide yes they should be on the bottom also. I was at the Hill AFB Museum and I remember looking at a F-4D or C and they were on the bottom.

Looking at Don Logan's book F-4 Phantom IIs of the USAF Reserve and Air National Guard all the F-4Cs from Hawaii had the reinforcement plate.

I read an online article somewhere that there is concern about an increasing cancer rate for crews of fighter aircraft because of radar emissions. That is why the canopies are tinted on certain aircraft to reflect electronic emissions such as the EA-6B and E-2. I think the windscreen is tinted to reflect radar emissions and will probably become more common.

I have never seen a photo of a SU-7 with the flaps down or speed brakes out while parked. If you look at Soviet aircraft the norm was everything up and closed.

Received my AMP KC-10 today. I'm happy with it. Panel lines are appropriate for the scale and appear to be consistent. There is a complete flight deck and for those wanting to put the gear down it looks nice and detailed. Also included are underwing refueling pods. The engines have nice detail also and I think they will look good once completed. The decals are in register and appear useable. Also included are masks for the windscreen and wheels. There is no flash on any of the parts. In my opinion the only negative which is typical for short run kits is the sprue gates interfere with the mating surfaces but it should not be a major problem. Also there are no alignment pins for the fuselage but for your average modeler I don't think that will be a major problem. The flap actuators and engines have location holes. Overall appears to be a good kit. Picked mine up off of Ebay from a place in Illinois. Terry

I second Missouri ANG in Hill grey. They had the unique shark mouth.

How about 1/48 AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom. The kit decals are not very good.

These Skyknights were flown out of Holloman AFB in the early 80's for US Army missile tests at the White Sands range. A friend of mine was with the 9TFS/49TFW flying F-15s and I went to Holloman to visit him around 1985. He was showing me around the base and I remember him saying there was a plane that he had no idea what it was. We drove over to where it was parked and there sat a dark blue F3D Skyknight. First and last time I ever saw one.

There is a photo in Daco Publications Uncovering the F-16 of 4 F-16s lined up preparing to take-off. The neutral gray on all of them is a different shade. To me it just goes to prove what everyone else above has said.

I can't remember the reason but somehow the photo of the E with the drop tanks was not supposed to be released but was accidentally made public. Once it was out there it couldn't be stopped so they had to just roll with it.

If I may add a little bit to the conversation. The guy flying the F-15 in the photo is a good friend of mine. I can tell by his dark gray helmet. He was Boeing's chief F-15 pilot and flew every version of the Eagle before he retired a couple of years ago. This is what he told me about the sensors below the cockpit. He said and I quote "They are missile plum detectors. They only work when the missile plum is present and gives a warning. There is one on top of the fuselage and the bottom situated between the engines and the ones below the cockpit". It is supposed to give 360 degree coverage (Boeing Driver is this the same as the DEWS you are referring to?). He said the ones located on the cockpit sides made a lot of noise when they would get the jet up to around 500 knots. As a side note he did the testing on the F-15I. He said on one test it was loaded so heavily that he thought the tires would surely come off of the wheels when he made a turn while taxiing. It was carrying what the Israelis wanted tested for a maximum load. He also showed me a test photo of a Strike Eagle in flight where they mounted the drop tanks on each side on the conformal fuel pallets of an F-15E. The Israeli's wanted to know if it would work and it did. It was kind of crazy looking.

I looked at numerous photos of Tomcats in the grey and white scheme when I was building my VF-2 Tomcat. I never found one that had the no step stencils anywhere so I left them off.

From what I've been able to determine the major difference between the seats is the -3 had a face curtain. Other than that they look almost the same. Also if your building an A model Harrier the first 89 aircraft were equipped with Martin Baker seats, from the 90th aircraft onward they were equipped with the Stencil seat. All were eventually retrofitted with the Stencil seat. In my research I've noticed if a Harrier has full color unit markings then it usually has the Martin Baker seat. By the time low vis markings became the norm they are equipped with Stencil seats.

I vote for Georgia Air Guard also.