Alleycat

Sometime in the last month or so I saw post thet described a product for oil painting that the poster used used in his airbrush cup to reduce "sputtering" and improve paint flow. He said that he dipped a toothpick into the fluid , let it drip off and stirred the residue into the airbrush cup. For the life of me I can't find this post. I thought it was in "Jet Modeling" but I could be wrong. Can anyone point me in the right direction or at least tell me what the name of the product was? Thanks

Thanks for the info Rex, I guess I'll pass on it. Unfortunately my eyes can't see well enough anymore to paint 1/72 cockpits like I used to so I rely on Eduard and Aires stuff. I have the Aires resin/PE replacement cockpit for the 1/72 Hasegawa EA-6B Prowler ICAP-2 (Late). I have not used it yet so can not speak to the fit but it is a thing of beauty, especially the instrument panel. It is such a shame that no one has ever done anything similar for the 1/72 Fujimi A-6 kits. That is, as far as I know.

I found this Airwaves PE instrument panel for a 1/72 A-6E Intruder. http://www.starfighter-decals.com/a6e-for-fujimi-ki6.html The package says "For Hasegawa Kit" but on the page it says "For Fujimi Kit". I asked for clarification from Mark Tutton of Starfighter Decals where it was listed but he could not tell me which kit the PE was designed for. Question #1: Has anyone used it and does it fit the 1/72 Fujimi A-6E Intruder kit? Question #2: Could someone with both the 1/72 Hasegawa A-6 kit and 1/72 Fujimi A-6 kit compare the size of the instrument panels? If the instrument panels are the

I think MHaz meant Vallejo FS35052 "Prussian Blue" not FS35048 "Dark Prussian Blue". The 35052 is a bit lighter. He said to add a drop of red and it is just about perfect. I have not tried it yet.

I just use a large, inexpensive paint brush I bought about 25 years ago just for dusting. About 1inch wide. Works great and easy to find.

So, mention anything critical about a HB kit and the trolls still come out? My earlier response about the Tamiya Corsair wing design was a little tongue-in-cheek. I had a lot of trouble with my first attempt at the -1D. I used small plastic strips to strengthen the joint but it still cracked on BOTH sides. Having said that I am a big fan of most of the Tamiya 1/48 stuff. I can not say the same thing about the few HB kits I have seen, but to be fair I have never built one. I just wish someone would do a one-piece replacement wing for the Tamiya Corsairs (hello Wolfpack Design) because they

By doing away with the Tamiya $&@?! Two-section wing! If they do that I would buy some.

OK, thanks for the help. That "late '77 to early '78 time frame" is a little close for comfort, but I have decided to go with the early style seat for summer 1977. To MHaz, Sorry to hear about your mishap, I hope you recover quickly. With regard to the matching blue paint "Vallejo 35052 Dark Prussian Blue" you mentioned. I was in my LSH today to get this and saw that 35052 is called "Prussian Blue" while 35048 is called "Dark Prussian Blue". I decided to go with the 35052 "Prussian Blue" on the assumption that you added the "Dark" by accident but got the 35052 part correct. If not, it sh

Back in September I jumped on the SprueBrothers deal offering the 1/48 Wolfpack T-38A Talon "NASA" kit for $31.99 and including the Vagabond T-38 Thunderbirds decals for free. I plan to do an aircraft from the T-bird's 1977 season which is the first time I saw them at Travis AFB. Looking at photos online and in several books I can not tell which seat the T-38 T-birds had that year. Several photos show Bicentennial birds with tho old seats with a red headrest. Other undated photos show T-38 T-birds with the later seat (big box for new parachute system behind headrest) and a black headrest.

I think I need a third source. The Attack Squadron ones look a bit fiddly while the Modern Hobbies ones look nice. Unfortunately Modern Hobbies has a shipping policy that sucks. Here it is from their web site: "MH is fortunate enough to offer very reasonable shipping to the USA and International with expected delivery times as little as 4-7 days. Unfortunately local shipping with-in Canada is frustratingly high, over $15.00 from MH to a local town just an hour away. MH has to offset this cost by charging a few dollars more for USA and International in order to provide reasonable shipping

Anybody have photos or links showing the Attack Squadron ones?

Benner, You are totally correct. The photos I was referring to had a bit of an optical illusion going on making one of the bombs appear to be on the center pylon (station 6). Upon FURTHER further review there is an empty pylon on station 6 in both photos ("A-10 Warthog" Mini in Action #4 - Squadron/Signal page 33 and "A-10 Warthog in Action" - Squadron Signal #1218 page 34). Also the TERs were on stations 4 and 8, NOT 5 and 7 ("Warthog - Flying the A-10 in the GULF WAR" on the second page of photos-no page number). I do have photos of ordnance on station 6, just not during Desert Storm. S

I went through all of my A-10 and ODS books for the 1000th time and noticed two photos of ODS Hogs with CBUs on the center pylon (station 6). I have read several place that they never did that. I also saw one photo, in two different books, with TERs on stations 5 and 7 with Mk 82 iron bombs mounted side-by-side on each TER. I guess the old saying "never say never" is true. Edit: OCT 03 2014 - Disregard this info. Both of these statements are incorrect, sorry for the mistake. See later post.

It looks like for 1/72 resin AGM-88 HARMs there are these: Modern Hobbies - http://www.modern-hobbies.com/shop/native-american-basket-06 The fins look fairly thick and these: Arma Hobby (Attack Squadron series" - http://www.armahobby.com/agm-88-harm-2szt.html I can not find a photo (other than the box) or a review online. Has anyone seen both and can recommend one as being better than the other? Hopefully Eduard will do some in their Brassin line soon.

Need some input. Who makes the most accurate and detailed aftermarket 1/72 AGM-88 HARMs. Cost is no issue. I looked at the ones at Modern Hobbies and they look good. I also have some from the Hasegawa Aircraft Weapon set. So what else is there and which is "best". Thanks

Well I just did another search and found the same links. I must have misspelled SUU-30H, Oops. Benner, You must have read the excellent book "Warthog - Flying the A-10 in the GULF WAR" by William L. Smallwood. He talks about the "Flying Tigers" (74th TFS of the 23rd TFW) going to night attack after the second week of the war. But something here strikes me. On page 115 there is a quote from Lt. Col. Jim Green of the 355th TFS regarding night ops with the A-10: "Typically, then I would start climbing-a slow process with all that ordnance-six bombs, two or four Mavericks, two flare pods, a

I would like to put SUU-30H based cluster bombs on my 1/72 Italeri A-10. My A-10 will represent "When Pigs Fly" which is an A-10A from the 74th TFS/23rd TFW from England AFB operating from Saudia Arabia during Operation Desert Storm in early 1991. I have seen a couple of photos of Rockeye CBUs being loaded on A-10s from ODS, but most photos show them with SUU-30H dispensers (used for CBU-52, CBU-58, CBU-71, CBU-98, and CBU-97). I am looking for a source for accurate SUU-30H CBUs in either resin or plastic. The ones in the 1/72 Hasegawa Aircraft Weapons:II are just wrong and not fixable (to

Hey Bigasshammm, Did you get my PM? Alleycat

Actually the enamel and lacquer paints have carriers that "bite" the plastic and hold. The acrylics have carriers that do not bite the plastic, they just have a better chance of not pulling away from the rough surface. But you could very well model for your entire life and never have a problem with not priming. It only takes once to make you a believer though. I find that is true for lots of things in life :russian-roulette-smiley: (sorry, I love this little emoticon, it made me laugh) Any time you add another process it can complicate things. That may be why some modelers do not us

Regarding priming before using acrylic: I once painted a 1/72 Hasegawa Hornet using Gunze Acq. Acrylic and a large chip came off the right side of the fuselage just below the cockpit with some low tack masking tape. That was around 1990 and I suppose the formula might have changed since then, and yes, I thoroughly cleaned the plastic prior to application. At that time I researched it and the "experts" seemed to agree that priming was usually the safe play. I also became cautious about the way I remove any masking material, always pulling it back over itself very tightly. Never lift it str

When I bough my supply of Tamiya primer (Lacquer) it was not available from my LHS in bottles and I have never looked for them. This is a pleasant surprise to me so thanks for the info. If the bottled product is the exact same mixture and consistency I would probably go with that next time. The large spray cans are around $12 US and last a LONG time. I do not know the cost of the bottles but they may be more economical. Decanting the primer from a spray can is really no more difficult than preparing the actual paint. Like I said it is already the correct consistency for spraying. I thin

The following post is for airbrushing, I have not done brush painting in a long time. So here's my $0.02 worth: I like the Gunze Aqueous. Good colors and safe to use. I think they look better with about 20% (depending on color) white added for the scale effect. Pay attention to what others have said here about thinning (isopropyl alcohol - 70% alcohol is good, 91% needs a drop of retarder but is what I use) drying time ( about 24 hours works for me). I have not tried the Mr. Color so can not comment. The following may be more info than you are looking for but I wish someone had told me

Brian, You're on my friend. But what I would dearly love to do is see your setup for designing and making decals. I have a little trouble getting around, but maybe I can talk my brother into taking me up there. He is an aviation artist and graphic designer who has done many Revell model box art paintings. He would enjoy meeting you. Here is the link to his web page http://stu-shepherd.artistwebsites.com/ Since you seem to be a big Tomcat fan I have to say that I have the original of his Tomcat painting "Sundowner Tomcats" hanging in my home office. He used photos of my Tomcat model to m

falcon20driver, I read through this thread a couple of times and I am not sure if you are planning a Tomcat in 1/72, 1/48 or 1/32. I had assumed it was 1/72 and pulled out my Brassin AIM-54C set. I compared them to the 1/72 drawing and closeup photo on page 57 of Bert Kinzey's book "U.S. Aircraft & Armament of Operation Desert Storm", a very useful book I could not do without. The sharpness of the taper and the point look pretty accurate to me, assuming Mr. Kinsey is correct. The earlier AIM-54A had a much more rounded taper and tip. The overall length is just a little short though.

To Brian, Apology accepted. I apologize for my equally disrespectful response. I accept that it is your business and you take the risks and make the decisions. I did not know who you were or anything about FTD. I visited your web store and saw that you have done 1/72 decals in the past and give you credit for that also. I will refrain from pestering you about 1/72 decals in the future and hope others will as well. I can understand how this could get frustrating. However, you should take it as a compliment, not an insult, when people post wanting to see your product in their preferred sc