BillS

Really excellent info. Ive wanted to see a new tool for a good while now. I did the 90s release with a butt load of Flightpath brass with good results but that was then and this is NOW!

This was one of my wish list subjects. I’m totally in. A “man’s” airplane!

You might put feelers out for the old but excellent Cutting Edge conversion. It does require lopping off a fair chunk of the forward fuselage since the cross section moving forward became elliptical in shape along with different surface details.

I need a left aileron for that jet. Can I bum one if it’s not being used?

I just sold my EU kit on Ebay. Solid “good” model but don’t want to buy aftermarket this and that and attempt inhancing more detail.

I bought this kit and did a mini review a couple weeks back. This review is more in-depth and better but the bottomline for me was lack of overall detail i.e. panel and fastener detail which lacks “oomph”. This coupled with the “basic-ness” of the cockpit/canopy area and landing gear caused me to loose enthusiasm. I hate, HATE being negative but for a beloved subject like this I expected more. That’s not to say that modelers can’t build a nice replica, they can but contrast this to recent ICM products for example and the picture comes in to focus.

Eielson’s aggressors are big mouth, 110 jets so you're good to go out of the box.

Regarding the ailerons and flaps, even USAF aircraft came out of the factory with red end caps. I can’t recall a single F-4 not so finished. The same applies to the inner surfaces of speed brakes, their actuators bodies, aux air door, their actuators and the RAT its doors and well. I cant recall one single exception.

A technique I’ve used that’s convincing is to leave your final camo colors with a sheen. In reality even the flat finish appeared that way. Once You're happy with your camo, mask the walkways to match your subject then spray them with your favorite flat coat so the sprayed area is dead flat and slightly gritty. Apply black border stripping if appropriate. A couple of things to be aware of: Navy and USAF walkways were shaped differently. Study numerous online photos for reference. Also, USAF walkways might not have only been present on intakes but atop the wing root and more notably t

There were two methods of painting non skid on USAF F-4s. Aluminum oxide grit was one. Many USAF F-4s had the walkways applied but were consequently painted over leaving an uneven appearance. With time the walkway non skid wore unevenly. Here is an F-4E from the 704TFS late in life wearing a special scheme for Gunsmoke competition. You should be able to discern the faint outline of a walkway atop the intake.

Here’s my quick and dirty advice 1. As a general rule, enamel paint sprays and brushes the best. 2. If your not ready to spring for an (Iwata) airbrush, hand paint affordable Tamiya or new release Airfix 1/72 stuff. 3. Keep it simple: start out with a no.11 Xacto knife, tweezers, some Tamiya yellow “kabuki” tape, Tamiya liquid cement, super glue and an assortment of brushes both flat and pointed. 4. decal setting solution 5. a small assortment of wet or dry sand paper. 6. an optivisor. All the advice above is really good. Drink it in and go forward.

This is an easy one. The headrest conversion began around 1977. This incorporated a drogue chute that gave the Northrop seat a zero altitude, 75 knot capability. The main wheels would be solid and the nose wheel could be solid or spoked. I was assigned to the 64FTW at Reese AFB from May ‘78 til June ‘81. When I arrived in ‘78 there were a tiny number of old style seats. The slotted mains came along long after I left.

If you go easy with a scribing tool, I’ve found Miliput to hold up and look decent. I really dont use any other filler putty anymore except small amounts of CA and Mr Surfacer for small blemishes.

I was at Holloman in the early 80s sharing the ramp with the ‘102 and ‘100 drone outfit. The green in these photos is the way I remember those huns. These are GREAT reference photos of an original, unrestored jet. I believe there was a lot more of that green, approximating 34092, than we might think. That color was all over the inside of a KC-97L I photographed at one time as well.