jenshb

Speaking of the rear...I think the tail boom extensions are too long as they stick out too far behind the (amazingly thick) trailing edges of the horizontal stabs. Why didn't GWH make the trailing edges as thin and sharp as the fin and rudders...?

Can you adapt the Hasegawa canopy to the GWH kit? If so, the only remaining problem is to get a spare Hasegawa canopy... Falcon makes a vacform set in 1:48 that includes an F-15 single seat canopy designed for the Hasegawa kit. That may be an alternative.

Lovin' it!

I would love to see Modelsvit releasing this Mirage kit in 1:48th scale. The Kinetic kit left me rather disappointed...

Just make sure you google "Rafale", not "Rafael";) Excellent choice Kursad!

Not so sure the Airways Vacform is a better alternative... Tried building one decades ago, and that too has the bloated cockpit section as well as a wing profile that would prevent the aircraft to ever leave the ground if it matched the real thing. Dynavector quality it sure wasn't... I see reference to an Icelandic Fine Art Models, but can't find any photos of the pattern or what was displayed at Telford.

To be fair to Airfix - those panels on the belly could only be properly done either with a slide mould (that would cost money Airfix don't seem to want to spend - or their toolmaker may not be able to pull it off), or separate pieces. That would also cost money. Trying to mould them with the fuselage halves split vertically would result in very wide panel liness, and being on the lower fuselage, I can see why they could be justified leaving them off and let the die-hard modellers add them. The wrong shape of the wing really is something Airfix should have caught and done something about though.

Isn't there a separate "what-if" category? IPMS UK has a class for hypothetical aircraft (paper projects and imaginary), and it sounds like your project would fit the bill in such a class.

The shroud over the instrument panel - the part that the HUD sits on - what's it called? There appears to be a bit of a gap between the top of the IP and the shroud which makes me wonder if that part is too tall. It also seems to obscure the forward view a bit more than I would expect... Just a thought.

Just a thought - is the IP coaming too tall?

Nice work! How do you attach the circular grille ont he pod without clogging the mesh?

Your Sidewinders are works of art - how about expanding the family; AIM-9D, AIM-9J? And seamless intakes for the Tamiya F-14 would be welcome. All in 1:32.

Loved your video reviews of the FR.XIV kit and I agree with every word. Was thinking of making a high-back XIV by combining it with the Eduard Mk. VIII, and you've taken all the guesswork out of it. Excellent stuff!

I did mention the lack of authentic French colours for the Mirage 2000 and the like to Jamie from Sovereign Hobbies/Colourcoats, but it seems the problem is finding reliable references or paint samples to match the colours.

Here's a pic of the rear ECM antenna of the CF-104 in the Gardermoen museum (near Oslo airport) Hmmm...pic doesn't show... what am I doing wrong? Should be less than the limit of 100kB... Anyway, of the three options, the DACO RWRs look the best by far.