jenshb

That helps a lot Paul. Looking at my FS 595 colour fan and comparing with photos I found on the web, that captures the look in my view. Now I just need to get a jar of Mr.COlor Bright Blue. Jens

No, not a new song title, but trying to determine what shade of blue was used on the VF-143 F-14As in the light gull gray over white era. I have the Furball Decals, and they specify Insignia Blue for the tops of the tailfins (that must be painted), but that will not match the blue trim of the tailfins and the three stripes on the forward fuselage. Looking at photos on the web, the blue is definitely lighter than the dark blue of the insignia. The hue varies with the photos too - in one photo it definitely has a hint of red in it which I can find no FS match for. In others it looks less rich, so I am thinking something along the lines of FS 15050 Blue Angels blue as that would also be available through the Navy supply chain... Jens

What does the anhedral look like?

Nice work on an unforgiving finish! Definitely a Sabre with a difference. Jens

Eduard have photoetched sets and resin cockpits, seats and wheels.

One thing to watch out for - the wings in the kit are "flat" - i.e. no anhedral, wheras the real thing does. Jens

The Hasegawa kit may well be basic, but it captures the shapes and features of the YF-16 well. It will need help in the detail department however, so an Aires exhaust, an Escapac seat will go a long way to making things look better.

Can't be black - in spite of the lower light levels, the 101 is lighter than the F-16 which is black - ref. the photo above.

The GD paintshop would have access to Dark Gull Gray to paint the cockpits, would they not? To my eyes, the grey in the 101 looks darker than the Dark Ghost Gray of the aircraft in the background, but not as dark (or even "blue") as the Gunship Gray. The background does affect our perception of colours however, so I just played with the pipette tool in MS Paint to "airbrush" some patches of the colour in the 101. Not ultra-scientific, I know, but makes for a more direct comparison. Just noticed that the fuselage roundel appears to be cut off at the bottom where it is intersected by the panel line. Jens

It can't be the Hasegawa kit - look at hte engine bulges. They are too sharply defined - and that is a feature of the earlier releases of the Academy kit. I'm not aware of Hasegawa having shared moulds with Airfix and Heller.

The Quickboost early mid-breech panel ("gun vents") fits well provided that you take your time cutting and filing the Tamiya parts to fit, and certainly looks better than the Hasegawa kit part. The DXM decals should fit the Tamiya kit just nicely according to this build. https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/79872-wichita-06-vf-1-wolfpack-f-14a-tomcat/ Jens

Good point - I agree it looks like the Academy kit with their too pronounced bulges over the engines.

Since Airfix released the Italeri C-130 under their label (and possibly other kits), I would put my money on that kit being from Italeri tooling.

Would be nice if we could get some flying and dogfighting poses too. If so, it would help if the control column and perhaps throttles could be modelled as part of the figure, leaving the modeller to make the connection from the handles to the lower part of the control column and throttles/console. Jens

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...?