SebastianP

F414 nozzles should indeed be the right size - I just spent half an hour chasing down all my leftover engine nozzles to find out which ones would fit on an F-104 or F-4 for a potential what-if build, and the F414 is the closest match in diameter to the J79 nozzles that come in at least the Revell F-4 kit (but the Hasegawa kit is very similar IIRC). The only other nozzles I think could be made to fit a non-British Phantom kit are the EJ200s from a Typhoon (also conveniently comes with both open and closed options, just only one set of burner cans), RB199s from a Tornado (nozzle it

Not quite as dramatic if you build it with the gear up. In flight, the biggest visible difference between the two versions is that the E has two belly hardpoints instead of one, so from a lot of angles you can't actually see which version you're looking at unless you're *really* good. It's not that much bigger or anything, and it doesn't have massively redesigned intakes or LEX'es which make the Super Hornet so distinctive. With the gear down... Imagine trying to put Tomcat landing gear on a Hornet or F-16.

To make a Gripen E from the new-tool Revell 1/72 Gripen C kit, you basically need to replace everything on the A runner (the largest one), but nothing else. The B (weapons and hardpoints), C (canopy), and D (forward fuselage and cockpit) runners can very likely be reused. Same goes for turning the Gripen D into a Gripen F. Funny how that works out, really... almost as if they'd planned it... (The Gripen E has a wider wingspan, so it needs new wings; a longer fuselage to accomodate the more powerful engine; an entirely different landing gear configuration with the land

Thanks for all the tips! I can't get most of the specific hobby-branded products mentioned locally - the hobby shop in town only stocks Tamiya Acrylics and TS sprays, and Humbrol Enamels and Acrylics, with related thinners in small jars only. And the piranha crew knows what dates Tamiya goods are delivered to the store, so good luck getting the good stuff before it runs out. (they were flat out of all kinds of white paints except tamiya rattlecans when I was there on Monday. Bit of a bummer since other than my paint-practice corvette, every single model I have needs white paint...)

They're also replaced every two years by nearly everyone who uses them officially, whether they've been properly stored or not. Why would they do that if the colors never change? Huh. And you have evidence of this? Because Wikipedia is the only reference I can find, and wherever the original article came from, it appears to be at least partially based on the official announcements, even if the list is incomplete. (for example, could it have been 595A Change 1 which was introduced in 1968? The article doesn't mention its existence, but it does skip directly to 595B Change

What? (checks wikipedia) Ah, here we go. The original was FED-STD-595 from 1956 which contained 358 colors. It was superseded by FED-STD-595A from 1961 with 437 colors. In 1994, FED-STD-595B Change 1 was introduced, with 611 colors. And in January 2008, FED-STD-595C replaced the previous, with 650 colors. Up until this point, no colors had been removed or changed, colors had only been added, so older color chips were still accurate, even if they weren't certified. In July 2008, FED-STD-595C Change 1 was approved, whi

I'm trying to get some airbrush practice in, and my chosen practice subject is the body of a car kit I bought a ways back and tried - several times - to paint with Tamiya rattle cans, washing the paint off with 96% denatured ethanol in between attempts. For my last go, I tried using Tamiya's white "Extra Fine Surface Primer", and ended up getting it a little too thick in a couple of places, and then my first attempt at airbrushing after that didn't go as planned and the kit ended up being put away for a couple of years. I pulled out the car body and a fresh bottle of alcohol, and t

OK, so I've been staring at these pics for a bit, as well as my in-hand Su-27SM... You haven't by any chance done a comparison of how well the panel lines on the top of the Su-33 fuselage line up with the split in the Su-27SM top half? If it's possible, with very careful cutting along the panel lines, to split the Su-33 fuselage along the same panel lines and get something where both combinations match up, and then do some similar grafting of the bottom half, it should be possible to pull off a Su-27M (original Su-35), as well as a twin-seat, but canard-less Su-33 with the full carrier kit, mo

What timeframe is your aircraft from? Are you building from pictures of a specific sortie? I'd consider seeing if another weapon that does have a proper representation could be used in place of the Mk83. Rockeyes, Paveways, Snakeyes, maybe even JDAMs if the timeframe is late enough? Or just Mk82s, they're always appropriate for the Hornet. :)

The dual set of canopies was a first-run only thing IIRC, maybe these are second-run kits?

Doesn't the Tamiya kit come with a separate nose cone? Leave it for last and see if the kit sits properly without weight, unless you're adding a resin pit or radar or something, in which case you probably won't need it. If all else fails... "Is perfectly balanced plane, he is just eager for sky!"

If I recall correctly, the Hasegawa 1/72 Prowler basically needs a cockpit first, before anything can be added or removed from it... but when I actually dug mine out of the pile of unfinished kits, it turns out that it actually has raised detail in the cockpit and possibly even decent seats (would have to track mine down to have a look), and the kit I remember as having no interior to speak of was most likely their Intruder. Anyway, I've found no references for the cockpit of the ICAP III, but Wolfpack Resin made an update set for the Revell 1/48 kit (Google WP48081, I'm not allowe

This is *extremely* relevant to my interests. Please continue soonest.

Changed the title because I've received my kits, and now I have questions. So many questions. The plastic of the kit has the option of opening locator holes for the inboard stores stations found on the Su-30, Su-33 and Su-35 variants, but the instructions didn't say to open them and doesn't give any hints as to which of the many, many options for hardpoints adapters would be installed there if you did open them. And it didn't look from the first half hour of googling as if the Su-27SM actually used the inboard hardpoints anyway, so I was going to leave them off. And the

Thanks for the picture @Finn, you got me started on looking for specific combinations in pictures which led me to all sorts of fun info. I've now been able to find pictures of Luftwaffe Tornados with the following confirmed stores: GBU-24 (both the Mk84 and BLU-109 versions) GBU-54 (500 lb Laser JDAM) LITENING targeting pod (Wikipedia says these may have been upgraded to LITENING III), I have rather conspicuously *not* found any pictures of the German Tornados with older versions of Paveway; nor larger JDAMs. The Italian Air Force use

Huh, Mavericks are one of the few weapons I *don't* have in my spares box for whatever reason (I may have some crappy ones from the old Italeri Gripens, but they don't count because they're so terrible). I seem to remember there being a distinct lack of proper single Maverick rails available in 1/72 last I had a good look, but maybe that was fixed at some point? I'll have to have a look at that... Given the state of my spares box (lots of Paveways, JDAMs, modern cruise missiles and glide bombs, and dozens of AIM-120C and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles and their European equivalents, an

I've been trying to figure out what options there are for arming up a Luftwaffe Tornado IDS, since the 1/72 kit basically doesn't come with any air-to-surface weapons (it has a recce pod, a buddy refueling pod, two drop tanks, a jamming pod, and a countermeasures dispenser pod, and a pair of Sidewinders. That's it. The IDS kit is very much the exception to the rule that modern Revell kits are weapons sets with a complimentary aircraft model...) Pictures of armed Luftwaffe Tornados are rare as hen's teeth. About the only air-to-surface weapons I've found pictures of are HARM (only o

I haven't seen the kit first hand myself, but here's a summary of the complaints I've seen so far: 1. The shape of the leading edge in front of the windscreen is a little off. I can't really see the problem myself, and it's not like the Testors kit was any better whatsoever, but it's been pointed out so I'll mention it. 2. There are no color callouts for the interior whatsoever. Either do your own research, or find a scan of the Testors instructions if you think you can trust them (I wouldn't.) 3. The provided armament are under-detailed Mk84 bombs, possibly

Yeah, he's the kind of friend people dream of having, and wonder how the hell they managed to deserve their friendship. This gift is actually on the low end, last year around this time I got a big red-and-white box in the mail because he decided I needed a Nintendo Switch, and knew I couldn't afford one. I did not *quite* have a heart attack, but it was close... Yeah, I figured it would be the most modern kits. Revell is pretty good at discontinuing permanently kits for which new tooling have been acquired. You just have to pay attention to the copyright dates. The proble

A good friend of mine just let me know that I should expect to receive the 1/72 Luftwaffe 60th anniversary gift set by Revell in the mail some time next week, which is a very pleasant surprise based on just the two kits out of four I know anything about... The gift set contains a Eurofighter Typhoon single seater with an anniversary paint scheme; a Tornado IDS in what looks like standard colors; an F-4F Phantom II also in what looks like a standard color scheme; and an F-104G Starfighter, again in a standard color scheme. I know the Typhoon kit, I've built four or five

Interesting, those are entirely different from the ones on the Flanker. And there's a ton of them, it looks like thirty flares per launcher, and at least eight launchers. The Stinger missile made a deep impression on the Russian close air support community...

Does anyone know where to go look for material on Russian Air Force chaff/flare launch systems? I was trying to figure out what systems were installed on which aircraft (and which *version* of which aircraft) but right now I can't even find out the designations for the systems I can identify by sight... The two easiest to spot systems I've found so far are the two that are installed on the various Flanker models - there's the three-canister version that's installed on early and mid Flankers, with 32 triple launchers on most versions, 16 triple launchers on the Su-33; and maybe as f

Depends on which one. The VF-1 is tiny, closest thing in size I can come up with off hand is the F-5 Freedom Fighter or the Gripen. The VF-11 is a little bigger, more like an F-16 or a Legacy Hornet, except still a little shorter. Wider in the fuselage, though. (Actually the VF-11 is pretty directly comparable in size to the X-wings from Star Wars, while the VF-1 is more the size of an A-wing.) The VF-0 is Tomcat-sized, by design - it's basically the VF-1 scaled up to Tomcat size. The VF-0D with its massive Delta wing is one of the two biggest fighters in the franchise,

Thanks for the reply. Looks like the surgery might be a little out of my comfort zone for now, I'll stick to the OOB experience for now. *Maybe* do an insignia swap on the second Su-27SM just for fun. Let's hope Zvezda keeps going with the Flanker variants though, I want an MKI and an MKM at some point. And a Su-35S...

How good is the interchangeability of the parts of the Zvezda 1/72 Flanker kits? I know some of the sprues are identical between the Su-27K and Su-27SM (the weapons sprues most obviously), but how feasible is it to for example put the larger folding wings from the Su-27K on the Su-27SM fuselage - or, more relevantly, on the forthcoming Su-27UB fuselage? I just ordered a pair of the Su-27SM kits off of Amazon (Revell boxing), and one of those is definitely destined for two-tone blue scheme (Red 06), but the whiffer in me is chomping at the bit to make a navalized Su-30 with US Navy