SebastianP

The two basic toolings Hasegawa made of the Tomcat come in different size boxes - the bigger box is for the "new tool" recessed panel line kits. The "Old tool" kits are numbered in the E series (if you get the modern releases, the names to look out for is "F-14A High Visibility" and "F-14A Low Visibility", those are the most common old-tool kits I've seen. The "new tool" kit was released in several different versions during the first couple of years. First out, I think, was the "Wolf Pack" box, which has decals for VF-1 and possibly VF-2.(I don't remember, I never owned that kit but I spent y

I was looking at the Wikipedia article on the Su-33 yesterday and it mentioned something about a modernization program for the Sea Flanker that was to start during 2010. There were no details as to what the updates entailed though, and a web search only got me a quick blog blurb about the first modernized airframe having been delivered. Does anyone know anything more about this? (The Russians have waffled quite a bit on the Su-33 over the years - there never were all that many of them, several have been lost, and when the Indian Navy wanted to buy Sea Flankers they were informed they were bein

The reason for the blue glass is that the bulb behind it is a sodium light, which is inherently yellow. And the reason for *that* is that sodium lights can burn for a long long time without burning out. So the glass tints on both port and starboard nav lights are chosen to get red and green light from a yellow bulb - i.e. a very deep red to port, and blue to starboard. Cheers, SP

Work progresses on my kits, and now I'm in need of some accurate painting instructions: Exactly what color is used on operational Rafales? The kit instructions say Light Ghost Gray on the Rafale B, which looks like it could be right, but what about the others? Cheers! SP

If you really want to make something out of the leftovers, there was a version imaginatively named the Rafale BM that was supposed to account for more than half the Aeronavale's Rafale order (35 out of 60 machines). It was essentially the naval version of the B in all respects, primarily tasked with long range strike (both conventional and nuclear). It was cancelled in 2004, and the money freed up by that went into upgrading some things which had become obsolete during development. Constructing one is as simple as putting the top half of a B on the lower half of an M, exactly those pieces whic

Oh yes, there are fiddly bits by the bucketload. The exhaust pipes are the trickiest bit, they're made up of 22 or 23 pieces each. Also, be careful when installing the forward fuselage and the intakes. (the forward fuselage wants to form a stairstep, either at the neck or the bottom.) 127 and 128 are correct for an early C. There was a recepie someplace for the Mod Eagle light gray, it involved four different other paints. Looked good, but took half a day to mix and about half an hour to dry in jar I mixed it in. And I haven't found a mix for the dark gray. CFTs were used at Keflavik (IS ta

That's the new tool kit alright. The sheet is good for four different mid 80s jets (Bitburg, Germany; Kadena, Japan; Peterson, Colorado; and Keflavik, Iceland) in the compass/ghost scheme, with high viz markings. As I said earlier, there's no armament at all in the box (nor CFTs, though regular drop tanks are in there). If you're doing a modern bird, be aware that there aren't all that many sources for pre-mixed Mod Eagle colors, and that you'll really need Hasegawa Weapons set V to finish it up right. Cheers, SP

White missiles still existed as late as 2003, there were a bunch of pics of them during the early Afghanistan/Iraq ops. They don't repaint them, they just switched the colors at production. Also, since the fins are added on as needed, and are all stored together, this led to some interesting mixed-color missiles with randomly gray and white fins on either color body... Also, mock-up missiles are sometimes loaded, especially on show aircraft, and these can be pretty much any color. Cheers, SP

If it's the "new tool" kit (larger box, recessed panel lines), congrats, all you really need to do it up properly is either Hasegawa's weapons set II (old-style Sparrows, Sidewinders) or V (AMRAAMs, new Sparrows, Sidewinders, new missile rails). It's a fantastic kit, but it doesn't come with any weapons. If it's the "old tool" kit (narrow box, raised panel lines), it's a bit simpler and doesn't have all the details the other has, but it's still good shapewise. (actually, I think someone graded that kit as the second best on the market in 1/72). The same "upgrades" apply - the old tool kit act

Well, the main Hasegawa F-16 kit only has a couple of shortcomings - it only has two dispensers on the bottom, where the real things have had four since some time in the mid 80s; and the gun vents are of an old style that hasn't been used for ages. Oh, and the choice of British cluster bombs for the original weapons sprue, but you can use those on a Harrier or Tornado. :-) And in the late-model boxings, they did include some stuff that Revell missed when they made theirs - such as the bulged landing gear doors. The problem with getting extra sprues for the F-15 I think is that Hasegawa sees t

Or Spanish, or Italian... You can't build a QRA aircraft anyway since no one appears to make the missile rails that the second pair of ASRAAMs would go on. If Revell ever gets around to including that sprue (you can see the unopened holes for the rails on the inside of the wings), there will almost certainly be extra missiles to go with the rails... As is, I'm kind of wondering why they haven't done so already, seeing as any armed Luftwaffe Typhoon will have those same rails... Cheers

'cause Revell already has one? They insist on calling it "Eurofighter Typhoon" for some reason though.... SP

The last 1/72 kit I *know* they added extra sprues to was the F-16CJ, which got new MLG doors, a new intake, new launchers and missiles. Both it and the F-14 kits have been "updated" by virtue of tossing in a sprue from Weapons Set VII on occasion (Bombcat, F-16CG), but that's not exactly extreme. Still, if there is any kit in Hasegawa's stable (that I've built at least) that really needs an update sprue (and only that), it's the F-15E. Sadly, the kit is "good enough" that Revell didn't bother scaling down their 1/48 kit in favor of reboxing Hasegawa... SP

This was posted in the second post in the thread: http://www.hlj.com/product/HSGX72-14 June release, 900 yen full price, 720 yen pre-order. Frankly, given the contents of my spares box I'm going to pass on set VIII for now. The only unique bits are the LAU-115 launchers, the rest I have tons of from Revell's recent jets. And the only load I'd use the -115s for, I'd need two sets to do. (Full tilt air-to-air load needs four units, only three in a box). The only kit I've gotten in the last couple of years that hasn't had all the missiles needed plus spares on top was the Academy F/A-18C, an

That's where I got the info above from. :-) Don't get me wrong, I'll be getting at least one of each eventually, probably two each of set V up. And, sometimes getting three to a box isn't a bad idea, since you have one you can mess up and still have a useful load afterwards... ;) Cheers SP Edit: Yessssss! :D

The older sets had an astounding variety of stuff though: Set I: 8 types of bomb, two types of rocket pods, plus TERs and MERs, 72 items total Set II: 6 types of bomb, two types of designator pod, two types of gunpod, plus TERs and MERs again, 38 items total Set III: 10 types of air-to-air missile, one type of gunpod, one dispenser pod(?), two kinds of missile launcher, 58 items total Set IV: 8 types of air-to-surface missile, 4 types of ECM pod, towed target and pod for it, 36 items total Set V: 3 types of air-to-air missile, two types of air-to-surface missile, one type of bomb, TACTS p

Not just the dual rails- you're forgetting the Sparrow launcher for the outboard station. Granted, I don't think I've ever seen that one on an aircraft, and the outboard stations are very often assymmetrically loaded. Looking at the 1/48-scale set, it looks like we might be getting GBU-31(V), GBU-38, left hand HTS, and Lightning in the next set, which doesn't sound like a lot. I can't remember any other set which only had four different pieces of kit in it - Set VIII at least has a ton of launch rails and adapters to fill the sprues. There's still a bunch of stuff that hasn't been kitted at

Andre: Those would require replacing the main fuselage sprue, which doesn't quite go with the "add an extra sprue with updates". Then again, I don't remember if the MLG doors are molded on, so they might need to modify those sprues anyway.

The "three sprues to a package" mentality strikes again - unless you're doing assymmetric loads (which I haven't seen for air-to-air) you'll need two sets - which is a lot of missiles. More so considering how many kits from other manufacturers come with enough missiles to go around on their own... (Revell's recent jet kits could be referred to as weapons sets with added aircraft - aside from the Tornado IDS, which doesn't have any weapons except Sidewinders for some silly reason, and the Tornado ECR which has just enough weapons to go around, all of them will leave a pile of weapons for the s

Nice! The missiles and jamming pod are easy to ID (AIM-9X, AIM-120C, ALQ-184), as is the LAU-128. The other launchers are trickier - one pretty much has to be the LAU-115, could the other be a LAU-106? And what is that thing with the prongs on the sides? Also, the listed items don't take up all that much sprue space, so there should be plenty of each in the box... Thanks for the heads-up! SP

The tailcones are already in the kit (at least in the "new tool" version, which Revell is reboxing). You forgot bulged gear doors though (the wheels are already there), and the various other antennas (GPS dome, etc).

Is there a scale modelling wiki of any kind out there? The reason I'm asking is that most of the review databases I know of are either out of date, or need way too much investment into making a new article; plus there are very few places where various kits of the same subject are compared in any way. I'd really like a wiki version of something like 72scale.com, with a user-expandable list of options for each subject, with notes on accuracy and general quality, and with a database of weapons as well so you can track down which kits have which weapons and in which quality. It wouldn't be scale e

Thanks for the information, guys! I actually found some photos of a Rafale B (one of the Ocean Tiger aircraft) with the 1250 liter tanks - but it had three of them. Still no luck finding one with two 2000 liter and one 1250 liter, or the opposite. On the other hand, there were plenty of pics with nothing on the centerline. Also, those missing outboard hardpoints are really rare outside of the development aircraft... Anyway, with only four MICA on hand they're not important. Two Mikes does not (yet?) offer anything except the intake covers for the Revell Typhoon. Some of the other Typhoon kit

I finally decided to get back to building again after having had everything packed up for eighteen months. Seeing as most of my old in-progress kits were busted beyond repair (after lifting out all the aircraft from the box, there was a pile of landing gear on the bottom...) I decided to start with some fresh kits, of which one is the Hobby Boss Rafale B. I also managed to salvage one of my Revell Typhoons, plus I have a Revell Super Hornet and an Academy Legacy Hornet to go with them, so I'm set for at least a while. Anyway, out of the kits on hand, the Hornets are pretty much good to go as

Looks like the parachute casing doesn't have a soft cover on the Gripen seats (unlike the Hornet) - the top is all black... I tried looking up the other kind of seat for which I have spares - I have two leftover Revell Tornado IDS seats. They too turned out to be Mk10 derivatives, and they might be closer to what I'm looking for: http://www.ejectionsite.com/mk10a.htm Those are actually even better looking than the Academy Hornet seats... Cheers, SP