Mike Stephens

Av8fan & Edgar, Thank you very much for your help on this, I sure do appreciate it!! I think I now have enough to go on. As you may have figured out, the Beaufighter was a somewhat unfamiliar aircraft to me, having seem some photos of it in the past; however, it held little interest for me, as I concentrated more on other aircraft types. Now, I want to do something special for my friend, and I am hoping that the information you've provided will help. Thanks again!! Mike

A friend's father was a member of the 455 Squadron RAAF, in WW2, based at Dallachy, Scotland. As a gift, I am building him a rep Beaufighter from that squadron, using the Airfix 72nd scale kit. I need to come up with aircraft numbers, and appropriate decals for the selected aircraft. I know that ID's for that squadron began with "UB", but that's as far as I've gotten. Any ideas or recommendations are most appreciated! Thanks in advance, Mike

Great Shooting Ken - fancy colors too!!! Thanks for posting! Mike

Hey Waltz41, Thanks for the Hawg shots - way too quite around CT/BDL since the 103rd got nerfed; liners are fine for practice, and when a special mod comes through, but nothing beats Mil, and the Hawg is a special beast...right Tom?! Thanks for posting so I can get my Hawg fix - Mike

Great work on the Hogs guys!!!! Tempts me to build another myself Jon, I especially like your build of 621 "Black Lightning"!! She hold many memories for us here in CT, especially working on the decal project for Two Bobs - that was a great time! Although not in CT colors any longer, she's still doing her job with the AR ANG. Excellent work, and thanks for sharing! Mike

Hey Tom, You did an excellent job on 646, I think it's time I started another - lucky friend you have their :D All the best for your future! Thanks for sharing! Mike

Hey Great Shooting MTM!!!! :D Oh yes, yours are nice too Ken - LOL!!! Good for Michael; keep your pop outta trouble :P Say Michael, which camera were you using, the D80??!! :P I like the one of 965 too - good catch. Thanks for sharing Ken & MTM!!!! Mike "Sr."

Just wanted to jump in here and say, "Great shots from all!!" <_< Nice to see you posting Zoltan, is that with your new lens?! Glad you were able to get to "BRACley" for some shooting Ken, looks like today is much better though - nice shots all the same!!! Thanks again to all for the fine posts!!! Mike

Nice ladder door art guys, thanks for sharing! The 103rd FW has some nice art as well; maybe someone who has them assembled in one place can post them (Ken ) - I can't figure out the "new" posting process - lol!!! Thanks again for sharing! Mike

Nice work on the Hog!!! Although a little hard to see 613 in the 188th colors :huh: 613 was flown by my niece's husband when it was at the 103rd FW, it saw quite a lot of action while on deployment...a solid aircraft Deployment Productions has done an excellent profile on 613 as well, while in 103rd colors. You did a excellent job Ark, thanks for sharing! Mike

Wow Andy, great shooting !!! You did a super job; keep up the great work, and thanks for sharing!!! Mike

Great shots of Ellsworth!!! Was there about five years ago with my daughter's family; her husband was stationed at Ellsworth. We had the grand tour, Ellsworth, the museum, and the other SD sights like Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands, and of course The Wall - beautiful country, nice to see it again!!! Thanks for sharing!! Mike

Nice shots Andy, looks like you had excellent weather, thanks for sharing Self portrait too! Mike

Can you give me the tail number(s)? Thanks, Mike

Beautifully done neu - your work is superb :lol: A fine testiment to this historic unit. Keep 'em coming :) Mike

Say neu, you've done an outstanding job on this bird! We all sure appreciate you taking on this project, and supporting the Unit in this way; thanks for all your hard work, it has sure yielded excellent results!! Excellent, and thanks again! :blink: Mike

Thanks for the shots Skull Leader - just as an FYI, 78-0613 was was my niece's husband's mount, Maj. Bob Feher, and A1C Paul Delgreco was Crew Chief. I like the new nose art Thanks for sharing!!! Mike

All great Hog shots!!!! Thanks to everyone who posted here - always love to see 'em One of these days, I'll figure out how to post mine Thanks again guys!!! Mike

Great Shots Ken - you did an excellent job of this historical event...my compliments!! :) ;) And thanks for sharing!!! Mike

Excellent work neu, you've made great progress!!! :D :) You even got the re-paint areas - cool!!! Keep up the great work! Mike

Nice detail neu, looking good!!! :) Keep 'em coming!!! Mike

Again, nice shots Ken - maybe next time The CT hawgs aren't all going away real soon, a couple here and there. I can't recall the end-date, but we do still have some time. Maybe Tom can update us??? The biggest difference I see between the two units with reference to their stores, is the use of the AN/ALQ ECM Jammer Pod; the 103rd FW A-10 use the smaller 131 version, while the 104th A-10's carry the larger (or longer) version (119?) - not sure why the difference. Maybe someone can answer this???? Mike

WOW Tom, you did a beautifull job on 084!!! So this is what you've been doing between school, TDY, etc., etc. - I'll have to talk to you about how you did the tarmac. Where did you get the Yellow Squadron decal on the port side? Thanks so much for sharing!! Keep up the great work, and thanks again for serving!! Mike

I believe there are some photos in Don Logan's first A-10 book, and you should check some of the other reference books as well. Mike

Tomcatfanatic123, I built the Italeri 72nd A-10 (my first), and although the engine nacells were not an issue, I hd side panels door to contend with (such as the ladder door). I was careful not to seal the door panel lines with glue, so I dry fitted the door then glued from the center of the door not the sides; perhaps you could add a piece of scrap inside the nacells to so something similar. Also, I found that the addition of a pilot with closed canopy (I beleive the pilot came from 72nd Eagle kit), added a bit more to the look and I didn't have to worry too much about the rest of the pit