Steve N

I'm sure others will correct me, but I think Navy seatbelts were undyed fabric. I'd go with a light grey or buff color. SN

I snagged an H-6 at the Nats for 16 bucks during a buy-one-get-one-free sale by one of the vendors over at Dragon Expo. Of course, it's probably #173 on the "to build" list SN

Actually, CD, I've got a couple of 1/72 Tamiya Emils rattling around the stash, along with a half-dozen various Hasegawa 109Gs. I've even got the HobbyCraft 109G-12. I'd love to have one of the FineMolds Fs, but one costs about as much as all my 109s put together! Back to the original topic, I've always thought that African 109E was a sharp lookin' bird! I know the Tamiya 1/72 kit comes with the decals, and I assume the 1/48 kit does as well. SN

I think it's a re-pop of the Trumpeter kit. HC also released the Trump Spit V and Mustang. SN

I wasn't planning to do that exact one...I want to do a Battle of Britain bird. Got a ton of decals, including the Aeromaster BoB Special set. SN

I'm thinking about doing a Tamiy Emil myself. Got to see a real one actually fly last weekend at Thunder Over Michigan. AWSOME!!!! SN

It may be the MPM kit (or a version of it.) Italeri has already re-boxed the MPM Fw-189, and supposedly they're partnering with MPM on the Hudson (MPM will do the Mk I and Italeri the Mk IV, IIRC.) SN

I would suspect that any painted stripes are on restored warbirds. In operational service, they were tape. SN

Very Nice! :P SN

Here ya go...hope the images aren't too big! Cheers! Steve

I have the Hasegawa kit..haven't seen the RoG, but I've heard the only difference is the solid gun nose (and a more wallet-freindly price tag.) The kit is a B-25J, which I don't believe ever had a ventral gun. The Sperry ventral turret was installed on B-25B/C/Ds, but usually removed in service because it was impossible to aim (and gunners got vertigo and airsick trying to use the periscopic sight.) That said, the Hase/RoG is still a gorgeous kit (aside from inaccurate framing on the nose glass!) I would love it if they did the B-25B/C/D as well (but I'm not holding my breath.) Cheers! S

The request sent me rooting through my decal stash...until I noticed that Fish specified 1/48. All my stuff's 1/72. SN

Hi Mike, I just dug through my references and came up with these pics. The color shot is from Jeff Ethell's "WWII War Eagles in Original Color, and shows an FM-2 Wildcat landing on USS Charger in May, 1944. The B&W shots are from Squadron's "F4F Wilcat in Action. Most of the Wildcats in the Atlantic were General Motors built FM-1 and FM-2 models. The FM-1 was pretty much identical to the F4F-4, but the FM-2 had a taller tail, and single-row Wright R-1820 engine (giving it a shorter, fatter cowl.) HTH, Steve

Remember, the inside of the center flap is the underside color (don't ask me why.) I shot a complete walkaround of the Kalamazoo Air Zoo's restored SBD-3 that can be found here. I'm building this plane in 1/72 as we speak. I plan to paint the flaps a basic red, then dry-brush with a lightene, "grayed out" red. Cheers! Steve

Here are some shots of the CWH Lanc canopy, inside and out. She's definately black inside, but who knows if that's accurate. One thing I found surprising is that not only are some of the frames only on the inside, the interal frames on the aft section are made of wood. SN

There was a girl in my high school with the same last name..pronounced phonetically! When the teacher called roll, she was the only one called by her FIRST name (which was Tuesday.) SN

Some of the P-40Bs sent to Russia under lend-lease had white-wash brushed on for winter ops. SN

The bombay doors also need to be fixed if you want them open. The Monogram doors are one peice, while the real TBF has double-fold doors. SN

I think the whole "wash/preshade" thing is getting way overblown. Panel lines just aren't that visible on a real airplane. Working in 1/72, I usually just oultine the control surfaces. I may also outline engine cowl flaps and removable panels, but that's it. I've been experimenting with "post-shading," spraying a slightly darkened version of the base color along the panel lines. For washes, I use Future as a clearcoat, and then a wash of highly thinned artist oil paint. If it's thin enough, you just touch it to the line, and capillary action will draw it in. The excess can be removed wi

I believe the Mitsubishi-built and Nakajima-built Zeroes were slightly different colors (both greens, though.) You can find a lot more specific info here at j-aircraf.com SN

Only external difference I'm aware of are the exhaust stacks..the P-400 had 12 little ones on each side. SN

I'm by no means one of the "experten," but I'd go with RLM 66 in the cockpit, and RLM 02 for the wheel wells and landing gear stuts, flaps and flap wells, and maybe 02 in the fuselage aft of the cockpit (somebody may correct me on that, though.) Steve

I stumbled across a real coup today. I went in to pick up an airbrush needle (out of stock <_< ) and a couple tins of Humbrol (color has been discontinued ) The trip was salvaged when I decided to check out the kit aisle. Seems they'd bought somebody's collection..I got a 1/72 Fujimi Gekko for 13 bucks (normally goes for 35) and a Fujimi Claude for six! :D SN

I don't have the Academy kit, but from what I've seen the canopy looks too tall and the spinner is to large in diameter. I've got a pile of the old Hasegawa kits..they're very nice, with engraved panel lines, and fit well..although they have no interior to speak of. As mentioned, there really isn't a good mainstream option for a P-40B/C in 1/72 (I still can't figure out why.) Frog made a passable one back in the 60s, but it was fairly basic. Academy did one in the early 90s, but it's thoroughly forgettable..basically a warmed-over Frog with engraved panel lines and a really awful canopy.

Actually, the B-377 / C-97 / B-50 had a much taller tail (a believe to compensate for increased torque from from the bigger engines.) You'd have to cut it down a bit and reshape it a bit for a B-29. Steve