Steve N

I find if I rub the decal paper with an eraser first, it roughs up the surface wnough for the toner to stick. Even then, I still give them a generous coat of Microscale Liquid Decal Film to seal them good. SN

I've heard Chattanooga, San Antonio, Phoenix, Colorado, and Las Vegas are in the mix. IPMS has extended the bid process to three-years-out instead of the traditional two, so this year they'll be selecting locations for both the 2018 and 2019 conventions. SN

Or the Lackland Parade Ground, home of a (very rare) P-47N masquerading as Gabreki's D, and an even rarer P-51H painted as Preddy's D. SN

A couple of very recent museum restorations that have me looking for a "Picard Facepalm" meme. First up is the sole-surviving PB2Y Coronado at the US Naval Aviation Museum. They spent several years doing a beautiful job on the aircraft, only to give it a totally bogus paint job: Dark Blue over White (a scheme never used by the USN during WWII) and "borderless" national isnignia. My hope is that at some point they might add the Intermediate Blue to the sides and tails. And then don't get me started on this abomination. An ultra-rare Ford/Willow Run built B-24J at Barksdale AFB, tarted up

I've been looking for one since it first came out, and have never found one. Admittedly, I was looking in vendor rooms at shows and haven't checked any online sources. But even at the IPMS Nationals none of the vendors have ever had the kit..even the ones who carry the really obscure stuff.

I watched the live stream of the flight at work (not supposed to use work computers for such frivolites, but I'm the only one there on Sunday mornings ;) ) what an awesome sight! I'm assuming more and longer hops are intended in the coming days. I certainly applaud them for being very cautious and methodical..the B-29 is an incredibly complex aircraft.

If you're planning to have the radio room hatch open it might be worth adding at least a radio room floor and aft bulkhead. Maybe a seat and some radios as well. But even then as Bigasshammm says, it's gonna be hard to see. You could whip something up out of some styrene sheet and bits from the spares box fairly easily, and save some money. SN

..but apparently an unlimited budget. Do you have any idea how much that much resin would cost? SN

It seems to be a common thing on P-47s, but only on the leading edge of the lower gear doors. I always assumed it was to keep ground crew from damaging the doors and/or their knees. Many modern Naval aircraft have red-edge gear doors for 5hat reason

When we took the tour in '04, they told us that about half the B-1s were kept in storage at any given time, so they could spread the airframe hours out evenly across the entire fleet. SN

Apparently went down after the USAF Academy Graduation. Pilot punched out..plane looks a bit beat up. http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/06/02/air-force-thunderbirds-jets-crashes-outside-colorado-springs/

Witnesses are saying the pilot got the canopy open after ditching, but was struggling with the harness when the plane went under. My condolences to the pilot's family and the museum. I commend him for doing a stellar job of putting the plane down without incurring any casualties on the ground. Hopefully the plane will restorable. It doesn't look too bad from the outside at a distance, but there may be all kinds of things bent, torqued, and stressed on the inside. I'm sure it will need at the very least a complete teardown and rebuild. The NTSB/FAA will also need to do an investigation.

I would assume they can, although a quick glance at the kit shows that they're intended to be built in the open position. The main bomb bay doors are molded in section, like the real aircraft, so getting them aligned in the closed position might be a bit tricky. SN

Apparently it was a two-plane team show. The other pilot couldn't see his partner at the time of the crash, and didn't realize he'd gone down until he completed the maneuver. SN

As far as I know they're the same basic kit, although I don't know if the glider tug version has all the turret bits. I have the bomber version, and although I haven't dug into it all that deeply, it's definitely a massive improvement over the ancient Airfix kit. The only major gripe I have after a quick in-box look are the horribly overdone panel lines, but those can be toned down with a bit of primer and sanding. SN

While I agree that the best route it to get the Cobra upgrade set (I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing one years ago when it was a mere $50.00) there is another route. I needed a set of narrow-blade props for an early B-24D, so I took a set of Quickboost resin props intended for the B-25, and cut a bit off the root of the blade to reduce the diameter. They look OK to me. SN

It's a TRAP!!

"The Core?" What, do we now have a service branch made up of underground Morlocs or CHUDs? ;)/>

Nope. At least according to the CAD renders they've released. Looks like the top of the nose is still circular ahead of the cockpit, rather than slightly flattened as it should be. SN

I would assume it's a re-pop of the 90s-vintage AMT kit. There are lots of reviews on the interwebs. Hopefully they did away with AMT's infamous corrosive rubber tires. SN

I'm hoping that Arifix might give us a new-tool B-25C/D in 1/72. Hasegawa doesn't seem interested in adapting their J kit, and to me the ancient Italeri B-25s are more caricatures than scale models, with all kinds of shape errors. SN

I've ordered from Squadron on occasion, but not recently. As mentioned before, back in the day they were the mail order hobby shop. I remember as a teenager in the late 70s poring over their catalog, and my friends and I going together for an order of stuff you couldn't ever hope to see in a small town a million miles from nowhere. Now, though, other vendors usually have better prices and selection. Plus, I've pretty much passed my "stash building" phase, and most anything I want I can wait until I get to a real hobby shop, or the vendor room at a show. My only concern is what will happen

I tried several different ideas on the Hobbycraft B-36..masking, decal strips, even Bare Metal foil strips for the framing. In the end, I gave up and went Old School: got out the teeniest brush I had, and hand-painted the little suckers! I never have finished it. Despite spending hours rebuilding the leading edge intakes and fixing the wing dihedral issues, I was unhappy with the paint job. I'd love to strip and repaint it, but the decals are already on, and as far as I know, nobody makes aftermarket decals for the kit. SN

I'm always very careful offering corrections. I follow a couple of groups on Fecebook (one general scale modeling group, and a B-17 modeling group.) People are constantly posting "in progress" shots of B-17s interiors painted Interior Green (or Zinc Chromate) or finished models with big black soot stains coming out of the wing vents. Unfortunately even the most politely-worded corrections are often seen as attacks or insults. Sadly, when most people solicit comments, they're really just trolling for compliments. SN

Yep..my biggest B-17 modeling pet peeve (along with wildly inaccurate interior colors.) In reality there is no exhaust on the top of the wing, just oil and crud thrown back from the engines..which is deflected by the clean, hot air coming out of the wing vents. SN