jelliott523

This is a great looking build! Excellent job on all those small details. I'm currently working on the "H" model from Zvezda and have seen a few ideas I need to do for mine. I've not yet closed up the fuselage or completed the cockpit area. I used the PE set from some Russian company (dont remember the name - not Quinta Studios). I'm also planning on building mine with the main cargo door open and in-flight. I'm currently working to replicate the sound-proofing interior for the cargo area. I havent created a thread for it here since I dont use a picture hosting service for photos.

I'm currently working on a ZM F-4D, I used the kit seats for the project but I opted for the Eduard "super-fabric" belts. Now maybe its just me, and that is entirely possible, but at first I was a little put off by the superfabric belts, that was until after I got them installed on the first seat and realized that there is a paper backing attached to said fabric. I was able to go back an remove the paper from some of the most visible areas. No where in the packaging or instructions does it mention removing the paper backing. For other F-4 builds I've used the Quickboost resin seats with the mo

Thanks for the clarification. Yes, I'm aware of the 366 FW history as I live less than an hour from MHAFB. I'm currently building an F-4D with the 'Spook" toting the gatling gun. I have already built an example of both the 389th T-Bolts and 391st Bold Tigers birds and I've got the GWH F-15E and the markings for the 75th Anniversary aircraft. The Singapore F-15SG 'Bucanneers' aircraft recently flew a formation flight with A-10's from the 124th FS at Gowen Field and an F-15E from the 391st to honor the healthcare workers during COVID. I guess I need to get some pics posted of my builds.

I already see a mistake on the descriptions for the F-15E, the 389th FS, 366 FW are from Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, not Lakenheath, thus the Tailcode 'MO'. The US Flag tail flash on the Checkmate is for the Gunfighters Squadron and the markings for the bottom "The Boogeyman' is from the The Thunderbolts.

I find that Mr. Color GX-2 is the glossiest black out there. Thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner, this produces a super glossy finish that is extremely durable and performs well as a base for NMF. Another good alternative is Mr. Paint Super Glossy Black, it is not as glossy as the GX2, but it comes pre-thinned and works well.

My thought, and what seems to work for me, is that by applying one or maybe two coats of gloss after applying decals allows for light sanding to help remove the decal edge. This I've found especially helpful when using Tamiya and Hasegawa decals. These tend to be thicker than others and almost always end up with a slightly visible edge. The coats of clear, will show up as the raised edge and then you can use a light sanding to blend that edge down and hit it again with another light coat of gloss to blend it all together. I typically use GX 112 & 113 UV cut clears as my final clears, thinn

For Mr. Surfacer 1500 and 1200, I generally start around 50/50, for me that seems to work in most cases. I normally spray Mr. Surfacer through my Sotar 20/20 with the .2 needle around 8-10 psi. If I'm spraying Stynylrez, I shoot it through my Krome with the .3 needle somewhere between 20-35 psi. I do not thin my Stynylrez. I've heard several people talk about heating up their bottles in warm water prior to spraying, I personally have not done this, nor have I found a situation where I thought it might help. The only Stynylrez product that I've ran into performance issues with is the gloss blac

I go back and forth between Mr. Surfacer 1500 and 1200 as well as Stynylrez (grey, white, black, & gloss black). If I'm spraying interior for cockpits or areas that have sharp corners that could be hard to get into, I'll use the Stynylrez because of the self-leveling properties. I've found that sometimes, spraying a lacquer primer in these areas can sometimes get a grainy appearance from primer particles swirling around and drying before landing on the wet surface.

Hotdog, I dont know if you are still checking in on the thread or not, but I was curious about putting the paper in the fridge. Can you put it in by itself, or should I seal it in a ziploc type of bag to prevent moisture getting to the paper? I to have an HP Laserjet MFP and experienced the smudging that Solo was describing. I also had trouble getting it to feed through the bypass tray.

For tinting canopies, I typically use Tamiya Smoke and Tamiya clear yellow thinned with X-20A. Multiple very thin coats.

Generally, it wasnt too bad. The only other area where I had a little bit of clean-up to do was around the intakes, nothing nearly as traumatic as a Revell kit although. The seams are pretty decently designed along panel lines in most cases. Fit of the engine intake trunking doesnt leave much room for error. The fit tolerances are pretty tight so dry fitting of parts is a good idea, as with most of the newer kits coming out. The decals are great, all were appear to be in register and the colors are very crisp. Even the small stencil decals can be read.

I've just recently completed the Kinetic F/A-18C kit, not sure if it was one with the corrected tails or not. Parts of the build werent bad, other issues, such as the nose and the fit of the front windscreen left a lot to be desired. I've just picked up a Hasegawa EA-18G kit, hoping the kit is better.

If you mess up any others for that scheme, I am also doing that one and could send them to you from Idaho.

I'm also building the Kinetic Hornet kit right now. Some things in the kit are nice and have been mentioned above. I ended up cutting the nose section from the top of the fuselage and attached it to the nose section and then mated the two parts together, this did help in the fit of the parts a little better from what others had described; however, an issue that I've run into is with the IP coaming and the fit of the front windscreen. I have a massive step where the windscreen meets the nose, I think I'm going to have to do some sanding and filling to blend them together. As others have said, t

I am in Idaho, and I'd be glad to pay for them! Let me know. I'll send you a PM.

Maybe I should just contact Zvezda and see if I can get replacements. I thought they might just be loose in the packaging, but they are not there.

I recently purchased the Zvezda 737-800 kit after looking at several sprue shots and reviews. I went with this kit due to the fact that the reviews of the kit and pictures of the sprues showed that it also included the new scimitar winglets and I was planning to get the new Alaska Airlines scheme. Unfortunately, when I opened the kit, only part of the scimitar winglets was in the kit. Has anyone else seen this?

I'm going to have my wife see if she can figure it out. She works for HP in the printer division, I'll tell her.....ask her nicely, to see if she can make it work.

I also thought about making my own decals, and I have clear and white decal paper for use in a laser jet printer (which is the printer I have at home); however, the problem I've had is that I cannot get my printer to accept the paper, when it does print, its extremely smudged and does not look very good.

Great looking helo Charlie! that may be a way to go with printing on adhesive paper. Thanks Chief, I've seen the Werner Wings stuff. I'll have to take a look at the RFLIGHT stuff and see if its something I could use. Thanks for the info. As it sits right now, I think I may actually just have the Idaho State Seal printed and then make masks to paint the red crosses.

Ehhh, not a big deal, after looking at the picture above and another few I've got access to, the crosses shouldnt be too hard to mask and paint. I actually thought about printing the seal on thin glossy paper. I'm going to have my wife see what she can do with it. She works in the printer division of HP and has access to some cool stuff.

Here is a picture of an Idaho UH-72 taken during a rescue operation about 6 years ago. A plane crashed into a remote mountain area and was located 18 hours later. All three occupants survived the crash and had to be hoisted out. Two were transfered to other civilian EMS helicopters (Bell 429's).

RCAFFAN, you are correct, they do not have the NG emblems on the doors. The crest you are seeing is actually the State of Idaho Flag. The top portion of the tail is painted dark blue like the flag and then has the State Seal. I am going to try to make my own decals of that. As for the Army stretchers, I had considered making them out of kitchen paper towel cut to size and then coated in white glue thinned with water, then use thin styrene rod along the sides, if the paper towel doesnt work, I was thinking of taking Milliput and rolling it into a thin sheet and seeing if that would work. I do k

That is one option I was hoping would be available. I found a set of red crosses and the National Guard logos with a number and letters set for 1/32 helos on www.aviationmegastore.com; however, the decals were cheap, but, because they are shipping to the US from the EU, the cost was WAAAAYYYYY not worth it. Hope your builds in 1/72 are going well. My plan is to recreate one of the medivac helos from the Idaho National Guard here in Boise. I suppose if I cant find the decals, I'll measure them out and paint them on. One way or another, I'm going to get it done.

I'm currently starting to work on the Revell 1/32 UH-72 Lakota. I'm building this up as the medivac version, using some of the kit parts included for the civilian EC145 Air Ambulance. Does anyone know where to obtain a decal set that includes the medivac markings? I've looked for the Fireball Modelworks UH-72 set, but they seem to be out of production. Any assistance will be appreciated.