GW8345

Yep, looks like Z5 is back up, I'm able to login to it now. MZ5GA

My thoughts; I don't think Slackjack and Junkman have taken over Z5, they don't post political crap outside of the O'Club, politics doesn't spill out in other threads so to say that Z5 has been taken over by those two and politics, I just don't see it. There is a perception that Z5 has been taken over by politics, that a few individuals have take over, I challenge anyone (once the site is back up and running) to find a political thread outside of the O'Club or to find a non-modeling related post by Slackjack/Junkman outside of the O'Club. So what happened, people left because they where scared to get caught up in some fake perception, and that's a shame. You don't have to post pics of your builds to participate, all you have to do is participate in a discussion. If you are afraid to post over there ask yourself this, is it because those crazy modeler's over there or am I too fragile? Z5 is a great modeling website, you can say what you want without fear of the post being deleted or worse, being banned, something that no other modeling website practices. Z5 might not be a "popular" model site but I feel it is leaps and bounds above all other because it practices something that seems to be a foreign concept to a lot of folks, true freedom of speech. MZ5GA Just my 0.02$, YMMV

Whoops, you are 100% correct sir, thanks for keeping me honest!

The external differences between the BRU-33/A VER, BRU-33A/A CVER and BRU-55A/A CVER are as follows; BRU-33/A - original VER, racks (BRU-33) are vertical, wiring conduit on left side of the belly, between the centerline and the left rack. BRU-33A/A CVER - modified VER with the racks canted 5.5 degree's outboard, all other details the same as the BRU-33/A VER. BRU-55A/A CVER - modified BRU-33A/A, has connection for smart weapons (called a 1760 connector) in place of the normal connector found on the BRU-33A/A, dummy connector (for 1760 cannon plug cover), larger/beefier bail bar arm for smart weapon umbilical, additional wiring conduit between the centerline and right rack, all other external details same as BRU-33A/A.

According to the Monogram Publication Close Up #23, the bottom could be either RLM 65 or RLM 76. RLM 65 was used until stocks ran out, then RLM 76 was used.

The only external differences between the MXU-611 and MXU-776/777 is the that the MXU-776/777 has a store sensing switch on the bottom of the pylon. With a drop tank loaded, you can not tell the difference between the them unless you look at the serial number plate. The ground safety handle sticks out about 4 inches when extended. For pics of the drop tank Google "F-14 Drop Tank", and there are several pics of the drop tank in the DACO F-14 book.

You can thank the Air Force for the designations, it's their (eff'ed up) system. FPU = Fuel, Pressurization Unit The USN/USMC system just designated everything with a Mk / Mod. Before 1962 there was two weapon designation systems in the US Military, the USN/USMC and the USA/USAF system, after 1062 the designations systems were overhaul under a common system that the Air Force came up with.............and trust me, it's confusing, even to me and I been in the ordnance field for 36 years. If you really wan to make your head hurt, try figuring out all the JDAM designations, talk about making your brain hurt.

There's actually three drop tanks authorized for the Supers; FPU-11/A, FPU-11A/A and FPU-12/A. The tank tank Spook is describing are the old FPU-11/A drop tanks. The only way to tell the difference between the FPU-11/A and the FPU-11A/A is the location of the access panels but I don't remember which tank had what panel where though. And before anyone mentions the buddy store, those are not considered drop tanks, they are ARS's (Aerial Refueling Stores).

The FPU-12 are just newer built tanks, depending on what time frame will determine if you can mismatch them. Now a days, you can miss match them, about 5 years ago, you could only mismatch them symmetrically, ie,. inboards one type, outboards a the other type. You will see them mismatched symmetrically but it's no longer a requirement. There is other differences between the two but it's not something modeler's need to know.

One thing about the grease commonly used on aircraft (called "Molly B"), it was like baby poop, the more you wipe, the more you smear.🤣 Molly B was a black grease and once you got it on your hands it wasn't coming off easy, you either had to pressure wash your hands or wash them in either Turco (aircraft cleaning compound) or JP-5, either way, you were losing skin in the process.

If I may, the inboard tank is an FPU-12 and the outboard tank is a FPU-11, hence the reason why one has the fiberglass showing and the other one doesn't. The FPU-12 will have a dark grey nose and tail, the FPU-11 doesn't, that's how you can tell the difference between the two without looking at the serial number plate.👍

The flight deck is a greasy place, nothing stays clean for long. That panel is the ground refueling panel, what mostly likely happened is that the plane captain had just got done chaining the aircraft down and then opened the panel so the plane can be refueled, tie down chains are very dirty. When I worked on deck I always came off the deck at the end of the shift covered in JP-5, Hydraulic Fluid and grease, I was a walking hazmat spill. Planes leak, grease gets thrown about and tie down chains are dirty/rusty, no amount of Oxiclean would get my jersey clean.

I didn't even bother watching the half time show, when I heard that it was going to be J-Lo and Shakira I knew it wasn't going to be anything that a soft porn show. Honestly, what are those two most famous for..............................................shaking their tata's and rear in skimpy outfits. When the NFL starts having musical acts who's music you actually hear during a game as the half time show then I'll start watching the half time show, otherwise, it's just an opportunity to go it the head and get more snacks.

Yes

The problem with the USPS is that they are in-efficient and has poor service, examples: - I ordered an item off of E-Bay from the west coast, monitored the items progress via tracking as it made it's way from the west coast to the east coast. The item took a trip all around the US, including going to Puerto Rico before finally landing in my mail box. If I could draw a line of it's travel on a map of the US, it would look like a 3 y/o scribbled on the map. - My wife regularly ships paperwork to her brother who lives 75 miles away (northern Maryland), watched numerous packages be shipped to states like Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kansas before being send right back to Maryland. - Their "2 day express" shipping is not guaranteed, again, wife sent numerous packages that did not arrive within the 2 day time frame. Went to complain to the PO and was told the USPS does not guarantee their "express" services. - Ordered a book from the mid-west, watch the item via USPS tracking an noticed that it arrived in a post office in town but not my post office so I went down to the PO that had it (the PO that had the item was 3 miles from my PO). Was told that the item was sent back to the regional PO (Washington DC, 45-50 miles away) instead of being taken to my PO (again, 3 miles up the road) for redistribution. Ask the PO worker why they didn't just drive it over to my PO and was told that they weren't allowed to do that, that hey had to send it back to the regional PO, I told her that was one of the dumbest things I've heard of and she just gave the deer in the headlight look. BTW, it took 3 days after that for the book to arrive in my mail box. - I regularly order decals online, can't tell you how many times they have arrived in my mail box bent in half, even though the package is clearly marked "DO NOT BEND". When my youngest son was born, we ordered his first baby pictures (the one's taken by the hospital), package arrived neatly folded in half even though the package was clearly marked (again) "DO NOT BEND". Needless to say the wife was pissed, went down to the PO to complain, they said unless we had the package insured their was nothing they could do. -Had my letter carrier leave packages at my mail box in the pouring rain without putting it in a plastic bag, package was soaked. (Thank the Lord that Spruebrother's wrapped everything inside in plastic). - Youngest son expecting a package that required a signature, letter carrier drives down my drive way, there are no vehicles in my driveway like normal (wife's van was in the shop), letter carrier turns around and leaves. The mail carrier never got out of the her vehicle to see if anyone is home but leaves a notice in our mail box that she tried to deliver a package and that no one was home, except my wife was home and before she could get to the front door our letter carrier was gone. - USPS is suppose to deliver Amazon packages on Sunday, had numerous Amazon packages say it was delivered on Sunday but doesn't showed up on Monday. My father is a retired letter carrier and my brother is a current letter carrier (not where I live though), I raised some of the above issues with them and they said tough, to bad. I wish the USPS would be privatized so that maybe they would be forced to improve their service. They also need to streamline their operation, for example, right now, there is 5 PO within a 10 mile radius of my house, why. Why does the USPS need so many post offices, why do they need to deliver regular mail on a Saturday, why don't they just deliver package on Saturday like they do Amazon packages on Sunday. Think how much money the USPS would save if they cut out deliveries on Saturday, if they got rid of some of the redundant PO's, if they ran a more efficient operation. Now, when I order something on line, if I have a choice of shipping services, I never choose the USPS, I want my package to arrive on time, and not damaged, and I will pay extra for that service. The USPS just doesn't provide consistent reliable service like UPS and FedEx, it's beyond time to do a complete overhaul of the USPS.