GW8345

You can always "fake it". Try filing down the the wings (forward fins) on a spare missile to the approximate shape of the one's on the -9G/H and see how it looks, might be close enough to get by. Or, cut the wings off and scratch build new ones. It's 1/72 scale, sometimes "close enough" is all you need to make it work if you know what I mean.

I've ordered several items from Ukraine (through Ebay) the past few months, the shipping times for the stuff I've ordered was about 30 days (+/- a few days) from the time I ordered it to it arrived at my mail box.

Sounds like the Sidewinder's that came with the kit are AIM-9L/M, the ones I linked are the correct Sidewinder (AIM-9G/H) for the time period you are doing. If you are going to replace them with aftermarket Sidewinders look for the AIM-9D or AIM-9G/H, all three are externally identical and will work. Eduard makes a nice set of AIM-9D's, they can be used as AIM-9G/H.

If I may, BUNO 158989 was a Block 70 and that probe on the port side nose is the TIT (Total Inlet Temperature) probe. Early Tomcat's (up to Block 85) had a TIT on both the port and starboard side. The port side probe was deleted starting with Block 85 aircraft and removed from the earlier Blocks once the Block 85's starting the fleet. All of VF-1 and VF-2 aircraft on the first cruise were Block 70's.

AIM-9G/H https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-EjJT0WSfF70%2FWDhm5-FaXHI%2FAAAAAAAAIvA%2F4OpjWGqfBd86ylBmDX9mpSF6w_rg-D2ewCLcB%2Fs640%2Faim-9h%2Ba-4.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthecombatworkshop.blogspot.com%2F2016%2F11%2Fsidewinder-overview-part-ii-aim-9dgh.html&tbnid=8QnN5E9nC2R57M&vet=12ahUKEwiDhfXNkPvrAhVFR1kKHdx7DekQMygcegUIARDhAQ..i&docid=07R25UG0JZzAeM&w=564&h=259&q=AIM-9G&ved=2ahUKEwiDhfXNkPvrAhVFR1kKHdx7DekQMygcegUIARDhAQ https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fforum.warthunder.com%2Fup

The radome was ceramic, it would get dirty and there wasn't a real way to clean it completely so while it may appear to be grey it really was just a dirty white.

The radome on Sparrows was the same as the Phoenix, off white. The guidance section (seeker) on Sidewinders was a metallic black/green. For the Phoenix, the ones that they flew in the 70's would be the same as I described above. I was around Phoenix's starting in 84 (worked CAGARM on the cats arming them), they were the same one's what were flown in 70's (you can tell but the date of manufacture stenciled on the components).

Here's a pic of the back end of a Phoenix, the exhaust cone would be dark brown, military brown FS 30117 is extremely close to the real thing. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsistemasdearmas.com.br%2Fca%2Faamaim54datalink.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fzone-five.net%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D27518%26styleid%3D3&tbnid=cmTMdzFoHieQXM&vet=10CFQQMyjzAWoXChMI2LO9r7v46wIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAM..i&docid=Dj8p-mHFLrRptM&w=463&h=255&q=aim-54 phoenix&ved=0CFQQMyjzAWoXChMI2LO9r7v46wIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAM The environmental seal (center of the exhaust

Fair winds and following sea sir, may the good Lord welcome you aboard and watch over your family.

One note, the black on the tip of the Tomcat's launch bar didn't appeared until Oct/Nov 1990, it would not be on aircraft before that time. Some squadrons would paint the modex on the launch so they can tell who's aircraft was on the cat when viewing the PLAT below decks.

No it wasn't. Looks like I was wrong, at least one short gun F-14 was sent to VF-1 in June 1973. It looks to be the first Tomcat VF-1 got and to my knowledge it is the only Block 65 VF-1 had (they did the work ups and 74/75 cruise with Block 70's). If you want to do the first Tomcat VF-1 (1973 time frame with the black canopy rail) then you will need to covert it to a short gun Tomcat. There's a pic of the Tomcat that was used for the photo shoot on page 93 in the AERO Tomcat book.

To my knowledge the only Tomcat's that had the cut back (short) muzzles were the initial test and production (block 65 and below) airframes and by 1974 all have been retrofitted with the long gun panels. During weapon separation testing it was discovered under certain conditions while firing the gun, the gun gas would cause compressor stalls in the port engine. The solution was the Gun Gas Diverter (commonly known as the Hair Dryer), the diverter was installed on all airframes sent to the squadrons prior to the squadron taking delivery (except VF-124 and VX-9) of the aircraft. Ther

It's exactly the same as the probe on the right side, just below the canopy/above the Stars n Bars. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3292%2F2866230861_4a5bcb6546.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickriver.com%2Fphotos%2Fdivemasterking2000%2Ftags%2Ff14%2F&tbnid=5KVKK1NmGO_kBM&vet=10CCwQMyjCAmoXChMImLuYwJzf6wIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAQ..i&docid=HmeoDZbAgnCj2M&w=500&h=335&q=F-14 Tomcat nose&hl=en-US&ved=0CCwQMyjCAmoXChMImLuYwJzf6wIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAQ I looked at the kit online (I don't peronnally have it) and it l

Couple of notes; 1) The gun blast port (gun shield?) should be chrome silver, we kept those things clean. 2) Don't forget the TIT Probe for the port side, it goes just above the vent for the rescue arrow, in the below pic you can see it just above the last 0 in the modex. The early block 65 you are depicting would have it. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fcf%2F12%2F8d%2Fcf128d412f02d54dc4dd92e81776226f.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.co.uk%2Fpin%2F319826011020485070%2F&tbnid=ms0DogEbfzPmRM&vet=12ahUKEwjG6e

It's good but not totally accurate. The 2 Mig 21's shot down by the F-18's happened 12 hours after LCDR Speicher was shot down, not before. Also, they did not mention that the Mig's were running from a flight of 8 F-14's on a fighter sweep ahead of the F-18 Strike Group.