mrvark

A note of caution when separating the canopy frames from their casting blocks. The edge of the frames are VERY thin and although the blocks don't extend all the way to the edge of the frame, you still need to be very careful when sanding the remains of the block off once you've cut the majority of it off using a razor saw, or you could end up with this:

Not about cockpits, but I found something interesting while working on a 1:72 Hasegawa F-111A and Monogram EF-111A that you might find of use: https://www.dropbox.com/s/muitpocwn5962vg/Triple Plow I Intake Actuator Fairings.pdf?dl=0

Paragon should be good enough

Here's how I did it (it's a pdf you should be able to download). the thing I don't address here, but you need to pay attention to is to make sure the upper and lower fuselage halves have matching profiles. Inserting the spacers will try to make the bottom half wider than the top half. You'll want to make sure you sand off any excess resin from the outboard portions of the intakes and may need to epoxy the intakes to the fuselage.

You're correct. TP I=8.5", TP II=11.5".

Don't know, don't care. Both of the 1:48 kits are rife with errors. What you really need to look for are whether or not it has short (F-111A/D/E/F & EF) or long (B/C/G & FB) wings. The both the Hobby Boss and Academy F-111C kits have PAVE Tack pods (the former is inaccurate, the latter an accurate, but scab-on like the Hasegawa F-111F 1-72 kit), but they have long wings, not short wings like the F-111F. The inlets on both kits assumed (incorrectly) that the difference between Triple Plow I & II inlets was the removal of the large rectangular panel, not realizing that the TP2 spike

This is a picture of an Academy canopy on the ResKit escape capsule. This afternoon I played around with ResKit's Hobby Boss cockpit to see if it would work in the Academy kit. Close, but not recommended. As you can see from the arrows, the Academy cockpit area is just a tad narrower than the Hobby Boss one. So, while the crew area will fit, the glare shield and instrument panel won't. The good news for all you out there with Academy kits (like moi), they ARE going to do cockpit sets for them as well. One more tidbit I got to thinking about today. When the ordies loaded weapons on

They started out red, but by the time I got into the program in the early 1980s they were virtually all green. Every once in a while a red one would pop out of the supply system, but it was a rare occurrence. BTW, the back cushion and seat cushion were independent. The time I remember flying with a red seat cushion, the back one was green.

Yes!

INFINITELY better than the Hobby Boss canopy. It's pretty close to the Academy shape. I'll try to take a sit-by-side of them tomorrow. Looks like a Vark now.

This is not completely glued together--just dry fitted to get an idea of how well the bits fit. Looks pretty good!

Here is what it's looking like. A couple of things to realize: I'm a passable modeler--not a great one, especially when it comes to painting. So, you may very well come up with something that looks much better than what I've done here. This is going to be a Combat Lancer jet from 1968. At that time, the seat cushions were red. According to friends who were there at the time, by the time they returned to SEA in 1972 they were still red, but were probably transitioning to green, which was pretty much standard for the rest of its service. (I remember flying with a red seat cushion o

A note on the decals: The good news: They fit PERFECTLY and look GREAT!!! There are small openings for the throttles fit into the consoles and they lined up first try--great job! The caution: Like all 3D decals that I've worked with (small sample size), they don't adhere as well as 2D decals typically do. I laid them down over a glossy surface and let them dry for several days. As long as you don't touch them, they're fine. HOWEVER, on the AC's quarter panel (decal 10), you need to add the PE landing gear (P19), arresting hook and brake (P18) handles. In the process of

Yes. From looking at the pictures at the website, it clearly shows the PAVE Tack virtual image display, so it is applicable for both the Eldorado Canyon mission and Desert Storm.

I haven't used these, but I've used Quinta ones and treated them like 2D decals.