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nfiler

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Everything posted by nfiler

  1. nfiler

    Minicraft T-34

    Looks like the poor thing is embarrassed.
  2. There is a lot more to be said for having them down as well.
  3. If this is an IPMS contest, and most at least use those rules, then this is a none issue. Accuracy is NOT a consideration. If you get past the initial negative reaction to this it is obvious why. Who determines what is accurate on a model? The judges? How can they be experts on every subject? And questions about accuracy between the contestant and the judges is very seldom going to go well. The whole subject is nothing but a mine field. My time with F-100s and F-104s was from 1956-1960. Both had panels open during pre-flight walk around to show the pilot different stuff and some were closed
  4. If this is an IPMS contest, and most at least use those rules, then this is a none issue. Accuracy is NOT a consideration. If you get past the initial negative reaction to this it is obvious why. Who determines what is accurate on a model? The judges? How can they be experts on every subject? And questions about accuracy between the contestant and the judges is very seldom going to go well. The whole subject is nothing but a mine field. My time with F-100s and F-104s was from 1956-1960. Both had panels open during pre-flight walk around to show the pilot different stuff and some were closed
  5. Well, the color for 400 series a/c in the air group is Orange. And generally the color associated with the various squadrons is the color used in the markings. It is about impossible to tell Orange and Red apart in 50 year old photos but I would do it with Orange.
  6. I spent two years in the a/c and in my opinion your statements about the bird are flawed. It was much more than just an interceptor. One of the missions we trained for all the time was nuclear strike, and that is what most of the NATO countries bought it for. Where did the "not very maneuverable" come from? it had a better roll rate than anything other than the T-38, a better thrust to weight ratio than everything else. Granted, it was not a "turn and burn" a/c, but we regularly engaged anybody that would stick around and usually did very well. And with tanks it had about the same range as any
  7. Your welcome Jari. Go back and look at the photo that started this thread. Three fins fixed and one folded to the right. (When viewed from the back). Both folded and extended are shown in that photo. Don't know your background but at that time, and probably even more today, nothing in Uncle Sam's Air Force was done random. There was a T. O. or check list, and inspection and sign off for every little thing. We TAC guys joked that there probably was a check list taped to the wall above the urinals in the SAC O club. The point I am trying to make is that if the fins in that photo were fixed, n
  8. Jari, I have no experience with the Mk 28s other than on the F-104C. The upper and two horizontal fins were fixed. The lower fin rotated. Ground clearance was not really much of an issue so I am not sure why. On take off and landing the a/c rotated on the main gear wheels, and the fins on the shape were ahead of that, so other than just for ground clearance there wasn't an issue with impact on rotation. As I stated in the earlier post, we scattered a lot of those things around the high California desert. All four fins needed to be there to make an accurate drop.
  9. Michael I just dug out my IF-104C-1 to be sure. Both the fuel system schematic and the text do NOT show any reference to a center line tank. I looked at that pylon many many times and can't remember any fuel lines at all, but it has been over 55 years, only cannon plugs for the bomb dispenser and nukes. Another confirmation is that there is no switch position or or indications of that on the fuel control panel on the middle of the left console. In my opinion, the Detail & Scale books frequently made assumptions that are not accurate. More fuel is always really nice, but in this case it
  10. Those are Mk-28 nukes (training ones), the lower fin was removed to allow for clearance at times while on the actual shape one set of fins rotated to allow for clearance. edit: here is a camo F-104C with a Mk-43 training shape with the lower fin removed: http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u676/domboy5/1%2048%20photos/1041_zpsd387f249.jpg~original Jari Finn, you are mostly correct. Those are indeed Mk 28 training shapes. But the lower fin was not removed, it rotates. In the photo some have been rotated back to vertical and others have not. We tossed a lot of those things around the Cuddeba
  11. Rex, The Fujimi kits are all for various British birds. And the few Revell kits are for the fancy schemes in those kits. And the aircraft carrier is to hold up another stack of more Phantom kits. As discussed on another site a while back, I tend to build "Clothes Horses". If it doesn't have a fancy paint scheme it ain't gonna show up on my display case shelves. I thought for a while with the Phantoms mostly gone around the world I would finally not be losing ground as new schemes showed up, but the Japanese are still turning out some outstanding commemorative stuff every year. Building new
  12. Gene and Rex Been following this from the first post. Gene, your whacking and playing with the various parts is most interesting. What are you gonna do with all the scrap parts when your done? :rolleyes:/>/>/> Academy/Schmademy!! While I am very interested in seeing the kit, I am afraid I am too for down the Hasegawa worm hole to change now. With the slow but steady stream of great JASDF kits appearing from time to time, they are the only Phantom kits I am building these days. One good thing that I can see from all your neat work and posts is that the outlines of both kits seem alm
  13. Well, the right answer is "maybe" it is the right s/n on the tail for the aircraft, but the markings are what it "probably" looked like during the VN war. When it came to the museum it was in the Hill Gray scheme. Prior to that it was in ADC Gray with a rather attractive "Miss Piggy" cartoon on the left intake. It came from the 142nd FIS at Portland, OR. After a futile search for a photo of it during the SE Asia war games, the museum decided to just wing it. Not my cup of tea, but that is what they did. As to its being the a/c flown by the 142nd Boss, I doubt it. I photographed it several ti
  14. John, Been the better part of 55 years since I spent time in both the C-1 and C-2 seats and would agree that there are differences. But I suspect few could really tell the difference In the seat.
  15. The first photo is NOT a production C-1 seat. Notice the lack of webbing behind his arms and the strange leg restraints. The second photo is an excellent photo for either the C-1 or C-2 seats. Both seats looked pretty much the same. Direction of travel tended to be quite different however.
  16. Well, going from what you wrote, Things are a little confusing. First. Fed. Std. 595 specifies PAINT colors and luster. Natural metal like on an early F-100 is NOT a paint. Thus no F.S. number would apply. Second. Later models of the F-100 were painted in a specific brand of paint called Corogard (sp?). This was a aluminum shade of paint, and again, there is no F.S. number for that. The color variation on early jets that were natural metal are due to different manufacturing processes, different materials, and in some places paint.
  17. Lets try to get this sorted out a bit. All the A models had under wing pylon/tank ability. No armament capability there and didn't have a center line rack. And only tanks or Sidewinder rails on the wing tips. Also no air-to-air refueling capability. All A or B models and some early C and D models were delivered with the C-1 downward ejection seat. All models were updated to the C-2 seat starting in late 1958. The only visual clues to which seat was installed would be a few revisions to the area behind the headrest. The defogging tube that ran across behind the headrest was moved out of the
  18. The conversion from downward C-1 seats to the upward C-2 seats required a whole different canopy for the D model. That is why I said I didn't think 316 was at George very long. All the early F-104Cs we received were downward ejection birds. I don't remember how long we had them, but I don't think it was very long. Initially the C models were sent off for the revision, later the modes were done on the base from kits supplied by Lockheed. The D models as I remember were replaced with later block a/c that were factory built with the upward seats and the different canopies. Working from memory on
  19. I was in the 479th from 1956-1960. that would have been during the first two years of the F-104 era. Generally speaking, the D models were not very popular. Mostly they flew VIPs. I never saw one in any squadron colors. But apparently at least one got painted. This would have been the third one off the D production line and probably the first one delivered to George. I suspect it wasn't around very long and was replaced with a later block number a/c. If I were to guess I would say the colors are Red for the 434th squadron.
  20. I spent four years in a TAC fighter outfit, 1956-1960. Traveled around quite a bit and photographed when I could. I was as much a markings/color nut then as I am now. I also photographed extensively up until about the mid ' 90s.I will flat state that I NEVER saw an airplane with Black USAF and U.S. AIR FORCE. And yes, I was paying attention to that at that time. I was at George AFB when the series of photos of the buxom gal was waltzing around up on the ADC end of the line. Never got to see her though. The T.O. Does specify Black as an alternative, but that amount of painting was not generall
  21. I find it interesting that the B-17 was what prompted this conversation. The real thing is a surface buffet of all kinds of panels and joints, topped off with some rivets that are about the size of a dime. Lapped joints, butt joints scabbed on panels, etc. The nice smooth surface we modelers seem to crave just didn't exist on that bird.
  22. Mark, Your answer is emailing Greg at Draw Decals. (gdraw@drawdecals.com) His decals are computer printed on standard decal paper. The only drawback is they are solid film so you have to cut out each item prior to application. He can print one or as many sheets as you want and the price per sheet is about the same as any normal decal of the same size. I do some design work for Greg and I'll probably end up doing the artwork if we can work it out. Do you have the information needed to do this project? It also sounds like your in the middle of starting all over again and have not determined th
  23. I thought this was supposed to be about football. Why all the mud slinging? I wonder if the Patsies will be PUMPED UP for the game?
  24. Be very careful of ALPs. I Have one and have used it a lot. I love it and it does great with most stuff, but Grays is not one of the things it does well. It prints with dry ribbons of CYMK and White. To create colors other than those it "mixes" small dots of the needed colors. With Grays, it is small dots of White and Black. With very small images like text, it just does not work well. Unlike inkjet printing where the liquid ink blends together, the ALPs, being dry, just stays dots.
  25. Am I missing something here? Both kits share the same tub. The back cockpit is just covered over with the E kit. Why not just do the same with a replacement? The E kit gets the whole front cockpit details with no extra seat or instrument panel or details for the back end. Those are included with the F set. I would also urge going the extra mile and doing a Growler cockpit. A lot of commonality there.
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