Chriss7607

I was going to reply to this but others pretty much beat me to it! I was going to say that "best" really depends on how much display space you have. It looks like probably your best option in terms of quality, accuracy, availability, and size is the 1/72 Academy kit. When it comes to the Monogram model (and all of the others for that matter) finding one of the older boxings from the 70s or 80s is your best bet for negating some of the fit issues. I recently got the 1/48 B-25, now in the Revell box. The molds haven't aged well and many of the parts need extensive cleanup and tweaking to fit rig

They're to help align the nose gear/ dive brake well properly. I also hate to tell you but your dive brakes are in backwards. The one visible in this photo should be on the right fuselage half with the actuator that you trimmed off facing forward.

Converting the Monogram -5 into a -2 is possible with a little effort and, in my opinion, ends up better than what Trumpeter/Hobbycraft offers. If you don't want to do the staggered cut, a straight vertical cut ahead of the intakes will still work. The only thing with that approach is that the canopy has to be displayed open since it will shorten the decking under it. That never bothered me, so being the simpler route that was what I went with. The vertical tail has more than enough meat to be reshaped without any problems. I used the old 1/48 scale Detail & Scale drawings to get the right

The Blue Angels Hellcats aren't really well documented. After all, they flew them for a very short time (June 15th to August 15th 1946) and at the time they had no way of knowing that the team would still be going all these years later. The actual color used was only vaguely described by Butch Voris, so in the absence of any color photos I would say that just about any glossy dark blue would work. Personally, I decided on the same can of Tamiya Navy Blue. If you warm it up for 15 minutes in warm water it will spray beautifully, leaving a very smooth glossy finish. It was revealed years later t

Makes me want to watch the movie, "Fighter Squadron" again! The New England Air Museum has a lot of memorabilia from that squadron since they had been based there out of Bradley Field. Excellent work all around!

Sorry to be late getting back to the forums! No, my photos aren't online unfortunately. I had been working with Detail & Scale but things didn't work out unfortunately. I wrote the Hellcat book and did the new photography for it, and had hoped to do the Tiger but it just didn't happen. Tommy Thomason was a huge help with the Hellcat book by the way. I still have all of my photos and can burn them onto a CD for anyone who wants them. My goal was to help scale modelers everywhere who couldn't make it to those museums. I will definitely check out your photos! On another interesti

Oops..I also just read another reply. To clarify, the ROHR in-flight thrust vectoring test airplane is currently on display at the Pueblo-Weisbrod Aircraft Museum in Colorado. It still has the thrust reverser installed and has been beautifully repainted in it's red, black, and white markings. The folks at the museum are a great bunch and they allowed me to extensively photograph the Tiger and a number of other aircraft.

I'm not sure how to use the quote feature, but plasticutter- if you're still looking for a Lindberg 1/48 Tiger, let me know. I have one that you can have. I also have tons of photos of Tiger photos of the Blue Angels airplane in Topeka, the ROHR in-flight thrust vectoring test airplane at Pueblo (formerly at Pima), and even a few of the short nose test airplane at the MAPS Air Museum in Ohio. That one is in bad shape though.

I'm trying to find these two kits that come with the collectible patches. I'm more interested in the patches than the models! I appreciate any leads.

I was wondering if anyone had either of these boxings from around 1999 or so. These are the ones that had the patches in them. I'm mainly interested in the patches. I thought I'd post here and in the Buy/Sell Forum for maybe a little bit more exposure. Thanks!

The images on the Kindle versions are in color and are pretty much the same resolution as the printed books. They can be zoomed in/enlarged as well. Originally all Detail & Scale did were e-books. I suggested that they do some sort of printed books again and the idea was turned down. Not long after that they started doing the print on demand format. I personally like the printed hard copies and many people that I talked to at the IPMS Nationals felt the same way. (I did a lot of their photography and wrote most of the new Hellcat book.)

Thanks for the replies! I was beginning to get worried that no one would have any leads. Since it seemes to have at least been likely to have existed, I'll go ahead and do it as planned. Thanks again.

I haven't placed an overseas order since the whole COVID thing started so I don't know whether it will be as fast as mine but I'm sure that they will do everything to help you. It's funny- I've only dealt with customer service from two model companies: Revell (USA, not Germany) and Eduard. They were complete opposites. Eduard was very friendly, prompt in communication, happy to help, and provided follow up. Revell... well, let's just say not so much.

I checked my B-25 kit, which is the most current issue of the Monogram model and that part is in there. The instructions don't say what it is, but I'm still sure it's a gun gas extractor. You also asked about the strike camera- that's included as a new part as well. I know it's not the photos that you want, but I figured I'd mention that it's in there.

I think that was a gun gas extractor for the field mounted .50s in the nose. I seem to remember it being included as a separate part in at least one reissue of the old Monogram model.

My apologies for being late... I have dealt with Eduard's customer service before and the response was excellent! It wasn't dealing with short-shot parts, but if you send them an email explaining the problem I'm sure that they would be more than happy to help you out. Granted, it was before the whole COVID thing, but their shipping was pretty fast and they kept it up to date. Eduard has been the best company that I've dealt with as far as replacement parts goes.

I have a question for the ARC community that knows a lot about WWII Japanese aircraft. Years ago, my Dad did a 1/48 Ki-61 Tony based on a color profile from a book. It was similar to the popular paint scheme of the one allegedly flown by Lt. Kobayashi but had a blue tail instead of red. Was there ever a unit that flew the Ki-61 in these markings, or is this just another example of errenous photo interpretation? I did a Google search but it didn't turn up much more than I already know. I have the Hasegawa model and would like to to do the one with the blue tail, but if it is histori

I have the fuselage that you need (as long as I can have your late -5 fuselage). I have a couple of the -3 Weekend Edition kits and will swap you if you want. If you're interested, just send me a PM with your mailing address.

I looked at the photos and I can say that that the masters started as a Lindberg Tiger. The center section is mostly what gives it away. The slots for the wing attachments are the same along with the too small and too shallow main wheel wells. Granted, the smaller aft sections have been added but it's still easy to tell which kit it started as. Even the stabilator attachment points are the same. Don't get me wrong, it's still an impressive effort especially with what he had to start with.

I spend a lot of time in Pensacola, although sadly not recently, and have a lot of great friends down there at the museum. The Blue Angels have a great heritage and it's always a lot of fun to watch them fly. I don't think I could ever get tired of watching them put on a show! I think that the Tigers were some of the best looking airplanes ever to wear the Blue Angels colors. I just think that the F-11 screamed "1950s!". I really hope to be able to see the new Super Hornets and Fat Albert fly. I did most of the work on the newest version of the F6F Hellcat Detail & Scale. I add

You're welcome! And now you have to add the Super Hornet to your list! 😄 I had the privilege of meeting Captain Bob Rasmussen who flew Tigers with the Blue Angels for a couple of seasons. He was a really interesting person to talk to. I asked why the short nose Tigers in 1958 had the angular, block lettering, for only that year. He said that it was a trial thing and that no one liked it so they went back to the script style lettering on the long nose Tigers in 1959. Incidentally, I thought the '58 paint scheme looked cool! Now that I think of it, I actually have the pai

The Lindbergh 1/48 scale model is the prototype Tiger (when it was still designated F9F-9). There are MANY shape and dimensional differences between the prototypes and production aircraft. As far as general shapes and outline, Lindberg actually did a good job. Some sources say that it's underscale- it is not. They simply didn't take into account the differences of the prototype aircraft. That said, it would take a lot of scratchbuilding and conversion work to make it into any production aircraft but it has been done. Collect Aire did a resin and white metal kit. It represents a lon

Lightning struck one of the Apollo missions during liftoff (15?). Not a fun phenomenon regardless of your flying machine...

I wonder whatever happened to that. Sadly, probably tossed into a backlot dumpster. My favorite ball cap has an embroidered hula girl- my own tribute to "Tropical Tilly", the C-47 in the film.

You're welcome! Glad I could be of assistance.