Chriss7607

This thing is impressive. The more I see, the more I want one! Seriously- I haven't been this excited over a model kit in a long, long time!

Thank you for the link! I am a major Hellcat fan so this is nothing short of a dream come true. I do feel kind of bad for all of the R.A.F fans that were hoping for something like a 1/32 Hurricane. This is a huge surprise!

A 1/24 scale F6F Hellcat... No, I didn't miss-type that scale 😮 (and I will be getting a couple)

PM sent! Can always count on good help on here!

I was wondering if someone happened to have a 1/32 narrow chord Curtiss Electric prop from a P-47 kit. I don't know if the Hasegawa model came with multiple options like Tamiya's 1/48 kit did. I'm doing a Revell 1/32 Wildcat and the prop is really pretty bad. I can do a new one if I can get something like a Thunderbolt prop for the blades. I can't find any sort of an AM replacement, so if someone can help me out I'd appreciate it. Thanks! Chris

What? Seriously? I never heard anything about it. I didn't know him personally, but I did correspond with him a few times. Tom added a lot to the NAVAIR topics. That brings my week down.

Admittedly a brief hijack- for a great movie showcasing Edwards AFB and the AFFTC during the 1950s, watch the movie "Toward the Unknown " with Bill Holden. I always enjoy watching that one.

Since I mainly do Navy stuff I'm kind of out of my field on this one. Are there any photos of the P-47 'Tarheel Hal' with invasion stripes? The Fine Scale Modeler book, "American Fighters Over Europe " implies that it had them and that they were eventually removed. The Lone Star Flight Museum's rendition has them, but flying restorations are notorious for being inaccurate. I did a Google search but it mainly came up with models and the LSFM airplane. Anybody have something?

Or, if you would rather not go the ebay/bidding route go to the fineartofdecals.com web site. It's all things Cutting Edge, Pyn Up, and Yellowhammer Decals. They still have them for $24.00 bucks. There's a lot of cool stuff on there that I like but upwards of $25.00 for a decal sheet is a bit too rich for me. If there is a photo of a orange and white F-100 I would be interested in seeing it. The only other opinion that might help is I think the Super Sabre pilots have a web site completely dedicated to the Hun. That would be the place to ask.

Is the Hasegawa 1/32 F6F with the Verlinden detail set still available? I have to build at least most of the Hellcat models for the upcoming revised Detail & Scale book and I want to do the Hasegawa model with that detail set. That would fit the bill nicely. Thanks!

I can feel your pain. I like many Grumman built "cats" but my four-legged buddy is my favorite! He's also a great modeling companion.

I don't think there ever was an orange and white F-100 chase aircraft. The ones that I have seen associated with Edwards AFB and the X-15 program were natural metal and orange. There was a red and white F-100 that had to do with the depot maintenance facility at McClellan- Sacramento Air Material Area (SMAMA). Cutting Edge used to do decals for it

Wow, ok then. I learned something new. Top Gun IS still around. I still think that a Top Gun movie without the Tomcat still isn't as cool.😎

Hmm.. you know I don't honestly know how the Navy does air-to-air training once NSAWC was gone. For some reason I wanted to say that everything was combined with the Air Force, but I remembered VFC-111's F-5s. Are they aggressors? I don't think the old NFWS/ Top Gun insignia is being used anymore. I could be wrong. Either way, the glory days of cool jets blazing out of Miramar and Top Gun as it was are sadly past.

Top Gun without the Tomcat is like having a bar with no booze- not many people will want to be going! It already has a bit of fantasy since Top Gun and even it's successor NSAWC are gone. The Super Hornet paint scheme is pretty cool though.

I am building both the Hasegawa and Kinetic Hornets and Hasegawa's is much nicer. The fit is pretty much perfect. Kinetic's is over engineered and fits poorly, particularly around the nose and intakes. There are also shape and dimensional differences between the two. Kinetic's cockpit coaming is noticeably longer than Hasegawa's and the speed brake is also wider. Hasegawa provides better detailing in the main gear wells. The strong point of the Kinetic kit is that the cockpit is overall better but both have disappointing ejection seats. For doing a Blue Angels jet, out of the box Hasegawa's i

I know what you're talking about (at least I think!). It's included with the weapons in Monogram's 1/48 F-4C. I just checked the stash. It's even in the most recent boxing. The instructions just have it labeled "ECM pod", so I can't be of much help on a technical name for it. But, it matches your description: sparrow shaped but a little fatter, has antennas, and mounts in the forward sparrow recess. I hope this at least gets you started in the right direction! Chris

I came away with a good haul of 1/48 F6F Hellcats for review models. I haven't had the Otaki kit in a long time.

Yes, it's a very good book. I highly recommend it as well. The problem with movies like "Pearl Harbor" is that there's so much revisionist history and outright B.S. that younger people watch them and believe that's how it really was, totally missing the factual events. Entertainment is fine, but when this counts as how one learns history it's not that good. That's just my opinion.

What? You mean you didn't like how the footage of the F9F Panther ramp strike was used when the guy crashes back aboard the aircraft carrier? 😋

Oops, my bad. Apparently it is an early -3. I had thought that the -2 had slats and the -3 had a hard wing with a cambered leading edge. I was mistaken. If the late -3 did have a cambered leading edge, then it would require more than just glue the slats up to get a late -3.

With slats that would be a FJ-2, not a -3.

Does anybody have any still photos or info on the Blue Angels F11Fs at 18:44? That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

I thought that was why the Blue Angels flew the Phantoms with dummy Sparrows- two were for ballast and two were for the smoke system.

I'd be in for the Tomcat masks. That's one of the two VF-21 Tomcat schemes I want to do. I can mask it myself, but if I had something to make it easier that would be better. The color resin FOOD covers are very nice- I have a couple sets for my Monogram Blue Angels Phantom.