DonSS3

Very nice, Philippe.

A bit late to the party, but after recently picking up Special Hobby's 1/48 kit I was doing a search for AH-1G photos, this has been a really useful thread. It may seem heretical to some, but I am planning on doing one of the Spanish Navy aircraft. These were based at Rota, Spain, where I did quite a few USN P-3 deployments.

That's an interesting detail.

I've read that FS 36176 is a good match. In the Modelmaster line this is quite a bit darker than their FS 36270 "Neutral Gray."

I think that aircraft would be as much (or more) dangerous to its pilot as would the opposition… 🤨

Don't forget that the non-modeler won't see many of the things we tend to be bothered about.They're just happy that you built a model of their aircraft. As long as there aren't really big errors (choose your own definition for that term) I'd let it go. As long as the paint and decal work looks good, they'll definitely be thankful for what you've done for them.

This guy posts a lot over on HyperScale. He's got a lot of interesting detail and conversion items in his eBay store. IIRC he goes by hofnerbassman over on HS.

It's very cool to see your whole process for creating this. Thanks for taking us along for the ride. 🙂

Do you paint that on or dip the part in it (ala Future)?

Doing a quick Google Image search leads me to believe that if you use US Dark Gull Gray, you'll be very close. https://www.google.com/search?q=transall+c+160+cockpit&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_mv-_2ZrfAhWqilQKHT7LApAQ_AUIDigB&biw=1506&bih=876#imgrc=pmyHAftiZRa-GM: Please let us know if you do find the proper RAL numbers (and that I'm out to lunch on this one).

I'm really glad they decided to do the ASW version. Being an ex-ASW crew member, this is right up my alley.

They're planning on 100-200? That means they might get 50.

Now that you mention it, I do remember that odd greenish-blue color. It always amazed me the ASW work those guys could do in the 1970s with that old platform with old electronics.

This may be worth a look. It seems to show the Smer and Heller kits being from the same 1/50 molds: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/163423-sm-r-0822-piper-l4-cub

Yes indeed, which kit/scale are you referring to?

For USAF and USN aircraft from this time frame, the standard cockpit color was Dark Gull Gray. You may find something useful for the USAF aircraft here: https://goo.gl/KZEGDE

All the Argus aircraft I saw in the 70s had the White over Gray finish. The undernose radome was shiny black. I think the gray was similar to ADC Gray, although the Gray used on the Canadian F-101s may be the same color.

Nice to see some of your earlier decals making a return.

I'd totally forgotten that trick with CA and Baking Soda. Thank you for reminding me. It would have made doing my Czech Models FR-1 Fireball a lot easier!🤪

Thank you for the information, Maurizio. I'm looking forward to to seeing more of your progress.

Progress! Did you cast those sponsons yourself? I'm really enjoying this thread, you're doing some remarkable work.

These may be worth checking out to make it easier to make sure you've got the differences covered and what parts you need to use/delete to get your F.: F-18F: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10115064 EA-18G: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10129610-18G:

I think Sean got it right.

Thanks, Dutch, I forgot to account for the Beechcraft model differences. I'd be happy with a C90 version, too. 🙂

Standard cockpit finish for US aircraft in that time period was Dark Gull Gray, I can't remember the FS number right now (36231?), so I'd go with that unless you get some evidence to the contrary.