BMH

Have the CAM sheet for #33 in 1/32, and the diagram shows overall Gull Gray and the long exhausts of the J/E/G, along with the cool McDD Spook Phantom guy cartoon on the tail. I've found video footage of this jet with the long exhausts, but in Gull Gray over white and with the black lightning bolt on the tail--no Spook. Anybody know if it's legit to do overall Gull Gray with the long exhausts? Spook looks cooler than the lightning bolt to me. I assume the jet originally had the short exhausts of the B/C/D, etc. No arrowhead stiffener on the stabs in any photo, but some show the slotted st

I've done quite a bit of searching the web for SyAAF camo for the MIG-17, 19 & 21 and photos are almost non-existent. There is the Osprey book, but I've not seen it and can't say whether it has color photos of SyAAF MiGs. The build at the link looks good to me and matches the artwork I've seen, so that's what I'm going with. In a related question, anybody know when the three star roundel should be used and the two star roundel should be? Given the almost constant combat over the years, you build a wartime AC no matter what, but I just wonder which to use to show a Yom Kippur war (Octob

Craig, CAM made the sheet you're thinking of. I think I still have one in the stash, so maybe we can work out a trade if CAM's is sold out--1/32 fly n' fight stuff is my favorite. 99% sure I have one. Can't speak to the A to B conversions, but since Wolf Pack's is still available at retail and Technics is OOP, it narrows down the choice a bit.

Odd choice for the decal options--East Germany and Czechoslovakia. No Soviet or Middle Eastern export nations.

CAM does make TERs, but I don't know if they're F-16 TERs or the ones you'd see on every other jet. The CE MERs are going to be hard to find and $ intensive if you do find them. The Hasegawa F-16C kits include F-16 TERs too. You might have luck buying/trading for the sets that come in the Tamiya F-4 kits or the Trumpeter A-7s or F-105s--might be easier to find than anything in resin.

The stuff you need is in the Hasegawa C kit, although intergrating them with the Academy kit might (probably) be tricky. Also, if you can find a big mouth intake, the GE nozzle is already there in the Hasegawa kit. One other way to get to a block 30 is to cross kit the Tamiya 50 and T-bird, or so I've read. The GE engine & big mouth inlet from the 50 on the T-bird give you a 30, and you get a block 52 with the P&W engine & inlet from the T-bird on the 50.

AFAIK, your only option in 1/32 for an RAF Tornado crew is to perform difficult surgery on the OOP Reheat crew set; both are standing. For present/recent USAF your choices are a lot easier and plentiful--The Tamiya F-16 and F-15 kits have excellent sitting crew figures, and so does the Academy F-16. Master Details maks some EXCELLENT crew sets for 60s --80s USAF and USN/USMC, and the Academy F-18 kit also has a nice sitting pilot as well as a climbing-the-ladder one too.

Rockin'! This is why I shop here. Thanks Hineni and Fuji for the info.

I'm sad, hurt, confused, perplexed and angry to find out that Google is not my friend on this one. Anybody know any info on the escorting F-15s? I assume they were 133 Squadron F-15As, but if anybody knows any tail #'s, that'd sure make a great shelfmate to an Operation Opera F-16A. Thanks for any info.

You d'man! Thanks & Happy New Year.

Some missile questions: Did the IDFAF ever use AIM-9s on the Baz? If I'm building a Baz from the late 70s to mid 80s, are they OK and what version/s? Improved Baz Python 4 & AMRAAM question: I've seen shots of F-16Cs with P-4s on the same old rails USAF had before AMRAAMs were used on the 16. Does that mean it would be accurate to mount P-4s on the kit rails in the Tamiya 1/32 F-15J kit, or is there a special Israeli made rail for the P-4 on F-15s? Thinking about building an Improved Baz (tail eagle markings look way cool!) and wonder if 4 P-4s is an accurate loadout. Seen mixed

CAM made VF-142 (32-068) and VF-1 (32-067) VF-143 (32-071) and a bunch of others, but they're OOP. You might be able to find them though. Google CAM decals and you can see them at least. Good luck!

Thanks gents--great info. The only shot I've been able to find on the web of 102 with Let's Roll was stateside, at an airshow I think, and with no weapons and only the centerline tank. I'd rather model a fighter in fighting trim, (no blue bands for me!) so I'll have to leave Let's Roll off to be accurate, and thanks again for the detail about the left tail--great stuff and why I shop here. Hope everybody had a great turkey day, BMH

Not to hijack the thread (still an F-15C question), but seeing as an unimpeachable source is here... Do you know if 85-102, the triple MiG killer from Eglin, deployed for OIF or OEF, and if so, would the loadout have been 6 AMRAAMS+AIM-9X+three bags? And would it have had the "Let's Roll!" art with that loadout? Have the Tamiya 1/32 F-15C + TwoBobs sheet and I'd like to do it up like that if it's accurate. Thanks for any info Murph, and keep 'em flying.

I couldn't disagree more--his stuff is superb, and very reasonably priced for what you get. If you want to build a bug-eyed Su-27 with anemic intakes, go right ahead, but to me it's well worth his price for the just about perfect replacements. When you factor in the time and effort required to scratch build your own corrections, Zactoman is a great bargain, and I'm not ashamed to say I don't have the skills required. I like the GAU-12 and I want my Harrier loaded that way, so I'm in for Zacto's set if he does one.

We can only hope Zactoman will make the USMC GAU-12 pods his next project. This would be funny but for the $ Trump is asking (and GETTING) for these kits. The world wonders...

Here's the scoop on the Tamiya tanks: You got one in the original issue of the F-15E, but it was undersized. You get two better proportioned ones in the Bunker Buster release plus the orginal skinny one. The best are the Revell tanks, and it was those that CE copied in resin. It has a very tough to remove pour stub on both halves, it's OOP and expensive if you can find one. But they are the correct size. I also fitted out two F-15Cs with Revell tanks that I traded for along with spares from my Revell MiG Killer and RF-4C kits--you get the earlier style of tanks in both kits too. I bui

Revell issued a 1/48 PF in the 80s that was a scale down of their old 1/32 PF kit. It was boxed by itself with Soviet & Syrian decals and also with an F-16 two kits/one box labelled "The Mid East Conflict" with Syria/Israeli decals. That kit included both styles of tail. My guess is they've repopped it.

I'm not very scientific--I just pour a little white into the lighter green to increase the contrast and then take care to make sure I don't run out of that jar mid-model. It's usually enough for at least 2 models in 1/32, the rest of the colors I use out of the bottle. As long as I can look at it and see two greens and tan, I'm happy.

I third Wayne's advice about the greens--Testor's greens may be spot on, but on the model they look so close it's hard to see where one ends and the other begins. I lighten the lighter green a bit.

I could be wrong (it's happened before), but I don't think the VNAF ever used the F-5E, only the A/B. I've never seen VNAF decals in 1/32 for any version of the F-5.

I was looking at some pix from a Russian site that was all Afghanistan, and one shot that sticks in my mind was one with an Mi-17/Mi-8 WITH suppressors parked next to a Hind-D without them. Sorry I don't have a link for you, but I'm 99% sure it was from ARC on a thread where a guy was looking for photos of Mi-24 camo from all angles rather than artwork profiles. Try searching "Mi-24" and variations and maybe you can find the thread, but yes, you can model an Afghanistan Hind without the IR suppressors. Edited to add: Forget the search, here's where to surf, and the first link on the page

So he won't have to sand off any errant BDR panels, replace too small AB cans or fix a too skinny nose! Seriously, amazing work--be sure to post pix of the F-102 when it's underway. Wish I had the time and skills for that kind of modeling.

Gracias! Hard to find crew figs that can pass as civilians with no helmets/O2 masks--Hasegawa it is.

I read the post where you said you "found 3 figures for the flight crew." Where did you find them? In Hasegawa's set? I'd like to do the same for a Heller 707 and a Minicraft Stratoliner and those guys really look the part. Great work all around--will be watching your progress.