garthk

I think I have two, maybe three in the stash. If I can put in a *small* plug ... I have the Nav Air/Pax River scheme from the Model Alliance sheet. Only recent Goshawk I've built (since a slammed-together one back the kit was originally released - rather than chuck it into a box for a rebuild I think I - stupidly - strapped a C-sized model rocket engine to it and sent it spinning off into oblivion). I'd really like the fuselage sash schemes. In order of preference (from your 48th sheets), and of course respecting your decision to go with whatever combination best suits your business mode

I'm not sure these are the Polish eval birds from 1997. The F-16 clips are a mix of USAF (the 56FW sharkmouth is visible on one) or other "standard" scheme operators and Israeli Baraks (family model with big spine) and Sufas (family model with big spine and CFTs). The pictures of the MiGs in formation with the F-16s are Baraks. Or possibly Sufas without the CFTs (but I don't know why the Israelis would fly without them, possibly for ACM purposes?) That would make the formation video clips newer than 1997, wouldn't it?

Arrived today, the decals are outstanding! From the looks of it they qualify as the most crisp and tightly printed (I think that's the right term) decals I've seen. Which is a requirement given the very thin white outlines around most of the green parts. The green is very well-rendered as well. All I need now is for the re-released kit to hit the shelves. Thanks!

Ok, WHEN was the Lanc there?? I arrived late on Friday, left early on Sunday and only attended Saturday. If I missed the Lanc (which I don't think I'd read was scheduled to attend) I'm going to be VERY bummed ...

Yup. The crew chief was told it meant "Serene Tranquility". In reality it means "Gullible, Overpaid Gaijin".

Gotta love the CDC ... water, food, medical supplies and guns. Oh, wait, no guns.

Like what the USNA Middies did to Steve Richie's F-4 at the USAF Academy back in 2005? http://img310.imageshack.us/i/f4bluelarge1ug.jpg/

That's really cool! As a fan of Hank Caruso and his "Aerocatures", I figured I'd post a picture of his P-61 print: His full site is here: http://www.aerocatures.com/

Ignorant and bigoted seems to fit the bill pretty well. While I think the model, and the concept behind it is great, I shudder to think of the probable fate of a WWII-era Black pilot who would put a picture of a scantily-clad White woman on the nose of his aircraft.

Scale Reproductions on Breckenridge Lane (off 264 just South of the 64 interchange) is very good.

Two exceptions: Spirit of Kitty Hawk AV-19 93-1086 (Ostensibly named to also honor North Carolina) Spirit of America AV-1 82-1066

Really? I thought the sequel was the one about bartending and had a much prettier girl ...

Then leave him standing cold in the hallway as she heads home to her "longtime partner" Carole (Meg Ryan).

Ever see the SNL hosted by Val Kilmer? Had a skit called "Iceman: The Later Years" with Ice flying commercial airliners. :blink:

The F-117 used a heck of a lot of off-the-shelf components, and the LO parameters of the faceted shape and stealth coatings are exceptionally well-documented and tested. There's also 50 or so available, so plenty of spares. It would probably be a lot cheaper to keep a couple/few F-117s flying to test bleeding edge stealth technology than to either dedicate examples of one of the newer designs (B-2, of which there are only 20 left, or F-22, which are extremely expensive and too-few in numbers as well) or a dedicated one-off test platform (like Tacit Blue). OR for use as a Red-Hat style aggre

The beauty of Lake Michigan is that the cold freshwater preserves the aircraft in excellent condition (ok, apparantly zebra mussels are becoming an issue). They can afford to take their time with those while focusing on other, higher, priorities. The next planes that the Navy should go after are the TBDs in the Marshalls/Carolines. Time's running out on those, with the one off Miami probably being hopeless at this point.

In the Carrier Aviation gallery at the Nat'l Air & Space Museum in Washington DC there's a wall with the insignia of the squadrons that (I think) contributed to the display. It's CONSTANTLY getting zapped.

The Tomcat vs. Zero (ok, Tomcat vs. Texan) scene from The Final Countdown is definitely at/near the top of my list. There are three elements to the scene particularly that make it great: 1.) When the Tomcats get the ok to bounce the Zeros and their wings tuck in as they accelerate below the cameraship. Reminiscent of how my cat's ears would pull back when he was ticked off and about to go after something. 2.) The actual bounce part when they blow by the Zeros and send them scattering 3.) The part where, in shooting the scene, the Tomcat pilot stalled out and then recovered Final Countdow

Sounds like the mall (or rather, it's management/owners) committed suicide all by itself by allowing a clear competitor to rent space and then keep it vacant. While there may be laws prohibiting discrimination in renting, it should be easy enough to have a clause in the contract saying that any leasee needs to occupy the leased storefront within a certain amount of time. My guess would be that in this case, the mall's management/owners determined that they were going to die regardless, and decided to milk as much out of the situation (from Walmart) as they could before hitting the tipping po

Looks a lot like a bigger, meaner brother to the Rutan "Ares" concept:

Question: how much of the decision on the down-select to the X-32 and X-35 had to do with the fact that the JSF program had its origins in technology demonstration efforts (CALF and JAST)? I thought that the original intent was to trial new/advanced technology (hence the "X" designations in series with other X programs, rather than "Y" designations in series with other fighter programs) and the program evolved in an unplanned (as originally scoped with CALF and JAST) into something that would directly produce a production combat aircraft.

IIRC, there was talk (and possibly a decision) to complete PoW in a Commando configuration and as an HMS Ocean replacement. They wanted to ditch her completely, but the termination costs were too high to do so. She would still have the ability to be converted back into a carrier, if needed. Also, the QEs were designed to be upgradeable to catapult launch/arrested landing configuration, and there was at one point (may still be actually, I haven't followed these developments that closely in a year or two) a French plan to buy a third QE as a conventional CV to supplement de Gaulle. I'd think

That's my thought. Look at the color picture of the field with the 3 -17s in it. Their tails are a reddish color, which blends in with the red-clay (?) dirt. In a B&W picture, this blending will be even more pronounced.

Great - that helps enormously!

"Usaf Planes Excellent of the Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter in flight." :)