Harv

...My bad on the ID, guys...After seeing your follow-on posts, I pulled the kit from the stash in the garage, and sure enough, the Prototype-to early -A or -C mod set is from Paragon, not Xtraparts. I DO have a set of Xtraparts resin wheels in the box, too, and perhaps that is where my brain took a sharp left turn. Of course, I believe there is some creedence in Dave Williams' statement about a possible link between Paragon & Xtraparts...and I'm pretty sure both are the work of Neil. At any rate, what I have in the box is what the OP showed in the photos. The other baggie of cockpit/hellho

As others have stated, along with the kit of the prototype hornet, you have the Xtraparts conversion for an A or C (depending upon which bits you use); as well as *some* parts from what appears to be a Black Box/Avionix cockpit set. The kit cockpit actually has some nice detail; the updated Xtraparts ejection seat will help. If you want to open up the 'hellhole' behind the seat, the extra Black Box details are nice. It appears you're missing the instructions for that baggie of goodies, though. Shoot me an email, and I might be able to help with those instructions. My PM box is full, so don't b

Sorry, but Garry Weigand and Bill Freckleton I know. Used to serve in the Naval Reserves at Miramar with them in the late 80's. They say CLs weren't dropped by the Navy in most cases, and yet missiles were fired. Can you provide any back-up to "There is an interlock"? Because, as near as I can tell, you are not correcting the poster, you are contradicting comments made by aircrew who not only flew combat in the plane, but had an air-to-air victory. Again, I'm not saying you're wrong; but I know their pedigree. Can you provide some credential/documentation to what you say? Thanks-

Shoot me an email - I think I can help you out.

Looking good! Can't wait to see the final product...wish the squadron could have been a bit more helpful. Just had my C-2 kit show up over the weekend, guess it is time to give it a go!

From a Navy adversary perspective: 1. Yes, adversaries often perform as a strike package in some scenario-driven exercises, althought I've never seen them actually carry A2G weapons of any kind, they just flew a 'striker profile' WRT speed and altitude. Blue air might be responsible to 'disrupt/delay' or 'influence' the strike package away from the apparent target before allowing losses (i.e. not get so tangled-up in performing ACM with the defensive fighters that their ground counterparts take hits). 2. I've never heard of a dedicated Adversary asset landing aboard a carrier for a number of

Kursad, sent you an email regarding this color refs issue... Harv

Wow. Those look amazing! I had to quote your post just to show the pic again! ;^) Congrats to you, Chris, and Alexander on another piece of art - glad I was able to provide just the tiniest amount of support for all your incredible efforts on these- Well done! Now, I need to build something worthy of hanging these on...

Sorry. Poorly written. When the movie came out, my wife and I went to see it. This was just about a year after I was first stationed at Miramar, and we were both about the same age as most of the main characters in the movie. When she saw the v-ball scene (and shower/locker-room scenes) on the big screen, trust me, she (and most of the women in the theatre) were NOT thinking these scenes were somehow uncomfortably gay...nor was I, or most of the fellow JOs who saw & discussed the film. We ALL thought it was the eye-candy reward for the girls for being good sports about NOT going to a chick

~Hello?! Are you guys nuts? The storyline is already there... No need to bring back Kelly McGillis (Let's face it, THAT relationship would never last!) Let's all recall that Goose had a young son, and his mother was played by Meg Ryan. SHE doesn't need a boatload of makeup to make her presentable on-screen. So, you have the 'legacy pilot' in Goose Jr; (Supra Hornets, doncha know...) and Moma Goose (Meg) pushing on Capt Mav, CO of NSAWC (he's really too old to be a Captain, and ought to have at least one star by now...) to protect her boy as he goes through the paces...Maybe Cruise's appearance

PM/Email sent...

NSAWC tends to hang their bullwinkles (That's a -167, NOT a -188, as you've called it, tobiK, by the way) from a wing station vice the centerline, which is more common for the USAF aggressors, so the positioning (and pod type) is correct. As far as the color goes, I wouldn't call it 'purple'; but perhaps it is a little darker blue than the norm...same with the CATM-9 'blue tube'. Concur the scratch work looks excellent. Nice bird!

~Hey, Don, you've probably heard by now, but with the release of Trumpeter's Growler kit, they've made it an ACS pit in the back...and, if I'm reading correctly, there are actually two sets of ACS panels & shrouds, so if you don't intend to do a Growler at some point, you may ping the community at-large to see if anyone building theirs has the spare bits available. Just a thought... Looking forward to watching your magic at work,

Oh, shoot- nice catch, Craig! I was so taken by the great paintwork I didn't even notice the 'beer cans'... @Dan - not to pile on, but a heads up that none of the the -Ns had the tail base LE air scoop nor the two corresponding exhaust vents that are on either side of the tail base almost directly aft of that same scoop...only the LE blade antenna. Check out pictures of that area on any of the F-16Ns, and you'll see that is consistient for all of them.

Check out Afterburner's posts over on Zed-Cinco; the update & re-release of the Viper Aggressor sheet has been discussed & will occur in the somewhat near future.

...Just to get it directly on the page, since this is the first one-panel comic I thought of. Always makes me laugh.

This is about the hottest NFL jacket I could find on-line. Sorry; couldn't resist.

Thanks for the additional input! I'll take a look at the Grex unit next time I swing by Phil's in El Cajon. Sounds like a nice way to go since I have both an Iwata (for most stuff) and a Badger for 'area spraying' - e.g. 1/32 top coats. The added quick release might come in handy. Again, appreciate all the input...I'm a nano-bit smarter today ;^)

...Ah, a "Micro Air Control" (MAC) Valve... got it. Makes more sense than what I'd found on the web myself. Thanks for the input, guys!

Just reading about airbrush pressures and noted Cyrus' response regarding the use of a MAC Valve here: AB Pressure Thread . Never heard of this before, and a search produced info that still made little sense to me. Can anyone (Help, Cyrus?) explain a bit more what this valve is, how it operates, and what the application is for an airbrush set-up? Thanks in advance,

...Nicely done! Beautiful Tigerstriped F-5E. ...And seeing that F-5 'charicature' drawing makes me think an egg plane F-5 would look awesome, too! ;^)

Dave, the origins and curiosity of any DK involvement aside, I'd appreciate your thoughts on the quality (and fit, if you are using them right away), of these SH intakes. I'm fitting an old set of CE intakes to an Academy legacy hornet at the moment, and the fit of that set seems very good, and is a vast improvement over the kit plastic, although I've not yet comitted to superglue. I'm hoping this SH set will be of equal or better quality & apparent fit, again, regardless of any DK involvement. My only observation is that from the Ebay pics, the packaging/artwork/lettering is VERY reminice

I've never seen a piece of metal that looks the same shade/tone from all directions; there's always *some* kind of variation. Even the nicest, smoothest metal-like paint coat never seems to capture that because it is a single, consistient coat. To fix that, I recommend using a base coat of one metallic color (preferably one that is 'buffable'), and do just that- buff it up after it is applied & dried. Then, mist varying shades & thicknesses of additional metal (and even non-metal colors - clear blues/oranges, etc.) to get a more complex (and generally more natural) finish on 'bare meta

Well, coincidentally, my CO2 cylinder ran out on me last Friday. Took the tank in today for a swap. Looking at the paperwork, It was 2005 when I got my last 'refill'...and 2002 prior to that. A swap-out took all of about 10 minutes, and cost me $35.00 (including all the CA state taxes and EPA HAZMAT fees, etc.) for a full-up 20# tank (45# total weight). I just strap it down w/ bungee cords in the back of my SUV and I'm good-to-go. I figure I'll do more consistient painting than I apparently did over the last five years, so I expect this tank won't go to 2015; YMMV...

...Been using a CO2 set-up for over 20 years, now- I got a '99-year lease' from a local gas/welding supply - basically, I get a 20# tank, and simply do an exchange, paying for the 'refill' when I run out of gas. Because they own the tanks, and I just swap an empty for a full one, I don't have to worry about paying for testing, etc. - Sort of like doing a propane tank swap at the Home Depot for my barbeque. And the CO2 IS dry; have never needed/used a water trap. Unfortunately, I'm kind of sporadic in my modeling, and can go months without time at the workbench; and then hit it hard day after d