f5guy

Hi everyone, I've got a 72nd Hasegawa F-4B, but am looking to do a J. Anyone with a new tool J (not the ancient one please) looking to do a B and want to swap the upper wing halves? I'm in the US. Thanks, Fred K.

Email sent!

Excellent site! Thanks! Fred K.

Heh heh..... my favorite was when Satan won a bake off in Iowa with his "Diablo Pie"! Of course these days the media is probably worse 🙄 Fred K.

Now that would be cool! I'd be all over it in 72nd scale! Fred K.

Never say never I suppose..... someone may well do a set for the big Mirage 2000, but I'd say not likely. At least by Aires or one of the other big names. While I don't plan on buying one of the kits, I do look forward to seeing some of them built up! Now if they did an F.1...... hmmmm.... Fred K.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't hold your breath. It seems as if no one is touching big scale jets anymore. If you're lucky we'll see some largely useless p/e sets from Eduard, and maybe a resin seat. As examples, for the Trumpeter F-18E..... nothing..... F-18F nothing.... EA-18G.... nothing.... Kittyhawk F-5E/F, which seriously needs cockpit help.... nothing, and for the Trumpeter A-6A/E we got an Avionix set that it slightly better than kit cockpit, but does nothing to fix the instrument panel problem. Aires used to do some nice cockpit sets and landing gear bays for just about every new big scale jet that came out. Now they don't do anything. 32nd jets may well be dead as far as cockpit sets go. Bummer too as I've got 11 of the KH 32nd F-5Es, and 3 F-5Fs waiting to be built and several hundred dollars to gladly give to whoever does some nice cockpit sets for them 😭 Fred K.

This is what I do too, although I normally have more than two builds going. Right now I am concurrently working on six different F-18 kits 😆 I have a pretty pacticed routine that manages time quite well. It's just something that I've developed over the years. It works for me anyway! Fred K.

Sounds good Gary! I started a 32nd Academy F-18A instead of a Super Hornet anyway, and at the rate that I build it will be every bit of 18 months before I finish it. Just in time for the Super cockpit! I am very much looking forward to your A-10C cockpit, and other A-10 sets as well. Bring them on ;0) Have a great New year too! Fred.

Hi Gary, I'm glad to hear that you are at least considering doing cockpits for the big Super Hornet. I've been wanting to build my E and F, but have put those plans on hold until cockpit sets come out. Sounds like it might be awhile. Thanks, Fred K.

I've been working for the railroad for the last 31 years. Through most of my career, first as a brakeman, then conductor, and now engineer (for the last 25 years), it was about getting the job done safely and efficiently. About eight years back the "safety" people took control of the operations over the operational department. Long story short, in those eight years the safety clowns have effectively handcuffed and shackeled us to the point that its very difficult to get anything done in a timely manner. Ten years ago a good yard crew could switch out a 100 car train in 4 hours. Now with the new safety rules it takes us about 8 hours to switch out 25 cars. That's an 800% reduction in efficiency, and no doubt, an 800% increase in costs. So now the company is coming to our union crying poor and telling us that we need to take a 30% pay cut because they can't make money. Our stance is to tell them to "go pound sand". Their mismanagement got them into this, and now they want us to take the hit. Not going to happen... So now they come out and test us constantly on our safety rules, trying to find a reason to fire us, then stand around scratching their heads wondering why not much is getting done. The Class 1 railroads in the US (Union Pacific, BNSF, CSXT & Norfolk Southern) all did the safety overkill thing too for several years. Recently though, they've figured out that they are in fact a transportation company, and they do make their money by actually transporting cargo, not by being safe to the exclusion of everything else. Starting last year they've gone through and cut hundreds of management jobs, mostly in their safety departments. They also cut out a lot of the redundant and time consuming work rules, and are well on their way to working safely and efficiently again. Not my employer though.... they keep going the opposite direction. I keep waiting for the day that they tell me to sit at the break room table for the next 8 hours, and don't move, and DON'T GET HURT! Don't get me wrong, safety is important. We all want to go home. Unfortunately, at least with my employer, it's been taken to a whole other level of stupidity. No joke, they could write a two paragraph rule on how to safely operate a paper clip! I once told my assistant GM that their "Safety Culture" that they're so proud of is a freakin' cult. That didn't go over so well... heh heh ;0) Fred K.

Yup..... I couldn't agree more! I picked up the Furball "Team Factory" sheet too, and will build one of these Black Lions jets and the Spartan's Growler a few pages back, among other options on the sheet. Great stuff! Fred K.

PM sent. Fred K.

Yup..... 58th TFW if I recall correctly? Fred K.

I think what's going on here is that the Ferris splinter schemes, and the Heater graded schemes are getting lumped together (as they often do) as the same scheme, when in fact, they're different. The A-4E that Jens so beautifully did is one of the Heater graded schemes. Topgun had three A-4E's in that scheme: 52, 53, & 56, and also F-5E's 41 & 43, plus a couple of A-4E's in a variation of it. Reserve F-4S units VF-301 & VF-302 also used it, although for VF-302 the colors were reversed in order. Both units jets later went on to other Reserve F-4 units when they converted to the F-14A. VF-1 also had a Tomcat with this scheme. The USAF also had a very sharp looking T-38A in it. The Ferris splinter scheme is completely different, and uses different shades of gray with a hard edge pattern. Topgun had one, and possibly two F-5E's in this scheme for a short while, but no A-4's that I've ever seen documented. It was also used on a few T-38's, Tomcats and Phantoms, and USAF F-5E's and at least one F-15 (from Grey Ghost) as well, but again, didn't last long. The Heater graded scheme seemed to find much more acceptance, and was in use for considerably longer. Below is a pic of one of the USAF F-5E's in the Ferris scheme. HTH, Fred K.