lesthegringo

Do you have to be sour about even about a comment that was intended in a humorous manner? Obviously I'm not taking a hobby seriously enough.....

Yeah, if I have any issue at all with a Mig-31 kit, it was the relative lack of imagination when it came to schemes. I suspect that I'll end up doing a retro splinter or other nationality 'what if' to scratch that itch. Sorry, purists, I promise I will keep it locked up at home!

Just curious, really, after seeing AMK's rather lovely looking MiG-31 in the jet modelling forum, do companies like Eduard work with the kit manufacturers to produce their aftermarket goodies? After all, while the kit manufacturers want to do a good job (or at least some do - others just do the minimum, insert company name here....) they clearly are limited by the injection technology and pricing / complexity constraints. A good set of aftermarket stuff complements their kit and helps sell them, so it would seem logical that they would encourage it and maybe allow them access to develop thei

Thanks guys - there's a lhs here who would let me check out the contents first, so will go that route Will let you know how I get on

Incredibly good, I don't think I've looked forward to a kit to be released so much for years

Guys, I posted this on Britmodeller, but didn't get any joy with an answer, so I thought I'd ask you guys in case I am interested in buying one of the KH GR1 Jaguars, but read a build thread from a couple of years ago that seemed to indicate that the kit was prone to being shipped with cracked canopy parts. It also seemed to show a less than fantastic approach by Kittyhawk with regard to replacement parts. Having had to recently put up with using a cracked main canopy on a Trumpeter MiG 23 (I broke it) because Trumpeter don't even answer let alone let you buy spares, I am wary of buying thi

1/48th as I don't have a exhibition centre to display the 1/32nd scale bad boys. Not that I wouldn't like to be able to! Les

I have the Teig 14" lathe as sold by machine mart, harbor freight tools and grizzly tools. They are good, but need to be adjusted and used carefully as they are not super precision - you get what you pay for. However if you do spend the time to 'tune' it, as long as you use a good vernier or micrometer they are capable of turning out some nice parts. The biggest thing to be aware of is the backlash that comes with using fairly crude threaded leadscrews and also gib strips with not very good surface finish. The only real weakness is the electronic speed control, which has failed twice on mine,

Sio, we will be happy with you guys keeping up the great work!

Sio, I have just been back and forth through all the photos, and the more I look the more I am impressed with the technical side of this kit. I can't claim to know the MiG-31 in any detail so will leave the accuracy comments to the guys who do. But further to my comment about ejector pin marks, what few I can see are either in irrelevant areas or really subdued, the latter being in the engine intake trunking / landing gear bay areas - are those as-moulded or have they been lightly dressed? I hope the landing gears doors look as good as that! Another question I have concerns the full engine as

Thanks, Sio, I hope you didn't think it was a criticism! It must be difficult to prevent in certain areas, and is something we are all used to dealing with. I suppose a pair of related questions concern moulding / cooling flaws in the transparent parts (didn't Airfix recently have an issue with this?) and the dreaded ejector pin marks. Have the transparencies been test moulded yet, and are there any details of how the ejector pin marks are being mitigated? I'm pretty confident seeing the rest of the attention to detail that they won't be an issue, but it would be great to hear about the thin

The Facebook site shows actual plastic, which seems to be high quality moulding Cheers

Fabulous looking model, it will certainly grace my shelves, and for that level of detail I am not going to moan at 100 dollars - look how much aftermarket details make 'normal' kits cost. Two questions though, firstly will the instructions define how much weight (if any) will be required, or dare we hope include a shaped weight? Secondly, I note that either side of the cockpit is a small fairing that goes to the engine splitter plates, and these have what look like deep sink marks on the upper surface - are these moulding marks or are they representative of some feature that is there on the

Gents, I have a Tamiya Mosquito I am building There are decals used for interior parts, especially the canopy framing that are used during the build, and while applying these I found that the decals were just breaking up all over the place. The decals themselves are not cracked, as I have seen in other cases, but the appear to be abnormally thin and brittle. I've decided not to attempt to use them unless I have a way of ensuring that they don't break up, but can't think of how to prevent that, other than using a decal spray, which is not available locally. I do have a set of roundels and som

CD-R's may work, but the photo-reactive layer is directly on the upper side covered by a protective lacquer. That means that the layer is harder to get off, plus the remaining layer will be thicker. I suppose you have nothing to lose by trying an old one! Les

Chippy, the MFD screens normally have a special non-reflective coating which tends to give a slightly greenish iridescent look. It is more subtle than the HUD's. I was also toying with the idea of trying to use decal paper or decal film to try and capture that photo reactive layer - the 'disco balls' on Helicopters like the Huey Cobras are hard to replicate, and I wondered if there was a way of utilising that by making a silvery, iridescent decal to put on them Let me know how you get on Les

Guys, I was fiddling about making a home made light spectrum analyser (don't ask) and stumbles upon a simple way of making those clear iridescent HUD panels that you see in modern jet fighters. If you get an old DVD-R, score it heavily on both sides, then snap it in two. As you do this, you will see that the disc has an upper, often matt or coloured layer, a thin layer of silvery stuff (the photo-reactive layer) and a lower, clear layer. What you want is to peel apart the top and bottom layers. The top layer can be thrown out. The lower layer will probably still have the silvery photo reactiv

Unfortunately I have not even had the courtesy of a reply, so nothing so far. I'll keep trying, I have nothing to lose by doing so Les

Thanks I have put a post in the spares box, but it's a long shot, here's hoping though! Les

Had a disaster so need to replace some bits on my MiG-23, just wondering if anyone has successfully got them direct from Trumpeter. Can find a direct way on their site, so I have e-mailed the local importer / distributor, but I don't feel very hopeful. Cheers Les

Hi there, can you tell me which part numbers they are, I think I may have some of them Les

Guys, following a disaster where I dropped a near finished model, I need a main canopy transparency as the original one is in pieces that are irrecoverable. I have looked for vac-form replacements, which don't seem to be available, so if anyone has a spare canopy or even a second hand one from a part finished model I would be a grateful recipient Happy to pay for it , let me know if you have anything Cheers Les

Nice replies, guys, and thanks to Chuck for the great tutorial - maybe a sticky is called for? Clearly scale does come into this equation, I deal with 1/48 almost exclusively and so the scale thickness of PE is more of an issue. 1/32 stuff I think gives you more license, with the obvious downside of requiring more detail to look right, the way I see it is that by going up a scale, you have to add exponentially more to compensate. That of course opens the door to the aftermarket stuff, and means that to ensure you don't end up with a toy like model that extra yard is required. However a good p

Disclaimer!! I will say up front that this is what I find, and that it is clear looking at other people's work that there are guys who can work miracles with PE and resin. I would never deny them the chance to have this media, and I am very aware of how lucky we are to have the choices we have in modern modelling. For a while now I have been having a rather ambivalent relationship with aftermarket parts, particularly photo etched. Eduard's pre-coloured and sometimes self adhesive products can be a great addition to a model, creating a great looking cockpit, especially the instrument panel are

I built the Cyber Hobby kit, and with a couple of minor exceptions found it a lovely kit. I thought the detail, fit and general quality of it was such that I would unhesitatingly recommend it. It has some lovely touches, like a complete one piece canopy for those who don't fancy a jigsaw puzzle, a nicely detailed and superbly fitting cockpit, great main bay details and very positive wing fixing spars The minor issues I had were that the main gear attachment is not particularly clear, even when you try to test fit. I fitted it, and it holds just fine, but I am still not 100% sure it is complet