Darren Roberts

Rookie. I'm up to seven times now and will see it again this week. 😂 AMC A-List is a wonderful thing to have!

They're going to repaint it? Excellent! I'm assuming they will do it correctly this time. What time frame were the red stripes on landing gear pants?

Ish, you're missing out. Don't go see the movie as a historical documentary, go for the pure entertainment of it. It is an extremely well done movie, and even actual Topgun and Naval Aviators have loved it. While there are technical errors due to the limitations of filming and keeping the story going, it is actually quite accurate in portraying what it's like to be up in a jet. I've seen it five times now, and plan to see it a couple more. It's that good.

I always get SAM and SAMI mixed up. Rumor has one of those going away. We'll find out soon enough at IPMS Nats in Omaha in a couple of months.

As they used to say on the Tonight Show...You are correct, sir! It's not unlike what's happening in the music industry. No longer do you need a label to get your music out to the general public. Some good social media exposure and you're on your way. I know it's not that simple, but it's getting there. If some kid can become a millionair for shilling toys, anything is possible.

I'll jump into the discussion, since it's near and dear to my heart. Printing costs have gone through the roof. They dropped to six printed issues, but on the "off" months there is a digital copy with new content, so you're actually getting more than before. FSM has always been a multi-content magazine. Autos are the new thing, since Scale Auto got dropped. Most modelers outgrow FSM as they get better, as FSM is for the beginner/intermediate, not necessarily the advanced builder. With that said, I find the content to be quite good, even if it's not in my genre. I've learned new tec

I either put my finished builds into museum displays, the museum gift shop, or sell them on eBay. Of the hundreds (thousands!) of models I've built, I only have less than a dozen in a display case. Of course, I live in a townhouse with no basement, so there isn't any room to display them anyway. My wife would kill me if I tried to have a display case in the family room. 😄

I've always thought the Aires seats looked clunky and boxy compared to the real thing.

Congrats!!!!!!! Yeah for you!!!!!!! Just remember...happy wife....happy life. 😄 It's worked for me for 26 years.

This is a fascinating discussion. I thought I was alone in my move away from getting every detail correct. It's refreshing to see there are others. My "light bulb" moment came about ten years ago when I built a collection of Monogram 1/48 Navy planes for a seminar I was doing. I decided I'd build them like I did when I was a kid. I had more fun than I had in years. It was then that I realized that, for me, I was doing it wrong. I figured out what I wanted to look good (seats and wheels go a long way in upgrading a model) and what I wanted out of building, and it's been fantastic ever since. On

I tried it and the ZM piece is wider than the Tamiya tail. I went ahead and sanded off the ECM antenna from the Tamiya. It took me all of a couple minutes.

It's ironic, actually, that we now have aftermarket rivets. After years and years of wanting to get rid of them on models, now we want them back. 😄

Tomcat squadrons that became LANTIRN capable (off the top of my head): VF-2 Bounty Hunters (F-14D) VF-11 Red Rippers (F-14B) VF-14 Tophatters (F-14A) VF-32 Swordsment (F-14B) VF-101 Grim Reapers (F-14A,B,D) VF-102 Diamondbacks (F-14B) VF-103 Jolly Rogers (F-14B) VF-154 Black Knights (F-14A) VF-211 Checkmates (F-14A)

I love that picture. One of these days I want to do a model of the jet with the VF-1 nose and VF-211 tails.

I don't know. The photo of 104 looks like it's starting to get a bit patchy. In the end, do it the way you enjoy it. That's what the hobby is all about. Knowing you, it will look fantastic!