Darren Roberts

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!

Ooh, Wichita 104 was painted up as well. Nice!

I did have a B/C conversion for the E kit, but unfortunately Steel Beach has been shuttered, as I've moved to a small townhouse with no place to cast. To be honest, I'm hoping someone will do a conversion that's 3D printed. That seems to be the future of modeling.

The only thing that would have made this scheme better, in fact perfect, would have been if Chuck Norris had been on the tail. That would have been epic!

I'm with you on this. It would be nice to have something like their F-16 release that had every option in it. But to play devil's advocate, maybe that didn't sell as well, and they think they can get more sales with individual releases.

I know of two jets (Wichita 105 and 111) that were painted in the camo. It's not quite a Ferris scheme. It doesn't have the hard edges and angles that typify the Ferris. There was an issue of Koku Fan that had a couple of pictures. Furball has a sheet that has one of them. Pictures are hard to come by, as I don't think they lasted very long.

I actually tested it for Revell US. I really like the acrylic. The square containers were nice and out of the ordinary. The one problem I had was the lack of standardized FS colors. There probably is a bit of bias in my post, but one has to understand that a company can't carry every single manfacturer of every single product. I wanted to set the record straight that SB hasn't "slipped" just because they don't carry a certain brand or they don't have the lowest price. If they aren't doing well in a business sense, then they will suffer the same fate as Squadron, though I don't see

Which brand name do they not carry that you'd like to see? I'd be more than happy to pass on your request. There may be a reason they don't carry that brand name.

In this situation, I liken it to trying to bring back Sears. At one time, Sears was everything. But they didn't keep up with the times, had poor management, held on to older ways, and lost name recognition. Sound familiar? If a company bought Sears and tried to make a go of it, they would have a tough time. Sometimes old names just need to go away. Kmart, JC Penney, Perkins, Woolworth's, Macy's, etc. These are all a shell of their former selves or don't exist at all. We want new, bright, shiny toys, even if the old ones still did the trick. It matters not, though. New is better. He sank $75K i

I'm not quite sure what you mean by SB going into a slide. They are busier than they have ever been and sales have been exploding. In regards to items not being in stock, they can't help that. They put the order in, and then it's up the manufacturer to have it available.