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.

It's about time the AF caught up with the Navy. Maybe they'll start letting them paint squadron designs on the tails of the aircraft...um...nope, it's the Air Force.

SB Decals had a plan for that scheme. It was supposed to be paired with a lo-vis sheet. Unfortunately, references for the lo-vis are hard to come by and time for research is limited. Since I'm the one that's supposed to find references, I guess I'm to blame. 😄

I did make a set to convert the Hasegawa E/F back to a C/D. I wish I could still produce them, but life at the moment has said otherwise. Living in a townhouse with no basement is challenging for modeling, let alone casting.

Hmm, you want me to remember where that figure came from. I can't even remember what I had for breakfast! 😄 From the look of it, I think it was from the 1/48 Monogram F-106. It looks very Monogramish. In regards to the group build, I have a Tomcat that I have to do, so I'll get it in there. I've been building for a museum fund-raiser, so that's been taking most of my build time.

That is nice. Originally, the A-10 was supposed to be delivered in SEA. The prototype, however, was rolled out in ADC gray. The first production aircraft were in two tone gray, ironically similar to what they have now. It was found that they were too visible "down in the weeds", so they went with the Euro I scheme.

You know it's bad when using aftermarket makes it easier. 😂 I finished one up last year, and it will be the last Hasegawa Tomcat I ever build. I'd rather build the Monogram than the Hasegawa. It can be done, but it's just too muich work.

I don't for sure why companies produce inaccurate kits. What I do know is that if you're not careful, the over-attention to detail can kill. I'm looking at you Accurate Miniatures. They spent so much time trying to "fix" their Avenger, it turned into a money pit. It was delayed so long that modelers started griping. What came out was a beautiful model, but it set the course for the eventual demise of AM.

VFA-143's markings, in my opinion, translated over to the Super Hornet better than any other squadrons. They just look "right" on the Super Hornet. Most of the former Tomcat squadrons didn't look all that great until they started tweaking them. Of course, you could say the same thing about the Phantom/Tomcat transition. I'm looking at you, original VF-142 markings.

Really? I hadn't heard that. I wonder why?

Hopefully this release will spur some new decals. I. haven't seen any new decals for the Super Hornet lately, and there are a bunch of really nice new schemes that the squadrons have been putting on their planes.