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Darren Roberts

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Everything posted by Darren Roberts

  1. You just weren't meant to purchase anything yesterday. 😄
  2. Yeah! The Knighthawks finally got some color. The original markings had to be the most boring SH markings out there.
  3. I live in Olathe, KS and at the airport (former NAS Olathe) there's a former River Rattler A-4L on display. They have it painted up in Marine markings, but I've been trying to get the airport to change them to VA-204 markings. Unfortunately, that's like getting blood from a turnip! I would imagine you probably worked on the one that's on display here.
  4. Rookie. I'm up to seven times now and will see it again this week. 😂 AMC A-List is a wonderful thing to have!
  5. 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?
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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
  10. 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. 😄
  11. Congrats!!!!!!! Yeah for you!!!!!!! Just remember...happy wife....happy life. 😄 It's worked for me for 26 years.
  12. 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
  13. 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.
  14. 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. 😄
  15. 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)
  16. 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.
  17. 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!
  18. 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.
  19. 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!
  20. 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.
  21. 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
  22. 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.
  23. 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
  24. 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.
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