Tailspin Turtle

https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/09/grumman-6a-vs-6e-intruder.html

https://clearpropmodels.com/uh-2a/bseasprite https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235069382-uh-2a-seasprite-172-clearprop/

Direct from Clearprop - their margin is better when you do that.

I just got one in the mail. In a word, brilliant! At first glance at what’s in the box, which for starters is first class, the parts are beautifully detailed inside and out (if any aftermarket company can find some feature that’s missing or shape that’s inaccurate, I will be very surprised); the multi-page instruction sheet is in color, detailed, and on high quality paper; photo-etched details are included where injection molding would be inadequate; and decals are provided for four different helicopters along with almost as many stencils as would be on an F-4, all of them readable with appropriate magnification and none of them bogus as near as I can tell (I did spot a typo with an 8X lupe while doing due diligence). The doors are molded in clear plastic, which minimizes the number of windows that have to glued into openings. A painting mask is available separately. I won’t have a chance to do more than fondle the plastic for the time being, so I can't comment on the fit or the adequacy of the assembly instructions, but the photos of a test build posted elsewhere suggest that a reasonably skilled modeler will be very pleased with the result.

It is hard to tell that an A-4F has received the Super Fox conversion: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/02/super-fox.html However, I’m not sure that the flange is unique to the Super Fox: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/08/a4d-skyhawk-one-more-time.html

My most recent look at this: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/10/painting-crush-points-red.html Note that they rarely (never) have the red edge on the gear doors even when the slat wells are red.

For what it’s worth, the Bell HSL was the first helicopter with the autopilot capability for dipping sonar: http://tommythomason.com/books/Bell-HSL/

👍

My F4H-1/F-4A monograph is well regarded but expensive. It was preceded by a couple of posts on one of my blogs that may suffice for most modelers with regard to sorting out the differences among the F-4As, particularly the first 18. See https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/05/early-phantom-iis-redux.html. There is a link in it to the preceding post.

The fairing after the tailhook was only on a few early F4Hs and was removed from #1 at some point in 1958. The perforated spoilers were also replaced on #1 in 1958 but some F-4As were retired with them still present..

Minor error in the aft cockpit (and probably present in many other kits). The rear bulkhead was actually vertical so the ejection seat rails were set at an angle to the bulkhead, not attached to it along their length. It is a reminder that the AH was a single-seat airplane and the area aft of the pilot was filled with 20 mm ammo and various aircraft system components.

The F-4A inlet ramps were notably different from the F-4B’s.

In the end, Sikorsky chose not to bid. Up until then, the S-76 was too big, the Bell 222 was too small, and the AS-365 was too foreign.

Flush canopy, small radome, IR fairing, early tailhook, “cropped” upper inlet lip, plus some other differences that I can’t remember off hand... (it’s all in my monograph)

Click here and scroll way down to order: https://fineartofdecals.com/goodies/148-treasures-postwar/ If he still has any. For $40...

http://s3.amazonaws.com/fineartofdecalsimages/CED48494.jpg

For what it’s worth: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/08/its-not-that-easy-to-get-it-right.html

As afoxbat stated, the horizontal stabilizer was one piece, mounted in a large opening in the vertical fin. The plate he describes initially covered the hole through the full range of stabilizer movement (there’s a similar arrangement on other Heinemann designed aircraft). However, a “sugar scoop” fairing was added above the A4D’s tailpipe very early on to solve a buffet problem. If you look closely, the aft bottom edge of the plate therefore had to be trimmed to clear the top of the sugar scoop. That meant that the opening was no longer completely closed when the stabilizer was positioned leading edge down.

A better link: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/09/grumman-6a-vs-6e-intruder.html

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2018/09/special-hobby-fh-1-phantom-and-xfd-1.html

Maintenance - “Why did you pull 8 g’s?” Pilot - “Because I couldn’t get 9!”

Yes - there’s also an indicator pin that sticks out of the cowl. See http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/10/ad-skyraider-modeling-notes.html

I was just responding to the part of the statement that there was no box art on display. That there was suggests that there is still hope. My understanding is that at least some of the delay is the desire to get the configuration right...

The FJ-2 box art was included in a poster of forthcoming kits at the KH tables in Chattanooga.

There’s drawings and then there’s Jun’s drawings. For dimensions, see https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/06/things-under-wings-f4h-f-4-phantom.html