Ben Brown

So, a ‘74 Pinto just sold for $14,000 at Barrett Jackson! 😮 LINK Ben

The Trumpeter tail is too broad in chord and the fuel tank vent fairing is too short, so a decal sized to fit the Monogram kit might not fit an unmodified Trumpeter tail. On the 1/32 F-100D, I think the tail was about 3 mm too broad, so I guess we’re talking ~1.5 mm in 1/48. You just trim down the leading edge to correct it. The 1/32 fairing needed to be extended aft 3 mm, so add 1.5 mm for the 1/48 kit. Doing this might get you close enough to use something meant for the Monogram kit. I don’t know how close in shape the noses would be if you fixed the Trumpeter nose. Its too-flat underside might affect how a nose band will fit. The panel line representing the break between the fuselage and the intake lip is too far aft on the Trumpeter kit, so you will have an odd panel line if you don’t fill it and describe. HTH. Ben

Others may know more, but I think those "photorealistic" windows are printed with a laser printer or with whatever system that companies like Draw Decals uses. They're more like a photo, so I don't think you can get that level of detail with a silkscreened decal. They do look pretty cool, though! Cheers! Ben

Trans Am Pinto One of my bucket list items is to drive in a Le Mons race. It’ll never happen, but I can dream! 😄 Ben

Yes, an MGB with the single Zenith carb and loads of emissions (good for a whopping 65 hp!) wasn’t exactly a speed demon. Converting it to twin SUs really woke it up. Apparently, back in the day, Pintos made pretty good race cars. They ran them in both IMSA and SCCA events. Ben

1/48 Falcon 20 1/48 F11F 1/48 F-86A 1/48 F-86H 1/144 Beech 1900C

+1! If/when I get around to building a BA Phantom, I was going to try to draw up the antenna and print my own. The decal film is a problem, as Nikolay has shown, but it might be hidden a little better if the canopy is dipped in Future both before the decal is applied and again after it has dried. BTW, Bill, your paint FINALLY went out last Friday. Sorry for the delay. Ben

Love the VF-143 F-4! Are those Falcon 20s the 1/144 F-RSIN kit? If so, you’re a brave soul to build more than one! I built one and spent more time on it than I’ve spent on many 1/48 kits. Ben

Back in the ‘80s or early ‘90s there was a British company that made decals like that. Clearfix, I think. They did have some kind of adhesive on them and there was little, if any, clear film around the edges. They worked well, they just required a slight change in technique to apply them. Ben

Thanks. I had forgotten about that thread. I hope he can get his casting issues sorted out. Ben

Can you post some pics of the parts? The pic on his web site isn't very clear. Thanks! Ben

I'm waiting to see if anyone releases a correction for the intakes before I buy the kit, because I'm too lazy to fix it myself. I've done that on several C&H and Koster conversions, already. I'm also still rapidly falling down the race car modeling rabbit hole, so airplanes are on hold for a while. 😄 Cheers! Ben

Model Car World (LINK) paint is also good. Their web site is a little hard to navigate. Ben

Hi Nikolay! That Eduard instrument panel looks pretty good! You know you're making it more and more difficult for me to avoid buying the kit? 😄 I normally don't like PE panels, because the instrument bezels don't stand out from the panel very much, but the F-101 only had a couple of bezels, so PE works well. For the camera openings, you can just scribe them into the belly, if they're not already there. Those covers were normally closed. The vents would probably be on a later RF-101. I saw a post somewhere that explained what they were for, but I can't recall where I saw it. Someone with more knowledge of the jet than me can confirm. For the Printscale decals, I think all of those subjects would work for a late Vietnam jet, although again, others will know more. You might want to try testing a decal from one of the subjects you won't be using. I've read some concerning reviews about them (brittle, underlying colors show through, etc.). The ones I bought were missing the Insignia Blue parts of the national insignia! At the very least, you might want to paint the tail white where the polka dot decals will go. I like that paint scheme, too! Cheers! Ben

Apparently, it's a 2014-2015 car with 2016 Daytona decals. There is the start of a build here, where he updates the model to 2016 specs: LINK I haven't asked the builder if he ever finished it, but he got off to a great start. If you're not familiar with the Motorsports Modeling forum, it's a great resource for all things racing. Indycals has decals for a 2015 Le Mans car, if you want to build the kit without having to modify anything: Another link Cheers! Ben