Ben Brown

You’ll definitely want a “buyer pays shipping” note in your sales. Shipping can be surprisingly expensive, depending on package size and destination. Ben

Hi Kursad, Sorry for the delay, but here's what I have on the 4th TFW F-105Ds: Dropbox link Let me know if it doesn't work. I've also got some pics of some 4th TFW Bs, including at least one with the pilot's name on the canopy. I can provide those, too, if you ever want to do a short nose Thud. Ben

Oh, please be a D! Pleeeeease be a D! Ben

Same! I think we’ll have to hope KH makes a slatted -3, though. I don’t think there were many (any?) blue -2s besides prototypes and apparently no blue unslatted-3s. Ben

Cool! Thanks! Ben

I would love to see decals for a T-Birds Thud! The Warbird sheet is a mess. We need some enterprising aftermarket manufacturer to do a conversion. The Airwaves and C&H conversions are okay but no longer available. I keep hoping Dimitri from DMold will do one. Ben

For the 4th TFW, only the 334th and 335th carried any squadron colors. The original 335th markings with the Chief on the side and the green stripes has been done by Microscale. A Caracal-quality replacement of that sheet would be good. When they deployed to Vietnam, they were silver painted with only a blue tail band with polka dots (334th) or a green tail band, sometimes with a white V with or without a white Chief in the V (335th). They kept the tail bands when they were camouflaged. I have a few photos I can provide, including a good shot of a 335th jet with the reversed camouflage. Ben

Please let it be a D! Ben

All of the family photos and such are now set aside. I just came home from going through their attic. Found a box of Dallas newspapers and Life magazines covering the Kennedy assassination! Ben

According to late F-100 guru Dave Menard, Monogram nailed the shape of the F-100. It isn’t perfect, but even with a ton of aftermarket “corrections,” Trumpeter’s doesn’t measure up. The Monogram kit is mostly a Vietnam-era jet, but with the early 275-gal drop tanks. These can be updated with a 28 scale inch plug or some resin noses from the aftermarket. The open access panels on the Monogram kit are a PITA, but are easily fixed with a little filler. If you bend the upper panel slightly before installing it, it will follow the contour of the fuselage better. Most of the fuselage seam problem is caused by the one-piece wing. The gap is too narrow and the plastic on the lower fuselage half isn’t very flexible, so the sides of the upper half get pulled inward, causing a big step. The easy fix is to remove the stabilators and assemble the fuselage without the wing. After you clean up the now minor seams, split the wing and glue the left and right sides in place. I don’t like scribing models but I’ll take that over spending a ton of time and money getting the Trumpeter kit up to 75% of the Monogram kit. Ben

Nope, he only sells direct. I’ve dealt with him in the past and recommend him. Renaissance from France also sells a nose correction. I’ve dealt with them, too and recommend them. Ben

X Mold makes some for both the single seaters and the F. Personally, I think you could have stopped typing after “Trumpeter screwed the pooch with the F-100.” 😈. (Couldn’t resist!😉) Ben

Thanks for the suggestions. I went through the house and “sanitized” it of anything that had account or social security info on it soon after we moved Mom to the rest home. Now we’re slowly going through the family stuff and it seems like an overwhelming task. So many old photos of unknown people, and Mom’s dementia is to the point where she doesn’t remember who’s in the photos. I’m definitely keeping my dad’s and his dad’s military papers and photos. We’re also hanging onto the family’s genealogy files. Ben

My dad passed away five years ago, and Mom is now in a nursing home with dementia and balance problems. Her house is unoccupied, so we need to clear it out and sell it. The furniture and all of that can go in an estate sale, but what do you do with old family photos dating back to the 1800s, immigration papers, diplomas, and general stuff they kept from their ancestors, and the other odds and ends that were valuable to my parents, but not to the rest of the family? I'm not the least bit sentimental about the vast majority of this stuff and I've already taken the few things of my dad's that mean a lot to me. My sister isn't interested in most of the stuff, nor are my daughters. There is nobody left on my dad's side of the family and only an uncle and a couple of cousins on Mom's side, so we can't send the stuff to family. I'm happy to throw out the tons of photos of me as a kid, and we already have duplicates of the pics with my own kids. It seems a shame to throw the very old photos and some of the other things in the dumpster, but I don't want to clutter up my own house and leave a bunch of crap for my daughters to go through some day. Ben

Yes, I was thinking I could get away with printing the driver names and the mirror logos in plain ol' yellow, since they're small. The Volt logos on the front and wing can be masked. I'll keep at it. I won't be starting the model until I get a few more things off of my plate, so I have some time. If all else fails, I'm going to build it as one of these two Compass Racing cars: Cheers! Ben