Ben Brown

I still see stripes. 🤓 I think you can also see the pilot’s helmet reflecting off the wing near the aileron. The elevators are at the wrong angle to reflect the tail flashes. Ben

It does look like there are two yellow stripes on the horizontal stabs. You can see them pretty clearly on the elevators, since they are down. At that angle, they wouldn’t be able to reflect the ones on the tail. Sorry I can’t help with the nose art. Ben

No experience with 1/72 Hornets or the Testors kit. I used a set of Rhino Models intakes on my Hasegawa kit and they were almost, but not quite, drop-in. I was very pleased with the results. Based on past experience, trying to shoehorn parts into a kit they weren't designed for can lead to a lot of pain and suffering. Ben

They found debris from Kaga and the wreck of Yorktown a few years ago. Nothing of the other three IJN carriers at Midway nor Zuikaku and Shōkaku. Ben

Darren, that does sound like a fun project! Many, many moons ago, I built the Monogram F-104. I rescribed it and added a High Flight afterburner nozzle. With the canopy closed, the cockpit is passable. In some ways, the Monogram kit looks better, just because it doesn't have the Hasegawa kit's rivet acne all over it. 😁 Ben

To add to what Mofo says, I’ve built the X-Wing and Y-Wing. These were some of the best kits I’ve ever built. I needed a touch of cement here and there to secure some of the parts, but the overall engineering was impressive. A beginner or an advanced modeler would have a good time building these kits. The TIE fighter is the simplest one and the Y-Wing was pretty complex, due to all of the exposed piping. Even so, the fit of all of those tiny parts was excellent. Ben

Thank you!! Edit: In case anyone was still curious about using Mr Base White as a primer, I’ve since learned that it doesn’t adhere as well as Tamiya primer. It’s okay to use as a flat white, but use Tamiya if you need a real primer. Ben

I forgot to add the New England Air Museum at the Bradley airport in Hartford, CT. Ben

Udvar Hazy in DC is awesome! I enjoyed going to Dayton, too. Still trying to find the time to go to Pensacola and Pima. Ben

See what I mean? 😄 (wow, there’s a lot more stuff in there than I remember!) Ben

Many, many years ago I shot a walk around of one of our King Air 200s. I looked for the prints this morning, but they seem to have disappeared over the years. They’re probably with my CRJ-200 walk around prints! Anyway, I don’t recall there being much in the gear wells, except for some brake hydraulic lines and the covers for the gear retraction chains. I think the chain covers were on the inboard sides of the main gear wells and the starboard wall of the nose gear well. There, this should guarantee someone will post some great photos to refute my 25 year old memories. 😄 Ben

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