Dave Williams

Not really. The rear rotor pylon is different between the A and the F.

The other player should consider switching their project to 1/35 scale 😉

Hmm. Wish they would upscale the Hawk to 1/48 scale instead of downsize the Eagle to 1/72 scale. But, if they release it with the spine booster and laboratory module, I’d be in.

Didn’t know Photobucket was still a thing.

I think the lesson for companies is not to be so open and share so much for the development of a kit unless you’re prepared to be criticized, especially if you don’t intend to fix things. Other companies announce a kit, maybe show few CAD drawings, and then soon before the kit is released, show a buildup or sprues, and then release the kit. There are only a couple of specific announcements over the timeline from initial announcement to kit release. Live-streaming the development, especially if it’s over a period of years, is just asking to get constantly beat up.

I’m very surprised they would consider a gun firing GAU-8 ammo on something like a Cobra. 30mm GAU-8 ammo is nothing like the the 30mm ammo used in the M230 carried on the AH-64. GAU-8 ammo is 30x173 mm and M230 ammo is 30x113 mm. The weight of even a single barrel gun to fire GAU-8 ammo would be considerable, and it seems unlikely that a single engined Cobra could handle the weight of the gun plus the ammo, not to mention the massive recoil force, especially if fired with the gun off centerline. It’s doubtful that even the larger and more powerful AH-64 could handle such a weapon. If this was considered, I can’t imagine it was more than a passing thought.

The comment in the BM thread about Academy refusing to help needs more information from the original poster. I find it difficult believe they just blew him off.

There are photos of the actual Showtime 100 that show the missiles have the entire forward section is a dark metallic finish. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-4J_VF-96_Showtime_100_in_flight.jpg These photos would have been taken prior to the mission as the aircraft was lost on the way back. Not sure where TwoBobs got the info for their decal sheet, as I’ve never seen a white nose G model. I know they did more than one sheet with AIM-9 markings, and on later sheets they drew the missile with the entire forward section in dark metal. Might have just been a mistake.

That’s your choice, but a number of people have gotten the kits already, and the Britmodeler post is the only one I’ve heard with this problem. Both of my kits survived international mail from Korea to the US. There is always a risk of getting something damaged through the mail. This is the 1/35 kit from Academy. Different company and scale.

On my two kits, one is fine and on the other, the center panel had broken off, but it was at the sprue attachment, with no damage to the actual part. The design of the part, with only one sprue attachment, and being unprotected on the outside edge of the clear sprue, makes it a little vulnerable to breaking. Just check your kits.

To be honest, even if they fixed the issues, they aren’t likely to sell many more than if they didn’t fix anything. The issue about the casual modeler and pricing/distribution still holds, and for the hard core F-14 modeler, there probably aren’t that many of them out there, especially those who would spend another $100 or so for an AMK kit that at best would only be incrementally better than the Tamiya kit they likely already have. The cost/benefit of fixing just may not work out.

When they do reviews and previews they seem to be pretty thorough and usually include a number of photos of the real subject.

Not sure that the site is Korean, or why it would it would have to be translated. The Modelling News has always shown up in English for me.

I’ve got the Eduard missiles, although they are the A/B model, so the fin dimensions will be different than the clipped wing C models.

The real designation was always SR-71. The person who wrote the transcript of Johnson’s speech for distribution transposed the letters. BTW, the “S” in RS stood for Strike, as in the proposed RS-70 variant of the XB-70 bomber. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/sr-71-or-rs-71-how-the-legendary-blackbird-got-her-designation/