pablo189

Kingkit have got some, £4.99 a throw. Select Hasegawa and enter coin as the search term.

When I first saw the test shot I thought the fuselage looked too shallow top to bottom. If you look at the amount of fuselage between the bottom of the intake and the weapons bay you can see where it's missing. It makes the underside of the fuselage appear too flat towards the nose which in turn makes the nose all droopy. If you were to put the correct curve on the underside of the nose then it would finish up being too short. The opening to the intake is way too big. The intake itself should basically be a rectangular box but the top and bottom sides seem to diverge. The hub to the nosewh

Aeromaster did them as well... http://modelingmadness.com/others/decals/williamsam48509.htm They're also in the Hasegawa boxing of the Monogram kit if you can find one.

The cowling is split like that so they can do a -4 at some point. The lower half of the cowling, cowling lip, prop, exhausts, gear reduction casing and cockpit floorboards are all on the same small sprue. The upper decking on the nose is separate to preserve the fuel tank panel detail so there's no seam through it and is also moulded at an angle on the sprue so that you get a nice clean deep slot to mount the nose aerial post in. The fin half is separate because of it's offset design and I'm guessing the wingtips are separate so that the wing fits on the sprue, otherwise you might be looking a

Zoom in on the pics on the Tamiya blog and look at the decal sheet. It's most definately a new sheet because the Spang jet has the 2010 onwards finflash with colours for the 81st and 480th only as listed in the profiles, which as far as I know hasn't been done by anyone else. At the bottom you can see stencil markings for the 3 tanks, AIM-9M, AIM-9X, AIM-120C, HTS, 'ECM pod', Sniper XR and AGM-88's. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be printing decals if the bits weren't in the kit. You can also see the sprues at the bottom right, the intake looks like it's only half the length of the 48th one.

It's the Italeri kit in a shiny new box. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-48-ACADEMY-EA-18G-VAQ-129-VIKINGS-U-S-NAVY-GROWLER-12298-MODEL-KIT-/190875481754?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item2c7110b69a http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/it/kit_it_2641.shtml

Doesn't look like there's much in those wheel wells :blink:

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That's a model http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal7...1G-Kemp/00.shtm

Happy New Year to you too I think curiosity will get the better of me and I'll have to buy one :lol: ...I was trying to resist coz I think they're gonna be pretty $$$$$$ over here.... but there's a couple of guys on ebay doing them for a decent price sooo....and if they're relatively error free and they fit well I could be really tempted...certainly looks good, can't wait to see it done

Very cool, always loved the tan radome on these

One of the coolest schemes EVER! Reminds me of the old tool 1/72 Hasegawa kit I had as a kid :)...Decals look fine, good fit. Whaddya think to the kit so far?

I like that, good job, just bought one, looks like a nice kit.

Great job, I'd never have guessed the markings were painted on, very tidy.

Great taste in subjects Ken and some lovely work. I love the Eagles :)

Another one from last year... Hasegawa's 1/48 AV-8B+ finished as 165583/17 of VMA-311 'Tomcats' as seen during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cockpit is Aires, GBU-12 from the Hasegawa weapons set and decals from TwoBobs. ;) Gary

Finished this on New Years Eve, it's Hasegawa's 1/48 F/A-18A, in the markings of 162860/206, VFA-97, from the opening phase of Operation Enduring Freedom. Built almost OOB the only things I added were a Verlinden seat, Legend drop tanks and TwoBobs decals. Gary

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Full sheet prefered but I'll take a partial, I'm after the VFA-201 bird first and foremost... if you have one to sell drop me a PM!! Cheers, Gary

It's not just me then. I bought one of each when they first appeared. The decal sheets are really nice, Cartograf printed. The kit itself though is utter rubbish, the panel lines in particular are hideous (if I want something that looks like a diecast I'll just buy a diecast) , the FRS nose looks to be too long and skinny and the FA2 radome is too bulged. I've since sold both on ebay (minus the decal sheets ) and I'll stick with my Esci and Xtrakits. The Esci kit is superb in comparison and whilst the Xtrakit has it's issues it does at least have sensible panel lines and a good shape, it's a

Instructions can be found here; http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10086605

Yes it does. You get new blade antenna, bird shredders, GPS dot, dual chaff pots and the raked centre line pylon. I bought the kit but you can order the sprues seperately from HLJ if you just want to update existing kits. The same sprue is also in the Gunslingers boxing... http://www.hlj.com/product/HSG09860

I've already bought one :)..... a couple of weeks ago in fact. It wasn't bought blind either, I've already got several of the 1/72 version and a big one with Zacto's bits so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting. Here in the UK they are going for £22 from the discount retailers...which is about $35US. The Hasegawa kits are about £30+ /$48. It makes the HB kit cheap enough that it's worth considering even with the shape issues. More to the point Hasegawa don't make an A-7A or B so you can factor in another £10-15 for a conversion set should somebody eventually make one. For that kin

OK....Figured out the paintbrush thingy ...look at the blue lines, shows where the windscreen terminates and the relative depths of the lower half of the fuselage

The Trumpy windscreen is too long in comparison with that drawing. That's what makes the nose look to short.I don't know how to do the photoshop thing but if you lay a ruler down the screen you can see the difference. The Trumpy nose also looks like its too flat from the windscreen to the tip beacause the depth from the point of the nose to the bottom of the fuselage is too deep...the tip of the nose needs to be shifted down a bit, that will relax the curve under the nose and increase it on top of the nose. The question is ....is that drawing correct...can somebody lay the shape of the kit ove