Rocky

We figure he must have gotten in the cat door in the basement. And we hope he didn't have rabies.

:soapbox:/> So I'm sitting here at my computer, and I hear strange noises downstairs, so I go to the head of the stairs and turn on the light, and I see a big raccoon on the stairs headed my way. I shut the toddler gate at the top, and he tries to crawl under. Then he heads back downstairs, and I follow him and shut doors and open doors so he can leave. Meanwhile, he wanders around my living room, and then gets back on the stairs. He gets to the top, SCALES the gate, and heads down the upstairs hall to my hobby room. He goes in, climbs on my worktable, walks across it, knocks over bot

Excellent! Thank you.

Is there a font that can be downloaded to print decals of USAF, or US Navy, or some other airforce's numbers and letters? My computer has a font thats pretty close to the USAF font, but its not exactly right.

I have wanted markings for an Air Force EC-121, from the Vietnam War, for YEARS. I noticed recently that there is an aftermarket radome set for the kit. Supposedly there was something wrong with the kit radomes??

It came out of the printer bad. Would simply sealing them with Future after I apply them work just as well?

Here are my decals:

USAF F-15's do not carry Harpoon, SLAM, or SLAMER.

I am using Experts-choice clear decal film, made for ink jet printers, and I am printing with a Canon MX860 ink jet printer.

Different decal paper?? I don't think any decal film will absorb ink.

I just made my first attempt at making my own decals. They are simple numbers and letters printed in black. I tested them with regular paper, and they looked great, but when I printed them on the blank decal paper, they came out mottled. I told the software that I was printing on glossy photo paper. What did I do wrong?

From what I have seen in my references, virtually any combination you can imagine. Often there were a few F-4B "superbombers" on alert with a full load of 24 Mk 82 500lb bombs, or 12 Mk 82 and 7 napalm, or 18 bombs and sixteen Zuni rockets, or ten CBU and a gun pod, but normally the wing tanks were carried. The centerline station might have a 600 gal tank, but usually it had a MER with 6 Mk 82 Snakeye, but sometimes 3 napalm, or a gun pod, or 6 WWII 250lb bombs, or 3 rocket pods with four rockets per pod. The inboard wing stations might each have a TER with three Mk 82 Snakeye, or two napal

Another reason to have A-7s on board, rather than just A-6s, is that the A-7 had some degree of self defense capability against fighters, whereas the A-6 was intended to operate alone and undetected at night and low level, where fighters were not a threat. The A-7 was derived from a fighter, and it had a gun, and the two Sidewinders didn't take up a weapons pylon that could load a bomb or fuel tank. The gun could be used to strafe as well.

That clears up a mystery. I had read in an old issue of Air Combat magazine that the underside of Luftwaffe F-104s was silver, but F-104 Starfighter in action said it was grey. My old 1/72 scale Hasegawa F-104 kit instructions said it was FS36440 grey, and my 1/48 scale Hasegawa instructions said FS36320 grey. It looked grey to me. I ended up painting it FS36622 Camoflage grey.

Wow, thats interesting. I'll have to look for some photos of several jets in the same picture and see if I can make out any differences.

The fact is that there is not much contrast between the two greys on the real jet. If it looks bland, you are doing it right. Photos can lie, as contrast in them can be boosted. And be sure you are looking at a photo of a ghost grey Eagle and not one in the later Mod Eagle scheme, as that had more contrast. Also, that A-10 photo is from 2013. The current grey paint on A-10s is not the same grey paint from the 1970's. It looks similar, but I was told by an A-10 pilot that its actually different shades of grey.

Check this out: "Measuring just 8.8-micrometers long, this 1-billionth scale model of the USS Enterprise "was made with a 30 kV Ga+ focused-ion- beam CVD using phenanthrene gas by Takayuki Hoshino and Shinji Matsui of the Himeji Institute of Technology." http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/1-billionth-scale-model-of-uss-enterprise-measures-8-8-micrometers-long I'd double check the actual scale myself, but I don't know how long a Galaxy Class starship is supposed to be.

Thanks!

I just bought some nice looking Xtradecal F-102A decals for the 526th FIS at Ramstein AFB, Germany, in the early '60's (among some other squadrons as well). My question is: Did they fly F-102's with case X or case XX wings? I've got pictures, but I can't quite make out what they had. Does anyone know? Did they mix the two types in the same squadrons? I'm trying to figure out which Meng kit I should get to go with the decals.

I have not built either the Fujimi or the new tool Hasegawa F-14s, but I bought both for a good reason. If you want to build a correct F-14 with the wings forward, the gap behind the wing should be closed up, which, unfortunately, will prevent the wing from ever sweeping back. The Hasegawa kit has alternate parts for that gap to be open to accept swept back wings, or closed with the wings forward. The Fujimi kit does not, so if you want the wings forward, the Hasegawa kit is the way to go. But if you want the wings back, you can build the Fujimi kit, and then you get to have wings that move

I like to build for set points in time, usually for conflicts. Do a series of decals for October 1962, when we almost had WW III. Linebacker II in 1972. Grenada. Allied Force. Desert Fox. Praying Mantis. OEF. OIF. What if the Soviet coup succeeded, and there was a NATO v Soviet Union conflict that followed in 1992, at the end of the Cold War? I also like NATO V Warsaw Pact in 1980, as there were lots of 3rd generation fighters then, and its a nice round date halfway between Vietnam and 1992. And I build in 1/72 scale.

Is that to get a really flat gloss finish, or a really glossy flat finish?

I've just started using it, and I am very happy with it.

The wings are too short. You want an F-111C or an FB-111A, as they were the only ones with the long wings. The early prototype F-111B had an intake splitter plate like the F-111C, but the production version may have had the later style (I can't find my F-111B book). The nose changed too. The early prototypes had very short noses, but the production version would have had a nose that was longer, but not as long as an Air Force nose. You can do any what-if project that you would like to imagine, but its unlikely the Marines would have ever bought the F-111B. It was a specialized intercep

I've wondered the same thing for years. Good to know. What about the MiG-15 / 17 / 19?