mkeogh

Hopefully I am in with one very late entry that I hope I can finish in April. It is A-7B 154389 of VA-303, CVWR-30, NAS Alameda. I just bought this decal set off of Modeling Madness. I'll be using an old Hasegawa kit of an A-7A. As far as I know, late A-7As are pretty much identical to A-7Bs. -Michael

I found a really good site about the history of Navy and Marine aircraft markings. U.S. Naval Aircraft Marking Now if I could only find some interest decal sets. -Michael

Whoops, sorry guys. I learn something new everyday. Thanks for all the good info. I am trying to come up with a good idea for a last minute submission because my P-47N build is becoming a real struggle. I am having many fitment problems requiring much putty. Nothing ****** me off more than too much putty...and sanding, and scraping, etc. -Michael

Thanks guys. That does make sense. -Michael

Hello experts, What does the "AW" stand for in VF(AW)-3? I am looking at an auction for a Tamiya 1/72 model of the Douglas F4D-1 Skyray and it includes decals for a couple of "AW" squadrons. Thanks, Michael

Okay. This coming from an Air Force guy, are you being facetious? AF as in Air Force? In particular, I am talking about older Navy jets from the 50's.

To all you Naval aviation experts: Although I have been an aviation buff since I was a kid, there is a lot I don't know. My question today, is how to identify a US Navy Reserves aircraft - what markings denote this? Never having served, some of this minutiae eludes me. Thanks, Michael

Well, I re-glued the cockpit inside the fuselage. I used epoxy so hopefully it won't come loose again. For those that plan on building this kit, it would be good to make some kind of support to hold the cockpit in place. Luckily the ANG P-47s had all-black cockpits - it is so dark in there one can't see anything anyway. I also got most of the seams filled in. The wing root area needed the most filling. It is slow going but hopefully I have it completed in time for the Reserves Group Build. Here is a shot of the model with the wings and horizontal stabilizers attached. Here is a shot of t

More bad news folks. The cockipt came loose and fell into the sealed-up fuselage! :) For the reinstallation I turned the airplane upside down in order to use gravity and 1-minute epoxy to hopefully, permanently attach the cockpit. Wish me luck. -Michael P.S. It is about now that I wish I bought the Academy kit instead of the ProModeler.

This ProModeler kit is a little strange. The gear is molded to one side of the wheel well. As the well was put together so went the landing gear. I am in the process of glueing the wing to the fuselage. The bottom fit perfectly but the seam where the top of the wing meets fuselage is about 2mm wide. I put in some Plastic Zap and taped it up until it cures. I'll see how it goes. -Michael

I believe that is an IKEA cabinet. I have one just like it. -Michael

I am a slow builder between work and whatnot. The wing is assembled. Here it is in white primer. I need to fill that stupid seam on the flaps and clean up around the gun mounts. Here is a shot of the wheel well. I painted it before assembly. Now I'll have to figure out how to mask it. This picture shows the rocket launching stubs. They were clipped off the rockets per Lee Kolosna's P-47N in the ARC gallery.

Well, I just found an incompatability between my chosen markings (GA-ANG) and the ProModeler P-47N. The GA-ANG aircraft was a P-47N-25-RE and the ProModeler P-47N is an earlier example with the navigation lights on the wingtips at the leading edge. P-47N-25s had the lights moved to the center of the tips (according to the kit instructions). So instead, I'll be doing a P-47N-15-RE from the Pennsylvania ANG.

Hello Prop builders, I am building the old Fujimi E-2A Hawkeye and I would like to use this Super Scale sheet but I don't have placement instructions. If someone has this sheet and could scan the instructions and email to me, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Michael

Being an instant-gratification kind of person I like to go to the local hobby shop for stuff like paints (although I do have an account with a hobby supplier and can get most things at wholesale - I didn't want to buy twelve bottles of zinc chromate. Feel free to email/pm requests). I am also pleased with the results I get with Model Master enamels and acrylics. I didn't see a yellow chromate in the Acryl line. Then again I didn't look there this time after I found the color on the Testors enamel rack. This zinc chromate looks like a pretty good match to what I've seen on other P-47 builds.