GEH737

I'm really glad you did this one Kursad. Growing up in Las Vegas - the Thunderbirds were as much as part of the routine as anything. Didn't everybody grow up in a place where this was almost a daily routine? Sometimes - only much later in life, do you realize how fortunate you were. And you're right - I've seen very little on this aircraft. Thank you :) Hitch

Really nice collection Darren - thanks for showing us :) Hitch

Not a mistake - but unusual. The one time I got to take pictures of my jet - the windscreen had just been replaced, and hadn't been re-painted yet. I wasn't happy about it at the time, but now consider it a rarity. It was the only time I ever personally saw an A-10 like this.

I agree with you Bill - something like that would work nicely. I have very little model lighting experience - just a few VooDooFx kit installs, and don't want to piecemeal the interior lighting. As I mentioned - the guy in England has the P'nP exterior light set that plugs into the onboard circuit. He's got a prototype interior set (but to me - it's too many "blinky" LED's). I'm hoping to hold off interior lighting until "a more elegant solution for a more civilized time" comes along. I'm open to all ideas - I just don't want to have multiple power sources - or to have to re-do anything i

As old as this saying is - the answer honestly is; "it depends". When I was living near KSC, that question came up quite a bit at the model meetings. As soon as the ET went outside, the color started changing - getting darker as time went by. Pick a picture you like - and anything close will be more than adequate. These aren't great photos - but I did this stack for a friend and used Floquil paints - but according to guys who worked out there - on them - these colors were (on average) pretty close. George

Bill - You're right - the top is really tight with the Paragrafix - it seems that traditional fiber optics will not have enough room. It seems like EL wire or something similar would be necessary. The question also being one if you could even see it from the angles we'll have available once it's closed up. I'm still waiting to see what aftermarket options might come up. Regards, George

Airliners... White and silver... I hate those combinations - and you sure made it look easy. I imagine (sometimes) that doing the wings separate - then blending them into the fuselage would be a bit easier. It looks like you did the white first completely - then the silvers? The end result is really well done :) Hitch

Interesting technique. Did you use any "flux paste" - or just the solder itself?

A really nice job - well done :)

Thank you for the compliments. Here's a picture of the backlighting (before I added the greeblies). I'm kind of holding off on the interior lighting - to see what's going to be offered. There's a guy in England who's doing a really nice "plug 'n play" light set for the underside lights (Episode V) for around $100 - but it's all pre-done - and best of all (to me anyway) is that it plugs into the onboard provided lighting circuit panel. He's looking into interior lighting as well. Since I want lights in the cockpit / corridors / cargo hold - I'd really like to have a centralized system - no

What Murph said... I never had any complaints with the A-10 ACES II - even after long deployment flights. In the commercial world - I've been very happy with the Boeing cockpit seats. Conversely - the A319 / A320 were the most uncomfortable I've ever experienced - my back / butt were killing me at the end of the day. I don't know how much difference there is - or options available to the original purchasing airlines.

Thank you Bill - While collecting as much reference as possible on this subject - it's interesting to note how much changed from movie to movie. In episodes IV and V especially - there's tons of real life switches etc - giving it a very realistic 3D look - because it was. In the current film - when you look at good photographs - they used mosty 2D graphics. Not sure why - but it's pretty noticeable (for those of us into that kind of stuff). The Paragrafix photoetch is really accurate - but is only 2D. The Shapeways cockpit parts are really nice 3D - but I can only imagine what a nightm

Will Travis be on the sheet? Asking for a friend who flew them there - but doesn't surf the hobby forums. Hitch

Scooby is right - there are rarely accurate eyewitness accounts. If you watch the video, the jet is going straight down. The wasn't any maneuvering to avoid things. A compressor stall wouldn't have affected the flight controls. The Blue Angels fly with full nose down trim (30 pounds of stick force - achieved with bungee cords) and without g-suits to avoid unwanted stick deflection in close proximity to the other jets. If there was something wrong mechanically - there was time (although not much) to eject. My opinion would be that there's the possibility that something happened to the pil

PS - I really like the upgrade to Cartograf decals. There have many kits I've passed up because of poor decals - and an unwillingness to be forced to spend another $15 ~ $20 to get a decent sheet for the kit. Hitch

Great response to constructive feedback - well done! I'm really looking forward to your T-38 and T-37 :) Hitch

It's just the photograph. The wings have held up really well without any droop.

Thanks

I got mine today from Lucky Model. The price was $39 plus shipping. I'm not a Hornet expert - but it looks really nice - and I really like the separate main gear wells. The missing antenna is the size of a pinhead - and shouldn't be an issue for almost any of us. The decal sheet is beautiful - with a great weapons sheet as well. Most aftermarket Cartograf sheets alone cost around $20, so by in large - any other Hornet kit would require an aftermarket decal sheet, putting this kit (by my estimation) to be quite a bargain. I only looked at the parts / instructions and decals - but from wha

Where?

Kursad - I don't know if you'd have the option to add these to another sheet. But you're TAC emblem / lightning bolt are some of the nicest I've seen. Those were common in the 60's on gray or silver USAF jets (F-4, F-100, F-104, F-105), and all look to be the same size. It'd be great to have more of those for that colorful era. With Cartograf being so nicely printed, it'd be really nice to have a large selection of data, warnings, TAC, SAC, MAC, ATC badges - stuff that's all too often missing on decals sheets for subjects you (or others) haven't covered. Just a thought. Hitch

The price of this kit / collectible isn't cheap by any means. But - as with all collectibles, they have a limited span of availability, and first rule of collecting - collect what you like. The odds of getting a better Falcon in my lifetime seem slim - and I do like the fact that I get to put it together. Back in '96 when I moved to Orlando, the company ICONS was producing a resin casting of one of the studio models of both the X-Wing (which had a Plexiglas case and a base cast from actual Death Star tiles) and the TIE Fighter for $1,500 each. I really liked them - but was hesitant because

Truly awesome in every regard. Honestly - one of the best I've seen (and I know that gets said a lot). The photography is first rate as well. That first picture in particular could easily pass for the real thing. Well done - well done indeed :) Hitch

Giger Tiger... Very nice :)

Sounds good. Here's a link to the DeAgostini "Build Diaries" - from the company that shows what's going on with each issue. http://forum.buildmi...um/model-space/