Geoff M

I have been using pastel chalks for years. They come in a set with many colors. Works great for exhaust stains, gun stains etc.. Can be found in most craft/hobby stores ie Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc. Ge

I have never used these products before, but if the glue is water based, adding a drop or two of dishwashing liquid might overcome the surface tension issue. Geoff M

thanks for that I will check it out

Those would be navigation lights. Standard arrangement on aircraft is left wing - red light, right wing - blue/green light, tail would be a clear or white light. hth Geoff M

Probably been discussed here before but I've been trying to figure a good color match to these. These had to be among the most widely used paints in WWII but it is very hard to find anything out about these. I know that they faded and manufacturers had their own formulas and batches could vary, but you gotta start somewhere. Start with Olive Drab. I've been using Model Master paints for decades. They have MM1711 Olive Drab 34087 and MM2050 Olive Drab ANA 613, same paints? Then they add to that their versions of Faded and such. The period standard for USAAF aircraft paint was ANA. Most references claim ANA 613 as Olive Drab. The confusing part is trying to come up with a good FS equivalent. I have sources stating 34087, 34084 and 34064. This one isn't so hard. Model Master Olive Drab looks like what I think olive drab looks like. Now Neutral Gray is another story. First the references I have don't even mention an ANA # for neutral gray. FS references are all over the chart...36173, 36118, 36231 etc. And WWII Neutral Gray is not to be confused with modern USAF Neutral Gray FS36270. I guess the short question is, what do you guys use for Neutral Gray? I have just started to switch over to acrylics and I have found Mission Models paints to work very nice. I was surprised how well an acrylic metallic paint could look. I am still adjusting to these. Again, they do not list anything like a WWII neutral gray. The closest I can find is a British Grey, Ocean gray or something. I don't have it in front of me. Thanks for any help or opinions.

I like a more nose up attitude in my P-38s. I carefully cut off the torsion link and cut the oleo out of the nose landing gear. Aluminum tubing can be found that has the same diameter as the oleo portion. Now you drill a hole into the upper and lower pieces of the nose gear and determine how long you want to make the oleo. It doesn't take much to make it look right to me. Glue the oleo in place and replace the torsion link. The picture below shows the oleo lengthened by probably 1/16" or so. If you extend it too much you need to make a new torsion link, in this case I just spread it open a little. Hope this helps. Geoff M

Nobody mentioned stopped buying kits 😮 Geoff M

Kinetic will send it out, it just has to come from china, doh! They sent me a new canopy for an f-16 a few months ago. Geoff M

This may be old news, but I just watched a this movie on Amazon Prime, "Thud Pilots". It is a documentary style movie with the emphasis on interviews of surviving thud pilots. There is some footage of 105 operations mostly in Viet Nam, of course. I thought it was a very good movie and the men had very touching stories to tell. Geoff M

Quick google search suggests that the early production versions had provisions for 2 - 50 cal . These seem to have been used in Korea with at least the 51FW.

McDonnell Douglas

Somehow you wrestled a great looking t-45 out of that kit. Geoff M

Don't know if this will help, but I find it easier to file a groove or channel in the place where items like this would go. If the wings are molded in upper and lower halves, I would put the groove in place before gluing the wings together. Same with the stabilizers, but they aren't always molded as 2 pieces so drilling is sometimes the only option. After you glue the wings together it needs some attention to get the hole cleaned up but much easier than drilling into a very thin edge. HTH By the way, nice looking SU! Geoff M

Beautiful airplane and craftmanship Geoff M

Why did they unlock this?