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MK-6, MK-7, MK-41 and RC-135 Cheeks


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Gents:

AS noted in the title the MK-6, MK-7, MK-41 and cheeks for the RC-135 are on sale.

Just go to http://www.millcreekconsultants.com and click on the Spectre Resins button.

Also check out the artwork for the next release below the sales flyer. A Milstar dome for the E-6B Mecury. There will be decals for both an E-6A and B on one of the December sheets from Wolfpak Decals.

Mark S.

Wolfpak Decals and Spectre Resins

SalessheetMK6741cheeks.jpg

Milstardome-1.jpg

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Murph:

The body is cast with the fin in the retracted or stored position. If you want to model it in the deployed position you need to cut it off and attach the third fin provided as a separate piece. The two fins that are not retracted fit into slots in the body. Here's the assembly instructions that comes with the kit:

Mark

MK7AssemblyInstructions.jpg

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The body is cast with the fin in the retracted or stored position. If you want to model it in the deployed position you need to cut it off and attach the third fin provided as a separate piece. The two fins that are not retracted fit into slots in the body. Here's the assembly instructions that comes with the kit:

Mark,

For some reason, I always thought the bottom fin folded rather than retracted. Makes sense to mold the retracted position rather than the "inflight" one.

Regards,

Murph

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Larry:

Paypal tells me you need to go all the way through the ordering process on their page. When you say yes to everything and place the order it will then ask you let you oick the shipping amount.

UKPonchoMan:

Stand by for further announcements!

Mark S.

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Looks great. Are those cheeks appropriate for contemporary RC-135s?

Thanks,

Jonah

Yes, they're appropriate for contemporary RC-135's

Gents:

You need to thank J.C. Bahr for the cheeks. He did a fantastic job on the masters.

Mark

Spectre Resins

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These particular cheeks are correct from the early 90s up to present day. There might be some minor equipment swapouts in them, but the cheeks themselves are the same. By comparison, the AMT kit mounts a set of Martin cheeks and only one plane in the fleet still had those at the time of Desert Storm as I recall (which was the plane AMT selected to make the RC-135 kit).

I went ahead and ordered a pair of these as I have a couple RC-135 kits in my stash and plenty of photos. I'll let you know what I get when they arrive! And if JC did do the masters for these, then they should be in capable hands as he is crazier about the Rivet Joint then I am. :salute:

Edited by Jay Chladek
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You need to thank J.C. Bahr for the cheeks. He did a fantastic job on the masters.

Thanks also need to go out to Trooper McVey as well, as he also had a hand in this project. ;)

Way to go J.C.!!! And thanks, Mark!

You're welcome Rick and definitely special thanks to Mark for getting the ball rolling on this one for us. They were a long time in coming and sorely needed!

the AMT kit mounts a set of Martin cheeks and only one plane in the fleet still had those at the time of Desert Storm as I recall (which was the plane AMT selected to make the RC-135 kit).

Would figure that it would be the plane they had at their disposal and then didn't do their homework on the configuration that the majority of the rest of the fleet had. :monkeydance:

I went ahead and ordered a pair of these as I have a couple RC-135 kits in my stash and plenty of photos. I'll let you know what I get when they arrive! And if JC did do the masters for these, then they should be in capable hands as he is crazier about the Rivet Joint then I am. :)

Oh, I don't know about that last assertion, but definitely crazier about all things 55th I'm sure! :lol: Thanks though!

Definitely post up thoughts and constructive criticism on these when you get them guys as I'm curious to know what people really think of them. Hopefully they'll serve their purpose of filling a niche that surprisingly had not been very well catered to up to this point.

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That's two daisy cutters end to end. I've loadedd 82's with a single daisy cutter, but I have never two put together before. I have also never sen TERS on the outboard pylons of any Phantom. Lastly, while I only worked F-4C/D/E/F Phantoms, I do not recall any recce birds ever having any weapons release system built into them.

I found a nice little package in the mail today as my Spectre Resins RC-135 cheeks arrived. As such, packaging and service I describe as first rate. The cheeks themselves are molded in a slightly tan resin and my examples showed no signs of airbubbles on the exterior bits. The resin is very light weight, so forget thinking that these will also act as nose weight. Inside the cheeks, the shapes are a little rough, presumeably due to how the shape masters for these were made. As such, they aren't quite what I would call a drop on fit without some preparation to the inside edges. But, considering the price for these are very reasonable, I can live with a little preparation work. BTW, check your research photos as depending on the aircraft, there can be a bit of a thin lip along the cheeks in spots anyway (thin Evergreen styrene strip should do the job). This should help to minimize the edge flaws on the castings a little.

Over the past three years, I've managed to shoot a few images of Rivet Joints on display at the Offutt AFB open house and this has been a little easier of late since during the past three years there have been no rope-offs around the ramp display plane. As such, I was able to get pretty close to the cheeks. Based on what I can tell, all the major details are present here and look accurate. There might be a couple raised patches that are a little different between individual jets depending on specific equipment loadout, but the only people that might notice would be the maintenance guys that work on the Rivet Joints or those individuals that know the specific equipment loadouts and THEY aren't likely to say.

Doing a quick and dirty fit check on one of my AMT kits, these seem to line up properly with the appropriate panel lines on the kit. This is good as resin copies can be 99% the size of a master and as such, the bigger a part gets the more pronounced the size difference can become. This is going to be most noticable on the left side cheek as it overlaps both the high side door as well as the cockpit entry hatch. An ambitious modeler might consider wanting to open both those doors, but to me, they spoil the lines of the Rivet Joint model and just give you more protruding bits to break off anyway.

All in all, I think for the price I paid these are a good investment and certainly are a requirement if you plan to do an early 1990s through modern day Rivet Joint (not sure about the RC-135U Combat Sent, but they should work as well for that variant). I only ordered one set to test the waters, but I plan to acquire at least two more sets as I have two Rivet Joints in my stash that I want to do, as well as a Combat Sent bird.

BTW, just to correct what I said earlier about the older style of cheeks that AMT used, the original kit was researched circa 1989 and during that period apparently more of the jets had the earlier style cheeks. Plus, aircraft #844 which is represented in the kit kept the older cheek configuration when it deployed to the Gulf in 1991 (which is represented on the box art).

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check your research photos as depending on the aircraft, there can be a bit of a thin lip along the cheeks in spots anyway (thin Evergreen styrene strip should do the job). This should help to minimize the edge flaws on the castings a little.

I had given consideration to trying to replicate those lips at the front of the fairings, but decided to forgo it as I wasn't sure if I could pull that off convincingly enough. Might be something I try on my own on down the road.

There might be a couple raised patches that are a little different between individual jets depending on specific equipment loadout, but the only people that might notice would be the maintenance guys that work on the Rivet Joints or those individuals that know the specific equipment loadouts and THEY aren't likely to say.

I tried to do the best "average" representation so that there would be a "base" to work with for anyone that wants to do their own modifications for another configuration.

(not sure about the RC-135U Combat Sent, but they should work as well for that variant).

They'll work for the U also, but one peculiarity (that is also starting to show up in the rest of the RC fleet) is an intake at the lower forward portion of the cheeks. This was brought to my attention during creation, but I was never able to come up with a way to replicate them that I felt comfortable with. Had I been able to pull that off successfully, one could've just simply filled them in on the ones that don't have them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A couple of pictures of the Mk 7 by itself and mounted on my F-101C (remember when Microscale did the decals and included the new nose?). I didn't worry too much about getting the yellow bands lined up perfectly because I knew the top of the bomb wouldn't be visible. Because the Xtracal yellow bands weren't backed with white, I had to put two layers on. I was almost finished doing that little task, when I dropped the bomb, which proceeded to hit tail first breaking off one of the fins and the tip of the tail fin, which is molded as part of the bomb. :woot.gif:

I waited a few days before re-attacking. Thankfully, Mark included an extra fin, so that part was fixed without problem and a bit of careful cutting of a piece of .001 plasticard replaced the top of the tail fin. A quick trip back to the paint barn for some Dull Aluminum Alcad, and it was ready to go. I don't know how many years my Voodoo has been waiting, pylon empty, for its nuke, but its been a while. Thanks, Mark. :yahoo:

BTW, Model Master Rust does a pretty good job as the radome brown.

091213-02Mk7.jpg

091213-03F-101CwMk7.jpg

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