Drifterdon Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 So I thought someone asked if the spare tanker windshield from the Roden RC-135 kit would fit the Minicraft KC-135 kit. I think with some serious carving, sanding and filling, it might be made to fit. It's larger that the Minicraft windshield. Attached is a Minicraft nose that I whacked off to replace with the Fisher resin replacement nose. I placed the Roden windshield over it. You can see how much larger it is. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted August 12, 2022 Author Share Posted August 12, 2022 I'm thinking, "Not gonna happen!" The Minicraft KC-135 is a little skinny in the fuselage, I'm thinking, besides the weird cockpit shape issue. The Revell 707/KC-135 kits are in a slightly larger scale (1/139), but comparing them to the Minicraft KC-135 is like comparing oranges to bananas. Don, could you try fitting the Roden windscreen over/onto a Revell 707 nose? I have several early 707s without the clear part they later included with the circa 1980s KC-135/E-3A kits. K/r, Dutch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 2 hours ago, Dutch said: I'm thinking, "Not gonna happen!" The Minicraft KC-135 is a little skinny in the fuselage, I'm thinking, besides the weird cockpit shape issue. The Revell 707/KC-135 kits are in a slightly larger scale (1/139), but comparing them to the Minicraft KC-135 is like comparing oranges to bananas. Don, could you try fitting the Roden windscreen over/onto a Revell 707 nose? I have several early 707s without the clear part they later included with the circa 1980s KC-135/E-3A kits. K/r, Dutch Unfortunately I don't have any Revell 707/KC-135 kits. I think I gave them all to you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted August 12, 2022 Author Share Posted August 12, 2022 (edited) Don, I think that you are right! I will check next week when I have a little more time. 😎 No worries. K/r, Dutch Edited August 12, 2022 by Dutch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 (edited) So I just discovered something interesting while doing a Googlemaps search to see what the runway at Offutt is looking like. I meandered over to Lincoln Airport where the 55th is flying the RC's out of and saw that they all now have emergency walkways on the wing roots. Just like the RAF Airseekers have. Have no idea how to paint these on since they are an interesting shade of grey. Looks like even the trainers and the weather birds have them. Here's a pic of an RAF bird taken during inflight refueling to give you an idea of what they look like. And here is a pic of a USAF bird where you can see the walkway on the starboard wing root. They appear to be same shade of grey with the weird yellow arrows and border. Edited August 12, 2022 by Drifterdon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted August 12, 2022 Author Share Posted August 12, 2022 Well pin a tail on me and call me a donkey! 🐎 What do you know? Across the ramp, the Nebraska ANG KC-135Rs have no such markings. Looks like dark gray with small white arrows, just the opposite of most civil airliners where the walkway is white or very light gray with black arrows. 55th WG RC-135 with overwing escape walkways. Nebraska ANG KC-135R without overwing walkways. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 17 minutes ago, Dutch said: Well pin a tail on me and call me a donkey! 🐎 What do you know? Across the ramp, the Nebraska ANG KC-135Rs have no such markings. Looks like dark gray with small white arrows, just the opposite of most civil airliners where the walkway is white or very light gray with black arrows. 55th WG RC-135 with overwing escape walkways. If they are the same as the RAF walkways (and I believe they are), they are almost a gunship grey with some kind of funky yellowish color outline and arrows. I have an overhead pic somewhere that shows the walkways clearly. It's of an Airseeker parked on the ramp next to one of the RAF's Sentry's. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 (edited) Here's another pic where you can just make out the light yellow border and arrows. Compare with the white top of the RC. Edited August 12, 2022 by Drifterdon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted August 12, 2022 Author Share Posted August 12, 2022 Maybe one for Kursad. Too late to add to the Recon sheet. I believe that he already printed it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 Coming in a little late here, but I think the 'funky' yellow you chaps are discussing will be the same colour used on the crew entry door and over wing exit surrounds. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 I'd say the "funky" yellow would be either Chrome Yellow FS 13538 or Insignia Yellow FS 33538. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 The yellow of the crew entry and over wing exit surrounds seems to be darker than the walkways. It's probably just an illusion of the picture though. In any event, it's beyond my abilities to replicate. Would need an industrious illustrator to draw it then a decal maker to print. I'm neither. 🤷♂️ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted August 14, 2022 Share Posted August 14, 2022 7 hours ago, Drifterdon said: The yellow of the crew entry and over wing exit surrounds seems to be darker than the walkways. It's probably just an illusion of the picture though. In any event, it's beyond my abilities to replicate. Would need an industrious illustrator to draw it then a decal maker to print. I'm neither. 🤷♂️ It seems like a fairly new addition, you can get away with leaving them off the jet, I will be 🙂 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 14, 2022 Share Posted August 14, 2022 31 minutes ago, Trojan Thunder said: It seems like a fairly new addition, you can get away with leaving them off the jet, I will be 🙂 I will as well. If someone does make a walkway decal, it would be easy enough to put on later. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted August 14, 2022 Share Posted August 14, 2022 Unless you can find a closeup photo of the yellow walkway markings I'd say what you are seeing (color-wise) is due to jpeg compression artifacts in the image. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 14, 2022 Share Posted August 14, 2022 5 hours ago, habu2 said: Unless you can find a closeup photo of the yellow walkway markings I'd say what you are seeing (color-wise) is due to jpeg compression artifacts in the image. 👍 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 (edited) Moving along on the Roden Rivet Joint kit I have a couple updates on my build. With your permission Dutch. I mentioned somewhere else that the engines are problematic. What I should have said is they need work to look right. With enough elbow grease they acually look much better than the Minicraft engines. This pic shows the intake rings provided in the kit. The one on the far left is cut straght from the sprue. The next one shows the sprue cut from inside the ring. You have to be careful here or you will crack the ring. The next shows sprue cleaned up and the last one on the far right is the finished ring with the square leading edge rounded like the real engine. This is the basic engine with main parts glued together. I tried to clean up the seams as best as I could but it still left a large gap. This is one of the engines that is from my Cobra Ball build. The seam is filled and the intake ring is blended in with engine nacelle. It still needs to be cleaned up prior to paint but the main contruction is done. This is the Intake ring with fan showing. Nothing is painted but the shadows make it look dark metallic grey. Edited August 15, 2022 by Drifterdon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 (edited) I also decided I wanted to see if I could fix the undersized hog nose that comes with the kit rather than hack it off and replace with a resin one. I use gap filling CA as filler of choice as it dries pretty hard and won't shrink or crack when done. Here are a couple pics that show the updated kit nose. I'm not concerned with the sanding dust behind the windshield as that will be painted and decaled. So as you can see, the kit nose can be built up and saved. Edited September 6, 2022 by Drifterdon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 Images from your last two posts are not showing. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 28 minutes ago, A-10 LOADER said: Images from your last two posts are not showing. Steve Steve. I tried to reload. Let me know if you can see them now.... Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 42 minutes ago, Drifterdon said: Steve. I tried to reload. Let me know if you can see them now.... Don Hi, That looks great, Don. I also could not see the images earlier on, now I can. Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 7 minutes ago, Stefan buysse said: Hi, That looks great, Don. I also could not see the images earlier on, now I can. Cheers, Stefan. Had to delete and reload. Not sure why it didn't work. Funny thing is I could always see them on my computer but when I tried my phone, I couldn't see them either. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 Don, You have my absolute permission to carry on the build thread here. I hope to catch up to you soon. Yes, your engine work hits all the same points I was going to make, and you seem to have done them justice! They look really nice! I have a dowel that I will fit sandpaper over that will fit the inside of the cowling nicely. Keep calm and carry on! 😉 Dutch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 21 hours ago, Drifterdon said: Steve. I tried to reload. Let me know if you can see them now.... Don Yes, I can see them now. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 On 8/15/2022 at 7:31 PM, Dutch said: I have a dowel that I will fit sandpaper over that will fit the inside of the cowling nicely. Dutchmaster. This is exactly what I used to clean up the inside of the intake rings. It's a piece of brass tubing with medium and fine grit sandpaper taped to each end. Works great and makes quick work of cleaning these rather large sprue stubs off. I use the same deal (only smaller size) to clean up the inside of the Minicraft TF-33 engine intakes. Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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