Daywalker

I am looking to build my Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire LF XVIe in late war French markings, and am curious if the dimensions of the French roundels are the same as the RAF roundels? I have some Maketar masks for British roundels, and could use those with different colors to represent the French markings. Is this a possibility? Otherwise, I need a source for French roundels from the 1945 time period. Thanks in advance!

Not yet, but I can't wait to fly with Pete. Hopefully VERY soon! 😁

I am, having an engine failure in flight is something we train for and pray we never experience!

Martin to the rescue, thank you my friend! The details I need are found in those photos - thank you so much!

Thank you John! That is an interesting photo, is that a -4 or -4B? The HVAR mounts look different than the ones on the Tamiya -1D. In fact, I can't see any rear mount at all! The kit supplied rockets have a little nub on the back of the rear mounts, which I drilled out thinking they were for the pigtails. Curious if different variants had different connection points?

I've been scouring the web and my research material looking for a photo that shows how the HVAR rockets were wired to the aircraft. I suspect there was a wire and connector from the rear mount, but I don't know how that might have been connected to the rocket itself. Does anyone have a photo showing how these things were wired?

Bravo Martin, that Spit looks GORGEOUS!

I've read stories of P-47 Thunderbolts and the like coming home in WWII with entire cylinders shot off, here's a video of an AN-2 with a similar experience. What a beast! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13MzSZIj72k

Good to know John, wish I knew that last night when I glued mine on. 🤪 While not perfect, I did get them a bit closer than the last two I built.

I just had another look at those photos, that is some serious scale modelling! I see a common trend in a number of them, trucks carrying things. Very good stuff!

John - I bet now you're regretting selling those F4U Decals! 😔

John - I will be watching this one, as there are a couple of areas during the build that I have struggled with on all three builds of mine. Especially, getting a good strong even joint between the outer wing panels and the center section with the wings extended.

WOOHOO! I am currently building the -1D myself, just can't get enough Tamiya Corsairs! I know you've built quite a few of them, this is my third (with 14 more in the stash to build!)

Nice John, glad it didn't relegated to the SOD!

I am also interested in your black epoxy putty "sausage" wires, any chance we could see more on how you did that? Fantastic work brother.

I was shopping on Amazon a couple of days ago, looking for something to buy. I don't remember what search terms I was using but it did not include "Tamiya" or "F-16" or "Thunderbirds". Weird how random things can pop up there! Anyway, I scored these two for $188 each - not cheap by any means but for those who know what these things sell for it's a bargain! At first, I thought "they really can't be the 1/32 kits for that price", but the price seemed too high for the 1/48 and too low for the 1/32. I looked at the descriptions, part numbers, and took a chance - woohoo! I'm stoked to get them, and am looking forward to building a Thunderbird and an Aggressor.

Looking forward to this one John, just picked up a couple of these myself recently.

Thank you Bill and Hubert, I was not familiar with that publication - I am very looking forward to learning more about them. And, at those prices, I can swing getting a couple of them. Bill - Thank you for taking the time to look for them and post the links, MUCH appreciated!

Thank you, I did actually find one on Ebay. While I was there, I came across this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/175342398814 I'm not familiar with Model Art, are they any good? I would like to make sure it's a good reference before laying out that much cash for a copy.

I'm looking for some references for these machines, sadly I can't really find any books which show detailed images of the airplane. I have the Aero Detail books on the Ki-84, N1K2, A6M, Ki-43, etc and am wondering if there's anything similar for these machines. I know that Zoukei Mura did a "Concept Notes" book on the Raiden, but those seem to be unavailable anywhere.

Sorry to hear that this one is Kaput, this exact kit beat me a few years ago. It's one of those kits that I really want to build, but I haven't gotten around to trying it again. Like you, I salvaged as much of it as I could to use on a Dora in the future.

Amazing stuff, having built a couple of those 1/144 Eduard ME-262's I can appreciate how much work went into that little gem. Really liked the Flak gun dio in the bombed out church, very realistic.

Just got my Kotare Spitfires, really looking forward to having a detailed look inside the boxes.

I would buy a couple of those!

I had the same experience with Montex masks, the residue left behind was very difficult to overcome.