Ivan Ivanovich

FS numbers for the "Grape" scheme: Marking sizes/heights deviate from those specified in T.O. 1-1-4. 527th TFTS, pre-1982: U.S. AIR FORCE -> 6" National Star (fuselage/wing) -> 12" Call Numbers -> 6" "Bort Number" -> 20" + 1" border

Addendum... Forgot to add this Brutie to my list. Started in 2017, 50% finished - 35th scale TAMIYA Challenger 2 Desertised (2003): Note to self: Gotta build more armour...

Affirmative. One of the earlier Hasegawa boxings had the 527th TFTS markings. Aftermarket 527th TFTS decal options to date - N.A.D.A. For what it's worth: The Alconbury F-5Es were early airframes - no shark nose, original (smaller) LERX, early Northrop seat, no VOR/ILS, etc. The baseline Iffy Hawk kit needs some cutting, sanding and backdating-TLC. VOR/ILS, Northrop Improved Seat were added in 1982. 74-1535 "bort 35" retained the original "Grape/Old Blue" paint scheme after the refit for a while. Pre-1982 config:

Welcome aboard, Ryan!

Do it! How about British Cold War heavy-weights? Maybe with Stillbrew armour package, Barr & Stroud TOGS, etc. Takom, Friuls...<hint hint>

I'm inclined to give some of the AK colours a try - just out of curiosity. Quite liked their metallic paints. Apart from that, I'm a rabid Gunze devotee... (I'll be turning 50 this year, so I guess it's an incipient stage of senile stubborness)

Sweet as! Now that is one mean looking big cat.

Another three weeks? You lucky sod. We've just decided to do the full R-code monty and give the CJ project another five months. "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." (Douglas Adams)

I use Future (now sold as "Pledge Revive It Floor Gloss") or clear gloss polyurethane varnish.

We've got two garages. Pretty boring without Ponies. I'll post pics of garage/barn #2 when the cobble stone work is done and the Ponies have arrived.

"Elmerschbersch" - now that's funny. I was born in St.Ingbert, literally next door to Spiesen-Elversberg. After a 13-year episode in Buechel, we returned to St.Ingbert in 1982 and I joined the football (soccer) youth team of SV 07 Elversberg (1983-1986). I've met a couple of Schumanns from Elversberg over the past 49 years. Maybe one of your relatives was among them. Right in the middle, you say? "Am Freidelbrunnen"?

Mmmmmh... Warm, buttered whole wheat toast with Vegemite and a poached egg on top with a splash of MAGGI seasoning sauce. I love it! MAGGI seasoning is extremely popular among (native) Saarlanders, by the way. We put it on almost everything. Be it dead or alive.

Resuming bench ops ASAP (March/April). Need to set up and furnish my new modelling vault first. 32nd scale MiG-23ML (30% Trumpeter/70% DIY resin), masters and moulds ready. Optional: Finishing that 32nd scale Sloppy Hawk F-86D (DIY paint masks and decals). 32nd scale Iffy Hawk F-5E (DIY paint masks and custom decals). Takom Chieftain Mk.10 Frying bacon naked.

Just curious whether anybody from the U.S. or Canada have ordered their F-5E/F kits from this seller in China... Any experiences? (Got five of my six kits from them. Average shipping time from China to Germany was less than a week.)

Good to see you back from hospital and back on the bench. Hang in there!

Looks like chances are good he might meet the new deadline. <fingers crossed>

What's Kitty Hawk's colour callout for the darkest camouflage colour? Somehow it lacks that very distictive blueish tinge. The actual pattern colour should be FS 35237 Gray Blue. [edit] Just found out KH's painting and markings guide suggests FS 36118 aka Medium Gunship Gray. Sloppy Hawk strikes again... For comparison: FS 35164 was used as the darkest pattern colour on USAF Aggressor F-5E/F aircraft wearing the so-called "New Blue" scheme. Actual camouflage colours: (KH F-5F VFC-111/VMFT-401 marking options)

Nah, I'm just clearing old stocks of German beer.

I'm incredibly great at walking on thin ice - virtually unparalleled. Does that count? Congrats, Ernie! Well deserved. I'll have a cold "Tannenzäpfle" on you later tonight.

Interesting paint job on that MF... I really can't complain. Life's been good to us and I think I can get over the sheer lack of MiG-23s in Aotearoa. We've got Weta, lovely neighbours, landscape, gumboots and vodka.

Bugger! Thanks for bringing up such a painful subject! Kiwi birds (11 Taxa) - 50 to 60 thousand (declining) Kakapo - 148 individuals (critically endangered) MiG-23 - 0

Amen to that! C2 or C3 Vettes would be great stable mates for my Ponies. I'd need a bigger garage, though. Definitely not a fan of the later C5/C6/C7 Vettes. It's like Raquel Welch and Monica Bellucci versus Miley Cyrus and Sarah Jessica Parker. Naaaaah...

Applying smoke ring camo IS challenging. And sometimes, it can be a real PITA. Even with a perfectly balanced setup this type of camouflage requires lots of patience. The spray pattern clearly reveals you were consistently struggling with paint drying too quickly. It also reveals an overall imbalance between pressure and paint consistency. What's your setup? Airbrush - single/double action? Any provision to control/regulate the paint flow? Airbrush handling? How close? Did you use your other hand as a support? (better control while spraying) Did you try to remove the needle cap? Paint brand? Thinner brand?/Thinning ratio? Retarder? Pressure? This is how I solved the problem on one of my 48th scale Veltros - different camo. I eventually binned the whole model in the heat of passion after I found out (after a few clear coats, washing and weathering) I had flipped the stbd wing insignia horizontally. I still have got two 32nd scale PCM Veltros in my stash and I'm planning to adorn both of them with smoke rings...

All good, mate. That's what it's all about - having fun, honing your skills and breaking new grounds. I was just curious about the "oddball" TPz 1 "Fuchs" and SpPz 2 "Luchs" vehicles. So I did a little digging deeper and what I came up with makes me really, really sad since these two rotten hulks are significant technical milestones. IMHO, these two vehicles should have been restored and displayed at the Panzermuseum Munster or at the MHM Dresden. It's a shame... In fact, the Fuchs in Bad Oeynhausen was the very first 6x6 Daimler-Benz prototype - the grandfather of the Fuchs if you will. Daimler-Benz won the competition against the so-called "Gemeinschaftsbuero" design. One of the "GB" prototypes is on display at the Panzermuseum Munster. First (one-off) Daimler-Benz TPz 1 6x6 prototype: (that's the one that's been slowly rotting away in Bad Oeynhausen) Later Daimler-Benz TPz 1 pre-production vehicle: (pretty much as we know it today) Outgunned Gemeinschaftsbuero 6x6 TPz 1 prototype: "SpPz 2 Luchs" genesis in a nutshell: Two competing designs based on a common Porsche concept. Competitors: "Gemeinschaftsbuero" (Buessing, Henschel, KHD, Krupp and MAN) and Daimler-Benz. Again, "GB" lost out to the Daimler-Benz design. The final "Gemeinschaftsbuero" SpPz 2 prototype, dubbed "G4", is currently on display at the Tank Museum Munster. The alleged "Luchs" at the Auto Technica Museum Bad Oeynhausen is in fact the penultimate "G3" prototype - a fairly different animal. Gemeinschaftsbuero SpPz 2 prototype "G3": (overall hull sloping and the rear of the vehicle differ significantly from the winning Daimler-Benz design) "Mud! Glorious mud!" Winning Daimler-Benz SpPz 2 prototype towing "G3": "All things shall perish..."