Lusitanian

Great looking Hurricane! Did you not have issues with the leading edge of the wing root? Every single build on YouTube complains about it. Thinking about getting one to do this with it:

There’s no such thing as “early” and “late” F-4Cs. Like all aircraft, the F-4C underwent progressive upgrades through its production run. And changes were retrofitted to in-service aircraft. What you need to know is, what’s the tail number, and what’s the time period you’re wanting to model it? And you need photographs of the airplane at or near that time to verify things. I’ve done a LOT of research on F-4Cs, so if you have specific questions, fire away and I’ll try to get you a solid answer.

And in every case I’ve seen, they’re laser printed and thus totally transparent. If you apply them over anything but white, they’ll either disappear or color shift beyond usefulness.

FWIW, thanks to the French government’s new policy toward small businesses, BAM Models has closed up shop.

I have done all of that multiple times. I’ve paid the required (ridiculous) tax and ‘fees’ and I have the proof the money came out of my bank account. CTT says “ask Customs”. I’ve emailed Customs three times on each package, including the tracking number, and I have yet to receive a single reply. I simply won’t buy anything from outside the EU any more in the future. It’s not worth it.

Usually not long. Try Portugal. I’ve had a book from the UK sitting in Lisbon since October. All I get when I ask about it is a deer in the headlights look.

Next time you may not be that lucky.

It’s always a good idea. People die of influenza.

It was stated that the 2024/25 flu vaccine would be less effective than normal because of some new strains that had popped up after the vaccine formulation had already been set and production started. Get used to that going forward. Microorganisms are starting to adapt faster than we can catch up with them, both viruses and bacteria.

Besides being ridiculously huge (how big is your house?), and yet another "standard" scale (not sure what's wrong with 1/32 for aircraft), that 1/35 He111 looks silly. I wouldn't strap on an airplane that was that wrinkled with the intent to fly it. A museum piece that's 80+ years old might look like that, but not a newly built in-service airplane.

Luckily I have not gotten it, but loads of people I know are sick as crap right now. I had a nasty sinus infection that hung on for about 3 weeks of technicolor goo coming out of my face.

Pensacola, Florida has had more snow this winter than Anchorage, Alaska. Meantime, the storm that left snow on the Gulf Coast is now battering Ireland and Scotland with winds that are almost unprecedented as storm Éowyn. A friend in Glasgow said he’s never seen it that bad there earlier today. I saw an eastbound Emirates A380 yesterday evening that was showing a 766 knot ground speed. It’s almost as if the climate is undergoing some kind of a massive change or something.

Somewhere someone told me he was about 6’7” tall

All of the F4H-1/F-4Bs that the USAF borrowed from the Navy had the buzz numbers on the belly. By the time the first true F-4C was delivered in 1963, they had stopped using them.

Sixty-three years ago tomorrow the first “F-110A” Phantom II was delivered to the USAF. Contrary to popular (and undying) belief, the F-110A was never called the Spectre. No USAF or McAir document I’ve ever seen called it that. When it left the paint shop a few days before the delivery photo was taken, it clearly said “PHANTOM II“ below “F-110A”. And it’s there in photos taken after that one. For reasons I’ve never been able to figure out, I’m 100% convinced that it’s been airbrushed off of the often published photo. Sixty-three years before this photo was taken, it was still the 19th Century!

I agree, but where on earth are you going to get a new Kotare kit for only $100?

Nope. This is a dedicated K-4, not a modular G/K kit. All K-4s had the same wing, so no need for inserts.

It was announced about 9 months ago. There are sprue shots on Basefook. It seems to have big raised panels on the lower wing surfaces that leave me scratching my head, having looked at a good number of real Bf 109s and never seen anything like them.

BAM Models (France) "F-14 Picky Detailers Set" has to be seen to be believed. I remember the first time I ever heard of CAD and 3D printing, imagining the possibilities for the hobby, and we've now not only arrived there, we've blown past anything I could have imagined 30 years ago. Just astounding. And this über closeup iPhone photo doesn't really even do justice to how fine this stuff is. I just hope I'm not too ham-fisted to make it look as good as it has the potential to be!

And we S T I L L don’t have a 1/16 Schwimmwagen. The one vehicle I would ever buy or build in 1/16.

If anyone actually knew the answer to that question, he’d be the king of Shangri-la. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I was watching a very interesting, in depth interview with Iranian F-14 ace, Col. Fereidoun Ali-Mazandaran on YouTube (which is very interesting, and well worth watching). He states that the AIM-9J and AIM-7E that Iran had for its F-4 and F-5 fleets were “incompatible” with the F-14, so they only used their limited stock of AIM-54As and 20mm cannon rounds in combat. That’s the first I’ve heard of that, and you can find a number of references that show them armed with the AIM-9J and AIM-7E. Iran had ordered the AIM-9L and AIM-7F, but (per the video) none were delivered before the 1979 revolution. On my project to-do list is F-14A 160322, IIAF serial 3-6024, which was one of a pair of Tomcats that successfully intercepted and tracked a MiG-25RBS over the Caspian Sea in October of 1978 (before the Foxbat floored it and left them in the dust). My uncle was working on Project IBEX at the time, and said it caused quite the to-do in the IIAF and at NSA and DIA. I’d been planning on arming the model with 2x AIM-54, 2x AIM-9J, and 2x AIM-7E, but now I’m wondering if it should just have the AIM-54s. Anyone have any better intel? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOElPy7CfE0

For the first time in longer than I care to mention, I actually glued parts together today! Wingsy 1/48 Bf 109E-1. I may have to switch to 1/32!

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Mailman delivered this today! Chrisoph Wolfsberger in Austria is working on 3D printed parts to do an accurate early A-10A.