Tag Archives: model

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: Kawasaki C-2, got model kit?

Video

U.S. Air Force photo by Captain Katie Mueller, Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, 13FEB2021.

Kawasaki C-2 makes a humanitarian drop on Angaur, Palau. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Ryan Brooks, 10FEB2021.

The Kawasaki C-2 was designed to replace the older and intentionally limited (by Constitutional law, which has since been amended) C-1. 

It was also designed to exceed the abilities of the C-130J Super Hercules, which the Japanese Self Defense Forces determined to be too limited for what they had in mind.

C-2 over Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, 14FEB2020. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Curt Beach.

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Melanie A. Hutto, Misawa Air Base, Japan, September 2019.

2019 Paris Air show video walk-around:

Kawasaki C-2,  Iruma Air Base, Japan, 10JUL2019.

A U.S. Air Force C-130J Loadmaster gets to ride a C-2.

The C-2 can be equipped with an automated loading system.

The spacious loadmaster station (compared to C-130J).

USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.

Size comparison to four engined Boeing C-17, Yokota Air Base, Japan, September 2018. USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.

USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.

EC-2 version.

Video, C-2 ELINT (EC-2) ,  Gifu Air Base, Japan, 2018:

General Electric CF6-80C2K1F turbofans are used.

XC-2 prototype, first flight 2010.  Design project began in 2001.

Video, C-1 vs XC-2:

 

Video, XC-2 first flight:

Aoshima makes a 1:144 scale plastic model kit, retailing in Japan for about U.S.$43.  However, I’ve seen U.S. sellers asking as much as U.S.$71 for it!

With interior.

VEHICLE I-D: MITSUBISHI F-2, SURE LOOKS LIKE AN F-16

 

International, Kit Bashing

U.S. taxpayers send Aussie Prime Minister a model boat!

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison is now the modern day ‘Nero that fiddled while Rome burned’, regarding his slow response to the unprecedented wildfires (even being on vacation!) during the Gregorian month of December, 2019.

Three months prior, in September 2019, the U.S. Secretary of Defense ordered the Office of the Curator of Ship Models at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division to build PM Morrison a model of the USS Canberra, as a gift!

Apparently the USS (United States Ship) Canberra-LCS-30 (not to be confused with USS Canberra-CA-70) is named after the HMAS (His/Her Majesty’s Australian Ship) Canberra, which was sunk by the Japanese during World War Two.

The Office of the Curator of Ship Models at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division was given short notice of the taxpayer funded build, only a few days, so they had to modify an existing model of the USS Independence-LCS-2.

Hope the Aussie PM is enjoying his U.S. taxpayer funded model boat.

Australia is part of the British empire, commonly known as The Commonwealth of Nations, or more simply The Commonwealth.  This includes many countries that have falsely been reported as ‘gaining independence’.  The current Queen of England is the boss.

M777 : PROOF THE UNITED STATES IS THE TOOL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE!

U.S. ARMY now COMMANDED BY RED COATS?

OBAMA TURNS BENEDICT ARNOLD, IS TOOL OF PRINCE OF EVIL BRITISH EMPIRE

U.S. Air Force REMINDS YOU THAT OUR MORTAL ENEMY IS THE BRITISH EMPIRE!

Iran sends hot pink model of captured U.S. stealth drone to President Obama!

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D: Model T & White Motor Warriors

Video

At the beginning of November 2019, the Illinois State Military Museum held its Great War Encampment event and two 1917 Ford Model Ts showed up.

The Ford Model T gun truck is owned by John Krug, he also brought his 1917 Model T Ambulance.

In May 2018, Oregon’s Military Museum held its 22nd Annual Living History Day and retired Reservist Jack Gieson drove down from neighboring Washington in his 1917 Model T ambulance.

https://youtu.be/2rBzyseQ-54

A standardized class B truck, or ‘Liberty Truck’, also made the Living History Day show.

According to the folks at the AMedD (Army Medical Department) Museum at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, during World War One the U.S. Army also bought two 1917 White Motor Company ambulances.   While they look similar to the Model Ts, they were smaller than the Ford ambulance. In 1917 they cost about $1,650 each.

I so far haven’t found any information as to why the White ambulance has a GMC radiator.  U.S. Army orders for White logistical vehicles, during World War One, made White the top producer of trucks in the United States, which was a burden since the company was new to truck building.  Immediately prior to WW-1 the White Motor Company began shifting from car production to truck production, but was only able to make the truck chassis, they had to contract with Riddle Coach and Hearse Company to make the bodies of the trucks.  It’s possible White was also outsourcing for powertrain parts.

The driver’s seat sits on the fuel tank.

World War Two FORD FIRETRUCK RETURNS TO SERVICE WITH THE U.S. Air Force!

Kit Bashing, Technology

The owl had a blue umbrella!: How LANTIRN killed the N/AW-10, and, what’s wrong with the Trumpeter/Hobby Boss kits?

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The N/AW-10 over what looks like the beginning development of California City, near Edwards Air Force Base, 04MAY1979. Photographer not known.

The two seat A-10 had a very short service life, brought to an end by rapid advances in technology, specifically the LANTIRN (Low Altitude Navigation Targeting Infrared Night) pod system.

It was a conversion of the first pre-production A-10 Thunderbolt-2, and was initially called Night/Adverse Weather-10 , or N/AW-10.  But, once the N/AW-10 conversion was completed the nomenclature was changed to YA-10B.

The ‘owl’ nose art has yet to be added.

First flight of the N/AW-10 was 04MAY1979.

Edwards AFB, 04MAY1979, photographer not known.

04MAY1979, photographer not known.

Near Rogers Dry Lake, 04MAY1979. Photographer not known.

04MAY1979, photographer not known.

I read several model building blogs where it’s thought the N/AW-10 was built for the LANTIRN program, but it was actually the LANTIRN program that killed the N/AW-10 before it even got started.  The two seat A-10 required a second crew-member precisely because the targeting pods it used required a separate weapons/targeting systems operator, the LANTIRN system does not.

Freshly painted nose art, no more nose probe.

The N/AW-10 used a large modified weather radar pod under its port wing (inboard) and a large laser-combo-infrared (FLIR) pod mounted centerline.

Laser-combo-FLIR pod.

Modified WX radar pod.

Also, the Pave Penny system (in the small pod below the cockpit on the starboard side) was replaced with a low light TV (LLTV) video camera.

The LANTIRN system uses two pods, but they’re much smaller and can be operated by the pilot.

I worked on the Edwards Air Force Base bombing range in the early 1980s, right after the promise of the LANTIRN killed-off the N/AW-10.   LANTIRN missions were carried out late in the evening, and at night.  As range techs we had to operate the static and portable infrared target boards (IR Boards).  The missions were flown by single seat A-10s, F-16s and I think even an F-16XL.

The portable IR Boards used large towed field generators to create the power to heat them up.

Static IR Board just after completion. Note wires at bottom of adjustable panels. The aluminum triangle on the side is a radar reflector.

The static board was two stories tall and looked like a small drive-in movie screen.  It had movable individually heated vertical panels, one side white, the other black.  We got to sit behind the static panel and watch the low flying airshow.  By the way, being a Army National Guard armor crewman I learned that you can’t hear the A-10 if it’s flying right at you, kind of like you can’t hear the bullet that kills you.

The LANTIRN system itself has finally been outdated for U.S. military use, however, in July 2018 Lockheed-Martin got a $100-million contract to upgrade LANTIRNs being used by foreign air forces.

Many model building blogs point out nit-picky things that are wrong with the Trumpeter and Hobby Boss N/AW-10 kits, mostly stuff that also applies to the single seater.

10JUL1979, photographer not known.

Hobby Boss’ 1:72 owl decals.

My biggest complaint is that the ‘owl’ decals are wrong, being just black outlines, and they were not on both sides of the aircraft.

Trumpeter’s 1:32 owl decals.

1979, photographer not known.

Hobby Boss’ 1:48 owl decals.

Early 1980s, photo by me, AAron B. Hutchins.

During the 1981 Edwards AFB open house I took a photo of the N/AW-10 owl nose art.  It’s not just a black outline.  Official USAF photos also reveal that initially it had a blue umbrella, and it was located only on the port side of the nose.

The first flight of the N/AW was in 1979, photos show a bright colorful owl, blue umbrella, brown feathers, blue eyes and breast shield (also note the nose probe).  My photo, taken a couple of years later, shows the umbrella so faded that you wouldn’t know it was there.

Photo by AAron B. Hutchins, 1981.

The eyes contain the words FLIR and LASER, the breast shield says N/(the slash is in the form of a lightening bolt)AW and an additional letter I can’t make-out,  and it’s outlined in white not black.  The latest pics of the now ‘gate guard’ (Edwards Museum display) N/AW shows the owl nose art is no longer present as the aircraft has been painted a different color.

Also, the white cross markings on the vertical tails were used for only a short time, towards the end of the program.  Robert DeMaio, in his rare self-published book A-10 Thunderbolt II: Details for the Modeler, says the original overall color of the N/AW was FS36118 Dark Grey.

Another major problem with all available N/AW kits is that they don’t provide you with the giant laser-FLIR pod or the giant modified Westinghouse WX radar pod. 

I’ve seen many modelers incorrectly add the LANTIRN pods to their YA-10Bs.

One other major problem with the Trumpet 1/32 scale kit is that the engineers who designed the two-seat fuselage failed to match-up the surface detailing with the parts originally designed for the single seater.   Specifically the single seater rear fuselage has raised rivets (correct) while the two-seat fuselage parts have recessed rivets (no such thing in real life, I call them divots).  Then there’s the problem that applies to both the N/AW and A-10; the surface detailing of the flying surfaces don’t match the fuselage, have fun rectifying that for a contest build.

Hobby Boss makes the 1/48 and 1/72 scale versions of the N/AW.  Their 1/48 scale kit comes with a bunch of weapons, and the surface detailing is uniform across fuselage and flying surfaces; recessed panel lines and divots (recessed rivets).

1:72 resin intake compared to kit intake.

The 1/72 scale Hobby Boss kit is basically one of their Easy Assembly kits as the simplified major parts literally snap-together.  But the engine intake openings are too small, which can be fixed by resin correction parts. It has recessed panel lines (no rivets no divots), yet there are no weapons.

YA-10B rocket sled, used for ejection seat tests at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. Now at Chino Museum in California.

In the rare book A-10 Thunderbolt II: Details for the Modeler, the author explained that the rocket sled used for ejection seat tests revealed that the side opening canopies interfered with the ejection process.  It was planned to fit a single clam-shell canopy on production models.

Proposed N/AW clam-shell canopy.

Despite the YA-10B (N/AW-10) being so short lived it has always been something model builders wanted to build.

In the late 1980s  and early 1990s conversion kits were made available by Falcon (1/72 scale) and Maintrack (1/48 scale for Monogram kits), but also failed to provide the unique laser-FLIR and WX radar pods. 

Monogram’s B-25 PANCHITO!

C-47 kit round-up

F-8C DFBW conversion

1/48 F-105G WILD WEASEL SHOWDOWN, HOBBYBOSS VS MONOGRAM

Kit Bashing

Vehicle I-D: C-47 Dakota/Skytrain, Douglas Commercial-3, R4D Goonies!

Video

Entex got it right when their model box stated it was “The plane that changed the world.”  It’s my top pick for Zombie Plane, after seven decades it just won’t die, still flying today in both private and commercial use, and apparently some countries are still using it for military purposes.  It even commands the respect of wartime enemies, who adopted it for their own use.

Production began in 1936 and from then until now the C-47/DC-3/R4D has been used by at least 82 countries.

Fort Benning, Georgia, 16AUG2019:

Berlin Airlift 70th Anniversary, Clay Kaserne, Germany, 09-11JUN2019:

Videos:

May 2019, DC (Douglas Commercial)-3 over Catalina Island, California: 

“That’s all brother!”, Air Mobility Command Museum on Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, May 2019:

April , 2019 video report, history of 3rd Combat Cargo Squadron which flew the China-Burma-India Theater during WW2:

“That’s all brother!”, Sumpter Smith ANGB Alabama, April 2019:

November 2018, Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida:

May 2016, AC-47 Spooky over New Mexico:

February 1964, M2-F1 lifting body tracking behind a Goonie, Edwards AFB, California: 

August 1963, NASA R4D-5/C-47H:

1956, NACA R4D, High-Speed Flight Station, Edwards AFB, California:

German Dakotas, 1957 to 1976:

Iran Air ‘DC-3s’ were actually C-47s with passenger interiors: 

Iranian CH-47 gives an Iranian C-47 a lift: 

Weirdos:

Video report,  North Dakota Air National Guard’s first disaster relief mission (Operation Haylift), during the winter of 1949:

Video report; C-47 Operation Market Garden:

Jungle Skippers’ “Cleo C”, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas:

Flak damage to a Jungle Skippers C-47, Corregidor Island, Philippines, World War Two (1943?):

2018 video explainer of the inception of the 349th Troop Carrier Group in 1943:

HARVEY: C-A-F DELIVERS AID WITH WORLD WAR 2 AIRCRAFT (Unfortunately this restored C-47 crashed and burned not even a year after taking part in Hurricane Harvey relief ops)

Popular Mechanics explains “Why the DC-3 Is Such a Badass Plane”

To make an Iran Air ‘DC-3’ use the C-47 fuselage with the DC-3 interior. Iranian airliners were converted C-47s and retained the cargo doors.

Believe it or not, ESCI and Italeri kits are not the same.

The Italeri kit is larger and its fuselage has an oval or egg shape to the cross section. The ESCI kit looks like a down-scaled version of the 1:48 Monogram kit, with recessed panel lines instead of raised surface details. The now out of production ESCI kit is the better kit.

Incomplete model kit supply list:

Decals;  facebook.com/pointerdog7/

Draw Decals

Kitsworld Decals

Hungarian Aero Decal 

JoyDecals

MicroScale Decals

Iliad Design

Xtradecal

VEHICLE I-D: ZOMBIE TANK T-55, THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!

VEHICLE I-D: NORMANDY PAINTED C-130 HERCULES

D-DAY F-15E STRIKE EAGLE

VEHICLE I-D: M4 SHERMAN (including my grandfather’s Sherman)

1:72 F-100 SUPER SABER KIT KLASH, OR MORE REASONS WHY YOU CAN’T TRUST SCALE DRAWINGS

Kit Bashing

How to build a 1/1 scale Tiger-1 tank

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The Tiger-1 in these pics is not a real Tiger-1 tank (Panzerkampfwagen-6E), it’s a 1:1 scale model weighing 2.7 metric tons.

It was built by Tarnen and Täuschen for the Munster Tank Museum.  The museum was losing the real Tiger tank that had been on temporary loan since 2013, but proved to be such an attraction that museum officials knew they had to have a Tiger on permanent display.

A computer was used to create 800-thousand ‘symbols’ to help create the giant model kit’s instructions for construction.

Main-gun barrel attached to steel frame-work of tank body.

Apparently there are only six real Tiger-1s left in the world.  The 1:1 scale model is made from steel, wood, resin, fiberglass, and of course plastic.  Tarnen and Täuschen’s regular job is making life size models of weapons for use in training of German military personnel.

Mario Gurek prepares the fiberglass mold for the main-gun’s muzzle brake.

Transporting the nearly complete tank to its new home.

REPAIRING 1/1 SCALE T-38 TALON AND A REDUCED SCALE B-2 BOMBER

Kit Bashing

Retired USN craftsman recalls days of being paid to build giant model planes!

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Visitors to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum might not realize what looks like giant almost six feet long plastic-looking models of an A-6 Intruder and an F-14 Tomcat, are made out of Sugar-Pine wood (with a fiberglass coating), like the old fashioned way model kits used to be made.

This will end up being an A-6 Intruder.

The man who made them, not so way back in 1993, is William Corbell.

This will end up being an F-14 Tomcat.

Corbell was lucky enough to go to work at the the now decommissioned Naval Aviation Depot Norfolk (NADEP), as a wood crafter in 1980.   He was commissioned to build the model A-6 and F-14, but continued helping to repair real aircraft at the same time: “Basically, if it was something that couldn’t be fixed at the squadron; they sent it to us.”

Told you!

When Corbell visited his models in January 2019, he revealed he had placed a time capsule inside the F-14.  It contains a leave request that he hopes someone in the distant future would humorously approve. The models were transferred to different locations before finally finding a home at the Naval Museum in 2008.

The photos come from William Corbell’s collection.

MODEL KIT EC-130J GETS SPECIAL HANDLING BY NATIONAL GUARD!

Kit Bashing, Reviews

1:72 F-100 Super Saber kit klash, or more reasons why you can’t trust scale drawings

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As far as I’m aware I’ve collected every North American F-100 Super Saber (I prefer the U.S. English spelling versus the Queen’s English spelling Sabre [for some unknown reason preferred by North American]) kit in 1/72 scale, I feel confident I can honestly direct you as to which F-100 kit to spend your hard earned cash on (please don’t make the Too Big to Jail banks rich by using credit).

DSC_0063 (1)

I also have several books with scale drawings, and once again the ‘authoritative’ drawings themselves don’t match-up.

DSC_0065

Detail & Scale Number 4 (1980) uses drawings by Rockwell/Ed Moore/Terry Smith.  Detail & Scale Volume 33 (1989) uses drawings by Dana Bell and Terry Smith. Bunrin Do’s Famous Airplanes of the World Number 22 (May 1990) uses drawings that look like 1:72 but no scale is given.

Revell: According to Detail & Scale, this kit first came out in the 1950s and is a piece-o-crap (photos confirm this), it’s much larger than 1:72 scale.  It’s supposed to represent a ‘A/C’ version of the F-100.  According to Detail & Scale-33 it was last issued in 1987.

Detail & Scale-33 also talks about other ‘1:72’ scale F-100 kits issued by different companies in the 1960s-70s, apparently all actually being scales that are not 1:72.

IMC/Lindberg:  According to Scalemates, the IMC kit was the first 1:72 scale Super Saber, out in 1965. Lindberg currently issues it.  IMC marketed it as a ‘D’ version yet it has the wing of a ‘A/C’ version (Lindberg wisely dropped the reference to the ‘D’ version). The surface detailing is spurious.  Detail & Scale-4 doesn’t mention it, and Detail & Scale-33 simply calls the kit a “gimmick with battle damaged parts”.   I was surprised to find the wing, elevators and canopy matched dimension and shape of the Ed Moore and Terry Smith drawings! The vertical tail is too skinny, tall, and set too far back on the fuselage.  The fuselage is a little long at the ass-end.  The extra long external fuel tanks are too fat and the fins are grossly over-sized.  You get separately molded air intake mouth and exhaust/afterburner butt-hole (this is the part that makes the fuselage too long).  No weapons come with the kit. Compared to the Dana Bell drawings the fuselage and wing measures out the same as the previous drawings, but the elevators are narrower in span.  The same can be said about the Bunrin Do drawings.

Hasegawa/Frog:  According to Scalemates, the Hasegawa kit was issued first by Frog in 1970, then Hasegawa in 1971.  According to the reviewers in Detail & Scale, it’s accurate shape-wise, but represents the F-100D before all the field mods were applied by the USAF, so it can’t accurately represent a service aircraft.  Never-the-less Hasegawa continues to re-issue the thing, and people continue paying too much for it.  Compared to the Ed Moore/Terry Smith drawings the fuselage, wing and elevators are a close match.  The one piece canopy/windshield is smaller than in the drawings.  Compared to the Dana Bell drawings the wing/elevators have too great a sweep-back. You get separately molded air intake mouth and exhaust/afterburner butt-hole, but the fuselage is too long at the air intake and afterburner. The canopy is even smaller compared to Dana Bell drawings.  According to the Bunrin Do drawings the wing is very slightly narrower in chord, but good in span. The elevators have too great a sweep-back. The fuselage is too short and too skinny, the canopy is still small. The old kit comes with two styles of external fuel tanks, but not the extra long ones, plus what looks like napalm bombs and Bullpup missiles.

ESCI/AMT-Ertl:  Scalemates says this kit first came out in 1982.  Reviewers in Detail & Scale-33 praise the kit for being the most accurate F-100D at that time (yes, better than Hasegawa).  ESCI was also the first to release a two seat ‘F’ version.   It has detailed landing gear, extra long external fuel tanks, separately molded intake mouth, two styles of IFR probes and two styles of after burners.  The only weapons are Bullpup and Sidewinder missiles. The wing is a close match to the Moore/Smith drawings, but the elevators are too narrow in span. The fuselage is slightly long at the mouth, the vertical tail is too tall. The canopy/windshield (molded as one) is the closest to matching these drawings.  The wing is also a close match to the Bell drawings, but the elevator is not only too short in span, the sweep-back is too great.  The fuselage is even longer, yet the tail is only slightly taller.  The canopy looks good, but the windshield area looks small.  Going by the Bunrin Do drawings the wing is just slightly narrower in span, the elevators match the shape and sweep but are slightly undersized in overall dimension. The fuselage is shorter and narrower, yet the tail matches the height of the drawing.  The canopy/windshield looks like a good match.

Click the pics to make bigger:

Pioneer-PM:  This monstrosity was unleashed in the early 1990s by British empire company Pioneer.  It’s made by a company called PM, based in the NATO country of Turkey.  The air intake mouth is molded as part of the fuselage halves.  It’s marketed as a ‘C’ version but has the wing of the ‘D’ version.  It comes with extra long fuel tanks, Bullpup missiles, blobs with fins that’re supposed to be bombs and an IFR probe that’s missing the receptacle end. Oddly the wing and elevators are a close match with the Detail & Scale drawings, yet the fuselage is too small in overall size (as is the canopy/windshield).  Bunrin Do drawings show the wing to be slightly smaller in overall dimension, the elevators having too great a sweep-back, and the fuselage is even smaller, so small you’d think it was a different scale.

Italeri/Revell Germany/Tamiya/Academy:  Time to set things straight.  This kit is not a re-box of the ESCI kit, it is a re-tooled/so-called improved version of the ESCI kit, first coming out in 1998. The surface details, and the wheel well/air brake well details, are exactly the same. The sprue layout is different.  The external fuel tanks are much shorter than the ESCI tanks. You get optional IFR probes and afterburners. For weapons you get two ‘dumb’ iron bombs and two rocket pods. For some odd reason Italeri added a spurious frame to the canopy, about two thirds of the way back on the canopy, rendering it useless.  The most noticeable change (besides the canopy guffaw) Italeri made was to the length of the fuselage, which now matches the Moore/Smith drawings. The tail is still too tall. The wing is slightly shorter in span to the Moore/Smith drawings, but the elevators are a close match (the opposite of the ESCI kit).  Compared to the Bell drawings the wing is a better match, still slightly short in span. The elevators match the shape but are also slightly short in span.  Interestingly the fuselage is too long for the Bell drawings, at the mouth, and the tail is still slightly too tall.   For the Bunrin Do drawings the wing is too short in span, slightly narrow in chord. The elevators match.  The fuselage is too short, yet the tail matches the height of the drawing.  Revell AG (Germany) re-boxed the kit at the same time Italeri first issued it.  Beware, Tamiya re-boxed the kit starting in 2001, and I’ve seen it command prices over $20 U.S. (just because it has Tamiya’s name on the box), Academy re-boxed the kit in 2017 also commanding a high price for it, don’t do it!

Trumpeter:  And the winner is! Starting in 2009 Trumpeter issued what every Super Saber builder wanted; super detailed kits in the ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘F’ variants. The kit comes with separate flaps and slats for the wing. Optional IFR probes. Detailed exhaust/afterburner section (only the early non-f-102 style of afterburner). Air intake trunking (but the mouth is molded as part of the fuselage halves and is narrower than the other kits).  Optional factory air brake or field modified air brake. Optional extended or folded nose pitot.  Boarding ladder.  Highly detailed interior parts.  The instructions make it look like the canopy suffers from the now ubiquitous ‘parting line’ syndrome that most Asian kits are infected with, but the canopies that came with my kits (the ‘C’ and ‘F’ versions) were free of this parting line.  For the ‘C’ version the instructions want you to attach the tail hook which, according to my references, the ‘C’ version did not have a tail hook. The weapons load is extremely limited (as is with all the kits reviewed); Sidewinders and ECM pods depending on the kit version.  The external tanks are about the size of the Italeri kit’s. Detail & Scale-4’s drawings show the wing to be much too short in span, the elevators are a match.  The fuselage is almost a direct hit with the tail being slightly too tall.  The canopy and separately molded windshield both look slightly small.  Compared to the Bell drawings, in Detail & Scale-33, the fuselage is almost a direct hit with the nose being too long.  The canopy looks good, but the windshield still looks small.  The wing is too short in span and slightly narrow in chord.  The elevators look like a match.  With the Bunrin Do drawings the wing is good span-wise but way too narrow in chord.  The elevators are too long in span. The fuselage and tail are too short.  The canopy is slightly small, but the windshield looks good.

Conclusion: Avoid the odd Pioneer F-100, with its 1:72 scale wings and 1:80(?) scale fuselage.   If you want something cheap that you can assemble and paint in less than a day, then hang from the ceiling, then Lindberg’s re-issue of the ancient IMC kit is for you (sometimes you can find the Hasegawa kit for less cost than the IMC/Lindberg kit so go for that then).  The old ESCI kit is still good-to-go for building something you want to proudly display on the shelf, but don’t waste your time and money on aftermarket detailing sets.  If you want the most detailed F-100 kit available (and you were thinking of buying an ESCI kit plus detailing sets) then it’s the Trumpeter kit hands down, no need to buy aftermarket detail sets (but you can if you’re obsessive and rich ).  Even with its flaws the Trumpeter kit is still better than all the other older kits available.

P.S. The most needed aftermarket item for these kits is a good variety weapons set.

Gate Guards:  F-100 Super Sabre

1/600 MOSKVA: AURORA VS AIRFIX

BLACKLIGHT REVELL DEAL’S WHEELS

HEINKEL HE-51: HASEGAWA VS. ICM

GEORGIA’S MUSEUM OF AVIATION MODEL SHOW, 2017

RED DEVIL AWARDS 2017, ARE THEY REAL OR ARE THEY MODELS?

GROCERY STORE USES MODEL PLANES TO ATTRACT CUSTOMERS!

IDAHO CAT CAUGHT INSTRUCTING HUMAN HOW TO BUILD CORVETTE!

1:48 F-105G WILD WEASEL SHOWDOWN, HOBBYBOSS VS MONOGRAM

1:72 SHOCK & AWE LOCKHEED F-104 STARFIGHTER, OR, WHY YOU CAN’T TRUST SCALE DRAWINGS! 

FUJIMI, ESCI, AIRFIX, HASEGAWA, MATCHBOX, REVELL & HOBBY BOSS. MORE REASON NOT TO TRUST SCALE DRAWINGS?

Kit Bashing, Reviews

1:600 Moskva: Aurora vs Airfix

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One of the first ship kits I built was the 1:600 scale Aurora Moscow helicopter anti-submarine ship (not to be confused with the Moskva of the Atlant class of missile cruisers, aka Project 1164).  I also built the Airfix version, and there are differences.

Back then it was the final two decades of the Cold War (unbeknownst to both NATO and Warsaw Pact) and we average kit builders in the United States didn’t have access to reliable information on Warsaw Pact vehicles.  Most publications in English would only say that what we now know was Project 1123 Kondor couldn’t handle rough seas, and that production was halted after only two ships were launched.  I always doubted such NATO propaganda because if the ships were so bad why were they in use until the mid-1990s?

Today we do have access to reliable info (including Kagero Top Drawings #55 book, with detailed scale drawings of things like missile launchers, for those of us who read English), and we have at least one aftermarket detailing set for the 1:600 scale Moskva.  I spent a lot of money on a Russian magazine supplement before learning about the Kagero book.  I also got a hold of the photo etched set #618 by White Ensign.

The Aurora Moscow was first issued in 1969, and for some reason last issued in 1972.  Airfix issued their Moskva in 1973, and as far as I know last issued it in the late 1990s.  In the early 1980s it was issued in the U.S. under the MPC brand.

The Aurora and Airfix hulls are just short of 13 inches (33cm) long, the Aurora being slightly shorter than Airfix.  The Aurora hull is also taller and skinnier than the Airfix hull.  The anchors are molded onto the Aurora hull and both kits have different shaped hull openings and portholes.

Both kits have chunky plastic for the radar antennae. Both kits do not come with missiles for the missile launchers.  Both kits do not have the massive retractable sonar dome located towards the front of the bottom of the hull.  It was this massive dome that was probably the reason the tall ship reportedly nose dived into the water during rough seas.  Apparently NATO was unaware of this dome during the Cold War, or for some reason it was never mentioned in publications made available to the general public.

The Airfix Kamov helicopters are molded in two halves and don’t look good.  The Aurora helicopters are molded in one piece, they look good but not quite like Kamovs (more like Kamovs than Airfix).  The plus with the Aurora kit is you get optional retracted/folded rotor blades.  The Aurora deck is one piece with more detailing than Airfix, and even has optional position hanger doors and space in the superstructure/funnel (molded in two pieces) area.  The Airfix deck is in three pieces, it has optional position hanger doors but the space in the superstructure/funnel (molded in three pieces) is blanked off.  The Airfix helicopter deck has recessed spaces to represent elevators.

The big open ass, I mean aft end, I mean stern of the ship is plane Jane in the Aurora kit, with two life boats.  There’s some kind of blocky details in the Airfix kit.  Aurora gives you davits to hang the life boats on, while Airfix gives you upside down ‘U’s to set them on.  The propellers, I mean screws are different in shape and size between the two kits.

The ship has two large cranes, Aurora uses chunks of plastic to represent them while Airfix gives you a better looking multi-part system.

Click on the pics to make them bigger:

The White Ensign photo etched set has thin brass parts for the radars, railings, davits, cranes, hanger doors, missile launcher detailing, much better details for the ass end, ship name plates (Moscow & Leningrad) and parts for the Airfix helicopters (including tini-tiny landing gear parts which’l probably bend under the weight of the plastic).  A major problem with White Ensign’s instructions is that they leave out where to use the differently shaped hand rails.  Also, you get PE rotor blades in the extended position, but not retracted.

If you love 1:600 scale ships the best way to get a good looking and close to accurate Moskva/Leningrád is to kit bash the Airfix and Aurora kits, use the White Ensign Models PE set, and scratch build missiles, as well as the sonar domes under the hull.

Note: Research is also key to making as accurate a Project 1123 as you can.  The ships had numerous different hull numbers and even different ‘paint jobs’ over the decades.  You’ll need to find color photographs of a specific hull number, especially overhead views which’l reveal what color/colors the decks were painted.

 MOSKVA CLASS SUBMARINE HUNTERS, STOP CALLING THEM AIRCRAFT CARRIERS!

1:600 USS IOWA CLASS KITS: AURORA, MONOGRAM, OTAKI, REVELL. AN APPEAL TO AIRFIX!

1:72 HEINKEL HE-51: HASEGAWA VS. ICM