David Hingtgen

While vac-formed, and not *mass* produced (but easily available), the Transport Wings 1/72 747-400 has a 38.5 inch fuselage, 35.5 inch wings, and has a fuselage several times the size of a B-36's. The 1/48 B-1B is Revell. A local shop has one on their top shelf. I look at it every time.

Whaaaa?!? I've got more hot pink female Virtual On figures than valks! Or maybe I shouldn't say that so loudly. (I like female robots in general, and the Fei-Yen design especially) Yes, most VO designs are ugly, but a few rock. (mainly the ones that are overt parodies of anime characters)

IIRC, MiG-29 radar systems actually use vacuum tubes. Airframe: good. Avionics: bad. As for IR---F-117's have a *tiny* IR signature. They are quite sleek, little drag for kinetic heating. And their exhaust is about as cool as a jet engine's can possibly be. It'd be one heck of an advanced IR sensor to lock on.

Well yeah, an incredibly sleek delta-winged all-white plane with a nearly flat and featureless upper surface probably will end up looking a lot like your standard "delta" paper airplane.

Hmmn. All those F-15 and F-16 schemes just don't work on the VF-1, IMHO. (Plus the totally messed up serial numbers bug me, but only because I actually know how the numbering scheme works--unlike the Navy, Air Force serial numbers actually make sense). There's some F-14 schemes lower on that look good. (man, like 99% of VF-1 schemes and squadrons are from real life, we need more people to actually invent some new squadrons and schemes--there's got to be more than Blue Roses) Of course, you kinda need bored drunken sailors on shore leave to come up with the REALLY good squadron names, like the SHWFOTS. (Brownie points if you know who that is, and what the "official" name is)

Assuming it's like other Wave vinyl robots, there vinyl has always seemed very "plasticky" to me. A good thing, IMHO. It can be sanded, just go easy. As for cutting---you know how you can cut paper just by drawing it across the blade of a scissors, rather than actually "using" the scissors? It cuts best like that. Put the blade in, and just push/pull the blade through the vinyl in one motion, don't "saw" the vinyl. Go slow, and it'll cut really nicely. Overall--go slow. It'll cut and sand nicely, if you just go slow, with little pressure and movement. Fewer, longer strokes are better than many small rapid ones. (I've only built ONE vinyl kit, but it was a WAVE 1/72 mecha, so I'm presuming it'll be similar) PS----fill the legs with weight. Lots of it. Like, solid lead from the feet to the thighs. Unless you've got the perfect stand to hold it.

I've never formatted it nicely, (it just starts right in) but here's my PG W0C tips: http://members.aol.com/ncc42768/PGWingZero.doc Written only like 2 days after assembly, so it was all fresh in my memory.

That is a problem, even I get bored at airshows waiting for the "good stuff". 3 hours of hammerheads/torque-rolls gets old. Just alternating jets and props would help a lot. Even a Cobra manuever would get old after the 25th in a row that day... Honestly, since single-ship military demos aren't all that common, most of the time I go simply for the static displays, to get up close to modern military jets. Of course, if there's an F4U flying, I could watch that all day. Best-sounding plane ever. (Sorry, P-51's sound great, but the F4U sounds even better)

And this is a *Studio Nue* drawing. Of a Valkyrie. That appeared in DYRL.

Or a quick pale blue repaint, for a VF-19A?

IMHO, all PG wiring is either: A. Completely wortless. B. *Barely* adequate. Just solder everything. Quicker and easier than trying to use some combo of plastic and screws and springs.

All you really need is "left" and "right". Anyways--just ask here for any symbol meanings you don't get! BTW--which PG kits? I have a mini-FAQ for assembly tips for the W0C.

Technically, a leading edge flap could be anything. But it's generally assumed to mean Krüger flaps unless otherwise specified, and is how I usually read it. And a hinged leading edge is just that. Mainly because a flap is a small piece, but the "hinged leading edge" is the whole front of the wing, not really a separate piece. Could also mean droops, but they're downwards-only (being a specific type of hinged leading edge). (Being an airliner buff above all else, high-lift devices are a specialty of mine, airliners have used and invented most every type). Coolest flap name: Zap flaps! (Which are like sliding split flaps)

A bit overdone? Most groundcrew would be fired if they let a military plane get like that.

Up top, you say it has leading edge slats. Just a post ago, you say leading edge flaps. Which is it? And IMHO, it should have neither, but rather a hinged leading edge.

Wisconsin shows are always a possibility for me. Have to check exact distance and what's there. I'll drive quite a ways for a Tomcat, but anything less---I really have to evaluate rarity, how many times I've seen one, etc. Iowa totally sucks this year. A-10 demo only. (Hey, we had F-18, A-10, F-117, F-16, and the Blue Angels all flying last year, and a static Super Hornet) I'll of course go to the 45 mins away show, if for no other reason than the static displays.

That's amazingly cool. Not much more needs to be said. BTW--anybody ever watch the show "Viper"? (for those that didn't, it had hexagonal panels to change paint color)

Rare indeed for me to bump a thread, but BUMP! Also, Harrier demo schedule was added. Not that there's many, Harriers are even harder to find than Tomcats.

MiG-29? Doubt it. AFAIK, they've got a pretty piss-poor, weak radar. (At least the early ones, and I doubt top-of-the-line upgraded ones were around) Not the best thing for hunting stealths.

The Revell 1/32 MiG-29's are popping up everywhere around here. If you can find them in Iowa, you can find them anywhere. PS--I "lost" this thread, but in response to neova's question, an F-14D would give you all the parts you need, as would a Fujimi F-14D. (Except the prototype--never buy the demo-color white/red F-14B or D from anybody in any scale--they're almost always wrong for a production model--avoid the all-black ones as well) Most good F-14D kits just add in all the D parts, so all the A parts are still there. And that's what you need for Shin's, a D's body with an A's cockpit. And there's always a ton of aftermarket resin cockpits and seats, so you could buy just about any D and then add in a really nice A cockpit if you want. (Make sure it's a D with the rear fuselage fairings though).

Low stall/approach speeds are a characteristic of FSW. (not THAT low though) Just a nit-pick: you'd probably want the rudders to turn OUT for speed-brakes. Turn-in generally causes a pitch-up. See F-22 and F-18 for examples of both. PS--what kind of options do you have for flight characteristics tuning? If you've got it, try a lower angle of incidence. (While FSW incidence is generally typical, it behaves differently under load, and "averages" out to a lot lower value than normal planes while manuevering)

And yet another version of the story is that the F-117 flew the exact same track 3 nights in a row, low, above a high hill, getting just within range of a shoulder-fired rocket. If there's no IR or radar guidance to defeat, stealth is worthless. If you can actually see/hear the plane, and predict where and when it'll be, it's not hard to shoot it down.

Ironically, within hours of this first being posted, "The Final Countdown" was played on the radio for 80's night. Freaked me out.

::downloads pic:: ::looks at labels:: EEEEEEEEK! ::head explodes:: I think randomly applying labels from a glossary of aircraft parts would be only slightly less accurate. Why is the wing pivot inside the wing itself, near the outer tip? I don't recall the tips swinging independently of the main wings... (it's really the outboard hardpoint)

Wow, that IS a good kit to make the gear up--and you say the YF-21's even easier. Hmmmn, I'm converting my unfinished YF-23 to gear-up, maybe I should make a matching YF-21 to go with it.