Janissary

Unfortunately, the above photos did not come out as good as I thought they would. All the surface details got lost in the black and shiny backdrop, and I simply didn't dial in the right exposure. I decided to take another but shorter round of photos, this time in a light box and a gray poster paper as the backdrop. I think these are marginally better, but just wanted to share them for completeness.

Thank you!

Thank you very much! It was a fun build.

This is an older model I built last year, but had decided to have the final photos in the WIP thread: Just so that I have all my builds logged in the critique corner, I just decided to reshape those final photos here (so you probably have seen these before):

😄 I see that! Thank you Dutch! Just done with this one. Here are the final photos:

Final photos of my 1/48 Trumpeter J-10C! I built this for a friend who wanted it all clean and kempt, which meant a whole a lot of restraint on weathering. I was expecting a dud of a kit but it was not bad after all. No aftermarket resin. I deepened all panel lines and rivets, and added a few scratch-built details to the cockpit. Added a bit of surface detail around the exhaust also. Here is the WIP thread: Base colors are H308 (top) and XF-80 (bottom). Post-shading done with lighter and darker tones of the base colors. I got a bit of silvering on the few early decals

Thank you! Almost there! A few pieces at the bottom and should be done. Hope to have a proper background and lighting for the final pics in a few days!

A bit more work. Masking got tedious toward the end but not difficult. Clear film is parafilm. Pink putty is silly putty. There were close to 200 tiny decals that took some time. My first time using Mr. mark setter and I love it. The hawk head was not a part of this hi-viz scheme but it was too cool to pass.

My understanding is that it has to do with the LAU-117 launcher. If that is carried, it will be attached to the bottom of the pylon and only one maverick will be on that pylon. There would be no triple rack and no room for anything additional on the sides. If no LAU-117, then with the triple rack, up to three mavericks can be attached to the same pylon. The close ups above show that triple rack. Meng's F-4E and G come with that triple rack. I am not sure when LAU-117 is needed though. Early mavericks (A-D) I thought did not need them but late ones (E-G) use that launcher. I am n

Thank you both. That is quite an endorsement of Kinetic's F-5. Kinetic it will be!

As the title suggests, looking for the best F-5A in 1/48. I think the only realistic options are (1) Kinetic, and (2) Classic Airframes. I tried to build the Kinetic kit - twice! I abandoned both in the middle. I never had the CA kit. Kinetic: I was really motivated in both of my Kinetic attempts and had studied a ton of online builds, and had a good plan for the various joints. But what ultimately got to me were the fuselage inserts! There a two right behind the canopy. No amount of filling and scribing gave me decent results. Same thing with the inserts behind the ma