Moose135

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Headquarters and Maintainence Squadron. I was in the Air Force, so I don't know what an H&MS handles, but Google at least found the definition...

Great work, Charles! I haven't built many dioramas, and reading this thread has given me some interesting ideas on materials and techniques.

Looks that way, Mike. The fine print at the bottom says "Offers are available only to residents of the U.S.A. and Canada, from participating hobby retailers in the U.S.A. and Canada."

No, I flew out of Grissom, Pete. That second shot is out of one of our RTs - receiver equipped A-models.

Looks yellow to me...

I received the kit in the mail today from Sprue Brothers. While I haven't whipped out the ruler and my Dash-1 yet, it looks to be a very good kit - nicely molded, fine details, and it has the right "look" for a -135. It's not all perfect, however. The reinforcing bands on the rear fuselage are overstated, and will need to be sanded down a bit. The Pilot Director Lights (the two fairing on the lower forward part of the fuselage) are oriented in the wrong direction - the engraved markings represent the lights that direct the receiver pilot when in contact, and should face downward, not outboard. Given the scale, I'll likely fill and sand them, and use a little paint/decal to represent the markings, which shouldn't be very prominent in this scale. The cockpit windows, including the eyebrow windows, are incorrectly shaped, as are the decal windows - which do not include the eyebrow windows. The engine nacelles are wrong, and I have been told aftermarket resin replacements are likely in the works already. I would expect to see a number of aftermarket decal sets for this kit, and again, I've been told that correct window decals should be included. James, I'll have to check my references - the horizontal stabilizers on the E-model were replaced, using the stabs from the same donor 707s from which the TF-33 engines were sources. I don't know how that compares to the stab in the 707/E-3 kit you have, but they should be larger than the A-model horizontal stabs. All in all, I think this is a very good kit, and I'm looking forward to building it. None of the shortcomings are show-stoppers, hopefully it all goes together well. With a little help from the aftermarket, we can see a whole gaggle of -135 variants - EC, RC, VC, oh my! And I'm eagerly awaiting their A-model release. I'll probably build a few of them - I'll have to turn at least one into an RT for sure!

Don't compare the KC-135 to the 707, especially to determine the accuracy of the kit. They look similar, but are very much different. From what I've read elsewhere, and photos I've seen online, it looks to be very good. I flew A-models, so this one is a bit different, and I haven't gotten a copy of the kit yet, so I'm just going on what I've heard so far. I'll probably order one before long and compare what I can against my photos and the A-model flight manual - basic sizes and shapes didn't change, as Es were all converted from As.

I don't normally build 1/32 scale aircraft, but I'll have to make an exception for this one. Dazzlin Deb, the airplane on the cover, is owned by a friend back on Long Island, and I've had the pleasure to log some time in the back seat. Sweet ride, and a real gentleman.

Having flown tanker and receiver refueling in the KC-135, trust me, the swaying back and forth only adds to the realism!

I'm sure you'll do well, Chris! My signature image is our club logo - commemorating Lindbergh's flight and Long Island's place as the "Cradle of Aviation".

Welcome, Chris! Good luck - you're gonna need it! :D

Oh, I thought this was one of those contests where the winner gets a prize...I guess in this case, Dick is the winner!

Very cool, Dave!

And after hosting NorEastCon two out of three years, I told my club president that if he even though about putting in a bid for the Nats, I would break his legs... :lol:

That's cool! I've toyed with building one of those pickup forever, maybe I'll actually do it one of these days.

Loveland, CO in August 2013. The new web site usually goes up after the upcoming Nats is over.

I used to help out a friend when he ran a model railroad shop, and still work some shows with him, and yes, customers can be rude, inconsiderate, and thoughtless. But that doesn't excuse poor behavior on the part of employees. I can't tell you the number of times I've walked into a small store (not necessarily a hobby shop, but even some of those) where the clerk behind the counter barely looks in my direction, never mind offers a greeting or an offer to help. I've actually been in a couple of places where two or three clerks were behind the counter, talking amongst themselves, and completely ignored me the entire time I was in the store. They didn't get any of my money that day, and I haven't been back since. That becomes a self-correcting problem. Teach enough people a lesson, and you won't have to worry about dealing with customers. The same applies to a good employee. Too many times I've asked questions about a product, or if they carry a particular item, and the employee looks at me like I've asked him to explain quantum mechanics. A couple of times a week, I get a bagel and coffee at Dunkin Donuts...

Nice work, Jay! I've always liked that car, and have thought about picking up that kit, looks like it turned out well.

Copy the "Direct Link" URL and either manually enclose it between image tags or use the Insert Image button and paste the URL into the popup box. Nice work!

Really nice work! Ain't that the truth!

That's a great catch, James! Reminds me of back in the day when Fairchild Republic was building the A-10. They build the fuselage and wings at their plant here on Long Island, then trucked them to Maryland for assembly. Many times I'd see a fuselage or set of wings going down the Long Island Expressway. Of course, that was in the Dark Ages, before cell phone cameras.<_< Thanks for sharing!

I switched to Raw about 3 years ago myself, and shoot it almost exclusively. Unless the original image is really a mess (and it's something I really want to try to save...) it doesn't take me any longer to process Raw files. I download off my cards using Adobe Bridge, and use Bridge to tag the photos I want to process. Next I use Adobe Camera Raw to make most of my adjustments (leveling, cropping, exposure) then open them in Photoshop for final processing - cloning out dust spots, sharpening - then save as a JPEG. Shooting aircraft on the ramp at night, with all kinds of ugly lights, it's a snap to adjust white balance, and I find I have much more control over other adjustments as well. Mark, on a DSLR, your sensor size makes a big difference in file size, as well as subject and ISO. I'm working with a Canon 40D, at 10.1MP. For photos with a ton of detail, file size is around 10MB, but if I'm shooting an aircraft against a uniformly blue sky, it may be 6 - 8MB. I use 4GB cards, and can get 300+ Raw images on a card.

So where's Chuck Norris? :lol: That's really well done, Chris!

That's true, Mark, I haven't gotten anything finished in a while...but I'll be busy reading my Journal that arrived today, so it might be a bit longer before I finish something! ;)