1/48 scale F11F Tiger kit? That’s news to me! Who’s coming out with one? I’ve got the FM kit, but if someone’s coming out with a better tooling, I’ll be all over that!
Nothing like timely input to a 6 1/2 year-old thread…[;)]
I have tried to do that darn kit 3 times. It hates me, and the feeling is mutual. Whoever thought up the stabilator linkage was a sadist in every sense of the word. You even look at it funny and it snaps. The body has serious fit issues up front as well. Luckily those kits weren’t too expensive or I would have thrown a fit after the last one. The last one looked like it was doing well, but then I put on the top of the fuselage and “snapo…” So I decided to just glue the things on. I used Model Master black label and clamped it up really well. The next day it was holding well, then a day or two later when I was starting to do finishing work and paint prep, they just fell off. Both of them. I tried a quick sand and CA and waited 48 hours to make sure that the CA had completely set up. This was a brand new bottle of Great Plains Ultra Thick (I needed the ultra thick so it would also fill in the gaps caused by the bad fuselage molding.) One again, I started to prep again and pop… off they came again. Then the fuselage halves started separating. So now I have 3 lovely parts kits for a model that will never darken my door again. I have the later Revell F/A-18E superhornet and it is completely different. I had no issues with it whatsoever. And the stabilators on that bird are designed much more practically. I don’t know what caused the issues with the Blue Angels kit, but I think it was something about the plastic the kit was made of. Either that or the fates had determined that I wouldn’t be building that one for some reason. lol
Rich 
Howdy Chem,
As for the 1/48th “Pro Modeler” A-4 by Monogram#85-5976, it is in deed Hasegawa molds…!! All around great kit and it builds up rather nicely… At one time when Cutting Edge was still in biz, they did an update for the Hasegawa A-4 to make it a true Blue Angel “Super Fox”
If it were me, I would care less bout the AM item and build as is… It’s a good kit if you can find it… Grabbed the last one at my LHS…!!
Once in a great while @ IPMS shows, you can alos find the original Monogram Blue Angel A-4 as well… Builds up rather nice as well
Flaps up,
Mike
Rangers Lead The Way
Do you happen to have the decals for this model that you didn’t use when attempting to build this model? My little girl got a hold of mine and slobbered all over them and ruined my sheet. I was thinking about handpainting them or buying decal paper and reprinting them, but if I could get a new authentic sheet, that would make my life so much easier…I just don’t want to purchase a whole new kit just for the decals…
I would truly appreciate, as would my wife, if I could finally finish this build as it has been sitting for a while and I have other models waiting to be built and/or finished…
Thanks!!
I think I may still have those decals that you are looking for. They would be several years old and probably require a good clear coat to protect them and keep them from disintegrating in the water. I’ll look for them if you like.
Don’t just coat them with any old clear coat…
Testor’s Decal Bonder is just the ticket for saving old decals… I’ve used it on 30-year old decals wth nary a problem… It’s designed for fixing inkjet-printed decals onto decal paper, but it’s great for saving the old stuff too… It’s more flexible than any acrylic or laquer clear-coat and it’ll work with decal solutions…
Runs about 5.00 for a 3.5 oz. rattle can, and is worth it in the amount of decals it saves from the trash can…
Just be sure to spray it on in two or three light coats, not one heavy one, and don’t let any get on the back of the paper, or the decal will never come off it…
!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/testorsbonder.jpg?t=)
That would be great, let me know if you find them and I can PM you my address…
I actually bought a beginners kit to try and make my own decals and it came with that spray exactly. I happened to see it yesterday when I pulled out my gloss coat to prep two models for decals…Thanks for the tips on how to make sure my decals last. I really appreciate it.
Located the Blue Angels decals; they are complete and show no damage, but I would pre-treat them like Hans said…Uhh, what’s a PM for us newbies??[:$]
Sorry, PM means private message. That’s so I don’t have to post my address here in the open…
I do have the stuff to pre-treat with so I am pretty excited about getting this plane finished and hanging in my kids play room where I have a virtual war going on from the ceiling…they love it!
Thanks again!
Hey Aaron,
Decals went out yesterday; be on the look out for them.
Dave