[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

The Quantas Lockheed Super Constellation (L-1049G-82-153) flying as VH-EAP "Southern Zephyr", a 1:200 kit by herpa.

Excellent model of a classic airliner, I have the China Airlines one but its no where as good as this.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

But the Spitfire - what a plane! And so aptly immortalised in the movie Dunkirk.

My favourite part in the movie is when the Spitfire is shot down by a BF-109

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

MiG-29 :: IAF, Sqn Nos 28, “The First Supersonics”:: Plastic model assembled from kit made by the Trumpeter brand :: 1:72

My MiG fleet as of now.

My favourite Mig model in your collection, breathtaking attention to detail ! Another master piece by BasuRoy, I noticed he has mentioned you in the news article.

I see the pitot tube is missing, let me know if you are not able to find it along with the R-73, I have spares that you can use from unused model parts.

Hope a Farmer, Flogger and Foxhound are coming soon.

By the way Mikyoan and Gurevich are unhappy because you have been ordering 1:48 Scale Colonial models but only 1:72 for their creations

[Foxbat]

Coming soon, one of the fastest and highest flying aircraft in the world and has a crew of two!

[V.Narayan]

Airbus A310-300 Air India:: In Flight 1:200 scale:: diecast metal

Decent finish and detail. Wingspan & length around 9 inches.

One of the most beautiful jet airliners competing IMHO for that spot with the Boeing 747, Airbus A340 And Caravelle. Air India's first all new order after the infamous & unjustified exit of JRD Tata in 1978 at the hands of the Morarji Desai Govt. Air India was one of the early adapters of the -300.

The Airbus A310-300 was the definitive type and the first twin engine wide body long range aircraft to enter service. Typically configured for 200 to 220 in a two class layout. This is today almost the standard configuration. In the Airbus line up the A330-200 replaced the A310.

Air India acquired 8. Sadly at the end of their life they stood parked and deteriorating at Mumbai and Delhi with the Govt's archaic auction procedures and unrealistic floor prices ensuring they could not be sold at a market price. Who cares. It was the tax payers money.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Airbus A310-300 Air India:: In Flight 1:200 scale:: diecast metal

Your Air India fleet grows This would be a unique and rare model, I assume its from DBjets?

In terms on looks the A310 is very similar to the A300 but as far as I remember the A310 is much smaller.

I remember you also have a 1:200 Iran Air Airbus A300-600, some pictures with that would be great!

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Your Air India fleet grows This would be a unique and rare model, I assume its from DBjets?

Yes from DB jets. InFlight200 make. I have decided that as far as feasible to support the home grown suppliers instead of buying from the suppliers overseas. :-)

In terms on looks the A310 is very similar to the A300 but as far as I remember the A310 is much smaller.

Yes the A310 was a few frames shorter than the A300 and by use of composites in its structure was more than proportionately lighter and by pushing the pressure bulkhead further aft made up for some of the seats lost. A brilliant wing designed by BAe led to better light and lower drag all of which gave it a max pax range of 5100+nautical miles which in the 1980s was equaled only by the Tristar L-1011-500. Along with the Tristar L1011-500 th eA310 contributed immensely to the thin long routes that increasingly are the direction passenger routes are going and doing away with hub and spoke. In today's day and age we forget that till as recently as the 1970s a flight from Bombay to London hopped via Beirut/Cairo/Tehran and then Rome/Geneva!

The A310 was the first time a European plane maker ever built a second jet airliner. Many built one and gave up {British Aerospace, BAC-111; Sud Aviation, Caravelle; Hawker Siddley, Trident; and even American Lockheed, the Tristar and finis}. The hold of Boeing and McDD on the world market and Tupolev, Yakolev and to a limited extent Ilyushin to the COMECOM market was complete. It was also the first intercontinental airliner with a crew of two and the first to carry fuel in the tail fin to aid stability.

I remember you also have a 1:200 Iran Air Airbus A300-600, some pictures with that would be great!

Will oblige.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Airbus A310-300 Air India:: In Flight 1:200 scale:: diecast metal

Beautiful looking model, sir. Congratulations. Whenever I look at Air India aircraft, I consciously look for the name of the aircraft, which I thought was a wonderful practice followed by Air India.

Weren't a few of the Air India A310s converted into freighters and operated by Air India Cargo? One of these ex-AI A310-300Fs, named Saraswati, ended up with a Cargo airline in Africa. While in service with that cargo airline and while attempting to land it in poor visibility and heavy rains, it overran the runway on a rainy day and was apparently written off.

That airline retained Air India's cheatline, albeit in blue and retained the aircraft name too.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Yes the A310 was a few frames shorter than the A300 and by use of composites in its structure was more than proportionately lighter and by pushing the pressure bulkhead further aft made up for some of the seats lost.

If I may make a suggestion, please try acquire the Hogan 1:200 Air India A300 to compliment this beautiful AI A310 of yours. Being plastic, it isn't as detailed as the IF A310, but it will make a nice pairing for the A310.

[V.Narayan]

1. My initial climb rate of 50,000 feet/minute remained unsurpassed for a production fighter for over 30 years till the MiG-29 came into service.

2. I was the world's first Mach 2.0 fighter and the first to reach 100,000 feet after taking off on my own power.

3. I was the first production fighter with a power loading of above 0.75. Yet I had a wing loading so high no jet fighter has touched it yet.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

1. My initial climb rate of 50,000 feet/minute remained unsurpassed for a production fighter for over 30 years till the MiG-29 came into service.

बदमाश, as the Pakistanis used to call it.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

1. My initial climb rate of 50,000 feet/minute remained unsurpassed for a production fighter for over 30 years till the MiG-29 came into service.

2. I was the world's first Mach 2.0 fighter and the first to reach 100,000 feet after taking off on my own power.

3. I was the first production fighter with a power loading of above 0.75. Yet I had a wing loading so high no jet fighter has touched it yet.

Originally Posted by skanchan95

बदमाश, as the Pakistanis used to call it.

The Germans called it the Witwenmacher ("widowmaker") or Fliegender Sarg ("flying coffin").


The German Air Force and Federal German Navy, the largest combined user of the F-104 and operator of over 35% of all airframes built, lost approximately 32% of its Starfighters in accidents over the aircraft's 31-year career. The Belgian Air Force, on the other hand, lost 41 of its 100 airframes between February 1963 and September 1983, and Italy, the final Starfighter operator, lost 138 of 368 (37%) by 1992. Canada's accident rate with the F-104 ultimately exceeded 46% (110 of 238) over its 25-year service history.

And the press calls our Mig-21s "flying coffins"

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

The German Air Force and Federal German Navy, the largest combined user of the F-104 and operator of over 35% of all airframes built, lost approximately 32% of its Starfighters in accidents over the aircraft's 31-year career.

It was because the West Germans used the F-104 in roles it was never intended to perform - low level strike and CAS, nor was it built to be dogfighter. The West German Navy even armed their F-104s with Kormoran anti-ship missiles in the anti-shipping role - again a mission profile which the F-104 was highly unsuited for. Those stubby and razor sharp wings did not offer enough lift to fly low and slow or maneuver like a dogfighter. Clearly, Lockheed bought German Air Force Generals and young Luftwaffe pilots paid for it with their lives.

[V.Narayan]

Lockheed F-104J Starfighter:: JASDF Aerobatic team :: JC Wings 1:72 diecast metal

Very decent detailing and finish. Model is about 9 inches in length and has a wingspan of 3.5 inches only!


A most beautiful looking aircraft with one of the most streamlined fuselage designs marred by a flight safety record of mishaps and bad flight characteristics only matched by one aircraft in the Soviet inventory – Tupolev Tu-22 and poor British designs like the Supermarine Scimitar. Even the notorious (safety wise that is) English Electric Lighting did better.

The root of its very high accident ratio lay in the trapezoidal wing – short, stubby, marginally swept and very very thin. Why such a wing. The answer to that question lay in the specs that came out of the Korean War. The USAF, in 1953, asked for a fighter with the greatest possible acceleration, highest possible rate of climb and a Mach 2.0 capability when the world air speed record stood at Mach 0.99. In return they were consciously willing to sacrifice manoeuverability. The technology of the time and the knowledge of wing design and issues of high speed flight meant that the only proven high speed design was the trapezoidal shaped super thin wing with a wing span less than that of a Sopwith Camel fighter of World War One! You’ll notice these wings on experimental high speed aircraft like the North American X-15 that were carried aloft in B-52s and then released for their experimental flights. In automobile language the Starfighter is like building a medium sized truck that goes as fast as an F1 car and runs on four thin & very small wheels.

One hitherto unsuspected problem arose from the tail fin being almost as big as the wing. So when the aircraft banked sharply to one side, say 90 degrees to keep it simple, the tail fin (or vertical stabilizers as we now like to call it) starts to act as a wing and starts to lift the aircraft in the vertical plane while the pilot is executing a tight turn and trying to stay level!
And as the first Mach 2.0 capable production fighter in the world it broke ground on engines, metallurgy, air intake design not to mention the messiness of lifting and controlling an aircraft on such tiny wings. With a landing speed of close to 200 knots and an unstick speed of 200 knots it had very little room for surprises. The result was a catastrophic accident rate. The tragedy was that the Americans did not for all practical purposes put it into their own service while pushing it to the allies – some unsuspecting – and causing death amongst the young pilots of Germany, Italy, Japan, Taiwan etc. Worse these sales were greased by substantial $ bribes to the politicians of the customer countries. But Brutus is an honourable man.

The machine did well what it was designed to do - climb fast, climb high, accelerate and fly at Mach 2.0. In 1958 it set the world speed record at 2260 kmph and held the world climb to height records for an aircraft taking off under its own power from the late 1950s to the early 1970s when the MiG-25 took over. The highest a F-104 has climbed to is ~120,000 feet surpassed only by the MiG-25.

The scale model below is from the JASDF of Japan. It adds to my collection of Japanese warplanes of both WW-II and the JASDF.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Lockheed F-104J Starfighter:: JASDF Aerobatic team :: JC Wings 1:72 diecast metal

Beautiful model, sir. Congratulations. Like the F-15J, quite a few F-104Js were built under license by Mitsubishi in Japan.
I had a feeling it would be a JASDF F-104, knowing that you have a soft spot for the Japanese ad JC released one of those recently.
One of the things I like about recent JC Wings 1:72 releases is the very attractive box art and yours is no different. Each model has a unique art work on the box and the collector's card, unlike most HM or Calibre releases.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

It was because the West Germans used the F-104 in roles it was never intended to perform - low level strike and CAS, nor was it built to be dogfighter. The West German Navy even armed their F-104s with Kormoran anti-ship missiles in the anti-shipping role - again a mission profile which the F-104 was highly unsuited for. Those stubby and razor sharp wings did not offer enough lift to fly low and slow or maneuver like a dogfighter. Clearly, Lockheed bought German Air Force Generals and young Luftwaffe pilots paid for it with their lives.

Despite this, in October 1975, Lockheed agreed to pay a total of 3 million Deutsche Marks (US$1.2 million) to approximately 60 widows and dependents of 32 Luftwaffe pilots killed during flight operations, though the company declined to admit liability.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Lockheed F-104J Starfighter:: JASDF Aerobatic team :: JC Wings 1:72 diecast metal

Stunning model. Diecast models have a quality of their own probably because metal can be shaped more sharply than plastic. I wonder why they picket the F-104 for Aerobatics when much more manoeuvrable aircraft were available ?

A photoshoot of your JASDF Air Force is needed.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Beautiful model, sir. Congratulations. Like the F-15J, quite a few F-104Js were built under license by Mitsubishi in Japan.
I had a feeling it would be a JASDF F-104, knowing that you have a soft spot for the Japanese ad JC released one of those recently.
One of the things I like about recent JC Wings 1:72 releases is the very attractive box art and yours is no different. Each model has a unique art work on the box and the collector's card, unlike most HM or Calibre releases.

Thank you. :-)
Speaking of boxes - one half of our store room is packed to the ceiling with my scale model boxes. And I'm running out of space! I'm trying to buy the HM stands so that some of my models (F-4J, F-16, Mirage 2000, MiG-25, MiG-21) get onto stands thus releasing floor space for the smaller models.

[skanchan95]

1:72 North American F-86F-30-NA S/N 52-4513/FU-513 334th FIS, 4th FIW, USAF, Maj. James "Jabby" Jabara, Korea, July 1953 (Easy Model)

The North American Aviation F-86 Sabre (sometimes called the Sabrejet) was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. The Sabre is best known for its Korean War role where it was pitted against the Soviet MiG-15 and obtained UN air superiority. Although developed in the late 1940s and outdated by the end of the 1950s, the Sabre proved adaptable and continued as a front line fighter in air forces until the last active front line examples were retired by the Bolivian Air Force in 1994.

Armed with six 50 caliber machine guns, the F-86 saw extensive action in the Korean War, where it was often pitted against the MiG-15 flown by North Korean, Chinese and Russian pilots. The Sabre pilot had to be in visual contact and within gun range of the enemy in order to attempt a shoot-down, thereby making this aircraft the last true "dogfighter" in US Air Force inventory.

The North American F-86 Sabre was manufactured from 1949 – 1956 and was the US's first swept-wing fighter. As well as being built in the U.S., license built variants were built in Canada and Australia bringing the total of all variants manufactured to 9,860 units. During the Korean War the Sabre arrived to take on the other swept-wing aircraft of the conflict, the MiG-15 Fagot.

Col. James "Jabby" Jabara - First American Jet Ace

James "Jabby" Jabara (10 October 1923 – 17 November 1966) was the first American and United States Air Force jet ace. During WWII, Jabara flew P-51Ds and scored 1.5 victories. However, it was during the Korean War flying F-86s that he excelled. On December 13,1950 Captain James Jabara arrived in South Korea with the 334th FIS / 4th FIW and by April 22, 1951 had 4 MiG-15 victories. On May 20th, 1951, he shot down his fifth MiG-15, thereby becoming the first American jet ace, he did this with one of drop tanks hung up!!! After his sixth MiG-15 kill, he was promoted to the rank of a Major. On July 15, 1953 Major Jabara downed his 15th MiG-15 and became a triple ace, after two tours of duty and flying 163 combat missions over Korea. He was the second highest scoring U.S. Korean War pilot after Captain Joseph McConnell (with 16 MiG-15 victories).



Jabara’s MiG-15 Kill Credits
1951 (F-86A):
April 3
April 10
April 12
April 22
May 20 x 2

1953 (F-86F):
May 16
May 26 x 2
June 10 x 2
June 18
June 30 x 2
July 15

After return from Korea, he went to on to become an accomplished F-104 pilot. In early 1958, he joined the 337th FIS at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, flying frontline F-104s. During the 1958 Quemoy and Matsu crisis with communist China, Jabara and the 337th FIS briefly deployed to Taiwan, where the Starfighters were flown near the coast of mainland China for several weeks to deter Chinese aggression and ‘fly the flag’.

In 1966, Jabara, then the youngest colonel in the Air Force at 42, was preparing to leave for a combat tour in Vietnam when he was killed in an automobile accident in Florida.











The two Korean War F-86s in my collection




DogFights Jet vs Jet [James Jabara The ACE]