Glad you enjoyed the show.
I hear a lot of good things about the Polish F-16 display. They were at Cosford a month ago and put on a great show!
Did the U-2 fly or just static? That is something I would love to see.
Incidentally we had an A400 fly over ours earlier this afternoon. When I tracked it on my flight tracker app, found it was a German one flying out of Fairford. On their way home too!
Hi Stephen,
yes, RIAT 2025 was indeed great, even the weather stayed more or less dry with enough sunny spells to take pictures of the flying display which included the U-2 in the air! Very impressive take-off and landing, too.
Cheers
Peter 
I can imagine that the U-2 is very impressive to see flying. And landing! Did they have the chase cars following to make sure the wings were level?
Only a little bit of work the last few days, just things to do before I start prepping for painting when we get back from holiday.
Talking about painting, I treated myself to a set of vinyl paint masks from Top Notch for the cammo. I usually use the white-tac masking method, but that can take a long time when doing a complex 3-tone scheme like Vietnam cammo.
First time I’ve used this sort of thing, so we’ll see how it goes.
Yes, Stephen, the chase cars were there and did their job! Very interesting.
P.S.
Your masks look interesting, too. I have a Vietnam war Phantom from FineMolds in my stash and maybe will try out masks when building it some day…
Hopefully they’ll do the trick. Still haven’t gotten around to getting some paint down yet.
Does anyone need an extension to finish? Happy to add an extra couple of weeks.
Had a few minutes today to work on the undercarriage legs, wheels and afterburners.
Not much but getting somewhere.
Have neglected the build for longer than I should!
Also need to sort out the medal.
Got the most important part of a Bolo Phantom done today, the QRC-160 ECM pod and starboard side pylon. The pylon is a 3D print from Reskit and after removing the print supports needed minimal cleaning. Just need to measure up and drill holes for the support pegs.
Going to tinker around with making a medal this afternoon.
Not having much luck with the medal.
I’m trying to get the middle of this:
Into this medal.
But it’s just not working. When I can get it cut out, it loses resolution and becomes a pixelated blur when it shrinks down. If anyone else wants to try or has another idea, be my guest.
The edges aren’t as clean as I’d like them. I can try to find my copy to Adobe Illustrator and probably get a better circle edge.
Those are looking much better than I managed, thanks!
I’ve only got MS paint on my laptop. Used to have some better software on my old machines, but haven’t fired them up on ages.
Cheers
Quick suggestion in the award. A red/white/blue ribbon. After all, the Phantom was a US design out of St Louis.
Good call.
I did think about that but wasn’t sure of the orientation or order. Thought it might look like the French or Dutch flag at first glance if I got it wrong!
Related suggestion… the USA WWI roundel order. After all, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the US all used Red/White/Blue roundels
That looks much better. Mentally I was separating the red and blue with white. And that’s when you get the other flags in your head!
Hi mates, after a long delay in my Phantom build and some more other projects on the bench and in real life, I realised that I won’t make it in this campaign….
But our hobby should relax and not stress us, right? So I’ll switch my Phantom some day to a Hangar Queen campaign or Unfinished Business 
Good luck to you to finish in time!
Cheers Peter
I’ve found myself in a similar situation the last few weeks. I’ve been at it for a few moments at a time over the weekends, but just don’t seem to be getting anywhere. I don’t think I’ll make it either.
I can give a month’s extension if anyone feels they need it?
Yeah, that happens to us modellers now and then….
With an (if possible) extension I could at least try to make it to the deadline 
