Given the similarity between the A-9 and the Su-25, I always wondered if there was a bit of industrial espionage going on there! Another KGB coup?
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‘Never been averse to a bit of rotary wing!
Probably destined for the What-If genre - ie as envisaged in service.
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That’s very cool! Will be interesting to see how that project comes together.
I hadn’t intended to buy another kit for a while, I want you to get some others finished, but I did walk out of my LHS on Friday with Academy’s rather nice Iranian F-14. For the price I really couldn’t say no to it. While we often give it as an excuse, I really did only mean to get some paint this time. Honest.
The current, erm ‘crisis’, in the Middle East had no bearing on my choice here. Just that I’ve been meaning to get a good Tomcat since I picked up DP Casper’s Iran-Iraq War decal sheet. This will at least give me all the stencils and other things that I need to complete an Iranian aircraft.
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@phantom_phanatic Stephen, I say you can never have enough Tomcats.
I have almost enough for a squadron of them in 1/72 and several in 1/48 plus multiple decal sheets for VF-101 in both scales plus some for VF-1 and 111.
Years ago I even did a What If FAA FR.1 Tomcat of 899 Sqd, did plan on doing the same to a Su-33 but never got round to it. Got me thinking now, should I revisit the Tomcat (the old one has long gone) and have a go at the Sukhoi? Both on the old EDSG over satin white scheme.
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Oddly is an aeroplane I’ve never really done despite liking it for years. I did the really old Airfix one in the 90’s and picked up a clone of Italeri’s a good few years ago. Don’t remember the brand, some Chinese manufacturer. Wilko were selling them at £1.99 each. Remember picking up that, a really crap F-117 and clones of Hasegawa’s F-16 which were buildable.
The FAA Tomcat sounds good. It would look nice in Royal Navy colours.
A little ‘Scale Hobbyist’ future proofing! Good to have these on hand before I need them and everyone is out of stock. Seems to be a common theme these days. 
—mike 
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easter has come for me
I got the mig for free from someone of my club
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A SB sale. The plastic is the same, so I am thinking of a what-if VMA(AW)-332 Moonlighter if instead of F-18D they moved from the A-6 to A-12.
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Great idea, Brian. I have in the past wondered what the A-9 would have been like in service. I’m sure your end result will be interesting.
Also noticed you picked up a Cheyanne. I recall building an Aurora one as a youngster, finishing it in an afternoon and loitering around my older sisters bedroom looking for targets!
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I intend to only marginally modify the Cheyenne; I can’t be fussed to fix the rotor-head detail and the like. I might sand things down a fair bit but that’ll be it. I’ll have to make a 30mm cannon sponson to go underneath the fuselage, and also fashion some pylons for the wings. Details to the cockpit will be essential, but probably more gizmology than much else.
Weapons load (which I’m really looking forward to) for a Bundeswher What-If version will be, I suspect, HOT missiles, US type rocket pods, but then perhaps a hint of fiction - with air to air missiles on the outboard pylons. The rationale would be that Hind A had also just entered service, so a fit of anti-helicopter missiles would be appropriate. I might call it “Lanz” and will not be much more than a slim tube in 1/72. Colour scheme, regrettably, will be just plain Gelboliv; I had considered one of the early Luftwaffe Norm schemes of splinter grey, yellow-olive and a light grey underside, but although a What-If, it has to be nearly credible and I couldn’t really warrant this, so Gelboliv it will be!
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where has this book been published?
Phil, I’ve attached photos of the inside title and the publishers details, also sample page.
Good luck I was hunting for this book for over a year, found some but at vastly inflated prices. Vol 2 and 3 are easier to find. Vol 2 is attack and bomber aircraft which I got first.
Sample pages
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thanks so much Luciano.
and also this
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After a long wait, the postman finally delivered this today….
Yummy!
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