stavanzer

Wow, Great Model! Your detailing is Top Notch! Good Show

Not Molded on the body.

The Wild Weasel Patch. The Initials stand for the phrase "Ya Gotta Be SH+++n Me". Spoken by the first pilot to be a 'backseater' for the first missions. The SEAD planes often carry this patch on the tail, even today, and many pilots proudly wear it. WILD WEASEL Wild Weasel is a code name given by the United States Armed Forces, specifically the US Air Force, to an aircraft, of any type, equipped with radar-seeking missiles and tasked with destroying the radars and SAM installations of enemy air defense systems. “The first Wild Weasel success came soon after the first Wild Weasel mission 20 December 1965 when Captains Al Lamb and Jack Donovan took out a site during a Rolling Thunder strike on the railyard at Yen Bai, some 75 miles northwest of Hanoi.” The Wild Weasel concept was developed by the United States Air Force in 1965, after the introduction of Soviet SAM missiles and their downing of U.S. strike aircraft over the skies of North Vietnam. The program was headed by General Kenneth Dempster. Wild Weasel tactics and techniques began their development in 1965 following the commencement of Operation Rolling Thunder during the Vietnam War, and were later adapted by other nations during following conflicts, as well as being integrated into the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), a plan used by U.S. air forces to establish immediate air supremacy prior to possible full-scale conflict. Initially known by the operational code “Iron Hand” when first authorized on 12 August 1965, the term “Wild Weasel” derives from Project Wild Weasel, the USAF development program for a dedicated SAM-detection and suppression aircraft. (The technique {or a specific part} was also called an “Iron Hand” mission, though technically the Iron Hand part refers only to a suppression attack that paves the way for the main strike. Originally named “Project Ferret”, denoting a predatory animal that goes into its prey’s den to kill it (hence: “to ferret out”), the name was changed to differentiate it from the code-name “Ferret” that had been used during World War II for radar counter-measures bombers. In brief, the task of a Wild Weasel aircraft is to bait enemy anti-aircraft defenses into targeting it with their radars, whereupon the radar waves are traced back to their source, allowing the Weasel or its teammates to precisely target it for destruction. A simple analogy is playing the game of “flashlight tag” in the dark; a flashlight is usually the only reliable means of identifying someone in order to “tag” (destroy) them, but the light immediately renders the bearer able to be identified and attacked as well. The result is a hectic game of cat-and-mouse in which the radar “flashlights” are rapidly cycled on and off in an attempt to identify and kill the target before the target is able to home in on the emitted radar “light” and destroy the site. The modern term used in the U.S. Armed Forces for this mission profile is “Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses”, or SEAD.

A true Racing Legend. His engines were famous. https://www.autoweek.com/racing/more-racing/a64603591/ed-pink-obit/

Oh Heck, Yeah. One of my Favorite Century Series Fighters. I served in the USAF with a former F-100 Crew Chief. He had some stories to tell about them. Thanks for sharing this!

You can never have too many Revell '29 Model A kits!

Yes on the Thunder-Z. The only one I don't have!

It's becoming a Crime to "Notice Things". I agree about lack of spatial awareness. It is worse. Look at cars in parking lots. Angled, over the lines, flat out badly parked. There is more and more of it. I fear that many younger generations are lacking in Spatial Awareness due to not learning it as youngsters. I won't pretend to know why this is happening, but I see more and more evidence of it.

Glad to have you here! Welcome.

Well, "Paint me Purple and call me an Onion!" I missed that! Thank You for sharing.

I have not ever heard of that. It is an explanation. Somehow I doubt most of the drivers in Bakersfield are aware of that advice, but it could be true.

Good Looking Phantoms! They look great.

And, the '53 Ford is always at Hobby Lobby, in two or three versions.

I'll have to check here in Bakersfield. I would like The Cat & Boss Nova.

I hope you are correct.

Welcome Aboard, David from a Fellow USAF Vet. Ask your questions. These are the best people on-line. They'll be happy to help any way they can. Good luck on your Roadrunner. Alan Alexis

I see both the Grand Canyon, Amarillo & Chlcago have all shifted a few states to the East.

Frankly, I do not see either one of those coming from this tooling. More variants of the Blazer/Jimmy, yes. But, Trucks or Suburbans seem to me like 'wishcasting' at this point, rather than plans Revell really has. But, I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Looking better with every photo, Dave. You've put in a lot of work cleaning her up.

Something we can all agree on!

Looks Great in those Colours! I'd never imagined this kit as an SD. Great Conversion.

'81 Camaro!?!? Cool! I don't remember seeing test shots of that kit, but they may have been posted and I forgot about them. Thanks for the list!

Folks will be searching for this build when the new kit hits the shelves. Yours is a Home Run build of this kit. Inspiration for many who want to build this kit.

I love your Build! Brings back memories of watching the show. Great Work.

Good to see Otto Ray Sing is back in action.