how to wind up with an "instant collection"

[RexCag]

All one has to do to wind up with an "instant collection" that would take 2 years to build is just buy a few decal sheets from certain companies.

I was cataloging my decal sheets, and as I was doing the first 5 aircraft types, I noticed something about my collection.

A person would have one heck of a 1/72 model collection by buying just a few of the modern type of decal sheets,,,,,,,with very little trouble with the actual decals when they were applied.

Phantoms,,,,,,,Furball has a sheet of F-4B Phantoms with 14 options,,,,,6 different markings schemes when you chose your options to not do doubles of the squadron markings. Xtradecal has a USAF sheet with 16 options on it, allowing about 10 if you do the various types and color schemes without repeats.And RAM has a sheet with 10 aircraft, allowing you to hunt down F-4K and early F-4M kits, to do 9 without repeats.

Crusaders,,,,,,,Furball again,,,,,26 Crusaders on one sheet, allowing 10 to be done if you don't want to do multiples from any one unit.

Skyhawks,,,,,Furball and Xtradecals,,,,,Furball has one for low visibilty Scooters with 16 options, allowing 12 without repeating a unit, and Xtradecals has two sheets for US Skyhawks, each with 7 unique options allowing another 14 units in total

Intruders,,,,,,AOA decals has a 1/72 sheet with 20+ A-6s on it,,,,,,,detailing nearly complete histories of the Marine squadrons in Vietnam (the instructions are so long that you get a "markings book" on CD-Rom, I'd have to go get it and load it in order to count them)

Corsair II,,,,,,,Xtradecal again,,,,,,,3 sheets of 4 each, with only 2 repeats of squadrons,,,so, that is ten in all if you don't want repeats.

By buying just these sheets, you'd be tracking down kits and building models for at least 2 years, and have the joy of building with Cartograf and "millennial quality Microscale" decals.

Throw in a couple of DP Casper sheets, or some Wolfpak,,,,,,,and you'd be busy for a very long time.

Well, gotta go, I need to look for more Scooters and Phantoms to buy, lol.

[Thomas_M]

Sounds like a plan, Rex!

[RexCag]

I do wish these decal sheets were available earlier.

I bought a lot of them to get just 1 or 2 units that weren't covered in the old "one, two, or three" options days. Some of these modern sheets would replace 4 or 5 sheets done the old way.

I'm using them to "bump" old decals out of my planned collection,,,,,,,quite a few of my planned builds were based on,,,,,,,,umm,,,,,,how to say it politely,,,,,,,,,"less that Cartograf quality"

oops, and I didn't mean to slight Fundekals Corsair sheet, or Starfighter's Battle sheets. those do the same thing. (I just wasn't looking at Corsair or Wildcats when I typed the post)

[Stikpusher]

Yes, I have several F-105 and F-4 sheets that would fill my shelves if I were to buy enough kits to build all the marking options. And tweak them to show the various mods made to the airframes from the base kits available.

[RexCag]

Okay, I just finished adding all the decals of my five favorite naval aircraft onto the squadron cards.

So, that means it is "useless info time", lol.

My five favorite aircraft are (in order)

A-4 Skyhawk (no kidding, eh?)
F-4 Phantom (another shocker)
F-8 Crusader
A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II (tied)

By just using those five types, I can do 99 out of the 138 USN squadrons from VF-1 to VA-305,,,,,,and an additional 42 USMC squadrons (good thing for the stash, eh?) All with high quality decals, whether aftermarket or "real good kit decals".

The other 39 "numbered" squadrons will have to come from the A-1, F-9J, F-14, -18, etc, etc,,,,,,but, not so many of any of them. (and a few of those will have to have my own decals made for them)

I also have a bunch of the VAQ, VAW, VFP, etc squadron types ready to go, as well, those are a "collection on the side" though, so they're not so mission critical.

Useless info, I know, but, I plan to start over from the beginning, and replace the basic models with my new building style,,,,,and replace some of the "well detailed" models with the new style, as well. I'll just bump them off the main shelves as I do one over.

[mostrich]

I really like your approach, Rex. What is the "building style" you want to go with to reach that goal? Clean and all closed up birds or some super detailed eyecatchers from time to time? And how are you going to present them, one big shelf squadron all in a row or some bases or single displays?

It's cool to have big objectives in hobby. Mine's to have every single version built of the Fw 190 on my shelf. A's and D's, Tank's and prototypes.

[RexCag]

I like your idea as well, it will make an interesting set of models.

My new build style is just about "half OOB and half detailed"

I am going to close all the canopies, use good quality paints, aftermarket decals whenever I can,,,,,,,,and hang aftermarket weapons on the pylons. One of my themes is to show off the weapons used, so I can't go strictly OOB.

There will be an occasional "big deal" build of certain aircraft, and some conversions like the A-6B and A-6C,,,,,,but, not 138 super-detailed models like I started to do. (that would not be cheap at all, lol)

Most of the models will be "build, photograph, post, set on shelf" types of models. I'll leave the weathering and panel line deal to others that enjoy that. And yes, they will be in order on the shelves. I won't be building in numerical order, though. I will hit my favorites first. That will make me move the models around some from time to time,,,,,,,but, I am okay with that. This order lets me put off Showtime 100 and that silly Skyraider Bee for as long as I can hold out, lol.

Oh, I forgot, it is also going to be able to show off the various toolings of the models. I was going to get rid of things like the Hasegawa A-4E/F, Revell A-6, etc,,,,,,,but, now I am going to build one of each of those and park them next to the "better kits",,,,,,,,,for contrast.

[RexCag]

there is another part to answer your question.

Just about half of these will be built gear up on a stick (sort of like a gate guard)

My challenge today is to figure out which ones will sit on the shelves next to each other, so I can alternate them, saving on shelf space.

Complications include things such as the Skyraiders will always have to sit on their landing gear, and so will anything with centerline stores.

I obviously don't want to scratch build the A-6C belly pod,,,,,,and then drill a hole in it for the stick, lol.

[Stikpusher]

I like the sound of it... For the mounted in flight mode, a few guys at our IPMS Chapter use bent clear acrylic rods up the tail pipes for their fast movers. Has a real good look I think compared to the old school in flight stands for aircraft...

[RexCag]

here's what I am thinking about using

for the aircraft http://www.amazon.com/Areyourshop-Plate ... s=rca+jack

those would be mounted in the aircraft, and snap into these on the stands
http://www.amazon.com/Areyourshop-Quali ... s=rca+plug

Then a friend suggested using a Lucite block like a bare trophy base piece, to put the RCA "posts" into

And then make up little nameplates like those two color nametags that are etched so that the name shows white on a colored background.

The key to his would be getting everything right at the start,,,,,,so it would look uniform (not just 14 different base and stands, varying all over the place)