Looking for Blue Angels reference pictures and/or books

Fred,

Hasegawa kitted a 1/72 F-11 F with Blue Angels markings,not sure where to find one though.

They also had a special boxing a long time ago called "Blue Angels History" in 1/72

Hi Fred,

I'm pretty sure Hasegawa did a F-11F-1 in Blue Angels markings. Not sure about the F9F-8 - certain that they did a kit, but not sure if they did it in BA colours.

PS: You're missing the F-7U-1 from your list. I don't know of one in 1/72,  Fujimi did a range of F-7U-3 variants but they are quite different to the F-7U-1.

Found a Tiger on Ebay...

Hasegawa 1/72 F-11 F

Also found some 1/72 Panther markings there...

Panther 1/72 Blue Angel decals

Hope that helps!

What about the C-130 "Fat Albert"?

That was an official part of the display.

Andrew

Thanks for all the help, fellas

Frank, what more can you tell me about that Hasegawa boxing?  Is that yours in the pic?

Phil, that F-7u is interesting, but it only flew as a side act, never part of the regular demonstration team, so I'm just going to leave it out.  If they ever make the -1 variant in 1/72 -with B.A. markings, I might consider it.

Fat Albert would be nice, but he won't fit in any place that I have room for, LOL

Just for fun, here's a shot of the Angels and Albert that I took at the last air show I attended

-Fred

Hey Fred,

I built the "regular" kit way back when.

Hasegawa's F-11F-1 is a neat little kit. No real vices to speak of, nice and clean fitting. If I recall correctly, it's an early 80's vintage and I believe is one of the last Hasegawa kits with raised panel lines (IIRC, the F-9F family of kits has recessed panel lines?)

I have a Matchbox F9F I got off ebay and one set of the decals has BA markings. Good luck on ur quest and hope to see some of those builds Fred!!!

Hasegawa has released both F11F in 1/72, the long nose with the line squadron birds also has BA markings in it,,,,,the short nose was done by using their regular mold and adding a resin short nose to the box, you just cut off the plastic and attach the replacement nose,,,,the short nose kit was released twice, once with BA and once with VA-156 decals (at least, I don't think both releases had both markings, not sure)

the F9F-8 kits came with BA decals as one of the three options

for -2 Panthers, none of mine have BA decals in the box,,,,,there may be different releases, though

the supply of Cougar kits just recently dried up,,,,,,within a few weeks of today,,,,,,,but, I'm sure they'll be included in the "restock" when Hasegawa finishes switching distributors

the F7U-1 is available in resin by Anigrand,,,,,not cheap, but great kit

so, if you want, pm me and I can send you Cougar, -5 Panther, long nose Tiger, and some A-4 and TA-4 decals and instructions,,,,,,,,,that would give you the freedom to buy any plastic you can find, instead of specific boxings,,,,,,it would also give these poor yellow decals a home,,,,,,I only build line jets

pm here, or email me at tarnship@nctc.com, I'd be glad to help out

Rex

Thanks, Ritchie.  It's an idea I've had in my head for a while, but wasn't really sure if it would be feasible.  I was toying with the idea of doing a Group Build, either here or another forum that only has a small modeling section.

Rex, that's such a cool offer - thank you .  Tell you what, give me a week to see if I win some auctions on ebay, that I bid on earlier.  If I don't win the kits with the included decals, I'll take you up on your offer. 

-Fred

okay, just let me know

people have helped me out of jams enough over the years with parts or hard to find kits, etc

one time I dropped a canopy,,,,rolled over it with the chair (I swear I looked there first),,,,,crushed it,,,,,for an OOP Skynight,,,,,,,,3 days later I got one free by priority mail from a guy on HS

besides, ever look at you decal stash?,,,,,,if you buy lots of kits to build,,,,,,it didn't take long for me to end up with tons of duplicates or decals for planes "not part of my plans",,,,,might as well mail some of them out, you know?

good luck with your ebay

Rex

Fred- Sorry mate, can't you tell you much more about that Hasegawa set.  I just typed in "Hasegawa 1/72 Blue Angels" and that photo came up.  Sorry!

Ahhh...oh well, it would have been a cool set to see. 

I just won a hasegawa  1/72 Hornet with B.A. markings, NIB for $10 shipped, on ebay.  And I'm watching a few of the old hasegawa and fujimi kits for the A-4, F-4, F11F B.A. kits and an F9F-8 kit (no B.A. markings).

-Fred

Well, I scored the F-4, A-4 and F11F.  I have an eye on an F9F-8 - hopefully I can win that one as it seems to be the rarest.  I know of two others if this one doesn't pan out, but those will be harder, and more expensive to acquire.

-Fred

The Hasagawa Blue Angels set is kit 1209. It has the Panther in the set. Golden Wings made a SNJ-5 kit many years ago called the Blue Angels Beetle Bomb. I'm guessing it was a support airplane. The Hasagawa kit 1151 is a Grumman F-11F. USAirfix kit 5101 is a C-130. Fujimi kit G-10 is a Blue Angels F4J. The team  flew  two versions of a C-121J Constellation as support airplanes. One was solid blue with a yellow stripe the other  has a fuselage which had a white top and blue bottom separated by the yellow stripe. They also flew two versions of the C-130. One version was all white and the other is the blue and white like the team still uses. Golden Wings made decals for the transports. Over the years I collected kits to make all of the Blue Angels airplanes. I have made all of the Thunderbirds airplanes but only Blue Angels so far. It's the F7U Cutlass. I used Aurora kit 496-70. Hope tis helps.

Hasegawa also released the 1/72 Monogram F8F-1 (HM-105) in the Blue Angles and Yellow Bomb markings. 

Best wishes,

Grant

thanks for those leads, guys .

On another note, is Tamiya's X-3 a good match for Blue Angels' blue (FS35050)?  It's an equivalent listed on the IPMSstockholm conversion chart, but I know that sometimes, they just list the close equivalents.  Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Fred

Why use Tamiya? My Model Master enamel paint chart shows that they make a Blue Angel blue FS 15050 Paint # 1772.

Hey Gordon,

I stumbled across the MM Ble Angel Blue after I posted about the tamiya.  I orderd 3 bottles from towerhobbies.com, just in case I decide to do a 1/144 Fat Albert further down the line.

-Fred

I was looking through some of my old books and found one which would help you with your Blue Angels project. The book is  "A Pictorial History of the Blue Angels'" by Jim McGuire. It is a Squadron/Signal publication from 1981. It has photos of every airplane the team ever used and the serial numbers of each aircraft.  Sorry I didn't discover this earlier when you first posted your inquiry.

Better late than never, Gordon.  I only just started on the F6F-5, so it's not like a book like that wouldn't be useful.   I'll have to see if it's still available.  Do you know the S/N on it?  If I can't find it through normal channels, I might be able to get B&N to hunt one down.

Thanks,

Fred

This is the ISBN number on the inside cover. 0-89747-117-2 On the back number the number is 0-89747-114-8. I don't know why the numbers are different.

Hey Gig,

Good luck on your project. Just a quick couple things to add.  Keep an eye out for the Minicraft boxing of the Hasegawa F9F-8, it's got Angels markings and might be easier to find.  Also, as you're working on your F6F, keep in mind they were painted standard Navy gloss sea blue. The BA Blue didn't arrive until the Bearcat.  Somewhere I have a scan of the chapter of the OOP Monogram color series on Navy a/c that covers the Blues.

Gary Schurr

Thanks, Gary .  I found a minicraft -8 a few weeks ago on this obscure website, paid for it and should hopefully have it in the next few days.  The guy doesn't accept paypal or creditcards.   You have to print out the order form and mail a check.  Then he waits 2 weeks to mail it out.  It's like a month long process.  But, it was only one of two -8s with BA markings I've ever found - and one didn't surface until after I had paid for the first one.

As for the Hellcat - already ahead of you .  Done in dark sea blue gloss, and testors gold (yellow didn't appear until the bearcat, either)

The under-wing markings were done using a custom mask and then airbrushed.  The fuselage markings are dry transfers from woodland scenics.

-Fred

Hey Guys,

Like the new title suggests, I am in the market for reference material, whether it be websites or books that show decent, color, pictures of the Angels from HellCat to Hornet.  I am particularly interested in pictures of the panthers (trying to figure out the difference in schemes between the -2 and -5) and the cougars.

If you have any reference books that you are willing to sell for a fair price (i.e. cheap, LOL) send me a PM.  If you can recommend any books or sites, post them up.  I have been to the Blue Angels gallery website and the older stuff isn't really helpful as they don't discern between the -2 and -5 panthers.

Thanks,

Fred

Reflections of Blue: A Pictoral History of the US Navy Blue Angels by C. A. Knotts is a large-format paperback book that covers the Blues up through the A-4 era.  I've had my copy for over twenty years but think used copies can still be found on Amazon.com.

The DVD Blue Angels: A Year in the Life, which documents the Blue's  2004 season, has a segment on the history of the team and shows clips of all the planes that the team has flown.  The clips of the F-4J's are actually taken straight from the classic Threshold: The Blue Angels Experience, which also recently was re-issued on DVD (good thing because I had just about worn out my VCR tape!).  One of the bonus features on the Blue Angels: A Year in the Life DVD is an interview with the founder of the team and first Boss, "Butch" Voris.

Just a comment on the Hasegawa "History" set:  The F-4J included is the original-issue Hasegawa Phantom from the early 70's and has a lot of problems.  It's best replaced with either a late-release Hasegawa, Fujimi or Monogram/Revell F-4J.

Just to share my idea for my next Blues project: 

Blue Angels: A Year in the Life has a segment where they talk about how the Blue's F/A-18's are all refurbished planes that have been retired from the fleet.  They do a walk-around on a recent arrival, which has to be one of the grubbiest, worst-looking Hornets I've ever seen with faded gray paint and all of the former squadron markings crudely painted out.  The engines are pulled out and looks like a gutted fish from the rear.  I'm thinking it would make an interesting diorama to model it and park it next to a pristine example in Blues colors.  

Good luck with your project.

Mark