Strategic Air Command (SAC) Group Build II

DesertRat wrote:

Always a good excuse to Polish up on the NMF skills! I for one will be doing it for the first time! I may very well be tapping you guys on advice when it comes painting time

 I'd better hit up my supplier before you guys buy it all! 

dmk wrote:

DesertRat wrote: Always a good excuse to Polish up on the NMF skills! I for one will be doing it for the first time! I may very well be tapping you guys on advice when it comes painting time I just thought of something. With all these big SAC birds, this GB is probably going to consume most of the current supply of Alclad and Metalizers.  I'd better hit up my supplier before you guys buy it all!

Yeah, and I'm only going to account for maybe half of that

BUFFbuff wrote:

HawkeyeHobbies wrote: I'm in...I've got several kits on the shelf ready to start that are part of my SAC collection...for sure I'll be doing an EC-135 that my dad served aboard, callsign: "Grayson" which was based out of Westover AFB, MA. I've got several  (some mulitiples of) -135, B-52, B-47, B-36, B-58 as well as many others on the list of aircraft that qualify.   8th AF ABNCP no doubt, huh? When was he there? Was he part of the CP crew or the flight crew? Just curious.

He was part of the CP crew...it would have been '69-71 In those years he worked from three locations...base command post...the "Notch" alternate command post or aboard the Grayson.

WarHammer25 wrote:

Well, with two 1/72 B-36's, one 1/72 B-52, and one 1/48 B-58, the supply of Alclad and Metalizers should drop significantly.

And Alclad is the official sponsor of the SAC GB II!

DesertRat wrote:

And Alclad is the official sponsor of the SAC GB II!

dmk wrote:

DesertRat wrote: And Alclad is the official sponsor of the SAC GB II! Cool!  Do we get a member discount?

If only...

WarHammer25 wrote:

Well, with two 1/72 B-36's, one 1/72 B-52, and one 1/48 B-58, the supply of Alclad and Metalizers should drop significantly.

I think the US supply of Future will take a big hit too!

MattSix wrote:

WarHammer25 wrote: Well, with two 1/72 B-36's, one 1/72 B-52, and one 1/48 B-58, the supply of Alclad and Metalizers should drop significantly. I think the US supply of Future will take a big hit too!

Oh, Negative!!!!!!!!!!

I've got enough future stockpiled to clear coat a house! (Not that I ever would)

Of course, I'm only speaking for myself...

DesertRat wrote:

WarHammer25 wrote: Well, with two 1/72 B-36's, one 1/72 B-52, and one 1/48 B-58, the supply of Alclad and Metalizers should drop significantly. And Alclad is the official sponsor of the SAC GB II!

Hey, and do you guys have a project list up?

I plan on using the Talon Acrylics Aluminum and Dark Aluminum on my F-86d.

The Talon line of paints produce some awesome results!  

bondoman wrote:

DesertRat wrote:  WarHammer25 wrote: Well, with two 1/72 B-36's, one 1/72 B-52, and one 1/48 B-58, the supply of Alclad and Metalizers should drop significantly. And Alclad is the official sponsor of the SAC GB II! Whoops, Spike! Mr. Hawkeye there is the purveyor of a fine competing product, which his modesty keeps him from advertising, but I would say honestly this would seem like a fine time to ask Gerald about acrylic nmf. Alas, my subject this time around is black. Hey, and do you guys have a project list up?

Really? I had no idea there was anything else in the way of options! I'll send an inquiry here in a bit...

I've incorperated the project list into the first post. That seems to be the way to do it here

Started my first of a couple (I hope) builds for this GB. AMT 1:72 EC-135C.

One of the challenges are the inside of the engines, removing the injector marks...they're visible both on the intake and exhaust ends of the engine. I use two tools in my Dremel, a small sanding drum and a round ended deburring bit to remove them with minimal effort.

Another issue to deal with is to make the mid wing seam (underside) disappear...even with it being "under" the # 2 & 3 engine pylons doesn't make hiding it any easier...but I'm up to the task.

That is a nice project. I wish I could find one- the KC and C- series get underrepresented.

It looks like the Heller wing combo- center under, one piece uppers each side, under on the ends. I found the best method after knocking out a couple three Constellations was to put the under center in the fuse, then glue on the uppers against the fuse, then tailor the under ends to fit. Usually involved trimming off all the locator pins.

I had a KC-135A in the spares stash...so I decided to pull it out and breath new life into it. I'll have to pick through the spares to see if I can find the missing parts...doors and a few other odds and ends.

It has a wild camo pattern on it, but my plans are to scrub her down and repaint it in a NMF. I start by wet sanding...I use Windex as a solution to suspend the sanding dust.

I'm going to back date this some to an early A before the reenforcement ribbing was added...primarily since I have to sand it down to repaint and the ribbing is going to see some wear and tear in the process.

I'll also rework the refueling boom/pod some to make it a pure C-135A. I'm using my micro razor saw to fillet the aft end of the boom fairing.

That was a wild color scheme.

How are the ribs going to be recreated? semi circular scraping? What primer and color do you use for the nmf, which I would assume is Talon? I'd like to see the correct boom arrangement.

Reminds me of the title sequence for "Dr. Strangelove", which is a good source for a close in downward view on a B-52 front end.

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

I had a KC-135A in the spares stash...so I decided to pull it out and breath new life into it. I'll have to pick through the spares to see if I can find the missing parts...doors and a few other odds and ends.

So, if it's going to be an early A model, are you going to shorten the vertical fin and the horizantal stabs too?  I've done this to several.  It's a lot of work to make it look right, but I find that the wing antennae from the EC-135C, which closely, if not exactly replicate the fin cap on the early A's make a good basis for modifying the bird.  Of course, you have to trim the tall tail, and splce the fin cap after cutting the cap to wing fillet from it.

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

Someone wants me to covert it into the prototype version...giving that some thought.

Oooooo! That's a neat idea - would that be like the 367-80 prototype with short fin, snub nose and what I like to call the 'Hot Dog' paint scheme (you know the yellow and red Boeing scheme), or as 55-3118 with "City of Renton" and photo-shoot markings.  Either way, pretty cool.

Now that's quite a refurbishing, Hawkeye!

I don't understand why, but part of me is sad to see the wild camo scheme go though

Pavlvs wrote:

Mr. Rat (or may I call you Desert) My Aardvark kit is the Academy F-111E, Is there a major difference between that and the FB-111? Does the 'E still count for this GB?

 I'm not too sure of all the external differences. I do know that the FB has longer wings and a longer fuselage. It is quite a different bird actually.

 The FB-111A is the only F-111 varient to serve with SAC and they didn't even have too many of those.  The other USAF F-111s served with Tactical Air Command (TAC). Australia also had some F-111C and F-111G aircraft. They may still have them.

 Here's some info on the FB-111:

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f111_9.html

And the whole F-111 series:

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f111.html

Pavlvs wrote:

Mr. Rat (or may I call you Desert) My Aardvark kit is the Academy F-111E, Is there a major difference between that and the FB-111? Does the 'E still count for this GB?

Actually, Roger will do just fine

   He is correct. That particular variant of the F-111 was not used in SAC. It looks like it was used in TAC (and late AMC). But the FB varient was the one used in SAC. After a quick search, it looks like Academy does make that varient in kit form (though I don't know the scale offhand)

Pavlvs wrote:

To remove all confusion, I acquired a 1/48 B-58 Hustler and a cockpit detail set. It is back to plan A with the Hustler. Sorry about all of the bouncing around. I am going to build the F-111 at the same time.

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

I mentioned the SAC GB in my blog post this morning...including a third possible build I might get done for it. ;-) Linky at bottom under signature.

That's awesome! Free publicity is a wonderful thing!