I was only just born in 64.

Scorpiomikey

1964? Holy hell my dad was only 14 at the time.

Close.  A bit different on the nose, and the pod is red with the front top section white.  Here is a scan from the instructions.

It's hard to see the difference in the red areas on this.  Too bad they didn't give you color directions back then. LOL..

Rich

Scorpiomikey

Is that the one your doing? Ive seen it mentioned as the YB-58.

Seen it with a couple different paint schemes. This one, and one that has the whole nose red with no black cone and the weapons pod all red.

Dont google b58 red. Came up with a bunch of pages of womens undies lol.

How many did they do with the red paint? Or was it the same aircraft with different testing schemes?

Hey Rich:

What did you use as a backing before you applied the Crystal Clear?

Is that white the backing or the Crystal Clear drying?

-Thanks

Hi Everyone,

During our drive down to see my Mom's brother we had a lot of time to talk.  The subject of my first model came up.  Her memory was much better than mine.

It was while we were stationed at Kadena Air Force Base at Okinawa.  Now we have no idea of the brand of the kit or the scale, but it was a Japanese Zero.  I was 5 years old.  Where we lived there was a small Okinawan shop that sold a little bit of everything just a block from our house.  According to my Mom, I picked out the model myself.

When I opened it up, all the directions were in Japanese, but at 5 years old, I couldn't read anyway.  My Mom was going to help but since she couldn't read Japanese either, she left it up to me.  She said that I managed to get it put together just using the pictures in the directions.  When my Dad came home and looked at it, he was impressed.  He said that it was put together correctly, just had a lot of finger prints from glue left on my fingers!

It was pretty cool to hear about my first build.

Ken

Well Ken;

So how's your mom taking it? Was she able to comfort your uncle at all?

That's a pretty neat story to hear it the way you did.

Chances are it was Aoshima, Hasegawa, Fujimi, or Tamiya all were available in 1/72.

Airfix and Frog had a 1/72 Zero back then, I think, but chances of getting it into the Japanese market, mid to late 60's or even early 70's with 4 Japanese companies vying for sales seems slim, especially having to translate the instructions.

Here's an older Tamiya, artwork shows it bagging a Hellcat....

And an Aosmimi:

There was no shortage of Zero kits by 1960, musta' been about 8 or so, not including balsa.

All the best to your uncle and mom.

-Dom

Hi Dom,

Thank you for looking that up!  The year would have been 1962.  And in USD it probably only cost around $0.25.  Back then you could buy a lot for a dollar off base at Okinawa.

Ken

Rich: Wow, she does look good, crossing my fingers that there's no leakage etc under the masking (I always get at least some).

Dom: Nice box art there. Not sure the Zero shooting down the Hellcat is PC these days...

Personally I'd say skip 'Failsafe' and watch 'Doctor Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' instead...

Well:

Maybe this one is more PC....

This one is just clean as a whistle:

MPC wa reboxed Airfix:

UPC was the old Fujimi tooling.

That's not one of Chennault's guys, he should definitely bail, not sure which 'Hawk it is. If it is scene from Midway, that's definitely not PC....:

Here' one taking out a Wildcat:

And maybe the most un-PC of all:

Downright ouch! At 300 mph, it is as hot as an acetylene torch. (The Brits had a habit of putting gas tanks in front of the firewall, which is why they became the world leaders in plastic surgery.)

There were also Aurora and Lindeberg in 1/48 by 1960, and a bit later Mongram and Hasegawa.

I have not actualy seen that exact paint scheme, the Prototypes were close.  You can get a pretty good look if you google "B58 Hustler)"  then choose videos only and you will see quite a few.  I downloaded a bunch of them when I first got the kit last year.

Scorpiomikey

How many did they do with the red paint? Or was it the same aircraft with different testing schemes?

I normally don’t use a backing for such a small area.  The stuff is stiff like white glue, and behaves like white glue.  It just dries a bit clearer. It’s white before it dries.  The pic was taken before it dried, just after I put it on.  You basically just stick a good size blob of the stuff in the hole, and it sort of attaches and will smooth itself out.  For larger areas, I would probably something like wax paper as a temporary backing since it won’t stick to it, then remove it when it’s completely dry.

Rich

Bockscar

Hey Rich:

What did you use as a backing before you applied the Crystal Clear?

Is that white the backing or the Crystal Clear drying?

-Thanks

Yeh the first kit is always special.   I ought to see if they have my first kit on eBay.  You never know on that place. 

Rich

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

During our drive down to see my Mom's brother we had a lot of time to talk.  The subject of my first model came up.  Her memory was much better than mine.

It was while we were stationed at Kadena Air Force Base at Okinawa.  Now we have no idea of the brand of the kit or the scale, but it was a Japanese Zero.  I was 5 years old.  Where we lived there was a small Okinawan shop that sold a little bit of everything just a block from our house.  According to my Mom, I picked out the model myself.

When I opened it up, all the directions were in Japanese, but at 5 years old, I couldn't read anyway.  My Mom was going to help but since she couldn't read Japanese either, she left it up to me.  She said that I managed to get it put together just using the pictures in the directions.  When my Dad came home and looked at it, he was impressed.  He said that it was put together correctly, just had a lot of finger prints from glue left on my fingers!

It was pretty cool to hear about my first build.

Ken

Love that box art, wonder how many kits art like that sold? Definitively gets my imagination pumping so much more than a dull photo of the model just sitting there.

And I think the world was a cooler place before the PC police took over. Yes, some of 'our' guys did get shot down by Axis pilots from time to time....

Gamera

I just took the masking off.  Not too shabby, but it does need some touch ups if I can do them without messing up the chrome.  I liked Strangelove too.  Kind of different takes on the same plot.  Although I was never a Henry Fonda fan, he did a reasonable job in failsafe.

Rich: Wow, she does look good, crossing my fingers that there's no leakage etc under the masking (I always get at least some).

Dom: Nice box art there. Not sure the Zero shooting down the Hellcat is PC these days...

Personally I'd say skip 'Failsafe' and watch 'Doctor Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' instead...

Oooohhhh yeah,

Henry Fonda,

one good reason not to watch the movie....

Bockscar

Oooohhhh yeah,

Henry Fonda,

one good reason not to watch the movie....

Are you sure you are not getting him confused with his daughter, Jane Fonda?  Jane was the one that went to North Vietnam and was an anti-American.  Henry Fonda actually enlisted during WWII and served on a battle ship for 3 years.  Or is there something that I do not know.

Ken

Henry trained her and Peter.....in acting, that's the ticket, in acting.....lol

Remember, both Failsafe and Dr. Strangelove

blamed "bad mangement."....lol

..........................

That's all can say.

Bockscar

Henry trained her and Peter.....

Remember, both Failsafe and Dr. Strangelove

blamed America.

Henry did in private too.

That's all can say.

Hmmmmmmmmm, won't watch anything with Hanoi Jane in it, don't know much about Henry. Frankly as one commentator I agree with put it-  actors are dancing monkeys.

I don't care about your views on anything monkey! Just dance for me so I can laugh at you! -aka make the @#@$ movie and shut up! 

And yeah I guess in 'Strangelove' American general RIpper does start the war but the whole movie is so over-the-top wacky I don't get too offended by it.  

And I'll get off politics because the FSM staff told us not to talk about it and I don't want to get into an argument with anyone so that's all I've got to say about that. 

Cliff:

Too late pal....I'm steamed.......lol....

Hey, I love the scene in Easy Rider when the two dancing

monkeys get blown into the weeds....

by their poor relatives....lol.....didn't know that huh???? lol

They cut the line from the movie

just before the shotgun goes off:

"Ma alweez lyked yoooz better.....

...POW....screech.......lol

Yes, I am right there with you Cliff.  I won't watch anything with Hanoi Jane in it either.  To this day!  What she did was treason!

Ken

all the grey is filler. pfft, ive got my own version of 50- shades of grey right here.

Great work there Mikey!     

Ken

Hi Dom,

I was looking back at your earlier post and you had asked the question about my Mom and Uncle.  I missed it.  I apologize for not answering.  My Uncle was very happy to see my Mom.  We sat and talked for several hours.  He really enjoyed it.  Thank you for asking.

Ken

Greetings Everyone,

Tonight, now everyone hold on to your hats, I did some modeling!    I measured two pieces of the previously prepared wire and cut them to the correct length.  Then I took some photo-etch and glued them to the center of each wire.  I used the Gator's Grip that Cliff had recommended previously for the glue.  I will let this dry for a couple of days before I start bending to be sure it is good and set.  Here is a picture:

I don't think I ever posted a picture of the hoods after I repainted them black, so here is a picture of one those as well:

Ken 

Mike and Ken: Nice work guys. Good to see someone is getting something done, kinda stalled out here

If you guys dont hurry up ill have 2 finished before anyone else has 1.

Mikey;

It looks like your Apache is already getting

a desert weathering treatment.

Ken:

Those wire look real good so far.

I can't find the thread where I posted

pics like these,

so I may be duplicating the effort here.

This is the destination for the bomb-clips:

My BUFF, playing 'Chrome Dome' in my hobby room:

Pulling a few G's:

Sorry for the bad focus, it looked good in the viewfinder and I switched between macro and subject, but these pics are a bit dodgey.

So there's the bay:

That's a black styrene box cut down, halves glued longitudinally, and end glued on.

Center seam, didn't see one in Dayton...

Fuzzed out...dang

Hmmmmm.......I hope that is the right size....notice that front top corner....

The height of the bay is right up to the underside of the main wing spar

I hope it is high enough, otherwise this bird is going on SAC nuclear patrol.

Naw... I should have the B58 done in the next day or two.  I just shot the Black and White details.  The engine Nacelles aren't as neat as I would like, but not bad considering my hands shake..

Rich

Scorpiomikey

If you guys dont hurry up ill have 2 finished before anyone else has 1.

Id say ill race ya, but itle be the weekend before i can get any paint for the apache.

Scorpiomikey

If you guys dont hurry up ill have 2 finished before anyone else has 1.

I will guarantee you will be done with 2 before I am done with one at the pace you are moving.  But, you do have to remember it is summer here right now so I am spending a lot of my time getting things done outside.  For instance, today I unloaded my truck and stored everything that I picked up from my property yesterday.  It was quite a load too.  And with the temperatures near 100 degrees fahrenheit it was like a furnace!

Ken