Viet Nam War Aircraft Group Build

Done.  Sorry about the OV-1.

Moving along quick. Cockpit done fuselage glued up. This thing is big. 13" in length

tempestjohnny

Moving along quick. Cockpit done fuselage glued up. This thing is big. 13" in length

Yea, got that one in my stash as well johnny. Big sucker even in 1/72. 

Got a P-2V neptune as well.  Waiting to find a Ap-2h conversion for it!

:-P

cbaltrin

 

 

tempestjohnny

Moving along quick. Cockpit done fuselage glued up. This thing is big. 13" in length

 

 

 

 

Yea, got that one in my stash as well johnny. Big sucker even in 1/72. 

Got a P-2V neptune as well.  Waiting to find a Ap-2h conversion for it!

:-P

 

This is my F-4J as I found it.  I probably won't do much too it until I'm further along on the Antonov.  

Is the group aiming for one example of each type?  I'm building an A-7A for the weekend build but someone is building one already.  Is that ok to have another?  I'm also partially into an F-111A. 

Thanks for the PM John. Put me down foe a Trumpy 1/72 F-105G WW.

SteveCB

Is the group aiming for one example of each type?  I'm building an A-7A for the weekend build but someone is building one already.  Is that ok to have another?  I'm also partially into an F-111A.

That sounds like a wonderful goal!  I’d better decide quick or else there won’t be anything left!  And I did not buy the YO-3, which would have fit my taste perfectly.

Uh... OK, against my better judgement I’d like to enter my SOD Trumpeter 1/48 RA-5C Vigilante if that’s alright.

Moving right along on the EB-66, John.  That's somewhere in my to do list, I have an Airwaves detail set for it.

PJ, I got you covered.

SteveCB, another A-7A is fine, if you can do different markings .  Maybe we will have a whole squadron.  The F-111 is fine also so long as it is the F-111A that saw service in Viet Nam.  Let me know the maker of your kits, please.

Speaking of the A-7A, I worked on the non existant pit. I used a seat from a Eurofighter, I think, instead for the F-4. I then added so extra plastic for the side panels so you can't see past the sides, to the bottom of the model, and added some scraps of PE. I also added some belts make from aluminum foil. I think it gives some more intrest. Now on to the detail painting of the pit.

The old pit

Gregbbear

 

...  Blackbird models out of England is supposed to have a resin AP-2 conversion kit coming out, if that helps at all. 

Cheers, 

Greg

 

Great to hear. I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Glued things that come in halves together. Boy the fins on the drop tanks are paper thin. Gona have to be real carefule! Unfortunately, wont be able to model for about a week.. See you soon.

The A-7 is Hasegawa, and the F-111 is Revell.

John,

OK here is my official GB entry.  Since no one else has yet to sign on with Trumpeter's huge box of 1/48 scale disappointment, I will.  Might as well finish it so I can toss the box!

While it looks 90% done, it's all Tamiya tape.  I'll take it apart and post a "before" shot.  I'd also better check to see if I have Vietnam-era markings.

Got you listed, Real G.  The Vigilante is a favorite of mine.  I have the Trumpeter kit, the Cutting Edge A3J conversion, and the Collect Aire kit.  I must be a Vigilante junky!

jeaton01

Got you listed, Real G.  The Vigilante is a favorite of mine.  I have the Trumpeter kit, the Cutting Edge A3J conversion, and the Collect Aire kit.  I must be a Vigilante junky!

Thanks John!  Ambitious goal you have to make an A3J!  It looks positively rakish compared to the RA-5C.  If you look closely at the upper fuselage and wings of the Trumpy kit, you will see evidence of slide molds intended to allow the A3J to be made - too bad they never followed through.

And STILL no resin tires!

*Update*  Here is a photo of the Vigi as of last night:

Nice job on the pit Steve!

Gregbear,

If you want to do a AC-130 but don't have the space, I can recommend Academy's 1/144 C-130 kit range. They offer an AC-130A and a AC-130H/U. Kind of pricey at around 30.00 USD, but they might be a solution.

Looks simple enough. I'm not sure what the Farmer is doing with that F-84 but it could eat it's lunch.

I made a little progress today.  Once the cockpit and engine are dry, I am going to spray clear then add some washes to help weather and bring out the details.  I also painted the inside of the fuselage and installed the windows.  The photo etch set has so many tiny details that I probably won't add, but they did have some nice little screening inside the intake and a cooler that I used.  So far, I'm really liking this kit.  

As an aside, anyone interested in building an Italeri/Bilek/Revell An-2, don't waste your time or money on the Pavla sets.  So far, most parts are unusable.  Ultimately, I think only the wheels and engine are getting used.  The engine actually fits better than the kit part, but the vacuform windscreen is so far off, I think it came from another kit.  The seats are undersized and the cockpit fit would require more work too.  I imagine that Pavla used to have a resin kit of the Antonov, and just decided to sell parts of it as detail sets.  The Bilek photo etch set is good, as is the Eduard.  The Eduard is only $3.21 from hannant's.  I thought I would just share my observations with anyone else interested in building the big old biplane, which I think is still a little bit smaller than a Skyraider.  

Greg

Nice start guys,

Glued the fuse halfs together. Here is a couple pics of the pit. The IP is going to get the decal.

Moving on.

Steve, nice work on the cockpit.  You'll give the SLUF a good name yet.

Tony, the list is updated.  That's a serious upgrade!

Hey, if anyone is planning on doing a 1/48 F-111A, Caracal just released a dedicated decal sheet for it, including options for Combat Lancer.

http://caracalmodels.com/cd48139.html

One comment I have is that the Combat Lancer birds’ undersides might have been painted medium green, not OD.  Hopefully others who know will chime in, since it is unusual and unique to the mission.

Kicking off on the F-14 now that the decals have arrived. Aside from the AM decals this will be built from the box.

Proof of unstartedness pic.

Pit nearing completion, just a small bit or two left to add.

Gluing up the wings.

Good to see you starting the build, Mach1.  I may start on my C-123 today.  Raining here.  GMorrison should be seeing the same weather.

Thanks jeaton01. Now that things are slowing down a little at work, I'll be able to get in quite a bit more bench time to do some serious building.

I've made a start on the Roden C-123.  It's a very detailed kit, however, I don't think their mold making abilities are quite up to handling the kind of fine details designed into the parts  That makes building more difficult.  Also, the plastic doesn't seem to like Tamiya thin cement, or CA for that matter.  I am using the Testors glue in the triangular bottle right now and it seems to be working, and will try the Touch and Flow Tenax like stuff also.  The engines have a lot of detail, most of which will be hidden.  I found on assembling the first one that the alignment of the cylinder banks is off, with the rear bank lined up directly behind the front bank, where the rear bank in the real world is offset so the rear cylinders are lined up with the air gap between the front cylinders.  It really doesn't matter in this case but being an old engine guy I just couldn't stand it.  I didn't fix the first one because I had already glued the front housing on and didn't want to mess it up trying to move it.  The pictures show how I modified the second engine. 

I didn't like their method of attaching the props, I'll do my usual brass tube and music wire method to attach them. 

The nose gear will ultimately rest on a spider web of struts so a lot of time was spent figuring how that was to be done. 

The main gear has an odd way of attaching the wheels, they have you put the inner wheel half on the strut, then there is a plastic keeper washer that is glued on to hold the inner wheel half.  Then you are to put the outer wheel half on.  Clumsy to sand and paint!  I assembled all of the main gear parts because I wasn't confident of how the parts fit without doing it all at once.  A little misalignment on that narrow gear and the wings will surely not be level.  The instructions are not clear enough for me on these assemblies. 

Some of the cockpit parts were assembled and two ejector pin marks on the back wall of the cockpit were fixed using melted sprue. 

I made masks for the wheels and windows this afternoon using a Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutter.  There will be paint soon!