'The Eye in the Sky' Recon Aircraft GB 2005-2006

I've managed to get most of the cockpit built up on the Vigi. I'm impressed with the detail on the side consoles and instrument panels. Lots of raised details for easy painting, plus acetate inserts for the instruments, which beats decals panel any day of the week. The only gripe is the lack of seat belts on the bang seats, but some tape or foil will solve that bugaboo. I'll try to post pics before I seal the cockpit into the fuselage.

Cheers,

Alby: sounds good, mate. Hope to see some pics on here soon!
oscarduece: lol that's crazy! But worth a try, as long as you have 3 kits to get rid of!
Cheers,
John

Hey guys! I finally got up the courage to start chopping the kit to pieces.


This is after about 1/2 an hour of cutting. Both fuselage halves have now been chopped. Next to go: some parts of the tail.
Cheers,
John

Picture bump!



Cheers,
John

Some progress on my O2-A

Looking swell, oscardeuce.
Keep it up!
Cheers,
John
P.S. Progress pics of my Wedgetail coming soon!

Here's my O-2A as it appeared last night. Closed up the fuselage this morning.



I decided that I'm going to build the plane wheels up and in flight, so I stole the pilot out of Revell's 1/48 Huey Hog. He's a bit big for the kit: I replaced the floor with sheet styrene to give me a bit of flexibility. Even so, his head scrapes against the roof.

The stuff on the rack was carved from an eraser; in hindsight this was a bad idea because the paint was still tacky this morning.

John, O-2 and CF, great work on your models. Keep the pictures coming.

Darwin, O.F.

CK,
Looking good.
That radio rack looks good!
Some progress on painting and decals

cjk:
looking good so far !
oscardeuce:
that has really come together nicely w/ paint & decals...
what color grey is that on ur model
r u both building the testors kit ?

my skymaster kit is the civilian model, it has an alternate
fuselage piece w/ the glazing 4 the O-2a but no military decals.
can anyone suggest appropriately sized decals so i can do this
as a USAF bird ? i want 2 do the BAT-21 a/c if possible...
thanx in advance,

frosty

I used model master aircraft gray. I'll measure the stars for you. When you say BAT 21 A/C do you mean the one from the movie. The actual resuce was OV-10. I'll check and see if there are any documented O2 tail numbers from the rescue.

Great work everyone! Good to see this thread alive once more!
Not much to report on my build since I spent the past week teaching people how to navigate their way around the bush without getting lost.
I'm preparing to scribe the panel lines on the fuselage as well as begin construction of the radar array. Pics to follow soon hopefully.
Cheers,
John

Off we go into the wild blue yonder!

As inspector Clueso would say- Bimp(with a french accent)

Man I just got my kit of the Ar196 from revell and man its a weird one! It's molded in a highlighter blue colour plastic which put me off first of all but after some close inspection of the kit it looks pretty good, with only some finely raised panel lines and a sparce cockpit it looks to me like it will be a straigth forward build, with maybe some extra detail in the cockpit?

Howdy all. I have'nt touched base for awhile cause I've been waiting for my stinking clear parts to get here. Finally got them yesterday.( I tried the Squadron ones and DID NOT CARE FOR THEM) Anyway,I'm gettin' busy with the kit and will post some picts soon. Sorry to be so tardy!!(Hmmm,I don't feel tardy)

Hey all just so you know I want be starting my build for a couple of weeks so I can also use this build in another group build forum!

Sorry I haven't been the most frequent of contributors. I don't want to feed you guys excuses, but I really have been busy. My 0-2 is done, but I don't own a digital camera. As soon as I get one, I'll post plenty of pictures.

Why do we build these models?
Why do some spend thousands or millions of dollars to keep the aircraft flying?
Here are the reasons, our heroes!
http://www.fac-assoc.org/memorial/memorial02a.html

QUOTE: Originally posted by oscardeuce I used model master aircraft gray. I'll measure the stars for you. When you say BAT 21 A/C do you mean the one from the movie. The actual resuce was OV-10. I'll check and see if there are any documented O2 tail numbers from the rescue.

oscardeuce:
thanx 4 the info, i picked up some aircraft grey at the LHS.
any info on the size of the stars & USAF letters (i'm building in 1/72) ?
i do mean the a/c from the movie, & i'd b grateful 4 any tail number info
also !
sorry 4 the delay in reply...

frosty

Well, I finally finished my Marine RF-4B from VMFP-3. It is the 1/72 Testor's RF-4C kit that is intended to be an Air Force version. Since the last 12 RF-4B's for the Marines were built using F-4J airframes, the thick wing roots, fat tires and long exhaust nozzles are correct.
VMFP-3 was formed in 1975 with aircraft from Marine Composite Squadrons VMCJ-1, 2, and 3. Their parent unit was stationed at El Toro MCAS, California, with detachments in MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, and MCAS Kaneoha, Hawaii. The squadron was know as, "The Eyes Of The Fleet" and deactivated on 30 September 1990. More photos are at: www.bellevillercflyers.com/gallery/album125 .

Darwin, O.F.

Nice!

Well, it's done for now:





Some additional comments: The kit decals are for plane 21295, which fellow builders of the O-2A should know was the first BuNo listed on the requisition contract. The kit's instructions show pictures of this plane during (or just before, since the prop warning bars on the booms are missing) it's delivery flight, so I decided to use that paint scheme. I didn't like the gun and rockets that were shown on that flight though, so I substituted the rocket pods from the Revell's Huey Hog (the kit I stole the pilot from).

Due to the kit's thick windows, some of my installation gaffes, and the location of the wings, a lot of the interior detail I put into it ended up being hidden (see my prior posts).

I've left the props off to help show that it's in flight; havent' decided if I'm going to try to add something to indicate the presence of the spinners. I've also left the two whip antennas off, though that's more from a practical standpoint... I'm going to have to move at least twice in the next 6-12 months, and don't want them to bend or break off (hoping the rocket launchers will also avoid that fate).

yardbird78 & cffrederickson:
great work !
must get 2 work on my little bird 4 this build !

frosty

Hate to do this but due to my assignment at work I most drop out of a number of my GBs including this one. I/m on a project that seems like "Hotel California" (can check-in anytime I'd like, but I can never leave it seems). Add weekly travel between Chicago and Seattle and I just don't get the time to do a lot of other things like modelling. Sorry all.

Me too, unless I get another kit. Cat + Tenax + model = S^&t!!!! I haven't decided if I want to to spend the cabbage on another. Sorry also.

Bump.

well, it's been awhile...
since nobody else has anything new 2 report, here's my project so far:

the ARII 1/72 Skymaster kit comes w/ extra starboard fuselage pc.
w/ O2-a cutouts, the O2-a one is not quite as good as the stock piece
which u see below the a/c...
this is a dryfit mockup, the kit has some flash & fit problems
but i hope it will look ok in the end...
just so u know i'm still w/ this !

frosty

Almost done!

bump