Firebirds! Forest Fire Fighting Aircraft GB.

Quit a bit of footage shown in Northern CA this morning of drops.  Busy season and it is only June. Hope the wet spring in the Rockies will keep the fire danger down in the mountains.

I am about done with my DC6 build and hope to have some pictures posted soon.

Scott

Last night there were shots of a P3 dropping retardant. I thought they were grounded. Is that old footage?

The last week has been outlandish the light is orange all day. I've got breathing problems too.

The DC-10 was pic'd in the paper too.

Looking forward to seeing your DC-6 scott! Bondo take care of yourself as best you can! Been looking at some footage on youtube of the firedrops, am starting to get a bit concerned not hearing from others. Hope all avoids you guys. Modeling wise, I hope to break sprue on my DC-6 next month. I am also going to join the majority me thinks, and start building multiple projects at once. I can see the limitations I am subjecting myself to and I am quickly not liking it lol. Went to the modelexpo in Melbourne, OZ today and scored a Heller 1/72 CL-215 along with 4 other kits and 4 sets of decals for $50! Wishing good building to you all!

Cheers, Richie

Well no new progress, just not getting the time with the way fire season is starting up. All of our engines are being staffed 5 days a week due to staffing shortages which means we are really working 6-7 days a week which isn't leaving much time for building.

Bondo, the ex subchasers are the only older tankers still flying. The P2V Neptune and P3 Orion are flying for the feds, the S2 Tracker for the state. 

Of course the DC10 is out there too but that is a completely different creature. In SoCal you will also run across the CL415 "super scoopers" on occasion. 

The military C130 "MAFFS" have also been activated. (MAFFS Modular Airborne Firefighting System).

Aaron!!!! Glad to see your still ok!!!!!!!!!!! Was getting worried! Obviously work calls so thats ok. Hope you guys can get a handle on it soon. How close is it getting to the Redwoods Nat'l Park!?  From your post I gather the DC-4s are now gone as well? Stay safe! Bench time is going to be a well deserved luxury!

Cheers, Richie

Chopper, you doing ok???

Aaron and all, I got some photos of the MAFFS operations at McClellan Tuesday.  I'm working on getting them on to my website, but here are some of them.

John, thanks for sharing the pics!! Is McClellan still an AFB?

Cheers, Richie

No, it's owned by the county now, and is an airport industrial park.  The museum and Coast Guard are the main remnants from the military days, and a Northrop Grumman facility.  The Cal Fire base is there too.

I put the rest of the photos up on my web page, here is the link:

http://yolo.net/%7Ejeaton/Propplanes/c130/c130.htm 

Thanks, great shots of the C130's.

Do you know what is happening with the old P2 crash trucks parked near the USCG base? I heard they belonged to the museum but their future was in limbo. It would be nice to see them restored even as a static display.

jeaton01 wrote:

No, it's owned by the county now, and is an airport industrial park.  The museum and Coast Guard are the main remnants from the military days, and a Northrop Grumman facility.  The Cal Fire base is there too. I put the rest of the photos up on my web page, here is the link: http://yolo.net/%7Ejeaton/Propplanes/c130/c130.htm

Really recently we were on south Watt for a Croatian party, but that's a story for another day.

Harv, John I see a day. Airman Jim can get us in to the C-124 at Castle. My Birthday is 8/26. Lets plan a round robin a/c deal with a bbq or same.

Bill

I'm serious about this deal. Airman Jim was a chief on c-124s, and he has an in at Castle. John Eaton is a docent at McClelland. Travis is on the way. Look to have an organized airbase tour this summer. I'd guess two nights over, like in Sacto and in Modesto.

I'll set up a post this weekend, and see where we can go.

One of the crash trucks is being worked on by a fellow who used to crew them, I don't know about the other.  I do know the museum has two of them.

C-124 tour?  Sounds interesting, 

Airman Jim is a good friend. He had three chevrons under by the time he retired, which I believe means 15 years. He was a crew chief in C-124s in the '60s in between C-97s, later C-130s and then ecm: B-52s.

He did a round the world in 1968.

Bondo, you live in Sacto? I was actually born in Sacto. In Kaiser Hospital. My brother was in AFRES and did his weekends at McClellan when we lived in California. I remember Watt Ave. very well. I used to go with my dad to take my brother just to ride in our 1970 Monte Carlo which dad used to flex its muscles at every light. We used to live in West Sac on 79th St. Sadly, dad sold that car.

Cheers, Richie

bondoman wrote:

Actually abt 80 miles southwest. When I thro a stick for the dogs it goes in the water. Richie I had you as an Ozzie? Wonder why?

I am an American living in OZ. Married an Ozzie, thats the main reason I came over.

       I would consider myself to have broken sprue last night on the DC-6. I sat for over an hour marking the fuse where I am going to have to shorten it, trying to make sure I got it in just the right spot so as not to destroy to much of the detail. Will have to fill and rescribe the starboard fwd entrance door. its the wrong shape for the one I'm doing.

Cheers, Richie

I have some progress on Tanker 68 finally. Surgery went fine on the fuse with no probs. just took it slow and cut a lil at a time around and around till it cut through with green masking tape as my guide. Finished the office as well. Just went for very basic detail in the pit as you won't be able to see much of it. Need to detail and add the nose gear and button up the fuse and then fill, smooth and rescribe the plug that was taken out. Here are a few pics. Enjoy!

Cheers, Richie

What's the status of this GB? Is it still going on? I hope so... Star/End dates? Or no end date?

I think I may join up if the dates have been changed or eliminated.

Thanks!

There's been a couple of tragedies this summer, as we are well aware. Good to keep it alive, even as a chat room.

Over in aircraft, Lucien Harpness is going to build (maybe) a Mars in red waterbomber colors.

Hi kenjitak,

Welcome to the Firebirds! Group Build.  It's a rolling build which is good for those of us who find it hard to be inside during the long days. 

Summer's over and it's time to get back at 'er.  I was actually looking at my Tracker this morning.  Had a few anxious moments when I thought that the props were missing but found them with a kit my youngest son is working on. 

What kit(s) do you have in mind for this GB?

shouldda

Well, I've got two possibilities:

A Heller 1/48 Eurocopter AS 350 that I watched from my patio scooping up water to put out the 900 acre Green Mountain fire that was less than a mile from my house:

or a Hasegawa 1/72 P2V tanker. I've seen a bunch of them at various sites (my favorite was at Greybull, WY). Something like this:

or this:

I guess it depends on whether I want do fuselage sculpture on that P2V or scratch-build a net!

aboard Ken!!!!!  Personally, I would love to see a Neptune in Aero Union colors. The Evergreen scheme just doesn't look right to me. Either way, will love to see your build progressing before us. Would also love to see your scratchbuild of the bucket for the Squirrel. Ceiling fan or airplane?? Hmmm, ur call.

I know it has been a while since anyone posted here, but since I finally had time to set up a photo shoot, here is my finished Minicraft DC-6 I built for this GB.

Scott