Hunting After Dark, 2011-2012 Night Fighter Group Build

First off, I want to thank the participants.  Most of you have been a big help to me as a builder, both in information and inspiration.  So, needless to say, I am humbled by your presence here.  If you need me to make any change here, please let me know.

The list so far:

gregbbear- AMT 1/48 P-70 (complete), 1/72 Airfix Mig 15 (complete),1/72 Matchbox AW Meteor NF13(stalled) , Italeri 1/72 F4U-5N Corsair (complete)

Konigwolf13-  1/144 RoG F-117 (completed)

Manstein's revenge- Dragon 1/72 He-219B

Aggieman- Revell 1/72 He-219

Satch ip- Monogram Promodeller 1/48 Bf-110G-4 (completed), F6F-3N Hellcat,(completed)

AaronW-

Helo H-34- 1/72 Italeri B-57G Canberra

Bondoman- 1/72 Black Widow

Daywalker- 1/48 Revell A-6 VMFA-242 "The Bats" (USMC Oohrah!)

Hercmech- J1N1 Gekko

DoogsATX- 1/48 Tamiya Mosquito NFII

Gamera- Monogram 1/48 P-61 Black Widow

Hans von Hammer- 1/48 Beaufighter, or He 219 or P-38M

epting mike- P-61 or B-26K

TREYZX10R- Eduard Bf-110G-4 completed, GW FW-189 completed, 1/48 Hobbycraft Ar-234B-2n completed, Ju-87 Stuka completed, 1/48 Revell Do217N-4 with Koster Conversion completed, 1/48 Italeri Lysander, 1/48 Hobbycraft F4U-2 Corsair completed, ProModeller 1/48 FockeWulf Ta-154A-0 Moskito completed,

razordws- 1/72 Dragon, AR-234 (completed)

scorpiomikey- 1/72 Tamiya A-6E "Moonlighters"  (more USMC, oohrah!), Tamiya F-117 Nighthawk

STFD637- 1/72 Italerai Bf-110, finished

lewbud- 1/72 Monogram F-82 Twin Mustang

Casper the Chihuahua- 1/48 Dragon Bf-110 completed, 1/48 Tamiya F-117 Nighthawk, 1/32 Revell Sea Venom NF3 completed, 1/72 Tamiya Ju-88C completed, 1/32 Tamiya F-4D Phantom II "Terrible Tyke" completed,

Stage_Left- Dragon He-219 A-0

Nathan T- Dragon 1/48 Junkers Ju-88G-6 (completed)

Theuns- Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter Mk 6

Mobious- Tamiya 1/48 He-219

Greif8- Tamiya 1/48 He-219 with CMK resin engine (completed)

Bigsmitty- Tamiya 1/72 Mosquito NFII

Nightfighternut- 1/48 Monogram P-61 Black Widow (completed), Fiat CR-42 CN (complete), 1/48 Special Hobby Petlyakov Pe-3 Bis

Stumpjumper70-

p38il- 1/48 Dragon Ho-229B

Tempestjohnny- Tamiya 1/48 Mosquito NF VIII

jbrady- Eduard 1/48 F6F-5N Hellcat (finished), Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter Mk VI(complete)

 CallSignOWL- 1/72 Airfix Boulton-Paul Defiant and 1/72 RoG Me 262

Greentracker88- 1/48 Revell PBY Catalina "Black Cat" finished

Heaven's Eagle- Trimaster 1/48 Fw-190A-8/R11,

Italian Starfighter- 1/48 Italeri Me 262 B-1a/U1,complete

Frightful6 7- Eduard 1/144 Me 262 nachtjaeger 

taxtp- Eduard 1/72 F6F-5N Hellcat

Waikong- 1/48 Italeri Fiat CR42 LW, completed

complete build page

Treyzx10r- Eduard Bf-110G-4 1/48, page 18

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v710/treyzx10r/model%20kits/bf110g-4fini4007.jpg

Treyzx10r- Great Wall 1/48 Fw-189 Uhu page 27

Grief8- Tamiya He-219 1/48, page 20

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5983/he2191.jpg

p38il- Dragon Ho-229B 1/48, page 23

jbrady- Eduard 1/48 F6F-5N Hellcat page 28

Night Fighter Nut- 1/48 Revell P-61 Black Widow, page 33

Nathan T- 1/48 Dragon Ju-88G-6, page 38

Konigwolf13- 1/144 RoG F-117 Nighthawk, page 39

jbrady- 1/48 Tamiya Beaufighter, page 41

Treyzx10r- 1/48 Hobbycraft Arado Ar-134B-2n, complete page 42

DoogsATX- 1/48 Tamiya DH Mosquito NFII, page 43

satch ip- 1/48 Monogram Promodeler Bf-110G-4, page 45

TreyZX10R- Ju-87 Night Stuka, page 50, 51

 Razordws-1/72 Dragon Arado Ar-334 page 52

satch ip- F6F-5N Hellcat, page 52

Hercmech- Gekko NF pg 52

Caspar the Chihuahua- 1/32 RoG (matchbox) Sea Venom NF 2, page 58

Dragon 1/48 Bf-110, page 69

CallsignOwl- 1/72 RoG Me 262 Night Fighter, page 58

STFD637- 1/72 Italeri Bf-110G-4, page 60

Greentracker- 1/48 Revell PBY Catalina "Black Cat", page 61

TreyZX10R- Revell Do-17 with Koster NF conversion, page 65

gregbbear- AMT 1/48 P-70, page

Jailcop- Hasegawa 1/72 F6F-5N Hellcat, page 71

Caspar the Chihuahua- Tamiya/Italeri Ju-88C-6 1/72, page 71

Caspar the Chihuahua- 1/48 Tamiya F-117 Nighthawk, page 70

Awesome #6 for Trey! 1/48 Dragon FW-190A-6/R11 page 74

TreyZX10R- 1/48 Italeri Lysander, page

TreyZX10R- Hobbycraft 1/48 Corsair F4U-2, page 79

Nightfighternut- 1/48 Classic Airframes Fiat CR-42 CN, page 82

Caspar- 1/32 Tamiya F-4D Phantom II "Terrible Tyke", page 84

Waikong- 1/48 Italeri Fiat Cr 42 LW, page 83

 Italian Starfighter- Italeri 1/48 Me 262B-1a/U1, page 85

TreyZX105- Monogram Promodeller 1/48 Focke Wulf Ta-154 Moskito, completed pg 87

gregbbear- Airfix 1/72 Mig-15

gregbbear- Italeri 1/72 F4U-5N Corsair, page 87

Cool!  Looking forward to 1/1/11 to get started!

damn, probably the one GB i could'nt resit. Don't put me down for anything yet as my desk is full up to Aug/Sept next year. But work allowing, i.e. i don't get deployed at the end of the year, i will come in then. I got a shed load of 1/72nd German nightfighters, so will make up my mind once i know i can commit.

Hi Bish, feel free to jump in whenever you can.  Whatever your deployment schedule, take care wherever it is your going buddy.  I hope they love their troops in the UK, as much as we love ours here (at least in Texas anyways).

Cheers,

Greg

Greg,

I thin I will build the J1N1-S Gekko for this build as I don't see anyone else listed for it yet.

I am off to the falklands in Feb for 3 months. So with that and the GB's i am in, thats why i am busy till late in the year. So its possable i could end up going away again at end of next year. But either way i will watch this GB. I ahven't done any nightfighters yet, and theres already 2 kits in the build list i have in the stash, so will be nice to get a heads up. Plus i would really like a few ideas on those German NF motteled camo schemes. So i might just learn a few things from this build. But hopefully i can do more than just look in.

it not nearly the same here as it is in the US. We have more support now that theres a war on, but once that ends, we will go back to being the un clean we were before.

it not nearly the same here as it is in the US. We have more support now that theres a war on, but once that ends, we will go back to being the un clean we were before.

[/quote]

Yes, memories fade for the civilian populace quite quickly.  Back in '91 (1991, not 1891 as I am not that old), it didn't take long before the yellow ribbons came down and the "Dogs and Marines, Keep of the Grass" signs came back up.  I am very thankful for the men and women, who even in peace time, put their lives on hold so we can live in relative freedom.

I have a sort of Falklands Island story.  When I was in the Marines, I was an Amtrac crewman.  One year we had a joint exercise with the Royal Marines.  We carried them around in the Mojave desert in summer.  One old salt, told me after a rather brutal ride that "it was a whole lot more fun shooting these things than riding in them!"  As he had blown up an Argentinian amtrac or two during the Falklands War.

Cheers,

Greg

I have been in 20 years, and before 2003, i don't seem to recall any where near the support that we have today from the general public. Kipling wrote a poem, Tommy Atkins, and i think thats as relevent now as it was when he penned it. I went over to the US last year for 5 weeks, training with Merlins in californis. We stopped over for a night on route, somewhere in the mid west. I was standing outside the hotel in my uniform when an elderly lady past and put her hand on my shoulder and just said 'Thanks for your service' i was so surprised i was speach less.

I spent 12 years in an Armoured Inf barralion so i know how he felt. Spent plenty of time bouncing round Salisbury Plain and the parie in canada in the back of 432's and warriors.

Bish- Great story!  I am honored to thank all men and women in uniform I come across.  Another quck story...

I work as a goldsmith in a retail store, and from time to time we have men and women who come in to buy an engagement ring and hope to have it set up quickly as one (and one time, both) were deploying overseas within a day or two.  When the salesperson comes into the shop to ask for it to be rushed, they will tell me if the clients are in uniform.  I tell them they can have it within an hour, but only if the client allows me to come and thank them for their service.  I have met some great soldiers, and there have been some wonderful times.  In my book, soldiers ALWAYS get priority with such things.

Daywalker,

That is a great thing you do for the folks in uniform. So often I see "We support the troops" but way too often it is just lip service.

Thanks Frank!  That is pretty cool.  I feel very lucky that San Antonio is a military town.  It adds some fantastic people here as our neighbors.

Cheers,

Greg

Nice one Frank. I know there are some civvies who always back the forces, war or no war. A nice service you are doing there, i know it will be appreciated.

I might try going in uniform when i go get a ring for my better half next year

Hi Greg ;

Well my four 1/72 Nightfighter kits arrived today along with Squadrons Nightfighter book...

The Owl Nightfighter resin conversion sets also arrived...

As well as the Owl US Marine Nightfighter decals , for each of my four kits .

All looks good , I'm set for 1st January 2011.

                                    John .

Great stuff John!  That book is real good too.  It has some good stuff about the Tigercat and Skynight too. 

Thanks for joining this build John, I appreciate it.

Cheers,

Greg

Greg, do you go to the Alamo Squadron IPMS meetings?  If so I'll see you there Thursday.

Satch

HI Satch, I have been meaning to join.  I've met quite a few guys at the LHS that are members, really cool and interesting bunch of guys.  I actually am on shift this Thursday, otherwise I'd love to go.

Cheers,

Greg

Where's the badge?  I suggest using the German "diving falcon" symbol for night fighters...

Eric, this is one of the possibilities.  I am trying to find a way (i'm not great with editing images) to make a background made of various nightfighter unit emblems.  I like your idea though.  Do you have a link to an image of it?

I was going to try and make a couple, and members could pick from that.  What do you think?

Cheers,

Greg

I rather like that badge Greg. Not so keen on having the German nightfighter badge as its, well German, and this is for GB's from all over.

I really like the badge as well Greg ;

Very appropriate

With my four USMC Nightfighter birds , the decal sheet only mentions the two color blues as Non-Specular Sea Blue and Non Specular Intermediate Blue ???

I usually airbrush with Gunze or Tamiya acrylic's , so I'll have to find some reference to those paint colors .

                                      John .

I like the idea of a bat, since they are the premier night-hunter...but I don't particlarly like the image you have picked, or the lettering...maybe a more "stylized" bat??? 

In the meantime, here is a nocturnal bird of prey I did years ago that may motivate some of you mofo's:

Hey, there's a bat emblem on the side of this 262...hmmmmmmm...

Greg,

I like the badge and it would be an honor to have it as my first.

Manny,

Nice looking 262 you did there.

Have to agree with Manny. I like the concept of the bat, but maybe something more stylized. Also'd rather see a more intimidating font.

As for the Me-262, German night fighters always make me laugh a little bit. The antenna arrays always seemed like redneck engineering to me...

Id really like to join this build. Not sure what to enter. Also i think i might have a GB addiction lol.

My stash at the moment.

A-6E

KA-6D

Bearcat

Tomcat

FW-190

were any of those used as night fighters?

Scorpiomikey

Id really like to join this build. Not sure what to enter. Also i think i might have a GB addiction lol.

My stash at the moment.

A-6E

KA-6D

Bearcat

Tomcat

FW-190

were any of those used as night fighters?

What about the D9? I picked up a cheap italeri 72nd kit ages ago.

No...

Still dont trust those dots but ill beleive you. also i cant find any on google lol.

I will still join with a kit to be anounced at a later date.