Before They Were Aces-The First Aircraft of the Aces

Jeaton01 those are some sweet looking Hurricanes you have there and you went and built two of them at the same time ?? Hat is off to you Sir.

Hans von Hammer Sir ..... I would be up for another 60 days also might give me time for a second build but I dont wish to commit yet. The P-51 is coming along nicely and I should have some WIP pictures in the next few days. I will say some of the fits in the retooled kit are better and some are the same bad fits like the belly scoop, and the nose cover.  The wing root fit looks to have been improved a bunch though.

I've Begun making pieces of masks on the canopy. I also finished the Olds book. A fine read and btw he and I see eye to eye on the war in Vietnam, except that he did go and put his balls where the rubber hit the road. Surprised me a little. Knowing zippo about P-38s I tried to figger out whether the wheel wells were green or NG. Both. Went with green.

Looking forward to seeing your Lightning Bill!!!!! And reading Old's book!!!!

Here's the latest on Scat II. Only redid one out of six so it's beer call.

Olds said that it was the smallest little cockpit he ever flew in, and he hated the yoke arrangement because it blocked some of the instruments.

Bondo-your P-38 is looking quite impressive.  Good job on the Invasion stripes.

bobbaily

Bondo-your P-38 is looking quite impressive.  Good job on the Invasion stripes.

Wow.  So much has gone on since I last posted.  Great looking builds everyone!  Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this build, life just got in the way.  I wish that I could say it was all good stuff that kept me away, however it wasn't.  After a layoff back in January things got rough.  Luckily that's over, but then my wife got let go out of the blue.  Needless to say the swingr1121 household has been on edge a bit.  Then came the start of trout season around here so I just had to be on the water for a month..  Then hockey playoffs started and my first anniversary came and went and hockey playoffs continued.  It looked bleak in the second round down 3-0, but tickets to game 4 changed our luck (anniversary gift) and a trip up to Boston for game 7 was needed.  After pulling off one of the greatest comebacks in NHL history my couldn't pull off the Stanley Cup win.  Just the way the Cup ended was a real downer.  Little bit of depression that the city dealt with and here we are.  Oh, the wife is still looking for a job too.  Interview today and a freelance gig with a company for the past couple of days.  One of them just might pan out.  FSM, need any editors?

My P-51 has some paint on it.  Getting ready for decals tonight I think.  Either way, here are some pics..

Enjoy everyone.

Mike

Mike-great job on the Mustang.  I can't wait to see more progress pics.  Hope the Mrs. finds something soon....I recently spent eight months looking for work-not fun.  I feel hers and yours pain.

Mike your Stang is lookin' real purty!!!! All the best to you and yours!!!! Hope something comes up soon!!

Bondoman your P-38 is looking real good there buddy, those stripes came out perfect. I am still worried about painting them on my build.

Mike what has been said above and more pictures

Here we go, "Scat II" piloted by Captain Robin Olds. He shot down two FW-190s on August 14, 1944 for his first victories.

P-38J model by Academy in 1/72. No aftermarket stuff or scratchbuilt necessary. Academy is the new Monogram. $ 15.00 and it went together like a dream. I have left over bombs, tanks and bazooka thingies too.

Thanks Hans this was fun. BTW buddy that thing on your lip in the new avatar isn't exactly regulation, is it?

Bill that is an awesome finish!!!!! Love those Lightnings!!! Here's a pic for you I took over the weekend at the model expo!!! I see now how big your beast really is!! He had the Trolley as well.

Very nice build Bill....even more impressive given that it's 1/72 scale.

Swingr1121 your Mustang is looking really good a flawless paint job you have done there. You have the decals on it yet ? Cant wait to see those pictures.

Bondoman now that my friend is one sweet P-38 Those stripes came out perfectly.

Randy, I started putting decals on the other night.  Tried to take the "easy" way out and use the kit decals for the invasion stripes.  The wing decals went on without a hitch.  Just a little bit of cleaning up to do.  As for the fuselage decals, well, that's another story.  Now I've got to sit and mask out everything and hope that I can paint some invasion stripes on the Mustang that look half as good as Bondoman's.  We'll see what happens.  I think that tonight might be the night.  Unless I go fishing of course...  I'll post pics when I get back out to the bench.

Yes understand totally about the fish calling your name teasingly!!

I've been out of town the better part of the past month and managed to catch two seperate cases of the creeping crud (non specific cold-flu ick) in between being away. I can probably get this wrapped up by the 30th but if you are offering an extra 60 days, it will relive some stress not having to worry about going a few days over.

Got a little more work done.  There are a few errors that need to be corrected, but the overall effect is there...

It's getting nearer and nearer to completion!  Woohoo...

Mike

Nice work Mike-I really like the paint scheme.  Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Mike she's looking great mate!!!! Almost there!!!

Looking good, Bondo...

"Olds said that it was the smallest little cockpit he ever flew in, and he hated the yoke arrangement because it blocked some of the instruments."

That (yoke) was one of Dad's complaints about the P-38 was well (He flew those before the 55th transitioned to Mustangs)... On the other hand, other P-38 drivers said they liked it simply because it allowed them to really horse the aircraft around in a fight...

"Hans you'll have to tell us if you ever met this dude when he was running around with your Pop."

Yeah, he was a friend of Dad's (during the Vietnam era) and at the house on many occasions...  There were several WW2 guys in the Wing and they kinda "flocked" together... Reminds me... Dad once talked about a GIB that was scared to death to fly with an old guy like him for a spell...  Here's a War Story..Now this is No Sh*t... 

This GIB was getting spooked about his pilot's age, and the others in the Squadron weren't helping, joking around about the Phantoms being so much aircraft that the "old guys" would drop dead of heart attacks in it... One fine day a Phantom, with this Guy In Back, set off outta Udorn and the pilot was writing something on his knee pad when he dropped his pen...  When he bent down to retrieve it, he made a grunting sound while doing it, and the GIB, hearing the grunt and seeing the pilot's head drop over outta sight, thought he "Had the Big One" and immediately pulled the curtain and ejected!   The pilot, thinking that his GIB had panicked and something was wrong with the aircraft and he didn't tell him, saw that his GIB was gone, so HE pulled the curtain too!  And a perfectly good F-4 went off into the sunset on it's own...

BTW, the GB is extended through the end of August...

Thanks Hans this was fun. BTW buddy that thing on your lip in the new avatar isn't exactly regulation, is it?

I was known for pushing the envelope on the Cookie Duster... It got beyond the corners routinely but by then I had enough rank that I didn't attract the ire of anyone but the CSM...

 When I trimmed to regs, it looked like a tapered Hitler-Stache...

Swingr1121 your build looks better each time I see it, cant wait to see her all finished as I really like that paint scheme.

Hans von Hammer I havent forgotten this group but have been getting some work done on my build Passion Wagon. It is just about ready for some paint, here are a couple of WIP pictures. So far I do like this kit.

I did fill the panel lines on the wings and rescribed, or at least tried to rescribe the lost detail on the nose. I hope to have some color on her in the next day or two

LOL Hans that was a good story!!!!! Well, if one guy goes unannounced you ain't gonna hang around and ask questions, I'M OUTTA HERE!!! Any news as to what happened afterwards????

I would imagine the Phantom flew off into the sunset, er, sunrise!

bondoman

I would imagine the Phantom flew off into the sunset, er, sunrise!

And that is why I think the F-106 is superior to the lowly Phantom, because when the pilot ejects from a good Six it goes over and lands safely in a farm field and can be jacked up and flown again once it gets a new canopy.

My father in law would spend all day in a dark room, go out to the flight line wearing red glasses, and take off at sunset. But he says somehow every runway in the war seemed to point west ...

That is a good war story Hans. I'm gonna tell him when I see him Friday for a grill out and a couple frosty ones on his 90th.

Inching ever closer!  So tonight found me with some time to be at the bench.  Decided that it would be a great time to finish up the decals.  All was going well until I got to the port wing insignia.  The Tamiya decal just did not want to conform.  Go figure.  After all was said and done, I lost the decal!  The damage to it was irreparable.  After some choice language I thought to myself, "self, how are you going to fix this mess?"  I went to the spares box.  No luck.  Found another Mustang kit (Testors  ).  No luck there.  Then I looked down at my stash and saw Eduard's 1/48 FW-190 A-8/R2.  Eureka!  I remembered that there was a marking option for a captured 190!  Here, check out the sheet:

It's not quite perfect, but it's close enough for government work.  So I slapped that puppy on and away I went.  As of now, it's just fiddly bits left. 

As if the decal situation wasn't enough, I decided that I needed some more punishment.  I tried to add some brake lines.  Never tried that before.  This is only the 4th model that I'll have completed since I got back into the hobby.  I don't think that they turned out too bad..

That's all for now.  More to come soon.  I'm still going to try to get this done before the original deadline.  Think I can do it? 

Mike

Swingr great save on the decal!!!!! That's using the old knowledge box!!! She is really turning out well, looking forward to seeing her on her feet, which look great as well btw.

Any news as to what happened afterwards????