I swear you must have an army of elves there Helo! Your turnout of models would do Santa's workshop proud in the busy season.

Helo: I was thinking your B-17 looks like she has a papoose strapped to her back. I love seeing stuff like this, it definably stands out from all the other B-17s. 

And  F4Us are always cool.

I was waiting for the new tracks for my Pershing to arrive before starting, but after waiting a few weeks, I decided to break sprue today.  Hope to have some WIP photos soon!

Some great work guys, very impressive stuff so far.

I almost forgot to post a pic of the Airfix P-80 Shooting Star cockpit with my first effort using PE ;

I also cut the one piece canopy to pose it open , there is a PE boarding ladder I can add later on and I ordered some CMK USAF pilots Korea , to pose next to the P-80 .

                             John .

john the F-80 is looking great!!! 1/72 PE is a pain at times but makes for some very dashing detail when all done up!!!!

Frank can't wait to see progress on ur target!!! Btw Frank, did you notice John mentioned the C word!!!??? Times 2!!!

When I get off my keester I am going to pull my bent-wing birdie out of the hangar(box) and continue on with the flaps and hopefully make them look decent for 1/72.

I was finally able to get some paint on the two P-51 Mustangs .

First I tried using the Tamiya Bare Metal silver rattle can inside , in front of the indoor spray booth ; However the family said they could smell the paint through the house , so I had to move up to the garage where I have a ceiling exhaust fan mounted onto a piece of board , which is hinged to the window frame  . All week the weather has been overcast with light rain , today its fine , about 20 degrees [63 Fahrenheit] , not to bad for the middle of winter .

One can did two light coats of silver on both P-51's and all the additional parts , there is good coverage all over , so I'm happy with the results . I'll airbrush the anti-glare nose panel with acrylic black .

                                        John .

Hello Guys, looking good!  I managed to get some done on my Corsair.  I am about ready for masking and maybe even painting soon.  So far, so good!  As long as I don't break anything else off of it that is.

As I have to assemble and paint 8 rockets, the thread on ordanance painting in the Aircraft section was none too soon.  Some great ideas that I will be using.  Just to confirm, the rockets have aluminum tip and fins, gray body with, olive drab nose, or is it olive drab tail too?  I think I've heard it mentioned both ways???

Cheers,

Greg

John, you got a nice lil setup there, should buy stocks in croc clips!!! Looking forward to seeing color and decals!!!!

Greg, as far as I have uncovered, although ALOT of things in the military vary during wartime, I have only noticed OD on the noses of the rockets. HTH! Corsair is looking mighty fine!!!

Here is a good shot of some 5" HVARs on a F6F. The bodies on these appear to be gray, but aluminum is a good choice as well.

Hi Stik ,

I bought 7 plastic containers of those 'croc clips' and I still need more .

I'm hoping by the end of this coming week I'll be close to having the first six builds completed ; As well as getting the mustangs painted , I've made a good start on two PB-1W's

The RVHP Belly Radome fits nicely where the bomb bay doors would usually fit ...

The two F4U-4B's started well also ...

Everything seems to be working out quite well for me lately , I must be going through a 'purple patch' with my model aircraft building

                                                      John .

Thanks Lt Cmdr Ritchie, something about those bent wing birds, eh?  Thanks to you and Stikpusher for the rocket help.  Seeing that picture makes me think, hmm.. should I put little wires in the back of the rockets?

John, awesome as always!  I am curious to hear what Lt Cmdr Ritchie and you think about the Italeri -4 Corsair.  I have been thinking about buying one for awhile, so your building impressions would be most helpful.

I hope everyone is having/had a good weekend.

Cheers,

Greg

Your F4U-5N is looking good Greg ;

I have an idea for yet another addition to the Korean War GB ; I do realize I'm yet to post a finish pic of any of the aircraft I've already started , hopfully by this weekend I'll have 5 or 6 builds completed .

Anyway , I was looking through the Air War Korea book and came across this nice picture of an AD-4 USMC Skyraider ...

Looking through my stash I have Hasegawa's 1/72 A-1H Skyraider along with Wolfpack's Skyraider folding wing set for the Hasegawa kit and I recently picked up some Eagle Strike , Skyraider decals with markings for a USMC AD-4N based at K-16 Korea 1954

According to the decal instructions the modeler needs to add two small center fuselage windows , a door , top of fuselage air scoop , belly antenna's and fill in the side air brakes .

Filling in the air brakes is easy enough , there finely scibed in the fuselage halves and can be puttied over , I have a couple of air scoops from an old prowler kit wich I could join together to make one larger scoop . adding to windows and scribbing the outline of a door shouldn't be to difficult I hope .

So apart from these minor changes are there any other significant difference between the AD-4 and the AD-6 [A-1H] Skyraider . The top pic shows a radome under the wing  , I was thinking of adding bombs but I'm not sure what size bombs or bomb load the USMC AD-4 would have carried ???

                                     John .

Helo..Can’t wait to see the Skyraider! One of my favorite planes and in USMC markings! Has to be a winner!!

OK I finally have some WIP pics of my 120mm figure...I added the figure and its old wood base to a cheap wooden Hobby Lobby base that I painted with Krylon textured paint in green...

Then I used sculptamold to blend everything and make some new rocks...

Painted the base in a dark brown mixture and added woodland scenics snow.

The ice sickles on the handmade sign are made with monofilament line super glued to the sign, then tube glue is applied, once that begins to dry I used woodland scenic’s water effects, it’s very thick and stays in place, dries crystal clear in 24 hours or so..

I still need to apply another coat or two of gloss to the mud and touch up the base, then it’s done..Hopefully in a day or 2.

I started the tracks on my Pershing for my dio,,first time I have ever done individual links,,,let's just say repetitive is an understatement!!

Any comments are appreciated...final pics in a few days!

I finally picked up an adaptor for my Rotorcraft motor tool

I got the power point adaptor from Bunnings Hardware store here in Sydney , it only cost $12.20 , so I'm looking forward to drilling and grinding lots of plastic .

                                         John .

Really Nice work Tonka ;

The ice sickles look awesome and really add to the realism along with the snow .

Excellent work

                       John.

Tonka, the figure looks great.  That is some talent to pull off a person versus an inanimate object.  It looks cold, muddy and miserable: the life of a grunt.  (that is why I was an amtracker)  The BAR is a nice touch too.

John, I like the Skyraider.  Cool airplane for sure, as  a USMC bird, even better!

Cheers,

Greg

Gregbbear

Tonka, the figure looks great.  That is some talent to pull off a person versus an inanimate object.  It looks cold, muddy and miserable: the life of a grunt.  (that is why I was an amtracker)  The BAR is a nice touch too.

I agree entirely about Tonka's talents , there is at least 100 times more work bringing figure's to life compared to building aircraft models .

I ordered some Airwaves PE for the Skyraider , PE for the cockpit and there was also a PE conversion set with wing folds and fuselage doors etc for a AD-4 Version , so that will make things easier to convert my Hasegawa kit . Looking forward for the PE arriving in the mail .

                                      John .

Hi Stik

got room for me. Where do I sign up? I would like to do a diorama of the U.S. Marines  The Frozen Chosin.

Would that be OK with you?

Mac

MAC, you are more than welcome to join up- I'll add you to the roster. What scale will the diorama be?

Gregbbear

Tonka, the figure looks great.  That is some talent to pull off a person versus an inanimate object.  It looks cold, muddy and miserable: the life of a grunt.  (that is why I was an amtracker)  The BAR is a nice touch too.

John, I like the Skyraider.  Cool airplane for sure, as  a USMC bird, even better!

Cheers,

Greg

Greg..Thanks appreciate the comments. I have an intimate knowledge of the life of a grunt!

But dealt with many 'YAT-YAS' in my career,,,much better than swimming to shore!! Look forward to your pics! By the way I was actually stationed in San Antonio...long time ago at the RS.

Mach 2 kindly sent me the missing clear parts for the PBM Mariner...

I only sent the letter of request 2 weeks ago , It's nice when the kit manufacture's respond so quickly .

Tonight I'll have my first go with the rotorcraft motor tool , should make it easy cleaning up the flash on the PBM Mariner parts . I've got saftey goggles and dust masks , I'm ready to go .

                               John .

Good for you! Just proceed with caution when initiating your motor tool! It is very easy for them to run wild.

All round excellent progress fellas!!!!

John, I find the Italeri -4B to be a decent kit, haven't had any real fit issues. The texture of the plastic on the outside needs a good wet sanding as it's that pebbly finish sort of. The cockpit needs a PE set to really stand out. The biggest problem with their -4B is the fact that the outer wing hardpoints are too numerous and don't have the staggered positions of the inner points. No biggie really. Research will do you good here to get the correct positions. The kit shows to drill out the holes for them, all 10? The -4B only had 8!!! There is also no step in the inboardmost starboard flap. That wasn't deleted until the -5. When I get back to it, I still have alot of work to do. I ordered an Engine&Things resin R-2800-42W and sliced off the molded push rods and added an ignition harness. Really spruced up the looks of it immensely. Also added an Eduard Zoom PE set and paper cardstock ribbing to the office. Scribed away the flaps and rudder to reposition them. Thats as far as I have gotten so far. Going to go through it thouroughlly and add what I can since I have already started doing so lol.

simpilot34

All round excellent progress fellas!!!!

John, I find the Italeri -4B to be a decent kit, haven't had any real fit issues. The texture of the plastic on the outside needs a good wet sanding as it's that pebbly finish sort of. The cockpit needs a PE set to really stand out. The biggest problem with their -4B is the fact that the outer wing hardpoints are too numerous and don't have the staggered positions of the inner points. No biggie really. Research will do you good here to get the correct positions. The kit shows to drill out the holes for them, all 10? The -4B only had 8!!! There is also no step in the inboardmost starboard flap. That wasn't deleted until the -5. When I get back to it, I still have alot of work to do. I ordered an Engine&Things resin R-2800-42W and sliced off the molded push rods and added an ignition harness. Really spruced up the looks of it immensely. Also added an Eduard Zoom PE set and paper cardstock ribbing to the office. Scribed away the flaps and rudder to reposition them. Thats as far as I have gotten so far. Going to go through it thouroughlly and add what I can since I have already started doing so lol.

Thank's for info on the Italeri 1/72 F4U-4B , simpilot34 . Your certainly are going all out with the detail on your Corsair . You also mentioned about the hardpoints being staggered , the only pic I have is one of an F4U-5N from VMF-513

It looks like the second rocket , closest to the landing gear , appears to stick out further than the other three ;

Is this the correct position for the hardpoints on the F4U-4B Corsair as well ???

                                   John .

Yes, they are the same positions. The innermost sets a bit farther back than the two outermost ones, and you can see how far forward the second from inboard sits. Also, forgot to mention that the 1/72 Revell -5 is the same kit as the Italeri -4B. If you've noticed there is a -5 nose cowl piece included. I have both kits, and didn't realize after opening the Revell box that it was the same kit, different boxes. In saying that, the Revell kit is not actually a -5. You can't just put a different nose ring on and call it a -5 as the side exhaust ports on the -5 were bout mid way up the cowl and the -4 was almost hugging the wing. HTH The fuse in both kits are a -4

I saw the box art for the Revell kit online and was tempted about ordering one , However I came across High Planes web site and saw their 1/72 scale F4U-5N kit  , High Planes mentions that their model has the correct "lengthened" fuselage for the 5N model , so I ordered that one . I'm glad I didn't buy the Revell kit .

I think is was GregBBear who mentioned how great these group builds are for finding out lot's of info and all the small but important details that distiguish the different versions . High Planes really highlited how their F4U-5N kit was the most accurate around , it will be interesting to see how their engine cowl looks ?

                                              John .

Two 1/72 scale Sword P-80 kits arrived today ;

There is a F-80C Shooting Star with a choice of markings , Li'L Dottie ; Taegu Korea 1950 and "Ramblin=Reck=Tew" , Korea 1950

I also picked up Squadrons P-80 in action book .

A RF-80A , natural metal finish all over , "Ball of Fire" Kimpo with over 100 missions Korea 1953 and a Dark Green upper fuselage and wings , natural metal lower surfaces , 45th TRS , Kimpo 1952

The kit parts are nice and crisp and Sword include a resin seat and gear wells .

I also tracked down a 1/72 scale Matchbox F3D-2 Skynight , I know matchbox kits are quite basic but I thought this was a lucky find and I hope to receive it in the mail sometime early next week . I'm pretty sure it has USMC markings , it's a pre-loved , never built kit , hopfully the decals will still be usable .

                               John .

Great work all around guys!

Tonka: I esp love your figure. You really captured the mood there, he looks suitably cold, wet, and misable.

I love it when people talk Corsair!  Funny, I have the Italeri Corsair marked as a French -7!  It comes with the cowls to make it -4B, -5, or even an AU-1.  As for the Matchbox Skynight, it does come with the decals for the VMF(N) 513 "Flying Nightmares" in Korea.  That is the same squadron that I am making my Corsair in.

Bad luck for me today.  I was going to paint my Corsair, among other things, and I dropped my airline while plugging it in.  My plastic adapter that connects my airbrush to 1/4" npt was broken.  No painting till I find another one, or I have to buy a new bottle for my other ab.  All of those were broken while my wife was trying to rearrange my workbench, well all but one that I broke with a case of the butter fingers. 

Cheers,

Greg

Like Gregbbear , I'm having a frustrating day at the hobby bench .

I sat down to start decaling the A-26B Invader and the two H03S-1 Dragon fly's and I suddenly realized I forgot to airbrush the tips of the wings , tail planes and top of the tail fin red for the invader . So Ive had to remask the A-26B and head back to the spray booth . I wasn't happy with the color blue on the two H03-1's , I copied what Hasegawa have for their 1/72 F9F Panther paint instructions of Gunze Sangyo H-55 [70%] + H-25 [30%] . I tried this mix but the overall color , to me , didn't look right ! . I've been stareing at the two helicopters for the past couple of days and this morning I decided to take them back to the spraybooth as well and give them a couple of coats of H-326 [F.S 15042] . Silly me stocked up on H-55 and H-25 for the other kits in the Korean War stash , I'll now have to order some more H-326 .

Thank's also greg about confirming the decal markings for the Airfix F3D-2 Skynight ; VMF-513 is a cool squadron , I have decal markings in the stash for a F-4B Phantom II , AV-8A and 8B Harrier's , the F4U-5N Corsair I have on order comes with markings for VMF-513 . I think that only leaves a 1/72 scale F6F Hellcat and a F7F Tigercat kits to hunt down and I think I would then have every aircraft the "Flying Nightmares" operated ???

Greg , I hope you get your airline fixed quickly and you can get back into it

                                    John .