60th Anniversary Korean War Group Build- extended for the duration

Helo H-34

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 .

I just got the RF-80 kit today too, looks like a nice kit. I also won a lot on ebay with 3 Airfix F80s, 2 Heller T-33s and a Heller F-94B so decided to pick up that P-80 book too.

Aaron , You really scored well with those kits from ebay ; Well done

Today hasn't turned out that bad after all , The Matchbox F3D-2 Skynight just arrived at the front door

The shrink wrap is still around the box and I must admit the kit almost looks like a new release ?

What was a real big suprise is the kit comes with the option of folding wings , I like that option ...

The cockpit is quite basic , I'll find a couple of pilots to spruce things up . The decal sheet looks great as well .

I'm very happy , with my lucky score ...

                                                          John .

Helo, you gotta do this one in the Marine night fighter scheme. In all black that bird looks very wicked.

Hello all, some real nice purchases!  This GB has a lot of cool stuff going on.  As for my airbrush woes, it looks like I will have to buy a cheapy testors airbrush to get the adapter.  Earliest that will happen is Saturday (here that is, I know it will already be Sunday for a few of you).

John, I didn't realize the Skynight had a folding wing option.  That is cool.  I too like the Flying Nightmares.  My Phantom that I am building for the Phantom GB is in that squadron's markings too.  What I have been trying to find is decals for the Skyray.  They flew those between the Skynight and the Phantom.  I haven't found markings for the Hellcat either.  I have the Tigercat, and a couple of Harriers too.  Maybe we should start a "Flying Nightmares" GB?

Cheers,

Greg

No worries Stik ;

I will definitely be building the Skynight as a Korean Night fighter with the over all black finish

 I searched through my aircraft magazines for some additional info on the Skynight

Matchbox call out for a silver painted landing gear struts but pic's in book appear that the gear struts are black as well as the inside of the landing gear doors . I'm not sure what color the gear wells should be . Instructions also mention that the cockpit tub is also black ? . I will have to drill out for four 20mm guns under the nose . I'm not sure if I should cut open the side rear fuselage speed brakes or even drop the inner wing flaps ??? . It also appears that the crew enter the cockpit through the top of the canopy , Does part of the canopy simply slide back or is it hinged . 

I don't won't to get too carried away trying to improve the Skynight , especially seeing I don't have a lot of reference material to work from . I'll have to see what I can find on google ...

Greg , I'll have to keep an eye out for the F4D Skyray as well to complete the "Nightmare"

                                    John .

Nice finds on those kits,,I have been looking for a 1/72 USMC Skynight fro awhile,,Cannot wait to see yours.

Have not had time to finalize my figure yet,,Wife is having a garage sale so guess what I have been doing this week??

Nice work everyone looking forward to seeing the WIP pics!

And Gamera thanks for the comments!

Yes, Tonka your fig is looking very much the part being portrayed!!!

John, I have that same F3D kit in my stash!! Matchbox usually has a reputation for being rather basic but fitting well, hopefully that holds true!!

Looking forward to seeing all the F-80s going!  That recon version isn't one you see every day.  Cool choice.  I've always liked the look of the F-80/T-33.  I built the plated Testors version as a kid, and it has been a favorite since.

As for the Skynight, don't quote me, but I heard that the wheel wells of the F3D at that time were blue because they were just overpainted the flat black for Korea only.  Post war models were gray I believe, after they transitioned from the sea blue.  I think it was called an E/F-10 at that point though.  For the just released most wanted poll, my vote for 1/48th was a F3D.  By the results, I guess I was alone on that one!  The limited run version looks a bit out of my skill and price range, so an all plastic one would be nice.  Since RoG has the Matchbox molds, hopefully they will re-release the Skynight.  Any info that gets dug up on this plane, please share.  John, if you find decals for a 513 Skyray, please share your source.

Tonka, if you don't mind me asking, what years were you in San Antonio?  I didn't go through the RS here, I am originally from Florida.  A lot of fellow firemen, who are former Marines did though.  I was in from '88 to '98 myself.  The first 10 years were awesome, the last 6 months in made it easy to get out.  One of these days I gotta try and build an AAV-P7A1.  I still remember those beasts like yesterday.  They sure beat humping with a pack!

Cheers,

Greg

simpilot34

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.

CORSAIR!!!

Hehehe... Sorry I missed this earlier Richie!!!  Can't wait to see the progress pics on your Corsair!  John and Greg- Great work on your bent-wing birds, I love the smell of Corsairs in the morning.  Smells like... VICTORY!

I did a little bit of work on my M-26 today.  The turret shell is complete, and I did my best to replicate the seam on the major castings.  Most pics I saw had what appears to be a welded and ground seam on them, so I did the same here.  Before joining the halves, I gave the interior a quick coat of white.  I also finished assembling the gun/mantlet parts.  Where the back of the mantlet (please forgive me if I am calling these parts by the wrong name!) meets the turret front, there were some gaps present.  I stretched some kit sprue, and laid it along the edges and added some weld detail to them.  Not sure if this is historically correct, but it looked better than gaps to me.  The white styrene bit on the top of the mantlet was added to fill in a gap where the top center lifting eye attached to it.  Thanks for looking!

Your M-26 is looking good Frank , I think the weld seam looks quite good as well .

Not having built any armor before , am I to understand that the inside color of tanks is usually white ? ; Does this also include the underside of the crew hatch's . Apart from the Trumpeter M-4 Sherman in my stash , I'm awaiting the arrival of another dozen armor / military vehicles kits I have on order . It's probably best if I find out as much as I can , please keep the progress pic's and great work coming Frank .

                                            John .

Frank, your Pershing is looking great already!!! Really looking forward to seeing more!!!! I would like to put you on to a thread that I followed not long after he started the project. It is an entirely scratchbuilt 1/6th scale M26!!! This mutha is BIG!!!! Have a look!!!

/forums/t/124956.aspx

Pershing looks great!! I plan to get back onto mine later in week. Nice Work!!

Here are my pics of the final 120MM Marine Bar Gunner,,I call it " Memories of Home - Mail Call"

It is now complete and in the cabinet! Glad this build got to me finally finish it!

Notice his right eye has a small wound above it..

Tonka,outstanding finish mate!!!! He invokes the miserable conditions whilst having a break.

Tonka , excellent work on the 120mm figure ,

I've made a little more progress with the two PB-1W's

The wing and tail plane halves are glued together and tonight I'll glue the fuselage halves together .

I have also made a start on the Mach 2 PBM-5 Mariner ;

I dry fitted all the small fuselage windows , then airbrushed the interior green and once the paint had dried I glued the windows in .

I like the way Mach 2 have molded a nice recess  where the wing fits into the top of the fuselage ;

The fuselage halves are ready to glue together tonight as well , so everything is going along nicely .

                                    John .

Excellent progress John!!!! Looking forward to seeing progress on all your builds!!!!

John,

Very nice work,, wish my builds were as organized as yours. Look forward to seeing them come together!

kevin

Paints nearly done. will post photos tommorow. just been going over it with a torch to catch any imperfections. Hopefully have her finished by the weekend. God a hate blue lol

I picked up the new release Airfix 1/72 Mig-15

The kit has a nice cockpit with instrument decals , a wedge shape intake insert and North Korean markings for 1952 . I also like the camouflage scheme .

Should go nicely with the Yak-9P I have on order .

                                                John .

Scorpiomikey

Paints nearly done. will post photos tommorow. just been going over it with a torch to catch any imperfections. Hopefully have her finished by the weekend. God a hate blue lol

For those uninformed, torch refers to a flashlight. LOL saying torch and referring to a plastic model makes me cringe.

John, how is the detail on that Mig-15??? I saw that kit and was hesitant bout buying it. Any fit issues noticeable???

ooohhh hehe woops. didnt think of that. yes i meant a flashlight. ive got a little keyring one i use to go over paint and it picks up all the colour variations

Kevin, your figure is fantastic.  You can actually see exhaustion, and emotion in him.

Looking good John, I would love a report on the Airfix Mig too.  My LHS has them very cheap.  So, unless it is hideous, I plan on buying one.  Actually, I will probably pick up a couple of different Airfix kits.  I don't expect perfection, but I would like to support them because I applaud them (Airfix) for trying to put out affordable kits.  As the Chinese and Japanese prices skyrocket, they are trying a different route.  Enough of my soap box!  I just wish they would re-release their 1/48 Seafire FR.47.......

I am still trying to find an adapter for my airbrush, so I am at a standstill.

Looking forward to seeing your Corsair Mike, and with the others.  Back to Airfix, has anybody built their FAA Corsair in 1/72?

Cheers,

Greg

The Airfix 1/72 Mig-15 is a vast improvement over their original offering ; The new release has nicely scibbed panel lines all over .

The cockpit tub and seat look rather good , there's decals for the side consol panels as well as the main consol ; The landing gear struts look really nice , as I mentioned there is a insert for the front intake , the underwing tanks look good too . Hats off to Airfix for improving the Mig-15 kit  .

The Skyraider PE just arrived at the front door , there seems to be enough PE to possible do two AD Skyraiders , an AD-4N USMC and a AD-4Q for the Navy

My Korean War bird stash has grown to 30 kits , with six builds nearly finished and another four 50% completed , I better get cracking !!!!!!

                                                               John .

Welllllll now, looks like I might just have to pick one of those up!!! That awesome camo job did it for me too. Thanks for the valuable info John!!! I have the 1/72 HobbyBoss kit and it isn't bad either.

Two more close-up sprue pic's

HTH ,

                       John .

tonka- That figure is fantastic!  I sure do wish I could paint figures like that.  Well done!

Tonka, your Chosin Marine looks superb! very impressive results there!

Helo, I jus t dont know what to say, another one???? You are a one man GB here. I built a Monogram 1/48 MiG-15 in those markings two years ago. I am looking forward to seeing that one done.

stikpusher

Tonka, your Chosin Marine looks superb! very impressive results there!

Helo, I jus t dont know what to say, another one???? You are a one man GB here. I built a Monogram 1/48 MiG-15 in those markings two years ago. I am looking forward to seeing that one done.

Yeah ; I guess I took the concept of this Group Build to the "Extreme" , to say the least ,

I'm having lots of fun with my builds and watching what everyone else is doing , that's the important thing I suppose . The Korean Air War and Armor books are quite imformative with accounts of different battles , It's definatly a part of military history I haven't given much attention to in the past . 30 builds is rather ambitious but with a full twelve months build time , I'm fairly confident I can get built some of the more unusual types of aircraft used during the Korean War .

                              John .

These three kits will probably be the last additions to my Korean War bird stash

The mach 2 B-45/RB-45C Tornado has a lot more interior detail than any of the othe Mach 2 kits I have built .

There is a qiute extensive review of the B-45 Tornado on this site....

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B45.html

Only one set of decal markings are supplied for the Tornado , so I'll have to check around the net for pic's of an RB-45C which flew over Korea .

The special Hobby Fairey Firefly kit comes with markings for the Royal Navy HMS Glory , March 1953 , Korea

The OY-2 Stinson looks like a fun kit ; I just remembered I have a Revell PB4Y-2 Privateer and a F-82G Twin mustang on order , so that will definitly do me for the time being .

                                              John .

Helo,You are making us look bad!! Seriously,,great new additions, Cannot wait to see that stinson,,I just got the same kit , thinking of doing it in the OD version, since few USMC birds are that color.

Good luck on them!

I have to agree Tonka , the olive drab finish on the OY-2 Stinson is certainly unusual for a Marine Corps bird;

I'll go with the overall Sea Blue scheme , as I stocked up on 8 jars of Gunze H-326 [FS.15044] , I mistakenly bought quite a few paint jars of Gunze H-55 and H-25 to mix together for the aircraft builds with the Gloss Sea Blue finish but I wasn't happy with the color on two H03S-1 Helicopters , so I tried the H-326 instead and was a lot happier with the results . I can still use the H-55/25 jars of paint on the two PB-1W's and PBM Mariner , these three are fairly large aircraft , the last two coats on each I'll switch to the H-326 color .

I'm finally about to start decaling the A-26B Invader , two H03S-1's , two P-51D Mustangs and the Royal Navy Sea Fury ; I'm very happy with the paint results , so I shouldn't be long before I can get the first 6 finished build pic's posted , then I'll only have 36 builds to go !!!!!

                                                   John .