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

The Mach 2 PBM-5 Mariner is ready for  masking , looking at her front on , she takes an almost ... "Prehistoric" Bird Like  Appearance !!!

From the side she looks a little more graceful

The nose , spine and tail turrets are just sitting in place , I'll mask and spray them seperatly and mask over the openings in the aircraft .

I'm quite happy how this bird went together , I wish all Mach 2 kits went together as well as the PBM-5 Mariner .

                                John. 

Great stuff getting built.

I'd like to get a Mariner, but the price and reputation of Mach 2 has so far kept me hoping Hasegawa would add one to go with their Marlin kit, nice to know it is one of the better Mach 2 kits. 

Work has kept me away from the bench, but I did get the lower wings decaled on the Panther. Don't feel bad for me though, I've been sent to work in Hawaii for 3 weeks (2 weeks left).

Hi Aaron ,

The Squadron Signal PBM Mariner book has a few pages devoted to the P5M-1/2 Marlins as well as the P6M Seamaster . Mach 2 have the 1/72 scale Seamaster and I've been thinking about geting one , I'm also looking around for the Hasegawa Marlin kit . It would be good if I could buy both from the same shop / warehouse , shipping to Australia is starting to get quite expensive , especially for kits of a medium to large type of box $45-$60 an order.......OUCH !

Best of luck there in Hawaii ....

                                                John .

Aaronw

Don't feel bad for me though, I've been sent to work in Hawaii for 3 weeks (2 weeks left).

HAWAII!!!!!???? Oh you poor thing!!!!How ARE you coping???!!! grumble grumble

simpilot34

Aaronw:

Don't feel bad for me though, I've been sent to work in Hawaii for 3 weeks (2 weeks left).

HAWAII!!!!!???? Oh you poor thing!!!!How ARE you coping???!!! grumble grumble

Eveni'n gents.

I just got hold of an Academy 1/48 F-86f-30 that I will do in the sceeme of 2 sqn South African Air Force (SAAF) that was stationed at K-55 Osan during '53

It will be the standard bare metal with the SAAF "springbuck" roundals as per my F-51D posted earlier.

Pix to follow.

Theuns 

THeuns...that's a great kit, if you've not built one before. I'm hoping the Hasegawa kit lives up to its billing as well, but the Academy kit gave me no hassles, except for the decals, which I didn't use. Here's mine from a few years ago:

Mucker, is that 'The Paper Tiger'? I did her in 1/72 back in 1990 when I was on Guam. Did a nice foil job on her I must say. That my friend is a nice looking build you have there!!

Richie...yes, it is Paper Tiger. I built it after reading a book on shot down pilots and the Cpt. Fisher story was a remarkable one to me (being held in a Chinese Prison even after the stoppage of fighting). I think they were Superscale decals and they held up nicely.

Dang Mucker, that 86 looks fantastic !

The one I intend to do will be a little more "toned down" to look like the collour pix I have of the SAAF 86's

I have a pic of a SAAF 2 snq 86 with roundals ,but that still bears the USAF tail # of FU 466 and the yelow noseband .It must have been a replacement for a lost SAAF plane.It might just be an interesting option to do.

I did most of the cockpit last night and sofar all seems to fit OK. This will be a straight out the box simple FUN build, nothing spectacular.The fuselarge halves are a little less of a good fit, but I will beat it into submition LOL.

Theuns

Theuns

Dang Mucker, that 86 looks fantastic !

, that really is a beautiful model!  I would love to have one like that on my shelf.

After finishing my FW-190 for the RDIII GB this morning, I pulled out the Pershing to really crack on with it.  The hull (?) is mostly finished, needing only a few PE bits.  I replaced the glacis mounted gun with some brass tubing, and a PE cooling jacket.  I was going to use the PE headlight guards in the Eduard set, but didn't really want to fold them up.  So, I used the kit parts.  Next, onto the turret again!

Theuns: Sounds like a neat scheme! Any pictures of the subject matter that you can post?

Dang Frank you are FAST!!!

I'll have to hope over to the other GB to check out your work!

I have started work on my old Monogram F9F-5P Panther.  I am currently working on my build for the NMF II group build, a big Monogram B-36, but since the Panther will also need some NMF work, I decided to get this one ready before doing any painting to hopefully be more time efficient with painting prep time and such.

I've completed the cockpit and sealed up the fuselage on the Panther.  This will be OOB except for the addition of Eduard belts.  I was also not entirely satisfied with the kit decals, so when I saw a set of F9F decals at Squadron for real low, I think it was $1, I didn't even hesitate to buy them.  The scheme I'll go with will depend on which decal set I ultimately decide upon.

Hi Charles,

as with most of the old Monogram kits, the detail level is actually quite good.  Raised panel lines but I've never been a stickler on that.  The pit looks to be well detailed; I could have purchased an after market resin seat but that would have been a waste of $$$, the kit seat is already as good as any resin seat I've used on other builds.

Since my previous post I've managed to assemble the wings and attach to the fuselage.  I now have the dihedral setting.  Some seam work will be needed but nothing terrible.

Mucker, the 'Paper Tiger' I foiled was the old Testors 1/72 kit. From what I can remember it had a decent cockpit and went together really well. It was just a quickie build when I was in the USAF. They had deactivated the 43rd Bomb Wing and I asked the shop chief if it was ok to bring in a model. He said yeah that would be fine, not like we have anything to do lol. In a few days I had it painted, foiled and decaled. He said Wow that looks really nice!, when i finished. Must say I wish I could build that fast now!!

Steven, your Panther is looking great!!! I agree, the old Monogram kits were very detailed for their day, and can still hold their own. I too am not a stickler for the raised or engraved panel lines. I treat them the same usually.

Mucker , that's a very nice F-86 you built a few years ago .

Frank the Pershing is really taking shape now .

Aggieman , Excellent cockpit tub detail on your Monogram Panther .

I went to the LHS yesterday to stock up on some more Gunze H-58 Interior Green and picked up the Academy 1/72 F6F-3/5 Hellcat . I thought I would build one of the F6F-5K Drone Aircraft with the overall Red/Orange finish

I also broke out Italeri's 1/72 H04S-3 kit

I airbrushed the interior pieces of the F6F-5K and the H04S-3

I also made a start on the Short Sunderland , with some interior painting...

I was also keen to start one of the Transport Aircraft , so I airbrushed the interior pieces of Italeri's 1/72 C-47

                                 John .

John, I'm looking forward to your new creations!!!

Hi gents.

Here are a few pix of the SAAF F-86's in Korea. SAAF Tail # 609 is what most planes in theatre looked like.

The pic of tail # FU 466 is what I intent to model.The kit is the 1/48 ACAEDMY F86f-30

Theuns

Excellent choice of schemes, Theuns! I don't often see South African markings on a Sabre. I am fond of unique subjects like that!

Looking forward to her Theuns!!!

Did a little reading up on SAAF jet ops in Korea.The SAAF pilots all flew F-51's and did some "jet time" in USAF T-33's before going onto 86's

By that time the only other jets we had were Dehaviland Vapires back home and a solitary Me 262 two seat nightfighter

I got the fuselarge halves with all te "bits" joines today.Compared to some of the other builds this one will go fast.

Theuns

I beleive that the South Africans flew as part of the USAF 18th Fighter Bomber Wing.

Here is a pic of a recently restored F-86 at Yster Plaat AFB in Cape Town.The work was / is done only by volunteers with some sponsers for piant ect.

The plane is looking realy exelent! Well done to them.

I have done most of the seam filling on the fuselarge and wing joints.The gun access pannels were a little bit of a poor fit as they seem to be warped or something and sit to deep in the fuse sides. :-(

Otherwize not to bad. Pix to follow

I am still in two minds as how to display the model.I have not cut the slats off to droop them as if is was on the ground.So, I have to either do an in-flight setting or maybe the plane  just rotating for take-off.In both these settings the slats would be up.

Theuns

Here is a pic of it so far. You can see the poor fit on the gun access pannel.I will have to do a little more work on this area.The SAAF  86's didn't have the small fence on mid leading edge, the locator holes had to be filled.I used streched sprue and glue to do this and I am very pleased with how well it works vs. putty.

The joints on the wings are being filled using tamiya white acrylic aplied with a toothpick to minimuize the sanding later in such a confined area.

Theuns

I'm sorry to say I might have to back out on this GB, work is getting in the way with building models, and I dont have any desire to buile a Sabre anymore at this time. If I get the interest back and there still is time left for me to buld it I will. Sorry guys.

Theuns, the sabre is looking good.  I think the Hobbyboss 1/72 sabre came with SAAF markings.  The part about the 262 nightfighter sounds pretty interesting.  Was it an operational jet?  That would be a unique build!

When I went to decal my Corsair I realized that the decal sheet is incomplete/inaccurate.  I have trying to decide what tact I should take.  Make stencils and paint the markings on, or make my own decals?  The decals are out of production, so buying another set isn't going to happen.  Whatever I do, I better get cracking, I have less than 6 hours till the kids get out of school.

Cheers,

Greg

ww2psycho

I'm sorry to say I might have to back out on this GB, work is getting in the way with building models, and I dont have any desire to buile a Sabre anymore at this time. If I get the interest back and there still is time left for me to buld it I will. Sorry guys.

Sorry to hear about that, but I definately understand. Between work and Summer (beingo outside with the family all the time), I've had a hard time getting in any consistent model time. SOmetimes there are days and weeks between sessions. It's hard to keep the mojo flowing when this happens.

When your time frees up a bit, find an old episode of Dogfights: Mig Alley on YouTube and your Sabre juices will start flowing again!

Cheers!