Well now, things have been kind of quiet around here. But after New Years, I suspect they will perk up again. Helo, nice job on the RF-8s. I have been wanting to build one ever since I saw "13 Days". But I don't know of any in 1/48, my preferred scale.

Draken, I do hope that the heir apparent is not so much of a PITA as his father and grandfather were. I can understand posturing to placate the old hard liners, but perhaps... just maybe, a new possibility for a better future exists there.

Gamera, I would not place too much stock in on screen generals. It all depends upon time, place, and opportunity. After all Jim Gavin became a General and commanded the 82nd Airborne at age 36. Mind you nepotism was not at play there, but... I am sure he is no Jim Gavin.

Anyways, during my Christmas shopping today,I did make a side stop by a LHS Train shop that carries Floquil paints. Tonite, I picked up some Floquil Old Silver to try out and pulled my F-86 off the shelf and began cleaning up the paint errors on my initial NMF attempt. So now my F-86 is now off the sidelines and back on the bench. She wont be done this year, but some time in January is quite possible.

Gregbbear

Glad things are going good for you over there Andy! 

One less weirdo dictator in the world.  That can't be a bad thing.  At least we don't have to worry about NK becoming a radical islamic state.

Cheers,

Greg

Well I hope he's a little more stable than his father. I was watching one of the news shows and an US general was commenting on Jong-Il making his son a four star general at the age of 27.  The US general  said it took him 30 years of service to make it to his own rank.

John: Great job on the RF-8, I've done a few small conversions but nothing that drastic!

Greg ,

Sorry for not posting pic's of the set you were asking about  ; I selfishly indulged and posted pic's about my other builds .

Here's what Falcon offer with their Triple Conversion FJ-3 Fury , C-2A Greyhound and AD-5W Skyraider ;

With the AD-5W vacuform conversion all you get are the two radom halves and the rear canopy section .

My build only stalled because I couldn't find any tail marking decals to suit .

I started a Korean War AD-4D Drone controller , I'll go back and see if I can find those WIP pic's

Don't hesitate to ask about any of the other Vacuform sets I have , I'm all too happy to post pic's of what Falcon and Airmodel offer .

                                                        John .

John, thanks for the information.  While I was searching the net for information on Falcon sets, I found your original thread on the Greyhound.  That is the set I am thinking about ordering.  How do the FJ-3 and AD-5W parts look? 

The Skyraider book I bought is really nice.  I just wish it had some scale drawings of the ECM, radar, and searchlight pods the AD carried.  When I finally get to my AD builds, it will be invaluable!  I still plan on building the AD-4N from VMC-1 USMC Korea, with the Hase kit, and a AD-3 of VMA-121 USMC using my newly aquired Tsukuda kit.  Last night, a treasure trove of Korea era kits went for pennies on the dollar on ebay.  I wish I would have put in a bid before I went to bed.

Hobbyboss re-released their Panther as an F9F-3.  Only $10,99USD from Luckymodel.  That is less than an old Hase.  Blackbird decals has a cool F9F sheet out.  A -2(USMC Korea), a -2P(Navy Korea), -8 Cougar, and a yellow -2KD drone controller.

Anything else new in the modeling world????

Cheers,

Greg

Gregbbear

Thanks John!  What my plans were for the F-86A, would be to use the wings from Matchbox, possibly wheel wells from Airfix, use the Airfix fuse and modify like in the FSM article.  Since I want to display with canopy open, I want to cut off the Matchbox windscreen, so I don't have to modify the Airfix one.

Andy, and John, you guys have used Falcon conversions before?  What do you think?  I am interested in the triple conversion with the AD-5W (along with a FJ-3 Fury!).  Has anybody had any experience or seen one before?  The Falcon site doesn't have a picture of it.

Thanks guys.

Cheers,

Greg

It's interesting that you mention Vacuform kits Greg , These past couple of months I have stocked up on quite a few Vacuform sets .

I've had a couple of successful RF-8 Crusader builds and some others that didn't quite work out ...

Falcon provide two complete fuselage front sections for the RF-8 , however I decided to try and use as much of the Hasegawa F-8 front intake , nose wheel well and cockpit section as possible ;

This ment there was some fancy cutting and filing and I used lots of sanding sticks but because the vacuform plastic in quite thin , I thought I would have trouble with the fuselage join under the front intake ,

Lots of plastic and glue on the inside to hold everything together .

I tried to keep everything flush on the outside to minimize the amount of tamiya putty needed ,

It came together okay in the end ;

Finished results ...

Underside view ...

Second RF-8 Build...

The C-2 Grayhound didn't quite work out as there appears to be some issue with the tail section . I think everything should be flush across the top of the rear stabilizers , Falcon has the top of the fuselage sitting higher , I don't think this is correct . With the C-1 Trader I only use the bottom section of the vacuform fuselage halves but I made the small round fuselage windows slightly too big , so it doesn't look quite right .

I really should of use both fuselage halves on the two seat Corsair , I tried making plugs to extend the length of the  fuselage and it didn't work out all that well .

I've since bought all three of those vacuform conversions to do again along with the TF-102 , F-106B , TF-8A and F8U-3 , two C-117(RD4-8) , C-140 and the two Korean War vacuform sets of the P2V-5 Neptune and AF-2W Guardian .

So basically the vacuform plastic is quite thin compared to the injected molded kit plastic  , this can make it a little difficult sometimes getting both sections glued together . I wasn't  too upset with myself about the two Navy COD builds not working out , it was a good learning curve despite putting a few hours into both builds.

Some plastic strip in various widths and thickness will help a lot , such as Evergreen Strip Styrene , not just for where the vacuform plastic joins the kit plastic but also for the long fuselage joins on both vacufom fuselage halves .

Masking the vacuform canopies is even more of a challenge , I'm struggling a little with a Yak-9P vacuform canopy , I've been cutting the masking tape into thin strips and fitting into position but I can't cut the tape while it's sitting in position for fear of cutting into the plastic , so I have had to mark the tape with a pencil and remove the strip , cut it to length and re-place it back on the canopy ; I'ts a little frustrating so far .

Andy may have had some more successful vacuform builds , it would be interesting to know what projects you have tackled Andy .

                                                     John .

Glad things are going good for you over there Andy! 

One less weirdo dictator in the world.  That can't be a bad thing.  At least we don't have to worry about NK becoming a radical islamic state.

Cheers,

Greg

Saw the news last night after a long day at Universal Studio amusement park in Orlando and I thought about our friend Andy in SK.  Wondered about SK folks reaction to the news... out partying or on high alert like Andy said. 

Hopefully one day we can finally withdraw our troops from SK... we have one too many military bases around the world at American taxpayers' expense.   Right now there is 28,000 American troops in SK if I am correct. 

Picked up my wife at Incheon this afternoon/evening!  Happy as heck, she brought more models!  And best of all, the most recent issue of FSM!  Who can't like FSM?  Anyway, she brought the big kits with her this time:  Heller C-121, Academy SB-17, Mach 2 PBM Mariner, Mach 2 AJ-2 Savage (Two of them?  I guess that I really AM that stupid.), and an Academy B-24 D to be used as a parts kit for good details on the PB4 Y-2.  I'm thinking that maybe the engines, gear, interior are all that's going to be needed.  I MIGHT get freaky and add the bomb bay.  I wouldn't be using the bombs, though.  And I left my photoflash bombs from the B-36 at home.  Or maybe not.  Better check my spares box here, but I'm pretty sure that they're in the states.  Too difficult to explain to the wife how and where to find them.  Just not worth it.

The C-121 looks just the way I remember it when I built the two WV-2's, no frills.  This time, it's getting weight in the nose!  The SB-17 looks NICE!  Once again, not using the weapons bay, and definitely not gonna use the bombs.  I guess that leaves more for the remaining USN/USAF ground pounders that need built.  The boat looks really interesting!  And I guarantee that this thing is going to be mega fun to paint... Well, not so much.  The Savage looks, uhm, meager?  Uh, like it needs MORE!  Of EVERYTHING!  Cripes, Helo, how in the heck did you get motivated to do that sucker!?!?  And the instructions on this and the Mariner are just shameful!  Speaking of which, I haven't taken it out of the interior bag, but the Mariner is looking very, errrr, Mach 2-ish?  If you've never had the misfortune of building one of these mistakes, they aren't quite up to the level of craftsmanship of a short run resin kit.  And keep in mind, they're production quality kits.  It's like the French CAD guys just raised the white flag without even trying.  Well, I suppose it goes without say, being that they're French, and all.  Hey Helo?  What colour is it supposed to be?  The Academy Liberator looks nice and will be a good source of parts.  I'm particularly looking at the landing gear and interior details.  The Privateers were used on flare missions over the peninsula proper, flying in Dark Sea Blue.    It would be kinda cool to have it on my ceiling with the bay doors open and noting left in the bay.  Still better than if they were closed.

In international news; Crazy uncle Kim Jong-il up north of me apparently died on Saturday (my time) from a heart attack.  Of course, suspicions abound in Seoul that it wasn't REALLY a heart attack.  It coulda been his son!  Or a general!  Or the butler!  Or Mrs. Peacock in the library with the rope!  Seriously, the nations armed forces are on the highest alert one step from war status 2 (Defcon 4 for us Murcans).  No one's really expecting anything until the period of mourning is over, and even then, no one's expecting much of anything.  Certainly not an invasion, maybe (very outside chance) an artillery battle or two, Naval gunfire on the NLL, but certainly not a military coup.  No one's REALLY sure who's in power as of yet.

So I'm going to be sleeping peacefully, as should the rest of the world, because nothings going to happen anytime soon.  I've got my models, my wife, my cat, my job, and I'm happy as heck. 

stikpusher

 

the_draken:

 

KIM JONG-IL IS DEAD!

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-19/kim-jong-il-north-korea-s-dear-leader-dictator-dead-at-70-yonhap-says.html

 

 

 

He's so lonely...

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0W5w691w0jE&rel=1" mce_src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0W5w691w0jE&amp;rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed>

'); // -->

 

Say it right, "Ronery..."

the_draken

KIM JONG-IL IS DEAD!

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-19/kim-jong-il-north-korea-s-dear-leader-dictator-dead-at-70-yonhap-says.html

 

He's so lonely...

Pretty interesting. Keep us posted on the perspective from over there. Of course, in a modeling context. Maybe we'll be selling them FA-18s by the end of the decade?

KIM JONG-IL IS DEAD!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-19/kim-jong-il-north-korea-s-dear-leader-dictator-dead-at-70-yonhap-says.html

Thanks John!  What my plans were for the F-86A, would be to use the wings from Matchbox, possibly wheel wells from Airfix, use the Airfix fuse and modify like in the FSM article.  Since I want to display with canopy open, I want to cut off the Matchbox windscreen, so I don't have to modify the Airfix one.

Andy, and John, you guys have used Falcon conversions before?  What do you think?  I am interested in the triple conversion with the AD-5W (along with a FJ-3 Fury!).  Has anybody had any experience or seen one before?  The Falcon site doesn't have a picture of it.

Thanks guys.

Cheers,

Greg

Helo,

The key difference is that the A had flaps and less chord, while the F had no flaps and larger overall area and longer chord.  Really, the best way to do it is to follow the FSM article, but if you don't want the flaps down or forward, just leave the wing together, don't modify, and should be okay.

No worries Greg ;

I haven't had much luck finding any low viz Korean insignias like on the UH-1H and UH-60 .

I was looking at the KF-16C Falcon decal sheet which has low viz markings but the insignia is slightly different on both helicopters than what's on the KF-16C .

I did find another pic of a Korean Navy Blackhawk on airlinners.net

This UH-60 has hi-viz insignias on the tail boom ; Revell's HH-60G has similar ESS pylons in their kit , so I guess this version might be an option ?

Andy , like Greg I also was thinking of kit-bashing the Matchbox F-86A with Heller F-86F kit ;

I layed the mathcbox wing over the Heller wing , it appears that the Matchbox wing would sit slightly sweept forward than the F-86F wing . So what's the main difference between the wings on the "A" and "F" versions.

                  John .

Thanks for the heads-up on the Jackson, Andy!  It will probably be a long time before I get to it.  The price was right, and it doesn't take up much space anyways.

John, didn't you post a picture of an AD-5N in Korea earlier?  I can't remember which page.  If so, could you repost it, and if you don't mind, save it in my files.

Cheers,

Greg

Draken Andy: You put Tenex on your decal!?! Well, I suppose it did soften it and the model underneath too. I'm surprised it didn't eat it's way out of the plastic MicroSet bottle!

Used to use the stuff some years ago, and I know some people swear by it, but it's just too powerful for me. I find the Testor's red label cement to be more than enough for my needs.

Heya Gregbear!

Here'a link to my web page on building that Nitto Jackson.  It's _NOT_ fun!  I know that Helo got the Armourfast and did a good job of it, even though Armourfast kits are pretty bare bones.  I hope you have as much fun with it as I did.  Ha ha ha!

http://sites.google.com/site/modelingthekoreanwarin172scale/home/ground-vehicles-of-the-korean-war/allied-armour/us-fighting-vehicles/m-36-jackson

While you're at it, cruise around the site for a while.  I haven't updated it in a few months, I've been busy with work and what not.  I've built a number of kits since the last update (including my galaxy of shooting stars!) and I've reached the image limit, so I don't know quite what to do on updating it.  I was trying to make it a reference for other builders doing what Helo34 and I are doing.  We're building everything possible that fought in the Korean war but in 1/72 (1/76) scale.

ARGH! 

Just found out what happened to my last 1/2 oz. of Tenx7R!  Went to apply decals to my F86A-5 and added a bit of Micro-Set to the initial decal... 

In the words of Mr. Bill (of Saturday Night Live fame), "OOOOOOOHHHHHHH NNNNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

That's where it had gone, the MicroSet bottle.  I will now use a "THANKS TO THE GODS!) extra set of decals for that particular marking...

Hello fellas, still lurking, and enjoying all of your builds.

Draken, I like the F-86's.  I have a couple of A's I recently aquired.  With your glowing recommendations (sarcasm), I took a look at what's in the box.  Totally agree that it is going to take some work.  Someday, when I have time to build......  I love the look of the A's with the black and white stripes, so I too will have to play the hand we are dealt.  I was looking at my Airfix F model, and it matches up to the Matchbox pretty good.  I was thinking I might kit bash the two.  Plus, I have a few sets of F-86 photo-etch to add .

As for aquiring...  I have picked up some cool stuff.  At the LHS, I got a couple of Italeri helos.  I got a 1/48 H-47 with floats, and 1/72 H-19 with floats.  Not applicable here, but while I was there, I got the new Airfix P-40, and the Dragon LVT-4 with Jeep.  My family is going to regret forcing me to get a "smart phone", since I now have an ebay application!  I can get myself in real trouble with that.  On break between classes during the day, I've managed to snag some cool F9F 1/72 decals, a Nitto M36 Jackson, and a couple of Skyraiders.  I am dying to get back to building!

Get busy guys, I am looking forward to my next installment!

Cheers,

Greg

Comments on the Matchbox/AMT kit:

Ancient and from a known manufacturer it has no interior or exterior details to speak of, and those that exist are major detractors.  The trenched panel lines and overblown canopy make it even more toy-0like now than when it was produced in the late sixties.  Having said that, it's the only game on the market besides a major undertaking of a conversion.  The kit is available currently on ebay ranging anywhere from $3.47 (lowest I'd seen as a starting charge) to over $50.00 [all in USD] which is FAR too much to pay even if you want it for collecting.  It's produced in all versions in two colors of a pail baby boy blue and light aircraft grey plastics.  The plastic is THICK!  The clear parts are also incredibly thick, and surprisingly, despite the fact that the incredibly obvious -A canopy windscreen is represented, it's barely noticeable due to the fact that the  framing is so deep.

This is a detailer's dream, because it's such a blank slate...  The jet exhaust is an incredibly overthick cylinder.  The steel would be approximately a foot and a half thick if it were made in real life!  The intake has _NO_ detail!  The only detail in the cockpit is the radio equipment aft of the headrest.  Everything else is shite.  There is NO control column, NO side consoles, NO instrument panel.  ANYTHING you do is welcomed detail.

There's no wing detail, gear bays, gear, wheels, pitot tube, and CERTAINLY not any underwing stores.  These babies flew with underwing tanks at all times!  The scale pitot tube provided is as thick as my arm if brought to size, and the gear bays, gear bay covers, and gear have absolutely no detail at all. Flat.  Nada.

Is this kit hard to build?  If you want a GOOD looking kit, it can provide it's own little foibles, if you want a basic F-86A airframe, no flash or anything, yeah, it'll do.  No issues.  If you want a PRECISE F-86A or RF-86A, BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  Pull the other one, it's got bells on!  This thing is the biggest joke on the market.  Having said that, it's not bad if you want to do an OOB in order to practice on your finishing skills or have a quick build for a contest or to fill a hole in a collection.

Draken: Oohhhhhhh, very nice work there!!!

John: Yeah the UH-1 looks sharp, but I have to agree with SP that the Blackhawk in camo and gear looks really cool.

More Sabre WIPs...

The Matchbox/AMT F-86A and (modified to an) RF-86A:

The Standard A before decals, final finishing, wing tanks, and weathering:

The same kit with additional parts as supplied by the Fujimi RF-86F kit:

Note that the canopy for some reason fits better on this kit than the other.  I also decided to use the stand for the RF so that the cameras in the ports would be more visible (John, if you're going to do this conversion, you've GOT to do the cameras right, looks SO AWESOME!) when displayed.

This was as close as my camera would allow me to get.  Please note that the RF-86A _DOES_ in fact have the radio compass aerial as required by FEAF during the KW.  It didn't take a whole lot to make, and they are normally a rust red or cream white.

Mmmmm, that Blackhawk in Euro I scheme with the ESS pylons and weapons... that looks sharp!

That's really great info you posted Andy , I liked the story about the mechanic taking the Sabre for a ride .

My Matchbox 1/72 F-86A Sabra arrived the other day , the kit looks okay except I have the same problem with the decals as with some other older kits , in that the protective paper has stuck itself to the decal sheet .

So I will have to search around for some aftermarket F-86A decals .

I saw a 1/48 H-19 Chickasaw on ebay and put a bid of $30 down but it sold for $31 . I could of bought it outright for $45 but the postage was about $20 as well , which would have made it quite an expensive kit.

There's a couple more 1/48 H-19 with floats on ebay and the bids are at $10 at the moment , I don;t know if I really want one in this scale , maybe I'll wait for Revell to reissue the kit ?

I did win another Williams Bros C-46 Commando on ebay for $20 , so that cheered me up a lot .

I found a pic on the net of a UH-1H Rok Huey ...

I have stacks of 1/72 Italeri UH-1D kits in the stash as well as 9 sets of those Fireball model works Huey ASE update sets with all those really nice resin engine heat shields and upturned (toilet bowl) exhaust ,

I have the necessary bits and pieces for a RoK Huey except the low viz markings ?

I did see a couple of pic's on Prime Portal of a RoK UH-60P with a similar camouflage scheme as the USAF  Euro one scheme ...

But it looks like the Rok may have already replaced the UH-60 with Longbow Apache's , so I'm not sure if any of thier UH-60's are still in service ?

Anyone know where I could find a decal sheet with RoK low viz markings , I probably just need insignia's I suppose .

I have a partially built AH-64D Apache under the bench , perhaps I could get motivated and finish her and a Huey leading up tp Christmas .

                           John .

Yes when I was a kid I remember that Revell had one or two of their Iowa class ships in the KW fit with the catapults gone and a couple H-19s instead.

I MIGHT be getting into the whole ship thing soon...  The local department store (Lotte Mart) has a bunch of Academy kits and they have the USS New Jersey (WWII) for 23 bucks!  This is one heckuva deal for that kit.  I don't like ships, and don't really get into them too much.  But this is almost too good to pass up.  All I'd have to lay off of it is the cranes and aircraft launching equipment (New Jersey had a helo during Korea), and it'd be almost completely up to spec for the Korean War.

Tempting...  VERY tempting...

I'm glad you guys like the LAV. I am really happy with how it turned out. Draken, that looks like a LCP(R) to me. 

First off,  yes John!  The RoK Army is still using Hueys.

Second, some resource pics for y'all!

Can anyone identify the type of boat?  Looks a lot like an LCI-1 or such.  Milicast has several options in 1/72-6 scale.

I didn't know that (as well as the TARZAN Bomb with the USAF) the Navy used guided missiles against targets.  Theirs were converted F6F Hellcats.  Anyone find any markings I'd be glad to build one!

Here's some stuff from the Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine!

And some stuff on the Albatross.  There's bloody little in the Squadron book, I'm rather disappointed that I spent the money on it.  This is EVERYTHING they have on it in the Korean War.  The book on Covert ops in the KW had a lot more on the aircraft used...

Awesome LAV Stik ... and along with that Gun jeep you built for the weekend madness GB , both vehicles look superb , especially the weathering... . I also really like all the gear hanging from the LAV .

Andy , I'm just curious if the ROK are still flying any Huey's ?

I was looking through my U.S. Navy helicopter stash and found the Hobby Boss SH-60F with those really cool "Eight Ball" decals ;

However the markings are dated for 1992 Osan , unfortunatly too early to include for a modern KW build .

                  John