stikpusher

Pepper, you know you really throw me for a loop with your builds and finishes. I catch myself looking twice at them to realize that you mark the same build differently on opposite sides. But I am more partial to the left side markings- I prefer bikini clad women to Hobos... I deal with too many hobos every day at work... and not enough bikini clad women... I need a beach assignment...  BTW the tank on the left wing station rack is napalm, not fuel. If you look at where the filler cap goes, you can see it has a raised fuse molded in, rather than a flat cap for a fuel tank... and I do love that fire (a little Col Kilgore in my soul)...

Stik, I prefer the ladies to the gents any day of the week, although this one is not nearly as comely as those seen on WW II bombers - particularly the bomb group that flew B-24's in the Pacific (the Group that had 'The Dragon and his Tail') ...

Too bad the lady couldn't have been on the right side ... I do prefer the colors there as opposed to the very basic red on the tail of the left ... oh well, what's one to do ? ...

And you're absolutely right - I mis-called the big tank under the left wing ... napalm it is ... I forgot that F-80's (P-80) were used mostly in the ground support/attack role in Korea, hence the napalm ...

I took a look at the helo again this afternoon and have decided to put off building it until I do one more shiny airplane - I've the Tamiya (1/48) Mig-15bis (the clear version) that I'm going to build up next ...

One question for the group ... the Tamiya instructions call for the interior to be "Light Blue" ( Hellblau) ... pictures I've seen of Soviet made aircraft show interiors to be a greenish blue color ... does anyone have a handle on what color to paint the interior ? ... this is not only for just the cockpit, but everything that is considered to be 'interior' ...

Thanks,

pepper

Pepper, you know you really throw me for a loop with your builds and finishes. I catch myself looking twice at them to realize that you mark the same build differently on opposite sides. But I am more partial to the left side markings- I prefer bikini clad women to Hobos... I deal with too many hobos every day at work... and not enough bikini clad women... I need a beach assignment...  BTW the tank on the left wing station rack is napalm, not fuel. If you look at where the filler cap goes, you can see it has a raised fuse molded in, rather than a flat cap for a fuel tank... and I do love that fire (a little Col Kilgore in my soul)...

John, no worries about the back step and new approach on the Navy jets. I think in hind sight it would have been better to do mine that way as well. That AEW Fort is looking sweet! Very unusual to see a Fort not in OD or NMF. A suggestion for your Skyraider- use some old sprue of the appropriate thickness for your radar and searchlight pods. I know it 1/48 which kits I could suggest for robbing parts off of to get stuff like that, but not in 1/72 that you work in.

Gamera

Hey Pepper: Looks great!

I like the idea of the 2 in 1 though I'd probably just built two kits though.

Hi Gamera, thanks for the compliment ... as you can see by the very first picture, this was the 'Kit from Hell' ... one was enough this time :...

Heya, stik - how 'bout using the first picture of 591 for the front page ? ... kit is a Revellogram, circa 'old' ... 1/48 scale, Aeromaster decals ...

Thanks,

pepper

Hey Pepper: Looks great!

I like the idea of the 2 in 1 though I'd probably just built two kits though.

Oooops !! ...

The F-80C (FT-876) was from the 36FBS/8FBG, Suwon, Korea, 1952 as well as the 'Spirit of HOBO' ...

pepper

Hi Friends:

I've finally finished the Shooting Star ... being and staying sick is for the birds, sez me ... hopefully, no issues as I now finish the Bell 47 helo ...

This is a shot of the fuse after I'd glued in a few styrene splice plates to hold it all together ... I don't like these 4 part fuselages ... next time, I'm going to glue both right sides together, then both left sides ...

Lockheed F-80C 49-591 "Spirit of Hobo' Nose Art ... The nose art commemorates the flying of the 50,000th sortie of the Korean War ...

Flown by Lt. Warren Guibor of the 80 FBS/8FBG, Suwon, Korea, October 1952 

Lockheed F-80C 49-876 Nose Art ...

Straight on shot showing my normal '2 for 1' build ... note the Misawa tank on the left side with a standard tank on the right ... also, the left side is carrying an extra fuel tank with the right being 'bombed up' ...

Enjoy !! ...

pepper

Hey John, those are looking really nice!

Well , call me fussy , but I decided to respray both the banshee and Panther . so I gave them a couple of light coats of Tamiya's rattle can AS-12 silver ;

I'll let the paint dry for a couple of days and then mask the wing leading edges and go with the gloss sea blue again . Speaking of gloss sea blue , I finally managed to get on of the two (B-17) PB-1W AEW Fortress into the spray booth and have some paint laid down on her ...

This one has the roof radome , while her sister ship has an overall beige color belly radome . Which I should get done this week as well .

I found an old 1/72 Monogram AD-5 Skyraider in the stash and I'm thinking of putting her together as an AD-5N , like in the pic I posted a couple of days ago . I'll have to try and scratch build one of those fat looking AN/APS-31 radar pods and a search light /flare dispenser pod as well .

                      John .

Yes, this morning was very productive... finishing those last little bits on two was a real nice feeling...

WOW! Beautiful work on the Panther... you are really on the roll.  French carrier and now this!  Bet it made you feel good today. 

Stikpusher - you're in a finishing mood here today aren't you???

Excellent work as always and as I said I just love blue airplanes!

Your finished F9F-5 Panther looks great Stik

The white frame lines around the canopy make the aircraft stand out  and I like the yellow bands around the bombs .

Awesome build .

                     John .

Very nicely done, stik ...

pepper

John I am glad to hear that the stocking idea worked.They work real good for buffing out the final shine on boots. Some very nice Ladies in Blue on your workbench.

I am calling my F9F done for here. The Monogram F9F-5 in the markings of VF-192 aboard USS Oriskany (fictional USS Savo Island) as shown in the Academy Award winning Korean War movie, The Bridges at Toko Ri.

I had overlooked the shape of the inner wing pylon , so I checked my A-1 Skyraider Warbird Tech book and saw this pic ;

The pylon does appear to be staright at the front and rear .

My marking will also be AK , VMA-121 , Pohang Korea .

Here's another pic of an AD-2 on the ramp at Pyongtaek 1952 along with a AD-5N , side by side Skyraider which looks to have the slanted inner wing pylon carrying the long external fuel tank ;

I was thinking of an AD-5 build but I would need to find one of those AN/APS-31 radar pods for the starboard inner pylon wing .

                        John .

John,

IMHO, I'd go with doing the camera panes as being gloss black, maybe a bit of a silver lens glint.  That's all I'd do with those.

Love that Airfix bird!  I've been told, although I've found no proof of it, that the inner wing heavy stores pylons should be a straight up and down not the forward slanted ones on the Airfix kit.  Double check that, or someone else on the group will tell us, and we can both do them right. 

SP & John: They both look great to me!

Hi Andy ;

I'm also wondering about the nose camera squares ;

Should I paint those fllat black or just leave them as is ?

I also gave the Airfix AD-3 Skyraider a buff with the stocking and she is looking a lot better too ;

                                   John .

Yep, John.  USMC a/c are generally a lot more worn and weathered than USN a/c.  Particularly if operating from a shore installation.  As an example, the Corsairs, Tigercats, and Skyknights from the KW were HEAVILY weathered.  It would leave no doubt in my mind to presume that their Banshees would also appear that way.  I say go for it!

Well Stik , I took your advice and located some stocking / panty hose , a nice black pair .....'very seductive'

And I had a go at buffing the Hasegawa/minicraft 1/72 USMC F9F-2 Panther ;

Your idea has worked quite well on the panther , leaving a nice smooth surface ....

However there is an issue with the Airfix 1/72 F2H-2P USMC Banshee ;

After buffing originally with the paper towel it rub the blue paint from a lot of the raised panel lines , which now shows the underlying silver undercoat .

I'm in two minds as what to do ?

 The panty hose buffing did smooth the paint finish and the banshee takes on a slightly weathered look with the silver panel lines , which kinda looks okay ;

But would Marine Banshee's be that weathered ???

I'm not sure wether to leave it as is and add the decals or mask the silver leading edges and re-paint .

What do you guy's think !

                                 John .

Thank you John. I am pretty sure that Red has been a standard color on USN aircraft for the inner sides of Speed Brakes, Dive Brakes and Flaps from the SBD up until the new TPS paint schemes. Try buffing the rough paint jobs with an old stocking/panty hose from a lady in your family. That stuff has a good shining property to it.

I airbrushed on the final color this morning. White on the canopy frame. Now I just need to go touch up some stuff and attach the last few bits later on today when it cools down. The sun is blazing into my work area right now...

She's looking good Stik ;

The satin coat looks great and really hides the decal carrier film around the markings .

I noticed that the insides of the speed brakes are painted red , I'll have to do that to my 1/72 Hasegawa F9F Panther .

Infact I have hesitated putting the decals on both the Panther and Banshee builds as I'm not happy with my airbrushing efforts . I ended up with a slightly rough gritty feel to the paint finish and I tried buffing with some kitchen paper towel , which only improved the paint finish slightly at best .

I'll just have to bite the bullet and spray them again .

                                        John .

No worries there Pepper

Today's progress so far... first I applied a wash of Promodeler Dark Dirt, then removed excess with a damp cloth once it dried...

Then based upon a few clips of Bridges at Toko Ri I watched last night, I decided upon a custom mix topcoat-2 parts Humbrol Satin to 1 part Aeromaster Semi Gloss. The latter is rather glossy, so I figured a higher proportion of Satin to tone it down. In the movie, the Panthers have a slight sheen, but the paint appears comparatively dull some USN aircraft of the same era. Clean, but most likely sun and salt air toned down. So here is my attempt at replicating that look...

[quote user="stikpusher"]

Where's that F-80 PK?

Been under the weather the past several days and haven't set up the P-80C for photo taking ...

Later today, for sure, and then on to the helo ...

pepper

SP: She looks fantastic, though I've always been partial to planes in blue. And the pilot is starting to look a lot like William Holden

pepper kay

Very nice work on the Panther, stik ...

My Shooting Star is now finished and I'll post pictures later this day and will call it finished ...

pepper

Where's that F-80 PK?

Nearing the finish line with my Panther. Today all fiddly bits except the pilot's step attached.. gear doors and actuators, speed brakes and actuators.... and some detail work on the pilot. I need to go back and fine tune his helmet but its getting there.

Now I just need to do some washes, a top coat, and then the final bits...

Thanks for the confidence, John! 

As far as the Airfix Bedford trucks, this is a kind of interesting story:  Almost all of the new 1/72-6 scale ground vehicles from Airfix (M-113, Bedford trucks, Land Rovers) are all old JB Models molds from Oz.  The last decade has seen so many companies fold and sell, lease, trade, their molds as well as some kits that are shared between companies.  Revell-Germany/Italeri, and Hobbycraft/Academy are examples of sharing, while Revell-Germany/Matchbox and Italeri/Esci are examples of buyouts.  It gets confusing trying to trace the origin of some of the kits.  The OL>D Hasegawa/Minicraft are also sold under the Revell and AMT names.  The old Frog molds went EVERYWHERE!  Heller, Revell, Eastern Express, you name it.  And even the newer kits (Monogram and Revell-Germ.) are being sold under two company names.

Anyway...  Enjoy those kits!

Hi Andy ;

I'm sure you will get those rotor blades re-glued back to the hub .

I was looking at my Amodel HUP-1/HUP-2 kit , I take it that you added those side fin/stabilizers on your HUP-2 version . The instructions mention the U.S.Navy uses the HUP helicopter from 1951 , it's strange how there doesn't seem to be a lot of pic's around of them that early .

On another note I bought this kit today ;

IBG Fire truck ...

I also bought the Airfix 1/76 Bedford QLT and QLD trucks kit , I;m not sure if these (3) were used in the Korean War but I've had an obsession with 1/72 trucks of late , so I bought them anyway .

The CMK resin GMC 353 conversion sets arrived today , Clubmobile and Compressor truck . So I can start them anytime .

With those new Airfix Bedford QLT and QLD trucks , Airfix now supply clear pieces for the windscreen and cab doors ....nice touch ; I just spent two evenings cutting and filing little pieces of clear sheet plastic for windscreens and cab windows for the older Airfix Refulling Trucks and Recovery truck set . It took a lot longer to do than I thought and my fingers are sore from holding small pieces of plastic while I filed them to size .....ouch .

The new bedford QL trucks have the U.S. white star on the sides and reference to Northern Europe 1944/45

No worries if they didn't appear in the Korean War , I'll build them anyway for the display cabinet .

                                  John

Thanks John!

Overall dark blue it is!

On a sad note, my HUP-2 was nearly ready for decals, the only thing left was to sit overnight so that the gear could firm up.  My cat decided to test the rotor blades with his teeth and broke two of the off. Yep, they were just as bad an attachment point as I'd thought.  Now to get them jigged up and superglued...

Stik , excellent WIP on the F9F Panther

Andy , I only have a couple of reference pic's I was going to use on my future Privateer build ...

Slightly off-topic , it was my dads 80th birthday earlier this week and the family pitched in and we bought him a 14 mega pixel digital camera . He went outside to take some pic's of the house and when we uploaded them into the computer there was this unidentified object in the corner of one pic . I instantly thought it was some type of UFO and I had visions in my head of making millions from the pic but it turned out to be a bird .........

                                John .