John, sorry about your computer issues :(

Stik, I'm using the new DS belt tracks, first time on these for me.

Andrew

Gamera- Sweet looking K1A1, I like it very much!  Paint looks perfect from here.

Greg- Those Mustangs are coming along very well, great progress!

Andrew- WHOA!!!  That's a lotta parts, yikes!

Finally made some progress on the MiG this weekend.  I finished up the tailpipe, spending a lot of time getting the joints out of it.  Gave it a light coat of metal, then some sooty exhaust.  I also cleaned up the ejector pin marks in the front of the fuselage, and gave it a coat of aluminum.  Finally, the office got some preshading, and a coat of light blue.  More to come soon!

Hey all!

So, I've finally gotten a moment of rest here in Yangju.  Thanks for all the positive comments.  I'm trying to update my website once a week.  It's tough because of all the hoops I have to jump through to do it.

I've just started the Matchbox F3D-2 kit.  It's going to be in over all flat black.  The decals are REALLY sparse for it though.  I may have to scavenge some from other sheets to make it look okay.  The Build that I've linked to on my site talks about the intakes and trunks being hard to fit.  Actually, it's just the intakes and exhausts.  I swear, it's like they did the prototype kit and never checked a production one for fit.  Huge 1 and 1.5mm gaps.  I'm taking some WIP pics, but they won't be up until later.  I've thrown a ton of weight in the nose, it's definitely a tail sitter if you don't.  The only other naval aircraft that I've got in my stash besides this one are the F7F-3N, re-build of the Sea Fury, and the FR.47 Sea Fire.  The Sea Fire and Tiger cat don't have folding wings, but the Sea Fury and the Sky Knight do.  Due to space restrictions on my windowsill, Naval aircraft will all have folded wings from here out.  The helos, well, I'm not going to go folding any rotor blades any day soon.

I had to take a two hour train trip to a big mall this weekend for supplies.  Bottle and spray paints, and a new fine tip brush.  While there I picked up a replacement Academy F-84E/G.  Just to let you folks know, it only costs 6000 Won here.  The price is on one of the ends of the box (all Academy kits are like this!) at the end of the kit #.  Converted at todays rate, that's just a tiny bit over $5.00, and I'm sure you're getting charged a lot more.  Check the end caps next time you get an Academy kit!

Major drawback to this kit:  No freakin' gun ports!!!  There should be four under the radar, NOTHING!  I'm not sure what to do about this, I'm giving serious thought to just painting them with silver and then adding a dot of black in the place of the barrel end.  Also, at the same time, I'm reading the book "Night Fighters Over Korea" which is a biography of one of the USN Sky Knight pilots with VC-4 who was sent, with the rest of his units night fighters, ashore to work with the Marines.  Good reading so far!

-Andy Hill

Have been looking at the collection & don't know where to start there is so many to choose, May punish myself with the A Model YAK-9U to start with.

Draken, sounds like academy all over, complete hit and miss lucky dip suprise

BMW, Go the YAK, theres a little masochist in us all

Andrew

Hi Guys:

Here's a photo of the last step before completion of the F-84 Thunderjet - masking off and then painting the canopy ...

The canopy is stuck to a piece of Silly Putty ... makes it easy to work on and keeps the canopy from breaking ... I stick a Popsicle stick in the Silly Putty as a handle and cut the narrow Tamiya masking tape on a sheet of glass ...

Also, here's the Sea Fury again ... I think this is probably the best picture so if stikpusher will use it on the front page (showing the completed models), I'd appreciate it ...

Thanks,

pepper

OK Pepper, your Sea Fury is added to the front page. BTW,which scale and kit is it for the title?

stikpusher

OK Pepper, your Sea Fury is added to the front page. BTW,which scale and kit is it for the title?

1/72 by Trumpeter ...

Thanks,

pepper

Hey guys, great looking stuff so far!

Greg: Only thing better than a Mustang is a twin Mustang. I too found the FSM article interesting, I wouldn't have thought the classic kit would be the more accurate of the two.

Andrew: Looking forward to seeing the M26 come together. I picked up one of the Dragon M46s and had thought about doing it but the K1A1 won out. Since the M46 was mostly an up-engined M26 I'd like to know any pitfalls you encounter putting her together.

Frank: Very nice looking MiG so far.

Andy: Funny no guns ports on the F3D-3? Seems funny they'd leave them off. And yeah I've been told about half the cost of most kits imported to the US are import tariffs. Not sure about anywhere else.

BMW: The Yak would be cool. I haven't seen many in markings other than Soviet, I'm assuming you're going with North Korean?

Pepper: Looking forward to seeing the F-84!

Anyway the road wheels and threads are on the K1A1 though I think they may be too long and I need to cut out a link. Most of the storage is painted though some of the paint dried glossy for some reason and I'll have to hit her with some matt varnish.

Still, I need to attach the two machine guns, fix the seam between the upper and lower hull in the front somehow (think I'll cheat and cover it with mud!!!) and dirty her up some and she should be pretty much done. I've done some work on the crew figures and two civilians I'm looking to use and then throw together a small dio. Whew!

Gamera your K1A1 is really lookig great , I really like the camo scheme

Pepper I think your Sea Fury came out okay , I'm sorry to hear of it's demise though .

Andy good luck with the Matchbox F3D Skynight , I have the same kit in my Korean War stash , so I'll be watching how yours goes together .

Frank , good start on the Mig and BMW good luck with the Yak .

I've fallen way behind on my builds , It's been ages since I posted any progress on anything , sorry about that

                                     John .

Gamera, your K1A1 came out great!  I am thinking you just photoshopped a real one onto a picture of a paper towel!  I really like the stowage.  It just looks "right".  The sheen, the postitioning etc.  The camo net bags look just like the real ones.

I've got a Matchbox Skynight in my stash too.  I'm looking forward to seeing that come together.  The M-26 looks intense!  Dragon sure crammed a lot of parts in that box.

Hey John, don't sweat it buddy.  You get more done than the rest of us put together!  Sometimes it is just hard to get anything done.  I managed to squeeze in some decaling on my BoA Junkers while supervising my kids homework session at the kitchen table.  That, and I used a spray can to paint the yellow tips on my mustang.  That is all I have been able to get done in days!  I need to finish my mustangs, and junkers before the end of the month, to make room for the night fighter GB.  Yes, I just shamelessly plugged my upcoming GB!

Cheers,

Greg

Thank's Greg ;

I've been trying to finish up some other model projects as I actually ran out of room for my current Korean War builds and I had to set up a couple of tables in the bedroom for the Korean birds while I'm working on the other builds .

It's just everytime I walk into the room , It's like looking at a "Bone Yard" scene and it's hard to imagine that these little birds will be ready to take on the North Korean's anytime soon !!!!!

I making good progress on my other projects , I'm just busting to get back into the Korean War

                                John .

Wow, you are organized John!  What else are you working on, if you don't mind me asking? 

Cheers,

Greg

Greg ;

I'm finishing off some CIA Air America builds I started some time ago ....

There is a UH-34D , two Pilatus Porters , a Mach 2 C-123B Provider , a C-46D Commando ,

a Bell 204 and 205 Huey's , a S-58T and a C-7 Caribou ; Also another Mach 2 C-123B for the USCG.

Hopefully I can get these birds finished by Christmas .

Thank's for your interest Greg , I'm also looking forward to your Hunting in the Dark GB .

                                              John .

John: Thanks for the kind words and I thought maybe you were taking a break. After all I think you've got more built in this GB than I've gotten done total all year. WIsh I were as organized as you.

Greg: Thanks, though I'm not sure it's all deserved. I put a Cromwell I did last year in an AMPS judged show this spring and had the judges rip it apart. I thought it was pretty good but they didn't seem to find anything to like on it. I'm happy with how the K1A1 came out but still I notice there are a lot of small things I slipped up on that a judge would kill me for. Ultimatly it comes down to me to do you want it perfect or do you want it done? So I'm happy she's about 95% done - flaws and all.

The figures are coming along pretty well, cross your fingers I'll be done by the end of the year.

John, thanks for showing your CIA builds.  I think they are all great, but I especially like the C-123's.  You have a knack for picking great subject matter.

Gamera, if your Cromwell was anything like your K1A1, it make me think the judges have never been around real armored vehicles.  I can't vouch for how the older ones looked like, but I have been around a lot of modern ones, and yours catches the look for sure.  I personally don't build armor due to a serious lack of skills on my part!  Maybe one of these days...

Cheers,

Greg

Greg: sorry - think I'm just whining a little . Seroiusly the judges have about fifty or more models so they go over everything with a fine-toothed comb picking up every teeny tiny mistake. I've tried to improve my modeling by being extra careful to avoid the mistakes I've made in the past but still there are small problems. I look at models at shows that are perfect, don't know how people do that kind of stuff. It's kinda frustrating.

Still I AM happy with how she came out and that's all that really matters in the end.

And personally I think if you can build an aircraft you can do armour! Most tanks are one colour unlike aircraft. It's just a matter of handling lots of little fiddly bits. With a sherman for example glue it all together and paint it OD green. No masking off different paint areas, no clear pieces, just paint it green. The weathering is the hard part.

BTW: The Eduard PE set and the canopy masks came in for the P-61. I am ready to start the nightfighter GB as soon as the calender hits 1/1/11...  

Just finished reading the book "Night Fighters Over Korea" by G.G. O'Rourke and E.T. Woolridge.  A wonderful history of the emplyment of the F3D-2 (F-10) Douglas Skyknight during the Korean War.  The primary author was the OIC of VC-4 Det. 44N from the USS Lake Champlain and took his four gloss blue with white markings ;whales' ashore to fight the Communist forces at night with USMC unit VMF(N)-513 from airfield K-6.  Wonderful info, great book, a lot of interesting photos, all b/w.  A good read in general!

http://www.usni.org/store/books/history/night-fighters-over-korea

Checking Amazon, there's a few used copies available.  I paid nearly $40 for mine new here in Korea.

Having said that, the Skyknight has sat upon the bench this week, I'm delving back into it again.  I screwed up and didn't open up the speed brakes when I had the chance, now I'm going to have to have them closed.  I'd originally wanted to cut the out, fashion new out of sheet plastic, and put in sheet plastic behind the fuselage.  by the time I realized that I was past that step, I'd already glued and filled/sanded the fuselage halves.    Therefore, it's just going to be sitting parked with the wings folded.  It really looks nice so far, and I've been having a blast of a time with it.  It's just going so bloody fast!  I didn't realize when I started it that it was so basic and simple.  The fit isn't too danged bad either.  It's BEGGING for some detailing, and I'm just not up to it at the moment.  I'm thinking seriously that my next kit will be the two ambulances (Academy Dodge Ambulance and a scratchbuilt jeep ambulance) to go with my MASH helo.  I'll have to make more figures and blankets, I suppose... 

BTW, I've updated my web page.  You mmight want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates.

Hi Andy ;

I have the book you mentioned along with a couple of other F3D-2 Skynight reference books as I've been researching to detail my Skynight build....

I found some struts to use when I open up the speed brakes , I also wanted to cut open part of the engine access panel and show part of a resin engine I have . I found some guns to use as well as some ammo boxes to place in the upper cut-out fuselage section .

I'm also thinking of cutting open the top of the canopy were the pilots climb in and also cut open the boarding steps on the starboard side as well...

I would really like to cut the nose cone off and show the radar but I haven't as yet found anything that looks closely like the radar in the second pic .

Anyway everything is still in the planning stages , it will be a couple of months before I start her .

Good luck with your build Andy and keep us posted .

                                         John .

I hate you... 

That's all of the stuff that I DREAM I could have for this build.  I have a serious lack of books, no printer, and no access to various spare parts/flat P/S plastic.  Therfore, I hate you...  /sarcasm off/

Apart from that, I hope you do far better than I.  I've _JUST_ finished the decals, and the Matchbox decals left so much "SLOP" glue behind that it's gone to hell.  It woulda been excellent if I'd probably manufactured /cobbled together some Navy decals.  Tomorrow, after everything's dried, I'll probably take some water and soap to it and see what happens. 

Otherwise, not a bad build!  It turned out beautiful except for the decals.  If I could do it again, I'd give some SERIOUS detail to it!  Pipes/wires in the wheel wells, speed brakes, open nose and radars.  I truly believe in the concept of TLAR (That-Looks-About-Right) for added detail when no information exists.  My original plan was to take some partial spheres from egg/other crates and build the dishes, add stretched sprue parts, and build the black boxes fro flat p/s plastic.  Easy enough here in the Goryeo...  easier in the US! 

Frankly, I wish you well!  I'd much rather see your build completed than mine, as part of the project.    I have tried, and been found lacking.

WOW!  Having actually LOOKED at the photos you posted, I'm incredibly upset.  The Matchbox instructions show numerous decals in very obviously incorrect positions.  Pay attention to your pictures before you put on the decals.  The ones that go on the nose appear at first to be the latchpins for the radome, but according to your pics, they are obviously where one of the pitot tubes should be. 

TL;DR, ignor the Matchbox instructions, pay attention to your pics!!!

Started painting the F-84 cockpit, I decided to brush paint the interior instead of airbrushing, save some time. I'll try to get pics up tomorrow.

On your recommendation Andy, I bought that book off of half.com.  I read Crimson Sky a few months ago, and that was a great read.  Just thinking about it makes me want break open my B-26 Invader!

John, good bit of stuff for the Skynight.  Does it say what kind of ejection seat it uses?  I was thinking about using some resin seats.  They add a lot of detail for little price sometimes.  I will watch out for the decals when I get around to building it.  I might build it as a crossover with here and the NF Gb.  Any bits of wisdom and reference anybody can share, is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Greg

Here's a few more reference pic's for the F3D-2 Skynight ;

Miscellaneous Equipment ...

Pilots entry...

Cockpit Arrangement...

Cockpit Arrangement Aft , Note that the pilots seat and radar operators seat are different . I was also thinking of adding some resin replacement seats , I'm just not sure what type to buy ?

Cockpit Left Side...

Cockpit Right Side...

Here's a pic of the nose cone hinged open , the aircraft is an EF-10B [F3D-2]....

I don't think I could scratch build a radar , so I've been hoping to find something in resin but I've had no luck so far .

Andy , thanks for the tip on the decals and their placement /positioning , I'll definitly refer to my reference books .I wish I had posted these pic's earlier and I may have saved you some grief buddy .

I'll keep searching for some resin seats and radar , like greg say's , if anyone else finds something please post it .

HTH

                          John

Fantastic pictures and information John!  Thanks a lot.  Since Revell Germany has all the old Matchbox molds, I hope they re-release this one soon.  The aftermarket (preferable eduard and quickboost) would more likely support it, if the kit was in current production.  I plan on building the black VMF-513 machine, buit would love to build others like the sea blue VMF-542's or Viet Nam era EF-10's too.

Cheers,

Greg

Yikes, John:

No ejection seat ? ... I note in the b/w photo that there's an escape hatch underneath the crew compartment ... did the crew drop out of the aircraft via the escape hatch ? ... certainly they didn't climb out the top they way they get in ...

pepper

pepper kay

Yikes, John:

No ejection seat ? ... I note in the b/w photo that there's an escape hatch underneath the crew compartment ... did the crew drop out of the aircraft via the escape hatch ? ... certainly they didn't climb out the top they way they get in ...

pepper

 

Yikes is right!  I didn't realize that.  I just assumed it had ejection seats like its contemporaries did.  What was Douglas thinking????   In 1/48th scale, there are some cool decals for an EF-10 in VMAQ Playboys markings.  That would be nice in 1/72......

Cheers,

Greg

Here's part of a page from one of my aircraft magazines ,

The center pic shows a pilot praticing ejecting from the aircraft ......

It doesnt appear to look all that comfortable !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                         John .

TEST ONLY

pepper

TEST AGAIN ...