I am with you John (Helo), I hope everybody is alright.  The loss of life is heart-breaking. 

Cheers,

Greg

Helo H-34

I hope you guy's in the U.S are okay ?

I was watching the 6pm news and those Twisters and Storms scare the "crap" out of me !

I sincerely hope everyone and their family's are alright .

                  John .

We had one tornado go by our house less than an 1/8th of a mile from our front door ... being a native San Diegan (Southern Californian), I'm used to the odd weather and such ... grew up with earthquakes - now spending my dotage with twisters ...

pepper

1/8th of mile?  Dang Pepper, that is a close one!  Luckily, San Antonio is boring.  No earthquake, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, blizzards, hurricanes, or tornadoes.  When it floods, it generally is the roadways, and the people who die, do so driving around barricades.  Whenever I feel like complaining about what a low class place this is, I just turn on the news.  Then I appreciate what I have, and where I live.

As for Korea builds, I finally snagged an F-80!  Since it is an old Airfix kit, I was patient until I could get one cheap.  For a little more than what some are willing to pay, you could just get one of the new Sword ones.  I did order a pe set for it though, since I was already ordering some other stuff. 

Cheers,

Greg

WOW!  Too close... I lived in Kansas for two years and I never forget how powerful wind it was during major storms and often saw hail storms.  Glad everybody is OK. 

Finally I can say that I am done with the figures... here's the tank commander for my Chaffee. Painting the eyes were way more difficult because its plastic face lacked details.  But glad it is finally over...

Now I can go back and finish the M24 Chaffee. 

OK guys, I'm calling this one done. To recap, it is Dragon's 1/35 M4A3E8 Sherman. It was built per the instructions with the exception of; AFV Club tracks, Jordo Rubio barrel, transmission cover from an Academy kit, and relocated the machine guns based on the references I had (Squadron/Signal's Armor in Korea). The color scheme is the summer cammo pattern of tan over the base color. The look I was going for is a veteran machine after a long dusty summer. I hope you enjoy it!

Good to see everyone is ok, I live about 45 mins north of the North Carolina border and ended up getting a pile of rain but nothing else thankfully.

DP: Nice work! Looking forward to seeing them in the M24.

Tellis: Good stuff! Love the camo pattern and like how you muted and toned it down. She really does look dusty. Nice job on the storage too, she really looks lived in.

Tellis- LOVED the camo job on the Sherman!   Reminds me of  those Shermans in North Africa and Italy campaigns during WWII.

Two questions:

Telis:  LOVE the camo!  Do you mind if I copy it for my Sherman Easy Eight?  And most importantly, what is the FS number of the tan that you used?

Question for everyone:  I'm building in 1/72nd-6th, how would i go about replicating the canvas gun mantle covers?  I've tried a variety of methods and nothing's worked for me so far.  I'd REALLY like to be doing this for all of my tanks, but the Winter versions are the most important to me.

Thanks in advance!

Draken: I'd had decent success in 1/35th using tissue paper and thinned down white glue. Guy in our club told me to use the bags left over from brewing tea since the material is stronger than tissue but I haven't tried this yet.

BTW: Finished my Korean War B-29 for the NM II GB and posted photos over on the aircraft forum.

Tellis your Sherman is looking great! A superb addition to the front page photo line up! Take your GB badge!

Draken, I added your M39 and Centurion to the front page photo line. You are indeed a building machine like Helo! Can you get me a pic of the M36 solo? As far as I know, no M18s were used in Korea, but the M36 was used by ROK forces.

Finally I am calling all three figures done...  now the American GIs are armed and dangerous.  Brass PE slings were added to M1s too. 

This is my favorite shot because of the eyes. 

I have abandoned my Chaffee for too long.  Did some detail painting with base coat only for last two nights..

Unfortunately my wife is making me go with her and the boys to her mother's for the weekend.  I only have one night to work on this... gonna make all mothers happy. 

Incredible figures DP!    I can't do stuff like eyes and what not, that's why I stick to braille-scale. 

So, Thursday was the "Children's Day" holiday here, I had the day off, I came back to work for today, and I have the weekend, plus Monday (The principal just decided we could have no school then) and Tuesday is Buddha's Birthday, another national holiday.  I've got a four day weekend, nothing to do, no where to go, no friends in town, no money (Saving for a big screen TV!), and craploads of kits to build.  I picked up a 2 liter jug of soju and some Pepsi on the way home and I'm not afraid to use them!  I'm actually going to do laundry, dishes, and light cleaning around the place, and then dive into a few kits.

I'm currently working on the PST D-1 and D-30 howitzers.  Brittle plastic and huge sprue joining tabs.  Makes for small pieces being broken or lost. 

In the mean time Stickpusher asked for solos of the M-36 Jackson.  This was an absolute BUGGER to build!  Half of the suspension was molded to the hull, huge gaps in the hull you can see through, and parts alignment that was off by several centimeters.  I had to scratch-build the inner hull from sheet plastic (no source near me, I used plastic egg cartons!).  The interior is actually quite nice, and has tons of detail for the kit!  An engine, the air cleaners, transmission, control sticks, seats, and more.  I wanted to show off the engine and stuff, so I left the hatches open and added the ignition system (coil, distributor, wires, battery, and more.  I also put radiator hoses on it, and painted the radiator correctly.  In the front office, I added the back end of a .30 cal lmg, a small instrument panel, and a few little niggly things.  After having to build the interior bulkheads I just got frustrated and quit.  Another item that was truly heinous, was the tracks!  They're old silver vinyl and not only do they not want to conform, they're also AN INCH TOO BLOODY SHORT!    It's a danged good thing that the upper hull skirts cover the top of the tracks, there's nothing I can do about parts like that...  I built it in conjunction with an M-19 and display it like that in my classroom.  I didn't know if you'd want it in 'display mode' or not, so here's a bunch of pics of it solo and on the M-19.

Take your pic Stick!  Heh, heh, heh...

And I went searching for that reference I'd found stating that M-18's were in Korea.  And...  Only found one that was obviously incorrect.  The reference had MEANT to say M-39 but it was a typo.  I wonder if that's what i had read and got it in my mind that I needed one.  No matter, I've gotten twice the skill in building resin kits than I had before I did those two.    As Eric Idle said in "Life of Brian", "Always look on the bright side of life."

draken, I actually used Model Master II RAF Middlestone (no FS number) I found one color picture on the internet and thought the Middlestone looked right.  as far as the canvas cover goes, I have found that tissue paper (the gift type) works well.

Tim Ellis

Draken- Loved your work on M-36 especially the whole trailer thing.    I am seriously considering moving out of America because we don't have enough national holidays.

Okay, I've finished the Communist towed artillery.  Lost the part #7 for one of the units, so I had to sculpt one out of a chunk of sprue.  That was teh sux!  I've now started on my two versions of the M-1/M-101 105mm Howitzer for the USA. Version A is from the Aurora/Revell CH-54 Tarhe kit, version B is the ACE M-101.  The Ace kit has the correct non-tapered barrel and would therefore be more correct.  But it also has a two part shield, not found until after the Korean War (I'mma build it anyway!  MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!).  Also, the Revell/Aurora unit would appear to be slightly smaller than the 1/72 scale it claims, more like HO-1/87th scale.  Where the Revell/Aurora lacks detail, it gains in fit and lack of flash.  Where the ACE unit rises in accuracy, it falls in period specificity.  At this point, I don't know that it's possible, without some serious scratch-building, to produce an M-1 105mm Howitzer for the Korean War that is accurate.

I'm still going to build both, and I'll display the Revell/Aurora as a towed unit behind a truck, and the Ace unit deployed with a gun crew.  Also of note, part of the discrepancy of detail in the Aurora/Revell howitzer is the attempt by the original mold builders to make it a toy.  I can raise and lower the barrel, move the legs in and out, and, if I had wanted to, could have the wheels rotate.  I think that this is a case of 'Airfix-ing', wherein a kit has been reduced in detail, so that the builder (back in the sixties and seventies) would be able to play with it, including the ability to have moving parts.

Be that as it is...  Up soon is the IC Tu-2!  I was able to FINALLY get that mold release sludge off of it!  Thanks for the hint about the Clorox, it worked wonders!  I did about a dozen kits in the bathroom sink that day.  When the suds had totally disappeared and I started seeing a film on the top of the water I quit.  Nah, it wasn't that bad, it just seemed that way. 

Thanks for the M36 pics Draken! And of course the ones on the lowboy are a nice touch! I am looking forward to seeing those Commie arty pieces! And the 105s...

I dont know if they sell placard signs like "open/closed", "For sale/rent" etc., where you are, but those are a great source of sheet plastic that is non hobby related.

DP: Great job on the figures. Looking forward to seeing the M24 and the whole shebang finished!

Draken: Sharp job on the M36 and transporter! The artillery and Tu-2 sound really cool and wanna to see more photos!

BTW guys taking off for a two week vacation/holiday for Gettysburg, Sharpsburg, New Market, and several other battlefields. Hope to see lots of cool stuff finished when I get back!

Deafpanzer, Im really looking forward to seeing the finished M24, shes looking superb, wish I had the skill to paint figures like that! 

Draken your M36 knocks spots of my old Armourfast one. 

I really must put some shots up of some of my armour including my SU-76. While I remember guys I have three entries in the on going Modelling madness 1/72nd armour competition - I have my Dragon wagon, M40 GMC & Morris quad & 25 Pounder howitzer up there, can I count on your votes?

Finally did some work on the Auster this weekend, should be a pic attached to this post, will start painting stuff this evening, coming together nicely so far - she really is a teeny little aircraft!

Im also adding a photo which may amuse people from a a few months ago - when I tried to sell one of my Italeri M7s' on Ebay... Apparently the US goverment is very concerned about the lucrative trade in 1/72nd tanks...(read the screen behind the tank!)

hope your all well and dodging tornadoes and waterspouts. All we've had in Britain is a royal wedding and the driest April in 70 years...

Doc.

Gamera- Thanks buddy!  Can't wait either... I applied a coat of acrylic floor wax 'Future' this morning before I left to spend the weekend at mother-in-law.  Wish me luck... hope she still loves me after two days.   I will apply decals tomorrow night after more than 24 hours of drying time.

Dr Win- Thanks for the laughter.   Don't dare to make us send a team of Navy Seals to your place for smuggling those tiny M7 models to USA. 

Hey Doc,

Who makes that Auster?  I've not see one making the rounds before on eBay.  It looks amazing like my KP L-4 Grasshopper.  No pictures yet of my artillery, I may delve into the UM SU-76 or my UM 57mm ATG or a T-34(85).  I'm in a DPRK CCF kinda mood lately.  I've got butt-loads of UN stuff at work and the Communists don't have diddly.  Certainly not a representative number of kits based on comparative numbers of troops.

On a side note, I found a seriously cool website with tons of documentaries about all sorts of things.  If you click on the 'WAR' tab there's a large number about the Korean War.  Here's the link:

http://war.docuwat.ch/

Enjoy!

Hi everyone ;

Tellis , great work on the M4A3E8 Sherman and the summer camouflage scheme looks terrific ,well done Sir .

Andy [Draken] I really like the M-36 and Tank Transporter , top stuff buddy

Dr Win , nice start on the Auster

As for me , I've been quite busy on the home front with the folks ;

However I have managed to finish the Mach 2 1/72 AJ-1 Savage ;

VC-6 AJ-1 Savage on the K-3 Airstrip , Korea 1953 .

Even with the nose cone filled with fishing sinkers , the Savage still ended up being a tail sitter ;

So I had to place a ground crew personal at the rear next to the tail hook to help balance the aircraft back on all three wheels .

I added two bombs into the bomb bay....

I'm quite happy with the build overall , she's aircraft No. 1 on the K-3 Pohang airfield dio .

I've started decaling the C-47 and RB-45C Tornado , so I'll have finished pic's of those two in a couple of day's .

Great work everyone .

                      John .

I'M UNWORTHY!!!

This is EPIC stuff Helo!  Where did you get all of the figures and ground equipment?  I've been looking for stuff like that for my carrier deck dio.  And did you make the weapons bay for the Mach2 kit?  Also, did it come with the option of folded surfaces or did you scratch that, too?  I've just gotten both the Savage and the Tornado off of eBay and won't be able to get to them until sumer.  Any help you can provide at that time would be awesome.  Is it okay if I email you off list about that at the time?

Once again, EPIC work, dude!!!

Hi Andy ,

You can email anytime buddy ,

I finally got my brand new Compaq note book up and running ;

Andy I have added the AJ-1 Savage WIP pic's to my photobucket album , here's the link for you to see . 

http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j362/Helicopternut/

Let me know if the link worked .

I'm just about to have some dinner , so I'll come back later tonight and let you know all about the build .

                    John

Just to re-cap on the Mach 2 AJ-1 Savage build , a good reference source is the Naval Fighters series , number Twenty Two ,

North American AJ Savage , by Steve Ginter .

The book covers the entire history of the AJ Savage and there are several pages at the back of the book which gives build reviews of the scale model kits available .

According to the book , the Mach 2 kit does not really depict an AJ-2 or AJ-2P but most closely an AJ-1 with a retrofitted tail group

This is because the kit's canopy depicts the early AJ-1 and a single piece nose gear door is provided .

I also changed the cockpit arrangement by adding a seperate lower compartment for the third crew member to sit with a  console panel from the spares box .

The kit does give you the choice of folding the wings but you have to cut the wings yourself and use the inserts supplied .

I also cut open the crew entry door as well as the bomb bay doors and added internal steps from the lower compartment up to the main cockpit .

Everything fits together okay except for the engine pods under the wings . They required a fair bit of fileing to get to fit snuggly into the wing and the engine nacelle's required a bit of attention as well .

There are no engines supplied so I used a spare pair of F4U-5 engines and fitted those inside each nacelle

All the scaffolding and crane was made from 1.2mm evergreen platic rod . I spent two days making the crane , with lot's of trial and error to get it to look right , the wheels on the crane came from a Seaking helicopter for the main wheel and two spare wheels from a Hasegawa AV-8A Harrier for the front wheels .

The pilot figures and maintenance crew are from the Esci Nato Pilots and the bomb crew are from Airfix , with boms from the Airfix Skyraider .

The prop trolley was from the Airfix M-3 White Half Track and trailer ; I modified the trailer section by cutting the side pieces shorter in length and extended the height with some plastic sheet and a bit of scrap resin pour block sits on top with two tooth picks to sit the rotors on .

Power plant for the AJ-1 Savage was the Pratt & Whitney R-2800-44 engines driving the props and a J-33 jet engine in the rear of the fuselage ;

Giving the Savage the nickname of "Two Turning and One Burning "

Here's a pic from Steve Ginter's book of my AJ-1 Savage ...

Tomorrow I'll upload the Mach 2 RB-45C WIP pic's to my photo bucket and you can check those out as well Andy .

                                           John .

Deafpanzer, if the Navy send the S.E.A.Ls after me I shall keep an eye on my neighbours twitter feed to provide ample warning to escape! 

Draken, the Auster is made by AZ models in the Czech republic, sure you can find it on Ebay or at Hannants in London. I got mine on ebay, have painted the interior green, done the engine in gunmetal, painted the prop, instrument panel and wheels today, will do all the dry brushing and touch up painting tonight when its all set, then can assemble the cockpit fully. Have added a couple of Pics of my UM models 1/72nd SU-76. Finished it a while back before I found this GB. The numbering is Soviet, but there isn't exactly much reference material on how the North Korean ones were marked so I went for ones that could look the most likely!

Enjoy...

Doc

Helo, the AJ Savage looks very nice! Are you planning on adding more aircraft models to the diorama so I should wait before putting it up front on page 1? Or is it ready to go now?

Hi Stik ,

I kindly ask if you could add the AJ-1 Savage to the front page .

There will be more aircraft later on but I'll add the builds one by one .

                  John .

My three Re-issue Monogram SA-16B Albatross kits arrived just now at the front door ;

Decal Markings for two aircraft ,

#1: 354th Tactical Fighter Wing .

#2: Military Air Transport

Another addition to the Korean War stash .

My kits came from Tower Hobbies there in the U.S

                             John .

Helo, your AJ1 has been added to the page 1 pics!

I remember building that Albatross back in the early 70s and watching "Flight From Ashiya" on TV while playing with my model. An old Yul Brynner movie in which that bird plays a prominent part...

Helo- Loved the huge diomara you posted few days ago. 

Dr Win- Nice work on that SU-76.  I turned 40 years old last year so anything smaller than 1/72 is out for me. 

Guys- Quick update... didn't do much work over the weekend because of Mother's Day.  At least I get to make my wife and her mother happy... I applied a coat of Future before decals were added.  Of course I allowed Future to dry for more than 24 hours.  It was one of most easiest decal job because there was only five decals to add.

Another coat of Future was airbrushed on the decals only to protect 'em.  A coat of clear flat acrylic and weathering would be next step which will tone down the shiny coat of Future.