Nice Tu-2 Draken! I will add it to the front page shortly.

I completed the pin wash on my Centurion today. Next up will be flat coat,add stowage, dry brushing, then mud coat for weathering...

Draken: Nice looking aircraft and I've always liked the contrast of the green, light blue, and red of the insignia used by Soviet made aircraft. Kudos sir!

SP: Looks like she's almost done, just slap a little mud on her. Looking forward for the finished shots.

Draken-  Love your TU-2!  The red decals came out great...

Stikpusher- You are almost there!  Looking real good... I still find it hard to believe that the barrel is almost as long as the tank itself... don't be shy when you apply dirt & mud to your tank. 

Guys- I have been quiet for last few weeks.  Two GBs happening at same time.   Here's quick update on my Chaffee... the tracks are finally in.  Did I tell you how much I hate resin tracks?  It was very difficult to make them fit the wheels.  Two of wheels broke off... lesson learned.  Promised myself not to buy another resin tracks... I'd rather to do MagicTracks!

First tracks were primed with flat black paint from Walmart rattle can... only $1.25.  Priceless!  Then thinned MM Gunmetal Metalizer was applied as shown below. 

Then heavily thinned (70/30) MM enamel Burnt Umber was applied to the tracks...

Can't wait to drybrush MM enamel Steel and glue in the wheels tonight! 

The wheels are in!

Did I mention that I hate resin tracks? LOL   Doing more detail painting tonight before I can spray flat clear arcylic paint to get rid of the gloss.

Yo, DP!  That is an incredible job on that Chaffee.  There's a reason that I don't do the big scale stuff, and you're an example of it.  I just can't compete (in my mind, not at actual competitions) with something that good.  Beautiful!!! 

Personally, I've been making strides on my M-26 Dragon Wagon and M-47 Patton combo.  The cab is all but complete for the M-26, and the upper hull is assembled for the Patton.  I've got the suspension and wheels on the lower hull, but I need to finish painting the outsides of the tires and then assemble the tracks (link and length on this one as opposed to vinyl on the M-26).  Then it's throw it together time and weathering.  I'm going to actually chain it down to the trailer (I bought some chain from Milicast!) and maybe throw some stowage on it.  This will also have a tiger front painted on it.  I want to leave some of the windows open on the dragon wagon to show off the radiator and the interior of the cab.  I'm going to be throwing some detail to it, but not much.  I'm also going to throw some tools and what not at it along with detailing the welding set up.  I'm also giving serious thought to using string as cable and wrapping it around the winches.  Little things, but they mean the difference between good and great.  Academy has made it really easy to get the AMS bug going in me. 

And I'm remembering to take photos as I go, but I haven't uploaded any yet.

Here's a few pics of the 1/72 M-46 Patton that I'm working on.  It's the Trumpeter/Pegasus kit and is generally quite awesome!  I'm only perturbed at it due to the existence of link and length tracks.  They're an absolute b*st*rd in this scale.  And they rarely fit in the numbers that are suggested by the instructions.  Other than that, it's been a treat so far.  This includes my first attempt at a canvas mantle cover for the turret.  Since I'm going to be painting the front as a tiger, I'm not sure what to do with the canvas, paint it as well or leave it as an anomaly.  It would certainly strike a cord with the eye as an anomaly!  And I'm sure that they'd have to be replaced on occasion.  anyway, this is only about 3/4 done.  Assembly is complete, but I have to add detail painting, the tiger effect, and some stowage to it. 

THEN I have to chain it to the M-2 dragon wagon, which is still in process...

Looking at the photography, I really like the darker sort of images better.  They show off the different layers of painting and colour shades far better.

See ya on the flip side folks!  Hoopefully, I'll have some dragon wagon pics next time.

Making some progress on the MiG-15...but I'm really starting to hate Trumpeter. Got both wings put together, had to trim the locator pins as they didn't match up very well...in fact, on the left wing they didn't match up at all. But it's finally coming together. Working on this, setting it aside to dry, then moving to the next GB...I may have bit off more than I can chew doing 3 GBs at once with school starting up in a week, but this build is due first. The other 2 finish up in October and January, so I have some time on those.

DP: Ouch, as brittle as resin is I can understand tracks made of them being a pain. Still they look good!

Draken: Very nice M46. If I didn't have so much stuff on the bench I'd be tempted to pull my 1/35th Dragon kit out of the stash. If we ever do a Korean War GB II it's in there.

Ken: Sorry things aren't going that well. I've always felt Trumpeter kits are over-rated. I've seen too many with Tamiya/Hasegawa prices and frankly the detail and fit aren't even in the ballpark...

Sounds like your making steady progress on your Mig-15 , Ken

Andy , your TU-2 came out really nice , well done Sir

Stikpusher and DP , your Centurion and Chaffee are looking great , I have to agree with the Draken on the large scale armor they really are impressive , especially given the huge amount of time and workmanship that goes into getting them together ; Great work guy's .

I mixed up some Gunze chromate paint ( 1 part H-58 interior green and 2.5 parts H-329 Yellow) for another project but there is plenty left over , so I give the interior pieces of Italeri's C-119C Flying Boxcar and Monograms SA-16B Albatross a few coats . I'll leave the parts on the sprue frame for the time being as I dont currently have enough room on or under the bench , but with the fuselage interior halves painted I can add the small windows after the paint has dried and they will both be ready for glueing up when the time comes .

                    John .

Gamera- Thanks for the comment! 

Draken- I think I am too old to build armors smaller than 1/35.  Wait a mintue I am only 40 years old! LOL  Looking real good... individual links for track for that small scale?  It scares me...

Guys- Update on my Chaffee... did more detail paintings and finally sprayed flat arcylic clear paint which helped me eliminate the glossy coat from Future I used to apply decals earlier.

I might spray another coat of flat clear when I get home from work.  Then I will do my favorite part of the weathering procedure which is using heavily thinned Burnt Umber and Raw Umber oil paints. 

Have a great one!

WOOHOO!  Package from the states got here today, including prescription meds from the states, magazines, Boy Scout's popcorn and MODELS!  Got the Special Hobby F-80 in 1/72 and decals for Korean War birds, and two Airfix GMC 2.5 ton trucks.  Those with the two Academy Studebaker trucks are going to be my convoy crossing one of the bridges.  I think I'll put them on the raft supported bridge and the Bailey type bridge will have a tank or some armour of some sort. 

Still working on the Patton and the Dragon Wagon...  Slowly but surely!

Anyway, I'm pretty happy for now.

Gotten a lot of work done in the last few days on my M-26 Dragon Wagon and M-47 Patton.  Here's some pics of the pair in 'mostly completed' mode.  What's left is touch up, a few minor parts, detail painting, decals...  Okay, so not quite finished...  And some WIP pics of the Academy kit as well.

I'm not sure what the OD green planks are supposed to be.  But the instructions say to just lay them in the center of the flat bed.  I'm guessing that they're supposed to be for unditching or to help with retrieval from mud/sand.

So, as youse can see, I ain't been doin' no slackin'!  [said in a Joisey accent]  One of the nice things about this Academy M-26 is all of the details!  I'm seriously considering putting some grey thread around the winches to act as cables.  I'm also going to try and open up the front radiator cover panels so that the Rad is visible (and able to get free flowing air in summer!) to the audience.I've got some 1/72 chain from Milicast and I'm going to chain the tank to the carrier and I'm also going to make a manifold set and hoses for the Oxy/acetylene set up and the propane tank.  BTW, they will be painted the right colors, camoflage be damned.  BTW, there will also be stowage on the tank, it will get a tiger paint job, and I hope you take time to notice the canvas gun mantle cover!  That's a first for me, I'm on a pretty steep learning curve though.  It was far easier to do than I'd anticipated!

wow! you all are turning out some great stuff- i am blown away at whats being put up here in this group build!

Lots of good stuff happening on here this week,

Draken  - nice going with the dragon wagon, Its a fiddly beggar to build, I think mine took about two weeks to do, end result is worth it though, mine is currently on the modelling madness 1/72 armour build competition so can't put pics of it up here just yet. Want to get hold of the non armoured cab version of the tractor unit at some point. 

Deafpanzer - Im blown away by your M-24. She is looking utterly gorgeous. I hope I can build armour to that standard one day! Keep up the amazing work. 

Managed to get hold of a HU-16 on ebay UK for £8, not a bad deal. Very tempted to start building it but really don't have the display room!

My F-94B is making progress, the wings are assembled and most of the small parts are painted or soon to be painted. The cockpit tub is done and the fuselage should be assembled by the end of the day. Have added a couple of WIP pics, this one is quite a simple kit but should turn out nicely with microscale decals.

Doc.

Heya Doc!  Like the Starfire!    And I noticed that you dug out the gun ports as well.  Good job.    That's the only major failing with that kit.  I can even handle the horizontal seems on the droptanks that make painting the anti glare panels hard if they'd just make the gun ports functional!

Anyway; you, me and Helo are all going to be doing one of those birds, eventually.  I suppose that yours will get done first.  Congrats if you do, I can't wait to see it.  I've got the book on the Starfire and there's tons of photos in it that will help.  It's a danged easy build, too!

I was repairing some things in my classroom just now (there's ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to keep those little fingers off my birds and armour! ) and noticed that my KP MiG-15 is missing a drop tank, oh, and one of the kids was waxing poetic over my B-29.  It's great to hear stuff like that amidst the minor destruction.

I've got a legitimate question to ask, Stikpusher might be the guy who decides, but I have no idea since this is the first build and group I've ever been at the site.  I started working on one of everything in the Korean War (in 1/72 scale) before I joined the group.  I had no idea that the group existed, the project was just something that I wanted to do while living in Korea as a modeler.  I've got a bunch of stuff that COULD fill gaps, but I'm not sure if I should post it.  I suppose I could post it and Stik could just not put it on the front page, but it's a legitimate question at least.  A few of the things I've been working on since I joined the build, but never mentioned before, most of it was before I really joined in.  But I've at least been working on this stuff within the time frame of the build.

What say you'se guys?  Should I post the pics here and let you decide?  Or just keep 'em to m'se'f.  I don't mind either way, or a combination of both.

Oh!  And does anyone have a spare KP 1/72 MiG-15 drop tank?

Draken, you are more than welcome to share pics here of any and all your Korean War subjects you have built! But the only ones that go on the front page are those built specificly for this GB. I know you are a late starter here, but obviously you have been building at quite a rate here! Basic rule for inclusion is- hey I have this kit of "X" and will be building it as "Y" in Korean War service or current Korea Theater service. Take progress photos as you go along and post them and your finished work here. Things you built before joining (like my F-84E) are welcome for sharing, but dont count as part of the GB itself. Does that make sense?

I am also kind of kicking around an idea of a major extenstion for the GB since we have had such great  participation here, but that depends on how many want this to keep going.

Draken, its a wonderfully simple bird to do after some of the Eastern European monsters which I've already done for this build.  Though it def needs a new tool kit, which I wouldn't at all be surprised if Sword do in a year or so as we already have the F-80 & T-33 from them (both of which are on the shopping list along with the special hobby F-82 & Firefly V to replace my venerable Gran, Monogram and Airfix offerings) 

I'm amazed that you put your models into a classroom, my Korean schoolkids I wouldn't have trusted with wax crayons, they'd have probably torn a hole in the fabric of reality purely by accident! 

Drilling the gunports was more of an exercise in brutality involving a blowtorch and a hot piece of wire of the right thickness and a fair bit of sanding afterwards, but it does make a difference. Fuselage is now assembled, canopy parafilmed and primed along with the wings. Going to leave it for a day to set and do stuff on the train set. 

I do have a question for you all out there - regarding the radome on this bird. The microscale sheet says it needs to be in radome tan for the 4th FIS bird I'm doing, however the few pics I can find of Korean F-94s all have them with black radomes. Can anyone shed any light on this before I get to that stage of painting. Likewise with antiglare panels on the wingtip tanks - the sheet instructions don't mention any but I can see them on photos - extant? Black? Olive drab?

Stikpusher - I am all in favour of massive extensions to this GB - 95% of my stash is Korean War stuff! This is too good a GB to just stop just yet and Im all in favour of carrying on with it!

Doc

Doc;

New tool needed, I sure hope!  I just picked up the Gran F-80 to replace my Airfix kit.  I'm not sure if that was a bright idea or not.

As far as your colour questions:  Radome is either tan, rust red, flat or gloss black, or flat white.  It varied on each aircraft.  Be sure to put a very tiny silver or metallic color dot in the center of it, that was a de-icer port for the nose.  The metal area just aft and below the radar was either a very bright silver or a darkened metallic colour the same as the gun port panels.  And the gun port panels were often VERY dark due to oxidization and reactions with the gun gases.  As far as the anti-glare on the wing tanks, if you choose to put an anti glare panel on the inside of the tanks (optional, varies per aircraft within a squadron), it should be flat black.  If you put a colour on the nose of the tanks, it will generally wrap all the way around.  Also, these tank noses got changed very often, and were identical to the noses on the long straight (Misawa) tanks for the F-80.  On pg 87 of "Lockheed F94 Starfire:  A Photo Chronicle" by Isham and MacLaren there's a picture of the nose of a wing tank that has the stencilling on it saying "only for use on F-80, T-33, and F-94 Series Aircraft"  Of course, that tank has no inner anti glare panel, and the bird below it does have anti glare panels on the tanks.  Go figure.

The Microscale decals I have are for an aircraft from the 4thFIS (later the 16thFIS) and have a black lightning bolt on the side of the airframe.  The black 'swoosh?' on the under side stops in the CENTER of the airframe right at the end of the wing.  It is not in two parts on either side of the aircraft as the decal sheet would suggest.  Some aircraft were rotated to the squadrons from elsewhere, retaining partial prior markings.  One with buzz no. FA-477 retained its shark mouths on the forward fuselage and wing tanks.

Weirdly enough...  The Starfires in Korea that saw combat had better service areas than a majority of their ADC/AAC/CONUS counterparts.  Many of the Air Guard units hadn't really gotten enough funding to upgrade their service areas post war and AAC/ADC were often taking off from gravel runways/taxiways as well as having outdoor maintenance during winter when in the upper latitudes.

If you can find it, the Isham MacLaren book is fantastic to read, look at, and ponder over.  I paid $19.95 at the National Museum of the Air Force for mine.  I bought it specifically to do another kit for my ND ANG collection, but I brought it with me to Korea when I went home last summer in anticipation of an F-94.

Hope that this helps!

stikpusher

I am also kind of kicking around an idea of a major extenstion for the GB since we have had such great  participation here, but that depends on how many want this to keep going.

I would be most gratefull if you could extend the finish date stikpusher ;

I just counted 25 started Korean War builds and there is a least another 10 kits I wanted to build as well .

10 of the 25 started builds are ready for airbrushing , so I was thinking I would probably get those completed by the July finish date but it would be great if we could keep going a little longer .

Perhaps December 31 2011 ???

Kind regards ,

                       John .

stikpusher

I am also kind of kicking around an idea of a major extenstion for the GB since we have had such great  participation here, but that depends on how many want this to keep going.

Hear, hear !! ... I'm all in favor of an extension and would guess everyone else is as well ... show of hands, please (or reply via electronic means :-) ...

Stikpusher, ya done good when you set this GB up ...

Again with the hospital routine but  home yesterday, tired as all get out - but fired up to get finished with my projects for this GB, which has been amazing, exciting, a learning expereince, etc. ...have made new friends scattered across the globe, started modeling again and this has been just a wonderful experience ... thank you one and all !! ...

Finally solved my F-86 canopy residue remainder problem ... you'll never believe with what and as I'm just now putting the last decals on, will leave the mystery run one more day and tomorrow, will post pictures of the finished Sabre Jet and call it "DONE" ... ...

And gadzooks, I picked up a Korean War Sherman tank a few weeks ago and am starting that this afternoon ... never have built a tank before so this will be all new to me as well ... and am gonna work like the dickens to get it done very quickly ... not one of my 6 month builds this time !! ...

It's a HobbyBoss kit, 1/48 scale with a lot of little pieces - not separate tracks though - rubber band style like the old days, but will be a certain change of pace from airplanes ...

pepper

Yo Stik!

I also would like to have an extension for the build.  Considering that the War never ended, officially, perhaps the build can continue on through 'present day'?  I've got tons of stuff waiting to be built!

Also, thanks for letting me post pics of completed stuff from the war.  Here's a few of the kits that I have in my collection at the school:

The Airfix Firefly was horrifyingly bad!  The T-66 rocket launcher was a scrap build based on a 37mm ATG chassis and trailing arms.  The Sherman dozer was an Armourfast kit with a Calibre 72 resin addition, the USMC flame Sherman was an Armourfast kit with extra stowage and a scratchbuilt flame thrower.  The Il-10 is the KP kit, the F9 is the Hasegawa kit, the Ba-65 is by UM and was a bugger to put together.  The Stinson L-4 was by KP and a joy to build but the prop broke in half and did a winger off into lost parts land.  The Churchill is the Airfix kit and a joy to build after the evil of the Matchbox/Revell AVRE Bridgelayer.  The Airfix Lorry and and 5.5" gun were easy, but the gun has such a toy-like nature that it doesn't seem right.  I can't remember if it's the Comet or Cromwell that wasn't used (Doc Win mentioned which one it was, I've forgotten) but the original list of armour in theatre that I looked at listed both.  I've also got the Matchbox/Revell M-40 and the Fujimi M-30 in 1/7 scale.  The Fujimi kits are looking more and more like they're HO rather than 1/76...

I think that's all of them, I hope that you enjoy them, and check out my photobucket page and my model building web page.

Gadzooks, draken ... what a collection ... all great looking builds !! ...

pepper

It was the Comet - they never got any closer to Korea than the garrison at Hong Kong!

Wow nice collection Draken!

I think between you and John you've got more models built than all the unbuilt stuff in my stash

Dr. Win: I think he's doing one of those 'Which one does not belong?' tests to see if we're all paying attention

Fantastic stuff!  The Centurion and Chafee look great!  Not to mention the Dragon Wagon and its tank.  The detail and finish are very realistic.

Glad to see the Starfire too.  That is one on my list to do someday.

Stik, I like the idea of an extension.  Like it?  I  mean love it!  I was hoping to get a couple more in before the deadline, and if you extend it, it will be more than a couple.  I've been tied up with my NF GB, and working on some Phantoms too.  But I am itching to get back to my ever growing Korean War stash.  I still want to build a Skynight, Skyraider, Banshee, AU-1 Corsair, F-80, T-33, another F-82, and many more!  I am going to stick with 1/72 for the most part now.  It seems like I can actually get them done! (well, except for my giant Ju-290 that is sitting at 90% complete for 6 months now)

There is such a plethora (big word for a jarhead) of interesting subjects.  And I don't think anybody has even done any ships yet.

This is still my favorite GB.  Thanks again Stik!

Cheers,

Greg

Andy (Draken) your 1/72 Armor builds are awesome ; What do you use to simulate the dirt and mud on the tanks ???

Like gregbbear , I'm busting to build a Skynight , Tigercat and F4U-5N in  their weathered overall black scheme .

On another aircraft related question I picked up a Testors 1/72 C-47 Skytrain and I'm not sure what era the U.S.Navy markings are for ?

The instructions only say that the RD-4 is post WWII , so is it Korean War , Vietnam War or in between ?

                                             John .

OK, I was thinking something like this. The GB has had participation and success beyond my wildest dreams (as my dreams pertain to GBs). I am also working on a build on the perenially running Fleet Air Arm GB, and that place planted the seed. Since this GB kicked off on 60th anniversary of the beginning of the war, why not continue it until the 60th anniversary of the Cease Fire. I know I have many more KW subjects in my stash that I would love to tackle as part of a GB, and it seems there are a few here who are in the same frame of mind.

So who here is up for a full tour???

Guys, I agree with Greg!  This is one of best GBs I have been in even tho it is only my fifth GB.  Stik, you deserve many s...

Not going anywhere for the holiday weekend so I hope I will be able to finish my Chaffee!  Will send an update tonight as soon as heavily thinned Raw Umber oil paint is dry.

I won't mind if you want to extend this GB longer but I am not sure if I can build another kit because I will lead a year long GB for armors. Of course I will keep following this GB until it is over.  

John, a quick image search shows that those markings are appropriate to anything post war after the red bar was added to the US national insignia.

By bureau number it should be a R4D (C-47B), but it is not listed on Joe Baugher website.

YES SIR

I will definitly sign up for another "Full Tour"

Kind regards ,

                  John .