OK troops, I will be off the net here for the next 36-48 hours. I am moving and wont be online again until I get internet service set up at my new residence sometime Saturday. Hopefully with a week of that I will have my hobby area re established and will be able to complete my Centurion shortly after!

Carry on and Keep up the fire!

@ Gregbear - I have a whole long long list of decals I'd love to get hold of for Korean War aircraft, for the record the shopping list goes something like this -

KW F-94B sheet, Privateer sheet, C-46 & C7 Sheet def needed for USAF, USMC & the Greek dakotas, more for the C-119 as some had some amazing nose art. B-29 & C-97, you could have a spotter sheet for T-6, L-5, Bird Dog & Auster 6. we need decals for the RB-45 &  SB17, SB29, HU-16 & 0A-10, we could do with a sheet for NKPAF & PLAAF aircraft which could cover yak-9, IL-10, LA-9 & 11 & TU-2. Thats what I can think of aircraftwise, don't even get me started on the lack of decals for British & Commonwealth AFV's! (especially as I seem to be the sole Limey/pom on this GB!)

Doc

I definitely agree with the KW decals idea.  We could really use some different ones for the Starfire and for Dakotas in 1/72, as well as the C-46 and virtually anything that the Marines flew.  I'm disappointed that the only Skyraider decals that I can find are for a sole USMC unit, none for the USN in blue.  Also, I truly believe that we could do with a wider range of F-51 and F-86 decals for the Allies, and a good range of RAN Aircraft decals.  Of course, I speak only of 1/72 scale. 

While I've seen a great number of decals in 1/48 for different birds, I think that the same issue lies with 1/32 as well.  Trumpeter is starting to pop out some remarkable 1/32 scale kits in this big bird size and there's no KW decals for them.  I'd love to see a 1/32 MiG/Sabre duo!  And from what I've seen, there's also a lack of decals in 1/35 as well. 

Quite frankly, the entire era is poorly covered in all scales.

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! 

I'm gonna moiderize him when I find him!

I just now noticed that my M-39 is missing!  DAMMIT!  That thing was bloody expensive and a pain in the *** to build!  THIS time I'm gonna find the kid and rip his little lungs out and make him give it back!  I have no idea when it disappeared, but I think that it was there last week.  It sucks that there's so many after school classes and my co-teacher takes off during them leaving the kids alone.

At least we got pictures of it up before it grew legs and walked off.

I hope you can find the M-39 Andy ,

Good luck on the house move Stik ;

I'll take gregs idea on board and submit a nicely typed list of Korean War aircraft decals and send them to Wolfpack .

Greg also mentioned Lucky Model , I buy quite a bit of stuff from them and their prices are excellent . Just yesterday I ordered a 1/72 Italeri C-130 for $24.99 and $12.00 shipping . The same kit here in Sydney is $77.00 + $15.00 for shipping , quite a difference and a lot of their resin items like Aires and Quickboost are sometimes offered with free shipping .

Back to the bench , the two PB-1W AEW Fortress are ready to mask along with the Banshee , Panther and AD-3 Skyraider also the second Mach 2 S-51 Dragonfly and the Yak-18 . I also have the Mach 2 C-54 Skymaster ready to mask and the C-46 is back in the spraybooth as well . I'll also start the airbrushing on a couple of B-57 Canberra's and a P-38 for another project , so there's lots of painting lined up for the weekend .  The airfix Short Sunderland stareing at me from under the bench , last night I removed the nose and tail turrets to replace them with squadrons vacuform set , there is also a couple of pic's in my Korean War aircraft books which seem to show the Sunderland without the roof turret as well , so I removed mine and will fill the opening with sheet plastic ; The Aims decal sheet for the Korean War Sunderland doesn't show the turrets fitted , so I'll build mine the same .

I may get around to start the masking on the Sunderland as well (hopfully) , should be a good weekend .

                                      John .

Stik, good luck with the move!  Hope all of your models survive the move.

Thanks for the response guys.  We seem to echo the same sentiments.  If there are enough customers, I am sure someone will take notice.  I sure hope it is Wolfpak.  I received my set from them already, and I am really impressed.  There is fantastic research and information about each aircraft.  Not like an old Microscale sheet where you just look at it and go"huh?????"!

John, the dio idea of the tank retriever and the helo would be great!  I am going to have to get that book.

Draken (Andy), kids and their sticky fingers......

Good luck on the move Stik, personally, I would rather have dental work done, than move.

Cheers,

Greg

I was thinking of buying the Mach 2 1/72 scale LCT6 Landing craft ;

According to the kit description it say's the LCT6 was used in the Korean conflict ?

As I know absolutly nothing about ships , boats or any type of watercraft I was wondering if anyone could confirm what the kit states .

It also say's that the landing craft could carry up to six tanks or quite a few trucks , it seems this would be a great place to park some of my armor builds ?

As always I appreciate any help with my question ;

                                      John

You are correct!

Helo,

The LCT-6 was used in the Korean War, and I've come THIS '' close to buying one, but with my meager resources, I've forgone it until the future.  BTW!  I've just finished the M-32 (minus decals) and will be posting pics of it tonight sometime.  I've added a crap load of extras, because the engineers are WELL known to add stuff to anything that moves because we "might just need it later on..."

If you buy it, lemme know how it turns out, I desperately want one! 

Here we are, a few extras on it, and no decals or figures added as of yet.  The Milicast M-32 Sherman ARV:

So far, I think that this is one of the best shots.  It shows off the un-ditching beams, the tree trunk, the camo netting, and has proper lighting for the rest of the vehicle.  I'm actually kinda proud of the rope.  I couldn't find my grey thread so I left the tan thread 'rope' instead of steel cables.  Otherwise, I'm waiting to paint the figures and maybe paint the thread grey.

I also added some track links for the T-26E tracks from the Trumpeter M-26 and M-4A3E8 kits.  The pioneering tools and the barbed wire rolls came from the Airfix Forward Command Post Kit.  The canvas rolls were made from OD spray painted toilet paper (A single ply is better than 700 grit!  It's John Wayne Style!  Rough and tough and doesn't take *** off of anything!).  The Camo netting was made from spray painted gauze.  Overall, I'm happy with the result.  The kit was rather difficult due to the fact that the bubbles in the resin made some 'poles' shorter than others.  It was also made harder due to a crappy bottle of super glue!

As soon as I get some figures painted and decals on it, I'll post some more pics.

I really like the M-32 with all the added stuff Andy .

The canvas rolls and netting from toilet paper and gauze are awesome ; I will try that sometime in the future .

I ordered the M-32 and LTV-3 from Millcast , hopfully I can make a fair go of them both , I copied a couple of pic's of yours along with some pic's of the Dragon Wagon you posted earlier for reference and inspirarion , I really like all of your 1/72 Armor builds .

I also ordered the Mach 2 LCT6 Landing craft , the kit is a litttle expensive but I think because I buy a lot of stuff from Hannants , they seem to give me a bit of a discount on some items when they go over $100.

Anyway the Landing Craft will be my watercraft offering to the Korean War GB , I was thinking about the Dragon 1/700 U.S.S. Bon Homme Richard , that greg mentioned earlier but the aircraft just look too tiny for me and I didn't see anything in 1/350 scale ;

However I like the fact the Mach 2 LCT6 is in 1/72 scale , like the rest of my Korean War kits 

                                           John .

Crappy pics, but it's done.  Stik, if you wanna put it up, go ahead!  I'd prefer using the previous pics though, they're much better.  Unless you might wanna use one of these...

And one of the fluffeh Whitey kitteh who is constantly trying to interrupt my modelling to play and disperse hair...

Draken, the M-32 came out great.  Your extra stowage adds even more interest. 

I too have a question about KW usage.  A few days ago in the LHS, I noticed a 1/72 Sherman by Eduard.  It said it was 105 version, and it was used in WWII.  Beyond that, it didn't give much info, such a model number.  Is anyone familiar with this model, and if, so was it used in Korea?  Everything in small scale in my LHS is pretty much all German. 

Cheers,

Greg

Hi Greg ;

My knowledge on Armor in general is quite limited , however I found this pic in Squadron's Armor in Korea book ...

As you can see by the caption it states it's a M4 Howitzer , I could be wrong but I alway's thought that the Howitzer is refered to as the 105 ???

I'm sure others with a lot more experiance with Armor will be able to answer the question more fully .

HTH .

                          John.

First off, Helo, that is an awesome book, I'm going to have to pick up a copy sometime!  I especially like the photo of the Ba-65 in US markings. 

Here's some pics of the finished, COMPLETELY, Dragon Wagon and Patton.  I added some stowage to the Patton and chained it to the trailer.  My only disappointment with the chain from Milicast is that it's a copper tone and I had to paint it, although, having painted it with Testors' flat steel, the copper that shines through looks a lot like rust!

And some more!  I was going to wait until I had the Su-76 and my two M-7's done, and changed my mind.  On the left (front to back) are the Revell M-101 105mm howitzer from the CH-46 Tarhe kit and the Ace M-101 105mm Howitzer.  Note the difference in size and the different splinter shields.  I was reading one book which stated that the South Korean Army only had light weight 105mm howitzers for arty at the start of the war.  I wonder if the Revell kit is what's meant by that terminology.  On the Right are the UM 76mm field gun and limber (the same gun used in the SU-76), the PST 122mm Field Gun, and the PST 152mm Field Gun.  These wer used later in the war by the CCF.  They were used in conjunction with ISU 122's and ISU-152's of which, only a very few were ever fielded.  In the book "Final Crucible:  The USMC in the Korean War Part II" the author quotes Ted Williams describing a bombing run on an ISU-152.  Take note that the 122 and 152 can both rotate and elevate on their carriages.  These two kits were kind of a pain to build; although the fit and parts looked wonderful in the box, in construction the fit was horrible and I basically cut off any locating tabs in order to get stuff to line up.

A nice little note to the Ace kit, despite the bad fit and heavy flash, they include 5 rounds of ammo for a diorama!  And the smallest of the guns (the 76mm field gun) has a photo etched brass splinter shield.

Awesome stuff Andy ;

You mentioned before about the M-46 being chained down to the Dragon Wagon but I can't remember where you said you got the chain from !

The field guns look great too , your the only one so far who has done artillary pieces ( I think ) .

Here's a pic from the book I mentioed earlier of a M-41 155mm Howitzer and a British Centurion ;

Do have these as 1/72 kits in the stash and are they readily available , I would certainly like both .

                              John .

Heya Helo!

I bought the chain from Milicast.  Same time that i bought all the rest of my resin kits and a few extras (the M-3 Halftrack stowage and 50 jerry cans).  I've seen that short barreled 155 and had been wondering what it was!  Matchbox/Revell did the M-40 which was the long barreled version.  I suppose that you could cut the barrel down modify a Chaffee hull, and call it an M-41.  The M-40's were from the Arkansas National guard, which were called up to active duty for the war.  I've got one built and on display at school with a Fujimi M-30 behind it for ammo supply.  I've got the Nitto/Fujimi and the Matchbox/Revell M-7's, I'm going to build at least one of them with the hoops and canvas cover, and the other is going to have an M-30 with it.  I've got LOTS of shells left over from Hasegawa M-2 Long Tom kits (I also have that on display at the school being towed behind an M-5 HST).  One of these days I'll get around to posting pictures of those combos.  For the Longtom and HST, I used the 'mini-diorama' that Matchbox provided with the M-19.  I painted it like a Korean road and on the sign I put (in English and Hangeul!) "Yangju 12 Km ->".  It looks really cool!

Found these on my model web site and put them onto Photobucket to post here: 

The first two are of the -36 Jackson by Nitto/Fujimi.  The first shot shows the interior that I had to build for it!  You could see daylight through the hull because of how it had been designed as a kit.  I also made bulk heads for the engine bay, turret area, and driver's area.  They all got painted aircraft Vietnam Camouflage Grey (Academy Aero White) and then I went to work assembling the rest of it.

The second shot shows a really nice closeup of the added engine details.  I added hoses, spark plug wires (cables for you limeys and aussies!) as well as a distributor, coil, and battery.  I never did get around to battery cables.    I also added the back end of an MG for the hull gunner's position!

The next three are of the M-2 155mm and the HST from Hasegawa.  The gun is really nice with lotsa moving parts.  But it only shows in the directions how to build it in the traveling position!  Since that's how I was going to display it, it didn't bother me much.  But I can raise and lower the gun and slide it back for traveling.

I was wondering what looked wrong with the pictures and just realized that they were taken before decals were put on. 

Anyway, just wanted to show these off... 

Yo, Doc and Helo!

I was surfing teh intertubez this evening and found a really cool web site for 1/72 Shermans.  I was particularly looking to see what Brit armour was involved in the war, as I recalled seeing a sherman described as a 'Commonwealth Sherman' in a photo.  Turns out it was Canadian, so I can add that into vehicles from my stash.  I've got an M-4A3(76) Eduard ProfiPack that's begging to be built (all that fiddly PE scares the tar outta me!) and I wondered if I could add it in. 

http://www.172shermans.com/Korean%20war%20shermans.htm

While we're on the subject of Canucks; how do you spell Canada with three letters?  C, eh?  N, eh?  D, eh?

*BADUM bum TISS!*    Thanx everybody!  I'll be here through Tuesday, try the veal!

Cool armor and arty Draken.

John, tanks for the image.  I might give that Sherman a try then. 

I found these from a company called Fantasy Printshop in England.  They also have a Navy set, and are both in 1/48th and 1/72.  I ordered the 48th scale for my Monogram, and I am thinking about buying a set in 72 for future use.  Other than the Eaglestrike set with an AD-4N, and two others, this is the only KW skyraider sheet(s) I have found.  If interested, they are seller- fantasyprintshop on ebay.

Cheers,

Greg

Excellent post Greg ;

I'm masking the Heller Skyraider right now and need a set of 'AK' markings , so I'll pick some up for sure .

The Heller kit is quite basic compared to Fujimi's and Hasegawa's Skyraider kits but it's a fun quick build .

You also have me thinking about a M4 Sherman with a 105mm Howitzer and I might pick up one of those M5 Tractors as well .

Starting painting the F2H-2P Banshee and F9F Panther , some silver along the wing leading edges now there both ready for gloss sea blue .

                                 John

Greg,

I bought a set of those decals to do my Skyraider (a Hasegawa AD-6, backdated to a late war AD-4), they go on very nicely, if I remember you don't even need setting solution. 

Helo - I need to get that squadron armour in Korea book! Keep seeing photos I've not encountered before!

Draken - I hate to nit pick but weren't the M5 tractors out of use by Korea? I think you need the M4 instead. If anyone does it...

I found a nice shot of HMS Belfast on Wikipedia commons, thought I'd post the link up - 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMS_Belfast_in_Korea.jpg

The F-94 is almost finished, just waiting for the varnish to set, may have to rub down a few drips and re spray before I can get the parafilm off the canopy. Had a bit of a disaster with it earlier in the week, after carefully masking off a few panels to do in a different metal shade, take of the Tamiya tape and big chunks of my nicely airbrushed silver paint came with it. Much cursing ensued believe me! Still shes looking ok now. Not my best work, but not my worst either.

Doc.

I have finished the F-82, it was part of a 1 week build at Swanny's that took me 11 days.  Gloss black finish  quick builds may be one of your basic oxymorons.  Sorry about the pictures all in one post, but it was either build or write, not both.  One thing I did find was that building faster makes one think harder and puts pressure on a person to find ways to build better.  Does that make sense?  It may be Helo John's big secret!

I took progress pictures so here are some.  Notes are on my web site here:

http://www.yolo.net/~jeaton/mymodels/f82/1f82/1f82.html

Hey Jeaton, wow she looks great!

Is this the Monogram kit? FSM ran a repeat review a few months ago and the kit sounds like a bear to assemble.

Thanks for the compliment.

I didn't think it was too bad to assemble, the only fit problem I had was with one of the four wing root fits.  If I had used the kit canopies instead of the Falcon vac canopies, that might have caused more issues.  Getting it to sit on all four wheels, well I didn't quite but it's not noticeable.  It is a nice kit, really.  It was easier to work with than most P-38's.  A real 1/72 modeler might wish for better cockpit detail.  The wheels could use some help as well.  All in all I had a good time.

@ Jeaton:

Awesome quick build.    I do all of mine in 1/72 in about that time, usually.  Given my situation and whatnot here in Korea, it only makes sense, though. 

@ Helo:

I've decided to work on my C-46 next, do you have any suggestions?  What are the worst bugs, and what should I watch out for?  I'm going to have it as sitting on the ramp in the summer:  Open up the two over wing window panels, leave the cargo doors off, gear down.  I've got metal gear from SAC, do you suggest using the plastic or vinyl tires?  Thnx in advance!

Draken (Andy #2)

Jeaton , excellent work Sir on the F-82 Twin Mustang

Andy I found the WIP pic's I originally posted and uploaded them into photobucket and will re-post them here ;

Fist up is the main sprue pic

next I cut out for the landing gear wells and inserts ,

After glueing the engine nacelles together , I then cut the bottom cowl flaps to pose them open

I then cut open both fuselage side doors ,

I made some interior bulkheads from two spare pieces from Academy's B-17 kit and added some sheet plastic ,

I also cut a new piece of plastic sheet to extend the cabin/cargo floor passed the rear door opening ,

Another rear view ,

The fuselage halves fit together quite well , HOWEVER , the wings are a frightning affair ,

The bottom center piece is not too bad a fit ,

I used an old tissue box to position the C-46 on her side while I glued the starboard wing in place ,

Another view ,

There are some huge gaps on the wing leading edge as it fit up to the engine nacelle ,

Here's the fuselage and wings glued on , the second C-46 is an Air America bird ,

I was going to use a couple of F-15 speed brake struts on the main cargo door opening ,I also added plastic strip to the top and side of the doors to make up the difference from the saw cut and filing ,

I did struggle with getting the two front canopy halves to join up properly , I ended up getting two Squadron Vacuform C-46 canopies to use instead . I haven't as yet cut them to fit , I was thinking of masking and airbrushing the Commando first and fit the Vacuform canopy after .

Don't forget to cut out the opening for the tail wheel when the fuselage halves a still two seperate pieces .

My C-46 has been in the spraybooth for quite a while now , unfortunatly she keeps getting pushed aside for other aircraft which seem to take prioity , It's a shame , especially after all the work I did to get her together ;

She really deserves better !!!

I'll try and get some paint on the 'old girl' sometime this week

If I think of anything else about the build I'll let you know or if you have more questions please don't hesitate to ask , I'm more than happy to help .

HTH ,

                   John .

Thanks a bunch John!

I've saved the post, and will try to print out the pics at work as I don't have a printer here at home.  I've started by opening up the tail wheel area and main gear bays.  Also trimming some flash from all over the fuselage.  Step two was to make a very unplanned detour and cut out the flaps.  Time will tell if this was a wise decision or not.  Also taken care of was assembling the horizontal stabilizers.  Easy, quick, and now done.  I've trimed the flash from the four prop hubs and will be assembling them with the props next.  I didn't know which ones you went with (both three and four prop hubs were used throughout WWII, Korea, and post conflict) but would have preferred to be different.  Since I wasn't knowledgeable of the facts...  I went with the four prop hubs since that's what the one in my photo of a RoK Commando had.  For the back deck of the floor, I'm just going to hang an OD green canvas curtain at the bulkhead.  I'm going to leave the passenger doors off of both sides of the fuselage and open the cargo doors as if for loading.  It would be cool for a diorama!  The Squadron/Signal InAction book shows a GMC CCKW- 2/5t truck with the sides of the bed gone and a wooden ramp for use in cargo loading. I'm going to have mine hanging from the ceiling (due to size) so that's not going to help me any.  I've noticed that I'm going to be using a lot of filler plastic and putty on this already.  Test fitting the stabilizers to the hull showed massive gaps on mine due to sinking of the plastic, and I'm glad that I got the metal gear from SAC, mine all are messed up with sink holes and injector pin marks.

Anyway, I'm already starting!

Helo,

What scale is your Commando? I`m sure you posted that info but I can`t seem to find it.

Thanks,

Len

Len,

Ha ha ha ha!  Helo and I only build in one scale, 1/72 scale (God's OWN scale!).    The first pic is of the Williams' Bros. kit.  It's only available in 1/72.  Not being a jerk, just thinking that it's funny because he and I go back and forth all the time about what we build and often leave out the scale.

I've already gotten pretty far in one night.  Cutting out the flaps on top and bottom, opening up the gear bays all around, filling in the trench in the main deck, and getting the prop hubs ready for assy.  I'd love to have the engines painted tonight, but I'm thinking that tonight is going to be all about basic assy.