Cliff and Stik , thank's for the info on the 1/35 Armor kits .

I was looking on-line at the big scale stuff and saw the Hobby Boss M-4 High Speed Tractor . There seems to be three different types available , 3in/90mm and 155mm/8in/240mm .

I'm not sure what the difference is between each one or what version was used in Korea .

I was also looking at some 1/35 M3 Halftracks , Dragon have a M3A1 and Tamiya have a M3A2 , again I'm not sure which version to buy .

The Italeri M24 Chaffee just arrived at the front door and the kit looks great . I was wondering what type of towing mechanism would have been used between the M32 Recovery Tank and the M24 in the pic I posted earlier ?

                                         John .

I just found this link to the Hobby Boss M4 High Speed Tractor ...

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/hobbyboss/hb82408.html

Looks like the 155mm/8in/240mm would be the kit for me .

I'll look around for some of those towed artilary pieces as well .

                                  John .

I searched around google for info on the Korean War M3 Halftrack and read that the M3A2 was used late in WWII and then during the Korean War .

A LHS has 25% off Armor kits at the moment so I ordered the 1/35 Hobby Boss M4 High Speed Tractor 155mm/8in/240mm and the 1/35 Tamiya M3A2 Halftrack .

John

John: I picked up one of those high speed tractors a few months ago when Squadron had it on sale. Looks like a nice kit, haven't built it yet so I can't comment on fit but the molding is crisp with nice detailing.

BTW: If you should want to try something modern my Squadron flyer came yesterday and next month (July) the Academy K1A1 kit I built is going on sale for $15.00 bucks US! I paid about $40.00 for mine! Course, with S&H not sure it would be much of a bargin for you if did go for it.

http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=mh13215

Looks like the Armor bug has been biting!

John, thanks for the reminder on the pitfalls of the Italeri -4B Corsair.  I bought one recently from Luckymodel.  I opened up the squished box to take a look, and the prop was broken.  That seems to be a constant theme with those crappy end opening boxes.  I started an Italeri -7 years ago, but I think I am going to build it as an AU-1.  The old release came with the decals for a "Death Rattlers" one.  The new release' decal sheet is all French planes, but the AU-1 parts are still there.

As for ground vehicles, does anybody know what kind of tractor is on page 18 of F9F Panther/Cougar in Action is?  I will try to scan the picture.  It is interesting because they (USMC) were using it to tow a Panther on one of their crappy Korean fields, so as to not kick up dust.

By the way, does anybody know what color the wheel wells should be on a Meteor?

Cheers,

Greg

Greg- That's funny... you said the Armor bug has been biting!  Believe it or not I broght two plane kits for the FIRST TIME since my return to the hobby after 20 years break.  You can say that wingy thing bug has bitten me!  LOL 

Helo H-34

I was looking on-line at the big scale stuff and saw the Hobby Boss M-4 High Speed Tractor . There seems to be three different types available , 3in/90mm and 155mm/8in/240mm .

I'm not sure what the difference is between each one or what version was used in Korea .

The Italeri M24 Chaffee just arrived at the front door and the kit looks great . I was wondering what type of towing mechanism would have been used between the M32 Recovery Tank and the M24 in the pic I posted earlier ?

                                         John .

Regarding the M4 tractor, I beleive the main difference in types is ammo stowage bins. Its a different set up for the seperate piece charge/projectile rounds for Field Artillery vs the single piece rounds of Air Defence Artillery.

As far as towing vehicles goes, there are two differnt methods, tow cables for short distance or a tow bar for extended hauls. I suspect the tow bar is what is in use in the photo. The tow bar is a V shaped set up that the single point attaches to the towing vehicles tow pintle on the rear and the twin points attach to the towed vehicle's tow hooks/shackles. On a tracked vehicle, the final drives have to be disconnected from the transmission (internal stuff) so that the track is free moving... lets just say I have participated in this activity before...

Stik, yes the ubiquitous tow bar!  For short tows, we didn't have to remove the u-joints to the final drive.  But when we did, what a pita!  And if we used cables instead of a tow bar, not fun!  No brakes on the towed vehicle (since the final drives were disconnected).  We would try and put a camoflauge net bag on the bow, so it wouldn't be too bad when you "bumped" the tow vehicle.  At Camp Lejuene, the antennas on the tow vehicle would knock the ticks out of the trees just in time to land on the towed vehicle.  Not to mention the mud, dust etc.  Oh what fond memories....  Always better to tow, than be towed!

DP, glad the winged bug bit you too!  It is only fair, since you unleashed a swarm of armor bugs!

Cheers,

Greg

Hey Guy's

Thank's for the info on the tow bar for the M32/M24 hook-up .

Stik and Greg , It's great to get first hand knowlage from men who actually have been there and done that !

Greg , here is another pic of what I think is a similar looking tractor ...

At this stage I am unable to give any more info on what type of tractor it is ; Hopfully someone else may know .

As for the wheel wells on the Meteor , I checked through my Meteor books and the color seems to vary from silver to light grey and some are chromate . there are some really nice close-up photo's of the wheel wells in the comprehensive modellers guide to the Meteor , however it's a colourfull target tow British version and the wells are red in color .

It if were me , I would probably go with chromate (yellow/green) on a camouflage Meteor and silver on a overall silver finish Meteor .

Cliff , thank's for the tip on the K1A1 being on special at Squadron . My Squadron flyer allway's arrive's later in the month and all the good special have already sold out . I've been ttrying for age's to get some metal landing gear for a 1/72 C-69/121 Constellation , no luck yet .

The closest local hobby store to me have that K1A1 tank and I've had it in my hands every time I've gone into the shop ; Sadly the store was gutted by fire a couple of weeks ago . LHS are becoming almost extinct .

                                John .

Whatever that tractor is, it looks the same as the one that comes with the Monogram 1/48 B-24 kits.

Say Helo,

Speaking of tow bars...  If you have the Academy 1/72 Dragon Wagon look at the front of the vehicle.  That's the tow bar that probably would've been used for long distances in place of the cables.  It's exactly as described by someone else in an earlier post.  I noticed it when I was building the kit and wondered about tow cables. 

Cletrac made the tow tractors:

http://www.fm-tesseracted.com/Doug%27s%20Equipment/page2.html

Andy , I have the Academy 1/72 Dragon Wagon and I can see what the tow bars look like , thank's buddy .

I've started adding some black wash to the Amtrack and I'll continue on with the other Armor builds ;

Close up of the LVT ;

I'll paint some of those Amex Korean War figures as well ;

I would very much like to finish the other Armor builds I started a few months ago , so I knuckle down over the next couple of days and get everything done and post finished pic's ;

                     John .

Thanks for the info John and John (helo and jeaton)!  That is really cool.

Stik, I forgot all about the tractor in the B-24 kit.  I wonder if there are any in 72nd scale?  As for the 48th scale, I don't see my self buying a B-24 just for the tractor, but maybe I can find one from somebody who built the plane and could care less about the tractor.

Thanks for the Meteor info too.  It isn't for this GB unfortunately.  It would've been interesting if the UK would've sent some NF meteors to RAAF.  They would have probably stood a much better chance against the Mig 15, than the day version did.  One of these days I want to build an RAAF Mk8.  They look tough with a wingload of rockets!  But right now, the only one available is the limited run MPM/Xtrakit.  Both expensive and a very difficult build (according to Mike Grant).

Other than V-1 chasers, the RAAF and IAF (Egypt?) were the only ones to really see combat???  If so, why do all the manufacturers only do the early ones?   Am I missing something?  My Meteor book mainly focuses on European use of the type, with a chapter on the Aussies, so it is narrow in scope.

Cheers,

Greg

Gregbbear

Thanks for the info John and John (helo and jeaton)!  That is really cool.

Stik, I forgot all about the tractor in the B-24 kit.  I wonder if there are any in 72nd scale?  As for the 48th scale, I don't see my self buying a B-24 just for the tractor, but maybe I can find one from somebody who built the plane and could care less about the tractor.

Thanks for the Meteor info too.  It isn't for this GB unfortunately.  It would've been interesting if the UK would've sent some NF meteors to RAAF.  They would have probably stood a much better chance against the Mig 15, than the day version did.  One of these days I want to build an RAAF Mk8.  They look tough with a wingload of rockets!  But right now, the only one available is the limited run MPM/Xtrakit.  Both expensive and a very difficult build (according to Mike Grant).

Other than V-1 chasers, the RAAF and IAF (Egypt?) were the only ones to really see combat???  If so, why do all the manufacturers only do the early ones?   Am I missing something?  My Meteor book mainly focuses on European use of the type, with a chapter on the Aussies, so it is narrow in scope.

Cheers,

Greg

Greg , your right  about those Aussie Meteors not being a match for the Mig-15's ; Eventually the RAAF switched the Meteors to the Fighter/Bomber roll .

I have cautiously started the 1/72 MPM RAAF Meteor , the kit was quite expensive and throw in the CMK resin engine , I've been checking and triple checking everything before cutting and glueing anything .

The plastic has a soft feel to it and could get scratched easily , so it's been a very slow build so far .

I'll cut the top of the wing next to install the resin engine .

                         John .

I was looking through my Squadron Armor in Korea book for photos of the Amtrack and came across some nice color artwork pic's to use as a guide to weathering my LVT-3 Amtrack ;

I haven't really done any heavy weathering like in the pic above on my builds before but I had ago with some Q tips and Tamiya weathering powders and have finished the LTV-3 to the best of my ability ...

LVT-3 Amtrack , 1st Marine Amphibious Tractor Battalion , Korea 1950 ;

                               John .

BEAUTIFUL!

That's an incredible build, Helo!  And, I must say, a FAST one for you.  I hope the rest of your armour turns out as good.  Now I have something to look forward to for references when I build mine.

I am currently planning on going to the Korean War Memorial Museum on Saturday if the weather turns out okay.  It's been raining essentially non-stop for the last two weeks.  I just need to get the heck out of the apartment!  If there's anything that you guys would like me to detail pics of I'll try to take some requests here.  First come, first served.  I'm going to be going around the exterior of the building, that's where nearly all of the aircraft and armour are.  I don't have a fancy camera, it's just a pocket digital one.  But I'll do my best to get what I can for pictures.  I know that they have a C-46 in RoKAF colours, and I want to get info on insignia placement.

John-  Loved this picture...

I don't know why but dirtied armors always get me all excited up.   Nice job on this one!

Hi All:

Here is my Sabre Jet, finished - this is the SAAF side of course - and ready for posting on the front page ... (thanks a bunch, stik !!) ...

pepper

Hi All:

As you know, I've started a Sherman tank for this GB ...

It's 1/48 by Hobby Boss and to date, I am not impressed nor pleased ... an awful lot of little, teeny, tiny, fiddly pieces and, IMHO, very poor engineering in some areas ...

However, the build has started and is moving right along ... here are a couplea photos of progress this morning ...

I had to glue a flat piece to each side of the lower hull and found that I couldn't keep them flat and square ... so, I grabbed my 'THINGIE' and solved the problem ...

Alas, after the 'THINGIE' served its purpose, I usd the contents to make chili ... the THINGIE is no more :-( ...

Next up are the road wheels and suspension parts ... 9 pieces to each X 6, blah, blah ...

Leading us to this point ...

All i've to say about building ARMOR is YIKES !! ... after this is complete, it's back to wings and such :-) ...

pepper

pepper kay

I resized the photo for the front page ...

.

pepper

I'll get it right ... been away too long from the GB and having a wee bit of memory collapse :-) ...

Here are the road wheels, etc.

pepper

pepper kay

All i've to say about building ARMOR is YIKES !! ... after this is complete, it's back to wings and such :-) ...

pepper

Again, nice work on your Sabre!  That's why I got the wingy bug.  And I have to warn you not to eat too much of this or you will get gas.  It always happen to me...   Looking forward to next update on your little armor! 

Hi All:

A few days ago, I asked a question re the hose connection on a new airbrush given to me ...

Since photos are better than words, here's what I'm asking about ...

Here's the Paasche brush and hose connection:

Here's the same but on the Spraymaster AB1004:

Does anyone know of an adapter that would make the Spraymaster (Great Britain) able to use the Paasche (American) hose ? ...

Thanks,

pepper

PS  I'll go to the airbrush forum (if there is one) and/or a general forum to ask the same question ... THX ...

the_draken

BEAUTIFUL!

That's an incredible build, Helo!  And, I must say, a FAST one for you.  I hope the rest of your armour turns out as good.  Now I have something to look forward to for references when I build mine.

I am currently planning on going to the Korean War Memorial Museum on Saturday if the weather turns out okay.  It's been raining essentially non-stop for the last two weeks.  I just need to get the heck out of the apartment!  If there's anything that you guys would like me to detail pics of I'll try to take some requests here.  First come, first served.  I'm going to be going around the exterior of the building, that's where nearly all of the aircraft and armour are.  I don't have a fancy camera, it's just a pocket digital one.  But I'll do my best to get what I can for pictures.  I know that they have a C-46 in RoKAF colours, and I want to get info on insignia placement.

Thank's Andy and DP for the kind words on my Millcast LVT-3 build . I did notice after posting the pic's that the machine guns look a little too clean , so I rubbed some Tamiya soot powder on them and they look much better now .

Andy , Squadrons C-46 Commando in action book has this pic of a ROKAF C-46D ;

I hope you can get lot's of photo's at the museum , I don't have anything specific in mind , just whatever you can snap will be great .

Pepper , nice start on the Sherman ; We are certainly venturing out of our comfort zone from rotors and wings when it comes to armor but I must admit it makes a nice change not having to mask canopies and windows and I'm starting to take a real liking to things with wheels and tracks .......

Sorry I can't be much help on the airbrush / hose connection issue , hopfully someone will be able to help you solve the issue .

                                        John .

Helo H-34

.

Pepper , nice start on the Sherman ; We are certainly venturing out of our comfort zone from rotors and wings when it comes to armor but I must admit it makes a nice change not having to mask canopies and windows and I'm starting to take a real liking to things with wheels and tracks .......

Sorry I can't be much help on the airbrush / hose connection issue , hopfully someone will be able to help you solve the issue .

                                        John .

Hey John:[I'm thinking that when the tank is finished, I'm gonna go back to what I know - thingies with wingies :-) ...

I found a website that deals with this airbrush and it says they have adapters, amongst other parts, so later this evening, I'm going to visit Great Britain and see if I can find something that will work, as well as an instruction manual ...

I've never had a double action brush before and have no idea of even how to break it down to clean ... gotta find something that will tell me, otherwise it's going in the trash (unless someone on this GB would like to have it) ...

So, that's all the news from Garland, TX for now ...

pepper

pepper kay

I've never had a double action brush before and have no idea of even how to break it down to clean ... gotta find something that will tell me, otherwise it's going in the trash (unless someone on this GB would like to have it) ...

Pepper, maybe this website will help you.  It was very helpful for me when I first got my Iwata AB. 

http://www.airbrushguru.com/cleaning-your-airbrush.html

It has great diagrams & pictures with step-by-step how to clean all kind of AB models.  I haven't seen a website better than this.  A representative with Iwata customer service sent me this when I had problems with my Iwata earlier because I didn't know how to clean it properly.    But it has been fixed!

You gotta be kidding me!  I've built this kit before, ain't no WAY it's worth that price.  Dude must be takin' some GOOOOOOOOOD drugs!

http://cgi.ebay.com/PLASTIKOVY-MODEL-1-72-MIG-15-RUSSIAN-JET-FIGHTER-/320718489504?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aac4fc7a0

Guys:

John: Wow, great work on the Amtrack! Count me amazed you guys can get all that detail packed into a 1/72nd scale kit.

Draken: That reminds me - great work on your LCVP, love how the water base came out. Meant to comment earlier but unlike some of the slower GBs so much is always going on here I get distracted sometimes before I can comment on stuff. And yeah, twenty-five bucks for an old kit in 1/72nd from behind the Iron Curtain? Um, no thanks.

Pepper: Please watch the thingee, last time I had something like that near the work bench it created a typhoon that blew several small parts away...

As to your airbrush I've got a Paasche, a Grex, and an old Badger and none of them use the same air hose. DP has a good idea. Other than that I'd think you could contact the company, Or else if you have a store near you that sells art supplies or some large hardware stores you might be able to take the brush with you and see if the salesguy or gal will test different hoses till you find one that fits.

Stik: Wow, you got a NM finish that good out of Testor's square bottles??? Colour me impressed...

Gamera

Draken: That reminds me - great work on your LCVP, love how the water base came out. Meant to comment earlier but unlike some of the slower GBs so much is always going on here I get distracted sometimes before I can comment on stuff.

Andy (The Draken) , My apologies Sir , untill Cliff just mentioned your LCVP , somehow I had missed seeing the pic's 

I went back a few pages and found them...Excellent work buddy

I may just look around for one for my collection .

                    John .