Thank's Greg , I gratefully appreciate you taking the time to look up the info for me . I also had a search around google for some images and facts and found out that the U.S.Navy loaned HMAS Sydney a single H03S-1 [S-51] helicopter during her first cruise in Korean waters , the navy were really impressed with the helicopter that they ordered three British built Bristol Sycamores . The decal markings for the Glencoe kit I have show three british versions and four Aussie options . There is a camouflaged British Sycamore used in Cyprus , march 1953 , I'm wondering if the British Navy used them on their ships as well . So if I'm not able to locate a pic of an Aussie Sycamore in Korea , perhaps a British version might do ?

The small broucher I have mentions that the 'Sydney' used 24 Furies to provide fighter cover , flew ground attack missions against enemy troops , ammunition dumps and supply lines , providided air spotting for naval gunfire ; This was conducted during seven patrols between September 1951 and January 1952 , managing to tally up 2366 sorties in her 64 operational days , losing three pilots , nine Sea Furies and three Fireflies to enemy action . To be honest I had know idea we had that much involvement ...

                                  John .

Very interesting John.  Every time I read anything about the Korean War, I learn something new.  If I am not mistaken, Australia was the first to commit to the defense of Korea with a squadron of F-51's.  I hope I am remembering it right, because I hate to inadvertantly misinform anybody.  Although the U.S. had a big role in Korea, it was truly an allied effort.  Sometimes I think we here in the U.S. forget that too.  As a former Marine, we were always told of the heroism of the Chosin Reservoir, but further reading showed that the Marines were not alone!  Commonwealth troops were there at the "Frozen Chosin" with the Marines.  Well, and some Army doggies too.

I really like your choice of builds.  Very interesting and good looking aircraft too!  I am itching to start building my Corsair, but I am trying to get my phantom off my desk first.  If I get through that, then I will probably build a Sea Fury or a Firefly.  Those are two of the most attractive post war prop planes built.  Who knows?  Maybe I can find some decals of the squadrons embarked on HMAS Sydney....

Cheers,

Greg

The Korean conflict was indeed an international affair. As said at the Frozen Chosin all I have heard was about the USMC, never knew there were other allied troops there as well. As I have said to myself many times, It PAYS to do thourough research on the subject matter, it's also quite fun and frustrating at times lol. Looking forward to seeing some choppers added to the build.

The British 41 Independent Commando fought very bravely with the Marine 1st Division at the Chosin Res breakout.

I had the pleasure of meeting several of the Royal Marine Veterans as well as USMC at the 30 year anniversary of the breakout during a 1st Marine Division reunion at Camp Pendleton. As a young infantry officer at the time, their modesty and stories were inspiring.

That would be a great dio idea,,Royal Marines at Chosin...no wait!!  I have a figure and a dio started already for the GB...

Pics soon as I get back from vacation,,,

By the way I will be visiting the USMC museum at Quantico on vacation and if you have never been there,,the Korea section is amazing.

You feel the cold, see and hear the gunfire,,and it is set at night..very well done...Hope to pick up some research for my dio..

Happy Modeling everyone!

Kevin

7th Infantry division fought alongside the 1st Marine division at Chosin. They were located to the northeast during the opening stages of the Chinese offensive. Much of it was destroyed. But like the Torpedo Squadrons at Midway their sacrifice blunted some of the Chinese force during that fight. A great read on that battle is Chosin, Frozen Ordeal of the Korean War. As well as the UK forces that participated in that epic fight. And had it not been for some USAF C-119s parachuting in some bridging equipment to replace some blown span during the fight out, it is quite likely the entire Allied force at Chosin would have been bottled up and destroyed before reaching the sea and salvation.

I have made more progress today on my Centurion. I finished all the suspension on the lower hull and am nearly completed with the upper rear hull now. I should have some pics to post later today or tomorrow.

Have a great 4th of July weekend to all Americans here!

I have added all the interior pieces to the inside of the fuselage halves and their ready to glue together

Italeri instructions suggest glueing the front landing gear doors to the underside of the cockpit flooring , however when I dry fitted the fuselage halves together the landing gear doors seem to prevent the fuselage halves from fitting together at the front section . So I have decided to add them after . I added some weight to the nose cone and I had another look in the spares box and found some bomb trolley's and figures , If someone knows the correct color scheme for the ground crew and pilots that would be helpful as I would like to repaint them ...

Next I'll glue the fuselage halves together and then add the wings , everything seems to be going nicely .

Happy 4th of July everyone .

                                       John .

John, I was looking through my books today and found a picture of a HR.3 WG719 Dragonfly.  That is what the caption says.  It looks like a HOS3.  It is flying above the HMS Triumph before deployment according to the caption.  I wish I could share it with you but my scanner is acting up.  Pain in the butt, I tell you.  Neat picture though, it is superimposed over a picture of a Fairey Firefly AS5 of 817 Sq, RAN on the deck of the HMAS Sydney.  Both are black and white photos.  The same book had a nice color photo of a USMC nmf R4Q, also known as the C-119.  Again, I am sorry I couldn't get them scanned.

Happy birthday USA!

Cheers,

Greg

Hi Greg ,

No worries about not be able to get the pic's scanned , my scanner play's up on me all the time , so I know how frustrating it can be .

I have spent a great deal of time fitting and glueing the windows in on the H03S-1

I had to use super glue and even though I had dipped the windows in future before installing them , the windows still fogged a little . I dipped both fuselage halves into a cup of future and there has been a slight improvement . When it dries I might try brushing some more future on the windows again .

                                 John

John they both are looking great!!!!!!!!! Looking forward to seeing more WIP!!!

Well here's a couple of suprise's

I found these two kits hidding out in the Israeli IDF/AF kit stash ....

                         John .

You are a machine mate!!!! looking forward to WIP!!!!

Helo, Beautiful work on the HOS3 and the B-26 so far! Coming along great! And your gonna add a Meteor and a ROK F-51? when do you sleep???

As for me I got the hull pretty much finished and ready for paint now except for some small add on details (tow cables, tow shackles, spade). And I got the lower portion of the AFV indy tracks done. Not too bad once I got a method figured out and my rhythm down . Have I mentioned I hate indy tracks??? Well these are not bad, they actually snap together and stay fit nicely. And I began with the turret assembly getting the basic parts together. And fitting the AM barrel to the mantlet. here are some progress pics to this point.

the two lower track runs

The lower runs next to completed lower hull/suspension and in place beneath the road wheels

a few views with the completed upper hull placed on the lower

and a few views of the turret so far

Great progress Stik!!!! Looking forward to more!!

Nice work on the tank stikpusher , I'll be seeking your advice on tank building when my 1/72 scale Trumpeter Korean War Sherman arrives in a couple of weeks . Fitting the tracks scares me a little .

Nice WIP pics stik

                                   John .

It looks exelent so far, Stickpusher. Keep up the good work.

Everyones WIP pics are excellent. I wish I could would on any model at this point, my new table is still a complete mess with everything going on!

hey, ww2psycho,

don't be too bummed out about not having photos. I started on my M*A*S*H Bell H-13 a few weeks ago, and it stalled-out in the middle of step 1. I didn't have the right paint. I can only take so many photos of an incomplete engine before everyone starts thinking I've bailed-out.

[I send good whishes to you, for a speedy workbench clean-up. I'm interested to see what you build]

I've made a bit of a start on Academy's 1/72 scale P-51D ROK Mustang ;

The Mustang build looks fairly straight forward , there seems to be more parts to the little jeep that comes with the kit , so that should be fun to put together ...

                                 John .

Here's a couple of more P-51 pic's

While the glue is drying I'll start putting the jeep chassis together .

                                  John .

I really like how the Academy P-51 went together , so I decided to order another one along with some Aussie Decals post WWII RAAF Mustangs ; I found this B&W pic in my aircraft books ...

                             John .

The mustang is looking great so far Helo!!!!

Thank's simpilot ;

I glued the front and rear axle and the little suspension pieces onto the chassis frame ; I then decided to airbrush the rest of the jeep pieces seperatly

There is even a machine gun and pintle mount included .... nice .

I made a really dumb mistake with the A-26 Invader ; I was getting ready to glue the wings , tail planes and nose cone on , when I discovered that the sinkers I glued in the nose prevent the front cockpit flooring from fitting in ...

I removed the sinkers with some hobby pliers , also the small black device on the very front of the flooring prevents the nose cone from fiiting tight up against the front fuselage section , I'll have to remove that as well ! ; I did a dry fit of the wings and they fit okay , so I'll fit the nose cone on and then add the wings .

                   John .

Excellent progress, John! You're really gettin' at it!

I've still got a small project to finish up before starting the Sabre. Of course 4th o' July weekend means a lot of yardwork, picnicing, and fireworks so I've not touched styrene for 3 days!

Helo: wow, wish I could make as much progress on one kit as you're making on all of your subjects!

Railfan and Stikpusher: looking good!

Slowly making my way forward with the K1A1 here. Deciding not to use some of the more annoying PE helps alot. Pulled out the Dremel tool and ground down the resin aftermarket gear to fit the rear of the vehicle. She's coming together slowly but surely.  

Thank's guys ;

Just before hitting the sack last night  I filed about 5mm off the front floor section to get the nose to fit correctly .

I checked the postion of the floor with the rest of the fuselage and everything seems to line up okay , so its got me stumped why italeri made the cockpit floor so long ? I was able to get one sinker in for nose weight , I can alway's add some more weight to the insides of the engine nacelles . I glued the nose on and went to bed .

                          John .

Everybodys builds are looking awesome. ive gotta get a rattle on and do some more on my corsair. I got some shots of the pit and the engine but they showed off all my mistakes and i dont wanna post them Still havent found the stick but Gregbbear Said hes gonna post one to me (thanks heaps buddy) Wings got closed up the other day. Gonna close up the fuselage tonight and attach it to the wings. Slowly working on the canopy line by line. Alot of work involved especially since im brush painting it all.

Ill try and post some photos tonight, ive got a pretty nasty cold atm so Assasins creed on the been bag with a massive blanket is far more appealing than modeling lol.

Thats my update for now. hopefully ill get some photos soon.

Be good

Mikey 

On the floor, it looks like they made it to fit the A-26C with the clear nose as well as the gunship nose.  Probably could shorten it since you will never see it.

Another minor fit issue with the invader is the rear bulkhead needs to be filed down a little as the bottom edge of the bulkhead hits the underside of the belly turret ;

                               John .

I'm not happy with my efforts on the Mach 2 H03S-1; I tried wet sanding the fogged windows with 800 and 1200 grade wet and dry sandpaper and reapplied some future ; unfortunatly some of the fogging remains .

I have a another H03S-1 in the stash , so I'm going to swap both fuselage halves and windows and usethose instead ; I'll be more carefull when glueing the windows this time .

On a brighter note the second Academy P-51D arrived with the Aussie Decals .

Aircraft A68-809 with a red spinner operated in Korea during Sept , 1950...

                                          John .

Sorry to hear about the problems with the chopper's bubble canopy. I hope you get a solution to fix it up quickly. Everything else is looking great! Keep it coming!