Draken,is there anyway you can find that pic of ay LVT-4 in Korea and post it here. I would love to see that. It is possible it is an Army rather than Marine LVT.

Andy , thanks for the tip on the camouflage netting ; I'll have a go at trying something similar and like Stik mentioned it would be great if you could post a pic of the photo of the LVT 4 .

Greg , Heller GMC 353 truck looks quite good but as you say the lack of equipment like jerry cans and other items like on the box art  , makes it a little disappointing . However there is still lot's to like about the heller truck , with the option of full cover for the cab and cargo area's as well as two types of doors ...

I'll probably buy a couple more Heller GMC truck kits .

I have struggled with Academy's U.S. 2.5ton Truck , I cant seem to get the cab to sit level on the chassie , it tends to lean slightly forward and I have removed it three times after glueing it to try and get it to sit properly but I'm still not 100% happy ...

I did buy one of those Pegasus US Army truck kits ...

There a lot like Italeri's fast assembly kits and you get two in the box with the option of a rear canvas cover section . there are no clear window pieces though , so I'll cut some clear sheet for the windscreen .

I thought one of the Pegasus trucks would look okay parked next to a SA-16B Albatross ....

Along with a Academy Tow Tractor .

Searching around the internet I found another pic of a Searchlight truck ;

Ebay had some 20mm Searchlights for model boats ; 20mm is about the size I think is close to what I was trying to scratch-build and these lights were only $7 + $5 shipping , so I bought one ...

Greg , let us know if you find some good pic's on the M32 Turret and your not wrong about all the different variants of the lower and upper hull styles and how confussing it gets , especially when you look at photo's in books of museum M32 Shermans and how ther different to what type actually operated .

I also bought that FSM Building and Detailing Sherman Tanks book and there are some photo's of finished Shermans , I also bought the Squadron Amtracs in action book and I really like the look of the LVT(A) 5 that operated in Korea ; I wonder how difficult it would be to kit bash one of those versions ???

Anyway , I'll try and do some airbrushing today and perhaps start on the Heller GMC 353 truck , I can build her and just wait for the Searchlight to arrive  .

                               John .

Another Question regarding trucks that were used in Korea ;

The FSM July 2000 issue , mentioned earlier has a list of Armor kits  for modellers and I see a section for the North koreans which list the Zil-151 Truck .

In 1/72 scale there are ICM Zil-131 and 157 trucks but I saw nothing called Zil-151 ?

Would the Zil-131 be suitable .

I also bought off ebay one of those ancient 1/72 Airfix Fairey Firefly kits . I like the option of the wing fold , hopfully the kit wont have any missing parts !

                          John .

Heya John!  As well as everyone else...

LOVE the idea of the searchlight truck.    I may have to make one of those m'se'f...

The Airfix/Heller truck is fairly decent, I'm mostly disappointed by the lack of stuff that's missing compared to the box art.  I also didn't like the supersoft plastic.  The Hasegawa kit is much nicer, and better plastic, but there's a serisous lack of undercarriage detail.  It was designed in the late 60's for war gamers and it shows.  The Pegasus is one of the re-popped Hat/Armourfast kits.  These are REALLY popular with the war gamers nowadays as they go together very fast and have decent enough detail.  Italeri and Pegasus have both bought up a bunch of the molds, and Hat is also popping them out under the Armourfast name.  It's a freaking wild game to find out who's molds went where and are being sold under what name nowadays.  As far as trucks go, I'm not sure why your cab isn't sitting right on the Academy.  I've built two and the cab was just fine.  Weird...  IMHO, the quality of truck kits goes (from best to worst):  Academy, Hasegawa, Airfix/Heller, Pegasus/Hat/Armourfast/Italeri, anything else.  The biggest difference in the kits is the cab:  The Academy is actually a Studebaker cab with the hard doors and hard top.  The other kits are the GMC/Chevrolet style with the rag top and canvas doors.  The major downside that I found in the Academy kit was the lack of canvas cover.  You can't even show the bows installed but separated.

As far as the Russian trucks, I'd say that anything goes.  The Chinese were using left over lend-lease from the Nationalists, as well as the worn out surplus Russian WWII stuff.  If it had wheels and a working engine they'd have run it.  So, ye3ah, the -131 would be just as suitable for the -151 Zil.

Yeah...  Have fun with that there Airfix Firefly...  I basically HAD to make mine with wings folded, they would NOT fit any other way.  Other than that, you'll have a lot of fun adding details to it, the cockpit was nearly completely bare, I don't recall that it even had an instrument panel for either crew.  I've got the Special Hobby and almost want to get another Airfix just for the wing fold.  I'd like to do a series of Naval aviation with folded wings for the classroom. 

Anyway, hope that this helps!

Thank's Andy for the info on the trucks .

Like you I was thinking of building a few of my 1/72 Navy/Marine aircraft with the wings folded . A few months ago I bought the Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1D Corsair as it comes with a wing fold . I was hoping to try and copy the parts and do something in 1/72 scale for my F4U-4B's and 5N's . I've cut the wings onn a Fujimi AD-4 Skyraider to use some PE on and I also have some wing fold PE for the F9F Panther , perhaps a wingfold for the F7F-3N Tigercat and Navy Banshee.....Lot's to think about but the Armor / Vehicle bug has got me at the moment , Greg kindly gave me tip on a Fujimi M7 Priest over at greatmodels , so I ordered one along with another heller GMC 353 and a ICM Zil-131 .

                  John .

Speaking of necessity being the mother of invention...

So, I use rattle cans and live in a two room apartment.  It's 100% humidity and I need to paint.  I can paint indoors, but the dust from overspray and the fumes make me wanna puke.  So, I've been going outside to spray on nights in the dry days under a mosquito filled orange Hg Vapour light.

I just realized that I have a 100W flourescent bulb in the bathroom that has an overhead exhaust vent.  Aaaaannndd!  Since I have a shower'sink, when I take a shower in the AM I will wash all the dust away.  I now do all of my spray painting whenever I want in the bathroom. 

I have now made you smile.

I do hope you will be wearing "proper Attire" ; We do have certain standards to maintain here on the Korean War GB .

Speaking of all things Korean , one of the large local clubs in my area has the month of September marked down as Korean month . I don't get out much but would really like to try some Korean cuisine .

Back to models ; I saw Hannants have a "Future Release" of a 1/72 F2H-2P Banshee by Olimp Models Pro Resin . There's no price listed as yet but I bet it will be expensive ! .

Never the less I added one to my Watch List along with the Special Hobby Seafire ; Hannats usually send an email when they become available .

                 John .

Andy , have you ever seen any 1/76-72 M41 Walker Bulldog tank kits ?

                    John .

Here's where I am on the FR.47 Seafire from Czech Master Resin:

The white for the visibility stripes is painted, the major colours are painted on.  The prop is installed, and the gear is installed.  I've got the weapons painted and awaiting install following the black visibility stripes.  Last will be the canopy.

At the moment this is THE ONLY game in town in this scale.  It's not incredibly horrible, but I do believe that I've seen the face of Satan at least once whilst building this kit.

Warped as all get out, I tried the hot water soak and then twist, but it went right back to what it was.  Even with books sitting on it.  So now the tail is SEVERELY bent to port at the top.  Everything else seemed to line up okay.  The locator slots for the port tail flap are way too far back, I just sliced off the tab.  Overall I'm not unhappy with the build so far.

Type to y'all later!

Hey guys, great work all around. Sorry I've been a little busy here lately and work on the M46 is dragging. Each link in the link &pin tracks consists of FOUR teeny little parts of which one has a huge enjection pin mark. So overall I'm guessing there are close to 700 parts to the threads alone. Why the heck Dragon can't put rubber band tracks in their kits like Tamiya I'll never know.

John: I've done one of the Academy 1/72 trucks a couple of years ago for a aircraft dio and didn't have any real problems with it. Wish I had photos, I took some of the whole thing but none just of the truck itself. Gave the dio to a vet who flew the plane so I don't have it anymore.

Korean food is good, just make sure to tell them 'mild' if you don't normally eat hot food. As I was talking to Draken Andy a while back apparently Koreans will soak anything in hot sauce.

Cliff , It sounds like it would take weeks to assemble those tracks ; I certainly admire your perseverance .

Andy nice work on the FR-47 Seafire , it looks like you have mastered another horrible fitting kit .

I did see a FR-46 Seafire in 1/72 , is there much difference between the 46 and 47 ?

Anyway , I did a little airbrushing today , a few coats of olive drab on the Hasegawa M3 Halftrack Ambulance and some paint on the Heller Searchlight Truck parts ...

The centurion is ready to have the bogies and wheels attached and another 1/76 Centurion kit arrived yesterday , a MPC boxing of the Airfix kit . I noticed that the rubber tracks in the MPC kit are much softer and can stretch quite a bit , so I super glued the ends together and I will use them on the current Centurion build , I think they will fit okay .

Like Andy , I had a bit of a brain-storm  today regarding some camouflage netting ;

I noticed that the curtians covering the two windows above my work bench have a nice open weave appearance and I can easerly trim some from the overall width to make a quite a few pieces of camouflage netting ....

I think it will work out nicely ...

                     John .

John: Very nice work as always though I envy the rubber tracks on your Centurion

You're not going to get yelled at for cutting up the drapes are you? Even if it's extra material?

Draken, there is a Seafire F.47 available in 1/72nd in injection plastic from Jays model kits of New Zealand, I posted links up to the site a few pages back. Its the one I have sitting in the stash! I'm also keeping an eye out for the upcoming Special Hobby one too.

Not much to report on the Albatross, props and wheels painted black, interior into green, the rivets all sanded down to something less horrible and the floats built and undercoated in white along with the wingtips ready for the yellow next weekend when Im next back home.

The RS Tachikawa Ki-9 has arrived, super little kit, etched brass fret and all, and it has the markings for the South Korean one in the Wikepedia photos too as well as 1946 Korean! Though it does have it in IJAAF green in the instructions, the photos look more black, could be well battered green? What do you guys think?

Was also at a local WW2 show in Leicestershire at the weekend, have some nice pics of M19 tank transporter, M24, M3 half tracks, trucks, M8 greyhound, Damiler II armoured car, Damiler Dingo and Bren carriers if anyones interested? 

Doc,

I seem to remember someone asking about who put a photo of an open topped SU-76 up on here. It was me, though looking at the squadron book all the pics seem to be of closed up ones. Oh damn, I'll have to buy another... :)  

Doc: I'd like to see your photos if it's not too much trouble to post them.

Hi Doc ;

I did order one of those Seafire FR.47 kits from Jays model kits and hofully it should arrive by the end of the week ; Thanks for the link to the web site as they had lots of interesting kits .

You mentioned earlier about Hubrol Bronze Green for my Centurion ; Humbrol paints are available here in Sydney , it's just that I airbrush with acrylic paints like Gunze and Tamiya . Although a lot of the hobby stores are no longer stocking Gunze Sangyo paints , so I may end up using Humbrol and Model Master enamels eventually .

Sounds like your making good progress on your Albatross , the lack of cockpit detail with the kit is a little disappointing , I scrounged a spare consol panel from the spares box for mine . I've only airbrushed the insides of the fuselage halves so far , your a little further progressed than I .

I would also love to see some pic's of the vehicles you mentioned ,  especially the M19 Tank Transporter ;

Of late , I've really become hooked on 1/72-76 Military vehicles .

Cliff , no problems trimming the drapes a little , upstairs is my domain and the curtains are 1.5 times the width of each window so a little snip , snip and no one will no the difference ..........I hope .

Thanks again Doc for the Seafire kit link , I'm looking forward to getting mine ...

                             John .

Doc, yes please!  I would love to see the pictures.

As for halftracks, Academy vs Hase vs Airfix vs Matchbox.  Not really versus I suppose, but I like that the Airfix has a trailer.  Matchbox has an M-16, and Academy's is supposed to really good plus comes with two more vehicles.  Each of them has features I like, but I guess what I should be saying versus is the 76 vs 72.  Do they look odd next to each other?  Or odd next to other vehicles of the opposite scale?

Andy Draken, I like the Seafire.  That is one wild plane with those counter rotating props.

While I should have been working on my NF Meteor, I started messing around with my M32.  Originally, I thought the turret part should be easy.  I can't find any images of the big hatch being closed or having a lid, as I was originally going to have it closed up.  Now, I went and entered imaginationland.  With no pictures to go buy, I made up what I think would be a probable interior.  Since the hole is big, I had to add some psuedo detail in the hull.  I also made a turret basket, a radio, seats, and some .50 cal ammo can holders.  I will probably add some more stuff, as it looks pretty empty.  To add some more detail, and replace some that I will have to sand off, I went ahead and ordered Eduard's Mid Production Sherman p.e. set.  That will give me the pioneer gear as well as light guards and other things.  John emailed me the Italeri 35th scale directions, and I reduced the drawings to 72nd in the photo-copier.  That is a tremendous help!

Cheers,

Greg

AWESOME work so far Greg on the M32 turret 

I never thought of looking for some PE for the Sherman , I will definitatly add some to the shopping cart next time I'm over at Hannants ....

As far as 1/72 and 1/76 compare , here is a comparision pic of Italeri's 1/72 and Revell's 1/76 Halftracks ;

I also placed the Hasegawa and Airfix M3 Halftrack side body pieces up against the Revell M16 and there appears to be no difference .

Hasegawa's Halftrack come with a seated driver , standing passenger with binoculars and three seated soldiers with guns .....Nice

                                           John .

Thanks John, and thanks for the halftrack comparison.  I guess I am going to have to get one of each!  The figures from the Hasegawa sounds like they could come in handy.  It seems most of the vehicle crew figures out there are German or Russian, and most of those are in white metal.  I've never done metal kits before, so I am unsure of the quality.  I did see a very expensive set by Black Dog in resin.  Unfortunately, of the six figures, two are civilians.  So, I passed at this time.

Later this month, the 24th I believe, there is an IPMS show in Austin, Texas.  Also, AMPS is having a show in October in Austin.  The theme for that one is the Korean War.

Cheers,

Greg

Gregbbear

 in Austin, Texas.  Also, AMPS is having a show in October in Austin.  The theme for that one is the Korean War.

Greg

Hi All:

A couplea shots of the Shooting Star ... decal work underway and much trouble with the Aeromaster decals ... seems that every one of them so far, tear or fall apart sliding off the sheets ... I've thought of spraying a clear gloss coat on the sheet to see if that might keep them in one piece ... any suggestions ? ...

Greg, I'm interested in coming down for either or both of the upcoming shows ... what say we get together to grab lunch ? ...

pepper

Decal placement start ...

Nose art ...

Hey John,

                   Your Albatross will probably catch up on mine, as I'm working away at the moment, so I only get at the models at weekends. I'm not going to worry about the lack of interior detail on mine, I doubt you'd be able to see much through the transparencies anyway. There should be attached to this message a whole pile of military vehicle phots I took from the show on Sunday, all ETO markings but good for reference shots. I've just picked out all the vehicles later used in Korea...

Enjoy...

Doc

Yo, Gregbear...

I regularly spray old decals with a clear overcoat if there's a potential for cracking.  There's a couple of options for you:

1.>  Testors makes a clear spray specifically for decals and it can be found at Hobby Lobby and most LHS's.

2.>  I've been using Tamiya Clear Gloss lacquer and have had excellent results, apart from a tendency to bead up on older Hasegawa decals.

3.>  Testors glosscote or dullcote have always worked fine for me.  Never had a problem with them.

I loved the photos of the armour Doc!  And thye Shooting star is looking awesome Greg.  I've been noticing something, though.  Although Helop has been starting a vast number of projects, he doesn't seem to have many finished...    Comments, John?  Just kidding!  Hoping to see something soon, like maybe one of those cargo planes!

Andy (Draken) it was Pepper with the decals.  Sorry, I wish I had a nice F-80!  I usually use Microscale Decal Film myself.  I have the Testor's spray, but I confess, I have never used it.  I really like the Microscale stuff.  You brush it on.  It dries smooth, and very quickly.  The thing is to put it on before you trim the decal.  Don't ask me how I know this.....

Doc, AWESOME!  Thanks for sharing.  Those are some great vehicles.  The half-track pushed me over the edge, I am ordering one or two tonight.  And the Quad and field gun with limber.  I have been holding off on buying an M-19, but as I wasn't obsessing enough about one, now I will be hitting evilbay for one.

Pepper, lunch sounds great.  It will be nice to put a face to the name.  The weather here in San Antonio cooled down some, and it is really nice.  There is a lot of dust in the air, however.  I hope to capitalize on the weather tomorrow and get a little bit of painting done.

Cheers,

Greg

Pepper: I'll third what Draken Andy and Greg already said. I like the Testor's spray decal bonder but gloss coat should work almost as well. I haven't used the Microscale product though.

Doc Win: Great photos and thanks for sharing! There is a museum close to here that has a bunch of WWII armour but of course most of it is US with a smattering of German. Nice to see an universal carrier and those cool looking British armoured cars.

WOW!  Thank you Doc for posting those great pictures.  Of course I think everybody knows which is my favorite... LOL

Yes, I am still around... all of your work are looking real good as usual.

Thanks Guys for the tip ... this morning, I applied a very thin coat of MicroSol (red bottle) on the big stripes on the tail and the decal disintegrated before my very eyes ... I'll swing by my LHS this morning and pick up the items you guys mentioned and try them before applying any more decals ...

Had another problem last night ... I masked off (with Tamiay thin yellow tape) the wing walkways and painted them with Model Master flat black ... this morning, I gently pukked off the tape - I always pull tape at a 45 degree angle to itself - and pulled off most of the paint ... anyone have this problem happen before ? ... and if so, do you know why ? ... this was using Model Master paint and is a brand new bottle to boot ... again, this is something I've never experienced before ... m'thinks the Shooting Star doesn't want to 'shoot' but would prefer to go 'bang' and stay in its box !! ...

pepper

Enamel or Acrylic on the Flat Black? I tell you that I have had more issues with MM Acryls than I care to remember. The only suggestion I can give is to remask, spray the walkways again, and remove the tape as soon as the paint is dry to touch within a few minutes. For some reason your paint bonded better to the surrounding masking tape than to the painted surface beneath. Was is pretty humid when you airbrushed on the black?

Sorry to hear about the problems, PK. My F-86 is sidelined due to paint problems currently.

WOOHOO!  Just got my package from Kiwi-land...  Also known as New Zealand.  I've got my Squadron vac formed canopies and other bits for the Sunderland and the Privateer.  And another Falcon P2V5 sheet...    I wish that I'd known that I already had one when I bought this one!  RVHP did a resin conversion for it aeons ago but it's very OOP and no one has it in stock.  I'm not really keen on vac forms, but I can manage one or three.

In other news, I've got the majority of my models set up in my office at work.  Being in the office, the kids don't have access to them.  But there's a monster sized window for them to LOOK at them!  The littler ones absolutely are amazed at them.  It actually has calmed a bunch of them down according to my colleague.

I've been putting off my Seafire for a bit.  I had it up on a computer speaker and my cat knocked it off the other night.  The cat has survived (for now) but the Seafire had some minor damage.  I'm working myself up to fixing it so that I can continue on it with the black 'invasion' stripes.

stikpusher

Enamel or Acrylic on the Flat Black?

Acyclic ...

The only suggestion I can give is to remask, spray the walkways again, and remove the tape as soon as the paint is dry to touch within a few minutes.

Did so and this time, the tape pulled off cleanly and the paint stayed put ... just as an experiment, I shot the walkways using the remainder of the mix I'd used the first time and all went well ... go figger !! ...

  Was is pretty humid when you airbrushed on the black?

I usually check humidity before painting and it was only 11%, so I discounted that as a factor ...

Sorry to hear about the problems, PK. My F-86 is sidelined due to paint problems currently.

What's happening with your Sabre jet ... something we should be aware of to avoid the same problem ? ...

Since having trouble with the decals brought my WIP to a screeching halt, I sprayed a light coat of Testors Decal Bonder on the sheets yesterday ... am just now getting ready to sit down and start the process again and hope that will keep the decals from falling apart ...

pepper

In my case the paint problems are part unknown basis, and part self inflicted. The unkown part is  for some reason the paint did not thin properly and sent flecks of unthinned pigment all over the model. I found they could be "polished" away. The self inflicted part was the polishing. In my experiments with the polishing I polished thru the paint to bare plastic in a few spots with the methods and items used...

Sorry to hear about the problems guys, I suppose as complex a chemical formula paint is you can't expect the same results 100% of the time.

After recommending Model Master Acrylic gloss and flat varnish I had both go bad on me recently and turn white after spraying them on the same way I've been spraying them for years.