Stuff happens, I used the same paint, thinner,and mixing ratios on my Panther here,one day for lowers, one day for uppers. Even got different results there. I think humidity was the big variable there. Can't control that.

Here is the Panther with Aluminum on the leading edges, wing roots, and tip tank tips.

Hey, she's lookin' good SP.

Heya folks!

Working on day 5 of six days off.  Had a bit of allergy probs for two days, that stank!  I'm  making a trip into Seoul for groceries tomorrow and will meet up with friends. 

The question I've got is, I have a poster that has 'all of the aircraft of the Korean War' on the wall of my living room here in Korea.  It's quite accurate, even to the markings of the aircraft.  The only discrepancy that I can see (apart from not having every mark of aircraft) is that it shows the Grumman F8F Bearcat.  Does anyone know if these were used on the peninsula?  I can't find any references that show it in use, but that could just be me being lazy.  Monogram does have their 1/72 kit that's actually quite good considering its age, so it's not as though I can't find one.  But I just don't see investing in a kit for a build that it doesn't apply to. 

Thanks in advance!

I think the poster is in error. I have never read of the Bearcat serving in Korea. I am fairly certain that by the time of the Korean War they had been phased out of USN active service and replaced by the F2H and F9F. Those that had been replaced were transferred to France and Thailand in that time period for use in SE Asia. The F8F was inferior to the F4U/AU Corsair as a ground attack/close air support aircraft, so that aircraft performed that role in Korea.

Hello all, awfully quiet on here lately.  Must be everybody is getting lots of bench time!

I am pretty sure this ground got covered before, but what color was commonwealth motor transport and armor?  I know that the Cent's were bronze greeen from earlier posts.  Is that what a U-carrier or a quad tractor would be too?

I haven't been home in a few days, and that is where my RF-51 and LVT are.  It shouldn't take too much more.  I am plugging away on the M32.  It is actually looking pretty good.  The details are too small for me to photograph right now.  I haven't started on the boom yet.  That will be the tricky part.

Cheers,

Greg

Greg, most British and Commonwealth vehicles from Depots would have been Bronze green at first, however as stuff was transferred in from US stock you would have had more OD making an apperance - I've enclosed a link you may find useful;

http://www.hmvf.co.uk/pdf/PAINTINGpart1.pdf

Otherwisea busy week, finishing off two models for a customer, emptying out my stuff into the spare room so I can strip the wallpaper before decorating, trying to work on getting my model railway ready for a show in November and doing the odd bit on the Albatross. The props are now painted, the landing gear sub assemblies done bar touch up. Wingtips and floats need another coat of yellow, the fuselage is assembled masked and now has its first coat of primer. If I get chance I may start on the NM finish on it this week.

Doc

The FR.47 is maturing.  I need to make the struts for the RATOs and then decal it.  Minor touch up and then decals.  Now that I'm actually working on it again it should go fairly fast.

the_draken

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!

My apologize's for starting so many builds and still not having them finished .......

It's been a bit of a slow week for me , I've been getting a lot of neck and back spasm's , so I have spent a lot of time lying flat on the floor looking at the ceiling .

I have managed a little work on some military vehicles , I decided to buy the 1/72 SHQ white metal M15A1 Halftrack , however I will only use the turret and gun section and modify the Airfix 1/72 Halftrack as it also comes with a trailer ;

So while waiting for the SHQ M15A1 to arrive , I made a start on the Airfix Halftrack and Trailer ;

I cut the rear sides from the front cabin section and starting glueing the chassie and front cab pieces together . Today the SHQ M15A1 arrived ;

This is where I'm up to with the Airfix /SHQ M15A1 build ;

The instruction sheet for the SHQ M15A1 is really small , so I will have to scan it and print it out bigger , as it is it's a little difficult to see exactly how the gun mounts fit together ?

I also made a start on the 1/72 Heller Searchlight Truck ;

I will modify one of those Hasegawa " U.S Aerospace Ground Equipment set " Lighting Units to fit on the truck and hopfully the 20mm Searchlight I bought off ebay will arrive shortly . I also have a nice piece of camouflage netting (window curtin) to use as well .

There's been a little work done on the 1/72 Hasegawa Halftrack Ambulance with most pieces painted seperatly and are ready for assembly ;

While browsing around the net , I came across a photo of a Short Sunderland being towed by a AEC Matador flat bed ;

My Sunderland build is about 75% built , so I thought about adding the Airfix AEC Matador truck , so I ordered one today ...

Looking through some of my Korean Air War books there are pic's of Skyraider's with flak damage and while looking around ebay I saw this A-1H Skyraider which I thought I could back date to a AD-3/4 ;

Also these two kits arrived today as well ;

So that's about it , not a lot work done but progress none the less . The Centurion Tank is nearly completed , so I should have some finished pic's in a day or two ; Sorry about all the other unfinished on-going builds , hopfully I'll get some of them completed in the not too distant future .

Thank's for posting those great Military vehicle photo's Doc , the Halftrack Ambulance and M19 pic's were my favourite .

                             John .

Wow, some really nice stuff John but gee take a holiday from modeling, get some rest till you feel better! Not much you can do when you back and neck are killing you.

Just kick back with a cool drink for a day or three

Seroiusly hope you feel better.

I might go so far as to say I could finish this one tonight or tomorrow... 

All that remains at this point it nav lights, weapons (already assembled), and the rear fuselage markings that have to go over the 'sky' colour.  For my first all resin aircraft kit this is turning out to be a lot better than expected.  I had put off the kit for the last week because I was fearful of messing up the invasion stripes.  They turned out okay, I think.

Not sure if you can see it in these pics, they are kinda over exposed...  The roundels are way too thin!  The white is easy to see through and is kind of annoying.  They decals are very thin and must be in place before applying any solvent.  Other than that, they were EXCELLENT!  Not owning any Micro-Krystal-Kleer I only wish that they had supplied clear plastic for the camera windows.  One verticle in the tail and on either side of the fuselage would have been not uneasy to do with an RTV mold, or so I'm told.

Hey, that rhymed! 

Draken Andy: The invasion stripes look good to me. Not sure about the roundels other than if you have twice as many as you need you can stack two decals on top of each other to make them more opaque.

Doc Win, thanks for the link.  That not only answered my question, but is very interesting too.  I added it to my favorites.

Andy, the Seafire looks good.  To me, it is the most impressive looking of the whole Spitfire/Seafire family.

John, my sympathies on the back.  I've got a bad one too, and it isn't very much fun at times.  I think Andy was kidding about the finishing.  I personally like all the cool stuff you expose us too.  The important thing is to always have fun.  Your Airfix Half Track looks good.  That is the one I ordered the other day.  I'm sure that it will look great kit bashed with the SHQ pieces.  Along with the searchlight truck, it will be another build you don't see every day.  I see the SHQ stuff on Ebay all time, what do you think of it?

I am currently reading "Hot Shots, an oral history of the Air Force combat pilots of the Korean War".  It is good reading.  I am reading the narrative of a sabre pilot that was held captive in China for 2 years AFTER the war was over.  Keeping PW's after an armistice is just down right dirty!

Cheers,

Greg

Greg , the SHQ metal M15A1 is a okay but I think I made the correct decision about using the Airfix M3 Halftrack kit . The front cab section , wheels and tracks have some metal flash that would need cleaning up if I was to use them ;

It is nice that they do give an option of a winch or roller for the front .

Today I primed the turret pieces I'm using with some Tamiya rattle can surface primer ;

I'm still thinking of scratch building another turret and gun mount pieces from sheet and strip plastic and back date the Revell M16 to a M15A1 . I have started to take measurements of the turret section and found some 50 cal guns and the 37mm gun from the Hasegawa Willys Jeep and cargo kit ;

Andy , your Seafire FR-47 is looking good ; The Jays Model Seafire Mk.47 arrived today ....

There is not much in the way of cockpit detail and my kit is missing one of the main wheels .

Looking through my spares box , I found an old Italeri Spitfire Mk.VB and thought I could use the cockpit parts and main wheels and struts ...

The Seafire decals look good and the instruction sheet call out EDSG over Sky for the color scheme ;

I presume that EDSG stands for Extra Dark Sea Grey ?

                         John .

Beauty work Helo!  I've got the milicast M-15 40mm Halftrack that will go together sooner or later.  I tried to put the last four decals o the Seafire and that kinda didn't work out.  I'm going to call it done and get nicer pics later this week.  At the moment I'm going sit and decide what to do next.  A thrace of Thunderjets, a squadron of Sabres, a mess of MiGs, a bunch of Banshees, or a lurch of Lockheeds?  I could also to the Lindbergh LSU or my PST IS series of tanks/guns.  So many options!!!  Other options would be the Neptune, Avenger air ambulance, one of the numerous seaplanes or RN aircraft. 

I think I'm confused with so many possibilities... 

Andy , I stumbled across this pic while searching around FSM Forum pages ...

Very , Very COOL..............

                              John .

Greg, glad its of its use to you, John, just check you have the right wheels for your Seafire - depending on the model the hubs would have either three or four spokes, I've got a spare set from the new Airfix PRXIX for my Seafire when I get round to it. Yours looks like they've upgraded the decal sheet, Im hanging onto a set of invasion stripes from an Airfix Mk IX for my wing stripes!

The awesome pic of the truck is the GMC 40mm bofors which I've seen on the Milicast website in 1/76...

Doc

Doc , thanks for the tip on the wheels

I found some Quickboost resin Spitfire IX , 3 spoked wheels on ebay and ordered them for the Seafire .

Greg , that book "Hot Shots" sounds like an interesting read . I was looking around Amazon books on the Korean War and saw this one ;

Anyone have this book ? I was wondering how many military vehicle reference photo's were in the book !

                       John .

For those of you who have built, are building or have a Seafire FR.47 to build I found this earlier today, apparently one of these incredibly rare beauties is now flying! Spool up, crank up the sound, sit back and enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YioXYhbVPA

Doc

Great link Doc ;

Watching those counter rotating rotors go around looks cool .

Andy ; Is there any chance you could take some measurements of the turret on your Milicast 40mm Bofors Halftrack and post them ?

Perhaps I could use the Revell M-16 with the Airfix 40mm Bofors gun .....

                                       John .

The 20mm Searchlight arrived today and I decided to scratch build a lighting unit from some sheet plastic and I also cut down a spare Airfix

trailer top cover to use as the roof section on the lighting unit ;

I'll cut some wire to make little door handles and also some small strips of wire to simulate vents on the unit as well ;

I also photocopied Hasegawa's decal sheet from their Ground equipment set and printed out two copies on some

inkjet decal paper and then sprayed some decal bonder over each copy , so I use some of the instument panel decals

and stensilling .

Tomorrow I'll try an get some airbrushing done on the searchlight , bracket and lighting unit and hopfully the turret

pieces for the M15A1 as well , also the camouflage netting should get a few light coats of Olive Green too .

I'm really happy with the searchlight , I think it fits right in with the 1/72 scale GMC 353 Truck .

                                            John

I thought the lighting unit may have looked a little oversize in depth , so I cut a 5mm strip length ways out of the center of the roof piece and re-glued the two roof half pieces back together and then I cut the back of the unit and trimmed the ends down 5mm as well ; It looks more in proportion now and I added some handles and vents and she is ready for painting ;

A couple of more kits arrived today ;

ICM Zil-131 for the North Koreans to ride around in ...

ICM include clear parts for the windscreen and side / rear windows

Fujimi M7B1 ;

Airfix AEC Matador and another GMC 353

I was looking around Hannants for some chain in 1/72 scale for the AEC Matador to hook up the Short Sunderland but I couldn't see any , Perhaps I should try looking under the Ships catagory ? .

                                   John .

Hey John!

The best source of chain in that scale would be Milicast.  That's where I got mine for the Pershing/Dragon Wagon.  And I think that it's a fairly acceptable value.  I feel as though I got a sufficient quantity for the price I paid.  Once you get it, I'd suggest hopping about the jewelers in your area and asking them if they have any suppliers that would have a match.  A lot of small chains like this are not always pure gold/silver, but are electroplated.  They might have a cheaper load of stainless versus the copper from Milicast.  Having said that, you can brush paint the milicast a dark steel color and the copper shows through well as a rust!

Helo H-34

I was looking around Hannants for some chain in 1/72 scale for the AEC Matador to hook up the Short Sunderland but I couldn't see any , Perhaps I should try looking under the Ships catagory ? .

                                   John .

Hi John:

Try a model railroader's site - maybe Hannants has trains ? ... anyhoo, railroaders have all sizes of chains available and on the cheap too ! ... if you'd like, I'll send you some ...

pepper

I picked up some small chain at a crafts store though I suspect I probably paid way too much for it. Still for modeling a yard/meter will last me a long time.

BTW: Guys I think these figures are suitable for the Korean War era? Not sure entirely about the tank crew though. Anything I really need to change around?

Gamera- You bet!  I used three figrues from two boxes you listed.  Two GIs on far right on "Advance to the Rhine' set and tank commander from 'Tank Crew' with soft cap. 

Remember those?

The only difference I remember Stik telling me were the backpacks that was discontinued right after the war.

Gamera

I picked up some small chain at a crafts store though I suspect I probably paid way too much for it. Still for modeling a yard/meter will last me a long time.

BTW: Guys I think these figures are suitable for the Korean War era? Not sure entirely about the tank crew though. Anything I really need to change around?

The top two sets are fine: "Tank Riders" and "Advance to the Rhine/Yalu". The tanker sets are out. Those seperate tanker uniforms were phased out after WWII. The 10th mountain guys can work, but need modification: remove the cargo pockets on the pants, parka has to be changed to a full length front zipper from a top open pullover style, the mountian rucks need to go...

Well I was going to post pictures of my soon to be completed Albatross. Until I sprayed the varnish on the underside. It now looks like its been snowed on with the powdery white deposit that came out of the can instead of Humbrol matt varnish. There ensued a great wailing and gnashing of teeth... I'm going to have to try and salvage it somehow. Have to get the knackered matt varnish off without damaging the decals and re-varnish. Suggestions anyone?

And to top it all the bloody cat has now gone and broken one of the landing gear. I could scream tonight...

Doc

Doc Win:

One thing you can try:  I've done exactly what you said three times, I think that it was something wrong with the formula in the cans of Testors' Dullcote.  I sprayed it with Glosscote and it fixed the problem!  I don't know why this occurs, but all three ties it was with a can that was over three months old.

Hope this helps! 

Hello guys, sorry to hear about the bad varnish Doc. 

John, I like the Searchlight truck.  It is coming out really good.

I finished the RF-51D.  The more I handled it on the home stretch, the more little things went wrong.  Anyways, I still like the way it came out.  I'm pretty sure I won't get another Academy P-51 though.  I have been tempted to try my luck on the Italeri F-51D, because of the different paint scheme though.

Stik, here are the Tamiya F-51D, and Monogram F-82G that I did earlier.  I hope these pictures are more suitable for the front page.  Could you please add my Sherman to the front too?

Next up will be my LVT (a)5 converted from a Dragon 1/72 LVT (a)4.   It is almost to the finish line.

Cheers,

Greg

Great  job on the Academy RF-51D Greg

The decals on the prop spinner and wing tips look really good , were they seperate dots or in groups .

I think your the first to do a Reconn Mustang , so it's an important addition to the front page fighter group .

As for me , I airbushed some olive drab and then a few light coats of clear  on the M15A1 and the Searchlight Truck and the other additional pieces ;

I also finally got around to clear coating the Academy Ambulance and 2.5 Ton truck , so all four vehicles will be ready for decaling tomorrow .

Greg mentioned a few post back about some resin accessory's for the M3 Halftrack he saw on ebay ;

I came across that "Black Dog" set and decided to order it ...

I also bought a couple of books , GMC CCKW 2.5 Ton Walk Around and one on the Vietnam Gun Trucks .

I stumbled across a web site here in OZ called Creative Models Australia , they had a variety pack of camouflage netting in different colors ;

It's a little expensive but I bought some anyway .

I went a little too heavy with the black enamel wash on the Centurion , so I went over the Cent with two light coats of bronze green and I'll try again with the wash tomorrow .

Doc , sorry to hear about the flat clear coat not working out , Andy's solution sounds pretty good , I hope everything works out okay on the Albatross .

Nice pic's of the "Mustang Trio" Greg , or is it a "Mustang Awesome Foursome"

                      John