I've been stepping back from the work bench and doing other things around the apartment m'se'f for a while.  Been really tired after work so I've been doing a lot of reading and napping.  My current read is a book on the Naval Air War in Korea.  Published in the early eighties, it does show its age, but is an incredible read!  Lots of cool b/w photos, nothing we haven't really seen before, but the stories are really interesting.  A couple mentions of aircraft we haven't seen mentioned here before:  Yak-7, Yak 15 (jet engined!), MiG-9, La-5, -7, and Mig-3 for the communists.  The author mentions a two rotor helo for cargo transport, I'm guessing it was the HUP and not the HR-1.  There's also a mention of the Navy using their version of the C-54 (R5?) on 12 hour airborne command and relay station during the retreat from the Chosin (Chongjin) reservoir.

Also of note is that the night fighters also played a very heavy bit of night and dusk attack!  There's many references to Tigercats and Corsairs using bombs and napalm at night against trucks.  (They disliked using rockets because the blast would temporarily blind the pilot.)

Something which must be brought up, not just an interservice rivalry, but an interservice lack of communication on definitions:  The USAF and USN/USMC had COMPLETELY different definitions of Close Air Support.  To the USAF, CAS was anything beyond artillery range, a short range version of interdiction.  To the Navy and Marines it meant anything close to the boots on the ground (5 feet or 5 kilometers).  This lead to a huge level of disagreement when the USAF was put in charge of  tasking the missions.  Also, it took nearly an hour to get a mission on target through the USAF system and less than 15 minutes through the Navy system.  Different roles were expected from the aircraft and artillery, hence the time consumption and degree of task and aircraft sorting involved.  A wonderful read if you can get it, I picked my copy up for less than a buck when I bought some other books (including the Squadron book on Armour in Korea) online.  When I get home I'll try to remember to scan the cover for you blokes.

Next book might be the one on the naval war in Korea.  I dunno, as soon as I finish the most recent Dean Koontz (WHY?  Oh, WHY do I insist on reading his dreck?) I'll decide.

Yes, the Army was not too keen with Air Force CAS after Korea and that was one of many reasons they developed the armed attack helicopter gunship. And the JOV-1 which the Air Force threw a major fit over regarding the fact that it could be armed. Even Vietnam and Post Vietnam the Air Force has only begrudgingly taken on the CAS role. The A-10 is a case in point, they keep trying to kill it and replace it with a true "fast mover" but nothing can do its job in the same manner as demonstrated by each war that comes along since that bird entered service. Although the JSF is slated to replace the A-10, I seriously doubt that it will be able to bring such hurt to bear on the bad guys or be as survivable.

Doc: Wow, the Albatross looks terrific! Great job on the NM and all the decals.

Sounds like pretty interesting reading Andy .

I'll keep an eye out for some of those books you mentioned .

I was browsing on-line one of the LHS and saw they had the 1/72 Tamiya F-51D Mustang Korean War kit .

The box art pic showing the markings on a built model are exactly the same as the Italeri 1/72 offerring .

I mention this because I have noticed that sometimes Tamiya rebox Italeri kits , especially a few helicopter kits and the Korean War F-51D in the Tamiya box may well be the Italeri kit .

The Tamiya P-51D 8th Air Forces Aces kit I'm building for the Mighty 8th GB is a lot more detailed than the Italeri kit , I would just be a little cautious about buying the Tamiya  Korean War F-51D kit !!!

                               John .

More work completed on my F9F. Now that the decals are in place I attached some of the fiddly bits (landing gear, outer wing pylons, pitot tube), but I still have a few more to go (speed brakes, gear doors and acuators, bombs) before I can apply a top coat  (not sure yet if I m gonna go semi gloss or satin) and call this one done.

Very nice work on the Panther, stik ...

My Shooting Star is now finished and I'll post pictures later this day and will call it finished ...

pepper

Well, I'm currently working on the Amodel HUP-1/2 kit, it's being built as a -2 version.  The book I read on the Naval Air War in Korea mentions a dual rotor bird being used as liaison and vertrep from one of the command ships.  I figured that it can't be the HR-1...  This is a real dog of a kit, poor fit (yeah, that's Amodel) is causing the most frustration.  The detail is nice, except that there's a lot of flash to go along with it.  I' going to finish it, finish the C-46 and look at what else I want to do.  I've just ordered an SB-17 and HU-16 In Action book off of eBay.  I've also ordered a Minicraft B-24 to go with my Privateer for parts.  I know that the Academy kit has much more detailed parts for gear, wheels, cockpit, etc.  I figure that I'll use what I can as a kit bash.  Does anyone know if they wer the two/three tone or if the Privateers were overall dark blue with white markings?

On another note, apparently there were a couple of military exercises near my school this last week.  Also, since my classroom is so high up the 'mountain' I actually look DOWN on helos from time to time!  I've been able to see Hughes 500's, some Apache longbows, scads of UH-60's and the Korean mountain rescue chopper (A Kamov Ka27 civilian version) this week.  Also, I've seen lots of empty tank transporters, some K-1A1's, the Korean APC's, and was able to see a Tank Transporter with an  MLRS followed by a HMMT with reloads!  Pretty danged cool!  I also hear jets overhead on a regular basis; those A-10's have a much different sound than I remember from air shows.  I've also had lots of F-15's and some F-16's overhead.  If I go south towards Suwon I get to see the RoKAF's Phantoms and Tiger II's!

Which reminds me, why can't I find any western 'modern' armour in 1/72 scale?!?!  I mean, sure, we have the Trumpeter Ariete, Oliphant, S tanks, and AS-90...  But what about the M-109, the M-110, the MLRS, HAWK, and the Patriot?  Where's my tracked Rapier and Gepard?  Given how much of the Soviet and Russian stuff is out there, why doesn't this stuff exist?  DML has been the best at it, followed by Trupeter, but even they aren't getting to the meat and potatoes.  We finally get a non-resin HMMT and no ones producing the optional back ends?  And what about the HD HMMT's with three rear axles?  That'd be an easy mold change.  Sorry, just venting here.  It's really frustrating, ya know...

Anyway, hope you guys are having fun with your builds!

Stik , excellent WIP on the F9F Panther

Andy , I only have a couple of reference pic's I was going to use on my future Privateer build ...

Slightly off-topic , it was my dads 80th birthday earlier this week and the family pitched in and we bought him a 14 mega pixel digital camera . He went outside to take some pic's of the house and when we uploaded them into the computer there was this unidentified object in the corner of one pic . I instantly thought it was some type of UFO and I had visions in my head of making millions from the pic but it turned out to be a bird .........

                                John .

Thanks John!

Overall dark blue it is!

On a sad note, my HUP-2 was nearly ready for decals, the only thing left was to sit overnight so that the gear could firm up.  My cat decided to test the rotor blades with his teeth and broke two of the off. Yep, they were just as bad an attachment point as I'd thought.  Now to get them jigged up and superglued...

Hi Andy ;

I'm sure you will get those rotor blades re-glued back to the hub .

I was looking at my Amodel HUP-1/HUP-2 kit , I take it that you added those side fin/stabilizers on your HUP-2 version . The instructions mention the U.S.Navy uses the HUP helicopter from 1951 , it's strange how there doesn't seem to be a lot of pic's around of them that early .

On another note I bought this kit today ;

IBG Fire truck ...

I also bought the Airfix 1/76 Bedford QLT and QLD trucks kit , I;m not sure if these (3) were used in the Korean War but I've had an obsession with 1/72 trucks of late , so I bought them anyway .

The CMK resin GMC 353 conversion sets arrived today , Clubmobile and Compressor truck . So I can start them anytime .

With those new Airfix Bedford QLT and QLD trucks , Airfix now supply clear pieces for the windscreen and cab doors ....nice touch ; I just spent two evenings cutting and filing little pieces of clear sheet plastic for windscreens and cab windows for the older Airfix Refulling Trucks and Recovery truck set . It took a lot longer to do than I thought and my fingers are sore from holding small pieces of plastic while I filed them to size .....ouch .

The new bedford QL trucks have the U.S. white star on the sides and reference to Northern Europe 1944/45

No worries if they didn't appear in the Korean War , I'll build them anyway for the display cabinet .

                                  John

Thanks for the confidence, John! 

As far as the Airfix Bedford trucks, this is a kind of interesting story:  Almost all of the new 1/72-6 scale ground vehicles from Airfix (M-113, Bedford trucks, Land Rovers) are all old JB Models molds from Oz.  The last decade has seen so many companies fold and sell, lease, trade, their molds as well as some kits that are shared between companies.  Revell-Germany/Italeri, and Hobbycraft/Academy are examples of sharing, while Revell-Germany/Matchbox and Italeri/Esci are examples of buyouts.  It gets confusing trying to trace the origin of some of the kits.  The OL>D Hasegawa/Minicraft are also sold under the Revell and AMT names.  The old Frog molds went EVERYWHERE!  Heller, Revell, Eastern Express, you name it.  And even the newer kits (Monogram and Revell-Germ.) are being sold under two company names.

Anyway...  Enjoy those kits!

pepper kay

Very nice work on the Panther, stik ...

My Shooting Star is now finished and I'll post pictures later this day and will call it finished ...

pepper

Where's that F-80 PK?

Nearing the finish line with my Panther. Today all fiddly bits except the pilot's step attached.. gear doors and actuators, speed brakes and actuators.... and some detail work on the pilot. I need to go back and fine tune his helmet but its getting there.

Now I just need to do some washes, a top coat, and then the final bits...

SP: She looks fantastic, though I've always been partial to planes in blue. And the pilot is starting to look a lot like William Holden

[quote user="stikpusher"]

Where's that F-80 PK?

Been under the weather the past several days and haven't set up the P-80C for photo taking ...

Later today, for sure, and then on to the helo ...

pepper

No worries there Pepper

Today's progress so far... first I applied a wash of Promodeler Dark Dirt, then removed excess with a damp cloth once it dried...

Then based upon a few clips of Bridges at Toko Ri I watched last night, I decided upon a custom mix topcoat-2 parts Humbrol Satin to 1 part Aeromaster Semi Gloss. The latter is rather glossy, so I figured a higher proportion of Satin to tone it down. In the movie, the Panthers have a slight sheen, but the paint appears comparatively dull some USN aircraft of the same era. Clean, but most likely sun and salt air toned down. So here is my attempt at replicating that look...

She's looking good Stik ;

The satin coat looks great and really hides the decal carrier film around the markings .

I noticed that the insides of the speed brakes are painted red , I'll have to do that to my 1/72 Hasegawa F9F Panther .

Infact I have hesitated putting the decals on both the Panther and Banshee builds as I'm not happy with my airbrushing efforts . I ended up with a slightly rough gritty feel to the paint finish and I tried buffing with some kitchen paper towel , which only improved the paint finish slightly at best .

I'll just have to bite the bullet and spray them again .

                                        John .

Thank you John. I am pretty sure that Red has been a standard color on USN aircraft for the inner sides of Speed Brakes, Dive Brakes and Flaps from the SBD up until the new TPS paint schemes. Try buffing the rough paint jobs with an old stocking/panty hose from a lady in your family. That stuff has a good shining property to it.

I airbrushed on the final color this morning. White on the canopy frame. Now I just need to go touch up some stuff and attach the last few bits later on today when it cools down. The sun is blazing into my work area right now...

Well Stik , I took your advice and located some stocking / panty hose , a nice black pair .....'very seductive'

And I had a go at buffing the Hasegawa/minicraft 1/72 USMC F9F-2 Panther ;

Your idea has worked quite well on the panther , leaving a nice smooth surface ....

However there is an issue with the Airfix 1/72 F2H-2P USMC Banshee ;

After buffing originally with the paper towel it rub the blue paint from a lot of the raised panel lines , which now shows the underlying silver undercoat .

I'm in two minds as what to do ?

 The panty hose buffing did smooth the paint finish and the banshee takes on a slightly weathered look with the silver panel lines , which kinda looks okay ;

But would Marine Banshee's be that weathered ???

I'm not sure wether to leave it as is and add the decals or mask the silver leading edges and re-paint .

What do you guy's think !

                                 John .

Yep, John.  USMC a/c are generally a lot more worn and weathered than USN a/c.  Particularly if operating from a shore installation.  As an example, the Corsairs, Tigercats, and Skyknights from the KW were HEAVILY weathered.  It would leave no doubt in my mind to presume that their Banshees would also appear that way.  I say go for it!

Hi Andy ;

I'm also wondering about the nose camera squares ;

Should I paint those fllat black or just leave them as is ?

I also gave the Airfix AD-3 Skyraider a buff with the stocking and she is looking a lot better too ;

                                   John .

SP & John: They both look great to me!

John,

IMHO, I'd go with doing the camera panes as being gloss black, maybe a bit of a silver lens glint.  That's all I'd do with those.

Love that Airfix bird!  I've been told, although I've found no proof of it, that the inner wing heavy stores pylons should be a straight up and down not the forward slanted ones on the Airfix kit.  Double check that, or someone else on the group will tell us, and we can both do them right. 

I had overlooked the shape of the inner wing pylon , so I checked my A-1 Skyraider Warbird Tech book and saw this pic ;

The pylon does appear to be staright at the front and rear .

My marking will also be AK , VMA-121 , Pohang Korea .

Here's another pic of an AD-2 on the ramp at Pyongtaek 1952 along with a AD-5N , side by side Skyraider which looks to have the slanted inner wing pylon carrying the long external fuel tank ;

I was thinking of an AD-5 build but I would need to find one of those AN/APS-31 radar pods for the starboard inner pylon wing .

                        John .

John I am glad to hear that the stocking idea worked.They work real good for buffing out the final shine on boots. Some very nice Ladies in Blue on your workbench.

I am calling my F9F done for here. The Monogram F9F-5 in the markings of VF-192 aboard USS Oriskany (fictional USS Savo Island) as shown in the Academy Award winning Korean War movie, The Bridges at Toko Ri.

Very nicely done, stik ...

pepper

Your finished F9F-5 Panther looks great Stik

The white frame lines around the canopy make the aircraft stand out  and I like the yellow bands around the bombs .

Awesome build .

                     John .

Stikpusher - you're in a finishing mood here today aren't you???

Excellent work as always and as I said I just love blue airplanes!

WOW! Beautiful work on the Panther... you are really on the roll.  French carrier and now this!  Bet it made you feel good today. 

Yes, this morning was very productive... finishing those last little bits on two was a real nice feeling...

Well , call me fussy , but I decided to respray both the banshee and Panther . so I gave them a couple of light coats of Tamiya's rattle can AS-12 silver ;

I'll let the paint dry for a couple of days and then mask the wing leading edges and go with the gloss sea blue again . Speaking of gloss sea blue , I finally managed to get on of the two (B-17) PB-1W AEW Fortress into the spray booth and have some paint laid down on her ...

This one has the roof radome , while her sister ship has an overall beige color belly radome . Which I should get done this week as well .

I found an old 1/72 Monogram AD-5 Skyraider in the stash and I'm thinking of putting her together as an AD-5N , like in the pic I posted a couple of days ago . I'll have to try and scratch build one of those fat looking AN/APS-31 radar pods and a search light /flare dispenser pod as well .

                      John .