The single path bomb runs at the range there probably have to do with air space restrictions and how the targets are placed. The issue of all the planes following the same flight path goes back way before Kosovo. I can think of examples from Gulf War I, Vietnam, Korea, etc... it's just in Kosovo the last time we actually lost aircraft due to enemy air defences.

As for myself, I have been working on the Weekend Madness IV Group Build all day today building an Academy 1/35 M151A1 106mm Recoilless Rifle "Gun Jeep". Fun build. Last night was IPMS Chapter meeting where I entered the Centurion I built for here into the monthly contest. 2nd place in the Master Catagory... That build is very popular where ever I take it. My Panther did not place although it got many nice compliments

Seen here in my 'winners' display case (only my best get in)

Congrats Stik!   That was a great build and I had fun following it.  I'd love to look a picture of your whole display case if you got one? 

Sure thing. My camera battery is charging right now, but tomorrow when its charged and I am back in the garage (man cave) I'll take some pics for you.

Hello all.  I hope you guys are doing good.

I finally got a chance to look at the latest FSM yesterday.  In the spotlight section it shows a new book on the skyraider.  It is supposed to be a guide for modelers to use to build and convert kits to any of the variants.  It is $15.95+shipping at www.aeroresearchcds.com.  I went ahead and ordered one, and if the write-up is any indication of the contents, then this book will a prayer answered for me (and probably John).  Well, I gotta get back to studying, I have an exam in cardiology in the morning.

Cheers,

Greg

deafpanzer

 I'd love to look a picture of your whole display case if you got one? 

Here ya go DP

The case (my mom's former curio cabinet). The kits displayed here are the ones that have won 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in Adanced or Master Catagories at the IPMS Chapter contests since I joined in late summer 2007. Considering the kits I have seen there and competed against, it is no easy task. 

first shelf is armor

second shelf, WWII PTO fighters

third shelf, non US Jets

top shelf, US jets

Apologies in advance for most of the pics. Lighting in most of my garage is pretty bad, I had to have the car door closed due to a rainstorm here right now. No matter what settingsI treid on my camera (flash,night view,etc.) I could not get some areas to look decent.

What a great collection!  I hope to have a nice curio one day... just like yours as I like one with the mirror in the back.  You should be proud of yourself for bringing home many awards.  What's up with the flag at the bottom?  Your dad? 

This shelf is of course my favorite... of course

I spot a M8 Greyhound... maybe two!  That's what I am planning to build for this GB next year after my Pz III GB.  It looks real nice.  And I like one with camo job... a Jap tank?

Thanks for sharing... again great collection and I am going to show this to my wife since I think she will like it too.  But she made it very clear that I can not do it in our family room.

Nope, Dad is still alive and living in Texas these days. All that stuff on the bottom is the "thanks for showing up" stuff that the Guard gave us when we came home from overseas in early 2006. I thought it would look good on the bottom there for filler since no kits would go on display well there. I like that shelf a lot too,but I have noticed that my British tanks tend to do best. 

Congrat's on winning 2nd place with your Korean War Centurion tank , Stik 

DP is right about your enjoying you WIP on the Centurion , I copied and printed out a few of the pic's you posted along the way for my 1/72 kit bash Centurion and it's where I got the idea of adding smoke disharges and raised detail on those stowage box's that sit above the track guards and also the two wip antenna's as well as those little flat stiffners on top of the mantlet cover .

So I guess in many ways if your build helps and inspires others to do better with their own build it's equally as good as placing 1st , 2nd or 3rd in any compition ; in any case well done Sir ...

I also like the cabinet with best of the best on display , particulary the F-8 Crusader . I've alway's like the F-8 and it's little brother the A-7 .

Greg , thank's for the tip on the Skyraider book mentioned in FSM . I must of missed it when I was looking through it just the other day , I've been laid up in bed most of the past week with a stomach virus and haven't been able to do much at all . Although I did find enough energy to get out of bed when I saw the advertisement for MAXDecals and their 1/72 set of Antarctic helicopters , especially the HUS-1L (UH-34) with the penguin on the nose . I started a whole fleet of H-34 builds but the project stalled when I was struggling to find suitable decals for different versions I wanted to build and not to mentioned how annoyed I was with Italeri when only a few of their UH-34J Sea Horse kits came with the V-style landing gear and suddenly they changed back to the bent gear leg style .

Anyway I ordered my set of decals over the net late last week and they arrived today ; WOW lightning fast service for sure ! ... I'll be definitly ordering the Skyraider book too .

So sorry there's no new progress on my multiple Korean War builds , hopfully I can get back to the bench by the end of the week .

                       John .

Thanks John. I must say that all the conversion work that you did on your Centurion is far more impressive than the simple stuff I did to mine. I'm glad to know it helped for reference. I'm happy to hear you like the other builds in cabinet as well. That Crusader is a favorite of mine also. First, I really like the aircraft and that kit; second, that one was the final win that got me advanced from Advanced Catagory to Master Catagory at IPMS. "The Last of the Gunfighters".

Sorry you are under the weather John.  Get well buddy.  Those Antartic choppers look pretty darn interesting too.

Cheers,

Greg

I have returned - from vacation/holiday guys!

SP: Super nice work there- I love the Challenger II as well.

John: Hope you feel better, I know I'll be catching something this winter. Though it's summer in Oz now isn't it?

Anyway, I went though the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk/Newport News, Virginia for my second time. Since it is Korean War related I'll throw up a few photos if SP doesn't mind:

Sorry,  I can't get decent photos though glass cases

Not Korean War related but still cool, the area where the surrender ceremony was performed has been cut out from the deck of the USS Missouri and emplaced into the floor under a protective cover (not visible here), the book is a reproduction though).

American Ceasar I dont mind the pics one bit and am quite happy to see them here. Great stuff!!!

I must confess to being a fan of Douglas MacArthur. Certainly one of the greats among US Generals. His imprint upon the Korean War, from the opening days until his relief was profound. and in WWII he was rather ahead of his time for use of Airborne like the 503rd to create airheads, and in his use of SOF types such as the 6th Ranger Battalion and Alamo Scouts.

He was an interesting guy. Always seemed funny to me that back in WW2 and Korea everyone talked about him as if he was one of the best generals we had and now everyone seems to want to bad mouth him. Still even beyond his service as a general I don't think anyone could have gotten Japan back to her feet as quickly or as strongly as he did. And you can't knock his commitment to helping the people of the Philippines.

Anyway just for the heck of it here's the signing area cut from the deck of the Missouri, again the protective cover makes it hard to get a good photo. Her sister ship the USS Wisconsin is available to tour in Norfolk less than half an hours drive from the MacArthur museum as well.

I believe this bas-relief woodcut was presented to the museum by the government of the ROK. Not totally sure here since this photo is from my first visit back in 2006. The museum is currently undergoing renovations and the theater where the woodcut is displayed is closed till they're finished.

PS: More I think about it now I'm thinking it was from the government of the Philippines.

Yes, I think his understading of the Japanese and Filipino cultures at that time were rather unusual for most in positions of power for that era. I do beleive that to this day he is held in good regard in both lands.

Not to be hatin' on ol' Mac... 

If you get the chance, probably the best read on the first year of the Koren War is the book "The Coldest Winter."  It goes very much in depth into not only the politics, but also the personalities of the combatants.  The author of the book takes MacArthur to task for a great many issues.  At the forefront was Mac's basic egotistical personality and his 'cultish' followers.  I've seen these attributes alluded to in other texts along the way, but this author REALLY appears to dislike Mac.  Still, even if you like the guy (and he DID in fact do a great many incredible things) and disagree with that chapter, it's a fantastic read and has a great many personal anecdotes on the war.

My current read is a 1957 book by the Naval Institute Press on the Sea War in Korea.  Bought for $0.99 (and water damaged, but not badly so) off of the web, this thing is INCREDIBLE!  Lotsa good pictures, lotsa great anecdotes, and they authors (USN Historians) were able to actually interview the people involved!  Direct quotes from Mac, Struble, Nimitz, Sherman, etc. abound, and I'm not even a third of the way into it.  Tons of ideas for dioramas.  Interesting fact, for the Incheon landing, only SIX LST's wer available, and one was in such frighteningly bad condition that it was TOWED to the harbor in case the engines broke down.  All six of which were repatriated from the Japanese private owners whom had bought them following WWII.  The book also goes to great length to decry the pathetic state that the Mine Warfare units wer in following WWII.  (A  subject which is STILL a recurring issue!)  There wer only six mine sweepers in the Pacific following the war and this is what caused the Wonsan landings to take so long.  Especially after two were destroyed!

In other news...

I've gotten NOWHERE on my Invaders in the last two weeks.  I keep looking at other kits and wishing I was working on them.  I have a personal policy of not delving into a second kit until the current one is finished.  I still have the C-46 on deck to be finished, and fix the B-29, and have the two Invaders out.  I'm seriously contemplating putting the B-26's away and starting down a different path.

I also got a package in the mail!  (WOOHOO!  )  In it wer the Planet Models resin Ben Hur water trailer (much better than the Replicast!!!), another Hasegawa fuel tanker truck, Hasegawa GMC truck, and Hasegawa 1/2 track, as well as an Academy F-5 and Squadron MiG-5 and HU-6 "In Action" books.  Both of which were kinda disappointing since there were so few KW related pics in them...  I also got three decal sets from home:  C-121 MATS, RF-86A, and AN-2 Colt (DPRK Night Insurgent).  I'm REALLY confused by the RF-86 decals...   They show the side view of an F-86F, and call it an F giving it markings for an a/c from the 12th FBS at Osan...  But above the EXACT SAME drawing have the designation RF-86A Project ASHTRAY 15th TRS Kimpo.  Which is it?  Looking at the instruction sheet, I think that they've screwed up and put titles for two a/c on one, and the F info is for a different drawing.  But the line drawing for the RF shows the all flying tail of an F, not the elevatored tail of an A.  (could be just a lazy artist copy/pasted).  Hmm...  More research.

Hope you guys are getting more accomplished than I am!  Waiting to see some more pics from Helo soon.

Draken Andy: I can't argue with you at all. I said he was an interesting guy, I'm not going to make a judgement one way or the other. Seems to me he was a great man with some very serious flaws.

The naval  book sounds really interesting, I've heard very little about it. On Incheon I read that the US troops entering the abandoned city of Pyong'yan were shocked and somewhat ticked off to be greeted by ROK troops that had marched north and already seized the city before the invasion transports landed.

Love to see those B-26s when you get them done. I started the old 1/48th Monogram kit years ago and never finished it. 

Hi everyone ;

Unfortunatly still no progress on my builds but I am starting to feel a little better .

Like Andy , I've been doing a little reading as well while I've been laid up , however it's more to do with the USAF Thunderbirds and U.S. Navy Blue Angels Aerobatic display teams .

I realize this is way off topic but I was thinking of a future project for myself in 2012 and build some 1/72 scale Thunderbirds and Blue Angels aircraft .

Initialy I was only thinking of buillding the support aircraft used by both display teams but I have decided to go all out and do the display aircraft as well . I was able to locate both of Hasegawa's 1/72 Thunderbirds and Blue Angels aircraft sets and all I need now is an F8F Bearcat , Anyway I was wondering if anyone had a copy of this magazine ...

It's the Vol 28 No.9 (Nov 2006) issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling ; which has some 1/72 scale color profiles of the Thunderbirds C-119G Boxcar , C-123B Provider and C-54 Skymaster support aircraft .

I emailed the publisher in the U.K but unfortunatly no back issue is available for me to purchase and ebay which has a ton of these magazines for sale , just not the issue I'm searching for !

Also I'm yet to find any books covering the history of the USAF Thunderbirds , however I did find a book on Amazon books about the history of the Blue Angels for $3 , so that's a bit of a start regarding reference material and www.modelingmadness.com had a nice review from a modeller who built 8 1/72  Blue Angels aircraft and I printed that out as well .

Anyway , Sorry for getting a little off topic , I should be back in the spray booth and bench this weekend and continue on with my Korean War builds .

                  John .

Hi All:

Just now feeling better after a major bout with food poisoning ...

Was building a Bearcat for the Weekend Madness GB and had everything finished but for the canopy (and with 10 hours to spare) when disaster struck ... had to go to the ER and get my stomach pumped - gads, I hope never again with that procedure ... then, after surviving that, had another major sinus/bronchitis infection which has laid me low until late yesterday, when i finally started feeling like a person again ...

Anyhoo, I'll post a picture of the 'almost finished' Bearcat (although this one is certainly not a Korean War GB subject), along with some WIP photos of my Mig-15 - also finished but for the canopy and adding the landing gear ...

That'll all have to wait until Tuesday next as we're getting ready to leave for a trip to ARK this afternoon, getting back Monday night ...

Hope everyone is on the mend if you've been down with ailments and have a great weekend ...

pepper

John: Good to hear you're feeling better buddy.

Sorry the only modeling magazine I get is well... FSM. If you go ahead with your demo aircraft please post 'em in the aircraft forum, I'd love to see them. Funny, I've never built any a/c from either team but I've got a big pile of decals for a number of wild Tiger Meet schemes including this crazy Canadian Hornet:

BTW: Does the RAAF have a demo team? Never heard of one but seems like they would.

PK: Ouch! Sorry to hear about your trouble too. My car is in the garage and I will probably get a gigantic bill but between you, John, and DoogsATX smashing his thumb I guess I'm doing pretty well!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, and love to see the Bearcat- will be checking out the Weekend Madness GB. Never joined - if anyone does a three year madness GB I'll consider jumping in.

PK, I know that must have been a very unpleasant experience. Years ago I took the EMT IA course and had to  do some "ride along" time in an ER. During the course of the evening, a teenage girl who had tried to OD on pills was brought in. The treatment for her was to first have her drink activated charcoal to neautralize the pills, followed by syrup of Ipecac (sp?) to induce vomiting, and then her stomach was pumped afterwards to make sure it was all out. It was obviously a procedure that was nasty to endure. I hope she learned her lesson not to repeat such actions. I would not want to go thru it. I hope to see your Bearcat soon.

Gamera, the Weekend Madness GB is a blast. I have done three of the last four, only missing the first one. With a bit of planning and foresight, you can amaze yourself at the project you will complete in 48 hours. You really need to jump in on the next one. It is fun. I built thisGun Jeep this year.

Hey wow, that looks great SP!

I'll think about it but the chance of me getting anything done in one weekend is about the same of getting world peace for Christmas.

Its all in picking the right kit and planning it out. Focus for 48 hours on one build and wow... Nothing by Dragon would be wise...

stikpusher

Its all in picking the right kit and planning it out. Focus for 48 hours on one build and wow... Nothing by Dragon would be wise...

Lol, very true! I did pull a few kits out and look them over for a weekend build. Plus I picked up an Italeri F-16 at our IPMS Christmas party that might work out well.

So, I'm actually working on models again...  The Matchbox F-86A and a 'conversion' (basically adding extra parts) of a Matchbox/AMT kit to an RF-86A using parts from the Fujimi RF-86F.  To say that this is a 'basic' kit is to make a grave and horrible understatement.  There is NO gear wells to speak of, NO cockpit interior to speak of, and trenches for panel lines.  But, I'm essentially building both kits OOTB for practice on finishing ore than anything else.  With two kits, here's where I am after a three hours time, btw, I spent at least fifteen minutes figuring out that step 1 had a part misaligned in the diagram!

Great WIP so far on your Sabres Andy ;

Hopfully in the next couple of days I'll have something to post .

John .

Great movie for everyone to watch.  Made in Korea, TaeGukGi is a story about two brothers fighting for the RoK during the 1950-53 War.  It's 148 minutes long (plan for potty breaks) and is a very critically acclaimed movie.  Lots and lots of shots of equipment and gear in this film, lots of good battle scenes.  As a military historian (whom among us model builders isn't?) I'd say that this film is for the South Koreans what "We Were Soldiers" was for the Vietnam War.  It is incredibly well researched, incredibly well acted, and the materials and locations are perfect.

If you're in the US you can probably find this in the Foreign Films section and it will likely come with dubbing as an option.  I picked mine up here in Korea and it has Korean and Korean w/English subtitles.  Meh, that just means I have to actually PAY ATTENTION!

Try it out! 

That movie sounds good Andy ;

My brother is a movie film buff , I'm sure he could track me down a copy somewhere . He gets up at 4.15am every morning , so I'll have to get up nice an early to ask him .

                John .

Draken Andy: Thanks for the head's up, I'll look out for this film. Does it have an English re-title though? Not sure if I'll be able to find it under the Korean name. 

Hopefully I can find a sub-titled version, I've seen even in some Godzilla movies the dubbers really screw with and up movies. Only problem is I can't model at the same time since I can't listen and glance up from time to time- with sub-titles I have to watch the whole movie.

Absolutely agree with Draken... one of best movie about Korea War.  Of course I have it in my personal collection of war movies.

 Even my wife enjoyed the movie too... she rarely watch those movies with me.