Eveni'n gents.

I just got hold of an Academy 1/48 F-86f-30 that I will do in the sceeme of 2 sqn South African Air Force (SAAF) that was stationed at K-55 Osan during '53

It will be the standard bare metal with the SAAF "springbuck" roundals as per my F-51D posted earlier.

Pix to follow.

Theuns 

simpilot34

Aaronw:

Don't feel bad for me though, I've been sent to work in Hawaii for 3 weeks (2 weeks left).

HAWAII!!!!!???? Oh you poor thing!!!!How ARE you coping???!!! grumble grumble

Aaronw

Don't feel bad for me though, I've been sent to work in Hawaii for 3 weeks (2 weeks left).

HAWAII!!!!!???? Oh you poor thing!!!!How ARE you coping???!!! grumble grumble

Hi Aaron ,

The Squadron Signal PBM Mariner book has a few pages devoted to the P5M-1/2 Marlins as well as the P6M Seamaster . Mach 2 have the 1/72 scale Seamaster and I've been thinking about geting one , I'm also looking around for the Hasegawa Marlin kit . It would be good if I could buy both from the same shop / warehouse , shipping to Australia is starting to get quite expensive , especially for kits of a medium to large type of box $45-$60 an order.......OUCH !

Best of luck there in Hawaii ....

                                                John .

Great stuff getting built.

I'd like to get a Mariner, but the price and reputation of Mach 2 has so far kept me hoping Hasegawa would add one to go with their Marlin kit, nice to know it is one of the better Mach 2 kits. 

Work has kept me away from the bench, but I did get the lower wings decaled on the Panther. Don't feel bad for me though, I've been sent to work in Hawaii for 3 weeks (2 weeks left).

The Mach 2 PBM-5 Mariner is ready for  masking , looking at her front on , she takes an almost ... "Prehistoric" Bird Like  Appearance !!!

From the side she looks a little more graceful

The nose , spine and tail turrets are just sitting in place , I'll mask and spray them seperatly and mask over the openings in the aircraft .

I'm quite happy how this bird went together , I wish all Mach 2 kits went together as well as the PBM-5 Mariner .

                                John. 

John thanks for the info mate!!! Cheers!

Lt Cmdr Richie , the Airfix Sea Fury goes together quite well . If you go back to pages 17, 19 and 21 you can see some WIP pic's I posted on the Sea Fury . Airfix only give a cockpit seat and floor piece , so I scrounged through the spares box and found an old TBM Avenger tub's to use instead and also a instrument panel . I have another Airfix Sea Fury in the stash along with the Trumpeter version that comes with folding wings and a nice detailed cockpit , the Trumpeter kit however is three times the price of the Airfix kit , I have two sets of Royal Australian Navy "RAN" decals for these two kits . There are lot's of other builds to do before I get to the 2nd and 3rd Sea Fury's , so I better get cracking .

Travis the Mach 2 kits can be a little challenging , I did buy the HH-43 Huskie kit , the front canopy doesn'f fit all that good , so there was lots of putty and glue involved , mine has been sitting under the bench ready for masking and airbrushing since January of this year along with Mach 2's E-1B Tracer for the ' Eye in the Sky GB , which has a couple of coats of white airbrushed on and is ready to finish off . So many builds , not enough hours in the day !

                                  John .

WOW! Great stuff going on here! Between house work, getting the kids ready to go back to school, and my own job...it has been very trying ot get build time in lately. I have also been preoccupied with a beast of an EF-111 on the Variable Geom. GB. Now that it's finished and the kids start school Monday I should be able to plug away at the Banshee, Souix, and H-19.

Helo: Great job. I still got to get me one of those Mach kits. I am really thinking about picking up the "Huskey." How was the detail on those birds?

On another note I did pull the banshee down and noticed the cockpit tup sitting cockeyed in the fuselage. So I pulled it apart (no small feat!) and will basically be starting that process over again.

Pictures to follow soon. Keep the great builds and pics coming!

Travis

I'd say WOW Helo but I'm too busy picking my jaw up off the floor...

Great stuff! Sorry to hear about your problems with the decals though.

John sorry to hear about the setbacks with the eggbeaters, but you are looking good so far!!!! Is that the Airfix Sea fury? If it is, was there any fit issues? I ask as I have that kit, and a heads up would be a plus.

Decalling the two H03S-1 Dragonfly's hasn't worked out all that well .

The decal softning agent has reacted and smudged the paint around the edges of most decals .

One of the problems is that there are small bumps on the fuselage and tail boom exactly were each decal fits . I thought these small round bumps were antenna's of some sort but their just in the way of the decal sitting flat . I've decided to lightly sand off the decals on each of the H03S-1's and re- airbrush the paint finish , I have a spare U.S Navy decal sheet and I'll scrounge up some more Marine markings . A bit of a slight set back but the Royal Navy Sea Fury is ready to decal , so I'll start on that next after I clean up the Dragonfly's and get them back into the spray booth .

Oh well

                                                  John .

tonka

Helo...outstanding builds!! You motivate me!

Too bad about the decals but it still looks good. And after all the one you REALLy want correct is the USMC version!!

I picked up a mixed lot from Ebay and will post the additions tomorrow night, got the Italeri A-26C, Monogram 1/48 F9F Panther and an old KP Mig-15...You have challenged us all with your great builds!!

 

Nice score on Ebay Tonka

I have to agree about the USMC H03S-1 is the more important version , the other one is mostly for the "squids"

                                                      John .

Helo...outstanding builds!! You motivate me!

Too bad about the decals but it still looks good. And after all the one you REALLy want correct is the USMC version!!

I picked up a mixed lot from Ebay and will post the additions tomorrow night, got the Italeri A-26C, Monogram 1/48 F9F Panther and an old KP Mig-15...You have challenged us all with your great builds!!

Just when I thought things were going  well , I've discovered I've made a really dumb mistake

I started decalling the H03S-1 Navy Dragonfly and instead of using the reference books I bought , silly me was using Mach 2's box art as a decal guide .... 

I applied the decals with the assistance of Gunze Mr Mark Softer to help the decals snuggle down ; I'm doing both sides of the helicopter as I work down towards the tail , when I got to applying the NAVY lettering I suddenly realized the decal was to big for the tail boom . I went and checked the reference books and everything is back to front ; The UP should be first followed by the 32 , then the NAVY and Stars and Bars next !!!

I'm so " STUPID " ; I need a good kick in the pants !!!

I cant move the decals now after using the decal softning agent , I'll make sure I get it right on the Marine Corps H03S-1Dragonfly .

                                                  John .

Um... HOLY CRAP! I have a hard time doing 2 or 3 models a year, and you're doing 60+!!!!!

No worries Stik ;

Here's a pic of the first trio ...

3 done and 61 builds to go

I think building in groups of three might work quite nicely for me , so I typed out an "Order of Battle"

Greg , it would be great to see a couple of pic's of the real ' Versitle Lady ' and good luck with your 1/48 revell version .

The Mustangs look great!  After admiring your invader yesterday, I picked up the 1/48 revell version today.  It comes with the "Versatile Lady" markings too.  Well, they say imitation is a form of flattery....

Turns out that the real "Versatile Lady"  is parked about 15-20 minutes away from where I live.  I am going to go have to take a look at it.  I haven't looked at the planes at Lackland AFB in years, and forgot it was there.

Looking forward to the rest.

Cheers,

Greg

Nice Mustangs Helo! All your builds are nice and clean! How about a group picture of your trio?

Helo (John),  WOW!  Great work on A-26!  It brought me great memories building one myself when I was 15 years old or so.  Jeez, that would be 25 years ago...

Guys, it has been a pleasure following all of your work especially the figures and armors.  I signed up too but I will not be able to start til I am done with the other GB I signed... hopefully I will start my WIP in the fall and I can't wait! 

Well done John, a trio of incredible builds.  You are on fire my friend!

2 more beauties John!!!! Very nice indeed!!!!!

Thank's for the compliments on my Invader everyone , Very much appreciated ...

Here are Academy's 1/72 scale P-51D Mustangs ;

P-51D Mustang A68-809 77 Sqn. RAAF ;

Wing Cdr Lou Spence was killed in action on September 3 , 1950 when his aircraft 68-809 was hit by enemy ground fire .

P-51D Mustang , Republic of Korea Air Force , 1950 . Flown by Maj. Dean E Hess , USAF advisor to the ROKAF .

Tomorrow the two H03S-1 Dragonfly's , USN and USMC , followed by the Royal Navy Sea Fury FB II ;

Greg , I checked the decal markings on my PBM-5 Mariner , she's marked as VP-47 Japan 1953 ; My Air War Korea book also mentions the attack of the two Chinese Mig-15's on the PBM Mariner , two crew members were killed and two more wounded , the incident happened on 31 July , 1951 , of Fleet Air Wing Six .

                                   John  .

Thanks for looking

John she's a beauty mate!!! Well Done on your first completion for the build!!!!

Real nice John! 

I was looking around on the net, and I saw mention of a PBM-5 being shot down by Chinese fighter over the Yellow Sea.  I hadn't read about that before.  No particulars though.  Also, in April '50, the Soviets shot down a PB4Y-2 over the Baltic in international airspace.  Interesting... Stalin was such a "expletive deleted".

Cheers,

Greg

Very nice! I almost thought it was the Revell 1/48 kit for a bit.

Beautiful work on the Invader John! Looks like your building spree is reaching fruition here!

Versatile indeed!

Well done, John! Great looking build there.

Here's some finished pic's of the 1/72 Scale Italeri A-26B Invader with Albatros "Naughty Invaders " decals ;

A-26B Versatile Lady , 13th BS , Iwakuni AFB , Japan 1952 .

Tomorrow I'll post finished pic's of the RAAF and ROK Mustangs .

Cheers everyone ,

                                          John .