Holy crap John, you really are a one-man GB!  Most impressive.

Thanks everyone for the comments!  The lower hull is finished, as well as the suspension and tracks.  I also thinned the fenders down as thin as possible, then held them in near-boiling water while pushing various blunt objects against them to give them the characteristic dents I see in most photos of the type.  She's really starting to look like a tank now!

Hey Guys, finally got the part to fix my airbush!  Gary, the owner of my LHS (Hill Country Hobby) came through for me big time.  He had a new Testors sprayer that he wasn't using, so he gave it to me.  It had the part I needed, of course, but even have a nice little sprayer too.  I am going to try it out with some future.  I am hoping to get the black on my Corsair tomorrow a.m..

While I was at the Hobby Shop, I picked up the Airfix Mig 15.  What a nice little kit for only $7.65.  Thanks for showing us John.  The squigley line camo NK machine looks real cool.  It will be good practice for me, as I have to do squigley lines on my Dragon Ju-88G6 when I build it.

Cheers,

Greg

Helo that is a nice array of kits for this build!!!! Looking forward to seeing the decals on the first 6!!

Nice work thus far to all.  I have got a little bit assembled on the HRS-2.  I will attempt to paint something tonight.  I don't have a whole lot of room on the bench. This 1/48 B-1 takes up  a lot of space.

Helo, you have more kits in you Korean War stash than I do in my entire stash.  You get a lot of good work done quickly.  I was also watching your H-34 fleet build in the Helicopter forum too.  Fantastic work sir 

Gamera , thank's for the info on the interior color of the tanks , very much appreciated

I've organized my Korean War stash....

With the Armor builds I'm thinking of placing the M26 Pershing tank on the Dragon Wagon transporter as well as the M4 Sherman on the M19 Transporter and the British Churchill VII on the back of the Scammell Transporter , with the T-34 recovery tank towing the T-34/85 .

I'll be decaling for the rest of today and tomorrow ...

I'm more than happy with my paint finish on the first 6 Korean War builds ,

Last night I puttied the seams on the PBM Mariner fuselage and wing edges along with the two PB-1W , AEW Fortress birds the two F4U-4B corsair fuselage and wings are ready to glue together as well as the Airfix P-80 shooting Star ; So everything is going quite well .

                                                  John .

Sorry guys my computer is having issues...

The K1A1 continues along, gluing more and more little metal 'fiddly-bits' to her till I go blind........

Scorpion: Looking forward to photos of your F-4U. I can't argue- gotta love a corsair too!

Scorpion/Simpilot: funny your comment about the torch I didn't even notice. Guess I've watched so many old British Hammer horror films and Doctor Who I automatically translated

Tonka: Great job on your infantryman! I love how he turned out!

Frank: Great looking M26, she's really coming together well!

Helo: As far as I know the interiors of all tanks and AFVs are painted white, buff, or some light shade to improve visibility inside the vehicle. The insides of the hatchs are painted the same shade as the exterior of the vehicle- leaving them white would make them stand out as a target.

Looking forward to them all John!!!

I have to agree Tonka , the olive drab finish on the OY-2 Stinson is certainly unusual for a Marine Corps bird;

I'll go with the overall Sea Blue scheme , as I stocked up on 8 jars of Gunze H-326 [FS.15044] , I mistakenly bought quite a few paint jars of Gunze H-55 and H-25 to mix together for the aircraft builds with the Gloss Sea Blue finish but I wasn't happy with the color on two H03S-1 Helicopters , so I tried the H-326 instead and was a lot happier with the results . I can still use the H-55/25 jars of paint on the two PB-1W's and PBM Mariner , these three are fairly large aircraft , the last two coats on each I'll switch to the H-326 color .

I'm finally about to start decaling the A-26B Invader , two H03S-1's , two P-51D Mustangs and the Royal Navy Sea Fury ; I'm very happy with the paint results , so I shouldn't be long before I can get the first 6 finished build pic's posted , then I'll only have 36 builds to go !!!!!

                                                   John .

Helo,You are making us look bad!! Seriously,,great new additions, Cannot wait to see that stinson,,I just got the same kit , thinking of doing it in the OD version, since few USMC birds are that color.

Good luck on them!

These three kits will probably be the last additions to my Korean War bird stash

The mach 2 B-45/RB-45C Tornado has a lot more interior detail than any of the othe Mach 2 kits I have built .

There is a qiute extensive review of the B-45 Tornado on this site....

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B45.html

Only one set of decal markings are supplied for the Tornado , so I'll have to check around the net for pic's of an RB-45C which flew over Korea .

The special Hobby Fairey Firefly kit comes with markings for the Royal Navy HMS Glory , March 1953 , Korea

The OY-2 Stinson looks like a fun kit ; I just remembered I have a Revell PB4Y-2 Privateer and a F-82G Twin mustang on order , so that will definitly do me for the time being .

                                              John .

stikpusher

Tonka, your Chosin Marine looks superb! very impressive results there!

Helo, I jus t dont know what to say, another one???? You are a one man GB here. I built a Monogram 1/48 MiG-15 in those markings two years ago. I am looking forward to seeing that one done.

Yeah ; I guess I took the concept of this Group Build to the "Extreme" , to say the least ,

I'm having lots of fun with my builds and watching what everyone else is doing , that's the important thing I suppose . The Korean Air War and Armor books are quite imformative with accounts of different battles , It's definatly a part of military history I haven't given much attention to in the past . 30 builds is rather ambitious but with a full twelve months build time , I'm fairly confident I can get built some of the more unusual types of aircraft used during the Korean War .

                              John .

Tonka, your Chosin Marine looks superb! very impressive results there!

Helo, I jus t dont know what to say, another one???? You are a one man GB here. I built a Monogram 1/48 MiG-15 in those markings two years ago. I am looking forward to seeing that one done.

tonka- That figure is fantastic!  I sure do wish I could paint figures like that.  Well done!

Two more close-up sprue pic's

HTH ,

                       John .

Welllllll now, looks like I might just have to pick one of those up!!! That awesome camo job did it for me too. Thanks for the valuable info John!!! I have the 1/72 HobbyBoss kit and it isn't bad either.

The Airfix 1/72 Mig-15 is a vast improvement over their original offering ; The new release has nicely scibbed panel lines all over .

The cockpit tub and seat look rather good , there's decals for the side consol panels as well as the main consol ; The landing gear struts look really nice , as I mentioned there is a insert for the front intake , the underwing tanks look good too . Hats off to Airfix for improving the Mig-15 kit  .

The Skyraider PE just arrived at the front door , there seems to be enough PE to possible do two AD Skyraiders , an AD-4N USMC and a AD-4Q for the Navy

My Korean War bird stash has grown to 30 kits , with six builds nearly finished and another four 50% completed , I better get cracking !!!!!!

                                                               John .

Kevin, your figure is fantastic.  You can actually see exhaustion, and emotion in him.

Looking good John, I would love a report on the Airfix Mig too.  My LHS has them very cheap.  So, unless it is hideous, I plan on buying one.  Actually, I will probably pick up a couple of different Airfix kits.  I don't expect perfection, but I would like to support them because I applaud them (Airfix) for trying to put out affordable kits.  As the Chinese and Japanese prices skyrocket, they are trying a different route.  Enough of my soap box!  I just wish they would re-release their 1/48 Seafire FR.47.......

I am still trying to find an adapter for my airbrush, so I am at a standstill.

Looking forward to seeing your Corsair Mike, and with the others.  Back to Airfix, has anybody built their FAA Corsair in 1/72?

Cheers,

Greg

ooohhh hehe woops. didnt think of that. yes i meant a flashlight. ive got a little keyring one i use to go over paint and it picks up all the colour variations

Scorpiomikey

Paints nearly done. will post photos tommorow. just been going over it with a torch to catch any imperfections. Hopefully have her finished by the weekend. God a hate blue lol

For those uninformed, torch refers to a flashlight. LOL saying torch and referring to a plastic model makes me cringe.

John, how is the detail on that Mig-15??? I saw that kit and was hesitant bout buying it. Any fit issues noticeable???

I picked up the new release Airfix 1/72 Mig-15

The kit has a nice cockpit with instrument decals , a wedge shape intake insert and North Korean markings for 1952 . I also like the camouflage scheme .

Should go nicely with the Yak-9P I have on order .

                                                John .

Paints nearly done. will post photos tommorow. just been going over it with a torch to catch any imperfections. Hopefully have her finished by the weekend. God a hate blue lol

John,

Very nice work,, wish my builds were as organized as yours. Look forward to seeing them come together!

kevin

Excellent progress John!!!! Looking forward to seeing progress on all your builds!!!!

Tonka , excellent work on the 120mm figure ,

I've made a little more progress with the two PB-1W's

The wing and tail plane halves are glued together and tonight I'll glue the fuselage halves together .

I have also made a start on the Mach 2 PBM-5 Mariner ;

I dry fitted all the small fuselage windows , then airbrushed the interior green and once the paint had dried I glued the windows in .

I like the way Mach 2 have molded a nice recess  where the wing fits into the top of the fuselage ;

The fuselage halves are ready to glue together tonight as well , so everything is going along nicely .

                                    John .

Tonka,outstanding finish mate!!!! He invokes the miserable conditions whilst having a break.

Pershing looks great!! I plan to get back onto mine later in week. Nice Work!!

Here are my pics of the final 120MM Marine Bar Gunner,,I call it " Memories of Home - Mail Call"

It is now complete and in the cabinet! Glad this build got to me finally finish it!

Notice his right eye has a small wound above it..

Frank, your Pershing is looking great already!!! Really looking forward to seeing more!!!! I would like to put you on to a thread that I followed not long after he started the project. It is an entirely scratchbuilt 1/6th scale M26!!! This mutha is BIG!!!! Have a look!!!

/forums/t/124956.aspx

Your M-26 is looking good Frank , I think the weld seam looks quite good as well .

Not having built any armor before , am I to understand that the inside color of tanks is usually white ? ; Does this also include the underside of the crew hatch's . Apart from the Trumpeter M-4 Sherman in my stash , I'm awaiting the arrival of another dozen armor / military vehicles kits I have on order . It's probably best if I find out as much as I can , please keep the progress pic's and great work coming Frank .

                                            John .

simpilot34

Frank can't wait to see progress on ur target!!! Btw Frank, did you notice John mentioned the C word!!!??? Times 2!!!

When I get off my keester I am going to pull my bent-wing birdie out of the hangar(box) and continue on with the flaps and hopefully make them look decent for 1/72.

CORSAIR!!!

Hehehe... Sorry I missed this earlier Richie!!!  Can't wait to see the progress pics on your Corsair!  John and Greg- Great work on your bent-wing birds, I love the smell of Corsairs in the morning.  Smells like... VICTORY!

I did a little bit of work on my M-26 today.  The turret shell is complete, and I did my best to replicate the seam on the major castings.  Most pics I saw had what appears to be a welded and ground seam on them, so I did the same here.  Before joining the halves, I gave the interior a quick coat of white.  I also finished assembling the gun/mantlet parts.  Where the back of the mantlet (please forgive me if I am calling these parts by the wrong name!) meets the turret front, there were some gaps present.  I stretched some kit sprue, and laid it along the edges and added some weld detail to them.  Not sure if this is historically correct, but it looked better than gaps to me.  The white styrene bit on the top of the mantlet was added to fill in a gap where the top center lifting eye attached to it.  Thanks for looking!

Looking forward to seeing all the F-80s going!  That recon version isn't one you see every day.  Cool choice.  I've always liked the look of the F-80/T-33.  I built the plated Testors version as a kid, and it has been a favorite since.

As for the Skynight, don't quote me, but I heard that the wheel wells of the F3D at that time were blue because they were just overpainted the flat black for Korea only.  Post war models were gray I believe, after they transitioned from the sea blue.  I think it was called an E/F-10 at that point though.  For the just released most wanted poll, my vote for 1/48th was a F3D.  By the results, I guess I was alone on that one!  The limited run version looks a bit out of my skill and price range, so an all plastic one would be nice.  Since RoG has the Matchbox molds, hopefully they will re-release the Skynight.  Any info that gets dug up on this plane, please share.  John, if you find decals for a 513 Skyray, please share your source.

Tonka, if you don't mind me asking, what years were you in San Antonio?  I didn't go through the RS here, I am originally from Florida.  A lot of fellow firemen, who are former Marines did though.  I was in from '88 to '98 myself.  The first 10 years were awesome, the last 6 months in made it easy to get out.  One of these days I gotta try and build an AAV-P7A1.  I still remember those beasts like yesterday.  They sure beat humping with a pack!

Cheers,

Greg