Monogram Mafia Group Build

These were from an older set by Super Scale I picked up from a LHS in the 90s. The only other markings I know of for these birds in Golden Dragons is the re issue of the kit that came with the Detail and Scale book. Which actually has the correct  Modex because 216 does not appear in the movie. 209 is the one he flies in the film.

Hey Stick,

The Panther looks fantastic! Great job all the way around; I'm especially impressed by your flawless paint job on the canopy.  That would have driven me crazy!!  

Stik,,, nice job Man..very sweet !!

I am glad everyone likes her. For the purposes of this GB, I calling my Monogram 1/48 F9F-5 done. I am stillgonna fine tune the pilot and add him shortly. But the bird is done for here.

In heaven!! Just visited the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  What a great museum with most of the fleet airworthy.  The docent I spoke with was a Naval Aviator (that's Navy pilot for most of us!), he was a pilot in Korea and Vietnam, very nice gentleman.  I can't believe I forgot my camera!!

Get this Stick, the guy was a Panther instructor pilot! He gave me a personal tour of the 'Navy' hangar and a brief history of each of the planes.

Hammer, you will appreciate that they have a P-63 Kingcobra, recovered in the Kuril Islands while fighting the Japanese in the closing months of the war.  It's a long term restoration project, so it should be interesting to watch....

Check out their website at: www.MilitaryAviationMuseum.org.

If any of the pictures turn out, I'll post a few.

Stikpusher she looks to be ready to fly, top notch build for sure Your figure is something else too, hope you post pictures here when you finish it.

Hey Stick, you get a & & let's not forget !  Now don't feel like for mixing.

stikpusher

I am glad everyone likes her. For the purposes of this GB, I calling my Monogram 1/48 F9F-5 done. I am stillgonna fine tune the pilot and add him shortly. But the bird is done for here.

Glue the gear door actuators to the doors, then install the outer doors separate from the struts. Glue in the center door after the outer doors and struts. Hindsight is 20/20...and thank you

stikpusher

Glue the gear door actuators to the doors, then install the outer doors separate from the struts. Glue in the center door after the outer doors and struts. Hindsight is 20/20...and thank you

Very nice Stik,, ! sweet job

Beautiful job, Stikpusher!  Makes me want to pick up that kit and build it, too.

Thank you guys. I appreciate your kind words. That Panther really is a good kit and I recommend it for anyone who is thinking about picking one up.

I resumed work on build #2 this morning. the PCF Swift. I completed most of the build such as weapons, cabin and most fittings. There is maybe 1/2 a days worth of building left, plus painting. I will get some pics posted in the next few days that show progress.

Expert work!

My Mirage has recovered from it's decal mishap...even brought it to this weekend's show. Will get a pic up of finished build #2 tomorrow.

The Mirage 2000 is a sharp looking bird! Looking forward to seeing yours here Dupes

Well my second build for here I intend it to be a swift project... pun intended. So here it is, the 1960s vintage 1/48 Patrol Craft Fast (PCF), AKA "Swift Boat". I am building this OOB with the exception of weapons. The kit  .50s showed their vintage... they were horrible. So I replaced them with some resin ones from Verlinden. Today I spent doing seam clean up on the deck house, forward .50's tub, and main deck vents. All that I have left to do is seam clean up  on the railings, screws, ladder, radar, and deck fittings, and glue those parts on.

Everything in the kit and my primary photo reference book:

All built portions placed on the hull:

Lower hull with screw shafts and rudders:

Deck house with twin .50s in place

Main deck with aft 81mm mortar/.50 Cal mount in place

Main deck placed on hull

close up of forward gun tub and replacement .50s

close up of aft 81mm/.50 combination mount

I still need to finish some mods I am doing to the aft weapons mount... which wont take long when I break out the Dremel...

Not a very responsive audience here... Tough crowd, tough crowd...

Well I made a bit more progress on the Swift Boat today. I glued the main deck to the hull. Still needs a bit more clean up work on the seams later this evening. Then I attached the last fiddly bits to the deck house after clean up.

Radar and barrel deflector to the mast...

ladder to the deck house bulkhead and rail to the deck house topside...

auxiliary wheel to the aft end of the deckhouse...

Hollowed out the recoil guard on the 81mm/.50mount with my Dremel and cleaned up the inner surfaces with some needle files...

and an overall view of the boat at this point...

Almost ready for paint

Very nice work Stik.  Nice to see something out of the ordinary.

Can't wait to see more progress pics.

Looks great Stik, it is nice to see something different...... that doesn't fly........ could use some figures on board, perhaps the likeness of a future senator maybe.

Gee Stikpusher that looks like a boat man !! Oh it IS a boat ! Looking good there buddy, an hey, those new guns you added really work. Nice to see something different too as was said above.

Well it does have two propellers and some .50 Cal.s so... And yes it is different... that's for dang sure!

Some figures would be nice but I don't have any proper 1/48 Vietnam figures in the spares bin, and funds are very tight these days. Resin is out of the question. But I sure do wish I had not pitched all that Bandai 1/48 stuff years ago. With that and some Monogram ground crew I could have thrown something together... No future Senator Blutarsky though...

Well the kit did come with one figure... bu the appears to be more of an RVN figure being that he is barefooted and and armed with a M2 Carbine. His facial features appear kind of Asian as well...

Well today was final asembly prior to painting. I spent more time with seam clean up than gluing the parts on. Aft railings (thread is supposed to be added after painting)

Bow mooring bit

and an overall view with all railings, cleats, and bits in place.

Excellent choice, Stikpusher, and great progress!  I had forgotten about this kit.

Regarding figures, maybe some aftermarket company will come out with a figure of a certain long-faced Senator who went on to marry a ketchup heiress....

Stikpusher

LOL Vetteman!!!

I airbrushed on the first coat of paint. Since Testors MM Marine Acrylics have horrible adhesion on bare plastic, I painted the entire hull and deck house (except the interior) European I Dark Gray 36081. A website I found that has Swift Boat specs lists them as being painted Haze Gray when built, but in country they were painted a shade of Dark Gray mixed from Deck Gray and Black. I figured the European I Gray would be a good approximation there. Tomorrow I will mask off the lower hull so that I can later airbrush on Testors MM Marine Acrylic USN Hull Red. Hopefully the overall Dark Gray will act as a primer and alleviate the adhesion problem. I also airbrushed the stand and deck house interior with an approximation of Haze Gray.Since I had no Neutral Gray in Enamels, which I was using today, I used Humbrol's Sea Grey Medium, which looks close enough for government work

Anyways here are a couple pics...

JailCop

hey guys just wondering if its too late to get in on this

Too late for this one, Jailcop, but don't dispair... Round Two is a GO very soon!

Tal Afar Dave

Hammer, you will appreciate that they have a P-63 Kingcobra, recovered in the Kuril Islands while fighting the Japanese in the closing months of the war.  It's a long term restoration project, so it should be interesting to watch....

Thanks for the Head's up.. The CAF P-63 is almost ready to fly, BTW... Engine run-ups and Taxi tests are completed..

stikpusher

Well it does have two propellers and some .50 Cal.s so... And yes it is different... that's for dang sure!

No future Senator Blutarsky though...

Well, ya still got Senator Kerry... I got a figure that'd work into a crewman cowering in the boat...

Just FYI, the Tami 1/48 US Infantry figures could be converted to Vietnam types easy enough... Only real trouble with them is scale.. They're all about a scale foot shorter than Monogram ground crewman figures.. But they at least got helmeted heaads and arms that'd work..

LOL, I just now noticed this... You got the ammo and guns facing in different directions... The ammo cans and belts are at the front of the turret...

Don't sweat it though...

Hans von Hammer

LOL, I just now noticed this... You got the ammo and guns facing in different directions... The ammo cans and belts are at the front of the turret...

Don't sweat it though...

NOTE:  I am Polish so I`m allowed to say that...