John: the LCT's coming along nicely....look forward to seing post-paint shop.

The M21 in the background comes with 2nd Division decals, but I started it before the Group Build start date. I'm using it anyway. We need all the vehicles we can get to get these guys on the beach heads.

Bruce: Wow, that's a nice looking model too! Are you doing the one for this GB similar?

Great building on the LCT, John.  About the black bottom, for lack of better information, maybe the instructions are correct.  When I built my 1/700 LCT's, I researched the question and didn't come up with a definitive answer, so I painted the bottoms of the hulls in anti-fouling red.  Snyder & Short are usually the end-all and be-all for naval information, but they didn't have anything useful for landing craft.  Most of the research posted there relates to the Pacific Theater, but here's the link anyway: www.shipcamouflage.com/5_1.htm

And that's a sweet-looking half-track, Bruce.  It looks perfect.

I just looked though my decal collection and absolutely nothing.  I guess it's off to the LHS to see what I can find.

68GT: Lemme scrounge around, I probably have some Free French decals somewhere if you want them.

Yeah, I don't have anything French either.  I have plenty of time though!  I have a few 109s and 190s that could build as long as I get markings that fit.  I also have a few Jugs and Mustangs but the markings for those are late 44 into 45 also.

This will give me time to finish up some others I'm in the middle of though.

John, the LCT is looking great. I had a lok for some images showing the hull, and I found pics which seem to show red and black hulls, though of course its hard to tell in B&W. This one, which I think is from Normandy, seems to be red.

And this one, which the caption on the site said was also at Normandy, looks black.

Bruce, that is looking great. I couldn't find any Free French decals that might suit on my usual source, hopefully you can get hold of what you need. 

Great pics of the LCT! A few more updates on the M21.

That's coming along nicely Bruce.

Great detail, Bruce.  Looks good!

Time Life has restored some colour photos recently, France 1944 - this one in particular might help with the landing craft hull colour:

regards,

Jack

Yeah nice work there Bruce, I like the rope on the front fender and the bent lovers over the grille.

And great photo there Jack, looks reddish on the lower hull to me too.  

Work on the Stummel continues...at a snails pace, of course. I installed the firewall, mated the upper and lower hull together, added the upper front plate, as well as the side bins and front tow hooks.

I wish I had taken a pic prior to putting the upper hull on

the hand-painted tachometer just didn't look right, so I used a dry tranafer from Archer Fine Transfer - much better looking.  The driver's vision block was painted Tamiya cleaer green and overcoated with "Pledge with Future shine"

Nice photo there jack.

Greg, that's coming on great. Nice work on the drivers panel.

Bruce and Greg:  Nice looking half-tracks.  Like the detail on the M-21.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of armor is pretty nil, except it weighs a lot and has treads! 

Gary

68GT

Anybody know what Luftwaffe units might have been involved that day?  I read that Luftflotte 3  flew 139 “strike” sorties in the landing area on June 6th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_3  Has a list of all of Air Fleet 3 but needs to be narrowed down I think.

During daylight hours, only the commander of JG-26, Josef Priller, and his wingman, are credited with actually having flown over the beach head and attacking in a pair of FW-190s. After dark there were attacks against Allied shipping in the Channel by KG units that were in range,  most likely by Ju-88, Ju-188 and Do-217 aircraft, but I do not have that specific info currently.

Bruce - great looking Halftrack. What did you use for the cable in the winch? I'm doing the Dirty Dozen halftrack for the Hollywood GB. The trumpeter kit included a piece of string. Could I paint it? Maybe??

The Dragon kit came with nylon string for both the winch and rope. Painted the cable for the winch stainless steel and used AK Dry Light Mud for the rope. Have also used 100 lb test nylon fishing line for winch cable. You can dye, stain or paint it to look as you need. Hope this helps.

stikpusher

68GT

Anybody know what Luftwaffe units might have been involved that day?  I read that Luftflotte 3  flew 139 “strike” sorties in the landing area on June 6th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_3  Has a list of all of Air Fleet 3 but needs to be narrowed down I think.

During daylight hours, only the commander of JG-26, Josef Priller, and his wingman, are credited with actually having flown over the beach head and attacking in a pair of FW-190s. After dark there were attacks against Allied shipping in the Channel by KG units that were in range,  most likely by Ju-88, Ju-188 and Do-217 aircraft, but I do not have that specific info currently.

JG 2 also flew missions with their Fw 190's on D-Day. They attacked shipping off Gold beach and also clashed with P-47's, Mustang's and Typhoons later in the day.

There were also missions by Fw 190 equipped ground attack units, including SG 4, attacking landing craft in the afternoon.

In total the Germans flew just over 300 sorties on the day, of which around 170 were by fighters.

greentracker98

Bruce - great looking Halftrack. What did you use for the cable in the winch? I'm doing the Dirty Dozen halftrack for the Hollywood GB. The trumpeter kit included a piece of string. Could I paint it? Maybe??

Ken: another alternative to painting the string is to dip in a strong tea or coffee to dye it.

Really nice work, guys!

Can anyone of you guys post a list (or a link to one) of all the squadrons using thundeerbolts that were flying at this time? I'd like to build a jug for this GB but I have no clue on what markings to use...

Cheers, Clemens

I have some links to 8th AAF FG's, but you have to go through them all to find which ones had Jug's in June 44, and it doesn't have info as to which ones were over Normandy.

I found some info, the following groups lost aircraft over Normandy on the 6th, so its a start.

56th, 353rd, 356th, 365th, 366th and 371st.

I hadn't thought of which FG's to use on mine yet Clemens. I'm doing a Jug too. Thanks

Thanks for the suggestions on the cable guys.

Thank you very much, Bish!

I did some research myself (using the internet and my little book of the Thunderbolt as well as Tamiya's instructions) and found out the following:

The Thunderbolt I plan on doing for the "First time" GB, "Kokomo", was flown by William Kepner. He was the commander of the 8th FC. The book states that "Kokomo" as assigned to the 359th FG. That FG was taking parts at the events of D-Day by escorting bomber formations and strafing ground targets in and near the battle area.

I also found out that the 359th converted to the Mustang in May 1944. The decals for Kepner's plane are supplied with the Tamiya kit, but are for how the bird looked in Autumn 1944 (Kepner was with the 495th FG at that time).

Now here's my questions:

The 359th FG was already equipped with Mustangs at D-Day, but Kepner's Thunderbolt seems to be around untill a later time (judging by Tamiya's decals). Was Kepner flying his Thunderbolt on D-Day or one of the days after it (if he was flying at all) or was he flying a Mustang?

If "Kokomo" saw action during those events, would it have full invasion stripes painted on? (The kit instructions state that I should only use the stripes at the underside of the tail for the "Autumn-version")

Is "Kokomo" a valid subject at all for this GB?

Tamiya states that "Kokomo" had only 6 machine guns instead of the usual 8 and no hardpoints on the wings. Would this apply for a D-Day version of it as well (if it is a valid subject)

Lots of questions here, but I don't want to build a model that is completely wrong historically, as this is a GB regarding a certain historical event...

I hope you guys can at least answer me some of the questions...

Cheers, Clemens

Here's a short Biography of Kepner

A color profile of "Kokomo":

Here's a photo of "Kokomo" taken at Mount Farm Air Base (Autumn '44)

And a pic of it's nose-art (hanging in a museum):

If he was commander of 8th FC, I can't imagine he would also be part of 359th FG. And I found an article on the US Air Force website, but it doesn't even mention the 359th.

www.af.mil/.../bio.asp

My guess is that the P-47 he had was used as a hack, to get him from one airfield to another. He did fly 24 combat missions, 10 in fighters and 14 in bombers. But I can't find a list of his sorties. He may well have flown over the beaches on D-Day or soon after.

This page also doesn't mention the 359th.

www.p47pilots.com/P47-Pilots.cfm

Yes, this page describes "Kokomo" as a "hack" (see color slides).  Not a D-Day aircraft I'm afraid.

http://www.ww2color.com/nennius/webapps/slides/slides.php?db_limit_start=4580

Gary

Thanks for your replies, guys.

Bish: Would it be OK if I still build "Kokomo" for this GB. Kepner might've been in the air after D-day to get a better view on the beaches i reckon... I'd like to do this bird as a crossover with the first-time GB (with full invasion stripes, of course).

If it isn't, I'll just try to find another Jug with some nice nose-art (would be my 5th kit of this plane... I jsut love me some thunderbolts!)

Here's the pic in my book I was Talking about (Thunderbolt in Action, page 46):

Cheers, Clemens

I don't see why not. From what I have read he was a bit aggresive, and he did fly 10 fighter sorties. I can just imagine him flying over the beaches to see things for himself. And why else fly an armed P-47 if your not going to use it.

Not sure why that book says 359th. That other link does say it was assigned to a different unit, and the codes on his P-47 don't match the 359th.