First Annual USAF Vietnam Group Build

Kiwi

Russ,

That must have been quite a sight (and sound!) to see those ripping in and out! Did you get up close and personal with them? Were the special hangers to protect the skins? Did they need controlled humidity?

Hi, Tim,

They came in quick and fairly quiet, but not very often. If you didn't happen to see them on approach, or weren't near the runway, you probably wouldn't know one was there. They landed and taxied right into the hanger.

The facility they had was just for refueling and crew rest. and probably emergency repair - they weren't stationed there. I don't know what types of environmental controls they had; unfortunately, no one but cleared personnel were allowed anywhere near their hangar.  

When they took off, they rolled out of the hanger and directly onto the runway, powered up and were gone, usually straight up. The takeoff only took about 3 minutes but it was a trip if you happened to be on the flight line when one left. I only got to see one take off at Takhli although I saw several land. We also had U2s in occasionally. 

Cheers,

Russ

Wayne, Lone Star Models has a 1/48 set of resin Vietnam Revetments, in a modular set  www.lonestarmodels.com/Products-in-the-works.html

also, I just read a review of some cardstock printed Revetment walls, in 1/72,,,,,,those are "print as you need them" downloads, here it is www.hyperscale.com/.../scalemodelsceneryvietnamrevetmentpreviewbg_1.htm

I believe they plan to release those in multiple scales

Rex

I tried a little while ago using a big pile of wooden coffee stirring sticks - trimmed them down to size and filed the a little narrower, painted metallic and dirtied them up. Looked okay but would probably be better scratch built from plastic...

has anyone here built the corrugated "containers" used for revetments in vietnam?

Russ,

That must have been quite a sight (and sound!) to see those ripping in and out! Did you get up close and personal with them? Were the special hangers to protect the skins? Did they need controlled humidity?

Hey, Tim,

Yes indeed they were. They landed frequently at Takhli AB, Thailand when I was there in 69. There was a special hangar for them up at the north end of the base.

Cheers,

Russ

IT IS!! AND IT DID!!! I CAN talk about the SR-71! :) :) :) :)

In that case I will start mine as soon as you are ready Ken! I remember you already made a little bit of a start on yours right? Do I need to play catch up a little? How do you find the fit with the major cockpit sections? I was playing with some parts last night and fear I may need to do quite a bit of putty work with this one...?

Indeed! Sorry Ken, I'm pretty good at taking us off topic eh! :)

But even so - do you have the Testors Sr-71? That's what I got. This is my second ever Testos kit and I don't think the quality is very good compared to the Hasegawa or Tamiya kits I'm working on, BUT, it's still going to be awesome and looks like there is a lot of room for creative license to be taken. It really is such an ENORMOUS plane. I also found two SR-71 resin pilots on the interwebs, they are both holding their helmets and standing around looking cool so should make a good addition to the display. I might try and scratch build the APU cart too having taken a lot of photos of the one at the museum in Seattle.

Interesting about the box in the cockpit tub - I shall have to have another look at it now! I procured my paints for the project yesterday. The Tamiya 'Titanium Gold' is awesome. It needs to be flattened out a little bit but it would be cool for the A-12 conversion I'm tempted to do... I like the color scheme and the idea of adding a drone and shortening the trailing tail, but I LOVE the backseat cockpit. Maybe I'll build the only A-12 in history that was a two seater, ;-)

Wait, were the SR-71's flown over Vietnam at all? It's not appropriate for this group build is it? Clearly I need to brush up on my research... *embarrassed*

LOL

SMF(aw)-232?, with the "S" standing for ".......anddddddd we were Swinging.........." (sorry, old bad country song came to mind from the Eighties)

I always thought it sort of funny that the "H" didn't get used decades before as the "heavier than air" designator, the system started way before there were Helicopter squadrons.

We need to thank Ken for allowing such an off topic side track, he has got to be tempted to shout out "no Navair for you !!"

If it ever warms back up enough, I will get back to Berny's RF-4C, I have the coolest set of decals for it, from Wolfpak, the Ohio decal guy. Mark released the RF-4C 12 TRS at Ton Son Nhut in 1968, Sea camo with AC as the tailcode.........Berny would have loved watching dis ole Navair Tactical puke building an Air Farce camo recce plane, I got the sheet just for this group build and to honor him at the same time. (# 72-061)

Rex

Hey, Rex,

I just thought of something...  If the Marines had used the F-14, would they change their squadron designation to something besides "V" (fixed wing)?  What would they use for a "variable wing" unit?

Cheers,

Russ

TarnShip

There is an amusing way to word this question that guarantees a "yes" answer.

First, the answer that is really being asked, the answer is most likely a Marine backseater was in a Phantom during that time period.

The other answer is "could have been in anything the Air Force, Marines, or Navy had" during that time period.

There were Marines as aircrew in USAF Phantom MiG kills, USAF in Navy or Marine aircraft doing CarQuals, etc.

one great photo is of a Marine and an a USAF pilot and backseater, landing a Navy Phanotm on Quals, on the deck of a carrier, just after taking the wire and popping the canopy open,,,,,,,both men were on exchange duty, and were cross training with VF-213

But, for the period of 1974-1980 or so, the Marines only had the Phantom, the Intruder, the Skyhawk and the Harrier for combat aircraft.  Heck, unless you can find BuNo's assigned for those Tomcats, they might have been just a Cadre squadron then, or flying VF-101's equipment while learning the aircraft. Marines often worked up on an aircraft type new to the pilot while running a TDY with the RAGs, VF-101 in the east was the Tomcat Rag. VMFAT-101, the Marine F-4 RAG was all the way out on MCAS Yuma during those years, anyway.

just some old useless background trivia from an old Jarhead

Rex

Cool, Rex! 

After working my way through all those Navy and Marine acronyms,  I really learned something!  Always wondered what that "V" in VMF stood for .

Thanks!

Russ

Kiwi

WOW! There is some knowledge on here, :) Awesome!

I'll be sure to let you guys know when he tells me. The most likely answer will be an F-4 but it's pretty awesome that there are all those other possibilities. Really interesting about the Marines F-14, that's a cool idea for a future build for sure!

On another note - Ken, I received my SR-71 resin cockpit and I think it's quite different to yours and doesn't have the problem in the tub that yours does, or am I confusing it with your USAF Vietnam project? It looks like a fairly old model that I have judging by the condition of the packaging I'd say it's been in a gentleman's model stash for quite some time indeed.

I haven't done much work on my F-102 in the last two weeks as I've been working on a Tamiya Mig-15 that caught my attention, a small and very interesting build. I'll be back on track soon enough, :-)

Hi Tim,

I have done some research on the cockpit of the SR-71.  It turns out that the only picture of the box with a lid on it  is the one posted on the Cyber Modelers website.  All of the others show the box without a lid.  So the True Details cockpit is pretty close the way it is.  I will post links of what I found later.

I look forward to building our SR-71s together!

Ken

TarnShip

But, having said all of the above,,,,,,,,,if someone comes up with a photo of a Marines marked Tomcat, pleassssssssse share it somehow,,,,,,,I, for one, would jump all over building one, and I think a few others would, as well

Rex

Hi Rex,

Here is an artist's "what if" drawing:

Ken 

TarnShip

But, having said all of the above,,,,,,,,,if someone comes up with a photo of a Marines marked Tomcat, pleassssssssse share it somehow,,,,,,,I, for one, would jump all over building one, and I think a few others would, as well

Rex

Hi Rex,

I have not found a picture of a USMC Tomcat, but I did find the patch that was to be used:

Note that the "Cat" has two tails, representing the two tails on the Tomcat.

Ken 

WOW! There is some knowledge on here, :) Awesome!

I'll be sure to let you guys know when he tells me. The most likely answer will be an F-4 but it's pretty awesome that there are all those other possibilities. Really interesting about the Marines F-14, that's a cool idea for a future build for sure!

On another note - Ken, I received my SR-71 resin cockpit and I think it's quite different to yours and doesn't have the problem in the tub that yours does, or am I confusing it with your USAF Vietnam project? It looks like a fairly old model that I have judging by the condition of the packaging I'd say it's been in a gentleman's model stash for quite some time indeed.

I haven't done much work on my F-102 in the last two weeks as I've been working on a Tamiya Mig-15 that caught my attention, a small and very interesting build. I'll be back on track soon enough, :-)

But, having said all of the above,,,,,,,,,if someone comes up with a photo of a Marines marked Tomcat, pleassssssssse share it somehow,,,,,,,I, for one, would jump all over building one, and I think a few others would, as well

Rex

TarnShip

There is an amusing way to word this question that guarantees a "yes" answer.

First, the answer that is really being asked, the answer is most likely a Marine backseater was in a Phantom during that time period.

The other answer is "could have been in anything the Air Force, Marines, or Navy had" during that time period.

There were Marines as aircrew in USAF Phantom MiG kills, USAF in Navy or Marine aircraft doing CarQuals, etc.

one great photo is of a Marine and an a USAF pilot and backseater, landing a Navy Phanotm on Quals, on the deck of a carrier, just after taking the wire and popping the canopy open,,,,,,,both men were on exchange duty, and were cross training with VF-213

But, for the period of 1974-1980 or so, the Marines only had the Phantom, the Intruder, the Skyhawk and the Harrier for combat aircraft.  Heck, unless you can find BuNo's assigned for those Tomcats, they might have been just a Cadre squadron then, or flying VF-101's equipment while learning the aircraft. Marines often worked up on an aircraft type new to the pilot while running a TDY with the RAGs, VF-101 in the east was the Tomcat Rag. VMFAT-101, the Marine F-4 RAG was all the way out on MCAS Yuma during those years, anyway.

just some old useless background trivia from an old Jarhead

Rex

Hi Rex,

Thank you for your inside knowledge on this topic!  I always enjoy hearing from personal military experiences by veterans such as yourself!

Well Tim, I think you now have your total answer to your question.

Ken

There is an amusing way to word this question that guarantees a "yes" answer.

First, the answer that is really being asked, the answer is most likely a Marine backseater was in a Phantom during that time period.

The other answer is "could have been in anything the Air Force, Marines, or Navy had" during that time period.

There were Marines as aircrew in USAF Phantom MiG kills, USAF in Navy or Marine aircraft doing CarQuals, etc.

one great photo is of a Marine and an a USAF pilot and backseater, landing a Navy Phanotm on Quals, on the deck of a carrier, just after taking the wire and popping the canopy open,,,,,,,both men were on exchange duty, and were cross training with VF-213

But, for the period of 1974-1980 or so, the Marines only had the Phantom, the Intruder, the Skyhawk and the Harrier for combat aircraft.  Heck, unless you can find BuNo's assigned for those Tomcats, they might have been just a Cadre squadron then, or flying VF-101's equipment while learning the aircraft. Marines often worked up on an aircraft type new to the pilot while running a TDY with the RAGs, VF-101 in the east was the Tomcat Rag. VMFAT-101, the Marine F-4 RAG was all the way out on MCAS Yuma during those years, anyway.

just some old useless background trivia from an old Jarhead

Rex

Striker8241

No defense needed, bud  .  As you say, they were never operational so technically they don't count as an answer to Tim's question.

Russ

I think we did a pretty good job answering Tim's questions Russ!   

Ken

No defense needed, bud  .  As you say, they were never operational so technically they don't count as an answer to Tim's question.

Russ

Striker8241

Hi, Ken,

You're absolutely right, my friend. However, a couple of Marine squadrons did fly the planes for about 6 months before the USMC opted out of the program. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 531, VMFA-531 'Grey Ghosts' flew them for sure. Here's a link to their write up: www.globalsecurity.org/.../vmfa-531.htm.

Wonder if they ever had them painted in the squadron colors. That would be an interesting model.  However, they never flew in combat in Vietnam so it wouldn't qualify for this build.

Cheers,

Russ

I stand corrected Russ!   

But in my defense they did not fly them operationally.  It turned out to be more of a trial basis.

Ken

Hi, Ken,

You're absolutely right, my friend. However, a couple of Marine squadrons did fly the planes for about 6 months before the USMC opted out of the program. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 531, VMFA-531 'Grey Ghosts' flew them for sure. Here's a link to their write up: www.globalsecurity.org/.../vmfa-531.htm.

Wonder if they ever had them painted in the squadron colors. That would be an interesting model.  However, they never flew in combat in Vietnam so it wouldn't qualify for this build.

Cheers,

Russ

Striker8241

The F-14 had a back-seater but I don't know if the marines ever flew them - wuups, they did, just looked it up :D

Russ

All of the documentation I read said that the USMC considered the F-14 but then shelved it in favor of the McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) AV-8B Harrier II and the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.

Ken

The F-14 had a back-seater but I don't know if the marines ever flew them - wuups, they did, just looked it up :D

Russ

Kiwi

Quick question, wanting to build a plane for a buddy whose father died a few years ago, he was a USMC back seater in the mid-late 70's. What would he have flown? Friend couldn't remember what it was. My first thought was a phantom but could it have been something else?

I am not an expert on the USMC aircraft used, but it could have been an F-4N, F-4S, or F-4J Phantom II.  Also could have been an F-4B or RF-4B Phantom II.  They also used the OV-10A and OV-10D Bronco.

There was also the A-6A, A-6E, EA-6A and KA-6D Grumman "Intruder", but they sat side by side.

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Russ,

There is one guy I know that has a small business that he runs out of his home.  It is called "Royale Resin".  He makes mostly wheels for several different aircraft and a few miscellaneous other parts.  Here is his website:

http://www.royaleresin.net

Give him a try.  I have purchased a lot of stuff from him and the quality and service is great.  If he doesn't have what you need listed, you can try contacting him (there is a link).  He will respond.  I have had correspondence with him before.

Ken

Hey thanks, Ken! His site looks promising. I'll get in touch with him.

Thanks again!

Russ

Striker8241

Hey, what a great idea, Guys! And when the wife come's looking for you with a list of honey-do's, you just punch out! .

  That made me laugh!  Good one Russ!

Ken

Hey, what a great idea, Guys! And when the wife come's looking for you with a list of honey-do's, you just punch out! .

Striker8241

Hey, Guys,

I need a source of 1/72 wheels about 9-10 mm tire diameter. I've been looking all over the internet but can't seem to find any - only specialty wheel sets for specific aircraft. Do any of you know of someone that makes custom wheels?

Thanks,

Russ

Hi Russ,

There is one guy I know that has a small business that he runs out of his home.  It is called "Royale Resin".  He makes mostly wheels for several different aircraft and a few miscellaneous other parts.  Here is his website:

http://www.royaleresin.net

Give him a try.  I have purchased a lot of stuff from him and the quality and service is great.  If he doesn't have what you need listed, you can try contacting him (there is a link).  He will respond.  I have had correspondence with him before.

Ken