50th Anniversary Vietnam War Group Build

B nice choice in builds, if anybody thinks of the Vietnam War their first thought is a Huey. I've had assault training out of them and it's one stable platform, it look great and she cleaned up nicely. Stick with it, we've all have one of those "bad luck builds". Terry

Nice looking Huey B_one.

Great looking Huey

B_one fixer - that Huey is looking good! What would you say about the accuracy and your B/C modifications? I know that "fighting all the way" feeling - had the same thing many years ago, also with a Huey and also by Revell (old Revell kits tend to do that) - it was a 1/72 UH-1H. Really needed a lot of work

I noted this GB got really slow - wonder how's that?

I, for myself, am working away on my scooter. I closed up the fuselage:

After doing that I decided to fit the canopy. I've got a tendency to try to postpone it to avoid scratches to the clear part - but this can also get you into trouble. Good call - the canopy would't fit because the bang seat is just too high! It could be the Pavla kit, but I suppose the kit parts could cause trouble here, too!

Here's a "before" shot:

I managed to get the seat out in one piece, and cut a little more than 1mm off the seat base. After fitting again, the canopy can be now installed. Here's what it looks like "after":

I also started working on the ordnance. I have a pair of corrected resin 300-gal fuel tanks by Freightdog (set no. FDR72024) and a MER rack with 6 Mk.82 Snakeyes by Kora (set no. DSM 72 014 gets you two loaded MERs). Here's what they look like:

Now I have to build the sight and close up the cabin to be able to begin the painting. Looking forward to see other announced models here in this group build - thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks Pawel,

I would agree that this GB going really slow as well. But I see that changing once the weather starts cooling off and the members come back to the bench.

As far as the mods to a C spec I would say it is a close but not dead on. I still have to modify the armament mounts for the rocket/machine guns. their are some support struts that are missing. Also there appears to be a air spoiler in front of the side doors according to pictures that I have been looking at, as well as some ribs on the roof near the front of the rotor shaft housing. The biggest part of the mod was the tail.

Many of the pics I have been studying show that no two C or B model huey's are alike. Their appears to be a lot of in-field mods that crews have done to their birds. So I am just taking alittle from each pic and applying them to my kit.

The A-4 is looking good. I have the old monogram version I am wanting to build. But the thought of rescribing another kit pretty much turned me away from it for now.

Nice work there Pawel. How do you find the Kora set, I am looking at getting a different one for my F-111. I am thinking about getting the heavy or maybe even the extra heavy load for the F-111.

All the GB's seem to be a bt slow at the moment, and slower than normal for this time of year. I have wondered if its anything to do with the high number of on going builds.

Seeing as it was brought up, I was going to ask you guys this anyway, so I might as well now. This is the kora set I was thinking about, the Extra heavy load. Does this seem likely for an F-111 in Vietnam.

www.hannants.co.uk/.../KORDSM7219

This is the other option, the heavy load.

www.hannants.co.uk/.../KORDSM7216

For me at least it doesn't have anything to do about the amount of gb's going on, but the amount of reading my professors have me doing. I haven't been down to even see the bench in the past month. I've been able to get on the forums maybe twice a week, usually to only just look

Hey Pawel, love the resin snake eyes. Can't wait to see them painted up and hanging under the wings.

Pawel, your Scooter is really progressing quite nicely. That kit looks to be a real gem!

Bish, I would recommend for the heavy load on the F-111. The two outermost pylons on the F-111 did not pivot and were usually not used for more than fuel tanks. I have yet to come across a photo of an operational F-111 in any combat theater carrying more than two MERs per wing, and those were not often seen. Usually their loadouts were smaller such as 4 TERs.

Combat Lancer 1968

Linebacker II 1972

Thanks Stik. I know there is a pic on the heavy load box of an F-111 with 6 pylons loaded, but I wasn't sure if this was just a publicity pic or maybe a trial. So, if I understand you right, with the outer pylons fitted, the wings can't be swept back. That will at least save me a few £ and some time.

Your pics throw up another question. On the first pic, the end of the wing glove is tilte, but not on the others. I know my Hasegawa EF-111 allows you to display it as in the first pic, but the Italeri 111A doesn't.  I thought I might have to modify my build, but looking at your pics, its seems it was not always moved. Do you know what it is and if it was fitted to all 111's, as the second pic looks like its not even possible.

IIRC, that leading edge vane is movable on all F-111 variants. It is usually seen deployed most often at take off and landing.

B_one fixer - thanks a lot for your kind words! I'm sure the crews in-country often switched parts between their choppers. The tail is most important to distinguish between the variants (wider control surfaces) - but also the rotor. There's a very nice book to check out here - and it comes with nice set of 1:48 plans:

Part one - plans for the "short" Huey:

https://aj-press.home.pl/ml108.php

Part two - plans for the "long" Huey and description of the weapon systems:

https://aj-press.home.pl/ml109.php

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Bish - thanks a lot. I also got my bombs from Hannants. The F-111 was a very unusual aircraft - ahead of its time in Vietnam. Watch out for the bomb racks though - I read on the internet the F-111 didn't use MER's, but dedicated, more streamlined racks called BRU-3A/A: http://www.fb-111a.net/loadings.html

Thanks a lot for your comment and good luck with your project

Paweł

Nathan T - thanks a lot for your comments. I can't wait to see them painted, too!

stikpusher - thanks! You're right, that Airfix kit is something special - superb detail and great fit - who could ask for more? Of course there's always something to pick if you're picky - like the drop tanks not bulgy enough or the front wheel strut moulded together with the wheel - but those are fixable. And at the price you can invest a little in extras.

Thanks again for your comments - good luck with your projects and have a nice day

Paweł

Finally able to get started with this (will be slow) build.

HB 1/48 F-105d OOB except maybe better seatbelts.

I plan to build a rather "dirty , used" THUD :-)

Excited to see you start this. =]  I'm doing the same kit, but I won't be starting it for a little while.  I'm looking forward to the pros and cons and also a very dirty Thud! =]

I have painted most of the components for the cockpit, I used a lighter grey than the pix of the THUD I could find to try and simulate a slight fading of the paint and to lighten an otherwise dark cave look.

The kit provides nice looking decals for the IP aswell as the side consolles, I hope to have the same success with applying them over the raised detail as I had with my Hasa 1/48 F-104.

Theuns

Hola stik.  I will be doing the 1/72 Italeri B-26K Counter Invader as a crossover from the Nam USAF GB.  I have some great "Naughty Invaders" decals to go with it so please put me down for this one.

Decals are for a USAF  B-26K from Operation Steel Tiger in Laos, 1966-1969 and based at Nakom Phanom with the 609th SOS, 59th SOW.

Progress so far is slow. I put in a little work today on the Huey. Mainly with the weaponary. I stumbled upon some photos that showed the rocket pods decorated with some colorful livery.

Sooo I decided to make some decals up to duplicate them,

My motivation is slowly coming back for this build.

B 1

I have seen those Bud and Pabst decorations and look very cool. You did a great job reproducing them!

Now for some Carling Black Label ones.

Thanks plastic, I thought they were pretty cool looking too. The whole making my own decals is new to me. I really like it and learned pretty much how to do it in the decal forum. The majority of this build is going to end up being all homemade decals.

Those pods came out excellent B-1!!!

Thanks yg, got them mounted. I am waiting for the future to dry on them so I can move on.

B_one, those pods looks great, that's a really nice touch to liven it up.

Oh those are too sweet B_one! They turned out great!

stik

Can you please add me to the roster.

PJ, I will update the roster with your choice on my days off this week. I don't trust my phone to get it done properly while I am here at work.

Ok, thanks stik.

Interesting size comparason between the Thud on the left and a MiG 21 MF on the right.....same scale!

The Thud was as long as a C-47!!, and just 2,7 meters shorter than a B-17g

Sorry for the poor cell pix

Pity I have no North Vietnamese decals, might have made an interesting deo