Second Annual USAF Vietnam Group Build

Great job Steve, they both look fantastic. Excellent job Dude!

Got the halves together and discovered some low spots that required some filling and sanding. The halves went together fine and the join line disappeared but those low spots created a problem.

I'm debating leaving the bomb bay open or not. The 609th used the early M 31 Cluster Bombs so I have to scratch build two of them so it depends on how they come out.  I have some good reference pictures and diagrams showing these early CBU type loads.

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34145&start=555

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you can see them ready to be delivered as care packages to Charlie!

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34145&start=270

modelcrazy

Ok guys, I finally received the new decals for the F-100.

I am calling the F-100 and F-104 complete, so here they are.

Son of Medicine Man, I hope you don't mind if I grab the badge now. It's been a long road.

As always, comments welcome.

Steve

Great job Steve!      They both look fantastic!

The front page has been updated.

Ken

Ok guys, I finally received the new decals for the F-100.

I am calling the F-100 and F-104 complete, so here they are.

Son of Medicine Man, I hope you don't mind if I grab the badge now. It's been a long road.

As always, comments welcome.

Thanks Ken!

plasticjunkie

Got the office done. Did some shading and washes then made some belts from wine foil and secured them to the seats with Future. I then shot everything with Alclad clear flat.

Most of the interior details will be very hard to see once the fuselage is closed and the canopy is attached.

Great job Plasticjunkie!      That looks awesome, especially for 1/72 scale!

Ken

Got the office done. Did some shading and washes then made some belts from wine foil and secured them to the seats with Future. I then shot everything with Alclad clear flat.

Most of the interior details will be very hard to see once the fuselage is closed and the canopy is attached.

Thanks Ken.

Thanks guys,  everything is done with exception of replacing the "US AIR FORCE" and some rescue decals. It should only take a minute or two,  then I'll take some pics.

plasticjunkie

Did a little work today and got things sanded to shape. Next thing will be to shoot some interior green and start working on the IP.

Great job Plasticjunkie!  That looks really nice!     

Ken

plasticjunkie

Steve

That can happen to anyone so don't beat yourself.

Ken

The IP extensions are thin plastic sheet trimmed and Tenaxed on. I then added the lip on the IP top from very thin plastic sheet and Tenaxed in place. Things were then sanded to blend in the joins. The control column is stretched sprue and secured with Tenax.

Here's a bit more info on the K:

Reading from the A-26 Invader in Action Squadron Series book, it details that the K's were highly modified by a firm called On-Mark Engineering Company located in Van Nuys, California in 1964. The wings were strengthened and rebuilt and the fuselages remanufactured without the turrets. They added the beefier KC-135 brakes and tires, Pratt & Whitney R-2800-103W, a monster prop, wing tip tanks, enlarged dorsal fin and updated avionics. They served with the USAF 609th SOS well into late 1969. The last known fully armed Invader in military use made its last flight in July of 1977 under Indonesian Air Force service.

The Invader aircraft had quite a colorful and long service record starting in WWII, and going thru Korea, the Congo, Angola, Cuba and Nam.  

Thank you Plasticjunkie for the "how to" and the information on the Counter Invader.  Very much appreciated!

Ken

Did a little work today and got things sanded to shape. Next thing will be to shoot some interior green and start working on the IP.

Steve

That can happen to anyone so don't beat yourself.

Ken

The IP extensions are thin plastic sheet trimmed and Tenaxed on. I then added the lip on the IP top from very thin plastic sheet and Tenaxed in place. Things were then sanded to blend in the joins. The control column is stretched sprue and secured with Tenax.

Here's a bit more info on the K:

Reading from the A-26 Invader in Action Squadron Series book, it details that the K's were highly modified by a firm called On-Mark Engineering Company located in Van Nuys, California in 1964. The wings were strengthened and rebuilt and the fuselages remanufactured without the turrets. They added the beefier KC-135 brakes and tires, Pratt & Whitney R-2800-103W, a monster prop, wing tip tanks, enlarged dorsal fin and updated avionics. They served with the USAF 609th SOS well into late 1969. The last known fully armed Invader in military use made its last flight in July of 1977 under Indonesian Air Force service.

The Invader aircraft had quite a colorful and long service record starting in WWII, and going thru Korea, the Congo, Angola, Cuba and Nam.  

modelcrazy

Dog gone it!

I was doing some finishing touches, wanted to touch up the canopy frame, and masked it off just a little bit. After I sprayed, I pulled off the masking tape and oops, up come some decals. After some choice words, I ordered a new set (the same set I originally ordered for the Hun).

Oh well, I can use some of the "No Step" and other decals to add to my F 104. They should be here in about a week. I'll unveil both the the F 100 and F 104 at that time after I get them on.

And no, I didn't have the decals sealed yet.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

Hi Steve,

Big bummer about your decals!  Really sorry to hear that.  I hope you recover without too much effort.

Ken

plasticjunkie

Got started on my Counter Invader so the first thing on the agenda was to extend the IP for dual controls along with scratch building a second control column. These are preliminary shots and the parts still need cleaning up, sanding, fitting and detailing.

The B-26K used KC-135 brakes and wheels so I picked these up and have plenty as I plan on doing a couple more down the road.

Hi Plasticjunkie,

Great start on your Counter Invader!  How did you make those parts for the instrument panel and yoke?  They look great!

Also great information about the brakes and wheels!  I will be keeping those in my notes when I build my A-26A (aka B-26K).

Ken

modelcrazy

Sure,

I used Alclad II, but MM will work just as well. I sprayed light coats of Alclad Steel over the Alclad Dull Aluminum, followed by streaks of MM Artic Blue Metallic (for the cars in my stash). Tonight I'm going to add just a hint of MM Jet Exhaust in vertical streaks over the current application of blue and a smidge more Artic Blue just in front of the nozzle.

I downloaded some Hun pics from the internet as a guide. Looking at several different examples, you can't really go wrong, just don't overdue it.

If all you have is the MM, then try varying lighter and heaver applications in small streaks over your silver, followed by a very light application (and low pressure) of blue near the nozzle, until you feel it's about right.

The picture I took last night is a little dark and doesn't do the area justice.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Thank you Steve for those great tips!  I will be keeping those handy for when I build my Hun!

Ken

mailwalker

Well, today I was able to spray a coat of MM Interior Green in the wheel wells and all the gear bays. I have seen others where these areas were bare metal, but my uncle who I'm building this for said he recalls these areas being green. He worked on an F-100D at Phu-Cat Viet Nam., so if he says green then this one will be green. His plane was SEA camo version, 355th Fighting Falcons, USAF. 

Here are some pics of my progress. Had some paint creep under my masking tape, but cleaned it up easily enough with PT and Q-tips. will have to touch up a few spots with a brush.

Yeah there are some pin marks on the smaller panels. How do you all remove these?

Also discoverd today superglue eats MM paint, and so does debonder! 

Hi Mailwalker,

If your uncle says they were green, then I agree, they were green.  How can you argue with someone that was there and especially if he worked on them!

As far as removing those pesky ejector pin marks, one method I have heard about is using Mr. Surfacer 500.

Also very sorry to hear about your paint job getting messed up by Super Glue and debonder.  On that same note, I found out the hard way that "Zip Kicker" CA accelerator will also eat paint.  I hope you are able to recover without too much trouble.

Ken

Dog gone it!

I was doing some finishing touches, wanted to touch up the canopy frame, and masked it off just a little bit. After I sprayed, I pulled off the masking tape and oops, up come some decals. After some choice words, I ordered a new set (the same set I originally ordered for the Hun).

Oh well, I can use some of the "No Step" and other decals to add to my F 104. They should be here in about a week. I'll unveil both the the F 100 and F 104 at that time after I get them on.

And no, I didn't have the decals sealed yet.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

Got started on my Counter Invader so the first thing on the agenda was to extend the IP for dual controls along with scratch building a second control column. These are preliminary shots and the parts still need cleaning up, sanding, fitting and detailing.

The B-26K used KC-135 brakes and wheels so I picked these up and have plenty as I plan on doing a couple more down the road.

Sure,

I used Alclad II, but MM will work just as well. I sprayed light coats of Alclad Steel over the Alclad Dull Aluminum, followed by streaks of MM Artic Blue Metallic (for the cars in my stash). Tonight I'm going to add just a hint of MM Jet Exhaust in vertical streaks over the current application of blue and a smidge more Artic Blue just in front of the nozzle.

I downloaded some Hun pics from the internet as a guide. Looking at several different examples, you can't really go wrong, just don't overdue it.

If all you have is the MM, then try varying lighter and heaver applications in small streaks over your silver, followed by a very light application (and low pressure) of blue near the nozzle, until you feel it's about right.

The picture I took last night is a little dark and doesn't do the area justice.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Modelcrazy, Care to tell how you did the aft section on the F-100. I have some Model Master non-buff ready to try.

It's not the same box at least, but I'll bet it's the same kit. I was missing the canopy and the carpet monster eet my pilots are (I wasn't going to use him anyway).

That's the kit I'm using for this and other GB's.

modelcrazy, it is kit  #5471. Got it off EBay. It was missing an intake piece, but Revell was kind enough to send me a replacement.

mailwalker,

which Monogram kit is that? The trees look identical to mine.

Well, today I was able to spray a coat of MM Interior Green in the wheel wells and all the gear bays. I have seen others where these areas were bare metal, but my uncle who I'm building this for said he recalls these areas being green. He worked on an F-100D at Phu-Cat Viet Nam., so if he says green then this one will be green. His plane was SEA camo version, 355th Fighting Falcons, USAF. 

Here are some pics of my progress. Had some paint creep under my masking tape, but cleaned it up easily enough with PT and Q-tips. will have to touch up a few spots with a brush.

Yeah there are some pin marks on the smaller panels. How do you all remove these?

Also discoverd today superglue eats MM paint, and so does debonder! 

Great job Steve. Nothing better than a NMF Hun.

modelcrazy

I'm ready for decals, weathering and finishing touches.

Great work there Steve!      You did a great job with that metalizer paint.  The exhaust end of the fuselage looks spot on.  And the wash you added really makes the detail pop!  Very realistic looking!

Ken

I'm ready for decals, weathering and finishing touches.

Yeah, you can't get much better advice than from plasticjunkie, Ken and others.

Thank you Ken and Steve. Those tips and encouragement are exactly what I needed. This modeling is a little harder than I thought as far as the detailing goes. I love it though. A lot different from slapping goopy glue and paint on plastic back 25-30 yrs ago. I'm looking to improve, and you all and FSM have already set me on the right path!

Mailwalker

Ken gave you some great pointers which is similar to my approach. I would like to throw in a couple more if you don't mind.

When doing the pit, I like to airbrush the base color first. This lays down a VERY thin paint coat not obscuring any of the faint raised details you want to dry brush later. I usually mix acrylic paint with Future to gloss up the flat finish which will create a barrier for the dark washes that you want to show up as sharp details adding depth and contrast. When that dries then I lightly paint the IPs flat black being careful to lay down a light coat.

When dry you can then either dry brush the instrumentation light grey or white with the brush being 99% dry. I sometimes punch out instrument decal faces and use them for the instruments.

It takes patience and practice

Steve

The Hun looks very nice and looks like the NMF is spot on.