Viet Nam War Aircraft Group Build

I’m glad to hear that you have a compressor on the way. How does the CO2 work out for you? I presume that there is no moisture buildup in there so you do not need to worry about a moisture trap.

No moisture,  no noise, perfect pressure and pretty cheap to fill.  I've been using it for 20 years or so. 

Greeting FSM,

I'm here with an update on my Skyhawk. I got the cockpit done and the fuselage closed up. 

I used a resin seat with a scratched (wire) ejection handle. 

The kit's plastic has been used for various versions of the Skyhawk, so the E/F boxing has a bunch of parts that are specific to this model. The "modular" aspect of the kit leads to components that have to be carefully matched, but it also leads to some fit problems. You can see the fuselage looks a little rough, but that's because I was trying to clean up the seams as I went.

I also got the canopy and windscreen glued on, and the wings assembled. Here, the wings are just dry-fitted in place.

Their fit is pretty good. There are only a couple of small gaps at the very front of assembly, where the wing assembly meets the fuselage assembly behind the nose gear well. It shouldn't be too difficult to deal with.

So, that's what I've been able to accomplish. I still need to do some minor clean up on some of the seams. Nothing too bad. Hopefully I'll be able to get to paint soon.

Comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. Stay healthy, stay clean, and stay indoors. Thanks for lookin'!

-O

Very sharp looking cockpit Omar! 

keavdog

No moisture,  no noise, perfect pressure and pretty cheap to fill.  I've been using it for 20 years or so. 

 

How big of a tank do you use? How many projects will that last for on average? Where do you get it refilled, and for how much? I’ve always been curious about the CO2 tank method.

Another airbrushing session today... first masking off the flaps, ailerons, fin cap, radome, and rudder on the topsides, and protective masking over the front the pylons and in the intake. 

Marble base coat. Gunze Gull Gray 16440 w/their leveling thinner

Then a thinner coat misted on multiple times using the same color

Touch ups tomorrow...

Back in business.  $96 shipped with an airbrush (which will go to my wife).  We'll see how this compares to CO2 (which I WILL go back to)... just can't imagine going 45 days without airbrushing anything

Bill, when you’re out of Crusaders, you’re out of fighters.

John, very nice purchase. This should see you thru this crisis.

Omar. The A4 is looking real good.

Stikpusher. The A7 is moving along nicely.

GM nice kit that F8.

up dated A37 pics.

That's a neat little system. I've got the same one for some time it Does the job

Thanks Nick. Your Tweety looks almost ready for paint now.

Yeah some putty here and there some more clean up . Preshadng how I miss these monogram kits. I got a mess of them in the stash

As I complete a few other projects, I started on the Canberra, completing a few ancillary items. bombs, missles and wing tip tanks...

More progress to follow.

Here's a dirty F8E.

Da Nang 1966.

Early IRST sensor on the nose just in front of the windshield. Y shaped AIM racks. Bomb hardpoints under the wings.

Yeah, the Marines used their F-8s mostly as strike fighters, so they showed the wear from that service life.

Today’s progress report:

Touch up where needed with White and light Gull Gray. There had been a major step at the windscreen to fuselage join, so I hit it with some gel CA and accelerator, then sanded it to blend better.  Of course that meant touch up in that area. But mostly it was just dealing with the demarcation line between the two colors.

After letting the paint dry for a few hours, I masked off the areas where the walkways go on the fuselage rear and stabilators. I’ll paint those areas tomorrow. 

Todays update:

Walkways painted on with Humbrol Acrylic Dark Gull Gray. Hard to see here but I did do the marble type application. I also have removed masking from areas that will be decaled. I’m gonna let the paint dry overnight, then apply the Future gloss coat tomorrow... 

Stik .The A7 is looking real good.

The painting stage using Airwar color series (Vellejo) 

comments to follow.

Thanks Nick! Your Tweet is looking sharp now in warpaint!

Today was an easy day... airbrush on a coat of Future, and start getting the decals ready. 

Since the Fowler sheet does not have anything beyond the modex and squadron markings, I will be getting national insignia, stencils, and that sort of stuff from an old Superscale sheet in my decal stash that I happen to have two of. 

The A-7 and the dragonfly are looking good guys!

Loads of great work gang. I'm impressed with the builds that are being...um...built. I really  enjoy seeing the A-37s and A-7s. So much so that I'm inspired to (try to) build an A-7 for this build. I'm still working on my Skyhawk, but I'm going to build a Corsair alongside it. I was going to restore a SR-71 for this build, but it's proving to be more challenging than building a kit from the start! I'll keep tinkering with it and see if I can get it done by the deadline.

My A-4 hit a bit of a snag when I learned that the loadout I had originally had planned for my kit was not realistic. So, I'm looking into Plan B. Still, I'll keep plugging away on the airframe in the meantime. Anyway, here's where I stand with my Skyhawk:

It's been primed and the underside painting has started. Sorry, I don't have a picture of the painting yet. I'll try to get a photo of the white before I mask it off and start on the grey. 

So, like I said, I'm going to try my hand at a Corsair II. I had the Hobby Boss A-7A boxing in my stash, so, I pulled it out and opened it up. 

Looking at the options, I decided to close up the avionics bays that could be posed open. With some careful trimming and sanding, the fit wasn't too bad.

It looks like this boxing could also be built up as a non-Navy version, so I had to add the IFR. One thing Hobby Boss has you do is open up a couple of holes in the fuselage to accept the assembly. The odd thing is the holes are to be opened before the fuselage halves are glued together, but the assembly is supposed to be added after they go together. That didn't make sense to me. So, I added the IFR before I went too far. 

A little filler and things should be fine. I'm going to use some CA glue from the inside, then use some thin putty from the outside to smooth things out.

I also opened up the back of the intake. I don't know why I did that since I really don't have a plan of how to fill the (new) opening. I just decided I didn't wan't a boring blank ending to the intake trunk. I'll figure something out.

While all that stuff dries, I'm moving my focus to the cockpit. Before I do anything else, I'm going to attack the resing ESCAPAC seat I found floating around in my junk box. I've added a pull handle made from thin wire.

That's all for today. I'll post more progress on both projects as it comes along. Feel free to share your comments, questions, or criticisms.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay clean! Happy modeling!

-O

Wow, Vought is making a comeback here..

Their F-8 made Hallion's Third Generation, "early sonic". That put it on a par with the Mig-19 among a couple of others like the F-100.

Mirage 3, Mig 21, F-5 and EE Lightning sweep that aside.

Stik and I have debated this, but the Mig 19 as an early multi-engine owned the sky over Vietnam briefly IMO until the F-4 came into theater.

Interesting peanut gallery; the F-104 and F-105 were not effective fighters over Viet Nam.

stikpusher

How big of a tank do you use? How many projects will that last for on average? Where do you get it refilled, and for how much? I’ve always been curious about the CO2 tank method.

It's a 10lb tank, I've done 15-20 projects... titanic ate a lot of co2 and cleaning uses a lot as well.   I'd say 18mos or so time wise.   I used to get it filled at Parsons airgas but have since found a welding supply shop up here in my little town.  I think it coat $20 or so.  Tank needs to be hydro tested every 5 years.

So many A-7's ... I just can't take it!  

Have not handled my hun in  over a week. Probably won't be finished until after Easter. Nice to see everyone else's work though.

GMorrison

Their F-8 made Hallion's Third Generation, "early sonic". That put it on a par with the Mig-19 among a couple of others like the F-100.

The F-100 and F-8 used the same engine, the J-57. But the F-8 design achieved more performance from the same powerplant. And the F-8 did come along a bit later timewise. Not to knock the Hun in any way, but Vought really knocked it out of the park at that time with their design. 

GMorrison

Stik and I have debated this, but the Mig 19 as an early multi-engine owned the sky over Vietnam briefly IMO until the F-4 came into theater. 

Actually the F-4 was in theater well before the Viets had Mig-19s. Both the Air Force and Navy had F-4s in theater in 1965, and each service’s first “official” Mig kills were credited to F-4s. Mig 19s did not appear with the VPAF until the early 70s and made their presence known during the opening days of Linebacker.

GMorrison

Interesting peanut gallery; the F-104 and F-105 were not effective fighters over Viet Nam.

The F-104 is debatable. Its’ only air combat in theater was against Chinese Migs when one got lost and ended up over Hainan island. The Viets never tried to challenge the 104 Air to Air. 

The F-105 was designed as a strike aircraft, and not an air to air fighter. Although it does have the ability to engage in air to air with an internal gun (unlike the F-4 at that time) and could carry Sidewinders for self defense. In Air to Air Combat, the F-105 gave as good as it got, killing as many Migs as were shot down by Migs themselves. The vast majority of F-105s lost in combat fell to AAA and SAMs.

The F-102 on the other hand (also powered by the J-57)... did engage in air to air with Viet Migs and ended up on the wrong side of the kill ratio.

Omar, your A-7 is gonna be a beauty! What squadron markings will you be using?

Well, today’s decal work took far longer than estimated. Speed bumps were encountered. 

First up, I added the basics: National insignia, stencils, etc. The stars and NAVY went on quick and easy enough. But then the stencils started to break apart. So I did a time out on application to give all stencils a quick coat of Micro Scale Liquid Decal film, then set them aside to dry. Then I went to check on the Fowler sheet. Those were a big unknown to me. So I cut out a small decal that I would not be using and gave it a test... it shattered. So all decals from that sheet that I would be using were coated with the Liquid Decal Film as well. Then it was time for lunch. After lunch I resumed adding the stencils, and this time all went well. 

I gave them an hour or so to dry, then went back to add the squadron markings and modex. The Fowler decals must have been quite old as they took quite some time to come loose from the backing sheet and then when they did the glue had a yellow gray cloudy film... it took awhile to clear up all that mess. So later than estimated, l finished adding the squadron & modex decals.

One final detail to share here... I am modifying the aircraft’s Bureau Number from the sheet. The VA-93 markings are for an A-7A, that VA-93 flew after they completed their time on the line in Vietnam during the Linebacker campaigns. In 1973, VA-93 traded in their A-7Bs for A-7As. So I used one of the A-7B Bu. No’s from the Fowler sheet as a starting point for my aircraft’s Bu.No.. I’ll explain the rest later when this build is completed.

All I can say is that the shark mouth is gonna need lots of solvent to properly settle down and conform to the contours.

I hate it when decals don't behave!  Looks pretty good now, good luck on the mouth.

Here's a couple I did not see on the list:

H-43 Pedro (Huskie)

Kaman Seasprite

H-3 Jolly Green Giant

H-53 Super Jolly Green

RF-4C

EC-130

MC-130

HC-130

whatever this was:

I presume you are including the B-52G with the :D: model

While I can appreciate the helos that were in theatre, John set up the GB for fixed wing only.  Granted the fling wings contributed as much and in places, more.

Our involvement would have been impossible without them.

While the F-4's weren't broken out pretty sure that all versions would be included. C, D, E, J, and the RF B and C