Viet Nam War Aircraft Group Build

Well done ! The camo is spot on . 

Nice job!

Nice finish; not knowing the aircraft the photo surprised me by how small it looks, but imagine it packed a punch. Will have to look it up. 

Great finish on your Tweety Bird SB! I love the back story, the photo of the actual aircraft, and your personalized Mk. 82s. Those are the perfect touch! 

Oh wow, where did the time go?  I only noticed the GB closes at the end of this month!  I'd better get cracking.    Unleash the Kraken, I mean Vigilante!

Nice Tweet, SilentBob.  The A-37 was the lowrider of the jets, wasn't it.  Barely room for all that stuff under the wing and must have been fun loaded like that in a crosswind.

Yer on the Wall!

I've got the masking off the Canberra. It actually came off pretty easily. This is the first time I've used this product on such a large scale. I think it sometimes has a mind of its own. noticed I was able to fix that wing tip tank... 

Here is a picture of the rotary bomb bay all ordinanced up...

Looking good Tomcat. I’m surprised that this has the WWII type bombs and not the Korean War types like the M117.

jmoran426

Very nice paint finish. Love the SEA camo. What was the masking product again? I missed it.

 

Here is a pic of the product...

Some very interesting stuff. It seems stiff and rigid out of the box...er...can, but it kneads easily. When I pulled all of the masking off, I wadded into a ball and set it on the work bench. When I came back the next day the "ball" had flattened to a pancake, wierd. Look at this next pic, notice the nose and tail where the masking is drooping off. Not really a problem but something to be aware of. Of course, it could be just the amount I am using, probably user error, but all told it worked out ok.

stikpusher

Looking good Tomcat. I’m surprised that this has the WWII type bombs and not the Korean War types like the M117.

 

Army surplus? I am no ordinance expert, as these simply came with the kit. They may not be correct, but they look impressive IMO. 

I'm behind the curve again and was slacking off and not paying attention.  The Vigilante is back on deck.

I had a look thru the box again, and have decided to use intake blanks instead of attempting to make tunnels.  The Steel Beach resin covers look terribly rough, so I'll make my own and design them to slip in afterwards to ease painting.  The red color will add a splash to the gull grey/white paint job.  I'll also save the Aires afterburners for another day, because the rest of the kit does not match their exquisite detail.  Plus the usual resin problem of the parts being slightly undersized.  

TC. That AK stuff acts like Big Putty it comes in a big yellow egg that I bought at Publix in the kiddy aisle can it be reused? and that camo looks super tight. 

RG.that kit is good !!!

The A-37 is done. 

Monogram A-37 in 1/48, built out of the box. I didnt like the refueling probe so I left it off. The kit was painted with Vallejo USAF Vietnam air war color series along with Vallejo gloss and flat varnish. The model air paint was thinned a tad more so I can paint the camo free hand with the protective cone on the air brush removed, so far so good with this stuff .I have one more prodject in the works for my Vallejo test. The weathering was done with Masters touch oil paint and some chalk.

Thank you for watching, your comments and for being part of this GB.

thank you John for hosting.

Beautiful job on your A-37 Nick! You have done a most realistic finish!!! And it sure looks right at home on the ramp right next to that field of elephant grass. Hope you have some security forces to watch out for sappers in the grass.

Thank you Stik. Yeah night time is Charlie time big bugs for big Lizzards and bufo toads. A .177 air rifle works .

A lot of stuff dropped during the war came from left over stockpiles.  They needed to be used up and this would have helped to keep the cost down a bit.  i used to occasionally have to check the bomb convoys before they were allowed on the base (looking for anyone hiding between the pallets of bombs), and some of them had faded and discolored paint that made them look like they had been outside for some time.  As they were assembled many of them ended up with brand new fin assemblies attached in a slightly different green, almost a field green

The B-57 was used early in the war and most likely its bombs were left over from Korea, which would also make them surplus WWII issue considering only a few years seperated those wars.

That's a great looking A-37, Nick.  Super photos!  Thanks for participating in the GB, it's the participants that make or break a GB.

Yer on the Wall!

OK FSM, one of my two is done! I knocked out the A-7. The A-4 is about 85% done. It's getting there...

OK, so while prepping for final assembly, I ran into a small problem on the Corsair. I peeled off the canopy's masking and found that Eduard's masks pulled up the paint that was supposed to represent the gasket around the windscreen's panes. 

I didn't want to have to re-mask and re-paint, especially the clear parts, so I had to come up with a Plan B.

I had some very small decal strips in my pile, albeit it black.

So, I cut off a few and sprayed them the same color brown.

After very careful trimming, I was able to use the decal strips to represent the orignally painted areas.

Not perfect but from 3 feet it should look fine.

OK, so I said I was done with the Corsair. I am. Here are a couple of pictures to prove it. I don't know if it stands up to stik's warhorse, but I'm (mostly) happy with how it came out. I'm satisfied with it as a 3-footer.

More pictures are posted in the Aircraft Forum. Check 'em out!

Now...on with the Skyhawk!

Omar nice recovery and super job on our A-7!

That's a good looking A-7 model, Omar.  I'm too much of an F-8 guy to say an A-7 is good looking!

Thanks for your participation, and keep going on the A-4, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Yer on the Wall!

Very nice work on your A-7 Omar. I’d be more than happy to have that build on my shelves. Up close it sure looks better in the details. Good save on the canopy windscreen seals.

Hey guys, thanks for the pats on the back. Much appreciated!

I had some time today to get my Skyhawk finished. For such a little kit, she put up a heck of a fight! Anyway, I think this is another solid addition to my 3-footer collection. I posted more pictures in an Aircraft Forum thread here. For this post, here are a few pictures to enjoy.

I hope you like 'er.

Hmm...I wonder if I have time to restore that SR-71...

Well done, Omar, great looking A-4.  Thanks for making a solid contribution to the GB.

Yer on the Wall Again!

Ah, a Skyhawk full of Snakeyes... what is there not to love? Very nice finish on this one too Omar. 

Great looking ordnance there Omar!

I really hate building things under wings, but I don't mind looking at great modeling that others have done with the same!  

Fab job on the Skyhawk and A-7 Omar. Very nice indeed!

Wow, there are some great looking SLUF's, Scooters, and Dragon flys. Great work to everyone. Here, my Canberra loaded up for another interdiction mission up north...

This one has been a lot of fun. I love this plane, would love to do one in NMF and one in all Black. Thanks for looking.

Gorgeous, Mark.  Well done!  You really did the bombs up proud.

And, Yer on the Wall!