The Forgotten War GB (6/25/08 - 2/28/09) - Deadline Extended Yet Again!

    TADA! Well all, progress beit small. The upper & lower wings are glued and in the prosses of test fitting wings to body. Sofar fit looks real good, some minor probs, but not bad.Still have to reatatch wing tips. I shortened the wings a 1/4". And yes John, I know the cord should be narrower, but I`m not going there! Thanks for sticking around to look..........Harv

Hi Charles --

I look forward to the next Korean get-together and will definitely be aboard. I might try for more than one subject, perhaps aircraft and armor. Later in the year, maybe? Excellent!

Many thanks once again,

Mike

mucker wrote:

Hopefully we can do this again.

I hear you there! Disappointed I wasn't able to get in on this one - will be sure to clear my build schedule whenever the sequel comes out. A lot of fine work in this GB.

The badge is all yours Mike!

For me, seeing guns stains like yours...and then learning that it was your first try, gives me confidence. I've yet to try them.

And that Cheetah Mustang sounds way too cool. Maybe late in 2009, when things hopefully settle down, we can have Forgotten War Part II...

Thanks again

Charles

Thanks Mucker! The praise of skilled and experienced modellers means a lot, it tells me I'm doing something right! You wouldn't think this was my first time ever doing exhaust stains and gun carbon, but now I can go back and add them to my Bf 109 from BoB '08 with confidence!

I enjoyed the NMF as well, it wasn't the nightmare of fingerprints I expected. That can bite even the best -- remember Paul Boyer's feature on decaling using the Tamiya 1:72 -D as Big Beautiful Doll? I pulled out that issue to study his techniques when I received the same kit in the mail and was rather amazed to find that on close inspection his fabulous chrome-silver paintwork had suffered some fingerprint damage. He was on a deadline, of course, so they photographed around the problem, but didn't quite manage to exclude it. It was the addition of the Flat Aluminum that toughened my finish here and allowed it to survive handling and masking, and I think I'll remember that trick. We can't get the fancy metallic products in Australia (Testor Metalizer is the only one I know of, and the Testor range is getting rare here, it's just not popular enough apparently -- which amazes me as it's my fav enamels), so this may be my metallic technique for the foreseeable future.

I look forward to the next Korea GB, I have at least thirteen subjects to choose from. If I could find the markings I'd love to do a South African "Cheetah" Mustang with their signatory gloss yellow droptanks. But I really should look at that M41A3, or a Chinese MiG, or Brit Sea Fury... Not to mention F-84G, F9F-2 or H-21...

It's been heaps of fun, Mucker, and thanks a million for giving us this opportunity!

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

PS: Clear to grab my badge?

Harv:

I'm not familiar with the kit or how the flaps assemble...although I'm interested in the kit!

Sorry I cannot be of any help.

Thank you to all who participated in this GB...both through sharing your pictures of progress or product and through your participation in the forum. It was a pleasure to view your work and an honor to be your comrade (not in the Communist sense!).

I know some of you are almost there (Bob, Harv, et all)...keep pushing and please post those pictures here.

Hopefully this GB sparked a little more interest in the Korean War, a war about which very little is taught to our children. This was truly the hot conflict that "sparked" the Cold War, where America and her allies stepped up to block communism. Some historians have said that because of the UN action in Korea, other smaller conflicts were certainly prevented.

Hopefully we can do this again.

Thanks again,

Charles

THat is OUTSTANDING, Mike! By not overdoing the weathering, it really makes this a winner. Instead of focusing on one area, the I see the whole airplane, and with that the beauty of a Mustang. Extremely well done!

I hope this one gets displayed on the front of the shelf.

Hi Bob and all -- yes, I must say I'm a believer in the less-is-more approach, in aircraft as in armor. You can also get round the weathering process surprisingly quickly. The dust and carbon took ten minutes to do, and that was feeling my way carefully.

Here are the gallery shots, fresh out of the camera. As the model stands, she's short two bombs, and three or four tiny stencil decals simply vanished due to handling (not as sticky as the Invisaclears). There's not much I'll do differently in my next one, maybe drill out the guns, possibly fill and sand the leading edge for a better finish. On the whole I'm very happy with this horse!

She depicts the personal aircraft of Col. W. Clarke, CO of the 18th FBG. She's a weathered, hard-flown bird seen between missions, re-armed for the next sortie but on the ground long enough for hydraulic pressure to have fallen after engine-stop and the flaps and center bay doors to have bled down as a result. The wings are discolored top and bottom, and from the ejector ports, from heavy firing. The AG panel, originally a bright satin finish, has dulled due to weather, and service crews have chipped the paint where the panels fit. The landing gear and bays show dust from the rough operational strips.

Cheers,

Mike

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FINISHED!

Hopefully it's still the 28th somewhere in US territory, Hawaii maybe!

Here she is:

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Proper gallery photos coming in the next day or two, I'm looking forward to seeing how she looks under front-lighting and from low camera angles.

Cheers,

Mike

Hi all,

I hope to be pronouncing her finished in a very short while, there's very little to add, two parts some MiG pigments and a last touch up or two. I was going to add some bombs but I still haven't got them done, I think I'll production-line them with bombs for my Corsair and add them later. Do you reckon she'll count as finished in the absence of the 500-pounders?

As you can see, she's nearly finished, the gear's drying and when I can turn it over I'll add the prop and antenna mast. Then a few wash, pigment and touchup details and this wild horse is ready for the display case:

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Cheers,

Mike

Hi Bob -- yes, graphite pencil. Nothing to it, it's one of the easiest techniques around, FX modellers were using it for studio models certainly in the early 60s. I rub the pencil on some rough sandpaper to produce a minute quantity of powdered graphite, then apply it sparingly with a stiff, short brush, working it into the surface. It'll wash off, so this step has to come after the wet ones (decals and panel wash). I mask the edges of panels to get a sharp demarcation between tones, and that's where you need to be ultra-careful. Clearcoats and I are not friends if you know what I mean, so decals are vulnerable to the effects of tape.

On that score, it seems these decals are not as tough or sticky as the InvisaClears in the Bf 109E-3. They're thin and opaque but there's very little sticky on the back!

I'll carry on with her today, I'm aiming to pronounce her complete on time for my badge.

Cheers, glad the finish is realistic!

Mike

  Hey guys! I`M WORKING HERE. Finally got out to the bench and spent some time dry fitting the wing tips. Cut 1/4in out of wing to shorten it. Now its sanding & fitting. Hopefully I can start to glue the wing halves toghether real soon and work on other parts. Enjoy!.........Harv

Very nice build Mike.  Looks great.  Bummer about the 'F' in USAF.  Good that you have a backup though.  Glad that the tail band didn't cause any problems.  I built the 'Buckeye Blitz' plane with the narrow red band.  Again, the problem was probably user error on my part.

Question-did you say that you used a graphite pencil for the panel shade 'differentation'?  Looks great-any issues with doing that?  I used an oil wash and wasn't happy with the results.

Hi all,

Here's the state of the build with 72 hours to go:

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I'm not sure how well the fine stuff will come across in the pictures. The panel wash is complete, the graphite panel variation is on, all masking is away with the exception of the Eduard canopy elements, and the exhausts are drilled out, painted and mounted. The prop is painted, decaled and assembled. Next come the paint touch-ups (quite a few), underwing load and landing gear, antenna and pitot tube, plus some pigment weathering. Note the 'F' in 'USAF' is damaged: the adhesion of the Tamiya decals is not great at all, and masking the graphite had its casualties. Two others were repairable with a deft repositioning of lifted fragments, but this one is not so easy. I'll take the letter from the equivalent decal in the kit I picked up for the Salvadorean bird and drop it over this one.

Bob, the tailband on this one seemed a perfect length and went on easier than I expected. There are a few small wrinkles that MicroSol has mostly eliminated.

This is my first NMF in many years and it's come out not too bad, especially as the whole process has been quite experimental.

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Hi Mucker and all,

With your positive feedback on the paintjob I decided to forge ahead. I sprayed a contrasting metallic shade for the stainless steel (?) panel around the exhausts (acryclic, XF-16 darkedn with XF-1), it doesn't show up too well even though I darkened the shade three times, but you can see it in different lighting conditions. This looked so effective that I was tempted to do a contrasting panel job all over the plane, but there's no time for that kind of ambitious stuff at the moment. I'll go with graphite and take it real easy.

The masking is mostly away and the decals are going down nicely, there are seven major decals to go plus twenty-four more stencil items, then I'm onto touch-ups and panel wash. Here she is:

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The only difficult decal so far has been the top wing insignia, it's taken lots of MicroSol to get it to conform over the aileron jack, and it'll need to be touched up also. I'll see how the tail band goes on, I'm guessing that'll be a fun experience too...

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

bobbaily wrote:

I had a good weekend with the family, a bad time with my tax guy , and no time with the Texan. Charles-do you mind if we continue to post progress after the 2/28 deadline?  I will get this one finished....at some point

Absolutely, Bob. I am looking forward to seeing this!

I had a good weekend with the family, a bad time with my tax guy , and no time with the Texan.

Charles-do you mind if we continue to post progress after the 2/28 deadline?  I will get this one finished....at some point

bobbaily wrote:

Mike-Your Mustang is looking good.  Can't wait to see it painted & decaled. Mucker-I'm back in.  I picked up the 1/48 Revell AT-6/SNJ Texan kit today @ my LHS.  I can't believe the detail for $12.99.  I may have to add another one to the stash.  Looks like a quick build.....I hope.  Also I ordered the 'Texans over Korea Pt.1 ' decal sheet from Squadron, so hopefully they will be here in time.  After spending some time researching the Texan in Korea, it seems that the T-6 was called the 'Mosquito' and used as a Forward Air Command plane.

Neat, I had no idea Texans were used in Korea, and really never thought about what they used for FAC, I just kind of assumed that technique was still in its infancy during Korea. Vietnam is the first war I knew of that seemed to make real use of FAC aircraft.

Dragonfly, great Sabre, it really was a good looking fighter, particularly when compared to how clunky many of its counterparts of the era were.

I'll be getting back to the H-19, I was out of town for a week and brought home one of the nastiest flus I've had in years. 3 days of sick leave used, 2 days off lost to bed and not enough energy to even look at a model, what a waste of time off.