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

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

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.

  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

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

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

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 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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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.

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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

    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

Yay, I finished something. Life just kept getting in the way but I managed to get the HRS done, better late then never and all that.

With no further adoo, my USMC HRS.

Thanks for hosting the GB, you can count me in if you decide to do a Forgotten War 2 GB in the future.

Aaron -- what a superb piece of work! That paintjob is terrific! Enamel or acrylic? Kit decals or AMs? The white looks acceptably opaque. Very nice!

Mike/TB379

Thanks guys.

It is basically OOB, the decals are included in the current version of the kit with a Canadian HO4S-3 on the box art. I did take a little liberty on the paint scheme, the instructions call for all blue, but I found some pics of an HRS with the red bits and liked it better. With the lack of weathering and the bright colors I'll just assume this one has just arrived in Korea and hasn't had time to get dirty yet.

Paints are mostly Model Master Acrylics and a coat of Future.

My one gripe with the decals is the tail rotor warning, it does not wrap all the way around the tailboom and matching the yellow with paint was not easy. I would have prefered to have had the red arrow and lettering alone instead of on a yellow background. That also would have let me use a darker shade of yellow which I think would have looked better and more accurate to the pics I had.

Overall though a nice easy build. I love this kit (I'm starting my 4th) as it is just a pleasant kit with few problems, and the H-19 was widely used so there is no shortage of build ideas.

She's a true beaut, Aaron. And very applicable to Korea.

Very, very nicely done. She must be a great kit if you are on your 4th!

Well All..although I have been away for a bit I never gave up hope of completing my Panther..here it is...enjoy

Thanks Charles for another GB...would like to have been more active on this one but as you know it wasnt possible. Count me in on your next GB for sure...as always its  been fun and very educational. Great builds all..keep up the good work!

Carlos