tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65265722956703248222024-03-14T02:44:11.232-05:00Replica in Scalephillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.comBlogger223125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-41805384659177137352023-08-28T09:12:00.000-05:002023-08-28T09:12:44.109-05:00From a Friend For a Friend<p><br /></p><p><b>Memories of Corsair Jim</b></p><p>I had known Jim Sullivan (Corsair Jim) for decades, both as a contributor to this project and as a friend. He jumped aboard this project with a vengeance once he discovered that I was attempting an electronic rebirth of <i>Replica </i>and, somewhere along the way, he introduced me to Don Jay, a former <i>Nimrod</i> from the Bad Old Days in SEA as well as an image collector and photographer of considerable merit. Jim and Don spent uncounted hours on the ramps and flightlines of the American East Coast chasing airplanes and remained friends long after both of them had hung up their cameras and active airplane hunting. It was Don who first advised me that Jim was ill and, later, that he had passed. </p><p>Don and I communicate fairly often and share photography with one another as well. Jim's passing was cause for considerable reflection for us all, and Don asked if he could share a group of Jim's images with us. We're honored to be able to do that, so please enjoy this special edition of <i>RiS</i> and maybe take a moment or two to reflect upon Jim's contributions to our hobby as well.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZYqJ1UJrQIAwI17HhsML94Fufprb7hDdO6zaUB-5G8m2zoh2khReL3nwV4iqs6dUJo3lLYJ1NGKkdUKcnXjhKMzKPPy8SGozHzbjGp65HJ_8RgduidcUtd3SwLTkfr3H1VtZxdnrU7956HOrB9tNPzAljWxpJyR4dhqpKj1MoOgdJiQBXalGVvmzuqTI/s3621/z-photogs-Jim%20Sullivan,%20Brad%20Hood%20FG-1D%2092399%20Hickory,%20NC%2020MAY95%20(Bob%20Dorr)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2361" data-original-width="3621" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZYqJ1UJrQIAwI17HhsML94Fufprb7hDdO6zaUB-5G8m2zoh2khReL3nwV4iqs6dUJo3lLYJ1NGKkdUKcnXjhKMzKPPy8SGozHzbjGp65HJ_8RgduidcUtd3SwLTkfr3H1VtZxdnrU7956HOrB9tNPzAljWxpJyR4dhqpKj1MoOgdJiQBXalGVvmzuqTI/s320/z-photogs-Jim%20Sullivan,%20Brad%20Hood%20FG-1D%2092399%20Hickory,%20NC%2020MAY95%20(Bob%20Dorr)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Let's go flying in a REAL airplane! Corsair Jim climbs aboard for a hop in Brad Hood's FG-1D at Hickory, North Carolina, on 20 May 1995. Jim may well have been smiling because of the impending air-to-air photography he was about to engage in (we KNOW he was smiling about snagging a ride in that U-Bird) but smiling was a ubiquitous thing for him. With that said, however, Jim was more often found on the other side of the lens as the following images will show! Bob Dorr via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5mwDOaR58Opv-9QtUVg0U1ZWDyikVlg2UBVwG3HdshXQdyJEbcMl9bbThD2k44Cv1g-SXrh9H44efQ1lXXEocL9LFAyDabmXUktJT2q_xsVUuc-naTP9gaCr3A0FCIQvaSlQs2bIhLULMbzj1hzakSOLM6M2lMr-CPNqgAuui8AlFMVDk3lfyieL5DU/s5325/C-121C-54-0175-NC%20ANG-Shaw%20AFB,%20SC%20-SEPT%201966%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3343" data-original-width="5325" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5mwDOaR58Opv-9QtUVg0U1ZWDyikVlg2UBVwG3HdshXQdyJEbcMl9bbThD2k44Cv1g-SXrh9H44efQ1lXXEocL9LFAyDabmXUktJT2q_xsVUuc-naTP9gaCr3A0FCIQvaSlQs2bIhLULMbzj1hzakSOLM6M2lMr-CPNqgAuui8AlFMVDk3lfyieL5DU/s320/C-121C-54-0175-NC%20ANG-Shaw%20AFB,%20SC%20-SEPT%201966%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Way back in the way back! Jim spent quite a bit of time photographing the traffic at Shaw AFB, which is where he caught this C-121C (54-0175) of the North Carolina Air National Guard's 156th TAS on final. You can almost hear those engines throttling back as the airplane prepares to touch down in September of 1966... Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXyxMu2xvAUi2ohHbRWECFQYg6r9XTAnn_-cMkgwmVm40zAhh5W9xV73pGTIHG0ELi97-RJVdxMF827Pvq0CQB6m9N-KeseGbbu7okslpO5p4FQWavwp2RcsxP4L8vemxaYqo5igYe3U7bufv-Jf-S8qNvGF1rd67uSsLHxMEiPHnfW2amM1lMao5V2s/s3267/RF-101C-56-0211-363%20TRW-Shaw-SEPT%201966%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1864" data-original-width="3267" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXyxMu2xvAUi2ohHbRWECFQYg6r9XTAnn_-cMkgwmVm40zAhh5W9xV73pGTIHG0ELi97-RJVdxMF827Pvq0CQB6m9N-KeseGbbu7okslpO5p4FQWavwp2RcsxP4L8vemxaYqo5igYe3U7bufv-Jf-S8qNvGF1rd67uSsLHxMEiPHnfW2amM1lMao5V2s/s320/RF-101C-56-0211-363%20TRW-Shaw-SEPT%201966%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Sometimes the arriving birds were a bit noisier. Even throttled back, this 363rd TRW RF-101C Jim photographed on final at Shaw in September of 1966 would have gotten everyone's attention. 56-0211 was a relative rarity by then as most <i>Voodoos</i> had long-since been repainted in the drab tan and greens of the newly mandated SEA camouflage scheme. She never deployed to the war zone, however, and survived to be surplussed out in 1978. Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMK0rCpP1Ih0Ak7X2_X0fgbXjmEXx_nmmajb4WmuuwGeE_Ssh6Vn7NCkBDNwXKZ7b0Nm1UOr-GeIkljGFPz-dvPolKJTdrNEhAkS_XLSju-zVGo9uu2_wnZa_ueHSBdRLiC2o1y7D9yL4iLEGY9yzWR5qsMUxS9jViguilypbPEGHmL65F9Crw3Cv3J8A/s3463/F-101B-57-0334-444%20FIS%20Det%201-Wilmington,%20NC-April%201966%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2270" data-original-width="3463" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMK0rCpP1Ih0Ak7X2_X0fgbXjmEXx_nmmajb4WmuuwGeE_Ssh6Vn7NCkBDNwXKZ7b0Nm1UOr-GeIkljGFPz-dvPolKJTdrNEhAkS_XLSju-zVGo9uu2_wnZa_ueHSBdRLiC2o1y7D9yL4iLEGY9yzWR5qsMUxS9jViguilypbPEGHmL65F9Crw3Cv3J8A/s320/F-101B-57-0334-444%20FIS%20Det%201-Wilmington,%20NC-April%201966%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Jim was a fan of the 'Doo and photographed them whenever he could. He captured this one rolling out at Wilmington in April of 1966. F-101B 57-0334 was from the 444th FIS' Det 1 and was a thing of beauty! Of special interest in this shot is the employment of a single gas bag, in this case on the port station. Two full bags significantly reduced performance for the mighty <i>Voodoo</i> and could create somewhat sporty aerodynamics in certain flight regimes so a single tank was not an uncommon fitment---modelers take note! She was transferred to Canada in 1971. Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBIHkfVHKSUp4wqY7r48Sh-HjY6-iKUmCstqEbKiYuVRpbbUn262KHu2b1KUNuZw5LiN4YwZ_GlIOr6QPtYB66svaGhT-RNMMDoXyEk2Hc-sCy0GAStxYDMGKf_yXTRuLbBRvzbwLFDqkCtVU0BTSUGpQS_MFg_Efe01YdvqEHyVh1luW1VkOz7jiaacU/s2829/T-33A-55-4380-444%20FIS-at%20Wilmington,NC-0466%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1795" data-original-width="2829" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBIHkfVHKSUp4wqY7r48Sh-HjY6-iKUmCstqEbKiYuVRpbbUn262KHu2b1KUNuZw5LiN4YwZ_GlIOr6QPtYB66svaGhT-RNMMDoXyEk2Hc-sCy0GAStxYDMGKf_yXTRuLbBRvzbwLFDqkCtVU0BTSUGpQS_MFg_Efe01YdvqEHyVh1luW1VkOz7jiaacU/s320/T-33A-55-4380-444%20FIS-at%20Wilmington,NC-0466%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Very little escaped Jim's lens when on a ramp, as witnessed by T-33A 55-4380 of the 444th FIS basking in the Spring sun at Wilmington in April of 1966. The image is a bit soft (highly unusual for Jim) but the colorful uniqueness of this T-Bird more than makes up for it! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzCoT06eENwLZtVxaPmNPm1Rtou-2NY8nRfghuhYYwHRhEi3W5TYWRgvxPGghdF99wsvEgx4n2NGVWf3OpswB6YHeyMV20MyXwavQ8Qsir4hHq7OX-ixUMEAaiLQ0Go-wK5yRDCkQKKVswK9WSJXv_817LDwg5FYfvWYes2canFVwA2bCBDSCzr_JKQU/s2548/RF-101C-56-0044-29TRS-%20Shaw-0468%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1638" data-original-width="2548" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTzCoT06eENwLZtVxaPmNPm1Rtou-2NY8nRfghuhYYwHRhEi3W5TYWRgvxPGghdF99wsvEgx4n2NGVWf3OpswB6YHeyMV20MyXwavQ8Qsir4hHq7OX-ixUMEAaiLQ0Go-wK5yRDCkQKKVswK9WSJXv_817LDwg5FYfvWYes2canFVwA2bCBDSCzr_JKQU/s320/RF-101C-56-0044-29TRS-%20Shaw-0468%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's another recon bird, an RF-101C (56-0044) from the 29th TRS about to touch down at Shaw in April of 1968. The gloss red paint inside her flaps, gear doors, and speed boards was normal, but not the red trim on her afterburner cans! She's carrying two gas bags and would make a great subject for a model! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5ZTYHfvsrc-RxrLk82eqAexXIdaC7Qr1HtaymmKkWOp3WZvCsB3n4kjF1HZYfzRoXd4o9km8-Tb7_AnfETAZZN9c14qpyCwUtef2Rq3k1bUJv11q4wFHuNHdGfUhZWk1jXnZ0ZoHpcl1c9e0wrcImwBisYX0X-sWQAbO76Sphjq0zHYspA1UalOC0Hc/s4920/TC-54D%2042-72695%20Shaw%20AFB,%20SC%209MAR68%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3482" data-original-width="4920" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5ZTYHfvsrc-RxrLk82eqAexXIdaC7Qr1HtaymmKkWOp3WZvCsB3n4kjF1HZYfzRoXd4o9km8-Tb7_AnfETAZZN9c14qpyCwUtef2Rq3k1bUJv11q4wFHuNHdGfUhZWk1jXnZ0ZoHpcl1c9e0wrcImwBisYX0X-sWQAbO76Sphjq0zHYspA1UalOC0Hc/s320/TC-54D%2042-72695%20Shaw%20AFB,%20SC%209MAR68%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Those of us with substantial time in the saddle chasing airplanes have all done it at one time or another, and Jim was no exception to the rule when an exceptional aircraft turned up unexpectedly. Here we find TC-54D 42-72695 photographed by Jim at Shaw on 09 March 1968. What was he standing on in order to get this shot, we wonder? At any rate, we don't know much at all about this somewhat rare bird and further information would be appreciated! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS5Y2fMshX4-X-ZstJSJ9SuO51gAoYnULjosFgTcEACu9C7LJRT-9ADl-0f7V3uoaweztqsY1Dn6MEvfsDyWTOc3TKePTxfwqUA6MUjqSa1PHkALd481Rf049BvMjdN7Ntn1lt9Qg6KvwQwOBjtuyweIP2qrWSG63FyznItNacJCgIXkLn0CKcBUBs1Ls/s4040/EB-66C-54-0461-39%20TEWTS-Shaw-%2018SEP69-JS%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2823" data-original-width="4040" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS5Y2fMshX4-X-ZstJSJ9SuO51gAoYnULjosFgTcEACu9C7LJRT-9ADl-0f7V3uoaweztqsY1Dn6MEvfsDyWTOc3TKePTxfwqUA6MUjqSa1PHkALd481Rf049BvMjdN7Ntn1lt9Qg6KvwQwOBjtuyweIP2qrWSG63FyznItNacJCgIXkLn0CKcBUBs1Ls/s320/EB-66C-54-0461-39%20TEWTS-Shaw-%2018SEP69-JS%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The Carolinas were home to a number of interesting airplanes back during the 1960s and 70s, as typified by this EB-66C (54-0461) on short final into Shaw on 18 September 1969. Originally built as an RB-66, she spent some time in Europe prior to her assignment to the Southeastern United States. One of the rare ones, she never saw service in Southeast Asia. Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2Q0ncA5GGQJ3T4G6u4S_xJaQmK4grGuLqYQ4_D__432KN02AcDETHecXYMSK8H9ghs0y1OiCAbR4emiMPvpCAozFxFp6n7K_XkdyHo7OLXk2i-BZGUIStm-VpP0NP1Xm-60_lqLqILYcIKMs40dEa6cGcxHnCFbhVGE9dHbZfaAsBcnebWhEikyPOC8/s3612/RF-4C-65-0897-16%20TRS-Shaw-10MAY%2071%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2613" data-original-width="3612" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2Q0ncA5GGQJ3T4G6u4S_xJaQmK4grGuLqYQ4_D__432KN02AcDETHecXYMSK8H9ghs0y1OiCAbR4emiMPvpCAozFxFp6n7K_XkdyHo7OLXk2i-BZGUIStm-VpP0NP1Xm-60_lqLqILYcIKMs40dEa6cGcxHnCFbhVGE9dHbZfaAsBcnebWhEikyPOC8/s320/RF-4C-65-0897-16%20TRS-Shaw-10MAY%2071%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The 16th TRS out of Shaw was photographed often by Jim during the 1970s. In this evocative image we find RF-4C 65-0897 about to touch down at the home drome on 10 May 1971. She eventually turned into a world traveler, ending up being expended on a weapons range in Spain after her active service days were done. It was a sad end to a fine recce bird! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCiK1SxwavtScNnC4mxmUvX75N0FNJPPJOwm0bBQ6hbKJNdKHxKNNrKALrlQ8_dfNj-vztnEYdqJ0nht4G2oY_a8i4gn51PxWVxL_EJ_0oYMQ9nrsnn96Ns_4HQANQM4sz-EL97CjLDCsngzvn_llSZdxCSu9Z_cLbw8sEOZQkvw6xXHwv9ShdmzFavc/s3867/RF-4C-65-0897-16TRS-Shaw-%2019AUG71%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2878" data-original-width="3867" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCiK1SxwavtScNnC4mxmUvX75N0FNJPPJOwm0bBQ6hbKJNdKHxKNNrKALrlQ8_dfNj-vztnEYdqJ0nht4G2oY_a8i4gn51PxWVxL_EJ_0oYMQ9nrsnn96Ns_4HQANQM4sz-EL97CjLDCsngzvn_llSZdxCSu9Z_cLbw8sEOZQkvw6xXHwv9ShdmzFavc/s320/RF-4C-65-0897-16TRS-Shaw-%2019AUG71%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a shot of 0897 in living color, photographed while in her prime at Shaw on 19 August 1971. That paint demarcation line on the gas bags is both interesting and distinctive. The 16th's birds were usually spotless and well-maintained, although a great many of their stablemates---those on active service in Southeast Asia---were not. Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8l7TfW-yIr6HFm0Em6rPTWk8FRFsJWGe2s0BS9PeJE-3LYzdH2K6IB0PnsmIaIahTZsDGWsHDNRsp43yrW0Ms9cqbdcn5mq8YHrJP6z6vWkDYlT-kKOD_d1CmYyRUtVusmgngXAxxXR43aMxvnVdxJO5dQFtO1MJMqwFWGhcV3-BdiKHjDq6YYzX5TKE/s3456/A-6A-157000-VA-176-NAS%20Oceana,%20VA%2025APR74-JS%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2146" data-original-width="3456" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8l7TfW-yIr6HFm0Em6rPTWk8FRFsJWGe2s0BS9PeJE-3LYzdH2K6IB0PnsmIaIahTZsDGWsHDNRsp43yrW0Ms9cqbdcn5mq8YHrJP6z6vWkDYlT-kKOD_d1CmYyRUtVusmgngXAxxXR43aMxvnVdxJO5dQFtO1MJMqwFWGhcV3-BdiKHjDq6YYzX5TKE/s320/A-6A-157000-VA-176-NAS%20Oceana,%20VA%2025APR74-JS%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>As our readers might gather from the longish list of published books authored by Jim on American naval aircraft, he was a big fan of anything that flew with a tailhook. Let's finish out our tribute today with a series of Navy types photographed at Oceana by him---those were fine days for Jim as he and Don scoured the East Coast airfields together shooting airplanes. This A-6A (BuNo 157000) from VA-176 was sitting on the ramp at Oceana on 25 April 1974, back in the days before TPS arrived on the scene and turned the NAV boring grey. I know it's subjective but this is a gorgeous shot! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAGQKWc5bwxA4TopgqQkxXYDonaD5Iekfmvudaa_rAMbbhtp9_WHQrzOKWRdhoAzeP97wBVQAQJuAu2tBxMAw_khxEmk6VMk54NPaAlQho832athrySdETlZ5eiF5rRPGrwJqtiMQLVARRO5LpNYgZJ9tgeSE_gOHEZSyT4vlRgzi4fJO5cK50iIkXzv0/s2061/A-4E-151988-VC-2-Oceana-12MAY77%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1502" data-original-width="2061" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAGQKWc5bwxA4TopgqQkxXYDonaD5Iekfmvudaa_rAMbbhtp9_WHQrzOKWRdhoAzeP97wBVQAQJuAu2tBxMAw_khxEmk6VMk54NPaAlQho832athrySdETlZ5eiF5rRPGrwJqtiMQLVARRO5LpNYgZJ9tgeSE_gOHEZSyT4vlRgzi4fJO5cK50iIkXzv0/s320/A-4E-151988-VC-2-Oceana-12MAY77%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>A-4E 151988 was another Oceana capture, taken on a sunny 12 May 1977. VC-2 had some extremely colorful airplanes at the time and Jim's shot of this one illustrates that to a T! Jim was exceptionally fond of the mighty Skyhawk but it stood in line behind a couple of other birds as we will see. As for the airplane, 988 finished up her years of active service with VF-126 and was stricken in 1993. Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA_c4hdeW0SfPkcTAWondX1ohLaYveakJRJ7drez12SqCEfF_iGjANJ-0E5GLdBeg7DKO7uTPtr1Ln50hbrF0nOycGSaPSFv0s5ml2-oW2nriIXPtzLXQ0XuiDwkVbl_z1qCJ-pidOWO9e0HLzdBdEY3P6VqPqqO4MmlQRpGXExntPYqjljs-Go-ohXUg/s3999/A-6E-152503-VA-176-Oceana-25APR92%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2712" data-original-width="3999" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA_c4hdeW0SfPkcTAWondX1ohLaYveakJRJ7drez12SqCEfF_iGjANJ-0E5GLdBeg7DKO7uTPtr1Ln50hbrF0nOycGSaPSFv0s5ml2-oW2nriIXPtzLXQ0XuiDwkVbl_z1qCJ-pidOWO9e0HLzdBdEY3P6VqPqqO4MmlQRpGXExntPYqjljs-Go-ohXUg/s320/A-6E-152503-VA-176-Oceana-25APR92%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Grumman's A-6 <i>Intruder</i> family was a pugnacious bunch of airplanes, and it really shows to advantage in this profile view of a TPS-painted A-6E (152603) from VA-162. Jim caught her at Oceana on 25 April 1992. She was relatively clean when she posed for Jim, a somewhat unusual condition considering how quickly the Tactical Paint Schemes weathered out in service! A grizzled veteran of numerous deployments including operational service with VA-176 during Desert Storm, 603 finished up her days with VA-85, finally going to the boneyard in 1994. Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ryGORVC2u2p9JlHOEZc4pSmckTXZnCAunQHjpy3aFAZ5PHhNIVX3USFRtqPhyrp29pjUrajIoUVMfHNTNqR4EWcHrbY8b1DjQvKkrlPodrxn3oAaEMJUcc8Kw3vr0JIpIMR7wogYNxCX6m9G3gmiv9d6JTsSZ2FScYZfg6DTGPCYlMG1Z8YBcRfgmpc/s3718/F-14A-160379-VF-41-Oceana-12MAY77-JS%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2452" data-original-width="3718" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ryGORVC2u2p9JlHOEZc4pSmckTXZnCAunQHjpy3aFAZ5PHhNIVX3USFRtqPhyrp29pjUrajIoUVMfHNTNqR4EWcHrbY8b1DjQvKkrlPodrxn3oAaEMJUcc8Kw3vr0JIpIMR7wogYNxCX6m9G3gmiv9d6JTsSZ2FScYZfg6DTGPCYlMG1Z8YBcRfgmpc/s320/F-14A-160379-VF-41-Oceana-12MAY77-JS%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Then there were the <i>Tomcats</i>! This Easter Egg from Fighting 41's Black Aces was a clean machine in an era when most F-14s were painted in splotchy TPS colors. 160379 posed for Jim and Don at Oceana on 12 May 1977 during her days with Air Wing 8, where she spent her entire service career. She was a beautiful airplane and Jim's lens really did her justice! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI51qHBaOgS65K6ZbVDhqsL5S3Ua69Iu8Ej83NSeiW0wPvOzpF1llp0c263i6FPI0Nw9bliZDiX6vCub7iJWVU_2GonB1Na9CkTqVRsCZvICUBzTxvEmQPEuJGct03bnqV0DzKMt54XL8ZAwum2ZRsk_Grd04bF6lWNSHBVHuRICtDn5VOaiBUOBXSXXk/s3972/F-14A-VF-31-NAS%20Oceana-10OCT87-JS%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2579" data-original-width="3972" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI51qHBaOgS65K6ZbVDhqsL5S3Ua69Iu8Ej83NSeiW0wPvOzpF1llp0c263i6FPI0Nw9bliZDiX6vCub7iJWVU_2GonB1Na9CkTqVRsCZvICUBzTxvEmQPEuJGct03bnqV0DzKMt54XL8ZAwum2ZRsk_Grd04bF6lWNSHBVHuRICtDn5VOaiBUOBXSXXk/s320/F-14A-VF-31-NAS%20Oceana-10OCT87-JS%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>You honestly can't show photos of the <i>Tomcat</i> without at least one image of VF-31's Felix in the collection. Jim shot this ramp full of them at Oceana on October 10, 1987. The "Turkey" was still in her prime when Jim photographed the squadron that day. Sometimes it's hard to believe the F-14 is out of the Fleet but this sort of imagery makes certain she's not forgotten! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMvl2lirhkhB4mpwY8jUsSmithdIHSJeu6DrAfh3AmYeIUd6q2bUu6JakxtOy7juHJrArLzQXTdn4bpuqsYe5j-gOt2mTXV2yvf8gDF4VLUmjJ81vjNlerFy8MvicWnLYxtIO8stGnUphCd-ur17_Wh9KwoMHh0t-yzlnjNUs2gQJOqYUUeyQm2qA7ig/s1692/F-4B-152208-VF-41-Oceana-25APR74%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1148" data-original-width="1692" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMvl2lirhkhB4mpwY8jUsSmithdIHSJeu6DrAfh3AmYeIUd6q2bUu6JakxtOy7juHJrArLzQXTdn4bpuqsYe5j-gOt2mTXV2yvf8gDF4VLUmjJ81vjNlerFy8MvicWnLYxtIO8stGnUphCd-ur17_Wh9KwoMHh0t-yzlnjNUs2gQJOqYUUeyQm2qA7ig/s320/F-4B-152208-VF-41-Oceana-25APR74%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Before they transitioned to the F-14, VF-41 flew the mighty <i>Phantom</i>! This image is a classic and easily says it all---Jim caught 152208 on the Oceana ramp on 25 April 1974, while she was in her prime. Her days ended with VMFA-314 before she was sent to MASD for disposition; she was scrapped in 2004. Jim had an eye for composition for sure, and this shot proves it! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg52LWm13tE87te2-WU-MW-YTUjCrvgk16xUNveSbDvD-6NL_5-sVCZVX2R_4hav6VabUEvePxQ6WRoFYt7Yga7PXCkqQQ8PpXN6S2WSs-dvodHUAf7Hx2vCUs2_FAdiJsz9EIHDNAfn7Js24hUTsK2d4gjnofdBwiGk5PCtbgiakSeI4Cdj1bHdtxrOo/s3971/F-4J-153820-VF-102-Oceana-25SEP76-JS%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2648" data-original-width="3971" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg52LWm13tE87te2-WU-MW-YTUjCrvgk16xUNveSbDvD-6NL_5-sVCZVX2R_4hav6VabUEvePxQ6WRoFYt7Yga7PXCkqQQ8PpXN6S2WSs-dvodHUAf7Hx2vCUs2_FAdiJsz9EIHDNAfn7Js24hUTsK2d4gjnofdBwiGk5PCtbgiakSeI4Cdj1bHdtxrOo/s320/F-4J-153820-VF-102-Oceana-25SEP76-JS%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And finally, here's Fighting 102's F-4J 153820 at Oceana on 25 September 1976. A survivor of sorts, she was upgraded to F-4S configuration and went into storage at NAD Cherry Point in 2003. The Mighty Fantoom was probably Jim's favorite jet of all time, and he definitely knew how to photograph them! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbh-J8GT6RyqFTabYz3rvs6lIGxGkeksdbTC-na2d1TpzL1hG4wAeqEJX94KN7lmyQ03Ol9n2j2SaibidzJjVQzCbXacv6O2_Vip2NdGoQ0nH0un0ccuVl2zwkL1oXtI6MFQ7GvQH-6DFlolZ_3L6MIMfUs0svFeKFkbzW3B_ztPyEb1Y-DoQigb833c/s3008/Jim%20Sullivan%20JR-SR,%20Queenie%20Charlotte,%20NC%202-5-14.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="3008" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbh-J8GT6RyqFTabYz3rvs6lIGxGkeksdbTC-na2d1TpzL1hG4wAeqEJX94KN7lmyQ03Ol9n2j2SaibidzJjVQzCbXacv6O2_Vip2NdGoQ0nH0un0ccuVl2zwkL1oXtI6MFQ7GvQH-6DFlolZ_3L6MIMfUs0svFeKFkbzW3B_ztPyEb1Y-DoQigb833c/s320/Jim%20Sullivan%20JR-SR,%20Queenie%20Charlotte,%20NC%202-5-14.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Finally, here's Jim with his son Jim Jr and Queenie, taken at his home in February of 2014. It's a fine way to end this photo essay, don't you think? Linda Sullivan via Don Jay Collection<div><br /></div><div>It's impossible to know how many lives Jim touched over the years. His photo collection was massive and he was never shy about sharing its assets with anyone who asked him for assistance. He was a prolific author as well as superb photographer, and his skills as a scale modeler were well above average. He did all of these things and more, and he did them all with dignity, aplomb, and considerable modesty. He was part of a special breed, as is Don Jay, and both of them are men I'm proud to call Friend. </div><div><br /></div><div>You'll be seeing more of Jim's photography as we go along, and probably some of Don's as well, but in the meantime I hope you've enjoyed these images selected for us and shared by Don. They were friends, those two, and always will be, and we're honored to be asked to run this tribute. Thanks very much, Don, and blue skies, Jim! We'll meet again.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Relief Tube</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Not today.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><b>Happy Snaps</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Although most of his lens work took place on the ground, Jim was an accomplished air to air photographer as well. Does anyone need convincing? Well, just take a look at this one!</div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zpjnotvlXcLAmjNk-YhShK4aIKH6gXCujEOgln19AnR2f3vHHmrBE2abk4I97-aVKuBd49YjzZMR1iFvI16zCaTkU0a6f6-yj4KKi-g3t9J-HqYXRAq9EzyenhJWvdNOQdRQzt7eeHx3MnwICh_8Lpdf4U4BqvR-JBWrGDmTXH68plnVYh5IOJK3Yt0/s4021/Harvard%20Mk.4%2020341%20N142CA%20Hickory,%20NC%20May%201994%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3085" data-original-width="4021" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zpjnotvlXcLAmjNk-YhShK4aIKH6gXCujEOgln19AnR2f3vHHmrBE2abk4I97-aVKuBd49YjzZMR1iFvI16zCaTkU0a6f6-yj4KKi-g3t9J-HqYXRAq9EzyenhJWvdNOQdRQzt7eeHx3MnwICh_8Lpdf4U4BqvR-JBWrGDmTXH68plnVYh5IOJK3Yt0/s320/Harvard%20Mk.4%2020341%20N142CA%20Hickory,%20NC%20May%201994%20(JS)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Jim was a magician with an SLR as proven by this wonderful image of N142CA, a restored <i>Harvard</i> Mk IV, in flight over Hickory, NC, back in May of 1994. It's a great shot and a fitting way to conclude this tribute to Jim! Jim Sullivan via Don Jay</div><div><br /></div><div>Be good to your neighbor, Ya'll. We'll meet again soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PB7U8Cp-TeUh2J-8V-mrYCCgnebW9EsQro20da9P4bFcIVTGjZ5p-jwD6gvX9WcvnOAmJbh8nKN_jwr3bblxMFROfPV6rQEJ5he4a0U2C5Ku0H95c1byzW0RnLLzryiF-sJ5tkOgbAHAQTUkS9QQgrATxem9ZK8yyCWDwVOQB0g-Gy5lt4TrCbBQAGw/s1920/Jim%20Sullivan%20and%20Linda%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PB7U8Cp-TeUh2J-8V-mrYCCgnebW9EsQro20da9P4bFcIVTGjZ5p-jwD6gvX9WcvnOAmJbh8nKN_jwr3bblxMFROfPV6rQEJ5he4a0U2C5Ku0H95c1byzW0RnLLzryiF-sJ5tkOgbAHAQTUkS9QQgrATxem9ZK8yyCWDwVOQB0g-Gy5lt4TrCbBQAGw/s320/Jim%20Sullivan%20and%20Linda%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-60121451421591778722023-08-27T12:52:00.004-05:002023-09-06T08:45:51.119-05:00Sad Times<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><b>In So Many Ways He Made It Possible</b></p><p>The year was 1972. Jim Wogstad and I had finally gotten to the place where we were ready to spring a mutual dream of ours, the original print edition of <i>Replica in Scale</i>, on an unsuspecting modeling world. That first issue, known to us then and now as I/1, was a success in spite of itself, largely because we had great people helping with the project and an idea that turned out to be more than merely viable. Maybe it was luck, or maybe something else, but we had the skill sets required, and we actually managed to have a dollop of financially critical advertising from our very first issue to help us get started. What we didn't have was access to original photography for the articles we were planning to run or the expertise to understand the ins and outs of America's aviation assets. We never doubted that we'd get where we wanted to go, mind you. We just didn't know how it was going to happen, and that's the way things were until our first 1,200 copies of the magazine landed on the shelves of the handful of hobby shops willing to take a chance on us. It was in one of those shops that we began our climb to respectability and a modicum of fame.</p><p>Dibbles Arts and Hobbies was, and is to this day, a brick and mortar shop in San Antonio, and for decades it was the go-to place for anyone seriously interested in plastic model airplanes and living in the South Texas area. One of those many Dibbles patrons was an Air Force noncom then assigned to Lackland AFB named Norm Taylor, who saw and purchased a copy of our first issue during a visit to the shop. Jim's contact information was published in the front of the magazine since his home was serving as our offices and Norm wasted no time in making the phone call that, in so many ways, set the tone for <i>Replica in Scale</i>, <i>Aerophile </i>and, by osmosis and imitation, any number of other periodicals to follow us. In the space of that one phone call an offer was made to help us with photography should we need it, along with an equally kind offer to introduce us to other national and international caliber photographers and aerospace collectors and historians. One man made one phone call and suddenly our entire project became viable. We were on our way!</p><p>Norm was able to help us for a couple of years but eventually the Air Force decided they required his services more than we did and he was transferred to Japan, but the folks he had introduced us to were still around and that allowed us to perform the research we'd so often dreamed of way back in the beginning. Our dream had actually become reality, albeit for only a few brief years before changing circumstance did us in. Our day in the sun with the print version of <i>Replica in Scale</i> was a short day indeed but in so many ways a successful one, and in great measure we owed it all to Norm. </p><p>It's amazing how few people in the hobby know who Norm Taylor was, since his impact on it was so massive. He was one of those quiet and unassuming men who didn't brag or do things to draw attention to himself. He didn't have to, because his photography and his willingness to share his collection spoke for him. He's been called the dean of American aviation photographers on more than one occasion, and it's an accolade that fits. His composition and technical skills were superior to most, and he had The Eye, a gift he used to advantage every time he walked on a ramp with his cameras. His photography, either by his direct contribution or via the shared collections of others, literally filled the aviation periodicals and books of the 1970s and 80s. Both he and his work were ubiquitous. He took the bar and helped to substantially raise it. </p><p>We all moved on with Life as the years passed and Norm slowly slipped out of the mainstream, something that happens to most of us sooner or later. Those of us in the community spoke of him and his work often but few of us were in direct communication with him anymore, although the word was out that his health had declined over the past several years. Things didn't look good.</p><p>We found out a couple of weeks ago that Norm had passed. It's an inevitability of living that eventually happens to us all, but it's also painful each and every time we lose a friend. It never gets any better.</p><p>There's a bright side, though, because Norm, and all the other friends we've lost over the past several years, are still around. The photographs they took, the books they authored, the knowledge they all so freely shared are still there and in that respect they live on, both in our hearts and on our bookshelves and in our photo collections. They were all greater than life, each and every one of them: Norm, Corsair Jim, Marty, Dave, Maddog, and all the others who have gone West during the past few years. Legends to a man, they were also among the most modest and humble of human beings. They were, and they remain, special, and it doesn't matter whether you're a photographer or an enthusiast, or a modeler. If your interest lies in American military aviation, your life has been enriched beyond measure by these humble giants. </p><p>Thanks, Norm, for what you did for <i>Replica in Scale, </i>and for us all. Blue Skies, Amigo!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzoyQmKMPhr-2PH0LXPjL9rTFL06ubu7h9s2_bfRCzUfbFu-0TvW5z9JuATo_2GNRLbYFwHKT6JjPKwvCKCVhjo22AFszutyxRjiAy-b9DJEk6OvqTJOjdMC4Q88V9d88YYC1cfYRjWdXUk3IAPlKBR0arw9L7AB0y140JHEyFxTU1r70h8iN8zFyHAuY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1029" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzoyQmKMPhr-2PH0LXPjL9rTFL06ubu7h9s2_bfRCzUfbFu-0TvW5z9JuATo_2GNRLbYFwHKT6JjPKwvCKCVhjo22AFszutyxRjiAy-b9DJEk6OvqTJOjdMC4Q88V9d88YYC1cfYRjWdXUk3IAPlKBR0arw9L7AB0y140JHEyFxTU1r70h8iN8zFyHAuY" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-41377344468001493462023-07-25T14:57:00.007-05:002023-07-26T06:57:09.890-05:00Over and Over, U-Birds from Jim, Some Arachnids, A Different Time, and A Present From Norm<p> </p><p><b>A Continual Rebirth</b></p><p>The year was 1961, and Monogram had just released their 1/48th scale F4F-4 (more or less) <i>Wildcat</i> to the modeling world and, perhaps more importantly, to 12-year-old Phillip. It was beautifully detailed---just look at all those rivets---and had working features too, what with its folding wings and rolling wheels. In later years we came to understand that a few things had been omitted here and there, such as the fuselage windows, the entire accessory section of the engine, and there was no cockpit to speak of. Fine detail, while good for its time, was on the sparse side as well (those universal head rivets were entirely accurate for the <i>Wildcat's</i> airframe, for instance, but were somewhat overstated) and it was, out of the box, a simplified replica of the F4F. To a skilled modeler it was an opportunity. To the aforementioned 12-year-old Phillip it was a gift from the gods.</p><p>Many years passed and that Monogram <i>Wildcat</i> remained the only readily available 1/48th scale kit of the type before the deities of the polystyrene world smiled once more and, in 1994, we were gifted with Tamiya's 1/48th F4F-4, a kit vastly improved over the one from Morton Grove. That Japanese kit still had a bunch of universal head rivets on its airframe but they were supposed to be there, and it was a revelation, for a while anyway. There was, of course, that little matter of a missing intercooler (a somewhat large and conspicuous item living in the engine's accessory section), and the sparse cockpit and simplified interior. There were some other things wrong with it as well but it was a quantum leap above the old Monogram kit and besides, the handful of errors could be easily corrected with aftermarket and the application of a bit of Modeling 101. The modeling gods had smiled again!</p><p>Times had changed between the release of that seminal Monogram kit and Tamiya's, however, and expectations were higher from those of us who actually built our kits rather than buying and hoarding them. It wasn't that the Tamiya kit was all that bad, mind you, but they only released it as the -4 variant, which left us all in the lurch for the other significant <i>Wildcat</i> variants. We could fix the minor issues with the kit, of course, and we did just that, while the somewhat skilled among our ranks could easily convert the kit to an early-War F4F-3 and the truly gifted could modify the kit into a passable FM-2 but, like we said, times had changed. The Monogram F4F-4 was now a dinosaur, suitable for entry-level modelers and small children on Christmas, and Tamiya's <i>wunderkit</i> had, through no fault of its own, entered into the realm of the has-been. We wanted something better in 1/48th and we were soon to get it, or so we thought.</p><p>2007 saw a relatively new company, Hobby Boss, release an entire family of <i>Wildcats</i> into our waiting hands. There, in one fell swoop, was an early F4F-3, a late F4F-3, an F4F-4, and, wonder of wonders, an FM-2! Life was Good and then, thanks to the realization that the company's research had been lacking, it wasn't good after all. None of the kits had those rivets that were so essential to the <i>Wildcat's</i> character and a great deal of detail had either been simplified or omitted entirely while the FM-2, that ultimate member of the F4F family that had never been previously kitted by a mainstream manufacturer (we call that <i>opportunity</i>), had a nose that was entirely inaccurate for the type. We began cross-kitting, the aftermarket guys began making aftermarket, and it became obvious that you could indeed get there from here, but only with a bit of struggle. It was time for another kit!</p><p>We got that kit too, boy did we ever get it! In fact we're now in the process of getting the entire <i>Wildcat</i> family, one variation at a time, from our friends at Eduard, and we finally have a decent shot at an accurate F4F-Anything or an FM-2 mostly out of the box. There are problems, of course. There always are; the short list includes ribbed tires which weren't used on carriers (at least not early in the War) and a missing main fuel tank, and those New and Wonderful Eduard decals which work really well except for when they don't. Still, the Wildcat that can be produced out of the box is little short of amazing. It's a wonder, a true revelation for the modestly experienced modeler. It's as good as it's going to get, until it isn't. </p><p>There are a couple of lessons we can learn from this 60+ years of 1/48th scale <i>Wildcat</i> kits. Each and every one of them, and that includes the now prehistoric Monogram kit, were considered state of the art when they were originally released and all of them, even the Hobby Boss offerings, raised the bar a bit higher. We seemingly have reached the pinnacle as far as that airplane is concerned, but even the new Eduard kit has issues, albeit minor and largely insignificant ones. Someday somebody will release yet another F4F or FM-2 that will push that truly amazing Czech offering to second place and we'll welcome that new kid on the block with open arms, after which the cycle will start over. It's the nature of our game, and it's a good thing. </p><p>Amazing things have been done with that 1961-vintage Monogram kit. I've seen the results that can be achieved with it and the thing can be done, if only by a special few who possess the abilities required. Everything that's happened since that year has been gravy for the scale modeler as the kits and all that goes with them has improved, almost exponentially, with the passage of time. What was once exclusively the province of the top tier of modelers is now within reach of almost anyone. </p><p>Here's our takeaway: The kits now available to us just keep getting better and better, and all of the older kits begin their fade into obscurity. It's the nature of things. The new whiz-bang kits age out and are replaced by something newer and astounding. The new kits are replaced in turn, and the cycle repeats itself. It's natural and normal. It's the way things are. </p><p>And it's good. </p><p><b>What Goes Up Must Come Down</b></p><p>And it doesn't always do it gracefully. Come down, that is. The military aircraft of the World War 2 era were particularly prone to being crashed, not because of any intrinsic flaw in the aircraft (usually!) but because so many were flying and, more importantly, being flown by pilots with varying skill levels. Even the most benign of airplanes could bite you, and the high-performance cutting-edge fighters of that era were often a handful for their frequently inexperienced pilots. The conclusion of hostilities reduced the number of airplanes in use and a larger percentage of the people flying them were possessed of a skill level vastly improved from that of many wartime aviators, but it was still a dangerous game. Here, from the collection of the late and greatly missed Jim Sullivan, are a few examples of times an airplane bit an aviator featuring Jim's favorite aircraft, the FG-1D <i>Corsair</i>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN-8GAyC0I1iKd_sw8FpTAj5M5qktjyOTThrhJNpTw7Onb56rkf1IKRhgz_QRrg5ta_un6bpuI3UJ8GswACfW-J_9hnzc96sCir5hqu0sVrO_DAOX0x72PP6q8VDRBPxCWseaszOKJV4Muh7yUo80-J45vIuEVoOxcCbi85PE3_lJ85gvu40NEvS1DKvE/s5465/FG-1D%20%2087867%20IF-60%20Reserve%20%20NAS%20Grosse%20Ile,%20MI%20%2028MAR48%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3604" data-original-width="5465" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN-8GAyC0I1iKd_sw8FpTAj5M5qktjyOTThrhJNpTw7Onb56rkf1IKRhgz_QRrg5ta_un6bpuI3UJ8GswACfW-J_9hnzc96sCir5hqu0sVrO_DAOX0x72PP6q8VDRBPxCWseaszOKJV4Muh7yUo80-J45vIuEVoOxcCbi85PE3_lJ85gvu40NEvS1DKvE/s320/FG-1D%20%2087867%20IF-60%20Reserve%20%20NAS%20Grosse%20Ile,%20MI%20%2028MAR48%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This FG-1D (BuNo 87087) was assigned to the Reserve Unit at Grosse Isle and suffered a belly landing on 28 March 1948. Its untimely arrival in a muddy corn field resulted in little trauma to the airplane and none that we're aware of to the pilot. Not all crashes were so benign but this one was a walkaway with little damage. Note the V- that appears in front of the Bureau Number presentation on the tail, a fairly common prefix on late-40s Reserve birds. Jim Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZkOYwqMLvGrm2J-ovI0QOryKmB9LaPVA9IpydB8SC_39coODhouwz8tN1oHuD6Xosn0ATZ9YUB6Rl7KyT8kP2uCDTX6_rvEBFnxhqdGlh1xgovE2B40xJCr1DJO7E-4oiJDycMPFlvH0o6r2YH6tLxsywzFqgorWyxzXmMM9r-74fL2pbAHV7eMGZzm0/s5603/FG-1D%20%2092575%20VMF-217%20NAS%20Squantum,%20MA%2020JUL49%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3651" data-original-width="5603" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZkOYwqMLvGrm2J-ovI0QOryKmB9LaPVA9IpydB8SC_39coODhouwz8tN1oHuD6Xosn0ATZ9YUB6Rl7KyT8kP2uCDTX6_rvEBFnxhqdGlh1xgovE2B40xJCr1DJO7E-4oiJDycMPFlvH0o6r2YH6tLxsywzFqgorWyxzXmMM9r-74fL2pbAHV7eMGZzm0/s320/FG-1D%20%2092575%20VMF-217%20NAS%20Squantum,%20MA%2020JUL49%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's another FG-1D, this time BuNo 92575 of VMF-217, after a successful belly landing at NAS Squantum on 20 July 1949. As with 87087 above, the crash was a walkaway for the pilot with minimal damage to the airplane. The bird has been well-maintained and in wartime would have been quickly repaired, but we're not so sure that was done in this instance considering the fiscal constraints the American armed forces were operating under during the late 1940s. Jim Sullivan collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VGm65G3q23UrPtWvPHqVxiv0U9LTxmpJPtY8PYrV29PTF-Ysgi0fS4ceboGTJCRYAtZzOW3MxJ9xk-Pcr_rxafjSccFnY4MUSNGv-muchXg36dMqT3HbCaA5BoitjH4ZPUyoXdv9emJcPRlCKPGybKIpm7hPol6jhicp_usMnC1va58eXzP2AUHahms/s5565/FG-1D%20%2092638%20UF-55%20Reserve%20%20NAS%20St%20Louis,%20MO%207JUN48%20%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3847" data-original-width="5565" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VGm65G3q23UrPtWvPHqVxiv0U9LTxmpJPtY8PYrV29PTF-Ysgi0fS4ceboGTJCRYAtZzOW3MxJ9xk-Pcr_rxafjSccFnY4MUSNGv-muchXg36dMqT3HbCaA5BoitjH4ZPUyoXdv9emJcPRlCKPGybKIpm7hPol6jhicp_usMnC1va58eXzP2AUHahms/s320/FG-1D%20%2092638%20UF-55%20Reserve%20%20NAS%20St%20Louis,%20MO%207JUN48%20%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There's that pesky V- prefix on a bureau number again, this time on 92638 from the St Louis Reserve unit. It experienced a collapsed starboard landing gear while attempting to land at Vichy, Missouri, on 07 June 1948. At first glance there isn't much damage to the airframe but that bent propeller guarantees an engine overhaul and the wing is badly crumpled as well. There's a fair chance this one was given a quick trip to the scrap heap. Jim Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div>And the electrons hadn't even cooled when Rick Morgan sent a comment regarding the airport at Vichy: <span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 13px;">Phil- Good stuff as always, the shot of the NAS St Louis FG-1 bent at Vichy got my attention. The small airport at that location was used by both Navy Reserve and Air Force Guard units out of Lambert as an ordnance loading facility for use at the range at Ft Leonard Wood. Seeing a Corsair there shouldn't have been that unusual during that period. Vichy had actually been home to a USAAF Recon Group during WWII that supported the newly opened Fort. It went back to full civilian ownership in 1957 as jets showed up at both reserve units. The field (VIH) is now called Rolla International Airport, based on the city located south of it. Rick</span><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMBvrLommLbnhLIW0xK8kTXeiB46KU6p95zllNlsrRmuJxCL6AhiXCswfA3HxiNLmeELr-GGcQDdCpRXeUUS9gpe2bGSiLIhNhmvo1ekoNu2LGZuHmp1IP25ex5Zty-78Nvyt62h3fB46_nhKPTcjFZPbefVRlv786HIlW-ORCpplS6-sHoeLyQJSHPA/s1024/FG-1D%2076475%20VA-53B%20L-52%20NAS%20Akron,%20OH%2022AUG49%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1024" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMBvrLommLbnhLIW0xK8kTXeiB46KU6p95zllNlsrRmuJxCL6AhiXCswfA3HxiNLmeELr-GGcQDdCpRXeUUS9gpe2bGSiLIhNhmvo1ekoNu2LGZuHmp1IP25ex5Zty-78Nvyt62h3fB46_nhKPTcjFZPbefVRlv786HIlW-ORCpplS6-sHoeLyQJSHPA/s320/FG-1D%2076475%20VA-53B%20L-52%20NAS%20Akron,%20OH%2022AUG49%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And yet another belly landing! 76475, from VA-53B, went down near Akron on 22 August, 1949. The airplane isn't too badly damaged but an engine overhaul or replacement is required any time there's crash damage to a propeller due to the possibility of crankshaft damage to the engine, and there's a very good chance the airplane wasn't repaired. 76475 was an older FG-1D and may have been scrapped out rather than salvaged. Jim Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwa9YntNLISIkC6hqeptuRiO7BqK0n33zprfCpIDu-0dlfE7aQWx3jVoLPmXRajnzwHzINk9YtbJxOUWD2TnsPFAkpjgH7BpFkl9jdlebfUUtgEzyLqSJRndW-bc1OGkkj8Bi1ac6g_alQ75HKDl6bymjVo00s7ZlvHVv0fDLqEhP7NvXjhnFH4jgrL28/s5300/FG-1D%2067074%20%2365%20and%2092264%20%2354%20Collision%20NAS%20Oakland,%20CA%20c.1947%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3343" data-original-width="5300" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwa9YntNLISIkC6hqeptuRiO7BqK0n33zprfCpIDu-0dlfE7aQWx3jVoLPmXRajnzwHzINk9YtbJxOUWD2TnsPFAkpjgH7BpFkl9jdlebfUUtgEzyLqSJRndW-bc1OGkkj8Bi1ac6g_alQ75HKDl6bymjVo00s7ZlvHVv0fDLqEhP7NvXjhnFH4jgrL28/s320/FG-1D%2067074%20%2365%20and%2092264%20%2354%20Collision%20NAS%20Oakland,%20CA%20c.1947%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Sometimes it just isn't your day! 67074 (side number 65) lost a good bit of its empennage during a taxiing accident involving FG-1D 92264 (side number 54). The year was 1947 and the airplanes from the Reserve component at Oakland. In addition to the obvious damage to 67074, 92264's pitot tube is dangling from the leading edge of its port wing and there's undoubtedly more going on than we can see in this shot. Modelers: Note the overall eggshell rapidly going to flat paint finish of both airplanes. That's how things work in the real world, sometimes anyway... Jim Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div>I've known people who would overlook photographs of less than perfect airplanes simply because they were crashed or otherwise damaged. The logic of such a thing escapes me, but Jim wasn't one of those people and these images document some airplanes---FG-1Ds and primarily FG-1Ds from the Naval Reserve, that might otherwise have gotten away from us. We didn't call him Mr <i>Corsair</i> for nothing, Ya'll! <br /><div><br /></div><div><b>A Scorpion or Two</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Let's throw a jet or two into the mix today!</div><div><br /></div><div>Northrop's almost legendary F-89 <i>Scorpion</i> family was star-crossed at best, a solution to the problem of protecting the United States from enemy aerial incursion during a time when ambition far outpaced technology. It was meant to be an all-weather interceptor and it was, for the most part, although it was never quite the airplane the Air Force wanted. Many ended up with the Air National Guard during an era when the active force seemingly sent the older types to the ANG, and that's what we're going to look at today.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJwG6Gw-nFttdR-py1jsU2Ftu5enNOOJM40KyxlxY2Tkx4vmici3XQe9yE3oI92sMI-qmtUxL7hGO6mSDySCR1fyjOMbQoTClIy58Rdjhyc5AF2XNvhra3qgEFwsKYafO6O6YP4YBcqI97OmpRjJLvll1RWQ8ZyUHNk2IvJyxyWzK5XdmlWQEmCtElSPs/s5885/492467%20F-89B%20IDAHOANG%20DOstrowski%20Coll%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3974" data-original-width="5885" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJwG6Gw-nFttdR-py1jsU2Ftu5enNOOJM40KyxlxY2Tkx4vmici3XQe9yE3oI92sMI-qmtUxL7hGO6mSDySCR1fyjOMbQoTClIy58Rdjhyc5AF2XNvhra3qgEFwsKYafO6O6YP4YBcqI97OmpRjJLvll1RWQ8ZyUHNk2IvJyxyWzK5XdmlWQEmCtElSPs/s320/492467%20F-89B%20IDAHOANG%20DOstrowski%20Coll%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>49-2467 was an F-89B from Idaho's 190th FIS and this image, taken in 1956 at Boise, shows the colorful markings worn by many of the squadron's aircraft. This one hung around the 'drome for a while, possibly as an instructional airframe, but finally ended up at MASDC in 1959 and was scrapped out in 1960. A sad end! Dave Ostrowski Collection via Mark Nankivil</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBaUtnv6gJcWHbx0-Y_arLmj561LbJSJfvoU-H_qP_I6chaIKlF9ATiDcBE9Y09ioTuwh9PEv4uDvI4hxehvfCk3_QhMKxi6J_VdSCt8bPvsiOHWQEFYSImxOXwT4qP2JibxfhVfjVo7aitEARveIdbgEPAxYIkT2O9UbduGXlYRDZFaK99MsB87-gUg/s5922/51-11410%20F-89D-30-NO%20WIANG%20DOstrowski%20Coll%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4664" data-original-width="5922" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBaUtnv6gJcWHbx0-Y_arLmj561LbJSJfvoU-H_qP_I6chaIKlF9ATiDcBE9Y09ioTuwh9PEv4uDvI4hxehvfCk3_QhMKxi6J_VdSCt8bPvsiOHWQEFYSImxOXwT4qP2JibxfhVfjVo7aitEARveIdbgEPAxYIkT2O9UbduGXlYRDZFaK99MsB87-gUg/s320/51-11410%20F-89D-30-NO%20WIANG%20DOstrowski%20Coll%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Wisconsin's 126th FIS operated this D-model, 51-11410, for a brief time during 1960 before losing its air defense mission and converting to tankers. This airplane is very much a showboat with its scalloped gas bags and that checkerboard vertical tail with the scorpion emblem. They were operating out of General Mitchell Field during that time and must have added quite a bit of color to the place but it didn't last for long; it's a shame their time with the <i>Scorpion</i> was so short lived! Dave Ostrowski Collection via Mark Nankivil<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9MAnXWIK550zbvYAdPw-OWD6GkQEMLxlWh9GgEd7A4BKTgEJcUazseAgRqmXtpz6i-CN8hLotEMOqzhfZX1tLQxtl1ysw2nK9DKdWD10umCgEzeitmL9_-X8ksbXr5cufixPkV5fbjbOhFpvmvTZPnTfv2oAjcIdYg5QpSkdq1C_STzbP9NHz2q3yMTc/s5893/53-2530%20F-89J%20Wash%20ANG%20DOstrowski%20Coll%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3766" data-original-width="5893" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9MAnXWIK550zbvYAdPw-OWD6GkQEMLxlWh9GgEd7A4BKTgEJcUazseAgRqmXtpz6i-CN8hLotEMOqzhfZX1tLQxtl1ysw2nK9DKdWD10umCgEzeitmL9_-X8ksbXr5cufixPkV5fbjbOhFpvmvTZPnTfv2oAjcIdYg5QpSkdq1C_STzbP9NHz2q3yMTc/s320/53-2530%20F-89J%20Wash%20ANG%20DOstrowski%20Coll%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This late F-89, an F-89J, was originally built as an F-89D-60-NO and was assigned to Washington's 116th FIS (not to be confused with Washington DC, which is a different animal altogether) during the early 1960s. This example, 53-2530, is basking in the sun on the ramp at Geiger Field around 1960 and is a clean machine. Her unit markings are restrained but appropriate, while the airplane is well maintained and cared for, as were most ANG birds during the era. Dave Ostrowski Collection via Mark Nankivil<div><br /></div><div>As far as we know the F-89 rarely intercepted much of anything in terms of Bad Guy Airplanes, although they did manage to almost destroy portions of Southern California while chasing an errant F6F-5K <i>Hellcat</i> drone during what has become known as The Battle of Palmdale; here's a YouTube link to the affair should you have an interest in it: </div><div><br /></div><div> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-pXx-NfaGo&t=16s">THE BATTLE OF PALMDALE: A Remarkable Dogfighting Debacle That Exposed US Technological Folly - YouTube</a></div><div><div><br /></div><div>The Scorpion also fired the only live shot of the nuclear AIR-2 Genie air-to-air missile during Operation <i>Plumbob </i>at the Yucca Flats test range on 19 July 1957. Although you can't see much of the F-89J that fired the weapon, here's another YouTube link showing the test:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VZ7FQHTaR4">Genie Missile Test - YouTube</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The 57th FIS lost its last F-89J in July of 1962, while Iowa's 124th FIS flew the last Air National Guard sortie with the type in July of 1969, ringing down a lengthy if somewhat undistinguished career for the airplane. In retrospect it wasn't much of a much, but it held the line until its ultimate replacement by the Convair deltas. Many thanks to Mark Nankivil for allowing us to share these images with you!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Things Were Different Back Then</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>There was a war going on in the 1940s and it was a big one. The fate of nations and possibly civilization itself was up for grabs and American industry was working overtime to provide the weaponry necessary to win it. Mark Nankivil, He of those <i>Scorpions</i> you were just admiring, shared this image with us and it's just too good to resist:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEPsmq65XEpc6xBkh4KG6hzzZfPVcRuzOddudcmq6ntGHGk7INkxeCYBpS2S0r-n5wn1KeCkGe2ryGhaFdhpYZrgsMkLSiAvSRzkMZQA9_883UY4w7FMkuONo0dsgULzvFECFXUWjUPAxSptHHWctZIZRh8SD_spDZd5R4ByvO6YklA5kiND3u21hq0I/s7567/Curtiss%20P-40F-5-CU%201%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6015" data-original-width="7567" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEPsmq65XEpc6xBkh4KG6hzzZfPVcRuzOddudcmq6ntGHGk7INkxeCYBpS2S0r-n5wn1KeCkGe2ryGhaFdhpYZrgsMkLSiAvSRzkMZQA9_883UY4w7FMkuONo0dsgULzvFECFXUWjUPAxSptHHWctZIZRh8SD_spDZd5R4ByvO6YklA5kiND3u21hq0I/s320/Curtiss%20P-40F-5-CU%201%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We don't know the unit or the location although I suspect the photograph was taken at the Curtiss factory; in fact I'm almost certain of that location, but almost doesn't count! I don't know the date either, but it's a special image all the same. The airplane is a P-40F, s/n unknown, and it's an airplane that was purchased by The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen named "The Iron Eagle" and donated to the AAF. The verbiage above that image says "Given to Our Beloved Country, The United States of America, by The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen", a definite comment on that point in American history. We can see the aircraft data stencil in the photo but can't get a serial number from it---the leading edge of the port wing cuts that off right after "P-40F-5-CU". Can any of our readers further identify this airplane? If so, that email address is replicainscaleatyahoodotcom . Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil</div><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Mark for the images he shared with us today!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>A Link to Investigate</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Everyone who reads this project is aware of Norman Camou, the man who can find anything on YouTube. He's expanded that reputation and bit and sent this a week or so ago. It's a link to a website that many people ignore but there's gold in them thar hills, so to speak, and you really ought to spend some time browsing this one.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/archives/digital-exhibits-highlights/action-reports/korean-war-carrier-combat.html">Korean War - Carrier Combat (navy.mil)</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks as always to Norm for taking the time to share this link with us. It's much appreciated!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Happy Snaps</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div>It's been a while since we've shared a reader's air-to-air shot with you, but here's one for today:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknmVJQ9XqbMMpTwnHrNFBbeb0r9HNVQu3A3JrVZVrSlLL7vtc7mwz02K3GjXTZ37lHYrbO5VH3H6r-R_O_kfv26LfHRu001GbpmqIM13xrt44NFGCgGybAg1MfTRvCNF84Cf8P3I9mjklmxtzkq1xWJNAAA4CT4r-hm6pxoVklsxaTUU7dYCV_RyjHZI/s6176/KA-6D%20VA-196%20over%20Oregon%2022%20Jun%2084%20Rick%20Morgan%20via%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4079" data-original-width="6176" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknmVJQ9XqbMMpTwnHrNFBbeb0r9HNVQu3A3JrVZVrSlLL7vtc7mwz02K3GjXTZ37lHYrbO5VH3H6r-R_O_kfv26LfHRu001GbpmqIM13xrt44NFGCgGybAg1MfTRvCNF84Cf8P3I9mjklmxtzkq1xWJNAAA4CT4r-hm6pxoVklsxaTUU7dYCV_RyjHZI/s320/KA-6D%20VA-196%20over%20Oregon%2022%20Jun%2084%20Rick%20Morgan%20via%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>A KA-6D from Air Wing 14's VA-196 (151796) formates with a VAQ-139 EA-6B over Oregon on 26 June 1984. I'm guessing Rick was in the ECMO 1 station when he took this and the perspective couldn't have been better---what a shot! A big Sierra Hotel to Rick for this image! Rick Morgan</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's some more information regarding that shot of 151796, supplied by Rick after publication of this issue: <span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 13px;">The story behind the KA-6D shot: The two Whidbey squadrons in CVW-14 had each sent a jet down to Miramar for a CAG meeting. We came back the next day using the normal J-5 jet route that ran from LA to Seattle. The rule of thumb for a Prowler was that you needed at least 10,000 lbs of fuel onboard at Reno or you were going to have to stop for gas. It was pretty much weather and wind dependent and something we watched. The Milestone KA-6D, which I think was being flown by their XO, gave us a squirt over southern Oregon and we were good for the distance. </span><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 13px;">Yes, I was in ECMO-1; if I'd been in ECMO-2 (right rear) I would've been looking right down the starboard wingline. Rick</span></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm always looking for air-to-air imagery, as well as any other military aviation related photography. If you have anything you'd like to share with us, please drop me an email at replicainscaleatyahoodotcom and please excuse that goofy way of formatting the email address. It's to keep the spammers at bay and is unfortunately necessary!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Relief Tube</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Nope, not this time. It's been a very long time since I've had anything even remotely resembling a schedule for the project which means nobody has been writing in with corrections or additions to anything---it's hard to fix or comment on something if it isn't there, right? If you'd like to correct, complain, or just say hey, please send an email or use the comments tag---yes, I've finally decided to open that feature up but anything that comes in will be scrutinized rather than automatically published so keep it clean and keep it relevant please!</div><div><br /></div><div>And that's what I know. In the meantime, be good to your neighbor until we meet again. It's the right thing to do!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil<br /><div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-10365736189099053792023-07-04T16:35:00.001-05:002023-07-05T07:36:39.522-05:00Magic, A Couple of Sabres, Yet Another One, An Airacobra, and One More Thing<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><b>It Makes No Sense</b></p><p>The goofy stuff that goes on with some of the modeling boards to be found on the internet, that is. On the face of it those boards are nothing but a Good Thing, constituting a generally easy to access source of information and provocative thought for the scale modeling community, but there's another side to it as well and I honestly just don't get it. </p><p>My love for this hobby is, or at least should be, pretty much obvious to anyone who pays attention to what goes on here. My first trip to a hobby shop with my cousin Jerry lit the fire back in 1955, and by the time I built my first very own kit in early 1956 I was hooked. There was, and for that matter still is, magic in the hobby if you care to recognize it, and I did. Airplanes, cars, ships, tanks, insects, birds, dinosaurs, buildings, figures, and imaginary things from the world of science fiction; I built them all. I played with them too (I was a little kid then, remember!) but most of those early models survived for quite a while because I was so enamored of them. I enjoyed them and I learned from them because they often led me to books and specialty magazines so I could find out more about them. They were magic then and, at least in my own personal world, they're still magic now. </p><p>The part of the world I live in is blessed with four good brick and mortar hobby shops within easy driving distance of our home; two in the Austin area and two in San Antonio, and I'm equally blessed by being part of a circle of friends who feel the same way about the hobby that I do. The whole thing, the entire hobby and most of the people in it, is magic!</p><p>That takes us to those internet boards and the part that makes no sense. There's lots of discussion there and plenty to learn no matter how long you've been involved with the hobby---lots of super people with an equal love for the hobby and a willingness to share it are on those boards, but there's another group too. They're the guys who know more than anybody else does and want to make sure everybody knows it. They're the guys who don't have much use for the new guys and their questions. They're the guys who get into flame wars with other modelers and, unfortunately, they're also the guys who make other folks decide the squeeze isn't worth the juice and sometimes even cause them to leave the hobby. The Hobby; remember that word? HOBBY!</p><p>Let's go back to that key word I mentioned at the very beginning of this missive: Magic. The hobby of scale plastic modeling is still magic to me, just like it's been for every day of my life since 1955. It's a joy on a personal level as well as a joy I choose to share whenever I can. It's truly a blessing in my world, as I hope it is in yours, and that makes sense to me. The things that don't further that joy don't make sense to me at all and I try not to do them. </p><p>You don't mess with magic!</p><p><b>Such a Pretty Airplane</b></p><p>Since we're already discussing things that are Magic, let's take a look at one of the prettiest American jet fighters ever built; the North American Aviation F-86E <i>Sabre</i>. These images were taken in Korea during 1952 and came to John Kerr's collection via Jim Mesko. John (aka Maddog) was kind enough to share them with me before he passed but we have to present them to you with somewhat of a caveat. They're duplicates of what I presume were originally duplicates in the first place so the detail is a bit soft, and they were apparently dirty when the initial duplication was made---there's way too much clutter to successfully clean up, unfortunately, so let's enjoy them for what they are!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmJIMbUKhqS4HdJBWqLx6g9E8uDu-cUbQG1kKKXAlKl-FxhQugW38dEpGTlegoLpAGI5y3uzbIXzaL_rMUxbRIqysLyBYuZy_i0I_8zenMXxzgaFPjbNjFZPXcJI507eRhBjGH5Pg__VTz-BIUBd-u1j7WyytrUfSNh2h6DIFMiKUm0QAxM-y3WoxZLac/s6208/f-86E-1-NA%2050-0602%2016th%20FIS%2051st%20FIG%20damaged%20by%20MiG%2002%20Apr%2052%20Mesko%20via%20Kerr,%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4112" data-original-width="6208" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmJIMbUKhqS4HdJBWqLx6g9E8uDu-cUbQG1kKKXAlKl-FxhQugW38dEpGTlegoLpAGI5y3uzbIXzaL_rMUxbRIqysLyBYuZy_i0I_8zenMXxzgaFPjbNjFZPXcJI507eRhBjGH5Pg__VTz-BIUBd-u1j7WyytrUfSNh2h6DIFMiKUm0QAxM-y3WoxZLac/s320/f-86E-1-NA%2050-0602%2016th%20FIS%2051st%20FIG%20damaged%20by%20MiG%2002%20Apr%2052%20Mesko%20via%20Kerr,%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>50-0602 was an F-86E-1-NA assigned to the 16th FIS/51st FIG when this shot was taken at Suwon AB in Korea during early 1952. Note her slatted wings, typical of her breed, and the generally worn appearance of her fiberglass intake and that panel on her vertical stab. She had been accepted by the Air Force in 1951 but several months in Korea had marked her. To add insult to injury she was damaged by a MiG-15 in air to air combat on 02 April 1952, but she survived to lead a full career afterwards. Mesko Collection via John Kerr<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDeZcvOwtAp2OmdDgjVyAG_1gK9mnFW6gSZaZ7r99wS98aFtX8Hfzqb753QfYVvS9ft9Tc-POFY_eEGRlmtkajnj411uTBBGtYzlqX-vQEpUJarCWR7SJ1YGF3KMLoP2cM89rKrpTM2Mzvp20WUFWb0dSLSPjtovH8ZgEfpjZuVrdFnAcnKT6dOI8JFac/s6208/F-86E-10-NA%2051-2733%2016th%20FIS%2051st%20FIG%20crashed%20at%20Suwon%2005%20Apr%2052%20Mesko%20via%20Kerr%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4111" data-original-width="6208" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDeZcvOwtAp2OmdDgjVyAG_1gK9mnFW6gSZaZ7r99wS98aFtX8Hfzqb753QfYVvS9ft9Tc-POFY_eEGRlmtkajnj411uTBBGtYzlqX-vQEpUJarCWR7SJ1YGF3KMLoP2cM89rKrpTM2Mzvp20WUFWb0dSLSPjtovH8ZgEfpjZuVrdFnAcnKT6dOI8JFac/s320/F-86E-10-NA%2051-2733%2016th%20FIS%2051st%20FIG%20crashed%20at%20Suwon%2005%20Apr%2052%20Mesko%20via%20Kerr%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>51-2733 was an F-86E-10-NA, another mount from the 16th FIS/51st FIW. Photographed at Suwon during early 1952, she was crashed short of the Suwon runway and destroyed on 05 April, 1952. She's noteworthy for her aluminum intake ring and generally pristine appearance in this shot, which may well have been her final pre-accident portrait. Nobody ever said it was safe! Mesko Collection via John Kerr<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZCnMe-pc-0wtpOAbiJs0dnW37SBDSahCcDbCwZofXIFba_OCGvlhlTi7EVGB2sGYJ0COdKJtHKJ-i05-ak1OP6jb86LhkECuSHms7oXJfr-WRqpvqQKCPfOM98iZY7ZjE0ohoQ8mOvNxaiYnjquAofAZ577ZkhcvrhkO7lbR6u9f7GBRGpaXPKa1Fr4/s6191/F-86E-10-NA%2051-2737%2025th%20and%2016th%20FS,%2051st%20FW,%203%20MiG%20kills%20Kerr%20Collection%20via%20Friddell%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4112" data-original-width="6191" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZCnMe-pc-0wtpOAbiJs0dnW37SBDSahCcDbCwZofXIFba_OCGvlhlTi7EVGB2sGYJ0COdKJtHKJ-i05-ak1OP6jb86LhkECuSHms7oXJfr-WRqpvqQKCPfOM98iZY7ZjE0ohoQ8mOvNxaiYnjquAofAZ577ZkhcvrhkO7lbR6u9f7GBRGpaXPKa1Fr4/s320/F-86E-10-NA%2051-2737%2025th%20and%2016th%20FS,%2051st%20FW,%203%20MiG%20kills%20Kerr%20Collection%20via%20Friddell%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Finally, here's 51-2737, yet another F-86E-10-NA, beginning to taxi out on her way to some mischief, a talent she was apparently good at; she scored a total of three kills against MiG-15s during the course of her deployment to South Korea. She survived that conflict only to be burned out in a ground fire at McClellan AFB on 23 October 1954. She was in her prime here, however! Mesko Collection via John Kerr<div><br /></div><div>Thanks to Maddog for sharing these photos before he left us. Now, if only we had a kit...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>They Also Served</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We normally tend to think of the Korean War when we discuss the F-86, but the type was ubiquitous within the United States armed forces and served for many years. Here's an image taken by Rick Morgan to prove the point!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7SIt6NjBXd3yWWxhUuOknASaSA8vwnewe414yKIuT6I01KFEXBE_Wvs7CA-JnQGN2lu37lmPfB3Tvr0Oeet1oOagzZz-LEnitAaQ1RPQBTojCTluEnnpkXYT7gdYVJkQygaVqguRlShAmeVDDIj4KHIkrRwLvt74H-6LH6dKQzX7IV74I6RpQApr7tWI/s6160/QF-86F%20553906%20and%205539048%20%20PMTC%20at%20Roosevelt%20Roads%2001%20Nov%201989%20Rick%20Morgan%20via%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4080" data-original-width="6160" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7SIt6NjBXd3yWWxhUuOknASaSA8vwnewe414yKIuT6I01KFEXBE_Wvs7CA-JnQGN2lu37lmPfB3Tvr0Oeet1oOagzZz-LEnitAaQ1RPQBTojCTluEnnpkXYT7gdYVJkQygaVqguRlShAmeVDDIj4KHIkrRwLvt74H-6LH6dKQzX7IV74I6RpQApr7tWI/s320/QF-86F%20553906%20and%205539048%20%20PMTC%20at%20Roosevelt%20Roads%2001%20Nov%201989%20Rick%20Morgan%20via%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div>55-3906 and 3948 were both built as F-86F-40-NA airframes and both served with Japan during much of their careers. Returned to the United States during 1989, they were converted to QF-86 status and served with the Navy's Point Mugu Test Center in November (3906) and December (3948) of that year. Rick photographed them on the ground at Roosevelt Roads on 01 November, 1989, shortly before they were stricken. Rick Morgan</div><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Rick for sharing this with us. It's a great look into an aspect of the F-86's service career that few enthusiasts ever consider.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>A Peculiar Iron Dog</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>My normal interest, at least as far as the aviation combatants of the Second World War is concerned, tends to focus on those aircraft and units used in the SouthWest Pacific. This P-39 apparently saw no service there but the image is unique all the same. Let's take a look.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtuuE6lJIRqyi7Gm83aAPj67g6TbCtzVXORjSInwPEA2qjHVJyqm79ZuyK4PC75FpwLmRgEOjxWroqjr6e-E2lGln1hsXuT-8A-TpKPLIddGX1Sc92FPVB_gbvD41AohxDBZiDFA-RntpVJ4wfDccCvO0wsHZML7UebvnV-XvKEVksi_9ZECQOlgkUq4/s6192/P-39F-1-BE%20unit%20NA%20Spoonts%20via%20Kerr,%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4112" data-original-width="6192" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtuuE6lJIRqyi7Gm83aAPj67g6TbCtzVXORjSInwPEA2qjHVJyqm79ZuyK4PC75FpwLmRgEOjxWroqjr6e-E2lGln1hsXuT-8A-TpKPLIddGX1Sc92FPVB_gbvD41AohxDBZiDFA-RntpVJ4wfDccCvO0wsHZML7UebvnV-XvKEVksi_9ZECQOlgkUq4/s320/P-39F-1-BE%20unit%20NA%20Spoonts%20via%20Kerr,%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This Bell P-39F-1-BE, s/n 41-7325, is apparently serving in a training unit somewhere in the ZI, location and date unknown. The back sides of her propeller blades are black and the tips on the front sides of that prop are Insignia Yellow, and she's wearing a black anti-glare panel on her nose, but she's otherwise unadorned by any paintwork other than her radio call and nose numbers. We can't speak for her wings but there isn't even a national insignia on her fuselage! To further deepen the mystery, she doesn't have the lower wheel well covers on her landing gear either---that was a fairly common modification in the muddy SWPAC but this image obviously wasn't taken there! The more normally presented P-39 parked behind her only serves to create more questions than answers. She was reclaimed in Seattle in 1944, and we're guessing she never left the States, although we could be wrong about that. To add yet another puzzle to the mix, the photograph is originally credited to someone with the last name of Spoonts, and Leslie Spoonts was a P-39 pilot with the 57th FS flying out of Adak during the Aleutians Campaign. It's Mystery Meat for sure! Spoonts via John Kerr Collection<div><div><br /></div><div>As has been mentioned here many times previously, it's no secret that we have a well-schooled and exceptionally bright readership! If you know more about this enigma of an airplane we'd like to hear from you. As usual we're garbling that address so The Bad People out there in Internet Land don't glom onto it, but you can get in touch with us at replicainscaleatyahoodotcom using the appropriate symbols as appropriate. (Where, they asked, does he come up with this stuff!).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>One More Thing Before We Sign Off for Today</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It's not at all unusual for the people I know fairly well to ask what's going on with the blog, and why it's invariably on a schedule that could only be described as nonexistent. That question has generally been answered in person, face to face, but a couple of days ago I received an email from a regular reader who was asking what had happened and if the project was still alive. Talk about a wake-up call! Here's the answer to what is an extremely valid question.</div><div><br /></div><div>First and foremost, neither myself nor <i>Replica in Scale</i> are going anywhere. I've been involved with this project since Jim Wogstad and I first began thinking about doing a magazine back in 1971 and I'm not about to throw all those years away. It's a part of my life and neither myself nor the project are going away!</div><div><br /></div><div>The reasons for all the delays are of little concern to the readership but you're all part of the <i>RIS</i> family and you deserve to know something. Unfortunately, the best I can do for the moment is attribute it to Life and move on from there. There's nothing overly dramatic or tragic going on; it's just been tough to find the time. With any luck and my new-found motivation I'll start doing a little better with publication schedules!</div><div><br /></div><div>In the meantime, let's all give Stan Kurcz a big thank you for providing the kick in the backside that's gotten me off my hind end and back to trying to provide you with a continuation of the publication we <i>all</i> enjoy so much! Thanks also for the ongoing patience of our little family. I can make no promises but I'll do my best to publish these things a little more frequently from now on!</div><div><br /></div><div>SO; until the next time, smile every chance you get and be good to your neighbor! We'll meet again soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>phil</div><div><div><br /></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-73954262314929715322023-05-14T17:12:00.002-05:002023-05-28T07:02:04.293-05:00<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMurTA1mhuqF8dphu9LciXT6wNGtg6JDet4hKb35ozCne7RqxjdEm6OqTU_ibZcHMxmcI5k7ZM9qJJVo6UAm9Wt3trT_WTtkPBMZzduBR3cxYNJo7EJDszFaP8v36D8vTYoZ9NDghe7jDAuUSHluj-ZikCqMISNddIB3fulHeCnLl8RbNYep9nqb2/s10633/F4U-1A%20VMF-113%20SWPAC%20ca%201944%20Mary%20Louise%20Inc%20and%20The%20Snorting%20Hog%20USMC%20via%20Friddell%20(3).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="8297" data-original-width="10633" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMurTA1mhuqF8dphu9LciXT6wNGtg6JDet4hKb35ozCne7RqxjdEm6OqTU_ibZcHMxmcI5k7ZM9qJJVo6UAm9Wt3trT_WTtkPBMZzduBR3cxYNJo7EJDszFaP8v36D8vTYoZ9NDghe7jDAuUSHluj-ZikCqMISNddIB3fulHeCnLl8RbNYep9nqb2/s320/F4U-1A%20VMF-113%20SWPAC%20ca%201944%20Mary%20Louise%20Inc%20and%20The%20Snorting%20Hog%20USMC%20via%20Friddell%20(3).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div> Friddell Collection via Replica in Scale</div><div><br /></div><b>A Sad Day...</b><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Let's jump straight to it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jim Sullivan, a friend of mine for the past fifty years, passed away yesterday after suffering a massive heart attack a few days ago. Jim was among the very first of the heavy hitters in the aviation photography community to contact Jim Wogstad and myself back in 1973, when we were struggling to birth the original print version of what was to become known as <i>Replica in Scale</i>. Since that time he never failed to assist with photography, information, and insight. He shared his perspective, knowledge, and humor on many things over the years and was among the most unselfish people I've been privileged to know. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jim's skill as an author and photographer is well known to anyone who reads these pages. He was a noted authority regarding Chance Vought's immortal F4U <i>Corsair </i>and published a number of books and magazine articles on the type, as well as on other Navy airplanes. He helped a great many other writers with their own projects as well and it's a rare title about American naval aviation that doesn't have a photo or two in it from Jim's collection. </div><div><br /></div><div>He was one of those unique individuals who always gave and rarely asked anything for himself. He was a man of honor and integrity. He was generous, and he was kind. He was a gentleman and a devoted family man. He was a member of a rare and special breed, and he will be missed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Blue skies, Amigo!</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVH_3Y08DZVjbJaZkUBZTJe_Vs-Q8YmST3oJ3p2fO28wgpw2l8XFZ8tr6g3frmvbVMr14cKgNtoGhdcLPhxYcQbagJRQh6Qk_Q-pADUXmtVraVUWziHQYpG9I_bHrCX83a_yzNshrAShbfTQmGqfk-q5wys-I09952mupUsOMJJfRGvvqYM_48f43I" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1029" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVH_3Y08DZVjbJaZkUBZTJe_Vs-Q8YmST3oJ3p2fO28wgpw2l8XFZ8tr6g3frmvbVMr14cKgNtoGhdcLPhxYcQbagJRQh6Qk_Q-pADUXmtVraVUWziHQYpG9I_bHrCX83a_yzNshrAShbfTQmGqfk-q5wys-I09952mupUsOMJJfRGvvqYM_48f43I" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>phil</div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-82311911222154323342023-01-03T17:00:00.001-06:002023-01-04T09:48:35.262-06:00Why Don't He Write?<p> </p><p><b>A Clarification and a Special Request </b></p><p>First and foremost, don't get overly excited about this particular installment because just this once it's not about airplanes, either real or plastic. Instead, it's a philosophical and procedural sort of thing, but I'm guessing it needs to be clarified.</p><p>Way back in the way back, a number of years ago in the early days of this project, I mentioned that I didn't encourage or print the normal sorts of comments found on most internet blogs, nor did I offer a forum. There was a simple reason for doing things that way---I'd looked at other sites, read the arguments and flame wars that so often lived on them, and had decided from the very beginning that a comments/forum function wouldn't be a part of <i>Replica in Scale</i>. I switched off that function and went on my merry way, but an hour or so ago, more out of curiosity than anything else, I clicked that button to see if any comments had been sent and they had! There were at least a couple of hundred of them and I've spent the past hour going through them all, which made me understand that I needed to clear up a couple of things.</p><p>First and foremost, I value all of my readers and I'd sincerely like to hear from anyone who wants to get in touch with the project regarding American military aviation, plastic model airplanes, or anything else I've previously published but, like I've said several times before (up to and including right now!), I don't do that with the "comments" thing that most folks put in their blogs. There's an address I <i>do</i> audit daily and use to feed this site's <i>Relief Tube</i> section which is:</p><p>replicainscaleatyahoodotcom</p><p>There's a trick to that address, of course. It's an email address, and it goes to a real live person (me!), but you have to make a tiny leap of faith and insert your own at sign (@) and dot (.) in the appropriate places. I list it like that in an attempt to mislead the spammers and mostly it seems to work so humor me and do it that way, ok? In that same vein I'd also like to ask that any of you who tried to contact me before about things relevant to this blog but who never received a response (which is what happens if you don't use the email I just provided!) give it another shot and try again. I'd really like to hear from you!</p><p>And finally---I've gone back through those comments and activated a number of them to appear on the site but most are old and possibly forgotten by their posters by now. Thanks for your patience and hopefully for your realization that I'm most assuredly <i>not</i> a child of the electronic age!</p><p>Thanks, ya'll, and as always, be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon!</p><p><br /></p><p>phil</p>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-76671689864521360682023-01-03T16:02:00.001-06:002023-01-03T16:02:57.635-06:00A Case in Point, YOUR Photos, and A Couple of Jim's Hogs<p> </p><p><b>Old Ain't So Bad</b></p><p>Sometimes, anyway. I mention this because I'm old, or at least older (well into my 7th decade) than I'd like to be, but I also mention it because of the perspective it offers on so many things. That's Perspective, folks, not to be confused with that other aging-associated title; Wisdom. It's a viewpoint, a way of looking at things, that we're interested in today. </p><p>Let's take a look at our hobby for just a quick minute and evaluate where we are in this Year of Our Lord 2023. We've got a bunch of new kits, and different variants of airplanes that we thought we'd never see. We've got decals, paint masks, paint, and aftermarket parts and components of every flavor imaginable. We've got a veritable explosion of large-scale models of seemingly endless variety. We've got kits that are so good right out of the box that the only conceivable reason to purchase aftermarket for them would be for bragging rights. As modelers we are, right now this moment, living in a continuation of a New Golden Age that the electronic nay-sayers have predicted would come to a close several years ago. We well and truly have never had it so good. </p><p>Then again, we've never had it so good for a very long time when you think about it. When I began modeling on a "serious" level the heavy hitters were Revell GB, Frog, and Airfix. Kits were simple and poor in the detail department and kit decals were thick and often out of register, not to mention inaccurate. Aftermarket didn't exist on any level---the train guys had that sort of thing but we didn't. Paint was something you mixed yourself from the offerings of Pactra, Testors, and, if you were lucky, Floquil.</p><p>I think the changes really began back in 1963 with Revell's 1/72nd scale family of fighters, or maybe in 1966/67 when Monogram began to produce their first models aimed straight at the enthusiast rather than at kids. Who came first honestly doesn't matter, however, because those guys, plus the admission to The Club of several hitherto unknown Japanese manufacturers, changed our game forever. MicroScale jumped into the fray in 1968 and had an immediate, and lasting, impact on the decal market, and the 70s saw the trembling birth of a thing called "aftermarket". Every year was better for us as airplane modelers than the previous one. Every good model or accessory was topped by a better one. It was, and seeming still is, a never-ending phenomenon.</p><p>Here we are, then. It's 2023 and our collective cups are running over like never before. Name it and we probably have it or are about to get it and a lot of it is really good, although some of it isn't. That takes us to our closets and the accumulation of kits, decals, aftermarket, paint, and references associated with our hobby and then directly to the burning question: What am I going to <i>do</i> with all this old stuff? Here's a perspective for you.</p><p>A lot of that aforementioned stuff is obsolescent or outright obsolete by now, and some of the really old stuff is, perhaps unfortunately, now collectable. Those things might get hoarded, or sold off, or consumed for fun in a nostalgia build, but that leaves us with those sad offerings that are really good but no longer quite good enough, at least in the eye of The Internet Authorities On Everything Polystyrene. In that regard, I'm not sure what <i>you</i> do with your own not-quite-good-enoughs but I build mine. I'll often upgrade them with a small amount of aftermarket, usually in the cockpit or around the landing gear, but I'll build them and put them on the shelf! </p><p>Think about this for a minute: Some of the new kits are truly amazing but, when it's all said and done, only make the collections of polystyrene components that preceded them unusable to a select few. Eduard now owns the F4F, and the A6M, and the <i>Spitfire</i>, and on and on, (and deservedly so) but many of the kits that came before them are entirely adequate for 99% of the modelers out there. </p><p>Of course, there's also the REALLY old stuff that should have gone to the garbage heap decades ago, but there are some really good polystyrene offerings out there that nobody has yet managed to equal, much less surpass. Think Monogram's three 1/72nd scale 1930s American fighters (P-6E, F4B-4, and F11C-2) if you need an example of just how good Old can be. Or maybe you'd rather talk about jets? OK, let's talk that same manufacturer's Century Series in 1/48th. Of those six distinct airframes (F-100, F-101, F-102, F-104, F-105, and F-106) only one, the <i>Starfighter</i>, has been produced to modern standards. I'll give you the Deuce if you want to quibble about it but that's only because nobody other than Monogram have kitted it in that scale yet. The attempts to date to supersede the others by contemporary manufacturers have all been poor at best and, right up to this date, we still don't have a modern kit that's an actual improvement for any of them, raised panel lines and all. </p><p>Here's the thing of it. The new stuff, the <i>wunderkits</i> if you will, are truly amazing and a very great many of them are worthy of every accolade they receive, but that doesn't mean it's time to deep-six the older models. Some are well worth building in spite of the occasional horse poot written about them on the internet. It's a choice as regards to what does or doesn't actually get built and that choice is yours, without question, but you shouldn't sell the old stuff short. </p><p>So THERE!</p><p><i>The Road Goes on Forever and the Party Never Ends</i>, Robert Earl Keen</p><p><b>A Semi-Oldie to Prove the Point</b></p><p>Here's a model to prove, or maybe not, the point just made by my mindless ramble directly above:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKoGJZijS60MBir51u0CwybIEAzRHUTXsgzmmKiHsLoqGGSkAIDylgcpMuRT68XKqZ5MZ2QA9Dt_JcZUL0UiNYPBJPUggb0u4so3AjQEkZZv1-NPtadchaca7lDq2Kx8Bvfzkn0he-c-aPkcq-odX8h4MLKF7M0MSBY1oAeaQfvzPkpXFheygUiaW/s2885/Roden%20Junkers%20D.1%201-48th%20Scale%20c%20Friddell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2479" data-original-width="2885" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKoGJZijS60MBir51u0CwybIEAzRHUTXsgzmmKiHsLoqGGSkAIDylgcpMuRT68XKqZ5MZ2QA9Dt_JcZUL0UiNYPBJPUggb0u4so3AjQEkZZv1-NPtadchaca7lDq2Kx8Bvfzkn0he-c-aPkcq-odX8h4MLKF7M0MSBY1oAeaQfvzPkpXFheygUiaW/s320/Roden%20Junkers%20D.1%201-48th%20Scale%20c%20Friddell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>May we offer for your consideration a Roden offering from several years ago, their Junkers D.II in 1/48th scale. As far as we know it's the only one of its kind in the scale and successfully completing it can be a bit of a challenge, but it certainly looks the part when it's done. It's a fine example of how a "difficult" model isn't really that at all. Not unlike the Monogram kits we mentioned in that editorial it isn't a model of the shake and bake variety, but it isn't difficult to build either. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghZiiGqylmO_ctSqhS0pyKI-fKk06gmT7zGZGviveag_evPq5iNaCIu7iFVJk4H19qFF5Wu-T7Un0_vnUWZ-bvkfEWKPOOU2cB0uBaJN3KA8bmzQlwMRJ1fL5FTZnV3wBLlKrAwQR0GVVkKQRQL_o_FTRNry63Am3INydN3u3zBoTa6t8TSZQL2JUw/s2498/Roden%20Junkers%20D.1%201-48th%20Scale%20d%20Friddell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1497" data-original-width="2498" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghZiiGqylmO_ctSqhS0pyKI-fKk06gmT7zGZGviveag_evPq5iNaCIu7iFVJk4H19qFF5Wu-T7Un0_vnUWZ-bvkfEWKPOOU2cB0uBaJN3KA8bmzQlwMRJ1fL5FTZnV3wBLlKrAwQR0GVVkKQRQL_o_FTRNry63Am3INydN3u3zBoTa6t8TSZQL2JUw/s320/Roden%20Junkers%20D.1%201-48th%20Scale%20d%20Friddell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The model, presented for your perusal in clean form with very little weathering provides us with a fine representation of Hugo Junkers' pugnacious little interceptor. Some of the parts are a bit on the clunky side, truth be known, and it isn't the easiest date in town either, but it IS eminently buildable and provides the modeler with a fine replica of a type that was at least a decade ahead of its time when it was built. In many respects the kit defines the difference between a parts assembler and a modeler!<div><br /></div><div>This example was built slowly, in-between other projects, but we can honestly say that the worst thing about it was dealing with the somewhat stiff decals while applying them over those corrugated surfaces. The turnover bar was rebuilt using plastic rod, but the kit is otherwise stock, including the guns. Just a tiny bit more effort on my part would have produced a knockout of a model that's rarely built due to its perceived difficulty. Sometimes all we have to do is simply DO the thing. It's amazing what a little patience can achieve, right?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>These Images Are Yours for Free</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>A lot of folks are aware of that somewhat enigmatic entity known as "The National Archives" but few know that they've been putting certain of their assets, including photographs, on their on-line site for a number of years. All you have to do to gain access is to enter <a href="http://catalog.archives.gov">catalog.archives.gov</a> into your browser and you're there. That's the good news.</div><div><br /></div><div>Where there's good there's bad, of course, and the site has a bit of that as well. Their search function isn't as linear as we might like, nor particularly easy to use, and relatively few of their hundreds of thousands of images have been scanned and posted, but what's there is free, absolutely free, to the public. Sometimes finding things there is as much a matter of luck as anything else, but the results of persistent searching can be simply amazing. Don't believe us? Then check <i>these</i> out!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwEQSK8naEX8h1GTVgKcJp5L-E8PXzL8FPvEGBzNj2AyR1LrLZgs79mJbEQ2_TNO9KS9jK2Q00uGlF7zy73xi1P5bSB79aVHHiPoAGRaxpxwzHkrQm0nrXheogWDz254-gZBeeckYtO9ZgpCHZBpRntSApHZ7EJoSbUkr9AtfajM7PrquvDNKgRxQb/s3105/F-84E-25-RE%2051-0559%2049th%20FBW%20This'll%20Kill%20Ya!,%20%20lost%20over%20Korea%20flying%20thru%20its%20own%20bomb%20blast%2021%20May%2052%20NARA%20%20342-FH-4A40097-K90449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2043" data-original-width="3105" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwEQSK8naEX8h1GTVgKcJp5L-E8PXzL8FPvEGBzNj2AyR1LrLZgs79mJbEQ2_TNO9KS9jK2Q00uGlF7zy73xi1P5bSB79aVHHiPoAGRaxpxwzHkrQm0nrXheogWDz254-gZBeeckYtO9ZgpCHZBpRntSApHZ7EJoSbUkr9AtfajM7PrquvDNKgRxQb/s320/F-84E-25-RE%2051-0559%2049th%20FBW%20This'll%20Kill%20Ya!,%20%20lost%20over%20Korea%20flying%20thru%20its%20own%20bomb%20blast%2021%20May%2052%20NARA%20%20342-FH-4A40097-K90449.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Let's begin with "This'll Kill Ya", an F-84E-25-RE (51-0559) of the 49th FBW operating out of Korea. It was lost by flying through its own bomb blast on 21 May 1952. What a perfect subject for the Revell F-84E/G kits, right? NARA Image 342-FH-4A40097-K90449<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil5rJx5DN49L0I1sdUZs7oQgOdoEj2Y9hT0sz6EWh5i8CuhAp_xaqa-b390j8uC-9xa3MZbr9R7QvASR2lBwE25IF-iRIBbMkdchzmUuiQ1nIhx9e20SeIAHmPzdmRFN7MR8LSvLzgfk7nngZT_IcvDPNQUDBqnZcoWYxj7-Z-3LF3_iAzsbVZ0QZH/s3068/F-84E-30-RE%2051-0613%208th%20FBS%2049th%20FBW%20Lois%20K-Frenchie%20Korea%201952%20NARA%20342-FH-4A40093-K90445%20Lois%20K%208th%20FBS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3068" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil5rJx5DN49L0I1sdUZs7oQgOdoEj2Y9hT0sz6EWh5i8CuhAp_xaqa-b390j8uC-9xa3MZbr9R7QvASR2lBwE25IF-iRIBbMkdchzmUuiQ1nIhx9e20SeIAHmPzdmRFN7MR8LSvLzgfk7nngZT_IcvDPNQUDBqnZcoWYxj7-Z-3LF3_iAzsbVZ0QZH/s320/F-84E-30-RE%2051-0613%208th%20FBS%2049th%20FBW%20Lois%20K-Frenchie%20Korea%201952%20NARA%20342-FH-4A40093-K90445%20Lois%20K%208th%20FBS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And then there's "Lois K"/"Frenchie", an F-84E-30-RE (51-0613) of the 8th FBS/49th FBW armed up and ready to go hunting, also during 1952. NARA Image 342-FH-4A40093-K90445<div><br /></div><div>Notice that neither of these images have our usual <i>Replica in Scale</i> watermark overlayed on them. That's because they aren't from our collection, nor from the collection of any of our many friends and contributors. They're from "The Archives" and they're yours---all you need is a bit of patience to find them and all the others that are basically hiding in plain sight!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>There's a Reason They Call Him Mister Corsair</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It's a new year but Jim Sullivan is far from being a new friend. He first contacted us back in the early 1970s offering full access to his photo collection for our use in the original print edition of this project. Since then he's been a constant with RIS, both in print and electronically. Some of us gained a nickname for themselves early in the game and Jim certainly earned his: Mister Corsair. He's written about the airplane, modeled it, and collected photographs of it for several decades now, and he's invariably been unselfish in the sharing of the images he's accumulated. Here are just a couple of examples of that:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfA8bESzrSZzbYbGhKUU_UPdG6T3cuEMK-Ft7qz7s16P9pSWiSqQbGbcAoMjSi_tk9Pja7heWN3vsVLI6F2GdyjL5fzDme8d3dgdE1--L2H4ycFZwHg2HP6-RbRlLQ4_dZZAi6t-5jV9251Htlx1yRwYiQKHhLKzFlFMRHWNwXnjTsZ673D9S0zTfM/s3923/F4U-4's%20VMF-212%20%20USS%20Sicily%20Korea%20c.1952%20(USN)%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2531" data-original-width="3923" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfA8bESzrSZzbYbGhKUU_UPdG6T3cuEMK-Ft7qz7s16P9pSWiSqQbGbcAoMjSi_tk9Pja7heWN3vsVLI6F2GdyjL5fzDme8d3dgdE1--L2H4ycFZwHg2HP6-RbRlLQ4_dZZAi6t-5jV9251Htlx1yRwYiQKHhLKzFlFMRHWNwXnjTsZ673D9S0zTfM/s320/F4U-4's%20VMF-212%20%20USS%20Sicily%20Korea%20c.1952%20(USN)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's what we mean. VMF-212's F4U-4s crowd the flight deck of the<i> USS Sicily </i>during a pre-strike runup off the coast of North Korea during 1952. Of interest to the modeler are the asymmetrical fuselage ordnance loadings consisting of a gas bag on one station and a 500lb GP bomb on the other, seen on several of the airplanes in this image. The wing stations on most of the other <i>Corsairs</i> in this shot are filled with 5-inch HVARs, making for a potent strike package indeed. Jim Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBTyMiex-KVXh274i1JlRd05X8tWGuqTTnw1BxpGarIQChxUnV348o7pgt53X_CFl8ldGzvSkbBchQvQvZVDCbS7IXp-Mhv0cKDp_MpJPYptheUAFpwTfx0lMmc6rOEmnHfVuSK2R59pbu0Xj4rn3Fat_t9R5aGmEOqqymQ0ppihNqc1xeUi4BHy56/s3985/F4U-4B%2063059%20VMF-312%20WR-17%20Korea%20c.1952%20%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2647" data-original-width="3985" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBTyMiex-KVXh274i1JlRd05X8tWGuqTTnw1BxpGarIQChxUnV348o7pgt53X_CFl8ldGzvSkbBchQvQvZVDCbS7IXp-Mhv0cKDp_MpJPYptheUAFpwTfx0lMmc6rOEmnHfVuSK2R59pbu0Xj4rn3Fat_t9R5aGmEOqqymQ0ppihNqc1xeUi4BHy56/s320/F4U-4B%2063059%20VMF-312%20WR-17%20Korea%20c.1952%20%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Not every sortie came to a successful conclusion, although we could say that any landing you can walk away from is a good one! This F4U-4B (BuNo 63059) from VMF-312 was put down on the beach, we presume at Cho-Do Island although we're uncertain of that, during 1952 after receiving damage while striking ground targets in North Korea. Military aviation has always been a risky proposition at best and combat only makes things a whole lot worse. This young Marine aviator walked away from his crash but far too many did not. Let's raise a glass... Jim Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Jim for his unfailing generosity and, more importantly, to a friendship that's spanned the decades. Thank you, Jim!</div><div><br /></div><div>There's no <i>Happy Snap</i> to share today because I haven't dug one out of the files yet, and there isn't a <i>Relief Tube</i> either because it's been so darned long since I've published anything that nobody has written in to tell me the error of my ways! Those things will come back soon but for now; well, for now it's time to get back to publishing and try to reestablish some sort, <i>any</i> sort, of schedule. Any rumors of the demise of this project are both highly premature and completely unfounded, but Life has taken a huge toll of my time these past few months. With that as a benchmark, 2023 almost <i>has</i> to be better!</div><div><br /></div><div>You can still get in touch with us at the same old tangled-up to foul the spammers address, which is replicainscaleatyahoodotcom. Comments and constructive criticisms are always welcomed, as are photographs of and information regarding American military aviation. </div><div><br /></div><div>One more thing before we go: We're living in some seriously crazy times these days and it's more important than ever that we're good to our neighbors, so please try to do that. With any luck we'll meet again soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil<br /><div><div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-49297720715757912442022-08-05T10:20:00.001-05:002022-08-05T10:20:11.705-05:00No Way to Lose, Arachnids From the Frozen North, Something You Don't Normally See Around Here, Some Old Tinker-Toys, and School Days<p><br /></p><p><b>It's Nearly Always a Win</b></p><p>I am, of course, referring to our hobby and, more specifically, to the building of a kit, any kit, to a reasonably high standard of finish. In many respects I'm the wrong guy to be talking about that sort of thing since I'm a middle-of-the-road sort of modeler at best, but we can learn lessons even in mediocrity and the recent eating of my lunch by a relatively new and high-end kit provided the reflection required to cause pontification regarding the subject---that means let's talk about it for a minute or two.</p><p>That most recent obstruction in the perfidious path to polystyrene perfection (yes; I actually did say that and no; I don't know what prompted me to do it either) wasn't the only challenge I've ever faced while modeling. Nope; there have been many such excursions into failure, perhaps too many to count if truth be told, but there's been an up side to each and every one of those near disasters. </p><p>Take, for example, that 1/72nd scale Lindberg He.162 I attempted to build back in 1976. It was a simple kit with few components, most of which fit properly, so there was no undue challenge to building the thing. Inspiration was at hand and the kit was cooperating, which meant it was ready to paint in a mere day or two. The airbrush was actually in hand when The Discovery was made; that kit utilizes a one-piece wing that slides through slots in the fuselage halves and I'd put it in backwards, a fact noticed only when the largish leading-edge slats in that newly swept wing were discovered. There honestly wasn't much saving that one so it landed in the trash can, leaving in its wake a perpetual note to self regarding the wisdom of checking things prior to the application of glue. That was actually the Up Side to the adventure even though the model was trashed. Now we sing it all together: PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING! Yes indeedy, a life lesson if ever there was one.</p><p>Proceed forward a few years, to the early 2000s and my discovery of Classic Airframes. Any one of them was a stretch for my abilities at the time but the kit subjects made the gamble worthwhile. They even offered the Curtiss P-6E, a favorite of mine since childhood, and in two different boxings to boot! It was reputed to be a difficult kit but biplanes had never previously been any sort of challenge to my ever-limited skills so the game was on. Said game lasted right up to the part where the upper wing needed to be installed, which was when Folly entered the picture. That darned wing just wouldn't mount properly no matter how it was attached. In desperation I finally consulted Mr Internet (this was the early 2000s, remember) and read where everybody was trimming the struts because they didn't fit properly. That seemed to make sense so I trimmed mine too, thus ensuring there was no way the upper wing could ever be properly attached to the rest of the airplane, but that one didn't get thrown away. It went back into its box and sat for fifteen years or so until I acquired another kit at a good price thanks to the kindness of an old friend; Richard Ng. I could describe the revelation that resulted in the successful completion of that model but I'd rather not, referring anyone interested to scroll instead to the bottom of this page and type "P-6E" into the search function to find the article published in these very pages. The adventure will pop up complete with photographs. The lesson there was another ode to simplicity: LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES AND DON'T REPEAT THEM.</p><p>Finally, there was that Grand Phoenix FJ-4B <i>Fury</i>. The kit comes with a reputation for being challenging at best, and that can certainly be true if you allow it to be. The major offenders are the resin main landing gear bays, which are too thick to fit inside the wings, and the components we'll agree to refer to as Anything Inside the Front of the Airplane, all of which compete for the same limited amount of space in there. Those things are a challenge, to be sure, but the kit is more accurate than either the primordial Matchbox or the more recent HobbyBoss offerings, which means learning a bit of patience and fortitude. That particular kit was removed and put back into its box more often that most people change their socks and underwear but at the end of the day a pretty good model resulted---I have both the HobbyBoss and Grand Phoenix models on the shelf, sitting side by side, and the Grand Phoenix kit is far and away the better of the two, although the path to get there was a bit more difficult. That adventure eventually resulted in quite a bit of preplanning and measuring, which resulted in the fitting of the apparently unfittable. The experience led to perhaps my most important lesson of all: FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT BEFORE YOU TRY TO DO IT.</p><p>And finally we come to the point, which is this: You're going to mess up sometimes, and there will be times when your failure could be described as Epic. You're also going to mess up more than once, and that's okay too, or at least it is as long as you learn from the adventure. The kit, whatever it is, provides us with an opportunity and nothing more. What we do with it results directly from our abilities, both to figure things out and to perform the physical task of modeling, and to learn from our mistakes. Let's call that Growth. </p><p>Whew...</p><p><b>Better Than Nothing</b></p><p>That sobriquet could handily describe Northrop's F-89 <i>Scorpion</i> family of jet interceptors. They certainly looked the part of a dedicated defender of the skies, particularly after the introduction of the D-model with those massive fuel tanks/rocket pods hanging off the wingtips, and they lasted for several decades in both the regular Air Force and in the Air National Guard, but they honestly weren't very much as such things go. A classic product of the 1940s, the F-89 family were cutting edge technology when designed and close to obsolete the day they first entered service. They had marginal radars (but so did everything else at the time), and they were slow. Like so many military airplanes of the '50s they were blessed by never having to serve in combat---a very good thing---but they did hold the line while the United States was ramping up the <i>Century Series </i>of jet fighters which, coincidentally, managed to include a pair of interceptors that truly were up to the task. </p><p>Maddog John Kerr was a slide collector <i>par excellence </i>and a friend as well. He shared a great many images with me, a couple of which we're going to look at today.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_hFXbhbkZRcJMBlrDfaPuvtOXA1LoX5hwyg8KXZNkn57wd6LkTHKZcPgwbsGYDLXKaFSYl4kjjzZLseO3GDNC_ML9D2RyStkMPhbu3d3P0KSvmz01kL3PVYwtZvgCUSg8BKjCB3jmPc7eNxvKRM3QJLbzjAmmy7LF1Wh7aLEnMWcRXqqtSp1WTL6j/s4106/F-89D%2054-221%2076th%20FIS%201955%20Presque%20Isle%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2730" data-original-width="4106" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_hFXbhbkZRcJMBlrDfaPuvtOXA1LoX5hwyg8KXZNkn57wd6LkTHKZcPgwbsGYDLXKaFSYl4kjjzZLseO3GDNC_ML9D2RyStkMPhbu3d3P0KSvmz01kL3PVYwtZvgCUSg8BKjCB3jmPc7eNxvKRM3QJLbzjAmmy7LF1Wh7aLEnMWcRXqqtSp1WTL6j/s320/F-89D%2054-221%2076th%20FIS%201955%20Presque%20Isle%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Before we begin, let's define a time and a place. The photos we're going to look at today are all of F-89D-75-NOs from the 76th FIS during their time at Presque Isle, Maine; specifically during the 1955 time period. In this first shot we see a largish formation of Scorpions over the Maine countryside, with 54-0221 closest to the camera. This image, and two of the three that follow, were scanned from duplicate slides and the quality isn't the best, but we think the subject matter will make up for it. 221 ended up with the Minnesota ANG's 109th FIS. John Kerr Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXgvtrqMPBGj1wpabLEg1rZaj6ZpUj14v8aRB9FWuSkrlBaBcfmwqov9IxclnzymLdXuj76D7ww7HTQ18m0LDbHameymszdxsovYbZP0NCKfk_jSWRcXaQFtYzrLVU5HSV2K6WK3fKU9T-EJ8ZaLOOWnAspC3P8kFoiHGSNodbb1apCcBD2mbpdtu/s4106/F-89D%2054-0221%2076th%20FIS%201955%20Presque%20Isle%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2570" data-original-width="4106" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXgvtrqMPBGj1wpabLEg1rZaj6ZpUj14v8aRB9FWuSkrlBaBcfmwqov9IxclnzymLdXuj76D7ww7HTQ18m0LDbHameymszdxsovYbZP0NCKfk_jSWRcXaQFtYzrLVU5HSV2K6WK3fKU9T-EJ8ZaLOOWnAspC3P8kFoiHGSNodbb1apCcBD2mbpdtu/s320/F-89D%2054-0221%2076th%20FIS%201955%20Presque%20Isle%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a closer image of 0221 providing a slightly better view of her markings. The last two of her Air Force serial number were repeated on the outboard nose of her wing tanks, although that isn't shown in this view. The F-89 always appeared somewhat ungainly to me, but this view makes it look almost pretty. Almost... John Kerr Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvGZ6ki1_NoKabKoy9TuRh_G7Pps1p1fI5vMcykmzmqCZyRVSt9wu7B4rDgzpzmVWeNhOmr6ThQlFiGCoPzUgwKL2PtcjMqvsNpVtVBhgO4UKmUkkVOOLFpooe6mdt4ASUQjNNfoDPP6Mt_1OOAZqq9psi4rpU3WW313pMKL14EaXwOONvZQ0f99U3/s4106/F-89D%2054-221,%2076th%20FIS%201955%20Presque%20Isle%20%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2570" data-original-width="4106" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvGZ6ki1_NoKabKoy9TuRh_G7Pps1p1fI5vMcykmzmqCZyRVSt9wu7B4rDgzpzmVWeNhOmr6ThQlFiGCoPzUgwKL2PtcjMqvsNpVtVBhgO4UKmUkkVOOLFpooe6mdt4ASUQjNNfoDPP6Mt_1OOAZqq9psi4rpU3WW313pMKL14EaXwOONvZQ0f99U3/s320/F-89D%2054-221,%2076th%20FIS%201955%20Presque%20Isle%20%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In this photo we get a view of the other side of 0221, which gives us a look at the sharkmouth the squadron carried during this time period. While far from garish, its proportions and colors suit the <i>Scorpion</i>'s shape to a T and provide a wonderful markings variation to the airplane. 54-0234 is also carrying her "last three" on the nose of her wing tank/rocket pod assembly, as are the other aircraft in the squadron. Jet fighters sure were prettier back then! John Kerr Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5vcOtbpQeMWLz3s5Bsp4mA9wtcBXXU1ELS2Cz8Lk4TwvqYhRt8_pp-uB84vBixzTiSQ4dZiubz01KvMO_GvrKsc3AXZGY47hECmNZ7zF4kiIWRbeqnEWIJ69_fZkXKWKZKBVN6yCTa2D06etgkPWu8fjGz6XqaRYPCxmSfs0YV9jxFPBTGDClj-q/s4106/F-89D%20sn%20NA%2076th%20FIS%20at%20Presque%20Isle%201955%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2709" data-original-width="4106" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5vcOtbpQeMWLz3s5Bsp4mA9wtcBXXU1ELS2Cz8Lk4TwvqYhRt8_pp-uB84vBixzTiSQ4dZiubz01KvMO_GvrKsc3AXZGY47hECmNZ7zF4kiIWRbeqnEWIJ69_fZkXKWKZKBVN6yCTa2D06etgkPWu8fjGz6XqaRYPCxmSfs0YV9jxFPBTGDClj-q/s320/F-89D%20sn%20NA%2076th%20FIS%20at%20Presque%20Isle%201955%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Finally, and perhaps appropriately, we have this marvelous photograph of a young 76th FIS driver standing for a hero shot in front of "his" <i>Scorpion</i>. Most, if not all, of the 76th's D-models carried the sharkmouth at this time period and while we have no way to determine which airplane this was, the image does give us a good feel for the proportions and colors of the marking. Those were the days! John Kerr Collection<div><br /></div><div>Jim Wogstad and I interviewed John Keeler, a former pilot with the wartime 56th FG, for our very first print issue of the Replica in Scale project back in the early 1970s. During the course of that interview John recalled a story for us about a flight to Greenland in company with a group of F-89s. His comment about having to weave constantly in order for the <i>Scorpions</i> to keep up with them pretty much said it all, but the airplane was available when there was almost nothing else to do its job. Sometimes you just have to make do!<br /><div><br /><div><b>Guess What I Found!</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Long ago and far away...</div><div><br /></div><div>Back in 1974 <i>Replica in Scale </i>was a print publication, because there was no such thing as a personal computer or the internet. The project was chugging along, and our original staff had dwindled down to just Jim Wogstad and myself, plus spouses, and Horizon Hobbies, a large distributor at the time, was sending us review samples on a regular basis, not all of which were airplanes.</div><div><br /></div><div>A few months ago found me performing one of my extremely rare cleanups in the studio and I discovered one of those non-airplane models, entirely intact and looking mostly ok once all those years of dust had been removed. It's not an airplane, and we're not getting ready to go over to the dark side here, but I thought it might be worth sharing, as a curiosity if nothing else. Feel free to skip right past it if it doesn't interest you!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptERNs2AZnteIgIy-9_iKxifqO8otOsES7NkMHUHcFQ8OaiJ9653kxd1C5Dvl_dKWsVQ2EUrY4i92jkSs8pednXvYBeZitgYB-TCftQS891XDxn8fRg0pn6RevHbC4In1_COMiTdXH2wqamoxryS697BUt1WHK6k5L0jGg7KaV0z_SNlbUrOlKXln/s3024/Tamiya%20Fiat%20Ansaldo%20M13-40%20Replica%20in%20Scale%201974%20and%20Jun%202022%20%20Phillip%20Friddell.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2798" data-original-width="3024" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptERNs2AZnteIgIy-9_iKxifqO8otOsES7NkMHUHcFQ8OaiJ9653kxd1C5Dvl_dKWsVQ2EUrY4i92jkSs8pednXvYBeZitgYB-TCftQS891XDxn8fRg0pn6RevHbC4In1_COMiTdXH2wqamoxryS697BUt1WHK6k5L0jGg7KaV0z_SNlbUrOlKXln/s320/Tamiya%20Fiat%20Ansaldo%20M13-40%20Replica%20in%20Scale%201974%20and%20Jun%202022%20%20Phillip%20Friddell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here, in all its glory, is a 1974-vintage Tamiya Fiat-Ansaldo M13/40 medium tank as built by your rarely humble editor almost immediately after receiving the review copy from Horizon. We thought the kit was accurate at the time, which may or may not have been entirely true since few detailed references for it existed back then, and it looked fairly ok after a hefty wash of Grumbacher Burnt Umber over the ubiquitous Floquil "Mud" I'd painted it with. A couple of the fenders were dented by the high-tech expedient of twisting on them with a pair of X-Acto needle nose pliers, while the somewhat dashing commander up in the turret was painted with artist's acrylics over white primer, detailed out with the kit's binoculars and goggle straps cut from typing paper. It's not much by today's standards but we liked it a lot back then. It's a tale from the <i>RIS</i> crypt, as it were!<br /><div><br /></div><div><b>Some Spiffy Scooters</b><br /><div><br /></div><div>There are air shows and then there are air shows. Frequent contributor and, coincidentally, editor of <i>The</i> <i>Hook</i> magazine Mark Aldrich, recently came across some images from a special airshow held in Great Britain long ago. Let's have a look:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5b2_21P93HB8QHCCI8-1V_6jUIJyypnZrC83Aa_xZGpnI6sO7CuOvXG_T0PPjh3JSknz_9T-AI3i7H6_kHJ590AYgu3enU5uVaLRSRtH2rXgvnO2TvSVJPGoACK2IZpd7IGqpnTpL0CSXLpuEx5Lo9B9LX_nVRR34Ml4mnxgydrsypj34zC6IDXf/s2500/Douglas%20A4D-2%20142690%20VA-12%20AK-514%20Shangri-La%20Southampton%2010Sep60%20(MALD%20col)%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2097" data-original-width="2500" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5b2_21P93HB8QHCCI8-1V_6jUIJyypnZrC83Aa_xZGpnI6sO7CuOvXG_T0PPjh3JSknz_9T-AI3i7H6_kHJ590AYgu3enU5uVaLRSRtH2rXgvnO2TvSVJPGoACK2IZpd7IGqpnTpL0CSXLpuEx5Lo9B9LX_nVRR34Ml4mnxgydrsypj34zC6IDXf/s320/Douglas%20A4D-2%20142690%20VA-12%20AK-514%20Shangri-La%20Southampton%2010Sep60%20(MALD%20col)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>CV-38 <i>Shangri La</i> was making a port call at Southhampton back on the 10th of September, 1960, and staged an open house aboard ship. This photograph, and the two to follow, were taken on that stereotypical dreary day. In this image we see A4D-2 142690 from VA-12 chained to the deck and ready to receive visitors. She managed an extensive career in the Navy but never saw combat in SEA, a rarity for the type considering the events that were about the define the <i>Skyhawk's</i> career and were rapidly reaching a boiling point several thousand miles away. Mark Aldrich Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFU4zihj-ZoxhAWyFF-rZMgG2f2XecgeD4jVySIqOTQIJNWSLp_v1jQgcVtFG7lS3Jls8o8ofa_06QaQpvUv1Po4z0R5WRDeijdgY8SqA0JWBr48PKQSKYzMitqYMKT6Sw2lwT0SwGKj05Yc3MO7bGpWi12CBwuxss6tIuGHXPg89PGnd7iwFBoAd/s2500/Douglas%20A4D-2%20142693%20VA-12%20AK-510%20Shangri-La%20Southampton%2010Sep60%20(MALD%20col)%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2228" data-original-width="2500" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFU4zihj-ZoxhAWyFF-rZMgG2f2XecgeD4jVySIqOTQIJNWSLp_v1jQgcVtFG7lS3Jls8o8ofa_06QaQpvUv1Po4z0R5WRDeijdgY8SqA0JWBr48PKQSKYzMitqYMKT6Sw2lwT0SwGKj05Yc3MO7bGpWi12CBwuxss6tIuGHXPg89PGnd7iwFBoAd/s320/Douglas%20A4D-2%20142693%20VA-12%20AK-510%20Shangri-La%20Southampton%2010Sep60%20(MALD%20col)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>142693 was another A4D-2 from Attack 12 assigned to the "Shang" on that overcast day. She's wasn't as colorful as 690 and was possibly more typical in appearance than her Easter Egg older sister. She survived her Navy career to be stored and MASDC and later put back into the air operating with the NASA's Ames Research Laboratory. Note the fellow scuttling past her aft fuselage; we don't know about you but visions of Charles Dicken's Artful Dodger immediately came to mind when we first saw this image!</div><div> Mark Aldrich Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4BcxpI4mr_o7f7CivKoj6NmjdZuy3Rfztjjq7-_O_tfPi5Ux1DlzIaeN6XXaQZQDBKAVn2FDd3mp1aXFAAu-eNKRxeA-jo1tM4HRaOu_wu_F-32D_FDpnC9Np95Pjn-wMhgwYuE0z1FUJ73ngUswUYHw55nMw6iIk-mzSUJ1CQhioT2S98somprk/s2500/Douglas%20A4D-2%20144962%20VA-106%20AK-301%20Shangri-La%20Southampton%2010Sep60%20(MALD%20col)%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2228" data-original-width="2500" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4BcxpI4mr_o7f7CivKoj6NmjdZuy3Rfztjjq7-_O_tfPi5Ux1DlzIaeN6XXaQZQDBKAVn2FDd3mp1aXFAAu-eNKRxeA-jo1tM4HRaOu_wu_F-32D_FDpnC9Np95Pjn-wMhgwYuE0z1FUJ73ngUswUYHw55nMw6iIk-mzSUJ1CQhioT2S98somprk/s320/Douglas%20A4D-2%20144962%20VA-106%20AK-301%20Shangri-La%20Southampton%2010Sep60%20(MALD%20col)%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>VA-106 was the other light attack squadron embarked on <i>Shangri La </i>during that 1960 cruise and one of her superbly-decorated "Scooters", 144962, is beautifully illustrated in this image. Items of interest, markings-wise, include the lack of a space or dash between the VA and 106 on her fuselage and the inclusion of her aircraft type (A4D-2) on her gasbags in addition to the squadron identification found there. She met an unfortunate end in a midair collision with an A-4B during 1967, long after she left VA-106, that resulted in the death of four people on the ground. Nobody ever said Naval aviation was safe... Mark Aldrich Collection</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks as always to Mark for his generous sharing of his collection!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>School Days</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Mark Nankivil, he of the Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum, has been with the electronic <i>Replica</i> <i>in Scale </i>project almost from the beginning and, like Jim Sullivan, Mark Aldrich, and so many others, has unselfishly shared his collection with us. In keeping with that generosity, we'd like to offer this glimpse of days long past:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg38uz1bpeIKTY44LM1ywSpINJnyvECSzZYvS_spA6XuqO-wANKYXMra8lS9X9qgaPQz1VxOmHC7rDgkHbajVNjzohKKiZNS_XJbCF_znKtO3UU5YZ0N4d9g6WlAJsMrVc2MF5CCq8jBUnn-ahPuIeEx_KBgc21eDS3WqTgx_1p2NnWE6m1TWD8Rgtf/s5916/41-329%20AT-6A%20107%20AAFAFS%20Foster%20Field%20TX%20early%201942%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4798" data-original-width="5916" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg38uz1bpeIKTY44LM1ywSpINJnyvECSzZYvS_spA6XuqO-wANKYXMra8lS9X9qgaPQz1VxOmHC7rDgkHbajVNjzohKKiZNS_XJbCF_znKtO3UU5YZ0N4d9g6WlAJsMrVc2MF5CCq8jBUnn-ahPuIeEx_KBgc21eDS3WqTgx_1p2NnWE6m1TWD8Rgtf/s320/41-329%20AT-6A%20107%20AAFAFS%20Foster%20Field%20TX%20early%201942%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It's almost time for the young folks to go back to school here in Texas, but in 1942 a whole bunch of kids were attending a different sort of classroom, a response to America's largely unexpected entry into the Second World War. This AT-6A, 41-329, was photographed undergoing maintenance out of doors at Foster Field, in Texas, early in that year. The airplane appears to have been hastily camouflaged in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey, a distinct anomaly if true. She led what must have been a typical life as a training platform, being ground-looped at least four times during her career at Foster but surviving until at least 1943.<div><br /></div><div>That outdoor maintenance could be considered prophetic since many of the students learning to fly at Foster would later end up in the SWPAC where that sort of thing was the norm. Easy days? Never happen, GI! Mark Nankivil Collection</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for today, ya'll; and only a mere 2 months later than we'd originally intended. Big sigh...</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, be good to your neighbor and we'll meet again soon! I hope!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-80436263622206738782022-05-26T07:53:00.009-05:002022-06-10T02:49:10.419-05:00An Oldie but Goodie, Supersize Me, and A Zipper to End the Day<p> </p><p><b>A Different Approach</b></p><p>Here we are, and we're late again! The handful of readers who have been with us since that very first electronic issue back in 2010 have watched a steady trend with the project, which has declined from a heady 79 issues in that first year to just a handful, erratically published. The reasons for that are many but at the end of the day don't matter very much; the point is that a title much-beloved by your editor has been gradually fading into oblivion. </p><p>That's a bad thing in our view, a very bad thing indeed, and it's time to do something about it! Here is the first issue of the new but not necessarily improved RIS. You'll notice it's a lot briefer than it used to be, featuring just a couple of articles. With any luck you'll also note an increased publishing schedule.</p><p>To paraphrase that American writer Samuel Clemmons, the stories of our demise are considerably exaggerated, but we've definitely taken things to the brink. Let's see if we can resuscitate the project!</p><p> <b>A Viable Old-Timer</b></p><p>Tamiya has been a leader in the world of plastic scale modeling for many decades now, and their most recent efforts are mind-boggling in regards to engineering and scale accuracy, but their older kits weren't too bad either. For an example, let's turn to their 1990s P-51D <i>Mustang </i>as released in 1/48th scale.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgRo0bmCSKsnju954VnV5fEPSLx-PR5muTLNMvmb85FinAoWhTWWHHds6hIEPx99KsnZLjybSmpVOg_EVVxMmxqjJRgBPdxvTmRdgUthLWeMO7urIfuUQSj-ImZBqo8RELzeDrLmjZd16FlLtcvmxJWwoJEqYclnbcCUOCyZ1ag_qQRs4VTxo45oam/s2413/Tamiya%20F-51D%2036th%20FBS%2018th%20FBW%20%201-48th%20Scale,%20RIS%20May%202022%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1961" data-original-width="2413" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgRo0bmCSKsnju954VnV5fEPSLx-PR5muTLNMvmb85FinAoWhTWWHHds6hIEPx99KsnZLjybSmpVOg_EVVxMmxqjJRgBPdxvTmRdgUthLWeMO7urIfuUQSj-ImZBqo8RELzeDrLmjZd16FlLtcvmxJWwoJEqYclnbcCUOCyZ1ag_qQRs4VTxo45oam/s320/Tamiya%20F-51D%2036th%20FBS%2018th%20FBW%20%201-48th%20Scale,%20RIS%20May%202022%203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Tamiya's <i>Mustang</i> kit is old enough to be called seminal. It's been a stand-by for scale modelers for nearly three decades, and for good reason. It's more than reasonably accurate for one thing, and it's easy to build for another. We won't go so far as to say anyone can get a superior result using the kit, but most modelers will find it in their skillsets to do that.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhqyGQKYY4URIwojkYN7qS2HIzt5GAauCaLgRA72_OHe863fAOixy_gQ2BOr2fjRujzwjmEl4GZhE8r1uy0N-irnyPzohYxY4Tf_yCzyM-cNZxi-184q1ZX-iCONCnRT0w_8D5hKaGulteXgbhFmvatncuJPYUfZn-4Jq9e1KM_-QHOaSxtW0osMRi/s2695/Tamiya%20F-51D%2036th%20FBS%2018th%20FBW%20%201-48th%20Scale,%20RIS%20May%202022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1771" data-original-width="2695" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhqyGQKYY4URIwojkYN7qS2HIzt5GAauCaLgRA72_OHe863fAOixy_gQ2BOr2fjRujzwjmEl4GZhE8r1uy0N-irnyPzohYxY4Tf_yCzyM-cNZxi-184q1ZX-iCONCnRT0w_8D5hKaGulteXgbhFmvatncuJPYUfZn-4Jq9e1KM_-QHOaSxtW0osMRi/s320/Tamiya%20F-51D%2036th%20FBS%2018th%20FBW%20%201-48th%20Scale,%20RIS%20May%202022.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The model has been released multiple times, with each release being theme-based and reflecting markings specific to that theme. Our personal favorite is their Korean War boxing as shown here. The model features three different sets of markings, one of which we've used for this model---those of the 36th FBS/18th FBW. What you see before you is almost but not quite kit stock, which we'll explain in a moment. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZS3RoQAYDjEEDjpTNF7MB6OezX0dPCLTq31tAQkjfsgRzYLuczgiYzCBcMrIPmo8nT11YHGBe6W5MDsVLNnaj0dyoMNWHKMK0TqGndysqlxdCZND2-5kO_XzgV4Rbw78DQc-ECgZ7o2D8hwpfx0gSD4lgtW1z8YDJdszX_MBo6pLa-IAVJyNPeWR0/s2394/Tamiya%20F-51D%2036th%20FBS%2018th%20FBW%20%201-48th%20Scale,%20RIS%20May%202022%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1908" data-original-width="2394" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZS3RoQAYDjEEDjpTNF7MB6OezX0dPCLTq31tAQkjfsgRzYLuczgiYzCBcMrIPmo8nT11YHGBe6W5MDsVLNnaj0dyoMNWHKMK0TqGndysqlxdCZND2-5kO_XzgV4Rbw78DQc-ECgZ7o2D8hwpfx0gSD4lgtW1z8YDJdszX_MBo6pLa-IAVJyNPeWR0/s320/Tamiya%20F-51D%2036th%20FBS%2018th%20FBW%20%201-48th%20Scale,%20RIS%20May%202022%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Tamiya's by now primordial F-51D still looks the part, even without weathering---yes, boys and girls, it's the usual RIS work-in-progress which, even with the very best of intentions, may never progress much further than what you see here, but the images make the point.<div><br /></div><div>Now for the serious stuff. Every plastic kit has issues and this one is no exception to that rule, but the issues are minor indeed and have been enumerated at least twice previously on these very pages. We're guessing a great many of you can't remember them, so here's a quick and dirty review.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's a notch in the flaps, on the upper inboard corners, that doesn't exist on the real airplane. Tamiya put it there to provide an easy option to model the airplane with its flaps down; lazy, that. The fix is an easy one using sheet styrene or putty and will take a few minutes to accomplish.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tamiya measured a restored warbird when tooling the model and included a set of scab patches on the wings that are unique to that particular airplane. "Real" <i>Mustangs</i> don't have those patches nor their accompanying rivets.</div><div><br /></div><div>The canopy reinforcement bow is molded solid on the kit, while the Real Thing has lightening holes in it. You can fix that with a drill (or maybe with a piece of Eduard aftermarket etch, although we can't remember that for sure, or you can ignore it since only the hard-core <i>Mustang</i> enthusiasts will ever notice it. I generally choose to ignore it but you don't have to do that.</div><div><br /></div><div>The sprue attachment points for the windscreen and canopy are poorly placed and almost guarantee damage to those components, but Tamiya went back and re-did those parts years ago. Caution is still required but fine sandpaper and a polishing cloth can fix most problems related to what is admittedly an awkward bit of engineering. </div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, the kit's interior is a bit basic. In the past I've spiffed up that part of the model with an Eduard "Zoom" set, although the example of the kit you see before you has an ancient True Details set installed instead. There are options out there.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another bit of aftermarket on the model is a set of Eduard's "VLR" Mustang tanks, which they offered separately at one time. They make excellent napalm tanks and offer a considerable improvement over the tanks offered in the kit, which are simply the normal 75-gallon gas bags. I also cut the rockets off their zero-length mounting rails on the model, primarily to put a little variety into the KW F-51Ds in the collection.</div><div><br /></div><div>So what are we saying here? Is the Tamiya dinosaur a better kit than the far more recent Airfix or Eduard offerings? Nope, not by a long shot. It's an older model that's begun to show its age, but it's still way past viable since it's relatively inexpensive, easy to build, and still provides an excellent starting place if you want to build an accurate <i>Mustang</i>. You pays your money and you takes your choice!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEits-TjShOMFdv3cayEfWLdb2XuZ8te1xNxSRoczXzB2v6R_BJBpT_zo5f07QM53bGfT1RZ5Zq6At7gGpc1VbdFhqy2LZT3KizJuIce_5XpUGNxb6gSH8JBBcf4FTB5AYfw0JRnZqlTjCu3DUFX6bl2KWw-IVsIaNTVd9KcGGy7FWviWO28cVl8Zryg/s4053/F-51D%2045-11382%2067th%20FBS%20in%20Korea%2014%20Jul%2052%20Bob%20Cutts%20via%20Kerr,%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2687" data-original-width="4053" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEits-TjShOMFdv3cayEfWLdb2XuZ8te1xNxSRoczXzB2v6R_BJBpT_zo5f07QM53bGfT1RZ5Zq6At7gGpc1VbdFhqy2LZT3KizJuIce_5XpUGNxb6gSH8JBBcf4FTB5AYfw0JRnZqlTjCu3DUFX6bl2KWw-IVsIaNTVd9KcGGy7FWviWO28cVl8Zryg/s320/F-51D%2045-11382%2067th%20FBS%20in%20Korea%2014%20Jul%2052%20Bob%20Cutts%20via%20Kerr,%20Friddell%20Collection%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We'll call this Inspiration; a 67th FBS/18th FBW F-51D on the ground in Korea on 15 July, 1952. Note the cuffed HamStandard prop, retractable tailwheel (sometimes locked down in-theater due to poor runway conditions), and the color of the gear behind the cockpit armor plate. The SNJ-5C in the background was assigned to the Joint Operations Center, hence the "J.O.C." painted on the nose under the windscreen. There were a lot of dogs and cats flying around in Korea, especially in the early days of the conflict. Bob Cutts via John Kerr<div><br /></div><div>NOTE: I had originally misidentified the F-51's unit in the caption. Thanks very much to long-time friend Mark Morgan for catching the error and keeping me honest! pf</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Big Stick</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We all remember Convair's B-36, the largest bomber ever built by anyone and a USAF staple of the early Cold War. Here, thanks to the folks at NARA, are a couple of images of a <i>Peacemaker </i>assigned to the American nuclear test program during the early 1950s.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3fE7uVrH6dlwMULMUSfX9G0nTbd9d9NnelMrdJpVNPA2HkAz9WZZTrDQ2BvYt18NPwWcU160RWcENiESLF8chRiCJWwok8sVCPqfo3LY1ZvoLu_evJbvsKMx1FHIyp9U9Du9f_hPFccblCSvmH8wtWYAaXSd_hd6k9eFq9WOJDjIwwmjp07oqbbM/s9880/EB-36H-30-CF%2051-5726%204925th%20Test%20Group%20Atomic%20%20Special%20Weapons%20Command%20at%20Indian%20Springs%2015%20Mar%2053%20%20NARA%20342-C-K-10161%20(3).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5936" data-original-width="9880" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3fE7uVrH6dlwMULMUSfX9G0nTbd9d9NnelMrdJpVNPA2HkAz9WZZTrDQ2BvYt18NPwWcU160RWcENiESLF8chRiCJWwok8sVCPqfo3LY1ZvoLu_evJbvsKMx1FHIyp9U9Du9f_hPFccblCSvmH8wtWYAaXSd_hd6k9eFq9WOJDjIwwmjp07oqbbM/s320/EB-36H-30-CF%2051-5726%204925th%20Test%20Group%20Atomic%20%20Special%20Weapons%20Command%20at%20Indian%20Springs%2015%20Mar%2053%20%20NARA%20342-C-K-10161%20(3).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a glorious view of EB-36H 51-5726 of the 4956th Test Group Atomic, Special Weapons Command, at Indian Springs AFB on 15 March, 1953. The airplane was on display, along with a number of others used by the unit, during some sort of grip-and-grin public affairs event. NARA 342-C-K-10161<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3MVZOYwxoseumAsa34jL01rxWOF1CHgFwTmvaRm1jqFV5rHllNR99U-iBXSYln9NgCVR-Pg9W0aYSEym41edx3YFBmsrZF1iUCn-GhM8DwRSvDxBdjf8WExV5Q6zqcoMh7itzoSwVziLfCFFHl0bWb67WddFD45ztz8gIZfV56fJLSpOu7epGf0R/s9797/EB-36H-30-CF%2051-5726%204925th%20Test%20Group%20Atomic%20at%20Indian%20Springs%2015%20Mar%2053%20%20NARA%20342-C-K-10162.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="8037" data-original-width="9797" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3MVZOYwxoseumAsa34jL01rxWOF1CHgFwTmvaRm1jqFV5rHllNR99U-iBXSYln9NgCVR-Pg9W0aYSEym41edx3YFBmsrZF1iUCn-GhM8DwRSvDxBdjf8WExV5Q6zqcoMh7itzoSwVziLfCFFHl0bWb67WddFD45ztz8gIZfV56fJLSpOu7epGf0R/s320/EB-36H-30-CF%2051-5726%204925th%20Test%20Group%20Atomic%20at%20Indian%20Springs%2015%20Mar%2053%20%20NARA%20342-C-K-10162.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And here's the unit emblem for the 4956th. The B-36 was truly a marvel of engineering, and possessed of incredible capabilities when new. Time and Progress passed it by rather quickly, however, and it became obsolescent quickly. The type still formed the backbone of SAC when this image was taken, however. NARA 342-C-K-10162<div><br /></div><div>Your editor's father was a plankholder at Limestone AFB, which became Loring, and in consequence I have many fond memories of the mighty B-36. What can you say about it other than WOW! What an airplane!</div><div><br /></div><div>AND ANOTHER NOTE! Those B-36 images were taken at Indian SPRINGS AFB, not Indian Hills as misidentified by me---that's what happens when you write captions at 1 in the morning, I guess. Many thanks to Mark Morgan's brother Rick for snagging that one! Big sigh...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Another Favorite</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Everyone who knows anything at all about me knows I have a passion for the F-104. Here's a shot you may not have seen of one of them; a Charlie from the Deep South.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3uFk6mdNEPh7zyFmckayoCsLvWkZDNdr4t9uUSNz0XZXUG9-oR95aIUUnneVt0RsggEMvOzZ9lTX_XYsEgwuVUGBQth10WHhDIuidfMcqI3PQu_zM3r4eo0ETBwDV4HiGdgpOMjvj1wbsMjdTqIyXajCmj2mxVQ5zRuaXOMXl3BXtrMDOCIlvyG3/s4106/F-104C%2056-0899%20157th%20FIS%20McEntire%20ANGB%20May%2062%20Tom%20Ring%20Collection%20via%20Friddell%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2741" data-original-width="4106" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3uFk6mdNEPh7zyFmckayoCsLvWkZDNdr4t9uUSNz0XZXUG9-oR95aIUUnneVt0RsggEMvOzZ9lTX_XYsEgwuVUGBQth10WHhDIuidfMcqI3PQu_zM3r4eo0ETBwDV4HiGdgpOMjvj1wbsMjdTqIyXajCmj2mxVQ5zRuaXOMXl3BXtrMDOCIlvyG3/s320/F-104C%2056-0899%20157th%20FIS%20McEntire%20ANGB%20May%2062%20Tom%20Ring%20Collection%20via%20Friddell%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>56-0899, an F-104C from South Carolina's 157th FIS, is on the towbar and being moved in this wonderful shot taken at McEntire ANGB during May of 1962. The "Zipper" was a handful and only a few Guard units received them. This example went back to the USAF after its time in South Carolina and crashed in Spain during 1963. It was, and still is, tough when you're on the cutting edge of things. Tom Ring Collection<div><br /></div><div>And that's it for today. Future editions, which are intended to come far more often than they have of late, may be longer than this, or maybe they won't be, but we're still alive and well so don't give up on us yet. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and you can still get in touch with us at replicainscaleatyahoodotcom should you be so inclined. Just convert that mass of letters into a normal email address and you're ready to rock!</div><div><br /></div><div>Be good to your neighbor, ya'll. We'll meet again soon!<br /><div><br /></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-54746129330062937362022-03-08T16:12:00.002-06:002022-03-13T16:10:07.166-05:00Sad Day, Some Models From Boyer, Hard Times, First With the Phantom, and a Clean Invader<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Another One Gone</b></p><p>I first began going to Kings Hobby Shop in Austin some 18 years ago. The place was a revelation for a great many reasons but, as with most good hobby shops, the real treasure there had nothing to do with what was on the shelves, as impressive as that was. Nope, the thing that made Kings a special place was the people, from the owner and staff right down to the customers. It was a hard-core scale modeling sort of shop and the place to go if you were serious about the hobby. The vibe was a good one, with lots of friendly people on both sides of the counter. It was easy to do business and easy to make friends. </p><p>My visits there rapidly turned into an every-Saturday afternoon sort of thing and friendships were made in the process. On one such Saturday I was standing at the counter talking Airplane with Rudy and Brad when a guy wearing a basketball jersey, matching shorts, a huge grin, and carrying a largish box under one arm, came into the store. The box held an unfinished 1/32nd scale Hasegawa Me109G-6 in Italian markings, while the jersey and shorts contained Bryan Phillipson. The <i>Gustav </i>was an absolute revelation, way past museum quality in construction and finishing, and Bryan was an instant friend from the first moment. His grin said it all, with no guile and no self-interest other than building the best model airplanes he possibly could. He was an artist and in many respects a magician, and his modeling work was little short of amazing---I've known modelers who were as good, but I've never known anyone that was better. </p><p>Bryan and I shared an interest in model airplanes, of course, and also in fast cars. The Saturday runs to Kings quickly morphed into a run to Kings coupled with a trip to a local Mexican restaurant for an early and lengthy supper where we talked modeling and solved the polystyrene related problems of the world. It was a joy and a high point in my week. I got remarried somewhere along the way and Bryan became an instant friend for my new wife, a girl who'd moved to Texas from New England knowing nobody other than me and in need of a friend or two. Bryan was there for her, and her road became easier. </p><p>Bryan smiled all the time, and as far as I could tell he was almost always happy. It could be pouring rain outside but his world was full of sunshine, and it was infectious. You couldn't be unhappy around Bryan for very long. You just couldn't get him down, or keep him down. </p><p>Bryan became infected with Covid a while back. He got really sick too, but he beat it. Almost immediately after the bout with Covid he developed pneumonia, and he beat that as well, and then he caught the flu. It seemed that he was also going to beat that one but the other illnesses had greatly reduced his ability to fight a new disease and that put him in the hospital in intensive care. I spoke with him briefly while he was there, just before the nurse told him he couldn't talk to anyone on the phone anymore because the simple act of talking was compromising his ability to breathe. Shortly after that he was placed on a ventilator. </p><p>Bryan died last Saturday. I'm told it was peaceful, and I'm one of those folks who believe in a better place so I'm reasonably certain he's checking out the hobby shops in his new neighborhood as I'm writing this, but that doesn't make it any better. He was a friend, and he always will be, but he's not around anymore. </p><p>There's a lesson in his passing, because at the end of the day most of us have a Bryan somewhere in our lives and they're more important than ever in a world that seems committed to tearing itself apart. I think that's inspirational, and I truly believe friendships are something to be treasured. Maybe that's a reason to rethink things a bit regarding the relationships we have with others we hold near and dear? Maybe that's a silver lining?</p><p>Blue skies, Bryan....</p><p><b>That Boyer Guy</b></p><p>While we're discussing friends, and on a far happier note, I've been privileged to have a friendship with Paul Boyer, he of <i>FineScale</i> Modeler fame, for a great many years. Paul's a prolific modeler, and a darned good one too, and we'd like to take a couple of minutes to show you a bit of his work, all in 1/72nd scale.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGFmGUpiuDt7ib3VQBLQDT99T6BgH2UD3YNAv93GuoiNfwEneru4pltjEyzT3hDbNrE24Ax-Wd9CaQmmZunEVWOMOGyJZbShInCN92ZAMP8rY1inEnbqYZ1pHK5sHoyiqGztFXG0hsa6wbwtujRxbvsAAhX-O1n05uc3tlcpL2vX7z_8GpUOYtFpP3=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1280" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGFmGUpiuDt7ib3VQBLQDT99T6BgH2UD3YNAv93GuoiNfwEneru4pltjEyzT3hDbNrE24Ax-Wd9CaQmmZunEVWOMOGyJZbShInCN92ZAMP8rY1inEnbqYZ1pHK5sHoyiqGztFXG0hsa6wbwtujRxbvsAAhX-O1n05uc3tlcpL2vX7z_8GpUOYtFpP3=s320" width="320" /></a></div>You're probably familiar with this one but, if not, it's Paul's Kora PB2Y <i>Coronado </i>all done up in one of the Atlantic ASW schemes. I've always envied Paul's precision modeling, a talent indeed considering that itty-bitty scale he's chosen to work with. (I had to say that, Boyer!)<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyP9WJ_3eLpLCT3OIP7ycBpI9enm8RFcI_5gJGZ5d290ORPY7W_aLDZnncATR6HF2nk7uOdolSF1Uy2UXuKC1cK77oLmtr1-RnECyKXjGDm6kUmIMdFQoDVORBmBjWAhjrEVAvPuFk3PaJ3fyLVAmO8BlijUO_1mmYqIvmuDP4M9nAK4NWhmtYbNH9=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="1280" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyP9WJ_3eLpLCT3OIP7ycBpI9enm8RFcI_5gJGZ5d290ORPY7W_aLDZnncATR6HF2nk7uOdolSF1Uy2UXuKC1cK77oLmtr1-RnECyKXjGDm6kUmIMdFQoDVORBmBjWAhjrEVAvPuFk3PaJ3fyLVAmO8BlijUO_1mmYqIvmuDP4M9nAK4NWhmtYbNH9=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Airfix produced a dandy little Lockheed F-80C kit back in the late 1970s, and it's still entirely viable today as evinced by Paul's P-80A conversion off the basic kit. Nobody seems to model those pearl grey early <i>Shooting Stars</i> very often and Paul's model makes us wonder why. The model is both gorgeous and technically superb. Beauty!<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBwCwDfDfSXZx4B1w5D1O0dAh56T_ZeRfhleW3pSN26TPXOZLICqv4REgh8r1MWQy26hL_wOQDSkujSKfDAfwjNNnuACRKpdqpox6MXi4Y2LuzXdSJ5XLN_QytjEZUkhfD10SXcb2-mG7SZlrG2Qk1XghTxjz-fLY9o34agzlsOWq5qlAcCaNIVXeV=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBwCwDfDfSXZx4B1w5D1O0dAh56T_ZeRfhleW3pSN26TPXOZLICqv4REgh8r1MWQy26hL_wOQDSkujSKfDAfwjNNnuACRKpdqpox6MXi4Y2LuzXdSJ5XLN_QytjEZUkhfD10SXcb2-mG7SZlrG2Qk1XghTxjz-fLY9o34agzlsOWq5qlAcCaNIVXeV=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Then there's <i>this</i> beast; Anigrand's Lockheed C-5A. The model is enormous even in 1/72nd scale, and a challenge to build as well. This model could be considered a <i>magnum opus</i> regardless of the standards applied to it and it could well define Paul's skill as a modeler. Whew!<div><br /></div><div>Paul no longer edits <i>FineScale Modeler </i>but he continues to build prolifically and his work still appears in the magazine, as well as on internet sites such as <i>HyperScale</i>. His skills as a modeler are impressive indeed and you'll be seeing more of his work on these pages from time to time!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Bad Days on the 'Canal</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Five Bell P-400 <i>Airacobras</i> from the 67th Fighter Squadron of the USAAF arrived at Guadalcanal from New Caledonia on 22 August, 1942, shortly after that island's invasion by the US Marine Corps. It was a classic case of "go with what you've got" since the P-400 was largely inadequate in the air-to-air role, but fighters were desperately needed on the island and the P-400s were available. The following images provide us with a look at just how rag-tag those early days were.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjz6B4hwZ7X1gL3WrBccC5Tmi-IpEvxw8XIN_zsDJOkomJkRMFMZNZhY4B5Tz6YSW67jMmXuJDQqvWPXxVURyR0lsOUU8HohGlxNlc38PXPHW-tAc9CmIqGrWuUZmPiVmpUKnmiWF8ioJdHGLUkYPxT9aufgUHtd2ShVd7Fak5CwHG9e301_FbSDyLL=s4405" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2794" data-original-width="4405" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjz6B4hwZ7X1gL3WrBccC5Tmi-IpEvxw8XIN_zsDJOkomJkRMFMZNZhY4B5Tz6YSW67jMmXuJDQqvWPXxVURyR0lsOUU8HohGlxNlc38PXPHW-tAc9CmIqGrWuUZmPiVmpUKnmiWF8ioJdHGLUkYPxT9aufgUHtd2ShVd7Fak5CwHG9e301_FbSDyLL=s320" width="320" /></a></div>It was quickly ascertained that the P-400 was a poor match for the Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighter so the type was quickly relegated to ground support operations, a task at which the airplane excelled. This image illustrates a recently-arrived fighter from the 67th bombed up with a single 250lb GP bomb prior to a mission. The airplane is beginning to show the wear and tear of combat operations (notice the missing paint on the nose gear strut and the staining adjacent to it) but is still in relatively good condition. An indiscernible name is barely visible on the vertical stabilizer. Friddell Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1U8v8ct-R_EZMIYiHufKKLEoO9mKxm1VCUwnM4skGSWfaK_UhFNkOxVxJZUx7jABxK0SkPlzkBeaUGJLLZJAVpLdZNhS9ehng7gw3LexZpDiAtbwsBeVcNik88I1ur6yOc0jcvoADaERRrc73aqfYQdJsEqF-S3k8VhOgyzWp_F5jzmJEIfssAohq=s4405" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2762" data-original-width="4405" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1U8v8ct-R_EZMIYiHufKKLEoO9mKxm1VCUwnM4skGSWfaK_UhFNkOxVxJZUx7jABxK0SkPlzkBeaUGJLLZJAVpLdZNhS9ehng7gw3LexZpDiAtbwsBeVcNik88I1ur6yOc0jcvoADaERRrc73aqfYQdJsEqF-S3k8VhOgyzWp_F5jzmJEIfssAohq=s320" width="320" /></a></div>The sleek lines of the P-39/P-400 family made the airplane a perfect candidate for garish artwork, a fact quickly used to advantage by both the 67th FS at Guadalcanal and the 8th FG in New Guinea. This fine example is painted on one of the 67th's P-400s, also armed up with a 250lb bomb, at Henderson field. It's interesting to note that the 67th's <i>Airacobras</i> normally operated with their landing gear wheel covers in place; they were frequently removed from the type in New Guinea as a means of dealing with mud accumulated during operations from soggy airfields but apparently didn't pose much of an issue on the 'Canal. Friddell Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQzG1-qLwNWxonoDnVPtf9Mc0hrDrG36zU31bF4d4G6hku9wDcV7NXkyU0qU8ZZ7DTq7R95fOmD3PTH8Y-g3uOf4cxcsCtmsiFMgPaV6DjCTn-SaD3yzGF7B0DpCQiMpxk3L-siFjjLRLBDOPczK0OJum7jdaZHmFmKQl9rRWceuyZE6uh2hSoyjbz=s4354" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2159" data-original-width="4354" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQzG1-qLwNWxonoDnVPtf9Mc0hrDrG36zU31bF4d4G6hku9wDcV7NXkyU0qU8ZZ7DTq7R95fOmD3PTH8Y-g3uOf4cxcsCtmsiFMgPaV6DjCTn-SaD3yzGF7B0DpCQiMpxk3L-siFjjLRLBDOPczK0OJum7jdaZHmFmKQl9rRWceuyZE6uh2hSoyjbz=s320" width="320" /></a></div>This tantalizing image shows an airplane with the remnants of a shark mouth, a pair of dice one the vertical stab, and a largely illegible name (the second word appears to be "BOUND", but we can't quite make out the first one!) immediately above it. The maintenance conditions on Guadalcanal were every bit as poor as those in New Guinea, ensuring there were no easy days on the island. Friddell Collection<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhB8HoCGtt8QS8bYv-3lmUruveGrnMtKgFKSVZg7-2UXasXG4Hsrz7t2UMGxPbc8WJirth3Eq-q3E7VY0-gLe0Q574_A-FN3sqE01z07kVdNb1xsU5YktUdc4teVSekhA2vHnReVEM5fD_LBMPQshHvpvc4q1JRb1UG-wSs9hzjxz8pzzXXulyF95Xh=s1648" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1648" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhB8HoCGtt8QS8bYv-3lmUruveGrnMtKgFKSVZg7-2UXasXG4Hsrz7t2UMGxPbc8WJirth3Eq-q3E7VY0-gLe0Q574_A-FN3sqE01z07kVdNb1xsU5YktUdc4teVSekhA2vHnReVEM5fD_LBMPQshHvpvc4q1JRb1UG-wSs9hzjxz8pzzXXulyF95Xh=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a salvaged port-side door from one of the 67th's <i>Airacobras </i>providing us with a fine view of the squadron's emblem. Note its well-used condition and the generally frayed and beaten-up look of the pilot kneeling beside it in the remains of his flight suit. Remember that part about no easy days? Friddell Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-mHAtxtytoA-v351LPGuUfZ14eBvnSVLdWQ5F5dYs8IX3LlrgQM4NJqoug4nIHQiU2LjS2Jo9t_Qa6UnWMadpx3yHEYYjGbcJiSQi5-TOMTrycRLLQZxmt-FQ9aHtjnplh4SDUKLx5-mS_XBBqs8dnDFKOLiRj842gb2u38Z_kthu3Euuk7AUh8O0=s1651" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1651" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-mHAtxtytoA-v351LPGuUfZ14eBvnSVLdWQ5F5dYs8IX3LlrgQM4NJqoug4nIHQiU2LjS2Jo9t_Qa6UnWMadpx3yHEYYjGbcJiSQi5-TOMTrycRLLQZxmt-FQ9aHtjnplh4SDUKLx5-mS_XBBqs8dnDFKOLiRj842gb2u38Z_kthu3Euuk7AUh8O0=s320" width="320" /></a></div>This is a poor photograph at best, but it defines the time and place as few others can. From the beat up P-400 being used as a backdrop to the tired faces of the ground echelon depicted here, we can get a sense of what their day-to-day must have been like. Remember that part about no easy days? Friddell Collection<div><br /></div><div>It was only a matter of a few months before the 67th FS was absorbed into the 347th FG and moved on to P-38s, but in that short time they created a legend. Their days were spent in direct support of Marine ground units and their attempts at fighting the Japanese in the air were sporadic and largely unproductive, but they were there when nothing else was available and their efforts helped to stem, and then turn, the tide in the Solomons. They were a special breed, much as everyone fighting in the Southwest Pacific was. Let's raise a glass...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>First With </b><i><b>Phantoms</b></i></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div>That moniker would, of course, describe VF-74 and their first cruise aboard the <i>Forrestal</i>. That groundbreaking deployment began on 03 August 1962, some sixty years ago, and set the stage for one of aviation's most spectacular and successful combat aircraft. Fortunately for us the event was well-documented at the time and, thanks to Mark Aldrich over at the Tailhook Association, we have some remarkable images of the deployment to share with you along with a short movie courtesy of Periscope Films and the folks at YouTube. Note that most of this photography was taken during the squadron's 1961 transition to what was at the time the McDonnell F4H-1 <i>Phantom</i>. The nomenclature would be changed to F-4B in just a few short months thanks to then-SecDef Robert McNamara's inability to understand the NAV's aircraft designation system, but these airplanes were all F4H-1s at time they were photographed.</div><div><br /></div><div>First up, let's take a look at that movie of the first deployment. </div><div><br /></div><div> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ0IbmyBBug&t=483s">THE F-4 PHANTOM JOINS THE FLEET 1962 MCDONNELL FILM USS FORRESTAL F4H-1 PHANTOM II 81084 - YouTube</a></div><div><br /></div><div>That short film is more significant than the Navy could ever have imagined it would be given the length of time the F-4 was to serve in the Fleet. Many thanks to the folks at Periscope Films for making it available to us all on YouTube!</div><div><br /></div><div>As if the movie wasn't enough, here are those images from the Tailhook collection to whet your appetite!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-M-UcovBykbVzKcu-hFrpNuDIbv6Dhf8Q6Sna91HRq28kzHZBmFNfqzWgiSxNie2fcs9XCGBfxpThcsjH7Owrz4HXv7i2QIwvL2E5v0sStq5KNxS0PU6Cfo-Ju1QfNQWBMMZyT5q3m4cslrLuzm6MEYhlLJGtt_aws1BQGQQhXnwrzfMfBahvBNef=s1489" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1189" data-original-width="1489" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-M-UcovBykbVzKcu-hFrpNuDIbv6Dhf8Q6Sna91HRq28kzHZBmFNfqzWgiSxNie2fcs9XCGBfxpThcsjH7Owrz4HXv7i2QIwvL2E5v0sStq5KNxS0PU6Cfo-Ju1QfNQWBMMZyT5q3m4cslrLuzm6MEYhlLJGtt_aws1BQGQQhXnwrzfMfBahvBNef=s320" width="320" /></a></div>In the beginning... Here's YF4H-1 142259, which had been used during <i>Project Top Flight</i> during 1959 to attain two separate world altitude records; it later set a world speed record during <i>Operation Sky</i> <i>Burner </i>as well. Check out the configuration of the nose in particular; this airframe very much defined the early appearance of the <i>Phantom </i>but was still a bit shy of the production aircraft. Tailhook Association via Mark Aldrich<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEib6TRR4lUQ9gbLN6BXyyC8OmzkR7kfpIa5bS11YqcSo93aQrHQJdruEfx1oKPtRPhY-s3ptQzLk-fGiICUty_G4JPhObOOIbVELtFWgfOQgWsBcVgah3YJPvDXvCQ9drlb30SIyCKCh7FOC45Y5zrhFYnn_rLT0t2Sb3Bgobs3sm8Sv7mr3KFqry-X=s1430" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1135" data-original-width="1430" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEib6TRR4lUQ9gbLN6BXyyC8OmzkR7kfpIa5bS11YqcSo93aQrHQJdruEfx1oKPtRPhY-s3ptQzLk-fGiICUty_G4JPhObOOIbVELtFWgfOQgWsBcVgah3YJPvDXvCQ9drlb30SIyCKCh7FOC45Y5zrhFYnn_rLT0t2Sb3Bgobs3sm8Sv7mr3KFqry-X=s320" width="320" /></a></div>This image pretty much says it all about the <i>Phantom</i>. The F4H-1 was designed to fill the role of Fleet defense fighter and had to be able to get airborne and in a position to intercept incoming threats in a remarkably short period of time. 150425, photographed in October of 1962, is seen here doing exactly that, albeit from shore rather than the deck of a carrier. The airplane was truly a revelation when introduced into service. 425 was a survivor, being upgraded to F-4N configuration prior to her ultimate delivery to MASDC during 1977. Tailhook Association via Mark Aldrich<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj33F3BrkSgqRln0xCXsyBw3HOMTt8fjJYf9sYffEBRXz4IbjQz4onYQd-HTldFZhQvadBUJywwxfc1_fe8eVu_gcgbFuRBd67bthMZO3BPpHaQ7wROziFqD2eN1ZQUMTnDvmrVY19BhlYH1JYMdf5tON2n-tWX0WzFEG3nfggpx-73tEo81S4O7v4S=s1441" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1148" data-original-width="1441" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj33F3BrkSgqRln0xCXsyBw3HOMTt8fjJYf9sYffEBRXz4IbjQz4onYQd-HTldFZhQvadBUJywwxfc1_fe8eVu_gcgbFuRBd67bthMZO3BPpHaQ7wROziFqD2eN1ZQUMTnDvmrVY19BhlYH1JYMdf5tON2n-tWX0WzFEG3nfggpx-73tEo81S4O7v4S=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Fighting 74 was operating the F4H-1 aboard CVA-59 during October of 1961 as the first Fleet squadron to take the mighty <i>Phantom</i> to sea, although their first actual deployment didn't occur until 1962. In this shot we find 148372 launching from the <i>Forrestal's</i> starboard cat, working up in preparation for that first cruise. The <i>Bedevilers </i>had one of the <i>Phantom's</i> classier paint jobs, we think. Tailhook Association via Mark Aldrich<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibxQe6CD42JNKXpNtVnoXQB975CL9mjKWkd9iNOaXgRL9sPAQjQ4RPUFNU93kHNxOTy8BtiXVyH1NFHepqqOmyd5NVnYwMGsJK2rCsmq-IHR3tu5Mb1my6f8zw0FLmnq34l-CaC6KGFnYcV2owGQFdjrJKH2D1Terqs5HgwxtkwECR6T-CvWIYOECr=s1430" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1135" data-original-width="1430" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibxQe6CD42JNKXpNtVnoXQB975CL9mjKWkd9iNOaXgRL9sPAQjQ4RPUFNU93kHNxOTy8BtiXVyH1NFHepqqOmyd5NVnYwMGsJK2rCsmq-IHR3tu5Mb1my6f8zw0FLmnq34l-CaC6KGFnYcV2owGQFdjrJKH2D1Terqs5HgwxtkwECR6T-CvWIYOECr=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Here's 148381 immediately after trapping aboard the <i>Forrestal</i> during that 1961 workup cruise; note the green shirt from the V1 Division running out to disengage the cross-deck pendant from the tailhook, as well as the total lack of underwing stores on the aircraft. This airplane didn't last long, crashing near NAS Oceana on 17 July, 1962. Tailhook Association via Mark Aldrich<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeqoZf2sagJndCJ0EXGxhzR6IqQZzsceDD2cG_0JGCooorntFT90MqYV6XCvY4bpSZ-_EnndBbr-JsYWFdR83S9X9qj23AwqB5xoENYFgRwNgEMiAEELq509s5HtDAwHIU6FkVZC62gSWQ6vF1aLcv7DbzOcAWcg0lAU0CSg-Wylm8kJUOrll0HHkq=s1430" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1135" data-original-width="1430" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeqoZf2sagJndCJ0EXGxhzR6IqQZzsceDD2cG_0JGCooorntFT90MqYV6XCvY4bpSZ-_EnndBbr-JsYWFdR83S9X9qj23AwqB5xoENYFgRwNgEMiAEELq509s5HtDAwHIU6FkVZC62gSWQ6vF1aLcv7DbzOcAWcg0lAU0CSg-Wylm8kJUOrll0HHkq=s320" width="320" /></a></div>In this shot 381 begins an overflight of Virginia Beach during 1961. She's carrying gas bags and beginning to show a little wear and tear from her brief time on the boat. It would be over for her less than twelve months later. Nobody ever said military aviation was safe... Tailhook Association via Mark Aldrich<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgs0dvJh6RTlGkSXupbiZlixBgwCTdp1lj337SGkfvgwumw4iuTF_laOh9DOuyPtsA-XftUNOqezlBzbMVQ7W6sFx6Pz7aD3xqlNGFdUhkKbvJ60uTfMvBWj-F-vVOiPr8TTgwYXkxyoxxguZylKz9wZh7hCdvdhZNX1a5apSLhIQ5XQvjmtbCewmPC=s1430" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1135" data-original-width="1430" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgs0dvJh6RTlGkSXupbiZlixBgwCTdp1lj337SGkfvgwumw4iuTF_laOh9DOuyPtsA-XftUNOqezlBzbMVQ7W6sFx6Pz7aD3xqlNGFdUhkKbvJ60uTfMvBWj-F-vVOiPr8TTgwYXkxyoxxguZylKz9wZh7hCdvdhZNX1a5apSLhIQ5XQvjmtbCewmPC=s320" width="320" /></a></div>And the <i>Phantom</i> hits the big league as 148383 sits on the flight deck of the <i>Forrestal</i> at the beginning of the type's first deployment to the Fleet! Somehow the F4H-1 just looks right sitting on a flight deck, doesn't it? She made it through a lengthy career in the NAV and finished out her days as a QF-4B drone. Tailhook Association via Mark Aldrich<div><br /></div><div>The recent introduction of what may well be the ultimate 1/48th scale F-4B (F4H-1) kit by Tamiya has caused the hobby's decal manufacturers to scramble to produce the myriad of markings carried by the type. We'd like to humbly submit that the scheme you see here is the one to do, but we might be prejudiced!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>A Clean Machine</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We hadn't planned on running this particular image today but it's just too darned good to pass up:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBdlvenFwwhIiSmGFZ3FeY5LOuKfXjaw4remHRbh-33FCyCii8VbvJQfswxktC4K-s043LXrXWGIVtU39U1MuKQ1F9Z4I6fNhuae48QcprJaL9B-0ALiMKRZ-Gg1V1iHTe6Cma33dK4UdXXH1y5RvjwiJ7zVGBGV_mOi5MKLd1Any4gKocO638M9uX=s2945" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2006" data-original-width="2945" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBdlvenFwwhIiSmGFZ3FeY5LOuKfXjaw4remHRbh-33FCyCii8VbvJQfswxktC4K-s043LXrXWGIVtU39U1MuKQ1F9Z4I6fNhuae48QcprJaL9B-0ALiMKRZ-Gg1V1iHTe6Cma33dK4UdXXH1y5RvjwiJ7zVGBGV_mOi5MKLd1Any4gKocO638M9uX=s320" width="320" /></a></div>You may have seen this National Guard Bureau VB-26B (44-34610) on these pages once before but she was such an immaculately-kept airplane that we just had to show her again. She was photographed on the ground at Andrews AFB by Jim Sullivan on 24 April, 1973, and provides us with a gorgeous photo of one of the all-time classic airplanes and a fine example of the type; was in fact the last operational member of the A-26 family prior to her retirement. Many thanks to Jim Sullivan for sharing this photo with us. Jim Sullivan<div><br /></div><div><b>Under the Radar</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We normally devote this part of the project to older titles that our readers might have missed the first time around, but today we have a pair of titles released within the past month. Both are concerned with American naval aviation and in our view both are must-haves should your interests run in that direction.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKNFy9cprYULbKYvHemSE6UDrbskLwAJKTUZEpuudfgGMhM7xsMatSMbo1H5zMWoYPQqaIacZ8VP52Harlm1TPnI1UToAksiDuXmIuJwX5KRNUe3AVrEsqvonHbq7rkzqffiBO0rLEC4nL5Jdsayfqj79k1UPGrve5Gwzs2MmQaowaC3vKDAlxdpk_=s1000" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1000" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKNFy9cprYULbKYvHemSE6UDrbskLwAJKTUZEpuudfgGMhM7xsMatSMbo1H5zMWoYPQqaIacZ8VP52Harlm1TPnI1UToAksiDuXmIuJwX5KRNUe3AVrEsqvonHbq7rkzqffiBO0rLEC4nL5Jdsayfqj79k1UPGrve5Gwzs2MmQaowaC3vKDAlxdpk_=s320" width="320" /></a></div><u>Sundowner Phantoms the F-4B/N Phantom II in Service With VF-111 1971 to 1977</u>, Angelo Romano and Mike Grove, Double Ugly Books and Decals 2021, 69 pp, profusely illustrated.<div><br /></div><div>On the face of things this title is just another book similar in concept and production to many others of its ilk; a bunch of captioned photographs and minimal text regarding a specific airplane. You could indeed come to that conclusion but you'd be severely mistaken if you did, because it's well and truly a definitive study of one of the Navy's best-known fighter squadrons of the Vietnam and Cold War eras, as well as a boon to the scale modeler.</div><div><br /></div><div>To start with, the authors (Angelo Romano and Mike Grove) are among the deans of United States naval aviation history. Their credentials as historians and as stewards of aviation history are impeccable, which bodes well for any title with either of their names on it. To add to the credibility of the work are the various contributors who aided in the research phase of the project; once again the names are instantly recognizable and well-credentialled. </div><div><br /></div><div>The book itself is a concise, if brief, history of VF-111 during their time with the mighty F-4 <i>Phantom II</i>. It begins with the creation of the squadron during 1942 and takes the reader through its pre-F-4 history during its first several pages, then quickly transitions into the squadron's <i>Phantom</i> era which is, after all, the point of the book. All of the photographs are presented in full color and are painstakingly captioned to provide the maximum amount of information and the final four pages of the book are devoted to the F-4's standard camouflage and markings during the time period. Several charts accompany the brief text and will prove of interest to the hardcore enthusiast.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nothing is perfect, however, and it must be noted that several of the book's photographs are somewhat muddy in presentation, although we suspect that's more the result of the original image than of any sort of production flaw. That said, this is a book that we can recommend without reservation if its topic falls within your range of interests. According to its cover this volume is the first of a series; we're looking forward to the others!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhCvcG1dJibYZCYp4Ik3qv8aYDKQYZvs2EKLoUbqdnB9X-iBckRqIFN5JQzRLgAYB2PXwuDAUxC5LHbXhKI-LyDiE5htHN_Jibk4f09A-W9ma47FN7pWngOxNq-_CPfGBA_MkJ1KExNKG93CD6UqP8Wyd_BfSSBKLhahOTbG71W2dbsTpepMFcikI0=s8742" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="8742" data-original-width="6800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhCvcG1dJibYZCYp4Ik3qv8aYDKQYZvs2EKLoUbqdnB9X-iBckRqIFN5JQzRLgAYB2PXwuDAUxC5LHbXhKI-LyDiE5htHN_Jibk4f09A-W9ma47FN7pWngOxNq-_CPfGBA_MkJ1KExNKG93CD6UqP8Wyd_BfSSBKLhahOTbG71W2dbsTpepMFcikI0=s320" width="249" /></a></div><u>Smokin' Tigers, A Pictorial History of Reconnaissance Attack Squadron One (RVAH-1),</u> Mike Grove and Angelo Romano, Ginter Books 2022, 120 pp, illustrated.<div><br /></div><div>Another title by Angelo Romano and Mike Grove, and yet another must-have for the naval aviation buff. The book is one of many in the Ginter Books squadron history series and keeps up the high standards set by previous books offered from this publisher. </div><div><br /></div><div>The book, a blend of incisive text and excellent photographs, covers the squadron from its establishment in 1955 until its untimely demise in 1979. Each phase of the unit's history is defined by superbly reproduced photographs and brief yet incisive text, accompanied by relevant charts, graphs, and color illustrations, as well as page cuts taken from pertinent manuals. </div><div><br /></div><div>This volume is very much a one-stop reference regarding Heavy One and is a worthy addition to the Ginter squadron histories. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>One From Norm</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It almost wouldn't be an issue of <i>RIS</i> without a contribution from Norman Camou. Here's a gem he discovered on YouTube; a wartime Japanese newsreel documenting their activities. It's part of a series and provides a fascinating look at those guys on the other side of the fence.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx6mVq2iitU">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx6mVq2iitU</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div>Thanks as always, Norm!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Relief Tube</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>I thought I'd managed to slip by without any sort of egregious error this time but it turns out I published the Yankee Extraction System drawings for the family model of the A-1, the A-1E and F, rather than the proper one for the A-1H/J. Also, that isn't a Yankee seat in the Tom Hansen image I published. Tommy Thomason caught both slips and steered me towards the information in his Tailhook Topics blog, which you really ought to be reading if you aren't already doing that!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-1e-yankee-escape-system.html">Tailhook Topics Drafts: A-1E Yankee Escape System</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Tommy for keeping us honest!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>For Bryan</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRA4Xe4jGXgZca_yEpzlizYdHA0Mi3miGSxXNZwgXba86hv_irjmVjNtLc6onvPkLnCHAy26Htxogc3b6yn-2IjPjdvR1ioaq6qc2HCdXT8GPqUFhfz8H1AHuxEZluUjFAutvsAadxIDsB014lUU4Kao45pbqjX2NLtdpzSWg81u7rfUhzM9Zt7VMF=s3772" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2980" data-original-width="3772" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRA4Xe4jGXgZca_yEpzlizYdHA0Mi3miGSxXNZwgXba86hv_irjmVjNtLc6onvPkLnCHAy26Htxogc3b6yn-2IjPjdvR1ioaq6qc2HCdXT8GPqUFhfz8H1AHuxEZluUjFAutvsAadxIDsB014lUU4Kao45pbqjX2NLtdpzSWg81u7rfUhzM9Zt7VMF=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrdYa7W-R4c&list=RDKrdYa7W-R4c&index=1">The Byrds, "We'll Meet Again" - YouTube</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for today, ya'll. Be good to your neighbor and we'll meet again soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil</div><div><br /></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-11811479646354067192021-12-29T12:40:00.000-06:002021-12-29T12:40:00.506-06:00Rules? What Rules?, We've All Seen It Before, A Fine Legacy, and Some Jugs From the Guard,<p><br /></p><p><b>Can You Really DO That?</b></p><p>Scale modeling is one of those evolutions that we progress with throughout our lives, or at least those of us who stay with the hobby for any length of time do. That evolution gives us the opportunity to see what others do with the hobby and how they do it and, if we're lucky, allows us to grow as modelers. I'd like to share an example of that with you today.</p><p>Two years of my collegiate career involved working part time at a local hobby shop in San Antonio which in turn led to meeting, and in many instances becoming friends with, a number of highly talented individuals who were far better modelers that I was at that point in time. It was what some folks might call a Golden Opportunity to Learn and even though I was at that time, and pretty much always have been for that matter, what certain of my relatives would call a slow study, I knew a good thing when it slapped me in the face. Yeppers; strange as it may seem to many who know me, the ability to pay attention and learn did, and still does, overcome me from time to time. It's nothing deliberate on my part but it's there. Sometimes...</p><p>Anyway, one of those customers who became a good friend was a guy named Bill Todd. He was attending Texas A&M at the time but would visit the shop fairly regularly, both to purchase things and to show his latest work to us. He was a figure painter of superior abilities, probably one of the best in Texas at that time if truth be told, and he was pretty good at everything else model-related too. He was also an intellectual in the truest meaning of that term and was prone to thinking in unconventional ways to solve problems so it didn't surprise me one bit the day we received our first shipment of Imrie-Risley enamels allegedly blended, color-wise anyway, specifically for figure painting and he expressed considerable, if polite, disinterest towards them. It wasn't that he thought the paint to be inferior or anything like that; he just had no particular use for it and that, of course, resulted in me asking why not.</p><p>Bill's answer shouldn't have surprised me at all but it did, and it got me thinking. He had never bought any of the paints by any manufacturer specifically formulated for use with military miniatures but he did purchase a fair quantity of paint of almost every variety we sold, eventually to include the aforementioned Imrie-Risley. He bought Floquil. He bought the classic Testors in the little square bottles. He bought Pactra. He even bought some of the first Floquil Polly-S to hit the market, but he purchased everything a bottle at a time and almost never bought a lot of paint on any given occasion. </p><p>We were both the same age and shared a number of similar interests so it wasn't unusual that we began to hang out together, which eventually led to him showing me how he painted figures. His work was amazing and quickly accomplished; there was no agonizing over brush strokes for him! That wasn't the astounding part, however. Nope, the astounding part was the way he mixed his paint to achieve the colors he used. He had a small color cup, maybe the lid of a paint bottle although it's been near fifty years since then so I honestly don't remember that particular detail, and he had the several colors of paint ready for mixing on his work surface. The thing was, none of the paint he was using came from the same manufacturer. He mixed square-bottle Testors, Floquil, Pactra, and even a little Polly-S in the same batch, thinned it all with regular modeler's paint thinner, and applied it to the figure he was working on. I was pretty astounded and told him he couldn't do that and expect it to work. He told me he did it all the time and it worked just fine, thank you very much, and he was right! All that paint, admittedly in extremely small quantity, was mixed, blended together, and worked the way it was supposed to. He painted with his mixture, and he applied thinner to his brush and blended the colors he'd just applied as though he was working with fine oils instead of bottom-end hobby paint. His results were spectacular. </p><p>So what's your point, you may well be asking yourself at this juncture. It's a simple one really and, at the heart of the matter, is something that only peripherally has anything to do with blending paint:</p><p>Bill didn't mix all those different brands of paint together because he necessarily wanted to. He did it because those were the colors he needed and they were on hand, while buying anything else would entail borrowing his dad's Delta 88 and making the 30-minute drive to Dibbles to get it. The problem was a simple one and it had a simple solution. If it hadn't worked he would probably have made that drive but it did so he didn't, and everything worked out just fine in the end.</p><p>I'm not saying you should do that literal thing yourself and I'm here to tell you that if you indulge yourself in such madness you're 100% on your own and I'm in no way responsible for whatever mess you might make, but I'm also saying that the conventional way may or may not be the best way to solve a problem in each and every instance. Chew on that for a minute or two and let's look for a conclusion we can draw.</p><p>Our hobby is presently choking with readily available assets for the modeler. There are web sites and blogs (somewhat obviously including this one!), there are magazines and books, and videos by the battalion telling you what you can and can't do. They can all be helpful but sometimes the solution to a given problem is already in your own head, just waiting to pop out and amaze everyone you know.</p><p>I once knew a retired Systems Command Lieutenant Colonel who made things happen each and every time he encountered something that was difficult. His solutions were often unique and very much outside the norm but they were also effective solutions that worked. I once asked him what his secret was. His response? Just work the problem. That's all there is to it, ya'll; just work the problem! Maybe you really do need to buy something special that you don't already have, or do something the way all those other folks are doing it, or maybe you don't. Maybe all it takes is for you to <i>work the problem</i>. </p><p>Think about it...</p><p><b>Everybody Has Seen the Airplane</b></p><p>But a lot of folks haven't seen it like this:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyBb1km850Ei6SuSN5y5C_6UR8-WZcs-VKUvBw5HRx1lK-GKajpUmzhFmrZX3a-6x_sgM4MGtfP8ejot6DSfyD6EiPin7HG9r8JStcNZDsNKnsLHWEaBe-NhOD_RqVWIsREeLEKLAxYlSiJJ8nZT-kCOwYT5GxkeeJCHwzKAd5OXxVg26kHRmfoVDC=s3159" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1981" data-original-width="3159" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyBb1km850Ei6SuSN5y5C_6UR8-WZcs-VKUvBw5HRx1lK-GKajpUmzhFmrZX3a-6x_sgM4MGtfP8ejot6DSfyD6EiPin7HG9r8JStcNZDsNKnsLHWEaBe-NhOD_RqVWIsREeLEKLAxYlSiJJ8nZT-kCOwYT5GxkeeJCHwzKAd5OXxVg26kHRmfoVDC=s320" width="320" /></a></div>44-84778 was purpose built for photo recon as an F-6D-25-NT and ended up with the 45th TRS in Korea. She was extensively photographed and a couple of decal companies have featured her on their aftermarket sheets, a relatively pointless activity at the time since there were no F-6D kits to put them on and the one conversion kit that we're personally familiar with, the 1/48th scale offering from QuickBoost, was inaccurate. That all changed when Eduard released their very own F-6D model a year or two ago, and we can now build photo-<i>Mustangs</i> to our heart's content, or at least those of us who primarily build in 1/48th scale can! With that as an introduction, let's take a look at one photo ship you can build!<div><br /></div><div>Our first image shows 778, aka "My Mimi" undergoing preflight prior to yet another mission over the North, and we get a fine look at her markings in consequence. Of particular interest is her nose art, a tiny cartoon character aft of her name. The airplane's somewhat battered overall silver paint stands out against the natural metal finish of her spinner, and the airplane is relatively dirty. Not all of the 45th's F-6Ds carried the squadron's polka-dot motif on the spinner, as exemplified here. As always, the Devil's in the details! NARA via Replica in Scale</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgA9ZefUhn9jgTbydeK_MkPEaTbz9WukDEbPdVubp0732kX6ti1mYjMGkdTcXsPG4ZFUOaFhzLg6PRujqskCAYp5KYapCgHMjtY7Dcmsz7b2Uq15FOSLq5303Lf5VR2s4MtqPU0_nbLLrYlxpgFaU0WBH8PkKZMpCfK9EMZepZtTwVvcZHQSYkOknCO=s1017" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="1017" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgA9ZefUhn9jgTbydeK_MkPEaTbz9WukDEbPdVubp0732kX6ti1mYjMGkdTcXsPG4ZFUOaFhzLg6PRujqskCAYp5KYapCgHMjtY7Dcmsz7b2Uq15FOSLq5303Lf5VR2s4MtqPU0_nbLLrYlxpgFaU0WBH8PkKZMpCfK9EMZepZtTwVvcZHQSYkOknCO=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Here she is again, running up and getting ready to taxi out. The inboard gear doors are coming up as the hydraulic system pressurizes, while the pilot is busy scanning the gauges. Of particular interest in this image are the taped-over gun ports and the corrosion-resistant exhaust covers, as well as the ADF loop just aft of the radio mast. Note the lack of gas bags under the wings; the <i>Mustang</i> possessed superb range on internal fuel alone (one fuselage tank and a pair in the wings) so extra gas wasn't necessary most of the time when serving in Korea, which in turn allowed the F-6D to take full advantage of its speed during combat ops. NARA via Replica in Scale<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGgqHMxcjpEJiAlpO25U30a_7MKQp-Ibb0mvY9YjAOu2yCTjqaGzbZvb9LhVxJlGWc7WO2A6bpGS2p5uCwCUhjPz4SL2XPytLrFI3LrF2ibpZq2P_LKF_psc3NPHJgyPFgwvA2zVseEa1DsZTADCEF6Fkf-BLtiSnssS9bq1Ukn6Js-8gOMh7_NcZ3=s1002" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="1002" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGgqHMxcjpEJiAlpO25U30a_7MKQp-Ibb0mvY9YjAOu2yCTjqaGzbZvb9LhVxJlGWc7WO2A6bpGS2p5uCwCUhjPz4SL2XPytLrFI3LrF2ibpZq2P_LKF_psc3NPHJgyPFgwvA2zVseEa1DsZTADCEF6Fkf-BLtiSnssS9bq1Ukn6Js-8gOMh7_NcZ3=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Time to go to work! This great side view shows 778 about to pull out of its parking slot for another mission. The aircraft still has functioning tailwheel doors, an increasing rarity as the conflict progressed since many <i>Mustangs</i> had them locked in the "down" position and the doors removed to accommodate operational conditions found on the often primitive South Korean airfields of the day. The pilot's helmet features the 45th's famed "Polka Dots", although they have yet to be added on this particular airplane. That low ceiling almost guarantees the mission will attract considerable ground fire, but that was the norm most of the time. NARA via Replica in Scale<div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to NARA for making these wonderful images available to the public, and to Eduard for releasing their superb F-6D kit that allows us to build a proper photo Mustang. All we need now are some decals!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Gotta Love a Sharkmouth</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The Second World War saw the creation of a great many squadrons and wings, some of which continued on into peacetime after the conclusion of that terrible conflict. The 23rd Fighter Group was one such unit, the heirs of the <i>Flying Tiger</i> mantra and legendary sharkmouth insignia that they subsequently applied to many of their post-War operational aircraft. The story of the group is too extensive for study here, but a couple of photographs of one of their more colorful mounts could certainly be in order.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibU18AXWbPvvLpcd8ns2S5F0ftR5ffPseSfksdnnzFhmOb52jCX-bg-Hi9Tkf5hc5hwEiekunjITzVAfxlZ2pgQyP9QuZqehioXwC7kfsB1NZIXPjmUIX6gjXR3oUcjnaN_K70ztbUGFEiqxWnpQbr_lvaGAYdsx6_K2XZ1yXRZEhGkz48lnTaRoJV=s4057" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2604" data-original-width="4057" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibU18AXWbPvvLpcd8ns2S5F0ftR5ffPseSfksdnnzFhmOb52jCX-bg-Hi9Tkf5hc5hwEiekunjITzVAfxlZ2pgQyP9QuZqehioXwC7kfsB1NZIXPjmUIX6gjXR3oUcjnaN_K70ztbUGFEiqxWnpQbr_lvaGAYdsx6_K2XZ1yXRZEhGkz48lnTaRoJV=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Lee Bracken shot this particular <i>Corsair II</i>, more popularly known by its nickname "The SLUF" (Slow Little Ugly F******" on the transient ramp at Bergstrom AFB in January of 1980. She was from the 76th TFS and was built as 74-1758, an A-7D-16-CV. She's wearing a modification of the SEA pattern camouflage paint, albeit of the later wraparound variety, and she's a well-used airplane. Lee Bracken<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVneRtz0hHOMqSExE6rKZEmhWJL98brseza1LUq3XZwCDvNcqO-78DJe6t3Lazg0aZrDtZIdUy_YCY2QIbArpD-gkZglMnLCMhKmPxx6T-x_B-wppgw7bEUYflyQzzDqBtidtqk-54VNwE9r9yMmZU29JZHXSNd2gY98Hiw8gdz3pJQApHrrLCP7Sd=s4138" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2752" data-original-width="4138" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVneRtz0hHOMqSExE6rKZEmhWJL98brseza1LUq3XZwCDvNcqO-78DJe6t3Lazg0aZrDtZIdUy_YCY2QIbArpD-gkZglMnLCMhKmPxx6T-x_B-wppgw7bEUYflyQzzDqBtidtqk-54VNwE9r9yMmZU29JZHXSNd2gY98Hiw8gdz3pJQApHrrLCP7Sd=s320" width="320" /></a></div>72-0184 was built as an A-7D-12-CV and was assigned to the 74th TFS when Lee Bracken's brother George photographed her on the ramp at Holloman in March of 1980. Her paintwork appears substantially more dull that that of 1758 but that's a trick of the ambient lighting existing when George took the photograph---it's also a fine lesson to scale modelers to thoroughly research their paint colors before applying them to a project because what you see isn't necessarily what things actually are! Of particular interest is the fact that this airplane has been zapped by No 6 Sqdn RAF, who have applied their famous "Flying Can Opener" marking to the fuselage immediately in front of that open avionics bay door. The flight gear hanging off the retractable boarding ladder implies an imminent departure. George Bracken<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiicW9sHwbP8f8nF8v1070LwkeYxsINo_0WeurNQarPYJM4B9SDHWn5cWZez_y2amtghsUQKY9mufvbSEQJAdIg_CtZ9FMD8cbym1PbusOmlhsRvIvA8YdPvrMfYURgIQKCR52dBtBMxMynY7vzwA04SVQx0WzskSe7HomUEBg7aauDgjsgwszXOCzb=s4106" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2719" data-original-width="4106" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiicW9sHwbP8f8nF8v1070LwkeYxsINo_0WeurNQarPYJM4B9SDHWn5cWZez_y2amtghsUQKY9mufvbSEQJAdIg_CtZ9FMD8cbym1PbusOmlhsRvIvA8YdPvrMfYURgIQKCR52dBtBMxMynY7vzwA04SVQx0WzskSe7HomUEBg7aauDgjsgwszXOCzb=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Finally, here's a portrait of A-7D-9-CV 70-1051, all resplendent in a fairly new wraparound set of SEA colors sitting on the display ramp early in the morning of 02 August, 1980, at the late and often lamented Bergstrom Air Force Base. Her markings include a sharkmouth on her travel pod as well as a "caption", for want of a better term, tying the Wing to its Second World War predecessors. This SLUF was eventually written off in a handling accident but she was in her prime when this image was taken. Phillip Friddell<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi41Ron0eDU-V3U7wczZNT-5x0KJdVN3plyBqQ1-cBQW9ukcGB1uWYrkpjn1nVl9P480gES7-VMjYyKNUyVno5XCRaoRqHGiUyNFPeFYKn9LSclw3V700uw8JZNpxUijYfWh62QhJllMgh6yXhpMEDDBY17giWvoOhS7mBZaVfzr8-OJ7mengJQOO3G=s4149" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2762" data-original-width="4149" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi41Ron0eDU-V3U7wczZNT-5x0KJdVN3plyBqQ1-cBQW9ukcGB1uWYrkpjn1nVl9P480gES7-VMjYyKNUyVno5XCRaoRqHGiUyNFPeFYKn9LSclw3V700uw8JZNpxUijYfWh62QhJllMgh6yXhpMEDDBY17giWvoOhS7mBZaVfzr8-OJ7mengJQOO3G=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a parting shot of a pair of 23rd TFW A-7Ds on short final into Kelly, taken on 09 December 1979. We don't know about you folks but it makes us think back with fondness on The Good Old Days. Phillip Friddell<div><br /></div><div><b>The Boys From the MD ANG</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Maryland's 104th Fighter Squadron was an early player in the post-War ANG and a linear descendent of the ETO's 489th FS. Organized at Harbor Field in Baltimore, the 104th achieved Federal recognition by the National Guard Bureau on 17 August, 1946, flying the P-47D <i>Thunderbolt</i>. They kept their P-47s until 1951 when they converted to the F-51H <i>Mustang</i> (note the designation change---Maryland's <i>Thunderbolts</i> were P-47Ds when the squadron was constituted and became F-47Ds while in service when the Air Force changed their fighter designations from P to F in June of 1948). </div><div><br /></div><div>Mike Burke, a longtime friend of frequent contributor Mark Nankivil (he of the Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum) had collected a series of black and white photographs of the group and recently shared them with Mark. Sadly, Mike passed a few months ago, but the images of those P-47s remain; we're presenting them today thanks to the kindness of Mark Nankivil and in memory of Mike Burke. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinv7Y5Iac3hhr0_DjyDCgt5K2GEAiOqsNgKV-Hdo_QN-02AlMrSDfaa6npIzu-Cl0Cq2GwMzhw_dpG-vhPf36H_6egINjg_G5dw_Y-zb5CpA_yI-70mLac2I7gkHekR6_ePmoDJBm_zuUQZa6FH_uyLKszZaY5A6UVegYO2vclfRbsGfz6qPelVZvj=s5320" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2948" data-original-width="5320" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinv7Y5Iac3hhr0_DjyDCgt5K2GEAiOqsNgKV-Hdo_QN-02AlMrSDfaa6npIzu-Cl0Cq2GwMzhw_dpG-vhPf36H_6egINjg_G5dw_Y-zb5CpA_yI-70mLac2I7gkHekR6_ePmoDJBm_zuUQZa6FH_uyLKszZaY5A6UVegYO2vclfRbsGfz6qPelVZvj=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Clean hangars and safe work areas are the norm nowadays but the definitions of "clean" and "safe" have changed somewhat over the years, as illustrated by this early view of the 104th's maintenance hangar. The variety of aircraft parked in there is of interest and includes an A-26B (44-34676), a T-6 (originally AT-6C 41-32747), an R-5 (serial unknown) and several P-47Ds, all assigned to the unit. Messy hangars weren't exactly the norm in the late 1940s but they weren't all that unusual either. Time (and a horrendous accident rate among most American aviation units) would change that! Mike Burke Collection via Mark Nankivil/Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiN087GUkjEfwZFjh2jBC8iimdZzn0-xju5wwgv5cHOH8ATFI0pbb73VeSQT2gkv5SWU56emMxgwgs641TSidADoeQBBazYbCpHBIpGZDgSdgo4f5NgiJ332kUMLnOpvYX1Jeainw_IZ0tYSy48zTrf27wDmptULbDNAaTaVw69YjUKELXWfowq-hMV=s5062" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3498" data-original-width="5062" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiN087GUkjEfwZFjh2jBC8iimdZzn0-xju5wwgv5cHOH8ATFI0pbb73VeSQT2gkv5SWU56emMxgwgs641TSidADoeQBBazYbCpHBIpGZDgSdgo4f5NgiJ332kUMLnOpvYX1Jeainw_IZ0tYSy48zTrf27wDmptULbDNAaTaVw69YjUKELXWfowq-hMV=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Sometimes you do what you have to do, including performing basic maintenance on the ramp. This sort of thing was the norm during the Second World War and Korea and can still be seen to this day. although the safety standards have changed considerably since those early times. Take note of the tip warning treatment on the propeller; those stripes aren't an anomaly but rather the way the A.O. Smith company (a subcontractor to Curtiss Electric) marked their propeller blades prior to shipping them to Curtiss for final assembly and firmly identify these airplanes as coming from wartime production. Mike Burke Collection via Mark Nankivil/Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjC6uxqyYomn33dBaKfilTufwv6wFjBacqnqivVa3TL3szf3K59La3JRFBZ_bgtEU2-oztzzon3Jeatwmj8d92BHmesqeRmf8m5_OvMXr-Sshxl1HfRWhXFLUQ7oKrM4rKa1pWjMN5ibotlLWr-vzitcdmi0Wjj7G55J_3hbzjtXVXJK-L9olYrz55h=s5306" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2170" data-original-width="5306" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjC6uxqyYomn33dBaKfilTufwv6wFjBacqnqivVa3TL3szf3K59La3JRFBZ_bgtEU2-oztzzon3Jeatwmj8d92BHmesqeRmf8m5_OvMXr-Sshxl1HfRWhXFLUQ7oKrM4rKa1pWjMN5ibotlLWr-vzitcdmi0Wjj7G55J_3hbzjtXVXJK-L9olYrz55h=s320" width="320" /></a></div>On the gun butts! This wonderful image is just full of detail for the scale modeler, including the squadron markings under the canopy, the post-1947 national insignia, and the primitive (and left-over) RHAW antenna on the vertical stabilizer. 45-49115 typified the squadron's -40-RE <i>Thunderbolts</i> in so many ways! Mike Burke Collection via Mark Nankivil/Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum<br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoKALD0aJKIHO6jTnWqbakEvD7GRcVAVxqJ8ZrPzsXBp3aEwuwZWxaXbkJ2Vu__JL1TmFy4_-KNYfaNjI-iYh292Jt29Nb8qcsv9eLGnxN3NDoRe8n31D0ywQFpm8dANL_whfV1bwOIrwAg3EeLlfb8zDBUTeXtmmjxPevfAuVr05brmxrnYAHe6H3=s5908" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4761" data-original-width="5908" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoKALD0aJKIHO6jTnWqbakEvD7GRcVAVxqJ8ZrPzsXBp3aEwuwZWxaXbkJ2Vu__JL1TmFy4_-KNYfaNjI-iYh292Jt29Nb8qcsv9eLGnxN3NDoRe8n31D0ywQFpm8dANL_whfV1bwOIrwAg3EeLlfb8zDBUTeXtmmjxPevfAuVr05brmxrnYAHe6H3=s320" width="320" /></a></div>This photo could have been taken in Western Europe during 1945, but it wasn't! Nope; this wonderful imaged was shot in Maryland on April 1st, 1948, which could have made it a record of the ultimate April Fool's Day joke on the squadron safety officer, although we somehow doubt that. There are other possible explanations, of course. It could've been the unfortunate result of parking in the dirt during facilities construction prior to a rainstorm, or maybe it was something involved with a training exercise, but we don't know. If you think <i>you</i> do, that properly-encrypted email address is replicainscaleatyahoodotcom . We'd definitely like an answer! Mike Burke Collection via Mark Nankivil/Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum</div><div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDW_j7OjhrpZ7EEuGEpdHA7q88ROLe8z8UG8k587gS9vZznp8JxsNJbOH50z37sB2YQzQxEi2k8pbTaFs0R31uRpX0rrLwl7cGu6QtaG7QR_MDF4lbu9TJKaElS9Dgztw-1P0CMFpto2Iw8EgQlyOqWZpEMxvRim5Ro8IB7le1B1CT1YQI9mY295Vh=s5444" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4142" data-original-width="5444" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDW_j7OjhrpZ7EEuGEpdHA7q88ROLe8z8UG8k587gS9vZznp8JxsNJbOH50z37sB2YQzQxEi2k8pbTaFs0R31uRpX0rrLwl7cGu6QtaG7QR_MDF4lbu9TJKaElS9Dgztw-1P0CMFpto2Iw8EgQlyOqWZpEMxvRim5Ro8IB7le1B1CT1YQI9mY295Vh=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Let's end this essay with a wonderful photograph of a MD ANG four-ship formating over the countryside. It was taken late during the squadron's employment of the <i>Thunderbolt</i> and may well depict their contribution to the District of Columbia's air defense umbrella since the unit rotated a four aircraft detachment to Andrews for that purpose during part of the time they operated the type. Mike Burke via Mark Nankivil/Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum</div><div><br /></div><div>Blue skies, Mike!</div><div><br /></div><div><b><span>The Relief Tube</span></b></div><div><b><span><br /></span></b></div><div>Long-time friend Steve Birdsall noticed our A-4 close-up posted in <i>Happy Snaps</i> two issues ago was probably miscredited and offered this:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>Hi Phil -</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Glad to see the latest update at RIS.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>The photo of the VA-36 A-4 caught my eye and I suspect that is a Tom Hansen photo. As you well may know, Tom was an airman aboard the HU-16s stationed over the Gulf of Tonkin, and he devoted many hours to photographing the many other aircraft he encountered. The timeframe fits too.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Anyway, I've attached a somewhat similar closeup . . . A-1H NE 581 of VA-25 from USS Coral Sea on 18 September 1966. Tom noted that Crown Alpha's escorts that day were Canasta 81 and 73.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Feel free to run the photo if you wish - on the next update, or Facebook or whatever, just as long as it's credited to Tom Hansen. He rarely if ever gets the credit he deserves.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>All the best -</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Steve</i></div></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Thanks very much for the correction and the insight, Steve, and we'll make certain Tom gets the credit! </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Happy Snaps</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Just in case you were wondering what happened to the Skyraider photo Steve mentioned in <i>The Relief</i> <i>Tube</i>:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhr_B7nuVXahk5B1zN586nMqnirJsejiNmTZJoBn7vo6hSe79tI6piIrCsUrOG07rgyYA12nBWf4QoZE4Aa07NJIbDqPq3T8UGCMaKH16KYZUvEaCifc8ll0iyys2nRIFPc5sHR35bDXHGa6V3ccta1X35v-vdzGB5vVqTZKEndqdeW-luMx7CfALXI=s4230" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2900" data-original-width="4230" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhr_B7nuVXahk5B1zN586nMqnirJsejiNmTZJoBn7vo6hSe79tI6piIrCsUrOG07rgyYA12nBWf4QoZE4Aa07NJIbDqPq3T8UGCMaKH16KYZUvEaCifc8ll0iyys2nRIFPc5sHR35bDXHGa6V3ccta1X35v-vdzGB5vVqTZKEndqdeW-luMx7CfALXI=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Once again Tom Hansen captures the sheer joy of flight! Of special interest in this shot is the excellent depiction of the Yankee Extraction System as used in the A-1. Aviation photography honestly doesn't get much better than this! Tom Hansen via Steve Birdsall<div><br /></div><div>We may run an article on that extraction device at some later date but in the meantime here's a page from the manual to illustrate the way it worked:<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEis_yncvBdsWJzhQhv3FKvr2q_WzsxcJP1GhEDAd-d2swBNRTu9gwLx9UrCTg6e_ITBftOPez2cG6aUclLLrWT1VgGYrFyU9hwmPx2UeKmLGhT5rCD2YbNRw97sDbuKevQ9oFmqSVvj_Jd0rvt73IAeoTmIPC1Xc6NG1YfhGhZlMHC-pSR2UcQO-q6j=s920" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEis_yncvBdsWJzhQhv3FKvr2q_WzsxcJP1GhEDAd-d2swBNRTu9gwLx9UrCTg6e_ITBftOPez2cG6aUclLLrWT1VgGYrFyU9hwmPx2UeKmLGhT5rCD2YbNRw97sDbuKevQ9oFmqSVvj_Jd0rvt73IAeoTmIPC1Xc6NG1YfhGhZlMHC-pSR2UcQO-q6j=s320" width="209" /></a></div>These illustrations are pretty basic but you get the idea, right? <br /><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Steve Birdsall for sharing both the correction and that marvelous image with us!</div><div><br /></div><div>That's about it, both for this issue and for this year. These are challenging times and our exceptional paucity regarding the number of issues we've published during the past twelve months bears that out, but we're still kicking over here and we'll see you again early next year. Until then, be good to your neighbor! We absolutely WILL meet again soon!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>phil</div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-82430851930124071022021-11-04T21:55:00.003-05:002023-04-04T15:36:28.110-05:00Something Different at the 'Canal, Another Darned '109, They're Your Photos, A Couple From John Kerr, and a Tadpole<p> </p><p><b>The Very First One</b></p><p>We're going to take a somewhat different approach with our opening piece this time and talk about something we've all had, and probably all remember. That's right; we're going to discuss the very first plastic model airplane we ever built, either solo or with help from someone, so let's jump right into it!</p><p>My first personal exposure to the world of plastic models came in 1955, while my dad was stationed at Chitose AB on Southern Hokkaido helping the Air Force stare down those bad guys just a few clicks away. It was an unaccompanied tour in those days which meant no families allowed so my mom and I were cooling our heels staying with my grandmother in the wilds of North Georgia while waiting for his 18-month assignment to pass. That, in turn, meant visiting relatives and, magically, getting to see my teenage cousin Jerry's model airplanes! He may have, and probably did have, have a stick and tissue flying model or two on display somewhere but the real treasure was on the dresser in his room; those first Revell jet airplanes! He may have had them all---my memory can recall the F-84F, F-94C, and F7U. He may have had a <i>Cougar</i> too, but I know for certain that he had those three. I saw them, I asked if I could play with them and was told "no" in terms I could understand, and the die was cast. Those models, plus Jerry's car (a used Sunbeam <i>Alpine</i> that he spent most of his weekends working on), rapidly elevated him to the exalted status of Favorite Relative in my eyes. The fact that he tolerated me and let me watch during those interminable hours he spent trying to synchronize the SU carburetors on that <i>Alpine </i>didn't hurt either, and in retrospect he's probably the reason I grew up loving sports cars too, but this isn't about sports cars. It's about plastic model airplanes.</p><p>Jerry took me to the hobby shop that was near his home but at six years of age I couldn't afford to buy anything so I just looked, and dreamed of the day I could build a model too. I asked my mom to buy a kit for me and, if truth be known probably drove her crazy with the frequency of my requests, but she always had said no, right up until The Magic Day. </p><p>It started out as a normal shopping trip for groceries at Blair's Supermarket in Canton one Saturday afternoon. The place was large for a grocery store in a small Georgia town and sold things besides food and related dry goods and sundries. That meant they had a small toy section in the store, and in that toy section were a handful of models, one of which was a black "Me109 Night Fighter". It was in a smallish scale, just the size for someone of my tender years, and my constant pestering, coupled with a desire on my mom's part to get out of the store and go home, won the day. She asked if I could really build it all by myself, and I said YES loudly enough to be heard throughout the store. She bought it for me, and I suspect I danced all the way out to the car. I HAD A MODEL AIRPLANE! It was mine to build, and then I could play with it! I could be just like my cousin Jerry; could a sports car of my own be far behind? Ok, maybe not, but I had a model of my own and all was right with the world!</p><p>My attempts at assembly began almost as soon as we got home. We hadn't purchased glue because the thought had never occurred to either of us to do that, but Grandma always had Elmer's Glue somewhere around the house and glue was glue, so I was set. </p><p>Or maybe not...</p><p>We all know that Elmer's doesn't work with polystyrene but I didn't have a clue back then, so I broke all those black pieces (it was a night fighter, remember?) off their sprues and set to work. The results were predictable but also eventually salvageable once someone had the idea to call my cousin to find out why all the of the kit's component pieces were literally falling off the model. A tube of plastic cement was somehow acquired and I began again, which allowed me to learn about Indelible Glue Fingerprints and how black plastic turns purple if you get enough cement on it. I got the thing finished in spite of myself, although I don't remember putting decals on it---my recollections of that very first polystyrene model airplane indicate it was overall black, which was just fine with me. It was a night fighter anyway, right? </p><p>And that was how it all began for me! The subject matter might have had something to do with my ongoing modeling interest in the Ost Front <i>Luftwaffe</i>, although probably not, but the kit started me off on a lifetime of polystyrene misadventures that has carried through until this very moment. I look on the whole thing as a gift!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kStIYRh5us/YUZMst5W78I/AAAAAAAAKWg/iSlJGhlUP68zPofiTjSWYvjIPsS9OXZagCLcBGAsYHQ/s720/Hobby-Time%2BMe109%2BNight%2BFighter.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="720" height="215" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kStIYRh5us/YUZMst5W78I/AAAAAAAAKWg/iSlJGhlUP68zPofiTjSWYvjIPsS9OXZagCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hobby-Time%2BMe109%2BNight%2BFighter.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>And here's the culprit! Everybody has a first model they built all by themselves, with no help from adults or older siblings, and this one was mine. I don't have a copy of it now and scabbed the picture you see off the Internet, something I almost never do, but I'd sure <i>like</i> to have that kit again. Drop me an email ( replicainscaleatyahoodotcom ) if you have one you'd like to part with and maybe we can talk.<div><br /></div><div>Long ago and far away...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Guadalcanal Birds of a Slightly Different Flavor</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>When we think of the aerial struggle that took place for the island of Guadalcanal from mid-1942 into early 1943 we usually think of <i>Wildcats</i>, <i>Dauntlesses</i>, <i>Corsairs</i>, P-38s, and P-400s, but the Army Air Force operated a number of other types in the theater. Take these airplanes, for example:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BgEqPAhmP4M/YUZQogZtxUI/AAAAAAAAKWo/Dpk6mjUKOpo5W_bYl6sw2GbYDusTzchHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1651/B-25C%2B41-13153%2B390th%2BBS%2B42nd%2BBG%2Bat%2BGuadalcanal%2Bearly%2B1943%252C%2Blost%2B20%2BJul%2B43%2BFriddell%2BCollection%2B%25282%2529%2Bcopy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1651" height="203" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BgEqPAhmP4M/YUZQogZtxUI/AAAAAAAAKWo/Dpk6mjUKOpo5W_bYl6sw2GbYDusTzchHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/B-25C%2B41-13153%2B390th%2BBS%2B42nd%2BBG%2Bat%2BGuadalcanal%2Bearly%2B1943%252C%2Blost%2B20%2BJul%2B43%2BFriddell%2BCollection%2B%25282%2529%2Bcopy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>41-13153 was a B-25C from the 390th BS/42nd BG and was photographed at Henderson Field in the Spring of 1943. There may or may not be a name or nose art on the airplane; although this view doesn't show one, it wouldn't have been unusual for it to have been on the port side of the airplane only. This one is a straight-up bomber rather than one of the highly modified strafers found flying with the 5th Air Force in New Guinea during the same time period; those mods were the exclusive property of General George Kenney's boys during this phase of the war. Note how relatively clean this airplane is. I'm guessing it had only recently arrived from New Caledonia but it didn't last long, going down off Guadalcanal in July of 1943. Friddell Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pf5awOB3UHM/YUZSxbkEQCI/AAAAAAAAKW4/ZkaelYCPAhc1JiquKrAmumA0BsBJq0d6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1648/B-26B%2B41-17581%2BYap%2BTrap%2B38th%2BBG%2Bat%2BGuadalcanal%2BNov-Dec%2B42%2Bor%2BJan%2B43%2BFriddell%2BCollection%2B%25282%2529%2Bcopy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1648" height="203" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pf5awOB3UHM/YUZSxbkEQCI/AAAAAAAAKW4/ZkaelYCPAhc1JiquKrAmumA0BsBJq0d6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/B-26B%2B41-17581%2BYap%2BTrap%2B38th%2BBG%2Bat%2BGuadalcanal%2BNov-Dec%2B42%2Bor%2BJan%2B43%2BFriddell%2BCollection%2B%25282%2529%2Bcopy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>When we think of Martin's <i>Marauder </i>in the SouthWest Pacific we usually think of the 22nd Bomb Group and their operations out of Port Moresby, but there were B-26s at Guadalcanal as well. "Yap Trap" was a B-26B (41-175681) assigned to the 38th BG and nominally operating out of New Caledonia, although they could sometimes be found operating from Henderson Field as well. The group didn't operate the type for very long and didn't stay in the Guadalcanal area either, but they were there long enough for "Yap Trap" to be immortalized on film. Friddell Collection<div><br /></div><div>From the scale modeler's perspective we're relatively poorly served as far as kits of these airplanes are concerned, at least if you build in 1/48th scale (which I predominantly do). Accurate Miniatures attempted a B-25B/C/D/G a number of years ago but it has some serious errors that cause it to be only a fairly good model rather than the accurate one we'd all prefer, while nobody, as of this writing at least, has ever kitted a 1/48th scale short-winged B-26 of any sort. Big sigh.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>A Great One From Norm</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Long-time contributor Norman Camou is at it again, this time with a remarkable YouTube film of early l940s US Navy activities. It's an amazing look into the past and well worth the time it takes to watch it!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=xw3-Iivkr3A">Amazing Color Kodachrome Movies of Wartime Naval Aviation at Pensacola F4U-1 F3F Vultee SNV Valiant - YouTube</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks very much, Norm, for taking the time to find these jewels for us!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Not Another Bf109!</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nn616d1nfRk/YXh9o91n3bI/AAAAAAAAKXI/B9jcThLYMuIhdrstJP3ssDcE74pgN93TACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLG%2B1%2B1%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1921" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nn616d1nfRk/YXh9o91n3bI/AAAAAAAAKXI/B9jcThLYMuIhdrstJP3ssDcE74pgN93TACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLG%2B1%2B1%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />There are quite a few airplanes that are considered iconic, and those airplanes so designated generally have plastic model kits produced of them in substantial variety and in many scales. Willy Messerschmitt's 109 series of fighters certainly falls into that category of iconic airplanes, and the sheer quantity of kits available of all its various iterations is legendary---it seems as though there are as many different kits as there were real airplanes produced by Herr Willy, but we digress...</div><div><br /></div><div>We're going to restrict today's discussion of the 109 family a bit, however, in favor of looking at and fixing the flaws of a kit that's often been called the best of the 1/48th scale Bf109Es; the Airfix <i>Emil</i>. It's got a lot to recommend it, you know; it's closer to scale than almost all of its competition, and it's relatively simple to build. It's easily available and was, until, recently, the most affordable of the good <i>Emil</i> kits as well, and it's also the only one out there that will allow the modeler to build all of the "normal" Bf109E variants from what's in any of its several boxings. That's right; excepting the barely produced and hardly used Bf109T, each and every <i>Emil</i> variant is right there in that Airfix box from E-1 to E-7, so the kit is what we used to call a Bargain as well as accurate.</div><div><br /></div><div>We have a premise, then: The 1/48th scale Airfix Bf109E is the currently the best kit available of the type available to us (and yes; I'm fully aware of the recent Wingsy kit of the airplane, but I'm standing by what I just said about Airfix, for now, anyway...), but it's not without its flaws. Let's see what needs fixing!</div><div><br /></div><div>The canopies are thick and the squared-off set for the E-4 and E-7 variants is just wrong. That's because Airfix allegedly used a real <i>Emil</i> for their kit research, and that real airplane was wearing an incorrect for the variant, later and far more heavily-framed Me09G canopy, a situation apparently caused by the paucity of proper Messerschmitt canopies in stock over at the local airplane parts emporium. The fix is pretty easy, if possibly expensive---either modify the kit parts by reworking the frames or swipe a canopy, or the entire canopy stack, from an Eduard Weekend Edition kit since that particular edifice (once our favorite <i>Emil</i> kit!) is just too darned big! Yes, Virginia; the Eduard E is overscale but a lot of the parts can be used to detail someone else's kit, which almost makes sense if you either have an unbuilt one lying around, or can get a Weekend Edition for cheap. Either way, the canopy situation is fixable.</div><div><br /></div><div>The prop is way too thin, and the spinners provided with the kit (3 different ones) are all a little on the soft side. Our Canadian friends at UltraCast make replacements out of resin that are just super, and will fix the problem regardless of the spinner your model requires. </div><div><br /></div><div>The tailwheel is a little too small as well, and the main gear wheels are lacking detail. UltraCast can help with the wheels for the mains, while the Bf109F kit of your choice, or the tailwheel from the Eduard "Brassin" set for the <i>Emil</i>, will cure the problem at the back end of the model. </div><div><br /></div><div>The interior could stand some work, of course, but the simple addition of an UltraCast seat (with belts molded in) and painting will go a very long way towards making the office presentable. Yes; I use a lot of UltraCast products when they're available for whatever I'm building at the time. That's because I like their work a lot and I'm a fan of their products. Your mileage may vary in that respect and there are other solutions out there for the issues just mentioned but the boys from Canada tend to get my vote most of the time. You pays your money...</div><div><br /></div><div>Then there's the real heartbreaker of the kit, which lives in the form of the main landing gear struts. As tooled, the model sits way too high and ends up looking pretty silly once it's completed, but those struts aren't the problem. Nope, the whole issue stems from the way Airfix have you mount the mains into the wheel wells, but there's a super easy fix for that too---that over-long gear is the long pole in this particular tent, but we can fix it in just a few minutes:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHeqDP4ZW1Y/YXlLvsIJsZI/AAAAAAAAKXQ/vf8asZLn4kI6VIgPbDzhB-O2lAOFPysQACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLanding%2BGear%2BFix%2B1%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1759" data-original-width="2048" height="275" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHeqDP4ZW1Y/YXlLvsIJsZI/AAAAAAAAKXQ/vf8asZLn4kI6VIgPbDzhB-O2lAOFPysQACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLanding%2BGear%2BFix%2B1%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The guys at Airfix do great work these days but I'm pretty sure the guy who designed those struts wasn't talking to their wing department when those items were tooled because, as designed, they sit ON the wheel wells instead of IN them. The fix is an easy one; just open up the mounting slots so the strut attachment pegs can drop down <i>into</i> the wing. The struts are approximately 1/8th inch too long but not really; they just mount incorrectly, and this fix almost exactly equals the dimension required to fix the problem. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aokLlkzVrmw/YXlMx0AtSQI/AAAAAAAAKXY/ooRArHbVGq8PbuTbcL3KIhNIIwS6VfQZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLanding%2BGear%2BFix%2B2%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1928" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aokLlkzVrmw/YXlMx0AtSQI/AAAAAAAAKXY/ooRArHbVGq8PbuTbcL3KIhNIIwS6VfQZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLanding%2BGear%2BFix%2B2%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="301" /></a></div>Here's the finished opening. It's rough (I coulda/shoulda been neater!) but it works, as we will shortly discover.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PsTp6ET7Cn4/YXlNOY8v4WI/AAAAAAAAKXg/PA8g9a2Fz2sQBiqaLvXz_Fb9uQU5JqGoACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLanding%2BGear%2BFix%2B3%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2020" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PsTp6ET7Cn4/YXlNOY8v4WI/AAAAAAAAKXg/PA8g9a2Fz2sQBiqaLvXz_Fb9uQU5JqGoACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLanding%2BGear%2BFix%2B3%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>See how those struts are sitting in the photo? The one with the red box around it has been corrected, while the one furthest away is just sitting there as Airfix mistakenly intended it to be. Dropping the strut down into the wing makes the whole problem go away.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l5L6XIyPMDc/YXlNzPPrTXI/AAAAAAAAKXo/1eR6GMAEXZQvouMK0D7x2eG6J2Ar2uWtwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLanding%2BGear%2BFix%2B4%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1924" data-original-width="2048" height="301" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l5L6XIyPMDc/YXlNzPPrTXI/AAAAAAAAKXo/1eR6GMAEXZQvouMK0D7x2eG6J2Ar2uWtwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLanding%2BGear%2BFix%2B4%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Notice how the top of the strut's mounting peg hits the bottom of the upper wing---that can be used as an <i>ad hoc</i> fixture to set your spacing, after which all that's required is to make certain the splay and rake of the gear is correct and let the cement cure. How easy can this be!<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IbSvsxP88CQ/YXlOZ8biycI/AAAAAAAAKXw/8poHhGTpXeMLY6aagRvI7RPAP8-rm5HpACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLG%2B1%2B2%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1582" data-original-width="2048" height="247" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IbSvsxP88CQ/YXlOZ8biycI/AAAAAAAAKXw/8poHhGTpXeMLY6aagRvI7RPAP8-rm5HpACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLG%2B1%2B2%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's how the finished model looks. Note the "sit" of the airplane---much better, huh? One thing about the Airfix kit that poses a problem is the relative fragility of the pitot tube and aileron mass balances, which are extremely fragile and easy to break when removing them from their sprues. Caution is required. That said, this model was built mostly as an Old School sort of project so the kit gun barrels were drilled out and most of the other parts on the airplane came from the kit. Normally I would use Master Barrels for that sort of thing but this time around I didn't and Old School worked out just fine. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O3ED8--5pGA/YXnJPyTF6CI/AAAAAAAAKX4/kOPNzAt25EYxD_r3PIDdcbKIniGU03CugCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLG%2B1%2B3%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1819" data-original-width="2048" height="284" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O3ED8--5pGA/YXnJPyTF6CI/AAAAAAAAKX4/kOPNzAt25EYxD_r3PIDdcbKIniGU03CugCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLG%2B1%2B3%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Early reviews of this kit slammed it for over-large panel lines and there's some truth to that, but they largely go away once the model is painted. My model received a coat of Mr Surfacer 1200 prior to painting and everything worked out just fine in the panel line department but that's a matter of taste, isn't it? I'm ok with the way it looks but you might not be. One thing I definitely should have done was replace the canopy stack, because those parts are way too thick even for an airplane using the E-1/E-3 canopy, which this airplane did. As previously mentioned, the parts from Eduard's oddly proportioned and overscale Bf109E kits will work just fine with the Airfix offering, as will Hasegawa's for that matter. If you're building an <i>Emil</i> with the "square" canopy and windscreen frame you'll have to do something about the issue anyway, but I got lazy and could get away with it since the E-7 I was building (Herbert Ihlefeld's LG-2 bird in Romania, immediately prior to the launch of Operation <i>Barbarossa</i>) carried the older canopy set. Sharp-eyed readers will also note that the windscreen hand-holds and canopy retaining strap still need to be added. All together now: Jeez---doesn't he ever actually <i>finish</i> anything?<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KHDZahOqCJk/YXnLZXxKcYI/AAAAAAAAKYA/-VZDNkACVWYHpwj-rOpf3FBhMaCTdW8WgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLG%2B1%2B4%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1930" data-original-width="2048" height="302" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KHDZahOqCJk/YXnLZXxKcYI/AAAAAAAAKYA/-VZDNkACVWYHpwj-rOpf3FBhMaCTdW8WgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Airfix%2BBf109E%2BLG%2B1%2B4%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a parting shot, just because. The paint on this one was all Mr Color while the crosses, swastikas, and what little stencilling is evident were taken from the kit decals, which look awful on their carrier sheet but are actually quite good. The LG-2 insignia, commander's chevrons, and victory markings came from Eduard's limited edition <i>Barbarossa</i> set. I chose not to use their national insignia because they're too big for the Airfix kit, which is actually 1/48th scale. The Eduard kit (which I used to like a lot) has scale errors similar to their initial-release Me-109G series, which means it's a great selective parts source but you have to pay attention because some of the components, to include the national insignia on the decal sheets, are just too darned big! Forewarned is forearmed...<div><br /></div><div><b>Public Resources</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It's an odd thing, of the strange but true variety, that thousands of excellent photographs of American military airplanes are available to the aviation enthusiast an historian on line, and they're there for free! That's right; they're free, but you will have to dig for them. The point is they're out there, just waiting to be accessed. </div><div><br /></div><div>The resource is the United States' very own national archives, and you can tap into them at <a href="https://www.archives.gov/">National Archives |</a> if you'd like. It's a huge, and we mean HUGE, resource, albeit one that can be notoriously difficult to navigate until you get the hang of it. That said, once you learn how to get around in there the images and documents that are available to the public absolutely free of charge will astound you. Here are a couple of examples of the photography that lives within:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T_Lf1GFZMus/YYQhWYBa1UI/AAAAAAAAKYI/85opuAzVVZESGGVqYnQRGeMKzTd5pNTZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/342-FH_000221%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1587" data-original-width="2048" height="248" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T_Lf1GFZMus/YYQhWYBa1UI/AAAAAAAAKYI/85opuAzVVZESGGVqYnQRGeMKzTd5pNTZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/342-FH_000221%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Do you recognize this airplane? You should, because this very image has been used over and over again in books and magazine articles, sometimes properly credited but far more often not. It's been in the Archives forever and depicts "Scatterbrain", a P-40E of the 7th FS/49th FG during their time at the Port Moresby complex of airfields. The date on the photograph is somewhat misleading because it defines when the image went into the collection rather than the month and day the shot was taken, but still... National Archives<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k_V3MWolYmQ/YYQi-lhvLpI/AAAAAAAAKYM/gvyYx_ccgdYevp7u5Vxc4hUbWSP3oZUtQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/342-FH_000556%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1588" data-original-width="2048" height="248" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k_V3MWolYmQ/YYQi-lhvLpI/AAAAAAAAKYM/gvyYx_ccgdYevp7u5Vxc4hUbWSP3oZUtQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/342-FH_000556%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's another photo you're probably familiar with. This time airplane is "Poopy II" and is another 7th FS/49th FG <i>Warhawk</i> stationed at Port Moresby. <div><br /></div><div>One of the things that will stand out if you choose to explore this resource is the overall quality of the images that reside there. Most of them are first-generation prints off the original negatives or first-generation color transparencies that have been scanned at a reasonably high resolution, although some of the photography held there isn't quite as good as these images are. That's not the point, though. The important thing is that the images are there, available and waiting. All that's required on your end are time, patience, and the ability to use the "search" function on a web site!</div><div><br /></div><div>You can thank us later...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Maddog's Legacy</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>John Kerr, also know as "Maddog" to his friends, was a retired Air Force Air Commando and aviation photographer and collector who sadly passed away several years ago. That passing left quite a void for many of us but Maddog is still with us thanks to his tireless efforts in acquiring old and unique photographs of American military airplanes and his generosity in sharing them with others. We're offering this pair of images today to prove that point:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGmZcIPULFY4GAULmBRB8ymK-7MsP8rd8kGA93xTK5u8dF29aeyi0lZSj0-fhDRmiTCH2b8iDSBr5LXwjafGax4xO3MuJ3HqvFEvA5JYAQfWA9fcUGnID58nIelvSnXdPM-c3m611_jQa-eRYGUfK1X_JSdLo7ClWKCpHN483blkoeQ9IUk0fCb7H/s850/47-0141.33141902_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="850" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGmZcIPULFY4GAULmBRB8ymK-7MsP8rd8kGA93xTK5u8dF29aeyi0lZSj0-fhDRmiTCH2b8iDSBr5LXwjafGax4xO3MuJ3HqvFEvA5JYAQfWA9fcUGnID58nIelvSnXdPM-c3m611_jQa-eRYGUfK1X_JSdLo7ClWKCpHN483blkoeQ9IUk0fCb7H/s320/47-0141.33141902_large.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">While the B-50 family was originally designed to be bombardment aircraft and the logical follow-on to Boeing's legendary B-29 </span><i style="text-align: left;">SuperFortress</i><span style="text-align: left;">, photographs of it in its bomber guise are difficult to come by because of the airframe's adaptability to other missions. We can find photographs of it in its weather, recce, and, most frequently, aerial tanker variations, but the straight-up bombers are fairly rare. This airplane, a B-50F (47-0141) of the SRS/55th SRW is rarer yet because it has retained its armament into 1953, when this photograph was taken at Olathe. The type is relatively obscure today but the B-50s in all of their variations were Cold Warriors </span><i style="text-align: left;">par excellence </i><span style="text-align: left;">and served the Air Force well from their introduction into service until the early 1960s. This one is a remarkable example of the type. A.L. Meyer via Ron Picciani Collection</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z2vBtby_9Ts/YYQpC-JCgzI/AAAAAAAAKYg/-6-GxvdkfmUZMBb_8IhHKITwKq4CvMaQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/RB-66B%2B54-%2B534%2B30th%2BTRS%2B10th%2BTRW%2Bat%2BRhein-Main%2BJun%2B61%2BJohn%2BKerr%2BCollection%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1358" data-original-width="2048" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z2vBtby_9Ts/YYQpC-JCgzI/AAAAAAAAKYg/-6-GxvdkfmUZMBb_8IhHKITwKq4CvMaQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/RB-66B%2B54-%2B534%2B30th%2BTRS%2B10th%2BTRW%2Bat%2BRhein-Main%2BJun%2B61%2BJohn%2BKerr%2BCollection%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's another Cold Warrior that's often overlooked by the amateur enthusiast. The Douglas B-66 wasn't much of a bomber and in consequence didn't serve long in that role, but it was the parent of the highly successful EB, RB, and WB variations of the airframe and deserves more attention than it normally receives. This photo illustrates a perfect example of one of the early RB-66s; an RB-66B (54-0534) of the 30th TRS/10th TRW stationed at Laon AB in France during the early and mid-1960s. The photo was taken at an open house, we think at Bitburg although we aren't certain of that. The airplane is a gorgeous representative of the <i>Destroyer</i> in its photo-recce guise and a fine representative of The Silver Air Force. John Kerr Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S9dIGTM2dhc/YYQq0h7-MYI/AAAAAAAAKYo/TmfLDSItb4Y8s0LNc6tQYduhrICA5hjJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/HUL-1%2B143143%2BHU-1%2BJohn%2BKerr%2BCollection%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1351" data-original-width="2048" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S9dIGTM2dhc/YYQq0h7-MYI/AAAAAAAAKYo/TmfLDSItb4Y8s0LNc6tQYduhrICA5hjJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/HUL-1%2B143143%2BHU-1%2BJohn%2BKerr%2BCollection%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Let's end Maddog's contribution to today's edition with a relative rarity. That tiny helicopter is a Bell HUL-1 (BuNo 143143) of HU-1 resting on the deck of a diesel-powered submarine, probably during the early 1960s. It was assigned to HU-1, an AirPac asset, and is proudly done up in the utility paint scheme and markings of the day. What a neat little helo! We suspect this image may have originated with the Navy but you never know, because John knew and traded with a lot of people! We think the photo is special no matter where it came from, and we're happy to be able to share it with you today.<div> John Kerr Collection</div><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Maddog John Kerr for the lifetime he devoted to the collection of photographs of American military airplanes and to his ongoing legacy to us all!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Sneaky Pete</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It's been quite a while since we've walked a military flight line with a camera but there was a time when we could often be found there, wearing out shoe leather chasing airplanes. This photo takes us back to those days:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sok1Axu-drM/YYQuIQ2o3bI/AAAAAAAAKYw/zzJNSVxyPTEUdIkJBq27L9xxRP2uL1HGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-6E%2B155681%252C%2BVMA%2528AW%2529-533%252C%2BSneaky%2B%2BPete%2Bat%2BNAS%2BChase%2B12%2BJune%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sok1Axu-drM/YYQuIQ2o3bI/AAAAAAAAKYw/zzJNSVxyPTEUdIkJBq27L9xxRP2uL1HGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A-6E%2B155681%252C%2BVMA%2528AW%2529-533%252C%2BSneaky%2B%2BPete%2Bat%2BNAS%2BChase%2B12%2BJune%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>155681 was an A-6E assigned to VMA(AW)-533 and was on the ground on an overcast day at NAS Chase field when we caught her behind a tow tractor on 12 June, 1982. She was being moved into her parking place on the T-Line when this photo was taken. Phillip Friddell<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--tF7zI3Z5KM/YYQvfvMppcI/AAAAAAAAKY4/bWmeuCaj5zg2AnllhlNB7SkMBNIrkA28ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-6E%2B155715%2BVA-165%252C%2BA-7E%2B156828%2B%2BVA-97%252C%2BA-6E%2B155681%2BVMA%2528AW%2529-533%2Bat%2BNAS%2BChase%2B12%2BJune%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2B%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1372" data-original-width="2048" height="214" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--tF7zI3Z5KM/YYQvfvMppcI/AAAAAAAAKY4/bWmeuCaj5zg2AnllhlNB7SkMBNIrkA28ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A-6E%2B155715%2BVA-165%252C%2BA-7E%2B156828%2B%2BVA-97%252C%2BA-6E%2B155681%2BVMA%2528AW%2529-533%2Bat%2BNAS%2BChase%2B12%2BJune%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2B%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's another view of "Sneaky Pete" (probably the pilot's nickname and call sign rather than a literal aircraft name) in concert with an A-7E from VA-97 (BuNo 156828) and another A-6E, this time from the Navy's VA-165 (BuNo 155715). All three were robed in the NAV's classic "Easter Egg" paint job which was soon to give way to the more practical but far less attractive TPS schemes. Phillip Friddell<div><br /></div><div>The TPS camouflage paint schemes live on to this day, but we still prefer those long-obsolete Easter Egg paint jobs. There was a time, now many years behind us, when Navy airplanes wore color---a LOT of color---as a normal everyday part of the way they looked. Long ago and far away...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Happy Snaps</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>By now you're probably all familiar with Rick Morgan but for those of you who aren't, he's a career naval aviator (now retired) who managed to have a camera with him almost every time he was around or even near to a military airplane, and he's a talented writer as well. He's a superb photographer and it's always a pleasure to share his photography with our readership, so we'd like to offer another example of his work for you today.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AHwReA3-H8Q/YYSK3Hiv0uI/AAAAAAAAKZQ/nCoocoPVIsE4geXp4kP4eH3Tdi3p_cyOQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-14A%2B161609%2BVF-21%2BUSS%2BConstellation%2B10%2BJun%2B86%2BRick%2BMorgan%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="2048" height="210" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AHwReA3-H8Q/YYSK3Hiv0uI/AAAAAAAAKZQ/nCoocoPVIsE4geXp4kP4eH3Tdi3p_cyOQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-14A%2B161609%2BVF-21%2BUSS%2BConstellation%2B10%2BJun%2B86%2BRick%2BMorgan%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Rick spent a fair portion of the mid 1980s flying with Air Wing 14 off the <i>Constellation</i>, which gave him the opportunity to photograph this gorgeous <i>Tomcat</i> (F-14A BuNo 161609) from Fighting 21 while airborne over the Pacific Ocean on 10 June, 1986. It's one of those images that defines the airplane as well as the magic of flight and we hope you enjoy seeing it as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you. Fly Navy? You bet! Rick Morgan<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Relief Tube</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>In the I Should've known Better part of today's entertainment, I need to make a significant correction to a Bobby Rocker image I ran last issue. That photo of the P5M loading casualties in the lead photo essay isn't that at all; the airplane is actually a Consolidated PB2Y <i>Coronado </i>based either in the Caribbean or the Atlantic. I missed it completely but Paul Boyer and Mark Aldrich didn't! First, from Mark:<br /><div><div><br /></div><div> <span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 13px;"><i>Hi Phil,</i></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>Man! I love your blog. I was just getting caught up and working my way through a few recent issues that escaped me and noticed one minor flaw in a fantastic August issue. That PBM loading casualties that came from Rocker is a Consolidated PB2Y Coronado. Probably a PB2Y-3R. No doubt about it.</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>Mark A.</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div><div>And from Paul:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="yiv4537609828" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: LucidaGrande;"><i>I just viewed your most recent blog entry from August 17 and noticed an oopsie. You have a Bob Rocker photo of a couple of litter patients about to be evacuated in a “Coast Guard PBM off Makin Island.” I can’t tell where it as taken, but that ain’t a PBM. The lack of wing dihedral from the fuselage, location of the hatch, and the two window-frame cockpit ceiling hatches are tells. What we’re looking at here is a PB2Y Coronado and it looks like it is in the “Atlantic” or “antisubmarine” scheme of dark-gull-gray over white. That would suggest a Navy Atlantic patrol assignment, possibly in Central or South America. I’m attaching a couple of shots: a reference photo, and a model I made of that aircraft using the 1/72 scale resin Kora kit.</i></span></div><div class="yiv4537609828" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: LucidaGrande; font-size: 13px;"><i><br class="yiv4537609828" /></i></div><div class="yiv4537609828" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: LucidaGrande; font-size: 13px;"><i>Hope you and yours are well!</i></div><div class="yiv4537609828" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: LucidaGrande; font-size: 13px;"><i><br class="yiv4537609828" /></i></div><div class="yiv4537609828" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: LucidaGrande; font-size: 13px;"><i>Paul Boyer</i></div><div class="yiv4537609828" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: LucidaGrande; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FcohSPgAf8w/YYQ0c3XvObI/AAAAAAAAKZA/YEglniyu-aodthFAg4wC3EfyFf7FYoxjQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/PB2Y%2BPaul%2BBoyer%2BCollection.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="1280" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FcohSPgAf8w/YYQ0c3XvObI/AAAAAAAAKZA/YEglniyu-aodthFAg4wC3EfyFf7FYoxjQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/PB2Y%2BPaul%2BBoyer%2BCollection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a photo Paul provided to prove the point, and a photograph of an excellent model of the <i>Coronado</i> he built from the 1/72nd Scale Kora resin kit. Paul Boyer Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pXG6XpL_F7U/YYQ08i8fevI/AAAAAAAAKZI/0_2luLOrX-4RlGcpmaq8oHKwuZMhEXTewCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/KoraPB2Y%2B%25282%2529%2BPaul%2BBoyer%2BModel%2Band%2BPhotograph.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1280" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pXG6XpL_F7U/YYQ08i8fevI/AAAAAAAAKZI/0_2luLOrX-4RlGcpmaq8oHKwuZMhEXTewCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/KoraPB2Y%2B%25282%2529%2BPaul%2BBoyer%2BModel%2Band%2BPhotograph.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And this, boys and girls, is how it's done! A good modeler with a good resin kit can do some amazing things indeed and, while I can't vouch for the quality of that Kora PB2Y kit, I can most assuredly confirm Paul Boyer's skills as a modeler! He was kind enough to share some other models from his collection with us as well, which we'll be sprinkling in as we go along! Paul Boyer</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to both Mark and Paul for the correction to that photograph! </div><div><br /></div><div>One more thing before we go: There's a Comments feature that can be used with this blog software but I've never turned it on and don't intend to. That's because of all the nastiness that appears on the various sites that allow such things; life's too short for that! Still, I'd love to hear from you and do publish pertinent comments, corrections, and photography, should you be so inclined. The email address for that, all run together to confound and befuddle The Picture Pirates, is replicainscaleatyahoodotcom . </div><div><br /></div><div>It's been a crazy year without much activity around here but we're still alive and well. We'll see you again, hopefully soon, with another edition of our modest blog. Until then be good to your neighbor!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil<br /><div><br /><div class="yiv4537609828" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: LucidaGrande; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-13654137240670095092021-08-17T11:14:00.005-05:002021-11-09T11:55:25.752-06:00A Couple From Bob Rocker, Those Hasegawa P-40s, A Hog or Two, A Big Bird, and A Special Documentary<p> </p><p><b>OOPSIE, and The Consequences Thereof</b></p><p>Let's start at the beginning, or maybe quite a bit before then. I acquired my first airbrush back in 1968, an early-60s Paasche H given to me by the next-door neighbor of a girlfriend. It was and still is a quality piece of work and I still have it, velvet-lined case and all, although it must be admitted it hasn't been used in a very long time. These days it's mostly a treasured keepsake of my early days in "serious" modeling, albeit one that could easily be put back into service if necessary. </p><p>1968 was a watershed year for me in many ways, but the two that matter to this ramble are that Paasche H and the Binks hobby compressor I purchased to feed its requisite air supply. That first Binks compressor was a horse; it always worked and it was seemingly unbreakable. It was in almost daily use for some 20 years before finally giving up the ghost when it became the victim of a ruptured diaphragm in late 1988. Still, it had proven itself, which mandated an easy decision to replace it with an identical unit. That replacement is still chugging along, or at least it was when I retired it in favor of the far quieter Paasche D3000R my wife gave me for Christmas back in 2015. Ah; that Paasche! It was a revelation because it had an air tank, a water trap, and a pressure regulator built into the unit; none of which were present on either Binks as-purchased, plus the Paasche was nearly silent since it ran off the compressed air stored in the tank most of the time, a huge plus in the ongoing game of ensuring domestic tranquility on the home front. (Translation: Mama don't like that compressor noise!)</p><p>Nothing lasts forever, though, and that spiffy Paasche compressor gradually began cycling more and more frequently and taking longer to fill the air tank each time it cycled, which should have been a tip-off of some sort if I had been paying any attention at all, but of course I hadn't been. A cursory check and several leak-down tests had proven to me that none of the various air fittings on the unit were compromised even though the holding tank no longer held pressure for very long, so the whole thing was written off as the idiosyncrasies of an aging compressor. Stuff happens, right?</p><p>That's been the <i>status quo</i> for several months now, but everything changed a week or so ago. There were warning signs, as there so often are in Life, but like so many of us I chose to ignore them until The Fateful Night which began as I went to bed and was told by my wife that the compressor was running again. That's wasn't unusual so I made some sort of reply that involved ignoring the compressor until the next day, and I went to bed. That was Strike One. Strike Two came at 0330 the next morning when I got up to answer natures' call and noticed the compressor was merrily compressing away, apparently without making any progress at all where filling its modest storage tank was concerned. That's not what's supposed to happen so the continual racket should have been yet another a major flag for me, but the need for sleep overcame any curiosity on my part so I went back to bed. Strike Three came when I got up at 0630 and discovered the darned thing was <i>still </i>running! That finally stirred me from the grasp of Self-Induced Oblivion and I went over to turn the darned thing off, only to discover that it had somehow managed to pee a nasty greyish liquid all over the carpet in the space where it sat beside my modeling desk. Yes; it was, and still is, a Stupid Thing to keep a compressor on a piece of unprotected carpet and I never should have done it, but then I'd never had any personal experience with an oil-less hobby compressor puking assorted nastiness all over the floor either. Who would've thought that could even happen!</p><p>Then I noticed the compressor, which had been running until the moment I manually shut it off, wasn't actually compressing anything; it was just merrily humming away and making no productive contribution to the situation whatsoever. A close examination led to the discovery of a hole, maybe a 16th of an inch in more-or-less diameter at the edge of the holding tank, pretty much where you would find the weld that attached the end cap to the unit. A phone call to Paasche seemed in order but that only produced a No-Joy moment for me because their compressors, or mine anyway, are only warranted for one year and I'd had this one for far longer than that. The guys over there were nice enough, you understand, but they weren't any help at all, although they did take the time to section a compressor tank to show me they all would exhibit some degree of rusting over time and there <i>were</i> definite signs of rusting around that hole in my unit (but not on the carpet; go figure). They also assured me, multiple times and in three-part harmony, that both halves of the problem were mine because the unit was several years out of warranty---an unpleasant reality, if you will---and there I was, hard down with no recourse as far as the manufacturer was concerned. It was time to Work the Problem.</p><p>The immediate solution was simple enough. A miraculous cleaning product called <i>Spot Shot</i> took away every vestige of staining from the afflicted carpet. The tank repair was simple too: The rusted-out hole was enlarged with a drill and a sheet-metal screw of a greater diameter than the hole I'd just made was wrenched into place using epoxy as a potting agent to ensure the thing couldn't possibly leak anymore, which it doesn't. The tank holds pressure, I can paint again, the carpet is clean, and everything is probably as good as it can be except that now I think there's some sort of pressure relief valve that's beginning to fail too, which takes us to today's lesson, to wit:</p><p>Don't ignore the obvious. If your compressor, airbrush, or any other tool or fixture you use is acting in a peculiar manner it would probably behoove you to investigate the reason it's doing that. Throwing in a little basic preventive action too, such as putting a compressor in a shallow plastic tub or similar before you even turn it on, can help matters considerably and you can save yourself some grief down the road. </p><p>In hindsight, I'm guessing there was a pinhole at that weld in the tank that allowed the rust monster to develop to the point where a penetration was the inevitable result of what I'm thinking was inadequate QC at the manufacturer's level. (I was a certified aircraft welder in my younger days and I've got more than a passing familiarity with such things...) The cause really doesn't matter very much, though, because I could've/should've investigated the situation when the unit very first began to act up and I didn't. I also could've/should've had some sort of containment under the compressor, to keep the rubber pads on its feet from discoloring the floor if nothing else but I didn't do that either. Jeez, Phillip...</p><p>My ultimate solution was a new compressor, relegating the Paasche to the status of backup unit. That came with a personal decision to avoid that company's compressors as well, although it must be said that hobby compressors belong to that family of devices that can no longer be economically produced within the United States, thus rendering them all to be somewhat at long-term risk of failure. It's not so much a case that one compressor is Good while others are Bad, but rather a case of paying attention to your tools. That means I discovered once again that there's always something to learn and taking the time to do that would lead to a better outcome at the end of the day. You'd think I'd know that by now...</p><p><b>What We Think and What It Really Was</b></p><p>We live in interesting times. If you're reading this blog it's because you're an aviation enthusiast, and maybe a scale modeler too. You collect resources, you buy books, and you might even scour the deepest reaches of eBay looking for old photographs of airplanes to add to your collection of references. You quite possibly build model airplanes as well, with the substantial investment in kits, paint, decals, and accessories that comes with that hobby. If you're like most of us, your view of such things has been greatly influenced by the documentaries and movies that are out there, but rarely has there any thought to what we're going to call The Truth. We're going to take a minute to share a couple of photos provided to us by Bobby Rocker to illustrate what we mean.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U404IAzEtgg/YOSjMj1p8VI/AAAAAAAAKTA/Tu7O0h5fEQEuPXwVlUdCACRQ9hkWJ1I6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-20G%2B%2B%2BZ%2B%2B90th%2BBS%2B3rd%2BBG%2BLake%2BSentani.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1387" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U404IAzEtgg/YOSjMj1p8VI/AAAAAAAAKTA/Tu7O0h5fEQEuPXwVlUdCACRQ9hkWJ1I6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A-20G%2B%2B%2BZ%2B%2B90th%2BBS%2B3rd%2BBG%2BLake%2BSentani.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a prime example of what, for the purposes of this conversation, we'll call The Norm; it's an A-20G from the 90th BS/3rd BG over Lake Sentani late in the Pacific War. The airplane's intact and nobody's shooting at it. The crew was probably scared at some point in the mission, or is possibly about to be scared, but everything is calm right now, almost serene. It's what we think of when we think about our modeling subjects at all. Bill Rupert Collection<div><br /></div><div><b>Special Note: Contributor and friend Gerry Kersey has pointed out to that this image came not from Bobby Rocker's collection but from that of Bill Rupert. Apologies to all concerned and please disregard the credit line applied to the photograph! </b><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kJ6oyd7kP7E/YOSkpsQSJFI/AAAAAAAAKTI/QURxuEJfojQOWgo15-Z0bl9uwX3oU-oFACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/P-400%2B67th%2BFS%2BNew%2BCaladonia.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kJ6oyd7kP7E/YOSkpsQSJFI/AAAAAAAAKTI/QURxuEJfojQOWgo15-Z0bl9uwX3oU-oFACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/P-400%2B67th%2BFS%2BNew%2BCaladonia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There's a whimsical side as well, as illustrated by this 67th FG P-400 participating in a close encounter of the worst kind with a US-marked <i>Tiger Moth</i> on an airfield in New Caledonia. We don't know the circumstances of the mishap but it's not unreasonable to presume that nobody was seriously injured, and the photo depicts the sort of accident we can find humor in. It's superficially funny and we can even make models of the airplanes involved. Rocker Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8CaZ1Seg03I/YOSmDhf7hNI/AAAAAAAAKTU/lAHS9sRu5t041gRQ62AoJr5QvZWUK60ywCLcBGAsYHQ/s1195/A%2B%2BUS%2BCoast%2BGuard%2Bload%2BWounded%2BMarines%2BMakin%2BIsland%2BPB2Y-3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1195" data-original-width="943" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8CaZ1Seg03I/YOSmDhf7hNI/AAAAAAAAKTU/lAHS9sRu5t041gRQ62AoJr5QvZWUK60ywCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A%2B%2BUS%2BCoast%2BGuard%2Bload%2BWounded%2BMarines%2BMakin%2BIsland%2BPB2Y-3.jpg" /></a></div>And then there's this. The airplane is a Coast Guard PB2Y somewhere of the East Coast of the United States, or possibly in the Caribbean, loading casualties for the trip to proper medical attention. No; those casualties weren't from an airplane engaged in combat or even in the SWPAC but hurt is hurt, wounded is wounded, and dead is, unfortunately, dead, no matter how it happened. The big difference here is the fact that those guys could be recovered to be placed on that <i>Coronado </i>for transportation to a field hospital. Aviators were rarely so lucky. Rocker Collection<div><br /></div><div>We study the conflicts and we build the models. We discuss the merits of both the airplanes involved and the campaigns they fought in, and some of us publish books and magazine articles about them. I do those things too, and I enjoy them, but we need to remember the reality of the situation. None of those guys would have been doing what they were doing when they were wounded or killed if they could have done otherwise. A bad situation required them to stand up, as soldiers always do, and it required some to pay a terrible price. That's worth thinking about.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>Not As Bad As You Think</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>That lead-in could apply to many different things, but in this instance it's a way to introduce a simple fix for the 1/48th and 1/32nd scale kits so many people love to hate: The modular Hasegawa P-40 families Curtiss <i>Warhawks</i>. The kits share similar design features in both scales, with separate empennage and cockpit sections as well as a handful of inserts intended to allow the manufacturer to produce different variants of the kit without going to the added expense of tooling different fuselages for each and every one of them. It's a smart and, at least in theory, cost-effective way of dealing with the problem, but there's a catch. Those inserts are no big deal if you've got a little time in the saddle as a modeler, but they can prove tricky indeed for the total novice or the lesser-skilled. With that in mind, let's see what we can do to ease the pain!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vNViKrxkK7k/YQq740YY0iI/AAAAAAAAKTw/qi9dUyUHXZ47BQaNpZyCG0oZ-R723ru1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hasegawa%2BP-40%2BP.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1434" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vNViKrxkK7k/YQq740YY0iI/AAAAAAAAKTw/qi9dUyUHXZ47BQaNpZyCG0oZ-R723ru1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hasegawa%2BP-40%2BP.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>This shot, taken directly from one of Hasegawa's instruction sheets, defines the three areas that produce the problems encountered by many modelers. None of the inserts are shown, nor are the halves of the empennage assembly, but the details that have been circled define what we need to know.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Y7tKVAiMoQ/YQq8wXDpGLI/AAAAAAAAKT4/mn_1ZkK7RPY6EuK6JBBYQ7GNBfbrltdcwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hase%2BP-40%2B2%2Bris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Y7tKVAiMoQ/YQq8wXDpGLI/AAAAAAAAKT4/mn_1ZkK7RPY6EuK6JBBYQ7GNBfbrltdcwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hase%2BP-40%2B2%2Bris.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Here's the most important piece of the puzzle regardless of the scale you're building, or even the specific sub-variant of P-40 it might be. First and foremost: Totally ignore the kit's instructions for assembling the fuselage as Front and Rear sub-assemblies. Instead, take the big pieces for each side of your modular <i>Warhawk </i>and clean them up, then assemble them to make two complete fuselage halves. Align from the outside of the parts, where you'll see any mismatches when the model is completed, and CAREFULLY wick liquid cement (Tamiya Extra Thin Quick Setting, for example) into the joints from behind. Align the parts properly and allow them to cure. (A word of warning here: Do NOT put your fingers over a joint when applying your cement because there's a substantial risk of the stuff wicking out of the seams and leaving a fingerprint in the model's plastic. Yes; that's Modeling 101 and yes, I've done it. You have too, or you someday will, so paying attention to this basic construction technique is a thing that will save you from unnecessary frustration and cleanup!) <div><br /></div><div>This extremely simple modification to the kit's instructions will allow an almost perfect fit to the big pieces which means minimal finishing work for you later on, as well as a better-looking model once you're done.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WHBUUTnxWPU/YQrBa3joYKI/AAAAAAAAKUA/YSXmlrJvMfMZNpQSZVcD6TijJTNLVSEBACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hase%2BP-40%2B3%2Bris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WHBUUTnxWPU/YQrBa3joYKI/AAAAAAAAKUA/YSXmlrJvMfMZNpQSZVcD6TijJTNLVSEBACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hase%2BP-40%2B3%2Bris.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>This shot illustrates how everything goes together in the area of the radiator bathtub. If you attach the cowling lip to the assembled radiator parts at this time and make sure everything is centered when you look at the thing from the front, you'll end up with perfect alignment of a part that goes wonky all too often. Let it cure and then assemble it to one of the fuselage halves. That one deviation from the instructions will, once again, produce a far better model with a lot less work on your part!<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hkd6ZgBgLSo/YQrCqSP-evI/AAAAAAAAKUI/eKL3xspM7IMz5evNK0ISvTV5MWQV0IZPwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hase%2BP-40%2B1%2Bris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hkd6ZgBgLSo/YQrCqSP-evI/AAAAAAAAKUI/eKL3xspM7IMz5evNK0ISvTV5MWQV0IZPwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hase%2BP-40%2B1%2Bris.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Before you permanently install that radiator lip, drill a couple of holes in the insert bays on the nose, and drill a couple into the the lower wing gun bays as well. This will allow you to adjust them all for a flush fit from behind before you wick in your liquid cement to lock the inserts in place---just poke a toothpick or similar into the proper hole to push a panel that may not be sitting flush into the proper position before the cement can cure.<div><br /></div><div>While we're at this part of the assembly, take notice of that triangular piece that's immediately aft of the rear-most exhaust stack. The P-40D and E don't have those fillers but all the other P-40s do, and careful alignment is once again required, probably to be followed by a tiny amount of filler and some light sanding to obtain a smooth homogeneous surface there. <br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oe8nucQ1f3s/YQrEVgep7-I/AAAAAAAAKUQ/xgPuiXmEofkhtVSJPJNakHmjoNIuOZHMQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hase%2BP-40%2B4%2Bris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1908" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oe8nucQ1f3s/YQrEVgep7-I/AAAAAAAAKUQ/xgPuiXmEofkhtVSJPJNakHmjoNIuOZHMQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hase%2BP-40%2B4%2Bris.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>This is what you'll have just before joining the fuselage halves together. Since you've already dealt with the area behind the cockpit, the intake lip, and the back end of the fuselage, what you're doing now is just like working with a "normal" model airplane kit. If you've done your part at all during the assembly process, every bit of the nonexistent drama many modelers associate with these kits is now gone. Eliminated. Vanished!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tuCrucYawHE/YQrFM90xZgI/AAAAAAAAKUY/Ut1KgtucZAkLpkYRclaqERkzksYVKAzsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hase%2BP-40%2B5%2Bris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1882" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tuCrucYawHE/YQrFM90xZgI/AAAAAAAAKUY/Ut1KgtucZAkLpkYRclaqERkzksYVKAzsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hase%2BP-40%2B5%2Bris.jpg" width="294" /></a></div>Here's what you'll end up with if you do things the way I've described them. There are a couple of other things here to pay attention to as well:<div><br /></div><div>Those baseball-sized rivets in the cutouts behind the headrest on the P-40D through M are hugely oversized and have got to go, so sand them off. </div><div><br /></div><div>The machine gun inserts in the leading edges of the wings are another heartbreaker for many modelers, but you can avoid that particular bit of <i>angst</i> by carefully cleaning them up, then installing them in their cutouts in the upper wing halves prior to attaching said halves to the lower wing. It's the same deal as with all the other inserts; fit them carefully and wick some liquid cement in from behind to lock them in place from inside the wing where it can't be seen and therefore can't create problems either. Align them on the tops and they'll fit on the bottoms too, but make sure those inserts are fully cured before assembling the wing halves!</div><div><br /></div><div>You'll probably want to fill in those little ID lights on the fuselage sides too. They were on P-40Ds and very early Es, but very few <i>Warhawks</i> actually had them beyond those early variants. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8PmrEtXzXGk/YQrHDaBpjJI/AAAAAAAAKUg/wHjrli1Pyr0Yls7POSsmfl_QCv0d-EvkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hase%2BP-40%2B6%2Bris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1788" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8PmrEtXzXGk/YQrHDaBpjJI/AAAAAAAAKUg/wHjrli1Pyr0Yls7POSsmfl_QCv0d-EvkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hase%2BP-40%2B6%2Bris.jpg" width="279" /></a></div>Thanks to this picture you now know what the pattern on the carpet in my studio (the one the compressor peed all over) looks like, but you've also got a pretty good idea how the undersurfaces of the nearly completed model should look. In this case it's a P-40M from the RAAF <i>ca</i>. 1944 but the assembly basics are the same regardless of the variant you're building. Once again, there are a couple of minor details you might want to consider as you move towards completion of your model:<div><br /></div><div>First, those white spots you see on the model are MicroScale <i>Krystal Klear</i> that's been employed to replace the lenses that go in those places as given in the kit. That's because I'm clumsy and invariably manage to put a nick in the kit's clear parts where they attach to their sprue, or maybe sand a flat in them when I'm cleaning those parts up. Either way I end up with an out-of-round part, so using Krystal Klear instead of the kit components eliminates that problem before it can occur.</div><div><br /></div><div>In a similar yet totally unrelated vein, the kit provides a tiny lens that goes into a hole in the front of one of the landing gear knuckles but the real airplane didn't have one there, so fill in the hole, sand it out, and move on.</div><div><br /></div><div>Study of photographs seems to show that very few wartime P-40s had gun cameras, at least in the Pacific, so building and installing the one provided by the kit (parts A2, A24, A25, and U2) is very much up to the individual modeler unless you have a photo of the real airplane you're replicating that shows one in place.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1gyACUV5ozM/YQrNCl5C5_I/AAAAAAAAKUo/5W7fkv_MrBUVwuHKKjsnekEAGBJZWTDCwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Hase%2BP-40%2B7%2Bris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="2048" height="210" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1gyACUV5ozM/YQrNCl5C5_I/AAAAAAAAKUo/5W7fkv_MrBUVwuHKKjsnekEAGBJZWTDCwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hase%2BP-40%2B7%2Bris.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's the way the model under construction for this article ended up immediately prior to finishing. It was an easy date with no drama, and all those modular components so often cursed by a vocal few in the modeling community ended up fitting like a glove, with no significant parts mismatches and little putty or sanding required. <div><br /></div><div>If you're around the hobby enough you will eventually hear a few modelers decrying these kits because of the way they're designed, although the complaints often come from people who haven't actually built any of them! Ain't that always the way!</div><div><br /></div><div>In my world single-piece fuselage halves would have been preferable but that's not what comes with the kit, and it really doesn't matter anyway, because those Hasegawa P-40s are great kits that are capable of producing outstanding replicas of the real thing if the modeler does their part. The models build easily, or at least they do for me using the tips mentioned in this article, and they capture the look of Curtiss' pugnacious <i>Warhawks</i> as no other presently existing kit does. To each their own, as the old saying goes, but on a personal level I'm a big fan of Hasegawa's 1/48th and 1/32nd scale P-40s. Your mileage may vary, of course...</div><div><div><br /></div><div> <b>An Overdue Look at Old Hose Nose</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Jim Sullivan has been part of the <i>Replica in Scale</i> family since 1973. Aside from being both a superior modeler, photographer, and long-time associate of this project, he's also a highly valued friend. Today we're going to look at a few <i>Corsairs</i> from his remarkable collection of photography. They're fascinating, to our way of thinking anyway, because they show "The Hog" during normal day-to-day operations during both good and bad times. Let's take a look!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-samJwwDVSWQ/YRafU8v09fI/AAAAAAAAKUw/yyYLikAk6lYtPkbHjXn0ESPd3VaIQskUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F4U-1A%2527s%2BEx-VF-17%2BMugu%2BBeach%252C%2BCA%2B%2B7JUL44%2B%2B80-G-242916%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1571" data-original-width="2048" height="245" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-samJwwDVSWQ/YRafU8v09fI/AAAAAAAAKUw/yyYLikAk6lYtPkbHjXn0ESPd3VaIQskUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F4U-1A%2527s%2BEx-VF-17%2BMugu%2BBeach%252C%2BCA%2B%2B7JUL44%2B%2B80-G-242916%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There's a general perception among a great many enthusiasts that tired or obsolescent American military airplanes were simply scrapped in place or dumped after they'd passed their usefulness in the Pacific. That was certainly true post-conflict and even during the last days of the War, but some of those older airplanes were still useful in many respects, even though their days as effective combat aircraft were over. These F4U-1As are a prime example of the practice of salvaging combat aircraft that still had life left in them. They once belonged to the legendary VF-17 and were photographed on 7 July, 1944, while being unloaded at Mugu Beach in California. Too worn for further combat, they were perfectly viable as training or utility aircraft. To borrow an old Southernism: Never throw nothin' away! Jim Sullivan Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yx4M8u0U7Tc/YRahyrgbbgI/AAAAAAAAKU4/z-Jc4_B1pLw8c2VNLqePFDbrcjb-I9JZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F4U-1D%2527s%2BVMF-322%2BKadena%2BField%252C%2B%2BOkinawa%2B9APR45%2B%2528USMC%2523117277%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1401" data-original-width="2048" height="219" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yx4M8u0U7Tc/YRahyrgbbgI/AAAAAAAAKU4/z-Jc4_B1pLw8c2VNLqePFDbrcjb-I9JZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F4U-1D%2527s%2BVMF-322%2BKadena%2BField%252C%2B%2BOkinawa%2B9APR45%2B%2528USMC%2523117277%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>April of 1944 saw VMF-322 operating out of Kadena Field on Okinawa. These F4U-1Ds belong to that squadron and are armed with napalm as they taxied out for another mission against a highly motivated and determined enemy that wasn't interested in surrendering. 322's combat time while they were stationed on Okinawa was largely spent performing highly dangerous air-to-ground work, with the squadron's aircraft often flying multiple sorties per day in support of the ground troops. It was a tough way to make a living for all concerned. Jim Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eu6mahDC9MA/YRajNnWlgMI/AAAAAAAAKVA/2sF_rc33JpcHuvT47XIjGAYw-cjxqc_QACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F4U-1D%2BVMF-322%2BWith%2BJapanese%2BIda%2B%2BOkinawa%2BApril%2B1945%2B%252880-G-373356%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1391" data-original-width="2048" height="217" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eu6mahDC9MA/YRajNnWlgMI/AAAAAAAAKVA/2sF_rc33JpcHuvT47XIjGAYw-cjxqc_QACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F4U-1D%2BVMF-322%2BWith%2BJapanese%2BIda%2B%2BOkinawa%2BApril%2B1945%2B%252880-G-373356%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Winners and losers; an F4U-1D from VMF-322 sits on Kadena prepped for another mission behind the remains of a Ki-36 "Ida" once used by the airfield's former IJAAF occupants. Damaged Japanese airplanes littered may of the airfields captured by US forces during the course of the war, but they rarely remained intact for long. Souvenir hunters would continue the destruction of the airframes created by combat activity and then most remaining aircraft would be scrapped, with a select few being retained for further study or shipment back to the CONUS for serious evaluation. The "Ida" was far from the cutting edge of technology even when it was new, guaranteeing that this example would soon be scrapped. Jim Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MRUVLfFfJt8/YRalZ7biZAI/AAAAAAAAKVI/i8EiV8-PZocXoxCHgN3ftv_WEXS-yJNXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F4U-4%2BVMA-312%2BWR-11%2BUSS%2BBadoeng%2B%2BStrait%2BKorea%2BSEPT%2B1952%2B%25231%2B%2528USN%2Bvia%2BPaul%2BJerominski%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1407" data-original-width="2048" height="220" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MRUVLfFfJt8/YRalZ7biZAI/AAAAAAAAKVI/i8EiV8-PZocXoxCHgN3ftv_WEXS-yJNXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F4U-4%2BVMA-312%2BWR-11%2BUSS%2BBadoeng%2B%2BStrait%2BKorea%2BSEPT%2B1952%2B%25231%2B%2528USN%2Bvia%2BPaul%2BJerominski%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Whoa, Big Fella! In an event that must have created increased heart-rates in everyone who witnessed it this VMA-312 F4U-4 snags a late wire coming aboard the <i>USS Badoeng Strait</i> off the coast of Korea during September of 1951. The flight deck has always been a scary and dangerous place, even during the course of normal operations. Adding combat to the mix made things that much worse, but this <i>Corsair</i> managed to avoid disaster. We can only imagine what the Marine on the wing root of the "Hog" in the left front was thinking while all this was going on! Paul Jerominski Collection via Jim Sullivan<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1JeWS7UjAiI/YRanQdnKSXI/AAAAAAAAKVQ/LMOsKgVPfXogT5Q9YcJlQmL_BOiKtyO-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F4U-4B%2B97503%2BVMA-312%2BWR-15%2BUSS%2BBadoeng%2BStrait%2BKorea%2B1952%2B%25233%2B%2528USN%2Bvia%2BPaul%2BJerominski%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1577" data-original-width="2048" height="246" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1JeWS7UjAiI/YRanQdnKSXI/AAAAAAAAKVQ/LMOsKgVPfXogT5Q9YcJlQmL_BOiKtyO-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F4U-4B%2B97503%2BVMA-312%2BWR-15%2BUSS%2BBadoeng%2BStrait%2BKorea%2B1952%2B%25233%2B%2528USN%2Bvia%2BPaul%2BJerominski%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Sometimes you got lucky when things went wrong, and this was one of those times. BuNo 97503 was an F4U-4B, also from VMA-312 during their time on the <i>Badoeng Strait</i>,<i> </i>and seen here after a landing accident that took place on the boat in 1952. The airplane is pretty banged up but it's salvageable and, most importantly, the pilot walked away from the accident. That wasn't always the case when things went wrong on the flight deck... Paul Jerominski Collection via Jim Sullivan<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gArwxC2jtrg/YRao2TQOW7I/AAAAAAAAKVY/GSeShNs5T1gAAx57NF5FYmSvz6ePzQkzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F4U-5P%2B122168%2BVMJ-1%2BMW-11%2BKorea%2BFEB%2B%2B1953%2B%2528Clay%2BJansson%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="2048" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gArwxC2jtrg/YRao2TQOW7I/AAAAAAAAKVY/GSeShNs5T1gAAx57NF5FYmSvz6ePzQkzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F4U-5P%2B122168%2BVMJ-1%2BMW-11%2BKorea%2BFEB%2B%2B1953%2B%2528Clay%2BJansson%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's an undamaged F4U-5P from VMJ-1/MW-11 sitting on the ground in Korea during 1953. The <i>Corsair</i> was one of those classic airplanes that looked good in every one of its many variations; a brutish yet somehow elegant warrior from prototype to final production. It was state of the art when it first went into service, truly a cutting-edge sort of airplane, and was still modestly viable when it was finally retired from US service in the mid-1950s. It was truly the stuff of legends. Clay Jannson Collection via Jim Sullivan<br /><div><br /></div><div>Thanks very much to Jim "Mr Corsair" Sullivan for sharing these photographs with us. They're a fitting salute to that most unique of American naval fighters and we're grateful to be able to run them!<br /><div><br /><div><b>They Used to Be Everywhere</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We're talking about Lockheed's once-ubiquitous C-141 <i>Starlifter</i>, of course. Your editor saw his very first hint of the airplane in an early '60s issue of <i>Air Progress</i>, shortly before the type entered service, and than his first real one overflying Misawa Air Base in Japan during 1964. After that it seemed as though the C-141 was everywhere the United States had any sort of presence; it was truly a transport for all times. Norbert Graser, he of <i>ThunderCals</i> fame, sent in a couple of interesting photos of the C-141B a few months ago and we thought we'd share them today.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mEbolnwsmSw/YRrK7McUMWI/AAAAAAAAKV4/0wVayDpVCf0eLA-Y6GADw1P-N942I9jLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/66-0138%2B%2BC141B%2B63rd%2BAW%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B27%2BJUNE%2B92%2B%2B12%2Bx%2B8%2Btag%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mEbolnwsmSw/YRrK7McUMWI/AAAAAAAAKV4/0wVayDpVCf0eLA-Y6GADw1P-N942I9jLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/66-0138%2B%2BC141B%2B63rd%2BAW%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B27%2BJUNE%2B92%2B%2B12%2Bx%2B8%2Btag%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>66-0138, a C-141B of the 63rd AW, was originally built as a C-141A and later stretched, as were most of the A-models. Nor caught her at NAS Glenview on 27 June, 1992. She looked as though she'd just come out of corrosion control but she'd been around since the mid-60s and you can bet the airframe had some stories to tell. Norris Grazer</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yeLhrHOoiPA/YRrLEBpTuwI/AAAAAAAAKV8/qbA3_ZD7kzY4u_k1_N0g4qp7-6QgGv92wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/66-0138%2B%2BC141B%2B63rd%2BAW%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B27%2BJUNE%2B92%2B%2B12%2Bx8%2Btag%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yeLhrHOoiPA/YRrLEBpTuwI/AAAAAAAAKV8/qbA3_ZD7kzY4u_k1_N0g4qp7-6QgGv92wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/66-0138%2B%2BC141B%2B63rd%2BAW%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B27%2BJUNE%2B92%2B%2B12%2Bx8%2Btag%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Here's 0138 on arrival at Glenview---a picture perfect airplane if ever there was one. We honestly can't remember ever seeing a Starlifter that pristine during our time chasing military airplanes, mostly because the 141 was just too busy to stay pretty for very long, but this one was gorgeous! Norris Grazer</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I7UUADOWs24/YRrLMkQxd6I/AAAAAAAAKWE/37x-gZ657zs4uOgJM2_4_Cg4OIasB0GoACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/66-0138%2B%2BC141B%2B63rd%2BAW%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B27%2BJUNE%2B92%2Btag%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I7UUADOWs24/YRrLMkQxd6I/AAAAAAAAKWE/37x-gZ657zs4uOgJM2_4_Cg4OIasB0GoACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/66-0138%2B%2BC141B%2B63rd%2BAW%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B%2B27%2BJUNE%2B92%2Btag%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Here's the icing on the cake; a spiffy bit of nose art. The 63rd Airlift Wing was only two years away from deactivation when Nor took these images, but they definitely went out with a bang! Norris Grazer<div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Norris for sharing these with us!<br /><div><br /><div><b>Bloody Buna</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Let's finish the day with another YouTube documentary from regular contributor Norman Camou. It's not about airplanes for once but it makes the point about the horrors of the war in the Pacific as few documentaries can. There's a personal connection here too; my dad was at Buna for that particular party, and was present at the Battle of Manila as well, with excursions to a few nasty places thrown in-between for good measure. There was a time when he would talk about his days in the SouthWest Pacific but he never shared very much about his time at Buna, and I'm pretty sure he carried the memory of the place with him to his grave. Thanks to Norm for discovering and sending this along. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj7efTcM09o&t=136s">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj7efTcM09o&t=136s</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Let's raise a glass to those guys and gals, and all their brothers in arms who came both before and after, who gave so much for us. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Relief Tube</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We have an entry in our corrections and comments section known around here as <i>The Relief Tube</i>. It comes from Rick Morgan and corrects a misconception or two we had about today's <i>Happy Snaps</i> entry. The actual correction has been appended within that section in boldface.</div><div><br /></div><div>While we're at it, you can contact us with comments, criticisms, or to share photography, at replicainscaleatyahoodotcom which is an all-run-together attempt to deceive those rascally spammers out there. Just put an @ sign and a dot in the appropriate places instead of the words I ran together and you're home! We look forward to hearing from you!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Happy Snaps</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Every once in a while we'll come across a photo that defines the magic of flight. This image, which was shared with us by Rick Morgan, is one of those very special pictures.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aXy-79O06n0/YRrOGbaYErI/AAAAAAAAKWQ/QG_fjKpjNykiegGI2rnV4eqZ2vs6dpUeACLcBGAsYHQ/s1500/Bear031%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aXy-79O06n0/YRrOGbaYErI/AAAAAAAAKWQ/QG_fjKpjNykiegGI2rnV4eqZ2vs6dpUeACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Bear031%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We think, subject to correction, that "Boom" Powell (who was assigned to VA-36 at the time) was involved in the making of this photo but didn't actually take it since he was a "Scooter" driver by profession and we think the shot was probably made from the right seat of a Grumman "Stoof", either an S-2 or a C-1. That honestly doesn't matter because this photograph is Magic, and expresses the sheer joy of flight as few photographs can. Can you say "WOW"? <b>And, of course, we got it wrong! Thanks to Rick Morgan we now know that Boom Powell was never in VA-6 at all, although he did drive the mighty "Scooter" in anger during the Late SouthEast Asia War Games. The image did come to Rick via Boom but originated with someone within The Skyhawk Association; here's a link to that outstanding site if you don't already have it saved on your computer. </b> <a href="http://skyhawk.org">skyhawk.org</a> <b>Many thanks to Boom and Rick, and apologies to all for the confusion! pf</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Rick had a couple of other comments regarding this particular A-4:</div><div><br /></div><div><p class="yiv7228553728MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">No idea who the pilot is; 99% chance it’s not Paul Palmer.</p><p class="yiv7228553728MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">NG706 is not listed as being lost on that deployment. VA-36 lost four jets on that deployment with two pilots made POWs, one recovered and one KIA.</p><p class="yiv7228553728MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">VA-36 Roadrunners (callsign “Gale Force”) were an east coast squadron attached to CVW-9 for Enterprise’s first combat deployment. The Air Wing had a unique four Skyhawk attack complement with VA-36, VA-76, VA-93 and VA-94 attached along with Phantom squadrons VF-92 and VF-96 and the normal “cats and dogs”.</p><p class="yiv7228553728MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Besides the Shoehorn mods you can also see the under-cockpit antenna for AGM-12 Bullpup guidance.</p><p class="yiv7228553728MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></p><p class="yiv7228553728MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-family: times;">Thanks very much to Rick for sharing this one---what a photo!</span></p><p class="yiv7228553728MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228;"><span style="font-family: times;">And that's it for today, ya'll. Be kind to your neighbors and we'll meet again soon!</span></p><p class="yiv7228553728MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228;">phil</p></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-12935043238859607812021-05-13T15:02:00.004-05:002021-08-11T09:46:58.287-05:00Dazzle Them With Detail, A Strange Way to Get There, Early Forty-Niners, One From the 318th, Mizzou in the Crisis, and Some Scooters<p> </p><p><b>What Is It We're Trying to Do Here?</b></p><p>There's an old expression that's known to just about everyone that provides us with an interesting take on this hobby of ours: <i>If you can't dazzle them with Brilliance, baffle them with Bovine Defecation</i>, or something to that effect. We find the expression used frequently in the business world and in industry too, and it's one of those constants that, though trite, is also far more often true than not. It's a constant in life that applies to almost anything we can think of, from the person who knows everything even when they don't and trickling down to our scale models and other people's perception of them. </p><p>Think about that for a minute, and allow yourself to drift back to the last contest you visited, or maybe even entered. Remember the model (imaginary in this instance) that incorporated every single thing a modeler could possibly add to it, both aftermarket and scratchbuilt, internally and externally, a killer paint job, and a wowzer set of markings that immediately drew your eye to it? You know the one. Whoever built it must be part necromancer to be able to build something like that! Then you begin to look more closely and The Truth slaps you in the face: Our drop-dead gorgeous model whatever-it-is was built off the very latest brand-spanking new just-released kit, the one that was designed by non-modelers using computer assisted design, and the airframe is significantly inaccurate, or a major detail provided with the kit is glaringly wrong and sitting there in all its uncorrected glory. But the detail! Look at the detail! Look at the markings! Look at the paint! Look at the inaccurate model...</p><p>I once knew a guy, back in the late 1970s, who was one of the best scale modelers I've ever known. He was a commercial artist by trade and his models were inevitably well built and beautifully finished, but they were rarely accurate because he didn't care about that at all; he just wanted to build the models. That was his choice and it was a conscious decision on his part. He <i>knew</i> his models were inaccurate and he didn't care. He also didn't try to hide the fact. He didn't fix kit inaccuracies, he didn't care if the scheme he finished the model with was appropriate to the variant he had built, nor did he worry about any of the other things most of us are concerned with. He just built the models, displayed them, and sometimes won contests with them because they were beautiful models. He knew what he was doing and why he was doing it.</p><p>Jump forward to today and take a look at some of the builds of recently issued kits. There are some gorgeous models out there, but some of the new kits are significantly less accurate than those we were building back in The Day. They're often easier to construct and highly detailed even without aftermarket, but they're wrong when taken as a true miniature replica of the airplane (or whatever) in question and even the considerable skills of a great many contemporary modelers can't hide a bad starting place. The question is: Did the modeler in question know the kit was inaccurate, and did he or she care? That's really what defines the whole thing.</p><p>Let's establish a premise here and presume that we're all building for fun on some level, even if we're beady-eyed Gotta Win That Contest at All Costs maniacs. There's fun in there somewhere, even for the most serious denizens of our scale modeling world, so the question then becomes why are we building.</p><p>I'm Old School, through and through. I try to build the most accurate models I'm capable of producing, although I'll admit I'm not as pedantic about that sort of thing as I once was. I try to build with kits that are as accurate as I can obtain, and I correct inaccuracies when I detect them in a "serious" project. When I want to just make things up and build a model I'll do a hot rod or some other model car, or maybe build a dinosaur for one of the grandkids. If it's serious I'll find the most accurate kit I can to start with. That's me.</p><p>Some folks, maybe even a lot of folks, don't do things that way because they don't know how to research, or don't know how to figure out which kits are "bad", or just don't care. That's ok too, because at the end of the day those individuals are buying kits and accessories, and are spending money on the hobby which in turn causes manufacturers to release other kits, which makes me happy as a modeler. </p><p>At the end of the day it's your choice, right? In my world, the word "replica" says it all. </p><p>And the beat goes on...</p><p><b>How We Get There Doesn't Matter</b></p><p>Here's a case in point: A great many of the models I attempt to build are of airplanes that flew in the Pacific theater during World War 2, and a couple have been of VLR (that's Very Long Range, for the acronym-challenged) <i>Mustangs</i>. Our friends at Eduard recently issued a VLR version of their whiz-bang semi-new P-51D kit, which provided inspiration, and Rudy over at LionHeart Hobby in Kyle had a kit on its way to me in no time. As it turns out my inspiration was well-founded, because the kit included all the various antennae to properly build a VLR P-51 in either of its iterations, plus both kinds of gas bags and no less that twelve different sets of markings. Woot!</p><p>Anyway, the time spent looking at that new kit made me wonder if our friends in the Czech Republic offered anything other than the basic kit as an overtree set, and it turns out they did---those VLR tanks! A quick audit showed I still had a couple of Tamiya P-51Ds in the closet, Rudy sent a set of VLR tanks, and a plan was born!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Re-g1EWXLnM/YElPsMuIAxI/AAAAAAAAKNE/R08d5Pl0Uc8Q91dAXLT3OgN0TEgUJP3WACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Tamiya%2BP-51D%2B1-48th%2BScale%2B457th%2BFS%2B506th%2BFG%2Bat%2BIwo%2B%2BJima%2BJun%2B45%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1939" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Re-g1EWXLnM/YElPsMuIAxI/AAAAAAAAKNE/R08d5Pl0Uc8Q91dAXLT3OgN0TEgUJP3WACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Tamiya%2BP-51D%2B1-48th%2BScale%2B457th%2BFS%2B506th%2BFG%2Bat%2BIwo%2B%2BJima%2BJun%2B45%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B2.jpg" /></a></div>Here's the result of my epiphany, <i>Mustang</i>-wise, a VLR P-51D from 457th FS/506th FG at Iwo Jima in 1945. There are folks out there who will tell you they don't like the Tamiya P-51D kit, but I'm not one of them. This view shows the only significant issues with that particular model; that goofy cutout at the upper inboard corner of each flap where Tamiya made it easy for the same set of flaps to be installed in either raised or lowered position at the expense of accuracy, and the "bow" inside the canopy, which should have lightening holes in it but does not. Neither one of these things was a deal breaker for me, although it might be for you. You pays your money and you takes your choices.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TUo9xkWzVic/YElSAGCvU3I/AAAAAAAAKNM/QF4U7fun9WAEiVrotuSzE2D5o3S0786xQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2033/Tamiya%2BP-51D%2B1-48th%2Bscale%252C%2B%2B457th%2BFS%2B506th%2BFG%2Bat%2BIwo%2BJima%2BJun%2B45%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1785" data-original-width="2033" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TUo9xkWzVic/YElSAGCvU3I/AAAAAAAAKNM/QF4U7fun9WAEiVrotuSzE2D5o3S0786xQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Tamiya%2BP-51D%2B1-48th%2Bscale%252C%2B%2B457th%2BFS%2B506th%2BFG%2Bat%2BIwo%2BJima%2BJun%2B45%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's another view that simultaneously shows the smaller of those two Eduard VLR tanks with their associated sway braces and what happens to an image when you have little or no control over the depth of field when you take a photograph. (Yes, I know better, but I used an iPhone to take these pictures and aperture control wasn't part of that game!) Other note-worthy items include the AN/ARA-8 <i>Uncle Dog</i> fuselage antennae, which were made from Evergreen strip styrene, and the antenna mast under the nose, which is the kit-provided "normal" mast put in a different place. The decals were originally going to come from that Eduard kit but I ended up using one of the markings sets from Kagero's Red Series decals, for VLR <i>Mustangs</i>, instead. The model should also have the tiny AN/APS-13 radio antennae on the sides of the vertical fin but I've never been particularly good at adding tiny repetitive details to a model so I chose the lesser path of ignoring them on the model! <div><br /></div><div>This model still lacks final weathering and a set of zero-length rocket stubs to be called Done, but it's close enough to prove the point. That Eduard Special Edition VLR <i>Mustang</i> kit will provide you with two sets of tanks, which are the most challenging part of the build because they're so unique. There's only one set of antennae in there but those are super-easy to scratch up, and there are a lot of markings for the VLR birds out there; Eduard, Kagero, Exito, and AeroMaster all do them and I'm sure there are others as well. Your acquisition of one Eduard VLR P-51D, plus a little ingenuity and access to other far less expensive kits such as Tamiya or Airfix or the purchase of several of The Big E's own OverTree kits will allow you to build a whole bunch of colorful Pacific Mustangs if you want to do that. In the Good Old Days we called that "bang for the buck". Whatever you choose to call it, it's an approach that works in the modeler's favor and is absolutely worth looking into!<br /><div><br /><p><b>The Boys From Darwin</b></p><p>The 49th Fighter Group got its start during those terrible days following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They gained fame, and a measure of immortality, with their operations over New Guinea in the P-40 and, later, the P-38, and they were the figurative birthplace of Dick Bong, among other American aces of the Pacific War, but in the beginning, the very beginning, they operated around Darwin in defense of Australia. There's a fair amount of photography out there of the group in their early days, but some of it has been misunderstood over the years, a phenomenon not helped in any material way by the advent of The Internet Expert. </p><p> Your editor (that would be me) has long harbored an interest in all things Fifth Air Force, which in term led to making the acquaintance of Bob Livingston and Gordon Birkett. A photograph on one of those modeling boards caused me to contact Bob with a question regarding the markings of a particular 49th FG P-40E. Bob provided a partial answer and a recomendation that I contact Gordon Birkett, an early Pacific War collector and historian of some renown. Gordon was kind enough to lend his expertise to my original markings question on one particular airplane, and to expound upon it. That conversation led to more questions, of course, which in turn takes us to today's discussion. The images you're about to see all came from Gordon's collection and originated with the US Army Air Force and the Australian War Memorial.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HdORCTltGVQ/YJ1SZCGMt5I/AAAAAAAAKN4/ExddcoLHw80qM-6g4-JHevX502E1yifSACLcBGAsYHQ/s1592/image014%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="1592" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HdORCTltGVQ/YJ1SZCGMt5I/AAAAAAAAKN4/ExddcoLHw80qM-6g4-JHevX502E1yifSACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image014%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This image, which shows the nose of Bill Hennon's Number 36 and Bob "Snakebite" Vaught's famous "Bob's Robin", was taken on the day of an AAF dog and pony show for the press. Hennon's airplane wears a red spinner cap, signifying his days with the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) in Java, while Vaught's <i>Warhawk </i>bears his well-known sharkmouth. At first glance we aren't covering any new ground here, since this photograph has been reproduced dozens of time in various books, periodicals, and on the internet, but let's take a closer look at "Bob's Robin". Specifically, check out the leading edge of the wings where the fairings covering the muzzles of the P-40's guns should be. Those fairings are missing from "Robin", as they were from several other 49th FG P-40s operation in the Darwin area, because they tended to crack and, in some cases, disintegrate when the guns were fired; Gordon commented that <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;"> <i>The USAAF and RAAF always had trouble with these cracking or fracturing after continuous long bursts,..or worse being with a jammed 0.50cal bullet wrecking the leading edge</i></span><i>. </i>While we're at it, check out the wheel covers on Vaught's bird as well; see that white "spot"? It's deliberate, it's definitely in the photo, and we don't have a clue as to what it depicts or why it's there. We <i>do</i> suspect the wheel cover isn't the prescribed Light Grey, but we might be wrong on that one. Gordon Birkett Collection</div><div><br /></div><div>To add a little more to our knowledge of Vaught's #94, let's consider this color information from Gordon's files: </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;"><i>#94 P-40E-1 41-24872 Lt. Robert H. Vaught O-382764 </i></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of particular notice, rarely realized that most have it all O/D which is unusual for a P-40E-1 prior to overhaul in late 1942. In examining the rear it seems its still disruptive RAF Temp B/G Camo around the rear fuselage Cockade, with nose and top cowls in O/D/Black.</span></i></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;"><i>Could be a trick of camera light had it not been the top of the cockade being darker. She was a bitser having been nosed over in March 42 down “south” and repaired at Archer Field with parts from P-40Es and P-40E-1s . His original P-40E-1 was 41-24797 which, coincident was also nosed over on her back in slow motion. And the source of the fable of his second being ex RAAF is that his first became , after repairs, a RAAF aircraft in our first 25 aircraft batch. All mixed up in reverse.</i></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;"> </span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WGZ5Jt3MAgQ/YJ1V8aiwwGI/AAAAAAAAKOA/PqYBAmY6jeYXwE5Nh-UgtaIKXpT9t1J2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s644/image%255B11%255D%2B%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="644" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WGZ5Jt3MAgQ/YJ1V8aiwwGI/AAAAAAAAKOA/PqYBAmY6jeYXwE5Nh-UgtaIKXpT9t1J2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image%255B11%255D%2B%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>A bird on the butts! This P-40E or E-1 is chocked and raised for gun harmonization but back in the States, at the factory rather than in Australia. The photo isn't the best quality but does a wonderful job of depicting those guns with the muzzle fairings removed. It also provides us with a great view of the color demarcation between the upper and lower surfaces of the wings; modelers take note! Gordon Birkett Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H66xnjL6hiE/YJ1XUCzD4VI/AAAAAAAAKOI/MamyIGJkWoonPk2ysXrZ0SP_PKGCp41kgCLcBGAsYHQ/s554/image001%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="554" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H66xnjL6hiE/YJ1XUCzD4VI/AAAAAAAAKOI/MamyIGJkWoonPk2ysXrZ0SP_PKGCp41kgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image001%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's "Texas Longhorn in all her glory, once again defining the lack of gun fairings on the wings. This image is from a newsreel and isn't very good in terms of clarity, but it really illustrates the lack of gun fairings as well as the different color of paint surrounding the guns, yellow Mil-P-8585 Zinc Chromate primer perhaps? We should probably stress that not all of the 49th's aircraft had those fairings removed in service, but enough of them did to warrant further investigation. Gordon Birkett Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ysoM7T-bgTc/YJ1Ym2iQU5I/AAAAAAAAKOQ/1imNkz5EZ2AlmJAqO0VzbamyxhFUzIBtgCLcBGAsYHQ/s644/image%255B25%255D%2B%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="644" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ysoM7T-bgTc/YJ1Ym2iQU5I/AAAAAAAAKOQ/1imNkz5EZ2AlmJAqO0VzbamyxhFUzIBtgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image%255B25%255D%2B%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>Here's our final P-40E of the day, "Bitchin' Ben Irvin's famous "The Rebel". It's another one of those 49th FG airplanes, this time from the 9th FS, that most of us are familiar with, but are we really? This airplane actually did have gun covers on the day of that famous grip and grin session, but the markings were different than those we're most familiar with. Gordon Birkett Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YZW1zxBiypU/YJ1bFJx2z2I/AAAAAAAAKOY/Y2tKNMoaOGg-nSe03Gy0rVOKyNQbZ3IxACLcBGAsYHQ/s444/image007%2B%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="444" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YZW1zxBiypU/YJ1bFJx2z2I/AAAAAAAAKOY/Y2tKNMoaOGg-nSe03Gy0rVOKyNQbZ3IxACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image007%2B%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>Here's Ben in front of his now-famous Number 75, providing us with much better detail of his winged Pegasus emblem painted on the fuselage behind the cockpit. The photograph is a famous one that clearly defines his aircraft's artwork but wait; there's more! Gordon Birkett Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uShlngA3v0Y/YJ1b45zRRNI/AAAAAAAAKOg/t3zouzzu9qog1N2x7kZ53IPye37cc1-3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s644/image%255B23%255D%2B%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="644" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uShlngA3v0Y/YJ1b45zRRNI/AAAAAAAAKOg/t3zouzzu9qog1N2x7kZ53IPye37cc1-3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image%255B23%255D%2B%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>The side number that's presented on the tail of Irwin's Number 75 is repeated under the nose of his airplane as well. This isn't the only 49th FG <i>Warhawk</i> that duplicated its aircraft number in that position; Preddy's Number 85 "Tarheel" comes to mind that regard, but not every airplane within the group had one displayed there. Gordon Birkett Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LguJRC0RxXc/YJ1jcZlQuoI/AAAAAAAAKOo/9-zcfzhh-Y8DDxejq419FcwQ7kwu6wc4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s644/image005%2B%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="644" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LguJRC0RxXc/YJ1jcZlQuoI/AAAAAAAAKOo/9-zcfzhh-Y8DDxejq419FcwQ7kwu6wc4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image005%2B%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>Let's end today's 49th FG photo essay with a photograph you may not have seen before. It's Irwin's Number 75 again, but it's the <i>second</i> Number 75 and this time there's a name on the rudder, "Bessie", that has so far eluded us. Several 49th FG pilots had more than one P-40E and marked them similarly; this one is far from being the only example of that practice. Gordon Birkett Collection<br /><div><br /></div><div>Here's further information from Gordon's files detailing #75:</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">FY41 CW# C/N OZ date RAF# Theatre Serial/Box/Group# Unit Oz Del Date sent\arrived Loss Date US Off Marking Remarks</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">41-25164 949 19675 ET488 SUMAC/LEFT #75 9thPS/49thPG SS NYC <span style="background-color: yellow;">ex Netherlands Contract . </span> 9/03/1942 26/12/1942 27/12/1942 #75 "The Rebel" (Ex Defence Aid Netherlands (One of 18) Flown in at Batchelor 10/05/42 with #74/#86 & #99) Capt Bill Irvin's 9thFS 49thFG Winged Pegasus Motif, his till 04/06/42.Eng# 42-33889. Current 9th FS 07/08/42 .Lt John Landers 26/12/42 PNG #75. s/d that day.</div></div><div><br /><div><br /><div>There's more to share from Gordon regarding the 49th in those bad early days but that will have to wait for a bit. In the meantime, thanks very much to Australian friends Gordon and Bob for their help with this fascinating part of our mutual aviation heritage!<br /><div><br /><div><b>Where's Bobby?</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Bobby Rocker, that is! It's been a while since we've seen anything from Bobby, but that's mostly because it's been awhile since we've published an issue of the blog. Let's make amends today with this wonderful shot of an <i>Airacobra</i> in the Central Pacific:</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cFDnXTmAtV4/YJ1rPBxJiaI/AAAAAAAAKOw/0ZI-EBotxF8ZCtgXbZKa34GfopnUY0AuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/01%2BA%2B%2BS%2B%2B%2B72nd%2BFS%2BMakin%2BIsland%2B%2B%2B%2BP-39%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="1000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cFDnXTmAtV4/YJ1rPBxJiaI/AAAAAAAAKOw/0ZI-EBotxF8ZCtgXbZKa34GfopnUY0AuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/01%2BA%2B%2BS%2B%2B%2B72nd%2BFS%2BMakin%2BIsland%2B%2B%2B%2BP-39%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>"My Gal Sal IV", a P-39Q, was assigned to the 72nd FS/318th FG on Makin Atoll on the island of Butaritari in December of 1943 when she posed for this picture with the squadron mascot. Note the paint treatment of the nose landing gear and lack of yellow warning paint on the propeller tips. Larry Bell's airplane company seem to have been a bunch of free-thinkers where paint and markings were concerned. There are hard and fast rules for such things but Bell seems to have broken them about as often as they paid attention to them!</div><div><br /></div><div>Something else that's worthy of note in this image: The airplane is relatively clean as are the pilots posing with it, and everyone looks healthy and well-fed. The hardstand, probably rolled coral, is pristine and the background is that of a tropical paradise, which is in harsh contrast to the images we normally display of airplanes serving with Fifth AF in New Guinea. That doesn't mean that things were any safer, because over-water flying is never truly safe, especially in a single-engine aircraft, and there was still a motivated and highly skilled enemy to contend with. The climate, physical plant, and operational conditions were far worse in and around New Guinea but that doesn't mean much. Operation flying in combat is tough regardless of where you do it. Don't misunderstand the photograph because the image it projects isn't necessarily the reality of the situation. Rocker Collection</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Heading for Berlin</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The year 1961 saw the Cold War make one of its period excursions to the brink of nuclear war, triggered by a crisis in Berlin. Several Air National Guard units were Federalized as a result of that crisis, one of which was Missouri's 110th TFS:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oYtkHm-7vfs/YJ12Du5br9I/AAAAAAAAKPI/JNxWBbM8h0k8mtrjcVTcXxxMOOiFthdYACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-84F%2B52-6368%2B110FS%2BMOANG%252C%2Bduring%2BBerlin%2BCrisis%252C%2BCOs%2BAircraft%2BShow%2BMe%252C%2B1961%2BNankivil%2BCollection.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1653" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oYtkHm-7vfs/YJ12Du5br9I/AAAAAAAAKPI/JNxWBbM8h0k8mtrjcVTcXxxMOOiFthdYACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-84F%2B52-6368%2B110FS%2BMOANG%252C%2Bduring%2BBerlin%2BCrisis%252C%2BCOs%2BAircraft%2BShow%2BMe%252C%2B1961%2BNankivil%2BCollection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>"Show Me" an F-84F-30-RE (52-6368) sits on a rain-swept ramp in 1961, an evocative symbol of the Cold War at its worst. She was the squadron commander's airplane and ended up on public display after being stricken from service. It's difficult to imagine that she would have fared well against the Bad Guys in Europe during that terrible Fall of 1961; we fortunately never had to find out. Mark Nankivil</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Scooters at Fallon</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Reader and scale modeler Fred Drummond spent his time in the Navy flying EA-6B <i>Prowlers</i> and had the opportunity to photograph a great many military aircraft during that time. We're going to share a couple of his A-4E shots with you today. All of them are of aircraft assigned to VF-45 as adversaries and were flying out of NAS Fallon in August of 1987 when they were photographed by Fred.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CaJq4sHAqSo/YJ1-a063f-I/AAAAAAAAKPQ/8fAhVhbjF0kUiXXI7Ig0d4Nny5V198rbACLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/A-4E%2B%2B151064%2BVC-12%2Bat%2BFallon%2BAug%2B87%2BFred%2BDrummond.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CaJq4sHAqSo/YJ1-a063f-I/AAAAAAAAKPQ/8fAhVhbjF0kUiXXI7Ig0d4Nny5V198rbACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A-4E%2B%2B151064%2BVC-12%2Bat%2BFallon%2BAug%2B87%2BFred%2BDrummond.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>First up is a grey on grey Echo, BuNo 151064. The "Scooter" was often used by the Navy to simulate the MiG-17; the two aircraft were close in both size and performance, if not in appearance. Fred Drummond</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--RqWMwUdZus/YJ1--UdlexI/AAAAAAAAKPY/97s6MZzOkfYvnSQvT_6jKbgqpBWeFfwEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/A-4E%2B149973%2BVC-12%2BFallon%2BAug%2B87%2BFred%2BDrummond.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--RqWMwUdZus/YJ1--UdlexI/AAAAAAAAKPY/97s6MZzOkfYvnSQvT_6jKbgqpBWeFfwEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A-4E%2B149973%2BVC-12%2BFallon%2BAug%2B87%2BFred%2BDrummond.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>149973 bore a tiger-striped grey on grey scheme. The staining out of that off-board drain is typical of the <i>Skyhawk</i> regardless of variant. As interesting as the paintwork on this airplane is, it would appear as a medium grey airplane at any sort of distance. Fred Drummond</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Muk7JXlLFSY/YJ1_tPOMOWI/AAAAAAAAKPg/4TOFxo6jOV4FvBvHAxAnUh1APMvOlpikACLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/A-4E%2B152004%2BVC-12%2Bat%2BFallon%2BAug%2B87%2BFred%2BDrummond.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Muk7JXlLFSY/YJ1_tPOMOWI/AAAAAAAAKPg/4TOFxo6jOV4FvBvHAxAnUh1APMvOlpikACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A-4E%2B152004%2BVC-12%2Bat%2BFallon%2BAug%2B87%2BFred%2BDrummond.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>152004 wore a fairly colorful blue on grey scheme, which might have proven fairly effective low over the water. It's utility in an air-to-air scenario might have been questionable, but it certainly made for a pretty airplane! Fred Drummond</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8E-OGp6pWMA/YJ2ALpotUEI/AAAAAAAAKPo/BSNXgVgexd4olVBe7s6TJRj6oNKKQ5xuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/A-4E%2BVC-12%2Bat%2BFallon%2BAug%2B87%2BFred%2BDrummond.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8E-OGp6pWMA/YJ2ALpotUEI/AAAAAAAAKPo/BSNXgVgexd4olVBe7s6TJRj6oNKKQ5xuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A-4E%2BVC-12%2Bat%2BFallon%2BAug%2B87%2BFred%2BDrummond.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Let's close with the other side of 149973. These aircraft are all configured to go play with the big kids and may have provided some of the best flying in the Navy during their period of active service. Fred Drummond<div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Fred for sharing these images with us!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Relief Tube</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Well, I'm relieved that we finally managed to publish something after a hiatus of nearly 6 months, but that's nothing to brag about! We'll try to do better in the future---'nuff said!<br /><div><br /><div><b>Happy Snaps</b><br /><div><br /><div>We'd like to share another image from Fred Drummond with you, this time an air-to-air taken during his time in the <i>Prowler</i>:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eN2xoOa5I0g/YJ2ChR-8hKI/AAAAAAAAKPw/aNaE_QBHCqo7D5YtBnYUiGI_sJzvHCrBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/Zapper%2B620%2BDeny%2BFlight%2BApril%2B1995%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eN2xoOa5I0g/YJ2ChR-8hKI/AAAAAAAAKPw/aNaE_QBHCqo7D5YtBnYUiGI_sJzvHCrBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Zapper%2B620%2BDeny%2BFlight%2BApril%2B1995%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><i>The Prowler in the photo is with VAQ-130 doing an Operation Deny Flight mission. This would have been during the March 1995 timeframe. We were doing a cruise on the Ike, but our squadron got the call to deploy to Aviano to continue to support operations while the carrier and the rest of our air wing went on port calls. Fred</i> Fred Drummond </div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks, Fred! </div><div><br /></div><div>Do any of you have photography you think might be of interest to our readers? If you do and would like to share them with us, the e-mail address, slightly garbled so I don't have to endure the folks who like to troll such things, is replicainscaleatyahoodotcom . Put an @ and a . in the appropriate places and you're home free. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for today, ya'll, but we're still alive and well over here. Be good to your neighbor and we'll see you again soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil</div></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-50906224025661899282020-12-23T16:04:00.000-06:002020-12-23T16:04:34.216-06:00Ballast, Some Hun Addendum, A Nifty Mitchell, and Some Long-Nose Voodoos<p> </p><p><b>Weighing In on the <i>Century Series</i></b></p><p>But not the way we usually do it, with an editorial that might or might not have any relevance to anything you're doing. Nope; this time we're going to expound on something practical for once! </p><p>As you may remember, I've said fairly often that I look in on a select few modeling sites when I first crank up this electronic device every morning, something I've been doing for years now. It's a good idea in many respects because it provides a fresh perspective that just isn't available by sitting here all by myself on the ranch, doing things the way I've always done them without considering there might be another way to accomplish whatever it is I'm interested in accomplishing on that particular day, but there's a flip-side of that coin to be considered as well.</p><p>Take, for example, the art of making an airplane with tricycle landing gear actually sit on that gear without rearing back on its haunches, which is like the model saying "Poop on Yoop because you tried and <i>I won anyway"</i>! You know what I'm talking about, right? You figured it all out, did a few mental calculations, measured things, put some ballast in there someplace, and you <i>still</i> ended up with a tail-sitting model airplane! That's something that's happened to us all, although I'm going to say that it hasn't happened to me personally in a very long time because I actually learned something back there in the early Seventies, back when I melted the nose on my brand new Hasegawa A-4E kit trying to use CerroSafe, or more likely Rose's Fusible Metal, as a ballast material (which you actually <i>can</i> do, but not until you've studied and somewhat mastered The Art of the Heat Sink, which we aren't going to get into today). That little misadventure caused me to spend some time studying when and how to ballast a scale model airplane, which in turn ties in with something I've read many times on those boards I mentioned a paragraph or so above. </p><p>It seems as though there's a periodic interest in modeling airplanes from the <i>Century Series</i> which, for our purposes today at least, will be defined as the F-100, F-101, F-102, F-104, F-105, F-106, and maybe the F-110. You'll note that I didn't count the F-107 in that listing; I could have, but it was never operational and in my world isn't a true member of the club. You may disagree with me and it's fine if you do, because it doesn't matter very much once we (I) actually get on-topic!</p><p>Here's the deal, and the question that inevitably prompts it, straight off the discussion boards on those modeling sites: "I want to build a (pick the <i>Century Series</i> aircraft of your choice here) and I need to know if I should add ballast to the nose of my model." The question inevitably brings a bunch of answers and you can tell who's had issues in the past, who hasn't, and who's giving advice based on something they've never personally done themselves once you begin reading the replies. It's a valid question, however, and an important one, so an answer is required---fortunately, it's an answer that isn't all that hard to find!</p><p>Here's what you do, with a <i>Century</i> bird, or with anything else that sits on tricycle landing gear:</p><p>First and foremost, if the kit's manufacturer provides either ballast or, in some instances, information on how and where to put your own ballast in the model, you should follow their lead and do that. There's a reason for what they've done and you'll rue the day if you don't follow that advice!</p><p>Ok; that was pretty obvious. What if there's no ballast, no instructions to <i>use</i> ballast but you still aren't sure? That's an easy one too. Just tape all the big pieces of the model together so what you've got is an object that mostly resembles the completed airplane, find out where the main landing gear legs plug into the aircraft structure and, using a couple of the fingers on one of your hands placed at those landing gear mounts, hold the a airplane up (loosely but securely---if you drop it it isn't my fault!), and see how it balances. If it wants to tip towards the nose, you're Golden. If it wants to tip back towards the tail, you need to put ballast in the model, and if it sort of goes back-and-forth between the two, you want to err on the side of caution and use ballast as well. Further, if you end up actually having to add ballast, you'll want to place it as far toward in the nose of the model as you possibly can get it; that's a basic lesson in physics that will result in you needing less weight to do the job, which means less strain on your model's landing gear once the thing is finished and sitting proudly on your display shelf. (Sometimes, like with a P-38 or P-39, you'll still need a lot of ballast but Moment is your friend and placement really does help! Trust me on this one)</p><p>And NOW (taa-<i>daa</i>!), let's get to the point of this thing specifically regarding the <i>Century Series</i>. The F-100 is a teeterer and often wants to squat, so ballast is a very good idea for the <i>Super Sabre</i> regardless of variant. The F-105 may need it depending on what you plan on hanging under the wings so it's best to err on the side of caution and stuff a little weight up in the extreme nose. None of the others need it at all! How's <i>that</i> for simple? </p><p>What about if I hang a lot of stuff under the wings, you might well ask yourself? Won't that change things? The answer to that one is mostly no, with the caveats stated above regarding the F-100 and F-105. <i>Voodoos</i> and the Deltas definitely DON'T need ballast, not ever, nor do the <i>Phantoms</i> (F-110s). Any model of an F-107 will.</p><p>Here's today's lesson, then: If you aren't sure about how to resolve a modeling problem, and that's <i>any</i> modeling problem, try thinking it through for yourself before you commit to a course of action. Yes; it's far easier just to throw the question out on one of those internet boards and hope you'll get back a useful anwer or two (you probably will!), but that's not going to help you grow as a modeler, so look on it as more of a last-resort kind of thing. Get in the habit of trying to figure things out for yourself first. It may take a while, but your work will begin to improve and you'll grow as a modeler. </p><p>And that's what I have to say about that!</p><p><b>Some More Thoughts and a Few Corrections Regarding the "Hun"</b></p><p>It's true, so very true: Our last issue was devoted in its entirety to the North American F-100D and how to model it as it appeared in The Late SouthEast Asia War Games. Reader response has been great, but it was inevitable that a couple of tiny mistakes would creep into it and a couple of last-minute additions showed up as well, so we're going to address them today, albeit briefly!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BRMUO0MKdrE/X3oDN1DHgGI/AAAAAAAAKJA/noA8BMsbXCcgwE0ZXrtTQFNuQlExNC3OQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Sgt.%2BEliason%2B%2526%2BMaj.%2BStewart-90TFS-Bien%2BHoa-1968%2B%2BLt%2BCol%2BStewart%2Bvia%2BDon%2BJay.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1477" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BRMUO0MKdrE/X3oDN1DHgGI/AAAAAAAAKJA/noA8BMsbXCcgwE0ZXrtTQFNuQlExNC3OQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Sgt.%2BEliason%2B%2526%2BMaj.%2BStewart-90TFS-Bien%2BHoa-1968%2B%2BLt%2BCol%2BStewart%2Bvia%2BDon%2BJay.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Major Stewart and Sgt Eliason stand in front of "Snooper", an F-100D from the 90th TFS at BienHoa in 1968. Note the FS36622 inboard pylons, the M117s hanging off those pylons, and the RHAW gear barely visible under the nose of the airplane. This is a classic late-war "Hun". Lt Col Stewart via Don Jay<div><br /></div><div>The Wonderful World of the Internet has remained mostly quiet regarding our last issue but Ben Brown took a look at it and offered some comments and a correction or two. Normally we'd put that sort of thing in our <i>Relief Tube</i> section but the changes are significant if you happen to be building a model of the F-100D so they're here instead.<br /><p><b><u>Colors</u></b></p><p>In our last issue we stated that the interiors of the landing gear and speed brake wells were painted silver. While that's true for the <i>doors</i> for those areas, the interiors themselves were generally painted in a medium green color. Ben pointed that out, Doug seconded the motion, and I've corrected it here and will, in theory at least, go back and correct it in the article as well. Maybe.</p><p><b><u>That Pesky LWNAVS Duct</u></b></p><p>Photos of that PACAF Lightweight Navigation System duct are few and far between (just watch them start coming out of the woodwork once this gets published, though!) but Ben had a couple of photos in his collection and has provided them to us:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SHZvxCOKQmE/X3ycufQnvbI/AAAAAAAAKJM/-a4f7imnhxwRGWqJ7GjdIIKUngAkvkuLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/F-100F%2BNAVS%2Bcooling%2Bintake_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="750" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SHZvxCOKQmE/X3ycufQnvbI/AAAAAAAAKJM/-a4f7imnhxwRGWqJ7GjdIIKUngAkvkuLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100F%2BNAVS%2Bcooling%2Bintake_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a side view of one iteration of that duct. Keep in mind that the term "standard configuration" doesn't seem to apply to that particular item, but they were all similar to this. Those of you who notice minutia in photographs have probably already seen it; those stripes in front of the serial number ought to be Insignia Red, not black, but the image is of an F-100 that's up a pole in the wilds of Texas and we're probably lucky they got it as close as they did when they painted the airplane! Ben Brown Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wnc664VDVmM/X3ydjxmVukI/AAAAAAAAKJY/5TjIQRC7YkIbifuoH0tk0JXA9UVidKV_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s750/F-100F%2BNAVS%2Bcooling%2Bintake_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="750" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wnc664VDVmM/X3ydjxmVukI/AAAAAAAAKJY/5TjIQRC7YkIbifuoH0tk0JXA9UVidKV_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100F%2BNAVS%2Bcooling%2Bintake_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And the other side. Compare these photos to the one we ran last issue---the ducts are almost but not quite the same, a condition to be expected when we recall that the mod was done within PACAF and didn't come with the airplanes! Ben Brown Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jv0VyJO6iO8/X3yetTTYxgI/AAAAAAAAKJk/64IZqQkV0skBhpNxH7zWAJhUaFi4UmZEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D-55-3634-308%2BTFS-Tuy%2BHoa-1968-jack%2Bnorris-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1308" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jv0VyJO6iO8/X3yetTTYxgI/AAAAAAAAKJk/64IZqQkV0skBhpNxH7zWAJhUaFi4UmZEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D-55-3634-308%2BTFS-Tuy%2BHoa-1968-jack%2Bnorris-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's that photo again, provided so you won't have to go back and forth between issues to see it. Note that it's sortof the same, but not really---no two were alike! Jack Norris via Don Jay Collection<br /><div><br /><div><b><u>The RHAW Fairing on the Vertical Stabilizer</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>Ben and Doug had both noted that it's wider from side-to-side when the RHAW gear is installed, which is how the Monogram kit depicts it. The original fairing is narrow, not much wider than the position lights that live immediately below it. That configuration is provided in the Trumpeter kit. </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmh-dbRlUNc/X3yhHV-NVcI/AAAAAAAAKJw/IfYQIkCtnmgNWZiIrNPeSn--ie9Ur-HRACLcBGAsYHQ/s751/F-100D%2Bfuel%2Bvent%2Bfairing.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="751" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmh-dbRlUNc/X3yhHV-NVcI/AAAAAAAAKJw/IfYQIkCtnmgNWZiIrNPeSn--ie9Ur-HRACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2Bfuel%2Bvent%2Bfairing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's the narrow variation of that fairing, as would have been found on pre-war "Huns". Ben Brown</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H_NoaoHlGVo/X3yhWe_CkDI/AAAAAAAAKJ0/BqneoeX-zX8rrlQ1un5CdjgQAZiVSO9xgCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/20-F-100F-LH-Vertical.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H_NoaoHlGVo/X3yhWe_CkDI/AAAAAAAAKJ0/BqneoeX-zX8rrlQ1un5CdjgQAZiVSO9xgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/20-F-100F-LH-Vertical.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And a view of the fairing showing the slight additional width after the installation of the RHAW gear. Bill Spidle via Ben Brown</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>A Drop Tank Detail Everyone Misses</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>Yep, everyone but Ben! You may recall that the pylon that attaches those 335-gallon gas bags to the wings of the "Hun" are permanently attached to said tanks and have a fairing on their nose that I don't think anyone other than Ben and, come to think of it, Doug Barbier, had mentioned. I didn't pick up on that detail during editing but, once again, Ben came to the rescue with photos!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N2q0ur8wR4s/X3yjJG7EijI/AAAAAAAAKKE/6oCRH8t7nokSt3ZrszHcXOtnEuBVcC-QgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSCN0848.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1532" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N2q0ur8wR4s/X3yjJG7EijI/AAAAAAAAKKE/6oCRH8t7nokSt3ZrszHcXOtnEuBVcC-QgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSCN0848.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This tank is a derelict that Ben photographed at what used to be The Carolinas Aviation Museum. Ignore the vegetation and concentrate on the front of that pylon. None of the available plastic kits of the F-100, and that's any F-100 in any scale, captur this feature at all and you may choose to ignore it as well, but don't say you didn't know it was there! Ben Brown<div><br /></div><div>That's it for today's additions to the "Hun" project, but don't be surprised if you see more as we go along. Look on it as an ongoing story...<br /><div><br /><div><b>A Special B-25 From Bobby</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We didn't run anything from Bobby Rocker last time around because of our special <i>Super Sabre</i> issue, so here's an image to make amends:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vVcD2qoycqc/X61j8tOaNZI/AAAAAAAAKKg/or5Mv8njEXMyIxbJe3ryKZT_MhzJRtd9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/01%2BA%2B%2BS%2B%2B%2B41-30015-B-25D-1%2BDoodle-499BS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1485" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vVcD2qoycqc/X61j8tOaNZI/AAAAAAAAKKg/or5Mv8njEXMyIxbJe3ryKZT_MhzJRtd9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/01%2BA%2B%2BS%2B%2B%2B41-30015-B-25D-1%2BDoodle-499BS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>"Doodle" was a B-25D from the 399th BS/345th BG and was stationed at Dobodura when this classic shot was taken. Names, artwork, mission markers, sharkmouth, squadron colors on the cowlings; this <i>Mitchell's</i> got it all! Of particular interest are the blast shields just forward of the package guns, and the "eight-ball" placed within the sharkmouth. If ever there was a B-25 that deserved to be modeled... Rocker Collection</div><div><br /></div><div>Bobby, thanks VERY MUCH for this one!</div><div><br /></div><div><i style="font-weight: bold;">Voodoo </i><b>Child, A Slight Return (with apologies to Jimi)</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Rick Morgan sent some interesting RF-101C photos to us a couple of weeks ago, and they seemed to be a good way to end this issue since they're a little bit on the I-didn't-know-they-flew-those side of things; they were operated by the 153rd TRS/186th TRG of the Mississippi ANG. The photos came about as an aside to Rick's first assignment as he drove from Missouri to Pensacola to begin Navy flight training; he'd heard that the 153rd still had <i>Voodoos</i> as they awaited transitioning to the RF-4C and he planned his trip accordingly! These shots were all taken at NAS Meridian during that trip (Not the TraWing One T-2s in the background of the photos); many thanks to Rick for sharing them with us.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3zqABNIUDU/X-OutCA-i5I/AAAAAAAAKK8/42u9g_L1hFgBl0E5vBnMrQNJaVkKZcILACLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/RF101C%2B56-0229%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78..jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3zqABNIUDU/X-OutCA-i5I/AAAAAAAAKK8/42u9g_L1hFgBl0E5vBnMrQNJaVkKZcILACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/RF101C%2B56-0229%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78..jpg" width="320" /></a></div>56-0229 ended up on public display, a fate that unfortunately eluded most <i>Voodoos</i>. The 101s on this ramp are just about ready to fade off into the sunset due to the 153rd's impending transition to the RF-4C, but they're still in pristine condition. Of interest here is the earlier version of the ANG shield; several varieties could be found on the tails of those Mississippi birds. You can still see this one on display at Robbins AFB, in Georgia. Rick Morgan<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SjMLwcxIxwc/X-OvnTtLeRI/AAAAAAAAKLI/0tSknxPlBocUWppdszvF304bg2Ryx__NACLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/RF101C%2B56-0229%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SjMLwcxIxwc/X-OvnTtLeRI/AAAAAAAAKLI/0tSknxPlBocUWppdszvF304bg2Ryx__NACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/RF101C%2B56-0229%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a detail image of that early ANG device. These airplanes were photographed by Rick in 1978 and twelve-year-old tactical airframes often show their age, but the birds of the 153rd don't. It used to be said that the airplanes flown by the Guard were often in better shape than those flown by the regular USAF because everyone in the units was there by choice. We don't know whether that's true or not, but these airplanes indicate that there might be something to it. Rick Morgan<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TEzLJLY5QUs/X-OwsSSZ1-I/AAAAAAAAKLU/fWHy3Zm0pF07Vz86ERgQMuyE5HS0Me0XwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/RF101C%2B56-0185%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TEzLJLY5QUs/X-OwsSSZ1-I/AAAAAAAAKLU/fWHy3Zm0pF07Vz86ERgQMuyE5HS0Me0XwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/RF101C%2B56-0185%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>56-0185 shows off its late-style ANG badge, slime lights, and overall clean appearance. She ended up being a survivor too, and can currently be seen on dispaly at Niagara Falls International Airport in New York, presumably as a tribute to The Boys From Syracuse during their time with the 'Doo. Rick Morgan<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-65S1HnxsZ98/X-Oxp1rDkgI/AAAAAAAAKLg/iFsjhtRNwi8x3W9E8hsF9XzKvvbnm5KhQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/RF101C%2B56-0081%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78..jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-65S1HnxsZ98/X-Oxp1rDkgI/AAAAAAAAKLg/iFsjhtRNwi8x3W9E8hsF9XzKvvbnm5KhQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/RF101C%2B56-0081%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78..jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's the earlier presentation of the ANG device, which is to say there's no device at all! All three presentations were to be found on the RF-101Cs of the 153rd TRS at the same time, which could provide a valuable lesson to the scale modelers among our readership. Also of note here is the total absence of auxilliary fuel tanks on these aircraft. The <i>Voodoo </i>family were plumbed for external gas bags but it wasn't unusual to see them flown without tanks at all, or with only one, because of the drag and stability issues they created.<div> Rick Morgan</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23skVCa0wIk/X-OyyERQHcI/AAAAAAAAKLs/6eyI08hG9eAIHvE_wWXonOYBS7c5uBnFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/TF101F%2B59-0437%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23skVCa0wIk/X-OyyERQHcI/AAAAAAAAKLs/6eyI08hG9eAIHvE_wWXonOYBS7c5uBnFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/TF101F%2B59-0437%2BMS%2BANG%2BNMM%2B26MAY78.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Relatively few F-101Fs were built but it was fairly normal to find one or two in the operational <i>Voodoo</i> units regardless of variant flown. The two-seaters were invaluable for ongoing training and check rides. As an interesting and fascinating aside, Rick told us he was informed by his escort on this shoot that the <i>Voodoo</i> tub was faster than the unit's RF-101Cs because it had the B-model's "big" engines. Rick Morgan</div><div><br /></div><div>It's been a while since we've shared anything from Rick's camera with you, and we're please to be able to publish these today. Thanks, Morgo!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Relief Tube</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Not really, but we do want to leave you with this:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cb13oN-6pGk/X-O02pFPIyI/AAAAAAAAKL4/eVKLvl6inbclxh0BzC4Mwl7-fyo1C2hbACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/UH-1Y%2B166768%2BHX-21%2BStMarys%2BRegional%2BAirport%2B22%2BDecember%2B2020%2B%2528MW%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cb13oN-6pGk/X-O02pFPIyI/AAAAAAAAKL4/eVKLvl6inbclxh0BzC4Mwl7-fyo1C2hbACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/UH-1Y%2B166768%2BHX-21%2BStMarys%2BRegional%2BAirport%2B22%2BDecember%2B2020%2B%2528MW%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a fitting way to end this edition of the blog; a super image of a UH-1Y (166768) of HX-21 taken by Mike Wilson at St Mary's Regional Airport on the 22nd of this month. Let's hope that guy wearing the red suit and sitting in the door is going to bring all of us a better 2021! Many thanks to Mike for sharing this one.<div><br /></div><div>Be good to your neighbor, enjoy they holidays, and stay safe during these trying times. We'll meet again soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil</div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-45818225794692297782020-09-29T21:34:00.014-05:002020-10-21T20:42:30.151-05:00A Modeler's Guide to the Monogram F-100D in Vietnam; A Special Issue of Replica in Scale<p> </p><p><b>Overthinking the Problem</b></p><p>There's a mostly-finished Meng Fokker Triplane sitting on my display shelves now. The kit was gifted to me by my wife, who thought I ought to have one, and I decided that when it hit the workbench I would just <i>build</i> the darned model without trying to identify and correct every tiny thing that might or might not be wrong with it. For once that philosophy wasn't much of a leap of faith because of the kit's alleged birth at the hands of those guys in New Zealand, but it was still somewhat different from the norm around here.</p><p>The initial part of the drill, the interior, was pretty straightforward since my library included several substantial references dedicated to the F.1/Dr.Is and the office of the real airplane was a simple one anyway. A little stainless wire for the control cables and a little more for the crossbracing that existed in the tubular fuselage structure and the game was on. Careful painting and decal work (for the instrument faces) resulted in a decent cockpit which was a Good Thing because, although there isn't very much actually <i>in</i> that cockpit, every bit of it can be seen from above. Detail is our friend!</p><p>That other Great War bugaboo related to the interior, sortof, is the forward-firing gun installation, a drill not made any easier by all those cooling vents in the barrel shrouds on the "Spandaus" commonly found on German scouts of the era. I'll tell you all right now; I can roll a marble, I can roll a tire, and I can roll out a pretty mean biscuit, but I can't for the life of me roll one of those photo-etched barrel shrouds of the sort provided by Eduard, Meng, and the late and highly lamented Wingnut Wings and have it come out with any semblance whatsoever to a ventilated tube. I <i>can</i>, however,<i> </i>modify the kit gun of your choice with a Master Barrel set into a pretty effective replica of the aforementioned "Spandau", which was the path chosen for the Tripe.</p><p>Everything else on that kit pretty much flew together, with the only real glitches being provided courtesy of the not-quite-finished tooling apparently used to produce the kit, although it must be mentioned in Meng's defense that the cleanup required because of those glitches, something that would never have been allowed to happen with a "real" WNW offering, is absolutely No Big Deal in the real world unless you're just dead-set on thinking it's a genuine Wingnut Wings model, which it is not. That's all a matter of preference and perspective, of course, and is in point of fact another flavor of overthinking a problem, albeit in a different direction than the one we're going to discuss today. </p><p>Here's the deal, and the point of our discussion today: Most of the airplanes used in the Great War had propellers made of laminated wood, a superior manufacturing process that put those spiffy "stripes", for want of a better term, in the propellers. It looks really cool and it pretty much defines the props of that era. It's also a son-of-a-gun to model correctly for most people, of which I could be considered to be one. </p><p>Anyway, there are lots of different ways to achieve that <i>faux</i> laminated finish, and I'm pretty sure I've investigated each and every one of them, or at least I've investigated them if they've shown up on YouTube, <i>Britmodeller</i>, or with any of the other usual suspects. Some of those methods produced propellers that looked absolutely great, and some produced props that were somewhat less than that, but most of them shared one thing in common; they all involved multiple steps to get to the finished product. In my world that meant multiple ways for things to go significantly off the rails so I went looking for a way that wasn't necessarily any better than the ones that I was looking at but that was something I could actually do, being more than a little simple-minded about such things.</p><p>The process I ended up with was simple beyond belief. The test prop was painted in a flat wood color and allowed to dry for a couple of days after which the laminations were drawn on with an appropriately colored artist's pencil using period photographs as a guide, and that was followed up with very light brushing over the whole thing with Burnt Sienna oil paint and a clear coat of whatever it was I ended up using for that. The hard part was paying attention to those period photos and matching what I was seeing, on both faces and also in the area of the hub. A good figure painter could probably do the whole thing in oils and skip the pencils entirely but they were simple and they worked---for me.</p><p>Here's the point to be taken. There was a problem, one that's got a track record of being a little tough to solve, and I thought it through in a way that would work for me with the least possible complication and monkey-motion. The end result was a decent laminated propeller, and I've been practicing on others since all of the WNW kits, and therefore Meng's Triplane as well, contain multiples of that particular item. That leads us to the notion that Simple is GOOD and most of us can do simple most of the time, right?</p><p>Remember the KISS principle? I rest my case!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_4qDFRBoRv8/X3OK56vO77I/AAAAAAAAKHc/6wbp6Kal7g8m-erMaSYxAJn1BBjJslnnACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Modeling%2Bthe%2BHun%2Bin%2BVietnam.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1458" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_4qDFRBoRv8/X3OK56vO77I/AAAAAAAAKHc/6wbp6Kal7g8m-erMaSYxAJn1BBjJslnnACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Modeling%2Bthe%2BHun%2Bin%2BVietnam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><b>So You Want to Build An F-100D From the Vietnam War?</b></p><p>Maybe you do and maybe you don't, but I did, and I was serious enough about it that I even drug out an initial-release Monogram kit I'd started six or seven years ago and never gotten around to finishing and, by Golly, FINISHED IT! It was a good kit, just a little bit fussy in the way The Big M's jet kits often were; and an excellent starting point if you wanted to build yourself a model of North American Aviation's legendary "Hun". The completion of that kit caused me to drag out a whole bunch of resources that I hadn't used in quite a while (think "where did I file that" but liberally sprinkled with naughty words and you've got the idea...) but the end results were every bit as good as I hoped they'd be and I learned some things along the way. It's those Learned Things I'd like to share with you today, but let's set a parameter right off the bat---this piece isn't the end all and be all of F-100 modeling information but rather a look at the airplane in it's glory days, during the conflict in SouthEast Asia. No <i>Thunderbirds</i>, no ANG (even though they did fly the type in 'Nam), and no two-seaters (not yet, anyway), just the F-100D "over there", from 1965 til its end in-theater in 1971.</p><p>Let's get a couple of things out of the way before we get started, though. First, everything you see here will apply to any F-100D kit in any scale. I chose the Monogram kit because I usually build in 1/48th and I much prefer the offering from Morton Grove (I told you I was working with an old kit!) to Trumpeter's, but that's my choice and you're certainly welcome to your own in that regard! That takes care of kit selection, right? </p><p>Next, we're going to jump right into Do Yourself a Big Favor territory and make a couple of suggestions. First, go visit Mister Google, or whomever your search engine of choice might be, and look for everything Ben Brown has published on the Internet regarding the F-100. He knows his stuff and what he's written---there's not that much, truth be known, but it's vital to the curriculum as some folks are wont to say---will save you a great deal of pain as you progress with your model. Once you've done that you can say a huge THANK YOU to Doug Barbier who, along with Ben, is the go-to guy on things relating to the "Hun" now that Dave Menard's gone. Finally, go back to revisit the aforementioned Mister Google and look for anything F-100-related that's got Joe Vincent's name on it. He was a "Hun" driver who drove it in anger back in The Bad Old Days, besides which he's a modeler and a writer too. All three of these guys are well worth taking the time to look up if you're so inclined and they have all contributed significantly to the HUN 101 primer you're about to read.</p><p>One more thing: North American Aviation, and the US Air Force, changed small but visible things on the F-100D about as often as most people change their socks and underwear, which means you almost HAVE to have a photograph of the airplane you want to model. Not a drawing or a painting, no matter how pretty those things might be, but an honest-to-goodness photograph. You gotta have it, GI; there's no other way to do this correctly because those changes really do exist but they're minute changes at best and photographs are your friend. The Devil's most assuredly in the details on this project!</p><p><b>Getting Started</b></p><p>First, you'll need to get a kit, and I have to stress we're dealing with the classic 1/48th scale Monogram offering only, at least in terms of what I built. I personally don't own a Trumpeter F-100 so none of what follows is intended for that kit, although the basics of what goes where will bleed over to any kit from anybody (which is, after all, the whole point of this article, because we're dealing with how the real airplane looked---this is most assuredly NOT a How I Built It exercise!). Ben Brown has written extensively on the Trumpeter offering if you feel the need to go that route. </p><p>Next, you'll have to get right with what you want the model to be; that's particularly true if you've chosen the Monogram kit. It's an oldie, first released in 1980, and it's got raised panel lines (the horror!) and an interior that's simplified, in theory anyway, by contemporary standards. The intake trunk is nonexistant and the exhaust follows suit, which reminds me of all those kids who used to look into those places in the real jets on display at airshows way back in the '50s just to see what was in there. I personally don't do that with my models but you could. What I'm trying to say here is that you can make the modeling experience as simple or as complicated as you'd like, effort and aftermarket-wise. Just remember that a straight out-of-the-box build is going to result in a straight out-of-the-box finished model, although with Monogram's kit that's not necessarily a bad thing.</p><p>In that vein, a fair amount of aftermarket exists for the Monogram kit and you're welcome to use it should you feel the need, but you can get a decent model without without ever touching resin or photo-etch if you possess even minimal modeling skills. Doug Barbier, who's a significant contributor to this piece, is of the opinion that the kit's instrument panel and cockpit sidewalls are just fine and actually better than the existing aftermarket and I'm not going to dispute that, although the seat could definitely stand replacement. I personally didn't mess with either the intake or exhausts but let's keep in mind that I build for ME, and not for contests or even other people so my standards are my standards. Yours probably differ. </p><p>The kit's surface detail is raised, and a lot of folks will condemn a model for that perceived failing. There are many ways to deal with the issue, ranging from doing nothing at all to sanding off everything and scribing in the panel lines. I've also seen effective results achieved by the simple act of sanding off the kit's raised lines and drawing new ones in the right places on the finished model with a fine pencil and a straight edge to put the panel lines where they're supposed to be. This actually works great on a camouflage-painted surface but, once again, that's your choice. </p><p>One thing, or actually two, that will render your life easier with this kit and about which I'm just super-pedantic involves dealing with the flying surfaces. Monogram chose to split this kit's fuselage halves horizontally, which is a well thought-out way to deal with the fuselage spine and main landing gear bay, but those fuselage halves often warp and need a little TLC if you want them to fit properly, a feat not made any easier by the fact that the tailplanes come molded to the lower fuselage and the wings are connected to one another by a web, which means you're trapping them between the upper and lower fuselage halves as you assemble the model. On the face of things it's another brilliant design feature from the boys in Morton Grove but in reality it makes a warped fuselage, with all its attendant fit problems and a resultant need for gobs of sanding and filler material, almost inevitable. I get around the issue by cutting the web between the wings and then cutting the horizontal stabs off the fuselage. That makes aligning and building the fuselage a simple thing indeed and the wings can be added whenever you want to do that. Just be sure to cut the locating pins off the wing web (they're those little bumps you see next to the wings proper when you look at the top of that web) and figure out how you want to re-attach the stabs---that particular operation can range from a simple glued butt joint to pins and bearings; the choice is yours. </p><p>The other thing of the two that will simplify your life, Monogram F-100-wise, is to try to find an old Morton Grove/Made in USA version of the kit. I'm talking the original issue in the white box here, and there's a reason for doing that. Some of the versions molded overseas have quite a bit of flash in really awkward places such as on the wing fences and transparencies. Yes; we can deal with the problem, but why would we want to do that when we can just side-step the whole mess? Save yourself a fair amount of personal angst and take the time to seek out the original-issue iteration of this one, Kit No 5416. Throw away the decals, which were marginal even when they were new, and keep everything else. You don't have to thank me...</p><p>Those are the major things you'll have to deal with. Everything else is a relatively simple matter of looking at photographs of the airplane you want to model and duplicating what you see there. The absolutes you'll have to deal with are modifying the drop tanks to the standard wartime 335-gallon variety (they're on each and every "Hun" flown in theater regardless of date) and scratch-building some simple RHAW gear if you're modeling a late jet, and as an afterthought, probably replacing the pitot boom too because the kit one is, shall we say "delicate" and you'll never get the mold lines out of it without breaking it. </p><p><b>We Ought to Have Some Drawings</b></p><p>So that's where we're going to start out. Doug Barbier, in conjunction with the late Dave Menard, came up with a composite drawing several years ago that defined pretty much everything that could be on an F-100D during the period of the Vietnam War. We've taken that drawing and broken it down into a set of four separate ones, defining in a visual fashion the way the airplane looked in-theater from one significant period of operations to the next. We're not presenting them as any sort of locked-in-stone definition of the way the jet looked because there was always overlap between the time changes were initiated and the inevitable bleed-over from one phase to another, which is a somewhat confusing way of saying the drawings should be taken as a general guide and not a message from the mountain. You really need to be looking at photographs too; we'll be saying that over and over in this piece, and those photographs should be what defines your model.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aEJm0G8HlUg/X3Jc4H6SXnI/AAAAAAAAKE4/JjC81IAFlOwRP6cDUCawm9vv5WZqOwWgACLcBGAsYHQ/s1005/F-100D%2Bin%2BSEA%2B1965-66.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1005" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aEJm0G8HlUg/X3Jc4H6SXnI/AAAAAAAAKE4/JjC81IAFlOwRP6cDUCawm9vv5WZqOwWgACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2Bin%2BSEA%2B1965-66.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's your basic silver-painted jet---this drawing defines the immediate pre- and early war phase of F-100D operations in Southeast Asia. It's a busy little drawing because it defines a lot of stuff and you need to be careful with it because it would be a rare aircraft indeed that had all of the various antennae in place all at the same time. The APW-11 antenna on the vertical tail, for example, was almost entirely gone by the time the airplane began combat operations. Note the UHF Comm antenna under the nose up behind the pitot boom; it won't stay there very long because it's sitting between and directly in front of the quartet of M39 cannon the aircraft is equipped with. This is not an especially good place for it to live, as will be learned within a very short period of time once combat begins in earnest.<div><br /></div><div>You should also be on the lookout for the duct on the lower vertical stabilizer leading edge, down by and slightly above the "kink" in the tail, and its affiliated fiberglass panel on the left side of the undersurfaces back near the exhaust. These things signify that the jet was fitted with the Lightweight Navigation System, a PACAF mod dictated by the large areas of water they operated over pre-war. The panel for the LWNAVS is well-defined but the duct is another story entirely, often being hand-formed at the squadron maintenance level early on. If the duct is there the panel will be there too; if it's not, there will be no fiberglass panel. Finally, the LWNAVS was a PACAF mod <i>only</i> and once the war got going F-100s were coming into theater from just about everywhere, which means that not all airplanes had it. Let's all say it together:<i> Look at the photographs to be sure of the jet you're modeling! </i>There's a listing of serial numbers around here someplace, right by the ones that define which aircraft were <i>Bullpup </i>capable, that will help you out, nav system-wise.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGZuY9zjF9w/X3JgSO5f3ZI/AAAAAAAAKFE/u7wDPX4smaUA4rMQ8KhANvrxVFwk1uIhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1005/F-100D%2Bin%2BSEA%2B1966-67.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1005" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGZuY9zjF9w/X3JgSO5f3ZI/AAAAAAAAKFE/u7wDPX4smaUA4rMQ8KhANvrxVFwk1uIhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2Bin%2BSEA%2B1966-67.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's the jet as it normally appeared during 1966 and 67, during the early days of camouflaged aircraft. The grey fin tip will normally be overpainted and the antenna fit is modest indeed, although the one for <i>Bullpup</i> might still be there. This is about as basic as things ever got, but an increasingly sophisticated enemy ensured that changes to the essential simplicity of the F-100D would be required.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S4yB5QOmTTo/X3JhNXM7DoI/AAAAAAAAKFQ/HQHces1avkUmLC8c3rZzbNAAFkd0ZKqUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1005/F-100D%2Bin%2BSEA%2B1967-68.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1005" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S4yB5QOmTTo/X3JhNXM7DoI/AAAAAAAAKFQ/HQHces1avkUmLC8c3rZzbNAAFkd0ZKqUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2Bin%2BSEA%2B1967-68.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This drawing defines the way the airplane generally looked during the late-1966 through 1968 time period, which covers the appearance of tail codes on the jet. There's still no RHAW gear on the airplane but the TACAN antennas are moving around a bit, as is the UHF Comm antenna. That black antenna cover just in front of the RAT exhaust cover could be overpainted with no adverse consequences and begins to show up overpainted with green more and more frequently.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bIaJUIVYWSQ/X3JivuKYi-I/AAAAAAAAKFc/gNnCeO4DahYbr3V-O4hIoXRM11ogrLxMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1005/F-100D%2Bin%2BSEA%2B1968-71.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1005" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bIaJUIVYWSQ/X3JivuKYi-I/AAAAAAAAKFc/gNnCeO4DahYbr3V-O4hIoXRM11ogrLxMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2Bin%2BSEA%2B1968-71.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Finally, here's the jet in its late-war configuration, to include the AN25/26 RHAW gear under the nose and on the tail and accompanied by dorsal and ventral warning beacons. Those RHAW antennae are distinct and pretty much have to be on a late aircraft and, as of this date at least, nobody in the wonderful world of aftermarket offer them for sale. Fortunately they're easy enough to make from scratch, as we'll discuss later.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FuocJ47FbjU/X3OcpL3FNQI/AAAAAAAAKHo/DO6CpCkIIR8B_qgtv_eiSvjufNT_DwABwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1400/A%2B-%2BF100D%2Bantennas%2Bc.1973.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="1400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FuocJ47FbjU/X3OcpL3FNQI/AAAAAAAAKHo/DO6CpCkIIR8B_qgtv_eiSvjufNT_DwABwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A%2B-%2BF100D%2Bantennas%2Bc.1973.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here's a drawing shamefully borrowed from one of the many F-100 manuals to define what those antennas were called by the Air Force. Doug Barbier Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_bB7-jzN1Hw/X3SWcQ5WAfI/AAAAAAAAKIM/YVGkIRzVCvgaRfAXzM5TkFXg7pbIIWN9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100%2BCamouflage%2BPattern%2Bfrom%2BT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1419" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_bB7-jzN1Hw/X3SWcQ5WAfI/AAAAAAAAKIM/YVGkIRzVCvgaRfAXzM5TkFXg7pbIIWN9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100%2BCamouflage%2BPattern%2Bfrom%2BT.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div>And finally, here's the F-100 page from my 19 January, 1967 edition of T.O. 1-1-4 <i>Exterior Finishes, Insignia and Markings Applicable to Aircraft and Missiles</i>. It's early enough to define the Air Force's idea of how the jet should be painted throughout the war, but keep in mind that the drawing didn't always reflect reality. Remember that part about having a photograph of the airplane you want to model? Friddell Collection<br /><div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for the drawings but remember that they're a guide, not an absolute! Some things will only show up in photographs; as an example of this, Dave Menard (Mister F-100 for those of you who didn't know him) once related to Doug that the horizontal stabilizers weren't handed and could be swapped from side to side during maintenance. It wasn't done often but it did happen, which resulted in at least a couple of cases in "Huns" configured with the camouflage greens and tan facing downwards on one side, while the nominal undersurface light grey was facing upwards on the other. This is definitely a case of it-was-done-but-find-a-picture-to-prove-it-on-your-model, but it does make the point. (The mind wanders to a contest table and the know-it-all judge of your choice...)</div><div><div><div><div><p><b>Let's Look At Some Pictures</b></p><p>Right, then! You've got your kit, you've got A Plan for it, you've looked at the drawings, and you're ready to rip! Let's take a look at some annotated photographs that might point you in the right direction, <i>Super Sabre</i>-wise:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aNY9EFa7teE/X3I5gr7-zgI/AAAAAAAAKD8/RLV-tm7MRbYnXbMuT6gLsHssCYtS7BBRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D-55-3568-8%2BTFW-at%2BOsan-1959-Bob%2BDorr%2B%25282%2B%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1492" data-original-width="2048" height="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aNY9EFa7teE/X3I5gr7-zgI/AAAAAAAAKD8/RLV-tm7MRbYnXbMuT6gLsHssCYtS7BBRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h233/F-100D-55-3568-8%2BTFW-at%2BOsan-1959-Bob%2BDorr%2B%25282%2B%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>First, here's a benchmark of sorts to establish what we're going to be starting from. 55-3568 was an F-100D-55-NA in service with the 8th TFW at Osan back in 1959, some five years prior to the beginning of the Vietnam War, but this photo shows the "Hun" in its pre-war/early-war condition and is definitely worth a look. Note how relatively clean the airplane is, without a whole lot of anything to mar the smooth lines of the jet. Pay particular attention to the tip of the vertical tail because that APW-11 antenna will go away pre-war and you'd be truly hard-pressed to find an airplane with it installed by 1964. In the same vein, this airplane doesn't appear to have a field arrestment hook fitted and it's configured for the SIOP mission too; that's a Mk-7 (on a dedicated pylon) on the middle station of the left wing where we'd expect to see a gas bag. The stores on this airplane are a pair of 200-gallon tanks on the inboard stations, a 450-gallon bag on the starboard mid station in conjunction with that nasty blivet that's hanging off the port mid, and no outboard pylons. The jet is heading off to sit on the alert pad for a few hours in wait for a call that thankfully never came. Bob Dorr via Sullivan Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MRYEMiJjvq4/X3I9UWh8RgI/AAAAAAAAKEI/W2YszGMjEu0Erv0oHdAFrJsweGdS3GWLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D%2B%2B31st%2BTFW%2Bat%2BBien%2BHoa%2BSummer%2B1965%252C%2BBarbier%2BCollection.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1339" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MRYEMiJjvq4/X3I9UWh8RgI/AAAAAAAAKEI/W2YszGMjEu0Erv0oHdAFrJsweGdS3GWLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2B%2B31st%2BTFW%2Bat%2BBien%2BHoa%2BSummer%2B1965%252C%2BBarbier%2BCollection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Here's a classic shot we've all seen a hundred times before (and yes; that pun was intentional!) of an F-100D-85-NH sitting on the ramp at Bien Hoa during the summer of 1965. There are three things of significance here from a modeler's standpoint: First, the jet is clean, with nothing visible in the way of external antennas. Second, it's painted in overall silver lacquer, the result of participation in <i>Operation Lookalike</i>. Finally, it's about to be loaded with a bomb that's not at all what you think it is. Conventional wisdom would define that particular weapon as an M117, although that specific bomb had yet to put in an appearance with the F-100s in Vietnam. Instead, we're looking at an AN/M65A1 1,000lb general purpose bomb left-over from the Second World War, or maybe the Korean fracas, that's wearing a streamlined tail section. That's one of those things that's almost a constant, although we don't like saying "never" or "always" around here, but a silver "Hun" in 1965 is 99.99% certain to be lugging around left-over WW2 bombs and nothing newer in the Big Iron Lump Go Boom department. Oh, and check out those jazzy crew ladders too; they're normally yellow with silver rungs but those are tarted up a bit. The devil's in the details! Barbier Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uwtP5Jxkqhc/X3NL0AcgDnI/AAAAAAAAKG0/MaTk_EiSmTYLSa_EewUW--vc2MGwmXptwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/SEA-DaNang-F-100C-55-3712-416%2BTFS-at%2BDaNang-1965-Don%2BKilgus%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1269" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uwtP5Jxkqhc/X3NL0AcgDnI/AAAAAAAAKG0/MaTk_EiSmTYLSa_EewUW--vc2MGwmXptwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/SEA-DaNang-F-100C-55-3712-416%2BTFS-at%2BDaNang-1965-Don%2BKilgus%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Here's our final Early Bird for today; 55-3712 "Pahodee Tiger" from the 416th TFS at DaNang in 1965. We're beginning to see antennas sprouting on the airplane now, including that slanty-looking one for guiding the AGM-12 <i>Bullpup </i>missile. We mention that one specifically because any airplane carrying the <i>Bullpup </i>has to be configured for it and that configuration includes a guidance antenna. There's a list of "Huns", by serial number, that could actually carry the weapon appended to this piece as a general guide but Modeler Beware! Just because the missile came with your kit doesn't mean the airplane you're modeling could necessarily carry it! One more thing, and this one's in the What a Blessing category: The top of that U.S. AIR FORCE lettering keys off a panel line on the real airplane, making alignment of that particular decal a piece of cake for the modeler! Is that convenient or what? Don Kilgus via Don Jay Collection<br /><div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-amR6rNLKM4o/X3JB0mazfuI/AAAAAAAAKEg/LyMY1rBVemorW9APzXC_wi-cnq6egFAyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D%252C%2BVietnam%2Bpossibly%2B1966%252C%2BDenny%2BSmith%2Bvia%2BFriddell.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1286" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-amR6rNLKM4o/X3JB0mazfuI/AAAAAAAAKEg/LyMY1rBVemorW9APzXC_wi-cnq6egFAyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%252C%2BVietnam%2Bpossibly%2B1966%252C%2BDenny%2BSmith%2Bvia%2BFriddell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The Air Force had been experimenting with camouflage in Southeast Asia as early as 1964 and by mid-1965 airplanes painted in the now-classic SEA Scheme were beginning to appear. This jet is a fine example of one of those early birds, and there's a lot to discuss here. First off are the antenna blades we can see, which are typical for the 1965-66 time frame, as well as the camera installation visible just aft of the crew ladder; this was on the left side only if installed. The inboard and outboard weapons pylons are in natural metal (sometimes overpainted with silver lacquer) throughout most of the war. although the outboard ones sometimes show up painted in 36622 Grey towards the end of the "Hun's" involvement there. The landing gear struts, and inner gear doors were painted silver throughout the war although the occasional 36622 nose wheel will pop up from time to time; wheel wells and speed brake wells were usually medium green. That triangular red doo-hickey on the main wheels is part of the airplane's anti-skid braking system but is often left in silver paint, while the black-painted panel immediately aft of the canopy was frequently overpainted as the war progressed. <i>SPECIAL NOTE: We discovered a typo on the image after it was too late to easily do anything about it: the small blade antenna we're identifying as a TACAN antenna was actually an IFF antenna. Please n</i>ote <i>accordingly!</i> Denny Smith<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SRPvHLCLq00/X3JESSzp07I/AAAAAAAAKEs/hlMym6tiohs2OAzVXXSaIOheXQiRW1CsACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D%2B56-3191%2B31TFW%2B309TFS%2BNov-25-67%2BVVTS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1337" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SRPvHLCLq00/X3JESSzp07I/AAAAAAAAKEs/hlMym6tiohs2OAzVXXSaIOheXQiRW1CsACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2B56-3191%2B31TFW%2B309TFS%2BNov-25-67%2BVVTS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>56-3191, an F-100D-75-NA from the 309th TFS/31st TFW, was undergoing preflight prior to a non-combat mission when this image was taken on 25 November, 1967. A couple of things are of interest in this shot. First, the horizontal stabilizers were normally fixed in the full-down position as is well-illustrated here, which aided the crew chief while servicing the drogue chute. They're almost always like that and should be depicted that way on your model. Next is the suite of items at the aft top of the vertical stabilizer. There's no RHAW antenna on this airplane; that's not going to come along for another year or so, but the anti-static wick, position lights, and fuel drain mast were always there from the first days of the war until the last, as were a set of anti-static wicks way out on the aft corners of the wingtips. Silver or camouflaged, early or late; those things were always there. This specific airplane is carrying a markings anomaly as well; a "dirty" fuselage national insignia. Was it really dirty or deliberately toned down? We don't know, but it adds a nice touch to an otherwise plain jet. Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JDaJP_BElc0/X3JlxwMDz_I/AAAAAAAAKFo/ZfJRlFR4zB8QSPtYsNXEVxseRZbhRQA5gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D%252C%2B56-3135%2B309th%2BTFS%2Bca%2B1968-69%252C%2BFriddell%2BCollection.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1399" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JDaJP_BElc0/X3JlxwMDz_I/AAAAAAAAKFo/ZfJRlFR4zB8QSPtYsNXEVxseRZbhRQA5gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%252C%2B56-3135%2B309th%2BTFS%2Bca%2B1968-69%252C%2BFriddell%2BCollection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Another classic shot, this time of a pair of D-models from the 309th TFS heading for some mischief during the 1969 time frame. Take a look at the anti-static wicks on the wingtips and vertical tail, and at that silver inboard pylon. On the F-100D the drop tanks were attached to the pylons rather than being separate components and it was normal to see them painted the same color as the tank. The inboards and outboards were a different matter entirely in that they started out in natural metal or silver lacquer and mostly stayed that way throughout the war, with very few exceptions. Note also the thin line of camouflage green on the top of the refueling probe. Friddell Collection</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VhG8W7DSqck/X3JnCmyHRJI/AAAAAAAAKF0/6_MGsOQa1x8eLoeBWgUkdD044oYwMD1BACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D-55-3634-308%2BTFS-Tuy%2BHoa-1968-jack%2Bnorris-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1308" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VhG8W7DSqck/X3JnCmyHRJI/AAAAAAAAKF0/6_MGsOQa1x8eLoeBWgUkdD044oYwMD1BACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D-55-3634-308%2BTFS-Tuy%2BHoa-1968-jack%2Bnorris-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>This marvelous image shows us a whole lot that's of value to the scale modeler. Most of the details are annotated on the photo but there are a couple of things that are worth discussing, and they're all back there on the tail. First, note that duct for the LWNAVS up just above the kink in the fin. It's that home-grown duct we were discussing earlier and this isn't the only way they looked, but it's doubtful you'll find a better shot of it! Next is the way the paint has burned off the aft fuselage, over the hot section. Modelers like to do this area in vibrant purples and blues over natural metal and sometimes it really did look like that, but what you're seeing here is far more common, with the metal under the paint showing up as a straw sort of color. You'll also want to pay attention to the very distinct way the paint burns off that metal. This photo defines the colors of the afterburner "petals" as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, take a look at those segmented stainless steel "fingers" that run top-to-bottom just in front of what most modelers call the afterburner can. They cover up the cable for the drogue chute, which is attached to the base of the fin, runs under those "fingers", and ends up below the tail where it finally attaches to the parachute. It's only on the left side of the airplane and that's how it looks most of the time. Jack Norris via Don Jay Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_tcF0MILyGo/X3JpLcI72tI/AAAAAAAAKGA/EtE9E_qewbAOrbroLUPy4Z6YqYsw9yAcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D-55-3634-308%2BTFS-Tuy%2BHoa-1968-jack%2Bnorris-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1371" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_tcF0MILyGo/X3JpLcI72tI/AAAAAAAAKGA/EtE9E_qewbAOrbroLUPy4Z6YqYsw9yAcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D-55-3634-308%2BTFS-Tuy%2BHoa-1968-jack%2Bnorris-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Here's the entire reason the back end of the F-100, <i>any</i> F-100, looks the way it does---that big honkin' afterburner generated a <i>lot</i> of heat that ended up being transferred to the aircraft's skin. Also of interest in this shot are the way the late inner landing gear doors are articulated to clear anything that might have been on the centerline weapons pylon that wasn't used in Vietnam. They're found in conjunction with the notched-out speed brake that was also modified to clear objects hung off the centerline of aircraft performing the SIOP mission, both of which are provided on the Monogram kit. Take a look at the spine of the forward fuselage too; that panel that's tipped up is actually the exhaust cover for the Ram Air Turbine and would only have been deployed in an in-flight emergency involving a total loss of engine power or, as seen here, during maintenance. Jack Norris via Don Jay Collection</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HS4fO2--AHQ/X3NNqQiknZI/AAAAAAAAKHE/JQbDzTDkDzkIYEsfru9Inj6ZT_QOYibwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D%2Bin%2BVietnam%2Bca%2B1969-71%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1345" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HS4fO2--AHQ/X3NNqQiknZI/AAAAAAAAKHE/JQbDzTDkDzkIYEsfru9Inj6ZT_QOYibwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2Bin%2BVietnam%2Bca%2B1969-71%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>This is what we might describe as a dirty airplane but it's a wonderful shot for two reasons. First, it shows that LWNAVS antenna cover that's on the rear fuselage in a clear and concise manner and, secondly, it shows off the way the gun blast residue stains the fuselage of an F-100---modelers take note, because almost all of the staining is beside or directly in front of the gun ports, <i>not</i> streaming out behind them! (That's a normal thing on almost any airplane that shoots guns, by the way, but it's also a discussion for another day.) Friddell Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DPYS3zyt66Q/X3KEj5hxpKI/AAAAAAAAKGY/L0dIKGpvtHQbpGSH8M5V6Ri9EjZWqJvVACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D%2B55-3757%252C%2B615th%2BTFS%2B35th%2BTFW%2Bat%2BPhan%2BRang%2Bca%2B1971%252C%2BFriddell%2BCollection%2Bcopy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1546" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DPYS3zyt66Q/X3KEj5hxpKI/AAAAAAAAKGY/L0dIKGpvtHQbpGSH8M5V6Ri9EjZWqJvVACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2B55-3757%252C%2B615th%2BTFS%2B35th%2BTFW%2Bat%2BPhan%2BRang%2Bca%2B1971%252C%2BFriddell%2BCollection%2Bcopy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Those single-seat regular USAF "Huns" still serving in the 1970-71 time frame were all equipped with RHAW, which means a little bit of scratch-building on the modeler's part. This photo is unfortunately incomplete but it does a good job of showing the afterburner section plus the stuff hanging off the trailing edge of the vertical stab and the deployed RAT exhaust cover. This airplane is representative of a late F-100D but keep in mind that it would have had a RHAW fairing on the nose too. Friddell Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P0xc7R_HS5g/X3MaB59BV9I/AAAAAAAAKGk/8tOn2kBqnh86DxUVCqGnxJVqeM23Bt_ZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-100D%2B55-3771%2B416th%2BTFS%2B31st%2BTFW%2BFriddell%2BCollection.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1310" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P0xc7R_HS5g/X3MaB59BV9I/AAAAAAAAKGk/8tOn2kBqnh86DxUVCqGnxJVqeM23Bt_ZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2B55-3771%2B416th%2BTFS%2B31st%2BTFW%2BFriddell%2BCollection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The 416th TFS got into the game early, back in the days of the silver "Huns", and stayed almost until the end. "The Blue Fox" was assigned to the squadron during that late period and once again displays all the hallmarks of a RHAW bird. The squadron color was blue, hence the name on the nose and the blue/trimmed white fin tip. Of particular interest in this shot are the fully-deployed inner main landing gear doors and speedbrake; those doors might or might not have been deployed but it was a relative rarity to see the speedboard dropped when the airplane was on the ground.<div><br /></div><div>So we've seen the drawings and we've looked at some photographs. Now, let's look at some lists that make sense of the whole thing!<br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Aircraft With the Lightweight Navigation System (LWNAVS) by Block and Serial Number</u></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>As previously mentioned, this was a modification unique to a number of the aircraft assigned to PACAF during the late 1950s and early 1960s and which can be identified by a duct just above the kink in the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer and a fiberglass panel on the left side of the aft fuselage. The mod was apparently done at the squadron or possibly depot level in the Pacific and it seems that no two ducts were 100% alike, although the fiberglass panels were. Doug Barbier spent quite a bit of time tracking down those airframes equipped with the system and has compiled a listing of the airplanes that had the mod. Please note that he isn't entirely certain of its completeness so we aren't either, but it's a significant start and is most assuredly more information than we had before! </div><div><br /></div><div><b>F-100D-45-NH: </b></div><div>55-2795, 2837, 2845, 2849, 2853, 2855/56, 2861.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>F-100D-50-NH:</b></div><div><b></b>55-2865, 2870, 2878-79, 2881, 2883, 2889, 2892, 2901, 2903/04/05.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>F-100D-55-NH:</b></div><div><b></b>55-2917.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>F-100D-20-NA:</b></div><div><b></b>55-3502, 3508, 3512, 3516, 3518, 3521/22, 3525, 3528, 3530, 3532, 3534/35, 3541, 3543, 3545, 3549/50, 3553, 3555, 3558/59/60, 3562, 3564, 3566, 3568/69/70, 3572/73/74, 3576, 3580/81/82, 3585/86/87, 3589/90/91/92/93, 3595, 3598, 3600/01.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>F-100D-25-NA:</b></div><div><b></b>55-3602/03/04, 3608, 3611, 3613, 3615, 3618/19/20, 3622/24, 3625, 3628, 3630/31/32, 3634, 3639/40/41/42, 3647, 3650, 3653.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>F-100D-30-NA:</b></div><div><b></b>55-3740, 3745, 3762, 3765/66, 3780, 3782, 3784/85, 3793, 3803/04, 3806, 3809, 3811/12/13/14.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>F-100D-60-NA:</b></div><div><b></b>56-2903.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>F-100D-90-NA:</b></div><div><b></b>56-3259, 3263/64/65/66/67, 3269/70, 3272/73, 3275/76/77/78/79/80, 3282/83, 3285/86/87, 3320, 3324, 3326/27/28/29/30/31/32/33/34/35/36, 3338/39/40/41, 3343, 3345/46.</div><div><br /></div><div>Aircraft with -NA block numbers were built in Los Angeles while those carrying -NH block numbers were built in Columbus. You probably already knew that but we wanted to be sure...</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>AGM-12 <i>Bullpup</i> Compatible Aircraft by Serial Number</u></b></div><div><br /></div><div>You would think the AGM-12 <i>Bullpup </i>was the most important air-to-ground missile ever fielded by American military aviation when you see how many kits feature it, but in point of fact its combat history was less than stellar, short in duration, and relatively few aircraft were ever modified with the command guidance equipment necessary for its employment. As far as we know there is no previously published list of which Vietnam War F-100Ds were actually <i>Bullpup </i>capable before this one; Doug spent quite a bit of time auditing photographs, looking for aircraft configured with the guidance antenna under the nose or with the missile hanging off a pylon, and came up with the following list. We make no claim as to its completeness but, as with the list of LWNAVS airframes, it's a start. Just remember when you're looking at photographs of "Huns" from the war years; no guidance antenna equals no capability to employ the missile.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Known <i>Bullpup</i>-Capable F-100Ds by Serial Number, various Block Numbers:</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b></b>55-2814, 2818, 2821, 2841, 2894, 2903, 3548/49, 3559, 3569, 3603/04, 3622/23, 3655, 3363, 3366, 3376, 3681, 3689, 3695, 3717, 3739, 3774, 3791, 3797, 3884, 3889, </div><div><br /></div><div>56-2912, 2916, 2928, 2944, 2963, 2979, 2981, 2986, 2989, 2999, 3000, 3011, 3033, 3037, 3054/55, 3063, 3120, 3122, 3162, 3168, 3179, 3239, 3245, 3264/65, 3285, 3305, 3318/19, 3329, 3333, 3335, 3340, 3374, 3379, 3383, 3415, 3425, 3437, 3448, 3462, 3923</div><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Doug for his patience and fortitude looking at all those photographs to assemble this provisional list!</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>F-100D Units Operating in Southeast Asia 1965-71</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>Although the F-100 was a critical component of Air Force operations during the war in Vietnam there were never many units assigned to the theater. Here's a brief list, possibly incomplete, of the regular USAF units we know to have been there at one time or another. Remember that this list accompanies an article that's concerned only with the F-100D, at least for now.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>3rd TFW at BienHoa AB, Nov '65-Jun '66</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>510th TFS (CE)</div><div>531st TFS (CP)</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>31st TFW at TuyHoa AB Dec '66- Fall '70</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>306th TFS (SD)</div><div>308th TFS (SE, later SM)</div><div>309th TFS (SS)</div><div>355th TFS (SP)</div><div>416th TFS (SE)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>35th TFW at PhanRang AB Oct '66-Spring '71</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>352nd TFS (VM)</div><div>355th TFS (VS)</div><div>614th TFS (VP)</div><div>615th TFS (VZ)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>37th TFW at PhuCat AB Spring '67-Spring '69</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>355th TFS (HP)</div><div>416th TFS (HE)</div><div>612th TFS (HS)</div><div><br /></div><div>Note that this listing does not break out the squadrons by month/year, nor does it detail the way the squadrons jumped around from wing to wing and base to base. The 355th and 416th were both assigned to multiple wings (the 31st and 35th TFWs) during their time in-country. This is a basic listing and we'd like to learn more if you have additional information. Please send any corrections to replicainscaleatyahoodotcom should you feel so inlined.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Early Deployments to Vietnam and Southeast Asia, The Silver Jets</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>In the spirit of a gift that keeps on giving, Doug continues to come up with things we really need to know about the "Hun" over there. Here's a brief description of the deployment of those silver F-100Ds to the theater:</div><div><br /></div><div><div>First deployment were 6x a/c from the 510th TFS from Clark AB RP, to Don Muang A/P Bangkok Thailand 16 Apr 1961 under "Operation Bell Tone", ostensibly to provide air defense for the Thai capital.</div><div><br /></div><div>18x Squadron sized deployments to Thailand starting 18 May 1962 under "Operation Saw Buck" rotational exercises. First units from Cannon and England AFB's.</div><div><br /></div><div>After a USN RF-8 Crusader was shot down over Laos on 22 May 1964, 8x F-100D from the 615th TFS (401 TFW England AFB, LA) deployed to Da Nang AB, RVN with Col. George Laven in command. The first F-100 strike against an enemy in-theater was flown on 9 June 1964 against targets in the Plaines des Jarres, Laos. </div><div><br /></div><div>An additional 8x F-100D from the 615th TFS deployed to Da Nang after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964. They flew both MIGCAP escort missions with the F-105 and ground attack missions into Laos. In addition, two squadrons deployed from Cannon AFB to South Vietnam following the Gulf of Tonkin incident. 1 ea from the 27th and 474th TFW (effectively at least 3 Hun squadrons in RVN then)</div><div><br /></div><div>First combat F-100D loss was a/c 56-3085, shot down on 18 Aug 1964 in Laos.</div><div><br /></div><div>Starting 14 December 1964, Barrel Roll sorties against NVA in Laos. </div><div>During the Flaming Dart against NV targets, Huns continued to act as MIGCAP</div><div>Operation Rolling Thunder in Mar 1965 - MIGCAP. 4 April 1965, Cpt Don Kilgus (416th TFS) claimed a MIG-17 kill. This was the only time that the F-100's tangled with MIG's. Shortly after that, ground attack south of N. Vietnam only</div><div><br /></div><div>Aircraft from the 416th TFS Silver Knights deployed to Clark, then to Da Nang in March 1965, then to Bien Hoa mid-June. Nov 1965 Than Son Nhut, then Phu Cat in Apr 1967 and Tuy Hoa in May 1969</div><div><br /></div><div>481st TFS "Crusaders" from 27 TFW Cannon AFB deployed to RVN under "Operation Two Buck 16" - 16th TDY deployment of F-100s to RVN- on 12 Jun 65. 18x a/c. LTC Harold Comstock CC. Arrived Tan Son Nhut (just outside Saigon) on 21 June 1965 - the first jet tactical fighter unit to be based there. Departed back to CONUS by 27 NOV 1965 but left the jets behind for other units to use!! Most, if not all jets camouflaged by then. </div><div><br /></div><div>415th TFS from 3 TFW, England AFB, LA replaced 481st, supposedly on a permanent basis. Jets arrived already camouflaged c. mid Nov 1965. </div><div><br /></div><div>429 TFS Bien Hoa TDY July-Nov 1965 from 474 TFW Cannon AFB, NM</div><div><br /></div><div>Early TDY's came from PACAF tasked TAC wings or PACAF based wings - Cannon, England, Clark and Misawa known.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>The Way They Actually Looked</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>We're going to make a leap of faith and presume that anyone who's reading this piece is doing it because they want to build a scale model of the F-100D during its time in The SouthEast Asia War Games. Close examination of a great many photographs leads us to several conclusions, which we'd like to share with you.</div><div><br /></div><div>First, it's incredibly easy to over-weather a model of the F-100D as used in Vietnam. Yes; some were heavily used and yes; they got weather-beaten and heavily stained---SOMETIMES---but more often than not they were kept in relatively decent condition with minimal chipping and overall weathering. If you forced us to a conclusion we'd have to say that the early camouflaged birds, pre-tailcode (1968) were the dirty birds of the family, generally speaking. On the other hand, the bellies of any of the jets could get a little nasty, a condition not helped at all by the white-ish 36622 paint under there after camouflage started being applied, but mostly they looked reasonably well kept. That means---are you ready---that you should look at photographs of airplanes from the unit and time period you're interested in <i>before</i> you begin chipping and staining things, and then weather your model appropriately.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then there's that darned aft fuselage. The skin was in close proximity to the afterburner that lived back there and paint didn't stay on that area for very long at all, but once again you need to key what you're doing to photographs of the real thing. It's probably better to aim for a modest and convincing burnt paint over stained metal look rather than trying to duplicate entire panels in pretty irridescent colors. That discoloring certainly happened on the "Hun" and you can see vivid examples of it on airplanes that started out unpainted in the pre-war days, back in the '50s and early '60s, but even then you're more likely to see tannish-colored staining rather than the shimmering purples or blues we so often find on scale models. </div><div><br /></div><div>All of these airplanes will be carrying 335-gallon drop tanks and will have a bent refuelling probe, and they'll all have the "band-aid" reenforcement straps on the wings that live up by the fuselage, just like Monogram gave us in their kit.</div><div><br /></div><div>By now you've probably figured out that what we're trying to say here is simple: It's easy to look, but sometimes it's hard to <i>see</i> what you're looking at. Photographs are your friend if you've got the sense to use them, but we also know that not everyone has accesses to photographic resources so Doug Barbier came up with a couple of easy rules to define what an F-100D model ought to look like during those different time periods, and they're well-worth sharing:</div><div><br /></div><div>Early war, in silver paint: Most unit markings are small and on the vertical stab (<i>most</i> of them...), with mission markers and occasional nose art. There won't be a whole lot in the way of antennas but the guidance antenna for <i>Bullpup </i>could be seen on some jets well into 1967. In terms of ordnance, the jets might be carrying AIM-9s on those goofy "Y" launchers, or old (WW2 and Korean War leftovers) bombs, or more contemporary napalm, rocket pods, or SUU-7 cluster bomb dispensers.</div><div><br /></div><div>The early camouflaged jets (prior to the beginning of tail codes in 1966) are pretty much the same, antenna-wise, as their silver predecessors. Low-drag bombs (the Mk series) are coming on line in both low and high-drag configurations and that <i>faux</i>-ubiquitous M117 that everyone mistakenly puts on their early F-100 models is finally making its appearance. Napalm cans, rocket pods, and CBU launchers are still distinct possibilities.</div><div><br /></div><div>By 1967-68 new antennae are evident here and there. RHAW gear is possible after 1968 and usually evident after 1970, and post-1968 aircraft in some wings employ TERs on the two inboard wing stations---go back a couple of issues for Joe Vincent's photographic overage of the racks actually fitted to wartime "Huns" and the loads they carried. </div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Let's Be a Little More Specific</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>Doug Barbier has been studying the "Hun" in Southeast Asia for a couple of decades now, and has kindly provided this addendum to us:</div><div><br /></div><div>AGM-12B <i>Bullpup</i> {modifications complete by late 1959, 1st squadron not operational until Dec 1960, only 4 squadrons operational by June 1961 and only approximately 200 a/c actually received it} Out of service by 1966 and guidance antenna & joystick removed by 1967.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>Small trapezoidal antenna above intake lip. some by c.1959, but many not until 1966.</div><div><br /></div><div>Buzz numbers removed from fuselage of all silver F-100s starting by mid-1965, possibly as early as late 1964. Finished by early 1966. 481st TFS was in the process of removing them from their jets in RVN during mid-to-late 1965.</div><div><br /></div><div>Camouflage paint - started by fall 1965, all completed by mid 1966. Most initial paint jobs carried out by unit painters using fax guidance and were therefore highly individual. Most aft fuselage hot sections were initially painted, but since the paint burned off rapidly, this practice was quickly discontinued.</div><div><br /></div><div>Aircraft serial numbers & USAF markings went to 6" high letters & numbers on the fin. Initially any combination of white/white, white/black, black/white or white/white could be seen (painters choice) but were later standardized to black USAF over black serial number. Prior to adoption of camouflage paint, the serial number on the tail was painted in black 12" tall numbers and the "U. S. AIR FORCE" lettering on the forward fuselage was painted in Insignia Blue (by T.O. at least) using 15" tall letters. Star and bar markings prior to camouflage were 25" dia on the fuselage sides and 35" dia stars on the lower right wing and upper left wing. After camouflage, 15" diameter stars were generally carried in all positions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Small trapezoidal antenna below the windshield / cockpit area - added c.1966.</div><div><br /></div><div>UHF blade antenna below forward fuselage ahead of gun muzzles - added c.1966 but relocated to fuselage spine by 1968 due to frequent breakage.</div><div><br /></div><div>AN/APR-25(V)/26 RHAW fairings added underneath intake lip and on aft face of vertical fin above fuel dump c.1967-68.</div><div><br /></div><div>Combat documentation camera capability added starting c.1968.</div><div><br /></div><div>Band aids on bottom of wing - at the fuselage joint and scab patches on upper fuselage - temporary mods added starting late 1967, replaced by major depot mods possibly stretching through 1970.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unit Tail codes - added to combat jets in SEA starting c. 1968. </div><div><br /></div><div>Rotating anti-collision beacon on top & bottom of fuselage added c.1969. The lower recognition light was moved forward when the bottom beacon was added in the original location of the recognition light.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some a/c had a floodlight under a teardrop shaped housing on the wing, inside of the fence added c.1969.</div><div><br /></div><div>Note: The small trapezoidal antennas mounted all over the aircraft varied in function and location over time. For example, the F-100 Dash-1 simply calls some of them "identification radar" antennas and does not differentiate between radar beacon nor IFF/SIF usage. The best way from a modeling viewpoint is to simply look at photo's showing where they were located at a particular time on a particular jet and add or delete them as necessary.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Weapons Used By the F-100D in SEA</u></b></div><div><br /></div><div>This was a topic that was slated for another issue but Doug performed that miracle we all participate in from time to time (or at least those of us who research and write do!) and Found Some Files He Thought He'd Lost. As it happens that's a very good thing for Doug and a great one for us so, without further ado:</div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div><div>There are two very important things to remember about weapons carriage that modelers (and model manufacturers) are forever getting wrong. The first is that just because the aircraft was cleared to haul something doesn’t mean that it ever actually DID it in the real world. The second is that armament is not simply hung haphazardly. Armament is chosen for a particular type of target and can only be hung on stations that have been tested and approved to carry that particular store. You can’t just hang anything you want anywhere you want. You’re into fantasy modeling at that point & if you’re going to take that much time & effort to build a great model, you may as well get the stores right as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>For example, if you were fragged to attack an area target in the Mekong Delta, unfinned nape would be the weapon of choice because it tumbles after release and covers a wider area on impact. If a target is below the jungle canopy, finned nape is the only way to go because they go in straight and can penetrate the trees before exploding. Likewise, the "daisy cutter" fuse extenders on the Mk-82 bombs had a purpose---they caused the bomb to explode higher and spread shrapnel farther, making them a good antipersonnel weapon, while the normal version was better to blow up targets such as buildings and trucks, so there are many combinations of weapons that you would simply never see together on the same jet. There are roughly a dozen full pages in the 1966 pilot’s Dash-1 manual dedicated to what can be hung and where on the F-100D, and I’ll try to simplify them shortly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next, which way do the fins go? There are two ways that any finned weapon can be hung on a mounting; either with a “+” (plus) configuration or an “x” (X) configuration when referenced to the ground. The <i>Sidewinders</i> on an F-100D were in a “+” configuration. Note that this is extremely unusual and virtually every other <i>Sidewinder</i>-capable jet carried them in an “X” configuration. All other conventional stores and the 275/335 gal tanks on an F-100 had the fins in an “X” configuration. Finally conventional weapons were nearly always loaded symmetrically, that is the same type weapon on the same station locations relative to each other (outboard & outboard, inboard & inboard, <i>etc</i>.). </div><div><br /></div><div> One final item before I get off my podium here: ALL published photos of early SEA "Huns" carrying so-called “750” pound bombs are captioned incorrectly. Even though they were commonly called ‘750’s’, they weren’t. The M-117 was the first true 750 lb bomb in the U.S. inventory and it didn’t show up until later in the game. Jets in those early deployments, during the Silver Days back in 1964 and 1965, were hauling around leftover WW2 era AN/M65A-1 1000 lb bombs with conical fins replacing the old WW2 box fins. They were also using leftover Korean war vintage fuses in them, which resulted in a high level of ‘dud’ bombs. And, for a while, there were so few of them available that many times a jet would launch on a mission with only two bombs loaded. The way to tell which bomb is actually being used is to look at the noses. If there were lots of thin yellow stripes, if there were stripes on the aft or mid section of the bomb, if there weren’t any stripes at all, or if it just looked like it had been sitting around weathering in the open for a couple of decades, it was the old M65 (or an M64 – the 500lb version, which was also used early on). The later 750 lb M-117 both looked a lot newer (fresh paint & no weathering) and had only one 2” wide yellow stripe around the body of the bomb, located 3"behind the nose. The newer Mk-8X & M-117 series of bombs did not start dribbling into theater until mid to late 1965 and did not become common until 1966-67 due to expenditures exceeding production rates of the new bombs - there really WAS a bomb shortage.</div><div><br /></div><div>Given the complexity of the discussion, I'll try to simplify things for us from a basic modeler's perspective. During the conflict in SEA, the standard configuration for F-100D's was a NAA Type I pylon on the inboard wing stations, 335 gallon external tanks on the intermediate points, and a NAA Type III pylon on the outer wing stations. I should mention here that the fuel tanks were integral (one fixed piece) with their pylons and that the pylon was aerodynamically shaped on the leading portion to ensure that the tanks went away from the jet if they were jettisoned, instead of into it. Because of this design feature no truly accurate F-100 pylons for the middle stations exist in plastic or resin. </div><div><br /></div><div> For most of the war, weapons pylons were left in natural metal and carried a multitude of colored stenciling. The pylons also had unique streamlined "fairings" on the lower sides between the two suspension lugs. As the war progressed, those fairings were cut back in the middle - increasing the drag but making it easier to rapidly hang weapons from them. Some times the pylons were painted during this modification and in that case, the stenciling was minimal or nonexistent.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some munitions could only be loaded on the outboard wing stations. Examples include the SUU-7 CBU tanks and SUU-25 Flare dispensers. And if you saw a napalm tank loaded on an F-100, it was virtually certain to be a 750 lb variety, either the BLU-1B or the welded case BLU-27. Both finned and unfinned versions were used but generally not mixed on the same aircraft.</div><div><br /></div><div> Prior to the arrival of the F-4 Phantoms, F-100D's were used on MIGCAP missions, escorting F-105's over North Vietnam. For those missions, the very unique NAA Type IX integrated AIM-9B pylon/launchers were carried in place of the Type I's on the inboard wing stations. From the front, these looked like handed, inverted "Vee's" and each carried two of the early Sidewinder missiles. No pylons were hung on the outboard wing stations but the two 335 gallon external fuel tanks were carried. All these jets were in the silver lacquer paint and not camouflaged.</div><div><br /></div><div>Late in 1967, many of the jets were modified to be able to load Triple Ejector Racks (TER's) on the inboard pylon. While this did increase the amount of munitions the Hun could carry, it came with additional restrictions on what could be loaded. But by the time the TER's became available in quantity in SEA, the end was near. If you choose to use them, remember that they could only be loaded on the inboard pylons and only one type of weapon could be loaded - no mixing was allowed. Acceptable munitions loads were restricted to 3x Mk-81 (rare) or Mk-82 (common) bombs or 2x unfinned nape cans on the outer stations ONLY.</div><div> </div><div><b><u>SEA Combat Loadouts - Changes over Time</u></b></div><div><br /></div><div>The ordnance carried by the F-100D in SEA varied greatly over the years that the "Hun" was at war. Fuel tanks were always carried on the mid-wing stations and neither the 200 gal inboard nor 450 gal ferry tanks were seen in combat and the inboard Type I pylons were always in place except for early war MIGCAP missions and the Type IX pylons replaced them because of the perceived need for an air-to-air weapon, or for the 13 odd sorties where the 481st TFS launched Bullpup missiles from Type X AGM-12-specific inboard pylons.</div><div> </div><div>For attacking ground targets in 1964, leftover WW2 and Korean era munitions were the only things available. The preferred weapon was the 1,000lb M-65 but when those couldn't be had, the 500 lb M64 versions were loaded. </div><div><br /></div><div>Unfinned napalm was loaded for open country while finned napalm containers were used if they had to be dropped through the jungle canopy. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Hard" targets in Laos and Cambodia called for 4x M-65's, while "Soft" targets within S. Vietnam, either an M-65 or M-64 inboard with napalm, rockets of SUU-7 CBU (ALWAYS loaded outboard) was common. Occasionally, late in the war, CBU-49 was used if it was available.</div><div><br /></div><div>Other than a few SUU-7/A pods there were no CBU’s available until mid to late 1965 and that’s about the time the new generation Mk-82 series 500 lb GP bombs and M-117 750 lb GP bombs – both in the slick & retarded (HD or ‘snakeye’) version - started to trickle in as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>During early 1965, “In Country” loads were frequently 2x LAU-3 rocket pods on the O/B pylons and 2x M65 on the I/B pylons. A 4x M65 configuration was frequently seen, as was napalm I/B and the M65 O/B – or vice versa. As an example, between June and November 1965, the 481st TFS (which was TDY to S. Vietnam from Cannon AFB, NM) expended 3,829 “750” bombs (virtually all of which were the old M65 variety), 1,681 500 lb bombs (again, virtually all being WW2 vintage M64’s), 155 Mk-82 ‘Snakeye’ retarded bombs, 2,952 napalm canisters, 50 LAU-3 rocket pods (that is only 25 jets worth), 646 SUU-7 CBU canisters and 25 AGM-12B Bullpups, (13 missions worth total) in addition to countless rounds of 20mm. Notice that there were lots & lots of napalm & M65’s, fewer 500 pounders and virtually no LAU-3’s or Snake used here. And, if you don’t see it on this list, it never got hung on a Hun in Vietnam in 1964 or 1965 – which was the ‘silver jet’ era.</div><div><br /></div><div>By late 1966 the old WW2 era bombs were gone, the new munitions were common and the Hun was concentrating on “In Country” missions as the more capable F-4’s and F-105’s took on the dangerous missions up north. As a direct result of the mission change, the combat loads changed as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>Radar guided, medium altitude “Skyspot” bombing missions generally used 4x </div><div>MK-82’s with fuze extenders, while Defense Suppression missions against AAA guns used either CBU-2A or LUA-3 rockets. At this point, “Hard” Targets in Laos and Cambodia rated 4x M-117 ‘slicks’ and the “Soft” targets in the south could be virtually any mix of GP bombs and Napalm, but </div><div> were initially 750 Lb M-117 slicks and 750 lb Napalm, or 500 Lb Snake and Napalm.</div><div><br /></div><div>By 1968 the “fighter pilots friend” –“snake and nape” – became the most common load. Different Wings tended to load these in different locations, so you’ll have to check photos to be certain what your own model should have, but the most common load was a single Mk-82HD inboard with napalm outboard, per wing. However, the 31st TFW seemed to prefer things the other way around. Other common loads would have been 4x Mk-82 HD or slicks, M-117s I/B and nape or LAU-3 rocket launchers O/B. Nape I/B and SUU-7 O/B was seen from 1967 to 1971. In 1971, right at the end of the Hun’s combat life in Vietnam, one aircraft in a section loaded with 4x Nape and a wingman loaded with 4x Mk-82 Snakes became common. </div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Munitions Colors, Generally Speaking</u></b> </div><div><br /></div><div>SUU-7 CBU canisters were painted white in 1964-65 but then switched to olive drab by mid-late 1967 or so.</div><div><br /></div><div>LAU-3/A Rocket pods were either gloss white (esp early) or olive drab and may have had a red dot on the nose. They virtually always had the aerodynamic nose and tail fairings in place.</div><div><br /></div><div>Napalm containers (750 lb standard) were almost invarably natural metal and may or may not have carried a 2” wide red stripe near the nose.</div><div><br /></div><div>M64 & M65 bombs were VERY weathered WW2 olive drab shades and had 3 or 4 thin yellow stripes around either the nose, the tail, or both. They were mated to newer conical fin assemblies (vs the old WW2 ‘box fins’) that were generally a darker shade of olive drab, since they were newer.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mk-82 & Mk-117 bombs were (fresh) olive drab and had a 2” wide yellow stripe 3” behind the nose of the bomb.</div><div><br /></div><div>AIM-9B "Sidewinder" missiles were gloss white with clear glass IR seekers. </div><div><br /></div><div>AGM-12B "Bullpup" missiles were also gloss white overall.</div><div><br /></div><div>All of these weapons carried stencils and a few carried placards as well. That sort of detail is beyond the scope of this work, but there are a great many examples of each available in photographs both in print and on the internet.</div><div style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: underline;"><br /></div></div><div><b><u>Modeling Aftermarket</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>You might think that this would be the perfect time for us to list all the stuff that's available to enhance or accurize a model of the F-100, and Doug was kind enough to provide just such an extensive list of what's out there for the airplane, but we're not going to run it today.</div><div><br /></div><div>With that said, there's quite a bit more aftermarket of all kinds available than you might think, from decals to resin to photo-etched details. That includes the weaponry carried too, and the only areas where accurate aftermarket are not available, at least as far as we know, involve the RHAW gear and the early-war Y-shaped AIM-9 pylons. You can steal RHAW gear that will work, for the nose anyway, from the incredibly complete and extremely expensive DACO detail set for the F-104, but you're on your own for an accurate set of <i>Sidewinder </i>rails for an early-war air-to-air fit. On the plus side, scratch-building that RHAW gear isn't especially hard to do, which matters a lot if you're building a late jet.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>And Speaking of RHAW</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>It's an essential part of the F-100D during its last few years Over There, and it's just not available for your model unless you build in 1/48th and want to steal the sensor from your DACO F-104 improvement kit, and even then you only end up with the one for the nose. Fortunately, it's a simple matter to make a set for your "Hun" using a piece of plastic and a file. Doug was kind enough to provide a dimensioned sketch of the RHAW gear and a couple of photos---look at them closely because they're useful indeed!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R5vTQ9MPms0/X3SeELQqp6I/AAAAAAAAKIY/TPHAqfCdnAIZywayJyGif7PZ-PheIQ_DACLcBGAsYHQ/s697/F-100D%2BRHAW%2Bsketch%252C%2BBarbier.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="697" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R5vTQ9MPms0/X3SeELQqp6I/AAAAAAAAKIY/TPHAqfCdnAIZywayJyGif7PZ-PheIQ_DACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-100D%2BRHAW%2Bsketch%252C%2BBarbier.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Is this a modeler's sketch or what? The thing is, it gives us the shape of the more difficult of the two RHAW installations from a modeler's perspective and does it with dimensions too. You might want to put Doug's picture on the piano for doing this for us! Doug Barbier</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iiQSh7IljIo/X3SeiKvxIqI/AAAAAAAAKIg/7I36yZM0zAI7gwbTyr2aYMtPHH2XtbUsACLcBGAsYHQ/s1199/Nose%2BRHAW%2BSIDE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="1199" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iiQSh7IljIo/X3SeiKvxIqI/AAAAAAAAKIg/7I36yZM0zAI7gwbTyr2aYMtPHH2XtbUsACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Nose%2BRHAW%2BSIDE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Here's that nose RHAW from the left side. Note that the sensors are missing from that blanked-off circular port. Once again, photos are our friend! Doug Barbier</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9jaq_H0lPRc/X3Se12caZWI/AAAAAAAAKIo/IO38azqpKt0oAHhdOH8n4Igw6s_RljUyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s749/Nose%2BRHAW%2Bfrom%2Bfront.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="749" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9jaq_H0lPRc/X3Se12caZWI/AAAAAAAAKIo/IO38azqpKt0oAHhdOH8n4Igw6s_RljUyQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Nose%2BRHAW%2Bfrom%2Bfront.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>And from head-on. The photo isn't the best but it defines how the nose sensor looks from dead ahead; notice how the sensor openings are stepped rather than on the same plane? Doug Barbier</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T0jO9Zd9BKQ/X3SfLdSFIWI/AAAAAAAAKIw/Q1d-pS0oEAUbaCt1LkIXBrb9rLFnk01qgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1079/Tail%2BRHAW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1079" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T0jO9Zd9BKQ/X3SfLdSFIWI/AAAAAAAAKIw/Q1d-pS0oEAUbaCt1LkIXBrb9rLFnk01qgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Tail%2BRHAW.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Finally, here's the RHAW installation back on the tail. Note how it's faceted and not especially big, and how it has the same blanked-out ports for the sensors. The anti-static wick, position lights, and fuel dump mast are all evident here as well. Doug Barbier<br /><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Thanks</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>We'd been thinking of doing this piece for quite a while and a recent urge on my part to build a Vietnam-era F-100D model provided the impetus for the project, but credit needs to go where credit's due; first and foremost to Dave Menard, <i>aka</i> Mister F-100 but also, and substantially, to Doug Barbier, a long-time friend who's been trying to make sense of the nuances of modeling all of the <i>Century Series</i> aircraft for many years---Doug, you ought to write a book! We'd also like to mention Ben Brown, who was successfully figuring out the Monogram F-100D kit long before most of us became interested in it in any serious manner, and Joe Vincent, who has modeled the "Hun", written about it, photographed it, and flown it in combat. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then there are the guys who shepherd the history and preserve the photography, and who sent images when we asked for them: Don Jay, Jim Sullivan, Mark Aldrich, and Mark Nankivil, in association with The Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum, all responded to requests for images and insight, and we're grateful to them for the help. Thanks, Guys!</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>Some Final Thoughts</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>The F-100D isn't a <i>Spitfire </i>or a <i>Mustang</i>, but quite a few kits of it have been issued over the years. Unfortunately, the only one of them that's actually accurate out of the box is the 1980-vintage Monogram kit, which leaves the 1/72nd and 1/32nd scale guys, as well as those who don't like raised panel lines, in the lurch. Keep in mind, however, that everything in this article, which is slanted towards the Monogram kit, has direct application to any of the others and the main thing, the BIGGEST thing, is, yes; to look at photographs and duplicate what you see regardless of which kit you're using.</div><div><br /></div><div>In terms of the real airplane, we'd like for you to consider this: Much like another North American Aviation product that was active in a war that took place in the same region only 15 years before, the "Hun" was in the Far East in some numbers when the decision was made to send combat aircraft to Vietnam. It had little room for growth even when it was new because it was, after all, the very first of the <i>Century Series</i> family of American jet fighters and in consequence its ability to live in the big war up north became ever smaller as the years passed, but it did its job and it did it well down south, supporting the guys in the mud in all weathers and in darkness. When troops in contact required air support it was, as often as not, the "Hun" that answered the call. </div><div><br /></div><div>The glory, F-100-wise, and the lasting fame, tended to go to the <i>Misty Fac </i>guys and to the earliest of the <i>Wild Weasels </i>and rightfully so because of the nature of their jobs, using a barely-viable airplane over North Vietnam and doing that job until more capable systems could come on line. Those "Hun" drivers and GIBs earned every single accolade they were given, but don't sell the guys short who were moving the mud in South Vietnam. Theirs wasn't easy work, and it wasn't any safer, just highly dangerous in a different way. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then there was the ground echelon, the unsung heros who kept the Air Force combat capable throughout the war, often in less than optimal circumstances. Talk to one of those guys now and they'll tell you they were just doing their job and, in so many ways, that's exactly what they <i>were</i> doing, but there was always more to it than that. At the end of the day it was a team, which we so often fail to remember when we build our model airplanes.</div><div><br /></div><div>This started out as a regular blog with a small F-100D feature article, but things very quickly got out of hand as Doug and I began bouncing ideas off each other and suggesting ways to improve the piece. In short time it assumed the stature of a stand-alone work, almost but not quite a monograph, and morphed into what you see here. We enjoyed doing it and sincerely hope that you enjoyed it as well. Comments, corrections, or additional photography can be addressed in the usual way to replicainscaleatyahoodotcom . </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Happy Snaps</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Yes indeedy, but we're going to do things a little bit differently this time around and show you one of our photographers being photographed:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eD9dbPxThX0/X3PmSJ_zgkI/AAAAAAAAKH0/MU1E0ZXAcDMo3mpMsFWt57y7ZN0nvP0awCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Doug%2BBarbier.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1172" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eD9dbPxThX0/X3PmSJ_zgkI/AAAAAAAAKH0/MU1E0ZXAcDMo3mpMsFWt57y7ZN0nvP0awCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Doug%2BBarbier.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div>Doug Barbier has been a friend for a very long time and is an excellent photographer as well as a noted author and modeler. He's also a retired Air Force and Air National Guard fighter pilot and was photographed flying this F-16 during the time he was with the Michigan ANG, an unusual event for him because he was normally the guy taking the pictures of someone else! It's only fair that you see what he looks like since he was a significant contributor to this special edition of the blog, as well as the sole author of its "let's be more specific" and weapons sections and, perhaps most importantly, as Chief Fact Checker and Sanity Officer. Many thanks to Doug, and we hope you enjoy this issue of the blog as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you.</div><div><br /></div><div>Stay safe and be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Lest we forget...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sieWZBLvUYI/X3PpiFJGWbI/AAAAAAAAKIA/-c8OizxKaZQTQHY71iHnePzvBivlnw-qgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Dave%2BMenard%253B%2Bmentor%252C%2BF-100%2Bauthority%2Band%2Bfriend.%2BRest%2Bin%2BPeace%252C%2BDave..jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1631" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sieWZBLvUYI/X3PpiFJGWbI/AAAAAAAAKIA/-c8OizxKaZQTQHY71iHnePzvBivlnw-qgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Dave%2BMenard%253B%2Bmentor%252C%2BF-100%2Bauthority%2Band%2Bfriend.%2BRest%2Bin%2BPeace%252C%2BDave..jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-89489812662118425052020-09-02T14:56:00.005-05:002020-09-03T13:59:03.975-05:00Another Forty-Niner, The Way It Was. Doing Her Part, Thunderstorm Redux, Current and Controversial, and A Couple of Scooters<p> </p><p><b>Oh, What to Do</b></p><p>There's a thing that's been going around for several years now, a trend if you will, that makes me wonder a little bit about the hobby. It's supported by commerce and the modeling press (which is, after all, ultimately commerce in and of itself unless it's a blog like this one), that not only supports but heavily promulgates the world of How to Do It which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The problem is what happens when said trend becomes what some folks call a "norm". Move that concept into our hobby, and most specifically into the realm of our hobby that's occupied by folks who have only recently discovered the wonders of polystyrene, and sooner or later you create the world of How to Do It. That's where things get a little strange and where I begin to get puzzled by them. </p><p>Let's start this off with a premise regarding what's what and who's who. There have been how-to-do-it articles in modeling magazines for as long as there's been periodicals devoted to the topic. They come with the territory, they're expected, and they're often useful. We used to see the occasional book as well, Chris Ellis' seminal <u>How to Go Plastic Modelling</u> and the follow-up <u>How to Go Advanced Plastic Modelling</u> come to mind in that regard, as do the series of how-to books published by Almark way back when, and by Kalmbach during a slightly later time period. People bought them and learned from them; I did too, but then I learned that there was a far more viable education to be gained by asking questions of the guys in my club who were better at the hobby than I was. Let's call that Perspective.</p><p>Nowadays we're flooded with articles and videos telling us what to do when we build our models, or how good or bad something is. There are books covering the broad spectrum of modeling in general, books devoted to some particular aspect of the hobby, and books covering one kit by a single manufacturer and how to build and paint it. There are YouTube videos and web sites that feature videos of one sort or another, and all of those things are just the beginning!</p><p>In the old days we had kit reviews. Some were good and some were bad but many of them were valuable indeed because they provided the insight a lot of us didn't have because nobody can know everything, right? They also proved to be invaluable to the new guy or gal because they aided in kit selection. They were basic in the beginning, but then things began to change and nowadays they often include paragraphs of potted history of the airplane or ship or whatever, coupled with a review of the actual kit that tells us how many pieces are in the kit (spoiler alert---I don't care!), what color the plastic is (I really really super don't care!), and how sturdy the box or carton the model comes in might be---I sortof care about that one, but not very much unless the model is going to get to me via parcel post from a faraway county but otherwise---I don't care. What I <i>do</i> care about, and I'll bet a whole bunch of you do as well, is how accurate the kit is, how well-detailed, and how many if any optional parts are in it. Anything else is gravy and, quite frankly, some of that is gravy I don't want on my mashed potatoes at all, thank you very much!</p><p>Then there are the reviews/articles/books providing a blow-by-blow of How I Built It by whoever it was who did that. That's a topic that often provides considerable insight into how a particular kit might build up and it can be extremely useful when authored by a competent modeler, but it's also stuff I can usually figure out for myself without paying fifteen or twenty bucks for the privilege. </p><p>It used to be that reviews, of both the in-box and How I Built It variety, were the norm in our hobby, but of late folks have begun producing "unboxing" articles and videos as well. It's entirely possible, and perhaps even probable, that most folks enjoy such things and maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon about the whole deal, but I have to wonder about it because suddenly we're back to how many sprues hold the kit's parts and how many parts there are, what color the plastic is, if there's any resin or photo-etch in the box, how the decals look, and if the instructions are any good, all filtered through a largish dollop of opinion regarding how a kit that is yet to be built might or might not build up. Huh?</p><p>Anyway, there actually is a point to to be gleaned from all this: Reviews and how-to-do-its can be useful if they tell you what you need to know about the kit, but they can be bad if they don't. Take the KittyHawk RF-101C as an example of that, an over-complicated model airplane with a gomed-up nose that misses the mark accuracy-wise. Those things are all that I personally needed to know to make a decision to pass that one by. None of the other stuff mattered one bit in my own personal quest for an accurate long-nose <i>Voodoo</i> because the pain incurred just wouldn't be worth the gain to me.</p><p>With all of that said, I think it can safely be stated that none of the things mentioned in the paragraphs immediately preceeding this one actually matter one bit because none of those formats are going to go away anytime soon. That takes us to the heart of the matter, which is as follows: I have a modeling budget that I try to live within and I'd rather spend the available funds on the things that actually matter to me on a personal level. Those things are basic accuracy and acceptable detail in the kits I buy, while the books I purchase these days are limited to serious histories and accurate monographs and not much else. Couple that with the fact that all reviewers are most assuredly not created equal and you begin to get the idea. The meat is essential, the gravy not so much.</p><p>My story, and so on and so forth...</p><p><b>Sometimes We Forget</b></p><p>But the guys who were there never could. Don't believe me? Well, then; consider this:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2hb5tG-WiQc/X0aPhN2p3UI/AAAAAAAAKBY/VfQRQHRmUpECxNLZnoRciy6ypcqXM5M0QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1188/01%2BA%2B%2B2%2B%2B%2B%2B2lt%2BLawrence%2BN%2BSuccop%2B7th_FS%2B49th%2BFG%2BP-40%2BScatterBrain%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1188" data-original-width="1000" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2hb5tG-WiQc/X0aPhN2p3UI/AAAAAAAAKBY/VfQRQHRmUpECxNLZnoRciy6ypcqXM5M0QCLcBGAsYHQ/w276-h328/01%2BA%2B%2B2%2B%2B%2B%2B2lt%2BLawrence%2BN%2BSuccop%2B7th_FS%2B49th%2BFG%2BP-40%2BScatterBrain%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="276" /></a></div>That determined-looking young aviator standing in front of "Scatter Brain", a P-40E from the 7th FS/49th FG, is Lawrence Succop. He was a 2nd Lieutenant when this photograph was taken, which means he's not an old man but rather not all that far removed from being a kid in his early 20s. With that as a baseline, take a look at his face, because it's not at all that of a young man. The war in the Southwest Pacific took Youth from him and gave him memories, both good and bad, that would stay with him til the end of his days. That wasn't a fate that was exclusively his either, but rather one that was given, unwanted, to untold others as well. Those were hard days and it was a hard life, but they did what was necessary and we owe them big-time. Rocker Collection<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlMcb_8vaFA/X0aSnOpcTWI/AAAAAAAAKBk/pMi49Wn7rBUo7r3kysYA63XkDMICTA91gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1070/P-40E%2B7th%2BFS%2B49th%2BFG%252C%2BLawrence%2BSuccop%2BRocker%2BCollection.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="1070" height="222" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlMcb_8vaFA/X0aSnOpcTWI/AAAAAAAAKBk/pMi49Wn7rBUo7r3kysYA63XkDMICTA91gCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h222/P-40E%2B7th%2BFS%2B49th%2BFG%252C%2BLawrence%2BSuccop%2BRocker%2BCollection.jpg" width="328" /></a></div>Here's an overall view of "Scatterbrain" allegedly being readied for yet another mission; we say allegedly because the airplane is sitting out in the open, in the sun and therefore in the heat, with an armed guard standing ten feet from the airplane, while it's being swarmed over by ground crewmen performing unrelated tasks. Those <i>Kelly</i> helmets are of interest though, and were typical of the early days in the SWPAC. Rocker Collection<div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Bobby Rocker for sharing these photos with us.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>A Time Machine</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Every once in a while we receive a photo that speaks to us of an earlier time. This one, from the collection of Mark Aldrich, is one such image:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tUi52836Y6c/X042D4ba6VI/AAAAAAAAKCg/fQLuVpznR7AgvYtw922ph7uH4yjfwkZJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1898/B-29%2BRamp%252C%2Bearly%2B50s%252C%2BSean%2BHart%2Bvia%2BMark%2BAldrich%2BCollection%252C%2BRIS%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1459" data-original-width="1898" height="252" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tUi52836Y6c/X042D4ba6VI/AAAAAAAAKCg/fQLuVpznR7AgvYtw922ph7uH4yjfwkZJgCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h252/B-29%2BRamp%252C%2Bearly%2B50s%252C%2BSean%2BHart%2Bvia%2BMark%2BAldrich%2BCollection%252C%2BRIS%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div>While there's a lot we don't know about this particular photo, we can tell you it's a B-29A from the 98th BG, quite possibly from the 343rd BS although we aren't entirely certain of that, and the airplane is most likely sitting on the ramp at Yokota AB in Japan in 1951 or 52. The nose art is interesting; for those of you who have never spent time in Japan "Chotto Matte" loosely translates as "Just a Minute". This is a wonderful period photo no matter how you cut it, an evocative image from the past. Sean Hart via Mark Aldrich Collection<br /><div><br /></div><div><b>Everybody Helped</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The Second World War was a massive event that eventually encompassed every aspect of life in the countries that fought it. Most of the time we think of the guys at the sharp end of things when we think of that conflict, but wartime service was a universal thing in so many ways back then. The American entertainment industry was heavily involved in boosting the morale of those in uniform during those years; here's an example:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U3OCHfGiUto/X0ztPylAFfI/AAAAAAAAKB8/pkjTWeZxOewm1VIRbBWgybs629b7X9SIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Martha%2BTilton%2BBy%2BP-38J%2B%2523208%2Bsn%2B44-23328%2B12th%2BFS%2B1944%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1418" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U3OCHfGiUto/X0ztPylAFfI/AAAAAAAAKB8/pkjTWeZxOewm1VIRbBWgybs629b7X9SIgCLcBGAsYHQ/w226-h328/Martha%2BTilton%2BBy%2BP-38J%2B%2523208%2Bsn%2B44-23328%2B12th%2BFS%2B1944%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>Martha Tilton was a popular entertainer of the day with a number of hit records to her credit and, during 1939, was also the lead female singer for Benny Goodman's band. Her "I'll Walk Alone" charted at Number 4 during 1944 and she was a movie star too, but in the middle of it all she made the time to go to the Pacific with the USO. In this photo she's in-theater, standing in front of a 12th FS P-38J (44-23328) and looking good for the photographer from <i>Stars and Stripes</i>. She had a long and successful career before passing away in 2006 and we think that she, and all of those like her, could qualify for the title "Unsung Hero". We know she's certainly one of ours. Rocker Collecton<div><br /></div><div>And here, thanks to the good folks at YouTube, is that 1944 recording of "I'll Walk Alone". It's worth listening to and imagining how much songs such as this one must have meant to those so very far away.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs57pRpBjsg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs57pRpBjsg</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Thanks as always to Bobby Rocker for tracking down and sharing this photograph with us and to YouTube for making so much of our past available to us with the click of a mouse. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Filling in the Spaces</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Last issue Mark Nankivil shared a couple of images of "Operation Thunderstorm" P-61s with us. Today we're going to take a look at a photo of another Northrop product assigned the that project, the F-15 <i>Reporter</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FGWZRyU595U/X02FHq8GogI/AAAAAAAAKCI/f2VxScf66Xs8JMfiEJ-qXIzDXI28tbGSgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-15A%2Blikely%2B45-59318%2BOperation%2BThunderstorm%2BClinton%2BCounty%2BAAFB%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1487" data-original-width="2048" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FGWZRyU595U/X02FHq8GogI/AAAAAAAAKCI/f2VxScf66Xs8JMfiEJ-qXIzDXI28tbGSgCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h238/F-15A%2Blikely%2B45-59318%2BOperation%2BThunderstorm%2BClinton%2BCounty%2BAAFB%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div>"Operation Thunderstorm" operated a variety of aircraft during the relatively short time of its existence. Here we have one of the less commonly-known birds they operated; F-15A 45-59318 (probably!). The photo was taken at Clinton County AAFB, although we don't know the date. What we <i>do</i> know is how badly those airplanes got knocked around in the severe weather they were investigating---take a look at the nose cap on that <i>Reporter</i> if you don't believe us! Wind, hail, torrential rain, lightning and worse; those guys flew in all of it for their job, which ultimately proved to be of benefit to everyone who flies. They were quite an outfit! Nankivil Collection<br /><div><br /><div><b>It's Raising Quite a Ruckus</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>"It", in this instance, being the sortof brand new Meng Fokker Dr.1. It's a kit with a past, you see, and a kit with a heritage. It's also a kit with some perceived issues.</div><div><br /></div><div>Those of us who model the aircraft of the Great War were pretty excited when Wingnut Wings announced they'd be doing a Fokker Triplane a couple of years ago. There was already a kit of the type in Wingnut's chosen 1/32nd scale, of course, although the existing Roden model had acquired a bad rap for being fussy the day it was released (spoiler Alert: That Roden kit is a perfectly viable replica of the Triplane and is consumately buildable, although some modeling skills are required). but a new offering to WNW standards---wow! It made a whole bunch of folks stand up and holler MERCY!</div><div><br /></div><div>There was the usual adulation of the just-announced Annointed One from the usual sources, and the usual folks began their usual critique of something that didn't exist yet, but it was still a joyous moment for a lot of us. It was great, it was wonderful, and we were all elated! We had a new, state-of-the-art Fokker Triplane on the way from WNW! Life was wonderful! What could possibly go wrong?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, for starters in that What Could Go Wrong department, Wingnut could've folded the tent and gone out of business, which is exactly what they did. Dark clouds began to form on a great many horizons that day because The King was dead and so was our tripe! Then, out of the blue of the Far Eastern sky came salvation! Meng, a company already known for producing some pretty nice kits of various subjects, had apparently been under contract to produce that Dr.1 kit for Wingnut Wings all along and was in possession of the tooling! They were going to release it, under their own name, and plastic modeling as we know it would be saved! Let joy reign unconfirmed, as Yogi Berra once said! </div><div><br /></div><div>So we got the kit, and there seems to be little doubt it started life as a Wingnut offering. It's a very nice kit, all in all, but it's honestly not quite up to the standard we have come to expect from the boys Down Under.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mzGWGkwU7-A/X05Ek4MacKI/AAAAAAAAKCs/eRKv6uZft-AzLyHQ8owNfMbJdON0Z_RtACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Meng%2BFokker%2BDr.1%252C%2B1-32nd%2BScale%252C%2BP%2BFriddell.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1861" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mzGWGkwU7-A/X05Ek4MacKI/AAAAAAAAKCs/eRKv6uZft-AzLyHQ8owNfMbJdON0Z_RtACLcBGAsYHQ/w298-h328/Meng%2BFokker%2BDr.1%252C%2B1-32nd%2BScale%252C%2BP%2BFriddell.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>So here's what we've got, and here's where I personally am with mine, along with a couple of comments. First off, and in keeping with some remarks recently made on this very blog by myself, here's a review of the kit: It's made out of polystyrene with a small fret of photo etch thrown in, it's rather obviously of WNW parentage, it doesn't have all that many parts in it but you can build either an F.1 or a Dr.1 from what comes in the box, the instructions are marginal at best, and the decals are perfectly usable but not even clost to being up to Wingnut Wings standards. Oh, and it <i>looks</i> like a Dr.1 so I'm taking a giant leap of faith and presuming it's reasonably accurate and pretty much to scale.</div><div><br /></div><div>On a more practical note and perhaps the point to be taken, this is <i>not</i> a Wingnut Wings model; it's a model made from tooling that originated with WNW. That means the superb quality control we're so used to seeing with those kits from New Zealand is missing from this project. Mostly that results in flash in unwanted places such as the already paper-thin trailing edges of the scalloped ailerons, and in fit that's a little off in places <i>by</i> <i>Wingnut Wings standards</i>. Does that mean it's a bad kit? No it doesn't, or at least it doesn't in my world. The worst things about it, to my mind anyway, are the decals and the instructions, neither of which are even close to the standards set by Wingnut. The actual kit is a little bit of a disappointment when compared to its predecessors but by any other standard it's honestly not that bad, and you can build any Fokker Dr.1 or F.1, excepting the few that were modified with captured Allied engines and props, from what's in the box---we mention that because we'd almost guarantee that even the fabled WNW would have done two separate boxings to accomodate the variants. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's my own personal bottom line, then. I think it's a pretty good kit and I'm glad to have it. It's not the quantum leap ahead that it would have been if Wingnut had survived and produced it because their almost legendary QC would have ensured there would have been no flash and that the tooling would have been 100% finished before production articles were sold from it. The instructions are a terrible disappointment; they'll get you to an assembled model but you'll need references of your own to do it correctly, and the decals are place-holders and not much more than that. Other than those things, it's a good kit. It's just not a "real" Wingnut Wings kit and it's probably not right to judge it as one regardless of where the tooling came from. Things could be worse!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>A Tinker Toy or Two</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Certain airplanes are favorites around here, and almost any A-4 <i>Skyhawk </i>falls under that non-too-exclusive umbrella. Here are a couple of photos of them to end our day with.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ljc8ocCy1t8/X0_qmlzvbUI/AAAAAAAAKDA/q_CobhKrhy8eMv0mJ80ITHiutCFX4FHHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/TA-4F%2B154311%2BVX-5%2Bat%2BKelly%2B15%2BMay%2B87%2BJohn%2BParchman%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1357" data-original-width="2048" height="217" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ljc8ocCy1t8/X0_qmlzvbUI/AAAAAAAAKDA/q_CobhKrhy8eMv0mJ80ITHiutCFX4FHHQCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h217/TA-4F%2B154311%2BVX-5%2Bat%2BKelly%2B15%2BMay%2B87%2BJohn%2BParchman%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div>Here's the Family Edition of the A-4 Clan, a TA-4F (154311) from VX-5 photographed by John Parchman during a cross-country layover at Kelly on 15 May, 1987. The F-models were relative hot rods when compared to their TA-4J older cousins thanks to an uprated engine and often showed up in the NAV's specialized squadrons in consequence. The red star on her vertical stab is very obviously in full color but in all other respects she's a TPS bird; we're normally not big fans of that finish on the A-4 but it looks pretty good here. Note her crazy-quilt appearance where she's been repaired or had paint touch-ups---TPS is effective as a camouflage system but it's one that's difficult to keep presentable for any length of time. John Parchman<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_YgXDTy_73M/X0_sQnc86dI/AAAAAAAAKDM/mZrBUhRLKy0NghnjMrRljlHUcTDCOK0wACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-4C%2B148458%2BVMA-133%2BJul%2B74%2BFriddell%2BCollection%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="2048" height="203" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_YgXDTy_73M/X0_sQnc86dI/AAAAAAAAKDM/mZrBUhRLKy0NghnjMrRljlHUcTDCOK0wACLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h203/A-4C%2B148458%2BVMA-133%2BJul%2B74%2BFriddell%2BCollection%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div>Here's a "Scooter" of the classic variety; an A-4C, 148458, of Marine Attack Squadron 133 photographed in July of 1974 when there were still a few Charlies hanging around. She's wearing the classic "Easter Egg" scheme of Light Gull Grey over White and is configured for a long cross country with three gas bags hung underneath. She's still carrying her 20mm armament and is decidedly shop-worn (check out the Insignia Red areas beneath her leading edge slats), providing us with a fine example of a C-model in service. Friddell Collection</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jv264BvF8GE/X0_toC3YywI/AAAAAAAAKDY/JkVKM8WVgHIJamQNDLXMF-PpLTQ65tzygCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-4M%252C%2B160263%252C%2BVMA-223%2Bat%2BNAS%2BCorpus%2BChristi%2B14%2BApr%2B84%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="2048" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jv264BvF8GE/X0_toC3YywI/AAAAAAAAKDY/JkVKM8WVgHIJamQNDLXMF-PpLTQ65tzygCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h218/A-4M%252C%2B160263%252C%2BVMA-223%2Bat%2BNAS%2BCorpus%2BChristi%2B14%2BApr%2B84%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div>Finally, here's the last variant of the A-4 line, at least as far as American <i>Skyhawks</i> are concerned. 160263 was an A-4M assigned to VMA-223 when we photographed her at NAS Corpus Christi on 14 April, 1984, and was looking good in her relatively-new TPS paint job. The Mike was perhaps the most purposeful appearing of all the "Scooters" and certainly the most capable of the tribe but we honestly prefer the earlier variants. Your mileage, however, may well vary on that one! Phillip Friddell<div><br /></div><div><b>Happy Snaps</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Let's take a slightly different approach to today's <i>Happy Snap </i>and show you a couple of Warbirds, as opposed to our more normal active military types.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yly2JD6hhrI/X0_vM8oiF0I/AAAAAAAAKDk/WF_NSAjneT8mdOVm8buzB7Lf8sl4FsbegCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F6F-5%2B79683%2BF8F-1%2B90454%2BHickory%252C%2BNC%2B%2BMay%2B1995%2B%25232%2B%2528JS%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1675" data-original-width="2048" height="267" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yly2JD6hhrI/X0_vM8oiF0I/AAAAAAAAKDk/WF_NSAjneT8mdOVm8buzB7Lf8sl4FsbegCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h267/F6F-5%2B79683%2BF8F-1%2B90454%2BHickory%252C%2BNC%2B%2BMay%2B1995%2B%25232%2B%2528JS%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div>Here you are; a restored F8F-1 <i>Bearcat </i>(BuNo 90454) formating on an F6F-5 <i>Hellcat</i> BuNo 79683) as photographed by Jim Sullivan over Hickory, North Carolina, during May of 1995. Successful air-to-air photography isn't an easy thing to accomplish and Jim had this one nailed! Thanks very much for sharing it with us, Jim!<div><br /></div><div>And that's it for today. All we have left is one lonely little minute, as Bob Hite of <i>Canned Heat </i>once said, so stay safe and be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil<br /><div><div><br /><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-47369173036036571972020-08-24T14:35:00.016-05:002020-08-26T10:27:14.902-05:00Here's How You Do It, Bad to the Bone, Operation Thunderstorm, And Some Fruitflies<p> </p><p><b>Dazzled By Brilliance?</b></p><p>We got our Triplane. The folks at Meng, who may or may not have produced other kits for Wingnut Wings, may or may not own some or all of the tooling, may or may not be faithful to the WNW's Dream and may or may not produce other kits of Great War airplanes in 1/32nd scale, have released this much anticipated kit of kits to the masses. See-What's-in-the-Box reviews have been hitting the electronic modeling press for a while now and there should be any number of How I Built It reviews out there by now as well. The kit is real, and it's available for purchase at this very minute. You can have your own if you want one, which brings to mind a couple of thoughts.</p><p>First, one of those kits found its way out here to the wilds of rural Texas and is sitting by the work bench at this very moment. I've been able to examine it fairly closely, although I have to admit I haven't measured anything and probably won't. (That sort of thing can get you into trouble sometimes; just ask the highly respected folks who reviewed the initial release of the Eduard Me109-G family and claimed it to be dimensionally spot-on when it really wasn't if you don't believe me!) No measurement equals no claims from me of dimensional accuracy, period, but in all honesty everything looks pretty good and the kit's fidelity to detail is excellent. Not breathtaking, not ground-breaking, and not the best ever seen in the entire history of plastic model airplanes, but definitely excellent. </p><p>Not that it's a perfect kit by any means. So far it's been criticized for having a little bit of flash here and there and a set, because there are three of them after all, of slightly bowed wings that will require straightening prior to assembly. (That's<i> all</i>, he said?! Those are the only issues the kit has? Why tell me why are you complaining!) On the other hand, the complaints we've heard regarding the instructions are valid so you'll be wanting some decent reference materials at hand before starting the interior, if nothing else. The decals might or might not be ok but the "face" provided for Werner Voss' F.1 Triplane is incorrect and we don't much care for the instrument faces provided; Cartograf quality those decals ain't but they'll be mostly adequate for a lot of folks and can easily be replaced if that's desired. </p><p>On the other hand, the kit provides a choice of ailerons, cowlings, and windscreens so you can build either an F.1, an early production Tripe, or a later one, out of what's already in the box. You actually have a choice because all the possible variants are catered for in that one kit, while most manufacturers (a grouping that could easily have included WNW themselves) would have released them as separate variants in order to increase their revenue stream. The kit decals make an attempt at covering the bases too. It's a great approach and we applaud it---way to go, Meng! Of course the kit doesn't include the option to up-engine the airplane with a captured Clerget rotary and maybe an English prop too, a practice that was followed on a limited basis by certain individual pilots within the Imperial Air Service, but there are aftermarket Clergets and propellers are available if you just can't live without doing that, and we think it would be going way too far to expect any kit manufacturer to cover that particular base anyway. </p><p>So now we know it's a good kit and we think it's probably an accurate one as well, and as nicely detailed as we would expect from the boys from New Zealand. The instructions aren't as good as those that came in any Wingnut offering and the decals are barely adequate but hey; Meng tried, and they did a pretty darned good job of it too! They also released a kit that a great many of us wanted but thought we'd never see after the demise, maybe, of Wingnut Wings. (Let the rumor-mongering continue because it's already begun!)</p><p>On the other hand there's another 1/32nd scale Fokker Triplane kit out there as well, and it ain't half-bad. Yes, I'm talking about Roden's offering and yes, I actually meant to commit the heresy of saying it's a good kit, because it is. It's not as detailed as the new Meng kit, but once we get past the "valley" they put in the middle of the horizontal stab because they faithfully followed a set of drawings that erroneously included that particular non-existent feature, it's very nearly as good. Just remember that it's an older model and its not as well detailed as any WNW offering and therefore not as good as the new Meng Tripe either, but it's still a good kit and perfectly viable when married to a little aftermarket and some modest skill. </p><p>Why do we mention the Roden kit at all, you may ask. The answer to that one is simple: There's a whole world of 1/32nd scale kits out there that Wingnut Wings had nothing whatsoever to do with and most of them are pretty darned good. Roden, for example, produce a number of very nice kits that do, admittedly, require a slightly higher skill level of the modeler than do the offerings from WNW, but the boys over at Copper State are issuing kits that are every bit as good as anything the folks down in the Southern Hemisphere ever produced and their instruction sheets and decals are top-notch as well. There are options to Wingnut Wings, albeit options that aren't nearly as prolific subject-wise, at least for the time being, but the point to be taken is that options are there if you want to explore them. </p><p>That particular Adventure in Tangents aside, here's what I think we might learn from this adventure. First; nothing lasts forever, which means we might all want to try to obtain the kits we want to build while they're actually available at non-collector prices. Secondly; any kit that gets itself linked to anything WNW did will invariably be compared to that manufacturer, and perhaps/probably not entirely favorably. Finally, there are other manufactuers of large-scale Great War airplanes out there. There aren't many of them and their product lines are limited when we compare them with Wingnut, but they're there. </p><p>My own personal Bottom Line is this: I have the Meng kit and will build it in the very near future, but I'm also going to build my Roden Tripe because it's a good kit as well, maybe not quite as good as that new Meng offering but good nonetheless, and I'm capable of making up for any perceived kit shortfalls if I choose to do that. Most serious scale modelers are capable of that sort of thing as well, while those who aren't will eventually acquire the necessary skills as they progress on their journey through the world of plastic scale airplanes. It's always helpful to start out with the best kit we can obtain but after it's all said and done it's the modeler, and his or her abilities and skills, that make the difference. The plastic is a starting place that we should probably call Opportunity because it all comes down to what we make of it at the end of the day. You might say it's all in our hands.</p><p>My story, <i>etc etc</i>...</p><p><b>A Fine Example of What We Just Said</b></p><p>Remember back about thirty seconds or so ago when we mentioned that it's mostly the modeler and not the kit? Here's a fine example of that sort of thing courtesy of Jim Sullivan, an AD-4Whiskey from VMC-1:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IXGfITUsECE/X0PoV9NjWzI/AAAAAAAAJ_Y/1vRZHi7kt0kyhrlADGZY__7qcUFCxn33ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2033/Esci-AMT%2BAD-4W%252C%2B1-48th%2BScale%252C%2BJim%2BSullivan%2BRIS.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="2033" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IXGfITUsECE/X0PoV9NjWzI/AAAAAAAAJ_Y/1vRZHi7kt0kyhrlADGZY__7qcUFCxn33ACLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h150/Esci-AMT%2BAD-4W%252C%2B1-48th%2BScale%252C%2BJim%2BSullivan%2BRIS.JPG" width="328" /></a></div><p>Those of our readership who have achieved a cerain seniority on Life may well recall the 1/48th scale polystyrene efforts of ESCI back in the 1980s and 90s. They offered the serious modeler a line of much needed and in many cases somewhat unique kit subjects, several of which were what we'll term "modestly flawed" and none of which could have been in any way described as an easy date. They weren't, and still aren't, a good choice for those with lesser skills but they can really be something for the modeler with a little bit of experience.</p><p>This particular variant of the Douglas AD <i>Skyraider</i> has never been produced by any other manufacturer, at least not in 1/48th, which means you're going to be using an ESCI kit (or its AMT sibling---it's all the same plastic no matter how you cut it) if you want to build one for your collection. Jim Sullivan wanted one and he had the AMT kit on hand, a collaboration which produced the results you see before you.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0sGZaXm48og/X0Pqok9cNaI/AAAAAAAAJ_k/DTUz379b56gqJM5-9Q_aP-Ezsb32Of5cACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/AD-4W%2B126840%2BVMC-1%2BRM-24%2BKorea%2B%2B15MAY53%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1182" data-original-width="2048" height="189" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0sGZaXm48og/X0Pqok9cNaI/AAAAAAAAJ_k/DTUz379b56gqJM5-9Q_aP-Ezsb32Of5cACLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h189/AD-4W%2B126840%2BVMC-1%2BRM-24%2BKorea%2B%2B15MAY53%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>Here's The Real Thing; AD-4W BuNo126840 from VMC-1 taken in Korea on 15 May, 1953. That airplane hasn't been abused but it isn't exactly brand new and shiny either, and Jim's model captures the spirit of the thing pretty well, we think. Sullivan Collection<br /></p><p>And that, friends and neighbors, takes us to an old Rolling Stones tune, <i>It's the Singer, Not the Song </i>(<i>Aftermath</i>, December 1965). The kit isn't particularly easy but Jim has the skills and the need for a -4W in his collection, which leads to this sort of thing. 'Nuff said...</p><p><b>The Clock Was Ticking</b></p><p>But there was still plenty of time left on it when this photo was taken back in late 1966 or early 1967, and that particular <i>Phantom</i> was actively participating in the war in Southeast Asia.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xBKkUbxGO0M/X0RKzj5F_QI/AAAAAAAAKBM/mGOa6fWlj282hUVNW69l2fwuneDTrU2NgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/F-4C%2B63-7590%252C%2B%2B480th%2BTFS%2B366th%2BTFW%2BRVN%2Bshot%2Bdown%2B07%2BJan%2B69%2Bwith%2Bthe%2B12th%2BTFW%252C%2BDenny%2BSmith%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1353" data-original-width="2048" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xBKkUbxGO0M/X0RKzj5F_QI/AAAAAAAAKBM/mGOa6fWlj282hUVNW69l2fwuneDTrU2NgCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h216/F-4C%2B63-7590%252C%2B%2B480th%2BTFS%2B366th%2BTFW%2BRVN%2Bshot%2Bdown%2B07%2BJan%2B69%2Bwith%2Bthe%2B12th%2BTFW%252C%2BDenny%2BSmith%2Bvia%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>Denny Smith was a C-130 driver who spent some time in-theater during the mid-60s, which is when he photographed 63-7590, an F-4C of the 480th TFS/366th TFW taxiing in from a strike on the Bad Guys. Friend and former F-4 driver Doug Barbier had this to say about the photo: <i>That one really is a time machine, taxiing back in after a mission and after dropping the drag chute and going through de-arm. The paint and markings of those early "paint it in a hurry from this drawing, don't bother to prime it, use whatever we have on hand and make sure it's back on the schedule tomorrow morning" jets will drive you nuts. The T.O.s to paint them didn't show up until a long time after the fact and I have more than a suspicion that they were simply written to match what was commonly done in the field. Look at that early stab with no reenforcement plate and non-slotted leading edge too! Aftermarket, anyone?</i></p><p><i> </i>Unfortunately, the clock really was ticking on 7590; she was shot down two years later while flying with the 12th TFW. Both crew ejected safely, but it was a fate suffered by far too many airplanes during the conflict. Denny Smith</p><p><b>The Right</b><b> Airplane for the Job</b></p><p>Northrop's legendary P-61 <i>Black Widow </i>was one of those airplanes that made a career out of its mystique, size, and utility. It was big and it wasn't particularly fast or maneuverable, but that size meant it could carry significant armament and the heavy and bulky airborne radar of its day, which in turn meant it was well suited for use in its primary role as a night fighter. By the end of the Second World War its viability in that role was beginning to wane somewhat, although it remained in service with the 5th Air Force until 1950, but that's not what we're interested in today. It's size and soundness of structure made it a useful platform for other missions as well, and we'd like to show you a couple of photos of the airplane in one of its more significant, if less well-known, roles, that of weather ship. The mission was a direct result of a 1945 collaboration between the NACA, the Weather Bureau, the Army Air Forces, and the Navy. Headquartered out of the AAF's All Weather Flying Center in Clinton, Ohio, the type was tasked with flying through thunderstorms in an effort to gain meaningful knowledge that would relate to operating in all weathers.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oWC35ueCB3E/X0P4w-lGzeI/AAAAAAAAJ_w/zR7VPv1NnnI5_qfm1jYEzqHuFLaoFSHqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/43-8298%2BP-61B-20-NO%2BProject%2BThunderstorm%2BAll%2BWeather%2BFlying%2BCenter%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1186" data-original-width="2048" height="190" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oWC35ueCB3E/X0P4w-lGzeI/AAAAAAAAJ_w/zR7VPv1NnnI5_qfm1jYEzqHuFLaoFSHqQCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h190/43-8298%2BP-61B-20-NO%2BProject%2BThunderstorm%2BAll%2BWeather%2BFlying%2BCenter%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>The weather has always been a challenge for the aviation world to overcome, and the immediate post-War years began to see serious study of the various phemomena and conditions that could cause a threat to the aviator. The Thunderstorm Project's aircraft included a variety of types, one of which was Northrop's P-61---the <i>Black Widow </i>had been specifically selected due to its proven ability to cope with bad weather and severe turbulence. 43-8298 was a P-61B-20-NO assigned to the program and carrying the All Weather Flying Center's colorful red and yellow markings. The P-61 was a tough bird but the aircraft assigned to the Center took a beating all the same. Mark Nankivil Collection</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VGatrHZ9u7A/X0P7Mi2HfAI/AAAAAAAAJ_8/Ued7VJmsoPM1IpEo2ihBqqMRpuF_m_SWACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/43-8327%2BP-61C-1-NO%2BOperation%2BThunderstorm%2BAll%2BWeather%2BFlying%2BCenter%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="2048" height="194" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VGatrHZ9u7A/X0P7Mi2HfAI/AAAAAAAAJ_8/Ued7VJmsoPM1IpEo2ihBqqMRpuF_m_SWACLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h194/43-8327%2BP-61C-1-NO%2BOperation%2BThunderstorm%2BAll%2BWeather%2BFlying%2BCenter%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>43-8327 was an early P-61C-1-NO and bore a variation of the markings found on 43-8298. At least nine <i>Black Widows</i> were active in the program from 1946 until 1949, and it seems that all of them differed somewhat in appearance as well; note the presentation of the serial number of 8327 under the port wing, for example. Instrumentation changed as well, and did so somewhat frequently as different aspects of the mission were addressed. Mark Nankivil Collection</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lnTgmFmJdbA/X0P8bFLTgfI/AAAAAAAAKAI/KPgYhtN_s-csn81vOEiJ7gLd7RVxDDZFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/43-8356%2BP-61C-1-NO%2BOperation%2BThunderstorm%2BAll%2BWeather%2BFlying%2BCenter%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="2048" height="170" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lnTgmFmJdbA/X0P8bFLTgfI/AAAAAAAAKAI/KPgYhtN_s-csn81vOEiJ7gLd7RVxDDZFwCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h170/43-8356%2BP-61C-1-NO%2BOperation%2BThunderstorm%2BAll%2BWeather%2BFlying%2BCenter%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>Finally, here's 43-8356, a different P-61C-1-NO, showing off yet another variation in markings. These airplanes suffered greatly while performing their mission, although no aircraft were lost during the course of the program. Mark Nankivil Collection</p><p>Those of us who fly, even if only as commercial passengers, owe the crews of these aircraft an enormous debt for the job they performed so many years ago. Their courage and fortitude vastly improved our understanding of both thunderstorms and aviation weather in general, and paved the way for safer flying for everyone. It was difficult and dangerous work, and the crews of those P-61s excelled at it. At the risk of over-using a saying we quote fairly often around here: Let's raise a glass...</p><p><b>Gone But Not Forgotten</b></p><p>The LTV A-7 <i>Corsair II</i> family of attack aircraft have to rank among the most successful of the designs dedicated to the air-to-ground mission in the United States armed services. A result of the 1963 VAL competition to provide the Navy with a replacement for the long-lived Douglas A-4 <i>Skyhawk</i>, the first operational variant, the A-7A, began to reach the Fleet by 1966. The program eventually saw the type in use with both the Navy and the Air Force, as well as with several foreign operators. Today we're going to take a brief look at one specific variant, the A-7E, in use during a brief window in time; four aircraft spanning the years 1981 and 82.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GJSpy8i2sJw/X0QBjN6DAAI/AAAAAAAAKAU/waecZ5W29h0W-AnWHi2Gieed_RkYwUZcwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-7E%2B157479%252C%2BVA-147%2Bat%2BNAS%2BChase%2B06%2BJun%2B81%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="2048" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GJSpy8i2sJw/X0QBjN6DAAI/AAAAAAAAKAU/waecZ5W29h0W-AnWHi2Gieed_RkYwUZcwCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h218/A-7E%2B157479%252C%2BVA-147%2Bat%2BNAS%2BChase%2B06%2BJun%2B81%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>Here's a fine place to start since VA-147 was the first Navy squadron to accept the A-7A into service, back in June of 1967, and was among the first to take it into combat. The squadron was active with the type during the Vietnam Conflict, and converted to the A-7E during 1969. This post-War Echo, 157479, was photographed on the ramp at NAS Chase Field on 06 June, 1981. Obviously well-used, 479 was the real thing, visiting a Tracom base after a recent cruise on the <i>USS Constellation</i>. Phillip Friddell</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0qtnsNi8rPc/X0QDH4j484I/AAAAAAAAKAg/mOv8sgqj100KxAcDJ86di1hqmiyO_pGzACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-7E%2B159273%252C%2BVA-193%2Bat%2BEllington%252C%2BGolden%2BDragon%252C%2B22%2BMay%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="219" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0qtnsNi8rPc/X0QDH4j484I/AAAAAAAAKAg/mOv8sgqj100KxAcDJ86di1hqmiyO_pGzACLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h219/A-7E%2B159273%252C%2BVA-193%2Bat%2BEllington%252C%2BGolden%2BDragon%252C%2B22%2BMay%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>May of 1981 saw a unique pair of "Fruitflies" from VA-193 on the ground at Ellington ANGB in Galveston. 159273 was nicknamed "Golden Dragon", a reference to 193's squadron nickname, and belonged to the unit's CO. She was a Clean Machine when I photographed her on the 22nd of May. Phillip Friddell</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m8k8C7z7ALI/X0QECm1e9dI/AAAAAAAAKAs/QsGPcQ2QiFcaiJaOyLxdeTFYekX88yQbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-7E%2BVA-193%2Bat%2BEllington%2B22%2BMay%2B82%252C%2BExecutive%2BDragon%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="219" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m8k8C7z7ALI/X0QECm1e9dI/AAAAAAAAKAs/QsGPcQ2QiFcaiJaOyLxdeTFYekX88yQbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h219/A-7E%2BVA-193%2Bat%2BEllington%2B22%2BMay%2B82%252C%2BExecutive%2BDragon%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>Also found at Ellington that day was the squadron XO's aircraft, nicknamed "Executive Dragon". The <i>Corsair II</i> was a pugnacious-appearing little airplane as is well demonstrated by this photo. Phillip Friddell</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oG5dPFaT-2I/X0QEwIYHOQI/AAAAAAAAKA0/nJqx3Tnqvr81DMjDuKe45hgOHbJ50uiGwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A-7E%2B156828%252C%2BVA-97%2Bat%2BNAS%2BChase%2B12%2BJun%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1362" data-original-width="2048" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oG5dPFaT-2I/X0QEwIYHOQI/AAAAAAAAKA0/nJqx3Tnqvr81DMjDuKe45hgOHbJ50uiGwCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h218/A-7E%2B156828%252C%2BVA-97%2Bat%2BNAS%2BChase%2B12%2BJun%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>Finally, we have 156828 from VA-97 sitting on the ground at NAS Corpus Christi on 12 June, 1982. All four of these aicraft, photographed barely two years apart, were still wearing the Navy's classic Light Gull Grey over White scheme which would give way to the new TPS paintwork shortly after these images were taken. They were still pretty at the turn of the 80s, though!</p><p>The <i>Corsair II </i>lasted until 1991 in Navy service, with the last operational aircraft being retired after their return from <i>Operation Desert Storm</i>. The Air Force variant lasted a little longer, serving in the ANG until 1993, while several foreign users continued with the type until Portugal's retirement of their A-7Ps in 2007. </p><p>From an operational standpoint the A-7 could carry an impressive load of ordnance for a considerable distance, but it suffered from low speed and limited ability to carry modern avionics. At the end of the day the airplane did its job and it did it well, but all things eventually must pass. It was quite a platform in its youth and it served well for over forty years, a testimony to its basic design. It was quite an airplane.</p><p><b>Happy Snaps</b></p><p>Yep; it's that time again! Here's an F/A-18A from the "Connie's" VFA-113 for your consideration today:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gIP0qEKL968/X0QLD7xB_fI/AAAAAAAAKBA/Gzz2N38-0A8FnnzVPclLO9IHu0bHcQ5agCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/FA-18A%2BVFA-113%2Bover%2Bthe%2BIndian%2BOcean%2B26%2BJul%2B85%252C%2BRick%2BMorgan%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="2048" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gIP0qEKL968/X0QLD7xB_fI/AAAAAAAAKBA/Gzz2N38-0A8FnnzVPclLO9IHu0bHcQ5agCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h218/FA-18A%2BVFA-113%2Bover%2Bthe%2BIndian%2BOcean%2B26%2BJul%2B85%252C%2BRick%2BMorgan%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><p>There are different reasons to like photographs of things. This image, taken by Rick Morgan over the Indian Ocean on 26 July, 1985, illustrates one of the more important ones. At first glance the image is a little frustrating since we can't make out the BuNo, nor can we really get a good look at the squadron markings on the vertical stab, but the composition---Lord-a-mighty; the composition! <i>This</i>, boys and girls, is how it's done! That's an A+++, Morgo, and thanks for sharing it with us! Rick Morgan</p><p><b>And So It's Time to Go</b></p><p>Yep; it's that time. There's no <i>Relief Tube</i> today because nobody corrected us about anything, even though we almost certainly made some mistakes in the last issue. We're always interested in hearing from you, of course, and we'd love to see your photography if you've got anything you'd like to share with us. Comments, photos, or just Hi How Ya Doin', you can reach us for any of those things at replicainscaleatyahoodotcom although, as we always try to remind folks: You need to substitute the @ sign and a dot (.) in the appropriate places if you want the address to work. It's a pain in the wazoo to have to explain that, and we can thank those unscrupulous Picture Pirates for having to deal with it, but it's the way things are. (I know; whine whine whine...)</p><p>Anyway, that's it for today. Be good to your neighbor, stay safe in this year of the Covid, and we'll meet again soon!</p><p>phil</p><p><br /></p><p><b><br /></b></p>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-22836738736411983342020-08-10T15:10:00.048-05:002020-08-12T13:29:41.937-05:00Not Really a Mystery, New Guinea Mitchells, A Havoc, Some Spiffy Decals, A Gift From Norm, and some DaNang Druts, <br /><div><div><br /></div><div><b>You Just Have to Try</b><br />
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Anyone who reads these pages on a regular basis knows the site is big on the 5th Air Force in the SWPAC during the Second World War. Our pages have been filled with Pacific B-17s, P-39s, P-40s, P-38s, A-20s, and on and on and on. It's an interest that gets a lot of attention around here. That interest bleeds over into the world of scale modeling as well with---you guessed it---lots of P-39s, P-40s, <i>etc</i> <i>etc</i>, being built.<br />
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One of our personal favorites in terms of modeling subjects is Bell's star-crossed P-39 <i>Airacobra</i>, a beautiful airplane to behold, albeit one cursed with relatively poor performance as employed in the SouthWest Pacific against the Japanese in the role of air-to-air combat aircraft and no; we aren't going to discuss the type's somewhat remarkable performance against Mr. Hitler's <i>Luftwaffe </i>on the Eastern Front or the fact that it held rough parity against the Japanese even during the Bad Old Days of the early war in the Pacific. Those are a whole different ball game and a first-class muddier of waters. We aren't, in point of fact, going to discuss the P-39/P-400's combat career at all, at least not today! What we <i>are</i> going to do is discuss one particular aspect of one particular kit and apply what we learn to our personal outlook and philosophy regarding the hobby. <br />
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Let's start with a statement of fact: There are presently three mainstream kits of the <i>Airacobra </i>in 1/48th scale. Monogram started the ball rolling during the late 1960s with a kit that is still viable, if somewhat crude by today's Whiz-Bang Look At That standards, followed by Eduard's excellent offering from the 1990s and, finally, the "ultimate" Hasegawa kit that was produced around the turn of the present century. That Hasegawa kit is generally conceded to be the best of the available offerings, P-39-wise, but I have a personal fondness for the older Eduard kit and the point of today's diatribe lies within the polystyrene hull of that offering so it's going to be the only kit we discuss today.<br />
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Here's the deal, Lucille: The Eduard kit is sufficiently accurate but with a couple of caveats:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Detail is said to be lacking by contemporary standards, which is largely true.</li>
<li>The wing and wing trailing edges are described as being too thick, which is also true.</li>
<li>The cockpit doors, which are molded separately from the fuselage, fit poorly and can't be installed in the closed position, which is absolutely positively false.</li>
<li>The canopy doesn't fit properly, which is also false.</li>
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The thing is, a completed Eduard P-39 <i>looks</i> like a P-39, with the proper sit and featuring the pretty but in-your-face appearance of the real thing. I happen to like the kit a lot. That's one of those "your mileage may vary" sorts of things but there you go, besides which everything that's listed as a kit fault can be dealt with. You can easily address the allegedly dated details and the wing can be thinned down if you really want to go to that much trouble---I personally never do that, but you're certainly welcome to! </div>
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What I absolutely do fix each and every time I build that kit are the canopy fit and the cockpit doors. Both subjects have been covered previously here, but every so often the internet crowd fall back to that old "the canopy and doors don't fit on the Eduard <i>Airacobra" </i>song and dance which makes the discussion relevant again. Consider this:</div>
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The canopy doesn't fit right because the fuselage wants to be a little too wide in the area of the cockpit. If you build the kit and squeeze the fuselage sides in at the point where the aft cockpit bulkhead (the one just behind the seat) comes out of said fuselage and hit that junction point between said bulkhead and the fuselage with a little Tamiya Extra Thin or similar, and hold it together until the resulting joint has cured, the canopy problem will go away. Gone forever.</div>
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The greater problem, and the one that continually fuels that aforementioned internet crowd, is the fit of the doors. They're just fine if you want to model them open but horrible if you want to depict one or both of them in the closed position because those doors just can't be made to fit. That's what they say (the internet crowd, that is) but fortunately for us it's not true at all. </div>
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The Eduard P-39/P-400 family is, in point of fact, very delicately and precisely tooled. The kit is a good one and all you have to do to make those doors fit properly is to lightly sand their perimeter with a fine grade of abrasive paper; we're talking something in the 1000-2000 grit range here. Just be careful when you clean up the sprue attach points and lightly employ that sandpaper around the perimeter of the part, taking special care to keep the door hinges intact shapewise (that means STRAIGHT!). Go slowly, fit as you go, and those doors can be made to fit perfectly. The notion that you can't successfully model them in the closed position is a polystyrene old-wive's tale, pure and simple, but that's not the point of this missive.</div>
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Let's take those P-39 doors as an example and a road to a greater truth, using my personal experience with the kit as the driver. I like the P-39 and have quite an interest in the type as used in New Guinea during those bad old days of 1942, and I prefer the Eduard kit of same for reasons we won't go into today. (Yes I just said that a minute ago, I know I did, but I'm feeling even more garrulous than normal today. Just humor me!) I've built several of them and have modeled them with one door open, both doors open, and no doors open, and those doors all fit on each one of the several models I've built of the airplane, as do the canopies. That's not because I'm any sort of superior scale modeler because I'm most assuredly not that. I wanted to build some <i>Airacobras</i> for the collection and I wanted them to look like they're supposed to so I took some time and figured out how to do it. I worked the problem and that, my friends, is the point of today's ramble. </div>
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Let's hold this truth to be self-evident: If you want to do any given modeling thing, regardless of what it is, you probably can. Just think it through, figure out the best way to execute whatever action you determine, and DO IT. If you're new to the hobby try that sort of thing out on an inexpensive kit first because there is most assuredly a learning curve involved. Keep the mindset that it's a plastic model airplane kit and the fate of nations doesn't hinge on how well you build the thing; think it through and do it. Yes; you'll fail sometimes and you may even trash a couple of kits along the way but you'll also learn and you'll grow as a modeler. Remember this; if you don't try to stretch your boundaries and grow you won't ever become truly proficient at the hobby, and in consequence you'll never ever get the doors on your Eduard P-39 to fit properly. You'll have problems with a lot of other things too. It's a universal truth: There ain't nothin' to it but to do it!</div>
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That's my story and I'm by-golly sticking with it!</div>
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<b>It Never Was a Puzzle</b><br />
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There's a list of things that sometimes confuse and confound scale modelers, and one of them is that washed-out straw-colored coating sometimes seen on the face of pre-War US Navy aircraft propellers. You know the drill as well as I do; somebody will publish such a photo on an internet forum and the answers to what it actually is will come pouring in. Unfortunately, those answers are generally wrong so let's straighten this tiny mystery out once and for all!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-55AOMDc8HkI/XvuLMlGyyyI/AAAAAAAAJ80/nf_Xl-XRVyAvkn-5B6dNj07hb_rq48zWACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Alodine%2Bon%2BProp%252C%2BAugust%2B1942%2BF3F%2Btrainer%2BCorpus%2BChristi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1246" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-55AOMDc8HkI/XvuLMlGyyyI/AAAAAAAAJ80/nf_Xl-XRVyAvkn-5B6dNj07hb_rq48zWACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Alodine%2Bon%2BProp%252C%2BAugust%2B1942%2BF3F%2Btrainer%2BCorpus%2BChristi.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>
We've all seen this image a thousand times before, but we're going to see it again today because of those prop blades. Notice the washed-out straw color that covers them? That's the result of a chromate conversion process, colloquially know as "Alodine", that aids in preventing or reducing corrosion on aluminum and it's neither a paint nor a lubricant that's gone astray. It's been used in the aviation industry for many decades and, in a somewhat less toxic variation than the original, is still around. It can be applied by dipping a part in a solution vat or by hand. This well-known and often-published photo of a Grumman F3F-3 at NAS Corpus Christi illustrates the point perfectly. Possibly from the Life Archives but we aren't sure!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w76L3ta_bYI/XvuOKEbaapI/AAAAAAAAJ9A/pLcIE9B85Bw-_jySDsZEI_14MV9fWI66gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/CF-5D%2B116823%2B419th%2BTFTS%2BCAF%2Bat%2BRandolph%2B19%2BMay%2B84%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w76L3ta_bYI/XvuOKEbaapI/AAAAAAAAJ9A/pLcIE9B85Bw-_jySDsZEI_14MV9fWI66gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/CF-5D%2B116823%2B419th%2BTFTS%2BCAF%2Bat%2BRandolph%2B19%2BMay%2B84%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Here's a more contemporary illustration of the process, seen on the gas bag under this 419th TFTS CF-5D of the Canadian Armed Forces photographed on the transient ramp at Randolph in May of 1984. Alodine is most often used prior to priming or painting an aluminum surface so it's a little unusual to see that tank in it's "raw" state on an operational aircraft, but check out the way it looks and compare it to the photograph of those prop blades immediately above. Everything old is new again, eh? Phillip Friddell<br />
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<b>A Day Without B-25s is Like a Day Without Sunshine!</b><br />
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We think so, anyway, so here's a photo of an early B-25s sitting on the ground in New Guinea for your consideration. It is, is, as is so often the case around here, from the collection of Bobby Rocker, but you probably already knew that!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4S7nv1cRFg/XvuRWDWYbCI/AAAAAAAAJ9M/_oBv-QTYf0YChxvv8KsRhKF0v7QgZs1qQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/B-25D%2B498th%2BBS%2B345th%2BBG%2BLittle%2BNel%2Bat%2B7-Mile%2Bvia%2BRocker%2B%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="1253" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4S7nv1cRFg/XvuRWDWYbCI/AAAAAAAAJ9M/_oBv-QTYf0YChxvv8KsRhKF0v7QgZs1qQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/B-25D%2B498th%2BBS%2B345th%2BBG%2BLittle%2BNel%2Bat%2B7-Mile%2Bvia%2BRocker%2B%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Almost ready to rumble, this 498th BS/345th BG B-25D nick-named "Little Nel" sits on what passes for a hardstand at 7-Mile. The photograph leaves a bit to be desired but it's of considerable value to us because it provides a good view of the tail structure where the plexiglas cap once lived. It was fairly standard practice for the B-25 groups in General George's Fifth Bomber Command to place a stinger gun back there, and this shot illustrates what the area that surrounds such an installation looks like. The internal structure would absolutely disappear on a model but that surrounding area would stick out like a neon sign, causing us to holler THANK YOU, BOBBY! for sharing this photo with us! Rocker Collection<br />
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<b>And While We're At It</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Here's "Hawkins" (formerly "Runt's Roost") and "Here's Howe", B-25Ds of the 90th BS/3rd BG, returning from Wewak on 17 August 1943:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1P-iag_OQdQ/XzFv7uUheTI/AAAAAAAAJ90/PCI34gYU4uAa4O7HvZSBWRHTwOJemy3jwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/B-25Ds%252C%2BReturn%2Bfrom%2BWewak%2B%2BAugust%2B17%252C%2B1943%2B%2BMacClellan%2B%2528Here%2527s%2BHowe%2BB-25D%2B41-30279%2529%2B%2526%2BHawkins%2B%2528Runt%2527s%2BRoost%2BB-25D%2B41-29727%2B%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1780" data-original-width="2048" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1P-iag_OQdQ/XzFv7uUheTI/AAAAAAAAJ90/PCI34gYU4uAa4O7HvZSBWRHTwOJemy3jwCLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h285/B-25Ds%252C%2BReturn%2Bfrom%2BWewak%2B%2BAugust%2B17%252C%2B1943%2B%2BMacClellan%2B%2528Here%2527s%2BHowe%2BB-25D%2B41-30279%2529%2B%2526%2BHawkins%2B%2528Runt%2527s%2BRoost%2BB-25D%2B41-29727%2B%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><div>This photo is certainly evocative but it doesn't tell the story very well. The scene is almost placid, with all those <i>Mitchells</i> just cruising along in loose formation, almost as though they were out for an afternoon training hop. The excitement and, in all likelihood, the sheer terror of the mission just past can't be reflected in a photo like this one. For the guys in those airplanes it was in all probablity a very good day to be alive! Modelers take note of the different national insignia presentation on this pair of aircraft! Gerry Kersey Collection</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Then There's That Other One</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The 3rd BG was well-known as an operator of the Douglas A-20 <i>Havoc</i>. We show a lot of B-25s on this site, with a great many of them being from the 3rd, but A-20s are a relatively scarce commodity here which leads us to an attempt at making amends:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MgNFy3ZPlSA/XzFyaqrU0tI/AAAAAAAAJ-I/buLCRCXDwMsrtOzdUldb-0SJgtlD41gHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1900/A-20G%252C%2B43-9422%252C%2B13th%2BBS%2B3rd%2BBG%252C%2BBubs%2BBrother%252C%2BBill%2BSwain%2Bvia%2BGerry%2BKersey%2B%25283%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1900" height="194" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MgNFy3ZPlSA/XzFyaqrU0tI/AAAAAAAAJ-I/buLCRCXDwMsrtOzdUldb-0SJgtlD41gHwCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h194/A-20G%252C%2B43-9422%252C%2B13th%2BBS%2B3rd%2BBG%252C%2BBubs%2BBrother%252C%2BBill%2BSwain%2Bvia%2BGerry%2BKersey%2B%25283%2529.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><div>Here's a magnificant view of A-20G 43-9422 "Bub's Brother" of the 13th BS/3rd BG posing for Bill Swain's camera in theater sometime during 1944. That airplane is probably in excellent mechanical condition but the paintwork is another story entirely; All Beat to Snot is a term that comes to mind in that regard. Take a look at those guys in the cockpit peering out at the photographer while you're at it---if that was a beat-up old jalopy they could pass for a couple of college kids out looking for fun, except they're not in an old jalopy and the fun they get to have in that airplane is heavily tainted by a dark side that can't be ignored. Let's raise a glass... Bill Swain via Gerry Kersey Collection</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Not What You Normally See Around Here</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>This project focusses very specifically on American military aviation, although we sometimes run photographs of models that don't fit that parameter. Here's one such example:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3xjKy02LuE0/XzF1mTmg3QI/AAAAAAAAJ-U/Epf19uWkTFgppqDSjw4H0XVU6IlstFcmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1654/Accurate%2BMiniatures%2BYak-1B%252C%2BExito%2BDecals%2Bfor%2B31st%2BGIAP%2B4th%2BUkranian%2BFront%2Bca%2Bmid-1943%2BFriddell.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="1654" height="321" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3xjKy02LuE0/XzF1mTmg3QI/AAAAAAAAJ-U/Epf19uWkTFgppqDSjw4H0XVU6IlstFcmgCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h321/Accurate%2BMiniatures%2BYak-1B%252C%2BExito%2BDecals%2Bfor%2B31st%2BGIAP%2B4th%2BUkranian%2BFront%2Bca%2Bmid-1943%2BFriddell.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><div>Sometimes you see an airplane that you just have to model, and this not-quite-finished Accurate Miniatures Yak-1B in 1/48th scale is an example of that very thing. Your humble (?) editor is presently off on a tangent building aircraft used by the former USSR during their Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany; a lot of those airplanes are colorful beyond belief and the history is certainly there, providing ample reason to build up a collection of VVS fighters and bombers from that tragic period in our planet's past.</div><div><br /></div><div>With that as a premise it's only natural to presume that a Yak-1 would have to join the collection at some point in time and in oddly enough one was actually in the planning stages when that particular mental exercise got moved up several notches while browsing Exito Decals' web site, where I discovered a sheet titled <i>Yak Attack</i>. One of the three airplanes featured on that decal sheet was so over the top and so well documented as to make it the Yak-1b of choice for the collection; an aircraft of the 31st GIAP/6th GIAD, 4th Ukrainian Front <i>ca</i> spring or summer of 1944. This model, which still requires weathering and an antenna suite to be called complete, is the end result of my acquisition of the sheet. Is this a colorful airplane or what?</div><div><br /></div><div>I might also mention that these decals are among the best waterslide markings I've ever used. They went on flawlessly over the model's finish of Akan paint (yet another absolutely superior product!) without any glitches whatsoever. They conformed beautifully, even that dragon that's busily engaged in consuming the airplane's horizontal stabilizer, they laid down perfectly without any issues whatsoever, and they definitely make the model "pop". The documentation supporting the decals is superb as well and could be the poster child for how to do that sort of thing. We don't normally review much around here but we just can't say enough good about these decals. Like the model or don't like it at all, that's your choice, but those decals---holy cow! </div><div><br /></div><div>Ourah!!!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>We Rarely Hear About Those Guys</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Our readers know Norman Camou primarily through the aviation-oriented YouTube footage he finds and shares with us. There's no YouTube today, however. Instead, Norm has discovered a document we suspect anyone interested in the war in the Pacific will find fascinating. It's a study of the Netherland East Indies Army aviation arm in Australia and India during the Second World War. It fills in a significant gap in our knowledge of the participants in that theater and is well worth your time. The book is in PDF format and is free; all you have to do is click on the link below and download it. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.academia.edu/42711579/Refugee_aircraft_of_the_NEI_Army_Aviation_Corps_in_Australia_and_British_India_illustrated_12_February_2020_version?auto=download">https://www.academia.edu/42711579/Refugee_aircraft_of_the_NEI_Army_Aviation_Corps_in_Australia_and_British_India_illustrated_12_February_2020_version?auto=download</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks to Norman for finding and sharing this work with us!</div><div><br /></div><div>But wait! There's more! (Sorry, ya'll; I just had to do that!) </div><div><br /></div><div>Norm sends along quite a bit of material and here's a bonus he found on YouTube that we think you'll enjoy. It's and interview with a couple of SBD radio operators (known as "gunners" to most aviation enthusiasts). It provides an insight we rarely have into the crews of the mighty SBD. Take a look!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln2sOt6JE8g&app=desktop">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln2sOt6JE8g&app=desktop</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks again, Norm, and keep it up!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Making the Best of Things</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>There was a time, back in the mid-1960s, when the Marine Corps' electronic warfare mission was performed by the venerable Douglas EF-10B Skyknight, an airplane that had begun its service career in an age of underpowered jet engines. That circumstance led to extremely poor performance in most service situations and was bad enough during peacetime deployments and the type's use during the Korean War. The hot air of Vietnam, coupled with the aircraft's gross combat weight, resulted in performance that was marginal at best, leading in turn to its Marine Corps nickname of "Drut" which is, for those of our readership who might not know, the way the word "turd" appears when it's spelled backwards. 'Nuff said, eh?</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, it's been a few issues since we've featured anything from Jim Sullivan's collection so it must surely be time to do it again! Let's take a look at a couple of "Druts" in Southeast Asia!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cf6rfdfkBLM/XzGQNFGYwUI/AAAAAAAAJ-g/Y16PAe4GWcAYPSJtgCt0GKOtzgfpAFkXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/EF-10B%2B125793%2BVMCJ-1%2BRM-00%2BDaNang%252C%2B%2BRVN%2BAUG%2B1966%2B%2528Fritz%2BGemeinhardt%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1273" data-original-width="2048" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cf6rfdfkBLM/XzGQNFGYwUI/AAAAAAAAJ-g/Y16PAe4GWcAYPSJtgCt0GKOtzgfpAFkXQCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h254/EF-10B%2B125793%2BVMCJ-1%2BRM-00%2BDaNang%252C%2B%2BRVN%2BAUG%2B1966%2B%2528Fritz%2BGemeinhardt%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><div>The Marine's VMCJ-1 were the sole operators of the EF-10B in theater, using them in combat during an iterim period prior to their replacement by the vastly improved Grumman EA-6A. This image shows us one of their airplanes, 125793, as it taxis in post-mission during August of 1966. the airplane is so clean as to be called spotless by operational standards. She was lost in-theater in an operational accident, with both crewmembers killed, on 17 July, 1968. Fritz Gemeinhardt via Jim Sullivan</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wYge6Iv5bwo/XzGSKa8R_-I/AAAAAAAAJ-s/G95lF9nSrtcpdcj7PMTJ9fAwxT8vzFnegCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/EF-10B%2B127051%2BVMCJ-1%2BRM-3%2BDaNang%252C%2B%2BRVN%2BAUG%2B1966%2B%25231%2B%2528Fritz%2BGemeinhardt%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1359" data-original-width="2048" height="272" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wYge6Iv5bwo/XzGSKa8R_-I/AAAAAAAAJ-s/G95lF9nSrtcpdcj7PMTJ9fAwxT8vzFnegCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h272/EF-10B%2B127051%2BVMCJ-1%2BRM-3%2BDaNang%252C%2B%2BRVN%2BAUG%2B1966%2B%25231%2B%2528Fritz%2BGemeinhardt%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><div>This image is a little soft but is well worth publishing as it depicts a somewhat shopworn EF-10B, 127051, on the busy DaNang ramp, also in August of 1966. Modelers may want to note the staining aft of the engine exhausts, which is substantial on this airframe and typical of the type when that area wasn't frequently cleaned. Keep reading because there's more to see on this bird! Fritz Gemeinhardt via Jim Sullivan</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_iKXyLO2Hs/XzGTxOxI1ZI/AAAAAAAAJ-4/FaYWwiX4Pq8v5qcVNrboDXdKsC_5vyC-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/EF-10B%2B127051%2BVMCJ-1%2BRM-3%2BDaNang%252C%2B%2BRVN%2BAUG%2B1966%2B%25232%2B%2528Fritz%2BGemeinhardt%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1386" data-original-width="2048" height="277" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_iKXyLO2Hs/XzGTxOxI1ZI/AAAAAAAAJ-4/FaYWwiX4Pq8v5qcVNrboDXdKsC_5vyC-gCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h277/EF-10B%2B127051%2BVMCJ-1%2BRM-3%2BDaNang%252C%2B%2BRVN%2BAUG%2B1966%2B%25232%2B%2528Fritz%2BGemeinhardt%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><div>Here's the other side of RM-3, taken on the same day as the other two photographs in this set. Remember that part where we mentioned the staining aft of the engine exhausts? Well, that's not the only place a "Drut" can get dirty! Note the staining under the intakes, the generally worn appearance of the airframe and, in particular, the staining forward of the 20mm muzzles, caused by firing the guns. Shooting at things wasn't the normal mission for the EF-10B during the SEA fracas; that more along the lines of providing threat warning and ECM support for Navy, Marine, and Air Force missions against North Vietnam's air defense radar network. In theory nothing in that mission would involve using guns. In theory, that is! Finally, those mission tallies behind the aircraft modex tell a story; there's no doubt that 127051 saw the elephant and did it more than once! Fritz Gemeinhardt via Jim Sullivan</div><div><br /></div><div>Jim Sullivan has been supporting this project, and all the others I've been involved in over the years, pretty much from the very beginning. Thanks, Jim, for all you do for this project!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Under the Radar</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>We don't often spotlight new books in this section, preferring instead to dedicate the space to older works our readers may have missed the first time around, but every once in a while something comes out that's just so special as to require mention. This is one of those books.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qzuXQv_WfcU/XzGYImoT46I/AAAAAAAAJ_E/Jpo4eS-kxRAFXCwZ4LMtZXZn6wmcXtV-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/VQ-1%2BRomano%252C%2BGinter%2BBooks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1587" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qzuXQv_WfcU/XzGYImoT46I/AAAAAAAAJ_E/Jpo4eS-kxRAFXCwZ4LMtZXZn6wmcXtV-QCLcBGAsYHQ/w318-h410/VQ-1%2BRomano%252C%2BGinter%2BBooks.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div><u>World Watchers, A Pictorial History of Electronc Countermeasure Squadron One</u>; Romano, Angelo, Ginter Books 2020, 304pp, illustrated. </div><div><br /></div><div>This could be a truly brief review if we wanted to do things that way. This book is one of the very best unit histories we've ever seen, period, and the serious student of American naval aviation can't afford to be without it. It's honestly that good! </div><div><br /></div><div>That said, the volume begins with the unit's PBY Second World War predecessors and carries through all of the squadron's assignments, designations, and operations right up until the current year. Primarily a pictorial history (it even says so right on the cover), it is absolutely chock full of photographs, color illustrations, charts and indices covering every period (and designation) of the unit's history. The book is extremely well written and includes a great many anecdotal entries from former squadron members. It is well written and a joy to read.</div><div><br /></div><div>References such as this one depend heavily on the contributions of knowledgeable and authoritative researchers and this book lists a veritable who's who of contemporary naval aviation photographers and historians in its credits. It's a book written by a heavy-hitter and supported by some of the best in their field. Finally, the production quality of the piece is well up to the standards normally maintained by this publisher, which is saying a lot.</div><div><br /></div><div>In short, the author knocked this one right out of the park and we're looking forward to his next effort. Highly recommended.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Relief Tube</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>There's not much to say here except that I've been exceptionally busy over the past couple of months and the schedule I'd made for myself---a new installment every 3 weeks or so---went right out the window in consequence. Nothing new there, right? Anyway, apologies to everyone for that, and thanks to those of you who emailed in to see if we were ok. Everything is fine here and I hope and pray it's that way for all of you as well. Stay safe, be good to your neighbor, and we'll meet again soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>phil</div><div><br /></div></div></div>phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-42784781966156344672020-04-22T09:57:00.001-05:002020-05-02T10:16:28.335-05:00Requiem for a Friend, The Triplane That Is, Gone But Not Forgotten, A Cobra, and Was It Really That Long Ago<br />
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<b>The King is Dead?</b><br />
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In recent days the scale modeling portion of the internet has been awash with rumors, reports, and a whole lot of outright speculation regarding the apparent demise of Wingnut Wings. In point of fact some scale modeling sites have been quite literally going nuts over the whole thing, with comments ranging from "so what" to "it's the end of Great War scale modeling". Many comments have been constructive, in a sad sort of way, while a few have been outright nasty and a few others have bordered on absolute lunacy. Those comments run the gamut, there's no doubt.<br />
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The one thing that seems clear and actually true is that WNW have shut down. It might be temporary or it might be permanent but as I type this they're gone with staff laid off and, one might presume, doors tightly shuttered. I can't add anything to what's already been reported on all those electronic magazines and boards other than to comment that I was heavily involved in the procurement of aerospace tooling and fixtures for a great deal of my time in the industry and that it's normal for whomever pays for tooling to own said tooling unless some sort of circumstance precludes it, so I'll hazard one guess (and one guess only) and say that Sir Peter Jackson owns the tooling for all of those exquisite kits. I would, in fact, be amazed if he <i>didn't </i>own it, at least for the time being, but that's still a guess on my part and nothing more.<br />
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Of greater interest are those marvelous Great War kits that Wingnut have given us over the past ten or so years. Those models have been brilliantly engineered and superbly rendered, and have truly earned every accolade they've acquired over the decade or so of the company's existence. In my world there aren't enough superlatives to describe them. I didn't buy each and every one, although for the most part I've purchased the kits that have spoken to me, and I've even built several. I'm a fan, pure and simple.<br />
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On the other hand, I'm also a realist. As much as I've enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, those kits, there are other manufacturers out there who produce 1/32nd scale First World War subjects. Roden (yes; Roden!) is one, and their kits aren't half bad. They require more work than the offerings of that New Zealand-based company and their decals have a reputation for being extremely difficult to work with, but the actual kits themselves are perfectly buildable and look great when finished, even though they do lack the finesse and fine detail of Wingnut's offerings. Then there's Copper State, who's Nieuport 17s are absolutely gorgeous, rivaling the best work of WNW. Unfortunately their entire 1/32nd lineup, at least as of today, consists of just those Nieuports, but with any luck that's only a temporary situation.<br />
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We also can't give up the notion that someone will purchase Wingnut's tooling, or maybe the company will reopen at a later date. Either scenario is possible, even if that possibility appears distinctly remote at this juncture. Stranger things have happened.<br />
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Worst case, Wingnut's kits will remain available on the secondary market, albeit at greatly inflated prices, while Roden and Copper State will continue to produce their own kits of the aircraft of The Great War. It's easy to be maudlin about the whole thing and fall into a state of grieving for Wingnut's passing and on a strictly personal level I do indeed grieve the loss of their company, but I'm also extremely grateful for the time they were with us. I've enjoyed the kits and am proud of the way they look on the shelf. I'm truly happy that my time as a scale modeler included that brief span of time when they were alive and well, and thrilling us with unexpected new release after release. It was a special time, and they were a special company.<br />
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With all of that said, tomorrow is a new day. Maybe those marvelous kits will be back, either in the guise of a reborn Wingnut Wings or maybe under someone else's logo. Maybe they're gone forever. The point is we had them for a while. As a company they did wonderful things and they raised the bar substantially by so doing. We all gained from their existence in our polystyrene world, and our hobby was a better place while they were with us.<br />
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The King is dead. For now...<br />
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<b>We Were So Close</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Yes we were. The guys over at WNW had said they would never do a Fokker Triplane because there was already a very good kit (Roden) out there. They were right about that one; the Roden Tripes (a Dr.I and an F.I, in case you've forgotten) were, and are, very good indeed. They're a little fussy to build, as are all of Roden's offerings, and in consequence probably not good kits for the beginner in spite of the Dr.I's almost total lack of rigging, but they're definitely on the high side of ok. Wingnut's kit, which is apparently tooled and pretty much ready to go, would have been a better detailed and far more builder-friendly kit, of course, but it would seem that we won't see it anytime soon, if at all.<br />
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Those two Ukrainian kits are pretty much it these days for Fokker Triplanes in 1/32nd scale (and yes; I know Andrea makes one too, but it's not in the same league as the others), but there's another Tripe out there that's well worth your time---it's just in a different scale:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0MWfsxDVRhc/Xp2QNHe5rbI/AAAAAAAAJ6U/c97sBeCjy9QAmr2Yzk2CjgTT3fwrEoFuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Eduard%2BDr.1%252C%2BLothar%2Bvon%2BR%252C%2B1-48th%2B%2B%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1146" data-original-width="1600" height="229" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0MWfsxDVRhc/Xp2QNHe5rbI/AAAAAAAAJ6U/c97sBeCjy9QAmr2Yzk2CjgTT3fwrEoFuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Eduard%2BDr.1%252C%2BLothar%2Bvon%2BR%252C%2B1-48th%2B%2B%2Bpf%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And here it is: Eduard's 1/48th scale Dr.I, in Lothar von Richthofen's Jasta 11 markings and half-finished as usual, but boy what a kit! It's several years old now and has seen the usual Eduard boxings: Profipack, Weekend Edition, Dual Combo, and as a star component of at least two special offerings, <i>Der Rote Flieger</i> and <i>Du Doch Nicht</i>, so it's also easy to find. It's a superb little kit, rendered semi-difficult only by the extraordinarily petite detail parts that grace its contents, and it's probably not the Triplane for the absolute novice, but it goes together like a fine pre-digital watch and it's every inch a Dr.I once it's completed.<br />
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You may, of course, ask why we would discuss this kit when the Great War modeling world at large is drooling for the Wingnuts kit they may never get, but it's only fair to mention that there are a whole bunch of excellent offerings out there in 1/48th scale too and they're well worth your time. They're just a little smaller, that's all!<br />
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Then again, if I were a betting man, which I'm not, I'd be willing to wager that WNW Tripe <i>will </i>show up someday. Maybe not tomorrow or next week, and maybe not under the Wingnut Wings logo, but I'll bet we see it eventually. Fingers crossed, <i>etc</i>, <i>etc</i>...<br />
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<b>The Bad Thing on the Block</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
That particular appelation could apply to any number of military airplanes but in today's context we're referring to Grumman's F-14 <i>Tomcat</i>. It was a marvel when first introduced, first and foremost by being a polymorph that actually worked, and secondly by proving itself to be a fleet defence interceptor, or may just a fighter, <i>par excellance</i>.<i> </i>It wasn't perfect, of course; nothing ever is. It was in truth a little underpowered, at least in its early versions, the AIM-54 <i>Phoenix </i>it was designed to carry was far from an optimal weapon when viewed in a real world sort of context, and it took a lot of maintenance to keep it operational. It was also a world-beater for several decades of its lifespan in Navy service and it <i>looked</i> good. Here are a few examples to remind you of what once was. Note that these images depict the F-14A during what many consider to be its finest decade, spanning the years from 1979 to 1989, but none of the schemes are the classic Light Gull Grey over White.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4aPEawbUUjI/Xp2aPhM2s0I/AAAAAAAAJ6g/iSneK4Q-gpkp9gNdnOlSZCr_RMzkcjZ6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-14A%252C%2B160671%252C%2BVF-51%2BCAW%2BBird%2Bat%2BRandolph%2B12%2BMay%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4aPEawbUUjI/Xp2aPhM2s0I/AAAAAAAAJ6g/iSneK4Q-gpkp9gNdnOlSZCr_RMzkcjZ6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-14A%252C%2B160671%252C%2BVF-51%2BCAW%2BBird%2Bat%2BRandolph%2B12%2BMay%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
160671 was with VF-51 when photographed on the ramp at Randolph on 12 May, 1979. While not an Easter Egg in the truest sense of that word, since she's in overall Light Gull Grey, her full-color CAG markings make her stand out from the crowd. She spent a brief period of time on display in a museum but was eventually reclaimed by the Navy for reasons unknown to us and sent to AMARC for storage. She was pretty when she was young... Phillip Friddell<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NTrxZ9w0YpY/Xp2beZtHRmI/AAAAAAAAJ6s/c7Idk06JNPEXKQ2KMbzuMZuuZzVfNlzJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-14A%252C%2B161134%252C%2BVF-101%2Bat%2BNAS%2BCorpus%2BChristi%2B04%2BApril%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="1600" height="196" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NTrxZ9w0YpY/Xp2beZtHRmI/AAAAAAAAJ6s/c7Idk06JNPEXKQ2KMbzuMZuuZzVfNlzJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-14A%252C%2B161134%252C%2BVF-101%2Bat%2BNAS%2BCorpus%2BChristi%2B04%2BApril%2B82%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
04 April, 1982, saw VF-101's 161134 on the towbar at NAS Corpus Christi. She's relatively plain for this era, in overall Light Gull Grey with subdued squadron markings, but she's still every inch a fighter. One of a number of <i>Tomcats</i> modified for the TARPS pod, she's now on public display in Florida. Phillip Friddell<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KCSJtWpBOMA/Xp2clEoiPwI/AAAAAAAAJ64/aueSl3QzfJ4XLNlf1J0VNEQI25bP06PnQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-14A%2B161612%252C%2BVF-54%2Bat%2BCorpus%2B14%2BApr%2B84%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KCSJtWpBOMA/Xp2clEoiPwI/AAAAAAAAJ64/aueSl3QzfJ4XLNlf1J0VNEQI25bP06PnQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-14A%2B161612%252C%2BVF-54%2Bat%2BCorpus%2B14%2BApr%2B84%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
VF-154 was operating 161612 when she was photographed at Corpus on 14 April, 1984. She's got some color to her but not much; overall Gull Grey isn't the most flattering of paint schemes, but she's still a looker in spite of it. She ended up in storage, a sad but necessary end to a fine career. Phillip Friddell<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dZdaZkZEc5s/Xp2dmg_BK3I/AAAAAAAAJ7E/jqf5QWXqjZMa47dJNmLtm8KNsgmE1ap_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-14A%252C%2B161868%252C%2BVF-31%2Bat%2BNAS%2BCorpus%2BChristi%2B07%2BMay%2B89%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dZdaZkZEc5s/Xp2dmg_BK3I/AAAAAAAAJ7E/jqf5QWXqjZMa47dJNmLtm8KNsgmE1ap_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-14A%252C%2B161868%252C%2BVF-31%2Bat%2BNAS%2BCorpus%2BChristi%2B07%2BMay%2B89%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
There's just something about Felix on a <i>Tomcat</i>; that classic Navy squadron emblem just belongs there. In this case, the emblem is on Fighting Thirty-One's 161868, also photographed at Corpus but a few years later, on 07 May, 1989. This is one of the two paint schemes that says F-14 to us. Phillip Friddell<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7dveEpnOpXc/Xp2f3baXxbI/AAAAAAAAJ7Q/9hI4D1SNGh4WIQ5Nyyz97WAsMLhIc8nlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-14A%2B162xxx%252C%2BVF-84%2BTaxiing%2Bto%2BLaunch%2Bat%2BBergstrom%2B14%2BOct%2B89%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7dveEpnOpXc/Xp2f3baXxbI/AAAAAAAAJ7Q/9hI4D1SNGh4WIQ5Nyyz97WAsMLhIc8nlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-14A%2B162xxx%252C%2BVF-84%2BTaxiing%2Bto%2BLaunch%2Bat%2BBergstrom%2B14%2BOct%2B89%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And here's the other: An F-14A from VF-84 photographed taxiing out to launch at Bergstrom on 14 October, 1989. The shot was an accident; I was by the taxiway waiting for something else, but the opportunity was just too darned good to pass up! Phillip Friddell<br />
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There was a time when I bemoaned the retirement of this classic airplane, but that came into perspective and focus one afternoon when I began mentally compairing the <i>Tomcat </i>to Boeing's immortal F4B-4. After all, they had similar careers; both built as fighters (yes, I know the F-14 was technically an interceptor, but stay with me here), both were the best there was when in their prime, and both, as time passed them by, were ultimately relegated to the bombing mission prior to their retirement. They were really something when they were young, though, and we definitely miss those days.<br />
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<b>Those Other Cobras</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Anyone who's been paying attention to these pages must surely have noticed that most of the photos we publish from the Pacific War are related to the 5th Air Force. There's a reason for that: The Fifth is a primary interest of mine. That said it was, unfortunately, a really big war with a lot of participants. Here's an example of one that wasn't from General Kenney's Air Force, courtesy of Bobby Rocker:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z-vYTwzGl8s/XqBF0P15MmI/AAAAAAAAJ7g/CErMAAddJbg-oxe179NRSnYHVPPIIeymACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/01%2BA%2BP-400%2B67th%2BFS%2BHenderson%2BField%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1152" height="252" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z-vYTwzGl8s/XqBF0P15MmI/AAAAAAAAJ7g/CErMAAddJbg-oxe179NRSnYHVPPIIeymACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/01%2BA%2BP-400%2B67th%2BFS%2BHenderson%2BField%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A sharkmouthed Bell P-400 <i>Airacobra</i> of the 67th FS, 347th FG, sits poised for another mission on Henderson Field some time in late 1942. We're showing this particular photograph today to illustrate a potential point of confusion for those confronted with P-39/P-400 photography from The Bad Old Days in the SWPAC. Note the sharkmouth: The 8th FG of the 5th AF used it too, while assigned to the Port Moresby area of New Guinea, and their version of that classic artwork was very much like the one used by the 67th FS on Guadalcanal. A practiced eye can usually tell the difference between the units but not always. Danger; Will Robinson! DANGER! Rocker Collection<br />
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Thanks as always to Bobby for continually sourcing these images and sharing them with us.<br />
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<b>It Seems Like It Was Yesterday</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
But <i>Operation Desert Storm </i>took place back in 1991, some 29 years ago! My own personal tie to the operation was a long-standing friendship with <i>Prowler</i> ECMO Rick Morgan, whom I'd known since he was in flight school in Texas. Last issue's publication of a TA-4 photo from Allen Epps triggered Rick to send in this photograph of his crew during taken aboard the <i>Theodore Roosevelt </i>while he was assigned to VAQ-141:<br />
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Rick provided us with the call signs for his crew, so that's how we'll identify them here, from left to right: Kurly, Tums, Boris (Rick Morgan), and our newest contributor Pugsley (Allen Epps) as they prepare for their first daylight war mission. We aren't going to publish the names of Kurly and Tums at this time because we don't have their permission to do that. Rick Morgan<br />
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They don't look that old, and their faces don't reflect the years of training or the strain of combat, but these guys are The Real Deal; a highly skilled crew engaged in electronic warfare combat operations with the Grumman EA-6B <i>Prowler</i>. While serving in the Gulf they flew daily support missions for Alpha Strikes, they jammed communications and, on at least one occasion, they killed a SAM site. They're typical of the guys who stand up, and have always stood up, when their country needs them, and we're lucky they, and all their brothers and sisters, are there for us. Let's raise a glass!<br />
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<b>Happy Snaps</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
How about another air-to-air from Allen Epps to end this issue?<br />
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<i>Over San Clemente Island with a pair of CT-33’s. We would run into the ship and “shoot” the CT-33’s as missile simulators then follow them as a third missile with an appropriate electronic signature. </i>Epps<br />
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Thanks, Pugs!<br />
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We're always looking for photography of American military aviation, by the way. If you'd like to contribute your images to this project, please drop us a line at replicainscaleatyahoodotcom using the appropriate symbology for the at and dot. We can't pay you but we'll make you famous, sortof, if you'd like to contribute your photos. How about it?<br />
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<b>The Relief Tube</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
You may have noticed that we're actually publishing fairly frequently these days (a big YAY for that one), albeit with reduced content. We've been meaning to reduce the length of these things for quite a while because it's easier to do shorter issues than to put together the long ones that cause us to publish just a handful of entries per year. That's a particularly good thing to us and maybe for you as well, especially so since most of us are restricted to quarters at the present time. We'll try to get something out every couple or three weeks from now on, or at least until this Covid mess subsides and we all return to some semblance of normality. (Or maybe you could just keep to some sort of SCHEDULE, Phillip!)<br />
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In the meantime, stay safe, be careful, and be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon!<br />
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phil<br />
<br />phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-67866864203182445802020-04-16T16:49:00.002-05:002023-08-19T20:00:02.188-05:00Knocking That Stash Down, Not So Tough, Iron Dogs in the Shop, Too Much to Ask?, and A Couple of Fantooms<br />
<b>A Trip to the Closet</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Let's start this off by saying we're all a little short of a full load in the judgement department. We do goofy things, and we do them repetitively and with almost no thought. We spend money we don't need to spend, on things we don't actually need and may never do anything with. Ill-considered is a term that fits the phenomenon. Crazy is another.<br />
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I'm sure you've figured it out by now; I'm talking about The Monster in the Closet, the ruler of all scale modeling life, Moloch! Yes, I'm talking about...<br />
<br />
YOUR STASH!<br />
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Before you get started with what can best be described as The Lame Excuses or, worse yet, define me as The Enemy, take a minute and consider that I'm one of you. I'm a member of the tribe. I am, in point of fact, a plankholder, one of the founders of the feast as it were. I counted the unbuilt 1/72nd scale airplane kits in my closet once upon a time, during a visit home from college way back in 1970. There were in excess of 1,200 boxed and unbuilt kits in there back then, a great many of which were still in shrink-wrap. The theory behind their purchase was fairly simple since I also worked part-time in a hobby shop: A new kit would come out and I would automatically buy three; one to build, one to convert to a different variant, and one to keep as a reference copy. OR, I would buy more than three. I've always liked P-40Es, for example, so there were 8 or 10 Revell kits of same in that closet, along with multiple F4Fs, LS Zeros, and on and on and on, ad infinitum/ad nauseum.<br />
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The maturation of our hobby, which in theory paralleled a similar phenomenon in myself, resulted in a change of scale, to 1/48th and 1/32nd (read <i>bigger boxes</i> here) and the onset of that boon/bane of the 21st Century scale modeler's life; <i>aftermarket</i>, to the mix, which ensured that we had lots and lots of stuff to acquire because a whole bunch of kits were of the short-run get-'em-while-you-can variety, and aftermarket (to include decals) has always belonged in the Here Today Gone Forever (except on eBay) category. The end result of all this seemingly inoccuous proliferation of Stuff is The Stash, which is sometimes manageable but often not. Another result is the monetary expense of that collection of unbuilt polystyrene, but that's drama for a different day!<br />
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It seems as though there's something new for us almost each and every day these days; a new kit, new decals, new resin or photo-etch, new <i>something</i> that we think we have to have. We buy all of it, or a lot of it, or at least some of it, and we put it in the stash because we aren't ready to build it or incorporate it into a model. No; we just want it, so we buy it and put it away. It's ours. We have it, and we're going to put it with all that other stuff.<br />
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I did some figuring a few months ago. I'm a Baby Boomer so I'm aging a bit, and I'm old enough that I've optimistically got 10, maybe 12 years of modeling time left before something happens to take me out of the hobby. A typical kit requires between two to six weeks of my time, so the honest truth is that I'm likely to run out of Phillip long before I run out of kits to build. The advent of the present global health crisis has only added fuel to that particular fire, and being on lockdown here at the Polystyrene Ranch has confirmed a concept for me: I really ought to get off my lazy rear end and start building some of those kits, and using up some of the decals and aftermarket too.<br />
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Tom Gaj, a long-time friend and fellow traveler in the world of scale plastic edifices, has recently begun building some of the older kits he's got hidden away. His current project is a Hawk F8F <i>Bearcat</i>, which I'm assured will be followed by a box-scale Revell X-3. Neither kit is new or even remotely state of the art, the F8F dating from the mid-60s and the <i>Stilleto</i> from the late 1950s. Both can be built into outstanding models but they require both a love of the subject and a liberal application of modeling skills to get to that particular end result. Tom has both, and I'm looking forward to seeing the end results of his efforts, but that isn't the point. No, the point is this: He's building from his stash rather than adding to it. On a more personal level, I'm finishing up a Special Hobby Wirraway I began some three years ago, after which I'm considering a Special Hobby <i>Guardian</i>, or maybe just finishing that still-born Monogram F-100.<br />
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My point is this: I've got enough unbuilt kits to last a very long time at my present build rate. I still buy them, but only those I know I'll build. I buy aftermarket when a project actually needs it, or if I want a special set of markings that I don't already have. I haven't completely stopped expending money on the hobby but I've certainly tapered off quite a bit, and I'm enjoying things as much if not more than I ever have. It's not such a bad way to do things.<br />
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My two cents...<br />
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<b>Short Run That Ain't Half-Bad</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
There was a time, not all that long ago, when mention of the kits offered by Special Hobby would cause a great many scale modelers to look the other way and change the subject. It wasn't for lack of trying on Special Hobby's part; their kit list was (and is) both extensive and fascinating, but the kits weren't for everybody, or even for anybody who wasn't fairly good at their craft. "Some modeling skills required" was a caveat with meaning.<br />
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Everything changes, though. I recently almost completed (that's my modeling life; I ALMOST complete things these days!) a Special Hobby CA-9 <i>Wirraway</i>, and here's the proof:<br />
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See what I mean? It's sortof finished but not really, since it's missing a little cleanup and weathering, plus a radio antenna and some more clutter around the wireless operator's free gun, but that's where it is right now. The kit was relatively painless to build and went together easily, with none of the assembly pitfalls I'd read about on other sites. I question the canopy, which is kind of squashed, and I really wish they'd provided a free gun (almost anything would be better than what I scratched up for this model!) and I really really wish they'd done a CA-1 instead of a CA-9, but I wanted a <i>Wirraway</i> for the collection and it definitely looks like one, in this case from 4 Sqdn RAAF out of Port Moresby <i>ca</i>. 1943.<br />
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A couple of quick notes for those of you wanting to build this one:<br />
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The reviews I read said that SH omitted the landing lights from their kit. They didn't do that; those lights are molded on one of the main sprues but are not identified in any other way. Look for two little round doo-hickies that have no apparent application to the kit and there you are!<br />
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The interior is allegedly inaccurate and I have to agree with that one, but I didn't correct anything on this model. It will never see a contest or, given the Covid Lockdown, any other living human being, so it's ok with me the way it is. The biggest issue in there, if you're building any sort of CA-9 used in or near a combat zone, is the lack of a free gun with the kit, but that's easy enough to deal with.<br />
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The engine doesn't fit the cowling according to several sources, but I had no issues whatsoever with mine. I trimmed the backside of the crankcase per the instructions and attached it to the airframe, slid the completed cowling it place over it, and attached the carburettor intake to the fuselage and cowling. The intake locked the cowling in place perfectly. (That intake is inaccurate as well, for whatever that's worth.) In a similar vein, the resin exhaust pipes aren't supposed to fit either, but mine fit perfectly without any sort of trimming.<br />
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The propeller is incorrect according to most of the reviews out there, and I whole-heartedly agree with that, but I didn't do anything about it on my model.<br />
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None of the reviews mentioned it, or at least I don't think they did, but the landing gear seems to be molded fully compressed, which causes the completed model to take on a somewhat squatty stance. The tailwheel is off a bit too, and poorly detailed on top of that, but it's also useable if you're building a placeholder, which I was.<br />
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That's my story, and so on and so forth...<br />
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<b>Rode Hard and Put Away Wet</b><br />
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That's an old description that could apply to almost anything flown by the Army Air Forces in the Pacific during World War 2, but it's especially applicable to the aircraft that fought there in the early Bad Old Days. Bobby Rocker has offered a couple of images of the Bell P-39 undergoing depot-level repair in late '42 or early '43 for our consideration today, so let's get right to it:<br />
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The 29th Air Service Group had this 13th AF P-39D under repair in less than stellar circumstances late in May of 1942. Note the early national insignia, replete with red centers. We're guessing most of the visible wear and tear on that <i>Airacobra</i> came from extensive training and routine operational use since the date places it far too early for combat in the 13th's area of operations, but the photo is of considerable value since it illustrates how the SW Pacific environment abused airplanes. Of further interest are the sophisticated maintenance aids in use---the 29th was a first-rate outfit and those were their working conditions early in the war! Rocker Collection<br />
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The 4th ADG was active in Australia supporting AAF activities in New Guinea. In this photo we see a pair of 8th PG <i>Airacobras</i>, a P-400 and a P-39D, somewhere in the depot-level maintenance cycle. The photo was taken at Mareeba, in Northern Queensland, in December of 1942, and you can bet those airplanes are in need of some serious maintenance. The camouflaged hangar tells a story of its own, reminding us just how tenuous things were during those terrible times. Rocker Collection<br />
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Thanks as always to Bobby Rocker for sharing these photos with us.<br />
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<b>All I Want is a Decent Kit!</b><br />
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Some of us, myself included, grew up with the Revell, Hawk, Aurora, Lindberg, and Monogram kits of the mid and late-1950s, and a lot of us also had access to the Colby books that defined the US Navy and Air Force to a generation of wide-eyed kids. Those books, and at least three of those kit manufacturers, offered us kits of Lockheed's F-94C <i>Starfire</i>, an exposure that never left most of us. There have been kits of that airplane since the fifties, most recently an offering by the folks at KittyHawk, but none of them have truly done the airplane justice.<br />
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Is this a good-looking airplane or what? The F-94C just screams "1950s American Jet Interceptor" and it's very much a seminal part of the era. It's also a necessity for any collection of models depicting The Silver Air Force, but that KittyHawk kit isn't a particularly easy date, and the 1/72nd scale offerings currently available aren't all that hot either. Opportunity knocks, guys! Ron Picciani<br />
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You'll note that the <i>Starfire </i>photo shown above is heavily watermarked by its photographer, Ron Picciani. That's because Ron, like so many of us, has had his photography ripped off and distributed all over the internet without either attribution or permission. That sort of thing is why we regularly deface the images shown on this site: Some of the kids don't play nice so we do what we have to do to try to keep them honest. For the record, Ron granted permission for the use of this image, and we're extremely grateful to him for that. He, and all those like him, were recording the real airplanes that inspired the models we make, and they were doing it when few others even cared. They were, and are, a truly special breed, and we all owe then a debt we can never truly repay. Thanks, Ron, for all you've done for us, and for our hobby!<br />
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<b>A Fistful of Deltas </b><br />
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McDonnell Douglas' immortal F-4 <i>Phantom II </i>was a fixture in America's arsenal for several decades, and the memory of their roar on launch and their shrieking howl when recovering lives strongly in what remains of my memory. Here are a couple of photos to remind you of those days of glory for the mighty Bent-Winged Bugsucker:<br />
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Oklahoma's 507th TFS, operating out of Tinker AFB, had the F-4D on strength for quite a while and John Dienst walked their ramp, camera in hand, back in June of 1983. Although an AFRES unit, the 507th adopted the same placement for "nose" art as the 182nd TFS of the TXANG; inside the nose gear doors. 760 has artwork there, along with the name "OUTLAW", a fitting description for the Mighty <i>Phantom</i>! John Dienst<br />
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And here's 762 of the 507th, named "SMOKIN OKIE", a highly-descriptive moniker for the early F-4s. Neat airplanes on a beautiful day; we truly envy John that shoot. It just doesn't get any better! John Dienst<br />
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Another D-model, this is 737 of the 301st TFW (Carswell) the morning before an airshow at Randolph in May of 1987. She's carrying an inert AIM-9, which makes her distinctly interesting and well worth shooting. Friddell<br />
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And phinally (I'm truly sorry but I <i>had</i> to do that!), here's the 111th FIS' 65-0666 sitting on the ramp at Laughlin in March of 1987. The airplane is well-worn, which was unusual for any of the 111th's airplanes, but she still looked every inch a fighter. The F-4D's tenure with the Houston ANG was relatively brief, bridging the gap between their F-101Bs and their F-16s, but the <i>Phantoms </i>were every bit as impressive as any of the others! Friddell<br />
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There are many F-4s to come on these pages but today just isn't The Day, so stay tuned!<br />
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<b>Happy Snaps</b><br />
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It's been a while since we've run an air-to-air by one of our readers so we're definitely due for another one!<br />
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<i>(An exceptional shot) of a VC-8 TA-4 in the Puerto Rican op areas operating as missile simulators. Once the Navy got rid of VAQ-33, 34 and 35 the job really fell to the Reserves and I flew with VAQ-209 from 95-07 so flew a lot of fleet support!</i> Allen Epps<br />
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What a neat image (and quite remarkable, in spite of Allen's modesty), and he promises more to come. How much better could things get?<br />
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<b>The Relief Tube</b><br />
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It had to happen! Sooner or later I had to duplicate a photo in this blog---I've done it before, but with several years between the first and last times I did it. This time was different, with only two issues separating the times we ran a B-25D named "Mexican Spitfire". See if you can find them; you won't have to scroll back very far. Good grief!<br />
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Anyway, there's no excuse for it other than my ever-advancing seniority on life, coupled with the fact that my memory has never been especially good, so apologies are in order and I'll try really hard to make sure it doesn't happen again unless, of course, I forget...<br />
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Regardless of whatever it was we were talking about it's time to put this issue to bed, so be good to your neighbor and we'll meet again soon!<br />
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phil<br />
<br />phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-2484261168895429362020-03-22T16:20:00.001-05:002020-03-22T16:20:56.416-05:00Slightly Before Fame, A Mitchell, One More Mitchell, And a Pair of SLUFs<br />
<b>My Very Own Personal Want List</b><br />
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Yep; you read that correctly! While I don't think I've actually succumbed to the annual wish lists that beguile such a large percentage of the folks engaged in our hobby each and every year, I do have a small bucket list of airplanes that I think deserve to be kitted in my preferred scale of 1/48th. Two of the kits that would have been right up there at the top of any such list originating from me have recently been kitted; an FJ-2 with an FJ-3 in the pipeline too, and a P-51H, so there's hope but we've still got a ways to go so, without further ado, here it is. The List! (Please note, yet again, that I want these in 1/48th scale. I'm not trying to be hateful towards anyone that builds those other scales but it's my list, remember, so 1/48th it is!)<br />
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An F-100D done to contemporary standards, and including most of the variations for that aircraft in the box---all the various tanks and stores, all the pylons, at least two styles of refueling booms, both speed brake configurations, and a vertical stab that caters to the pre-Vietnam War "PACAF Mod". I would like for the kit to be done without provision for opening panels too, thank you very much!<br />
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A state-of-the-art F-100F, done to the same standards as the F-100D cited immediately above and with all the appropriated mods as previously cited. Second verse/same as the first, as they say...<br />
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An accurate and state-of-the-art RF-101C. We've already got a decent one, you say? Well, take a look at the shape and size of the nose on the currently available kit and compare it to photographs of the actual airplane. We need an accurate recce <i>Voodoo </i>that's relatively easy to built and that existing new-ish kit isn't it.<br />
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A slatted F-86 <i>Sabre</i>. This one's a no-brainer and, in all likelihood, a license to print money for anyone who takes the plunge, but nobody has bothered to do it yet. There ought to be two separate kits featuring type-specific fuselages and windscreens for the aircraft as well; a kit for the A and another for Everything Else. Optional panels should be restricted to the ability to do a Project GunVal nose and nothing more and, much like our kit for the "Hun", it should include all the stuff we could legitimately put under the wings. (Maybe, just maybe, there's one on the way since we've just seen a mostly-decent FJ-2 get itself released, but I'm not holding my breath just yet!). Oh, and throw an F-86H in there while you're at it, please!<br />
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An F-80, both as an A and a C, which probably means two kits. Yes; I frequently say I like the existing Monogram kit of the <i>Shooting Star</i> and I mean it, but it's time for something a little bit better, a kit without opened panels and including all the pylons and underwing stores affiliated with the airplane. This one's another no-brainer, I think.<br />
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An accurate MiG-15, with all the applicable underwing stuff in one kit. While it's true that there are a handful of kits of this most important of first-generation jet fighters already out there, they're all flawed to one extent or another. Much like the slatted F-86, this one is truly needed and, in all likelihood, another one of those licenses to print money for whoever decides to accept that particular challenge.<br />
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An accurate MiG-17, preferably in its later iterations as applicable to use in SEA. Think about it for a minute: The "Fresco" was one of those seminal fighters that saw active service in every corner of the globe wearing the national insignia of numerous air forces and we still don't have a truly good kit of it. And yes, Virginia; I would like all the applicable pylons and stores for it as well. I'd also like a MiG-17PF as a separate kit, but not at the expense of a good model of the day fighter.<br />
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An accurate F8F <i>Bearcat</i>, buildable right out of the box with no aftermarket required to achieve an accurate model. Really, people!<br />
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An accurate and state-of-the-art F9F, both in its -2 and -5 iterations. This one's another seminal aircraft and Monogram's kit is ok but it's also 40 years old, give or take. It's way past time for an up-to-date and accurate kit of this one!<br />
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And now, while we're Living Large; here are the Big Guns on my list:<br />
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A B-45 <i>Tornado</i>, preferably with the option to do an RB-45 from the same kit. Yes, it would be really big and yes, it's somewhat lesser-known, but it's also a seminal jet bomber that was used heavily by the USAF in its recce versions during both the Korean nastiness and the Cold War.<br />
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An accurate and state-of-the-art B-57; a basic B-model with the different noses and all the underwing stuff, as well as wing-gun mods, and all in the same kit. Yes, there already are two existing kits and yes, you can get there from here with either one of them, but both fall somewhat short of the mark and could stand replacing. It's too much to ask for an RB-57F as well, since only a handful of people (including me) would actually want one, but maybe someday...<br />
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A B-66, or maybe an RB-66. I'm not picky about the variant on that one. It's another mainstay of the Cold War USAF and an active participant in the early and middle years of the conflict in SEA, a seminal if somewhat inadequate airplane. 'Nuff said.<br />
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There's my list, then. Some, like the F-86 and MiG-15, are must-haves and I truly can't understand why we don't already have the kits in hand for them. Others, such as the B-45, might be a stretch but, like I said in the beginning: This is my want list, and it may or may not coincide with yours. We could probably get some of those kits too, the single-engined ones anyway, if all the world's manufacturers of plastic model airplanes would lay off the Bf109s, P-51s, and <i>Spitfires</i> for a while and issue some things that aren't already on the market in vast quantities.<br />
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For what it's worth!<br />
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<b>Before She Hit the Big Time</b><br />
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Nowadays Curtiss AT-9 41-12150 lives in its restored glory as an exhibit item at the NMUSAF, but there was a time when she was just old junk down in Texas.<br />
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Roger Freeman, he of Old Kingsbury Aerodrome fame, found 150's hulk abandoned in South Texas, beginning a chain of events that resulted in the restoration of the airframe followed by its addition to the collection of that edifice once known as The Air Force Museum. Your editor (me) was poking around a disused hangar at what used to be Kelly AFB back in January of 1983 and discovered her recently recovered fuselage and wings sitting on skids prior to removal for restoration. Nobody had to tell me to take her picture! Friddell<br />
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Here's a slightly different view of her. The lighting in that hangar was typically awful and I was shooting K25 off a monopod. It was a bit of a challenge but one well worth accepting! Friddell<br />
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And here's what she looks like today, gleaming in a presentation of the markings she once wore early in her AAF career! A restoration team at Kelly performed a great deal of the necessary restoration work prior to shipping her north. What a treasure! NMUSAF Photo<br />
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<b>Thanks to Bobby</b><br />
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Bobby, of course, being Bobby Rocker. Here's a shot of "Mexican Spitfire", a 345th BG B-25D from The Bad Old Days for our consideration today:<br />
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The "Spitfire' bought the farm in September of 1944; a sad end for a proud <i>Mitchell</i>. There were no easy days in the SWPAC... Rocker Collection<br />
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<b>And to Gerry!</b><br />
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Here's another bit of B-25 nose art for your consideration. This time it's the 3rd BG's "King Sol". The photo depicts a fairly early B-25 strafer and no; we don't have an overall view of her yet!<br />
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We're guessing "King Sol" to be painted in a fairly deep yellow and the airplane is wearing early B-25 gunpacks, but aside from that we don't know much! There's a tantalizing sharkmouth at the lower left side of the photo and somebody's having fun with some belted 50-cal draped across her over-painted nose, but that's about all we know at the moment. Richard N Davis via Kersey<br />
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Let's remember those young boys of so long ago who risked and, in far too many cases, gave all they had in the name of our continued liberty. We know it's redundant to say it again, but let's raise a glass...<br />
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Many thanks to Gerry Kersey for this wonderful image.<br />
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<b>A-7s On Short Final</b><br />
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I was talking with a friend of mine this morning who tactfully, if somewhat forcefully, reminded me that it's been a very long time since our last visit. (<i>Again</i>, Phillip? <i>REALLY</i>?)<br />
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This extremely abbreviated issue is a response to Frank's admonishment but it is, quite unfortunately well and truly abbreviated. We're going to end it today with a pair of 23rd TFW A-7Ds photographed on short final into Kelly back in December of 1979:<br />
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A pair of SLUFs from England AFB's 23rd TFW drift by just prior to recovering at Kelly on 09 December, 1979. They're a tiny bit of a world now long in the past, but a world we remember with great fondness. No; they aren't the greatly lamented Silver Air Force, but they're special nonetheless, at least to us. Friddell<br />
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The present global health crisis has changed, and will continue to change, a great many things in our lives. With any luck we will all return to normalcy in a few weeks but until that day please stay safe, and do everything you can to stay healthy. In the meantime, I'll try to publish these things a little more frequently---maybe we can take our minds off the crisis for a while by looking at old airplanes.<br />
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In the meantime, and now more than ever; be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon!<br />
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phil<br />
<br />phillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-64543591119115217962019-12-28T08:12:00.000-06:002019-12-28T12:00:21.472-06:00Submitted Plastic, An Antipodian Aarvark, A Famous Hun, A Famous Airplane, A Bobcat, Another Model, and A Texas Voodoo<br />
<b>The Whole Thing's Just SILLY!</b><br />
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We're a silly bunch, you know, not to mention thin-skinned and egotistical, and some of us, not all but some, are experts on anything anyone could possibly have any expertise about. It's true, and all we have to do to prove it is to go someplace where a large group of our kind are congregated, or join one of those Internet scale modeling boards. Do one of those things and look around, maybe even just look at me since I enjoy this hobby too. None of us are exempt from the madness!<br />
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Let's begin with that part about being silly, and let's start that discussion by examining what it is we do. We build plastic models. Taken on face value that doesn't sound like much, and it honestly doesn't sound particularly silly either. After all, there's nothing wrong with having a hobby, and there are any number of learned people out there who will tell you a hobby is good for the mind and good for the soul. I can buy into that one, and have quite literally done that very thing if you take into account the unbuilt kits and unopened decals ("gotta get 'em while they're available") residing in the somewhat enormous walk-in closet sitting off my right elbow at this very moment. I don't count my reference library in the Silly category because I've been reading since age 5 (the same age I began modeling!), and doing that somewhat voraciously. That effectively means the references are actually two hobbies for the price of one, so they're ok. It's also what's known in The Real World as justification, but all those kits and stickies are another matter entirely.<br />
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Some of us also take ourselves very seriously because of our hobby. Very. Seriously. That's ok when we're with our peers, because a great many of them take themselves very seriously too, but there are a whole bunch of normal people out there ("OK, Friddell; define normal!" says my clinical psychologist friend Frank) who think the whole thing is, well; silly! Plastic model airplanes. Closets <i>full</i> of them, unbuilt or partially built. Shelves full of them too, built or partially built. Silly.<br />
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Then there's thin-skinned. We'll get into a disagreement or outright argument with people we've known half our lives, or people we'll never meet in real life because we know them over the Internet, over the finer points of plastic modeling or, perhaps more properly stated, each individual's own perception of same. I'm right. You aren't. It's that simple, but it's also devisive, it's damaging to all concerned, and it's silly.<br />
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Finally, there's the part where somebody's an expert and you're not. You don't know anything, but that person does and they'll by gosh let you know it; in person, in print, via electrons, or any other way they can figure to accomplish that task; all they require is an audience of some sort and they're off to the races. They're right, or I am, or you are; therefore nobody else is. Period. End of discussion. Well, it <i>could</i> be the end unless the discussion starts feeding off itself, becoming a sort of polystyrene breeder reactor, and then it goes crazy (and I mean straight-up bat-poop crazy here!). Friendships end. People get thrown out of clubs and organizations, or get banned from internet modeling boards, and it all happens because of a disagreement over something related to plastic scale modeling. If that's not silly, I don't know what is.<br />
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Now all that's out of the way, what if we agree to take a different approach to the hobby, and let's keep in mind that word: HOBBY. Our hobby, or any other hobby you might think of, can't possibly be any fun if your blood pressure is jacked up and those little veins on the sides of your forehead are all popping out because somebody disagreed with the kit you started with or didn't care for the way you painted your plastic model.<br />
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Please understand the perspective here: I'm not saying I'm right and I'm certainly not saying any of you are wrong in the way you go about enjoying this marvelous hobby of ours. On a strictly personal level I try my best to build accurate scale replicas of real airplanes at some point in their service careers, and I try to use the most accurate kits, decals, paint, and references I can find when I do it. I like to do these things. They're fun, and they soothe my soul, but when I make that jump from my own personal outlook on the hobby to telling somebody else how to do it in theirs the whole thing becomes---get ready for it---SILLY!<br />
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And that's what I have to say about that!<br />
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<b>We Asked For It and We Got It!</b><br />
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Yes indeed; someone other than Norman Camou or myself sent in a photo of a model airplane they built!<br />
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Remember last issue when we mentioned that sometimes the folks in our hobby would talk about how they wanted a kit of a particular airplane and then not buy the resulting kit because it wasn't the variant they wanted? Well, boys and girls, this model illustrates one such badly-needed kit that would quite literally constitute a license to print money, a Korean War-vintage slat-winged F-86 <i>Sabre</i>! This particular example began life as a normal Academy kit with their standard in-the-box hard leading edged and fenced 6-3 wing. That's pretty much how all the 1/48th scale kit manufacturers treat the F-86Es and Fs, which means you have to take matters in your own hands if you want to replicate one of the myriad of slat-winged examples that were used in the KW. <i>Cutting Edge</i> did a conversion for us back when they were still a going concern, and it's their aftermarket set that Frank used here. Pretty nice, huh?<br />
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SO; if you really and truly want to pester the kit manufacturers about a brand new state-of-the-art kit of the Whatever It Is, why not ask for something the hobby really needs and has in fact needed for decades---a slat-winged F-86E or F? And no, Virginia; the F-40 doesn't count, because that takes us right back into Conversion Land if we're doing a KW bird. Nope; we want an out of the box, slatted Korean War-vintage <i>Sabre</i> so...<br />
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What do we want? A SLAT-WINGED KW <i>SABRE</i>!!!<br />
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When do we want it? <b>NOW!!!</b><br />
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Whew! Anyway, thanks to Frank for the photo of his model. Now it's time for someone who isn't Norm, Frank, or myself to submit a photo or two! That e-mail addy is replicainscaleatyahoodotcom so get after it, ya'll!<br />
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<b>Were They Really Doing That?</b><br />
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A long time ago, back when we were still involved in the photography of military airplanes, we attended RAM 88, an international photo-recon competition held every other year at the late and heavily lamented Bergstrom AFB. As a means of providing inspiration to a certain segment of our readership, here's a photo for those of you who enjoy building dioramas:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hnt9umFltS4/XdllgG4RHSI/AAAAAAAAJ1M/x5HqyisJAA0w84k6ct7G-HapAJWRSyFRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-111C%252C%2B6%2BSqdn%2BRAAF%2Bat%2BBergstrom%2B19%2BAug%2B90%252C%2BRAM%2B90%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hnt9umFltS4/XdllgG4RHSI/AAAAAAAAJ1M/x5HqyisJAA0w84k6ct7G-HapAJWRSyFRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-111C%252C%2B6%2BSqdn%2BRAAF%2Bat%2BBergstrom%2B19%2BAug%2B90%252C%2BRAM%2B90%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
That F-111C is from 6 Squadron RAAF and the ground crew in the photo are engaged at turning the airplane around between sorties. They did a seriously good job of that too, but they also inadvertently provided a bit of comic relief because of the number of people involved in that turnaround---one of my friends counted 21 different technicians in the photo! They also provided a legitimate and documented "you'll never believe it happened" modeling opportunity. How about it, ya'll? Can this be a diorama in your modeling future? Friddell<br />
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<b>Who Remembers "Triple Zilch"?</b><br />
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Most of you, probably, or at least most of you old enough to have ever possessed any of the old <i>Profile Publications</i>, because that very airplane, F-100D-69-NA, serial number 56-3000, provided the centerfold artwork for the F-100 edition of that seminal reference 1960s reference source. That artwork showed the airplane in its prime, back when it belonged to the Wing King of the 20th TFW in England. Here's a slightly different view of it taken a few years later:<br />
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After its service with the 20th, "Triple Zilch" was transferred to the Air National Guard and ended up with the 182nd TFS/149th TFG at Kelly, where it served until their transition to the F-4C <i>Phantom II </i>several years later. Somewhere during that transition process it was decided to take one of the <i>Super Sabres </i>assigned to the group and "Zilch" was chosen for that honor. She's on display at what used to be Kelly AFB right now this very minute but was still waiting for her trip to Corrosion Control for her Gate Guard Makeover when I shot this image back in November of 1979. Phillip Friddell<br />
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There's an upshot to the story, too. There is, or at least was, an F-100D marked as "Triple Zilch" on display with the 20th, but it isn't the real one and never has been. Nope; that one lives at what's now called Kelly USA, right here in South Texas. We're personally still a little chuffed that Kelly, one of the oldest bases in the US Air Force's history, was killed off in one of the BRAC evolutions of the 1990s to become part of Lackland AFB, which was itself a WW2 offshoot of Kelly, but somebody there thought they ought to save this airplane, which is an Up Side, sortof, or maybe not. So much for heritage, right?<br />
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Anyway, you can still see the real "Triple Zilch" if you want to, but you've got to go to San Antonio to do it. We're just glad she was preserved!<br />
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<b>Not a Miner</b><br />
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But most assuredly a Forty-Niner! Here's a nose-on image of "Snake Bite" Bob Vaught's 9th FS/49th FG "Bob's Robin" for your consideration:<br />
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It's possible we've seen this particular shot before, since "Bob's Robin" was frequently photographed during the 49th's Darwin days, but it's new to me. The image doesn't show us anything we haven't already seen but that airplane, shoved back into the bush for concealment, truly does tell a story. Gerry Kersey Collection<br />
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Those guys from the early, dark days in the Southwest Pacific were really something. They stood up when they were called, and they set the bar for all who followed. Need we say it? Let's raise a glass!<br />
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<b>A Bonus From Bobby</b><br />
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There's not a whole lot to say about this next photograph except that it illustrates an exceedingly well-worn P-38. We don't know the unit, the location, the pilot, or even the model variant, but the image is worth running for those of you contemplating building a Tamiya P-38. Don't pay undue attention to the shade of OD exhibited, color shift and real-life fading being what they are, but note the somewhat extreme weathering exhibited. Are you up for a modeling challenge on your new Tamiya P-38?<br />
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OK; have at it! The chipping exhibited here appears to go right down to bare metal along the leading edges of the wings---what a mess, eh? Good luck with that model! Rocker Collection<br />
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<b>So You Bought the Kit</b><br />
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And now you're looking for something to do with your Czech Model JRC-1<i> Bobcat</i>, right? Here's an idea that might have escaped your consideration:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vTOZt-otpaU/Xfv2gGYS1cI/AAAAAAAAJ2U/MT_CEGLxREEouQvew9C9aEt2d7aq8JgBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/JRC-1%2BWheels-Up%2BLanding%2BNAS%2B%2BAtlantic%2BCity%252C%2BNJ%2B1946%2B%2528Ted%2BStone%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1600" height="187" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vTOZt-otpaU/Xfv2gGYS1cI/AAAAAAAAJ2U/MT_CEGLxREEouQvew9C9aEt2d7aq8JgBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/JRC-1%2BWheels-Up%2BLanding%2BNAS%2B%2BAtlantic%2BCity%252C%2BNJ%2B1946%2B%2528Ted%2BStone%2529%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Jim Sullivan's personal photo archives are vast indeed, and you just never know what you'll find in there. Take this, for example; a Cessna JRC-1 Bobcat used by the station flight at NAS Atlantic City in 1946. The airplane is silver dope with a black anti-glare panel, and we're willing to go out on a limb and suggest the backs of the props are black as well. It's a simple scheme and would look great on that recent 1/48th scale Czech Model kit. You don't even need custom decals to do it, either; appropriately-sized black lettering in the font illustrated will get the job done, even though we can't read the BuNo on the vertical. Ted Stone via Sullivan Collection<br />
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<b>Another Way to Do It</b><br />
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There are a lot of folks out there who do what we'll call nostalgia modeling, taking older kits, maybe even from the 1950s, and building them for display, quite often on a stand. Say what you will about that old stuff, but those kits look pretty good when mounted on a stand and sitting on a desk. Take the concept (putting stuff on stands, that is) and bring it up to the present day, but using a near-contemporary kit instead of one of the old-timers, and you can get some amazing results. Take this model, a B-47E by Stan Kurcz, for example:<br />
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Holy cow, Martha, would you look at that?! This particular <i>Stratojet </i>is in 1/144th scale, which we presume makes it the MiniCraft offering, and it's a thing of beauty, as well as the perfect airplane for a display piece in that scale. The silver finish is predominately Alclad, with assorted subtle weathering techniques added. Stan hails from IPMS Butch O'Hare in Chicago and we've got a few other models of his to show you in the months ahead. Stan Kurcz<br />
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<b>The Stars at Night</b><br />
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That's the lead-in to a song about Texas, although our final airplane for today only has one star; a great honking big one back on the vertical stab:<br />
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Your editor (that's me!) shot this immaculate F-101B-90-MC, 57-0348, during a photo visit with Houston's ANG facility at Ellington way back in December of 1980. We loved the way the 111th FIS/147th FIG painted their brutish interceptors back the and we still love the paint job today. Check out that line mechanic for scale. Yep; the <i>Voodoo</i> was a big airplane! Phillip Friddell<br />
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<b>It Wouldn't Be <i>Replica in Scale</i></b><br />
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Without a contribution from Norman Camou. Here's an essential piece on the struggle for Guadalcanal for your education and enjoyment:<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFKQQYulHgA&app=desktop">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFKQQYulHgA&app=desktop</a><br />
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No; this video isn't the usual WW2 footage with Lowell Thomas or similar doing the narration, but rather a scholarly symposium on the battle. It's well worth a watch---thanks as always to Norman for finding these gems for us!<br />
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<b>Happy Snaps</b><br />
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Yep; it's another <i>Happy Snap</i>, the first in a while!<br />
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A KC-130T (162311) of VMGR-234 tanks a section of Grumman EA-6B <i>Prowlers </i>from VAQ-141 near Puerto Rico on 17 November 1989. It's a fitting image to close out 2019 with, and a sad reminder that we have to deface our otherwise superior photographic contributions because of those darned Picture Pirates. You guys really ought to be ashamed of yourselves... Rick Morgan<br />
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<b>The Relief Tube</b><br />
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Yes, really! We have a <i>Relief Tub</i>e entry for this edition, from our friend Eric Methieu concerning the identify of a Piper YL-21 that we ran way back in September of 2011!<br />
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<i>Hello!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I suppose you already have the answers about two pictures of Piper L-21. 8 years ago!!!
I think this aircraft is a Piper YL-21 Super Cub serial 51-6496. Thanks to Joe Baugher's site. 16496 is barely visible on the fin. </i><br />
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<i>Cordialement </i><br />
<i>Eric "Badluck" Mathieu from France</i><br />
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Many thanks for the comment, Eric---it's never too late to add to or correct a caption around here! We appreciate your contribution!<br />
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And that's it for this issue, and also for the year 2019! You've probably noticed how brief this installment is, but rest assured it's not the beginning of a trend! We haven't published a whole lot of late and it would have run this edition into next year if we'd continued work on it---the simple truth is we want to publish it now, before the year ends. Please be patient and stay with us, because we've got a ton of really interesting photography to share with you in the months ahead, but until then be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon!<br />
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philphillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-72903373515508219982019-11-18T15:24:00.000-06:002019-11-26T08:10:16.589-06:00So Many Choices, Texas Phantoms, A Polystyrene Fort, An Emil, An Aussie Hawk, Down in the Weeds, and A Couple From Norm<b>So Many Choices, Mostly Flawed</b><br />
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Or to put it another way; Huh?<br />
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A couple of days ago I was reading the handful of modeling boards that constitute the beginning of cognizance for me on most mornings and I noticed a thematic trend, or maybe I didn't notice a trend at all and am simply making this up for the sake of a lead-in to today's somewhat deranged meandering. Which one doesn't matter. You have to start somewhere, right?<br />
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Here's the premise. It's one you're all familiar with because it comes around a couple of times a year, each and every year, but it always amazes me so by simple association it must surely amaze you as well. Well, maybe it does or maybe it doesn't, but the topic of the hour is Kits I Want Somebody to Produce For Me. It's a simple topic if taken at face value: Nobody makes a decent kit, or makes one in my chosen scale, or makes one at all, of the (fill in the blank here), which happens to be my very favorite airplane ever, one which I want more than anything else in the whole entire universe, and somebody ought to do that. Somebody really ought to.<br />
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Let's think about Somebody who ought to make that kit for just a minute, because the term encompasses quite a bit of territory, starting with the guys who produce a handful of kits out of resin, maybe in their garage, and running right up to the big-name manufacturers of polystyrene kits, with all sorts of permutations within those boundaries. Somebody ought to devine (that means figure out) the kit I want, design and produce it to Tamiya standards, and sell it at a price I can easily afford, but that won't happen if I'm the only one who wants it, so lets take a poll, or have a survey, or do <i>something</i>, doggone it, because I/we really really want that kit!<br />
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Here's how it works. Somebody starts a thread on one of those boards by asking which airplane the readership most wants to see produced in whatever medium may be under discussion, which in turn produces a veritable cascade of I Wants from Said Readership. Some of the I Wants will have considerable merit, some will be somewhat questionable, while a large percentage will fall into that rabbit hole that lives out there in They Don't Know How This Works In The Real World Land. Don't believe me? Try these on for size, then:<br />
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The B-36, in 1/48th or 1/32nd scale. Yes; that very thing actually shows up on lists from time to time. There's at least one kit out there in 1/144th, and there's Monogram's magnificent effort in 1/72nd, but that latter offering never sold well when it was new because of size and cost so bigger might not necessarily be better---maybe that one's not such a great idea after all...<br />
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American jet fighters of the 1950s, to include the Century Series. Almost any of those could be legitimate to some extent, because most of the available kits are old and getting older by the minute, or of extremely mediocre quality, but there's a catch. (There's always a catch!) There are folks out there who would like a state-of-the-art Lockheed F-90, or a Chance Vought F6U, but you can count those folks on the fingers of one hand (which means zero interest from the big name manufacturers) and besides, we can't even get a slat-wing F-86 in most of the available scales, much less a <i>Pirate</i>. Add to that general mayhem the rather obvious fact that the variant of our hypothetical 50s jet fighter that someone actually chooses to kit won't ever be the one people will go out and buy, even if that variant is the exact same one they put on their Gotta Have One lists. They'll ask for a C-model and get it, and then bemoan the fact that they didn't get an A-model too or instead of. Go figure, right?<br />
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'Tween the Wars and Great War biplanes of any sort are in there too, and I have to admit the prospect of that one definitely gets <i>me </i>excited, but the folks who manufacture kits of such things are few and far between and the kits are almost invariably poor sellers, Wingnut Wings notwithstanding.<br />
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One-offs of any era. Decent kits of airplanes like The <i>Spirit of St Louis </i>will sell, usually. So will the true oddballs, but they'll only sell to a small circle of enthusiasts and therein lies the rub!<br />
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People who make short-run kits out of resin, or by way of 3D printing, or vacuumforms, or with tissue paper and popsicle sticks, tend to do it as a labor of love, but at some point even the most altruistic of those folks would like to receive some degree of adequate financial compensation for their efforts, if only to cover their costs as opposed to producing their short-run kits at a continual loss. The big companies who produce kits out of injection-molded polystyrene have a completely different business model; the guy in the garage can break even and consider it a Good Thing because he loves what he's doing, but those big guys who have employees and overhead to deal with need to make a lot more money than that, an event that will never occur if they chose to invest in 1/32nd scale kits of the legendary (and entirely mythical) Humbly Pudge Heavyish Bomber.<br />
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There's the kicker then, which also happens to be The Point: You want one of whatever-it-is, you get a bunch of people on those modeling boards excited and wanting one too, and some manufacturer, large or small but almost inevitably either heavily dedicated to the hobby or just not very bright, takes the bait and produces one. Its retail cost, medium, and degree of sophistication reflect the slings and arrows of research, tooling, production and probably overhead, and that guy who started the whole thing in the first place decides not to buy one because it costs more than he wants it to, a price that, in the eye of the requestor, is often just barely more expensive than Free. Most of his friends don't buy one either, possibly because <i>they </i>never really wanted one in the first place. The eventual bottom line gets us to the inevitable part where the manufacturer thinks twice before ever going down that road again. Don't believe me? Look around!<br />
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One the other hand, we're actually getting some of the things we thought we'd never see, like that new F-51H that, so there's always hope. I wouldn't hold my breath over the Humbly Pudge bomber, though...<br />
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<b>Phantoms in the TXANG</b><br />
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San Antonio's 149th TFG has been in the fighter business for quite a while, and for a portion of that career, back during the late 1970s through the late 1980s, were flying the legendary Double Ugly, the mighty McDonnell Douglas F-4C <i>Phantom II</i>. I used to get out to their ramp from time to time and would like to share one of those adventures with you, from a shoot in November of 1979.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xd73GA12i2w/XdGtBJCXgCI/AAAAAAAAJxY/vzqAifstcJYy01N_ApjrnRHVop3dUF-DQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-4C-15-MC%252C%2B63-7419%252C%2B182nd%2BTFS%2B149th%2BTFG%252C%2BKelly%2BAFB%2B03%2BNov%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="1600" height="171" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xd73GA12i2w/XdGtBJCXgCI/AAAAAAAAJxY/vzqAifstcJYy01N_ApjrnRHVop3dUF-DQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-4C-15-MC%252C%2B63-7419%252C%2B182nd%2BTFS%2B149th%2BTFG%252C%2BKelly%2BAFB%2B03%2BNov%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Here's a fine example of a Charlie-model F-4 in TXANG service. 63-7419, an F-4C-15-MC <i>Phantom </i>basks in the sunshine on the 149th's ramp at what used to be Kelly AFB. There's no tailcode, but otherwise this particular example of "Double Ugly" could have been any one of a great many F-4s in service with the Air Force, the Guard, or the Reserves during that era. 419 was undergoing pre-flight when I took this photograph. Friddell<br />
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There's nothing quite like a sunny ramp full of <i>Phantoms </i>to get your interest up! 63-0625 was an F-4C-20-MC and there was absolutely nothing special about her that day except for the "TEXAS" ribbon across her vertical stab. Things look fairly placid in this particular shot, but the 149th was, and still is to this day, a highly professional and proficient fighter outfit. Did flying the F-4 help that image back in The Day? Oh yes it did! Friddell<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SKDswsmcBEQ/XdGvlEm4tXI/AAAAAAAAJxw/9fzu7jq-NpknskcuqiRekk9r88aovQhwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-4C-23-MC%252C%2B64-0750%252C%2B182nd%2BTFS%2B149th%2BTFG%252C%2BKelly%2BAFB%2B03%2BNov%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="1600" height="183" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SKDswsmcBEQ/XdGvlEm4tXI/AAAAAAAAJxw/9fzu7jq-NpknskcuqiRekk9r88aovQhwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-4C-23-MC%252C%2B64-0750%252C%2B182nd%2BTFS%2B149th%2BTFG%252C%2BKelly%2BAFB%2B03%2BNov%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Modern aircraft, "modern" in this case being anything built for the USAF after 1955 or so, are often covered in stencilled warnings and instructions and 64-0750, an F-4C-23-MC of the 149th, illustrates that practice to an almost ridiculous extent. Yikes! On a more modeler-friendly note, the 149th was tasked with the air-to-mud mission during the late 70s, as attested to by the gun pod and TERs attached to this airframe. If I were a betting man, I'd say she was on her way to move a little sand at the gunnery range on Matagorda Island but then again maybe not. Still, she <i>is </i>loaded with that pod... Friddell<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rkYo4XZlZQU/XdGw2lCDEkI/AAAAAAAAJx8/ktSRS81bqfodZTAjJ4orFXfX_1cMfV5lwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-4C-24-MC%252C%2B64-0827%252C%2B182nd%2BTFS%2B149th%2BTFG%252C%2BKelly%2BAFB%252C%2B03%2BNov%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1600" height="194" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rkYo4XZlZQU/XdGw2lCDEkI/AAAAAAAAJx8/ktSRS81bqfodZTAjJ4orFXfX_1cMfV5lwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-4C-24-MC%252C%2B64-0827%252C%2B182nd%2BTFS%2B149th%2BTFG%252C%2BKelly%2BAFB%252C%2B03%2BNov%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
64-0827 was wearing a pod that day as well, and she's got TERs on her inboard stations too. Modelers take note of that gas bag; it's dented and the paint demarcation line on its nose cap doesn't match that of the main tank body. The devil's in the details, as this F-4C-24-MC attests! Friddell<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZtvIb8VoLtg/XdGx4sNxb-I/AAAAAAAAJyI/1mc_zOLLdsY2hySooIrmjzyfcsurNjxjQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/F-4C-24-MC%252C%2B64-0879%252C%2B182nd%2BTFS%2B149th%2BTFG%252C%2BKelly%2BAFB%2B03%2BNov%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1061" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZtvIb8VoLtg/XdGx4sNxb-I/AAAAAAAAJyI/1mc_zOLLdsY2hySooIrmjzyfcsurNjxjQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/F-4C-24-MC%252C%2B64-0879%252C%2B182nd%2BTFS%2B149th%2BTFG%252C%2BKelly%2BAFB%2B03%2BNov%2B79%252C%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
In somewhat striking contrast here's a view of 64-0879, another F-4C-24-MC, carrying nothing underneath her airframe other than the inboard stations, although those <i>are</i> fitted with TERs. It's hard to call the <i>Phantom II </i>a pretty airplane no matter what configuration a given airplane might be in, but the type does look kindof classy when it's all cleaned up. Friddell<br />
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I'm personally not a very big fan of straight-on profile views of airplanes; I think they're just too darned clinical and sterile, but a lot of people prefer that. Here's a view of 64-0918, an F-4C-25-MC, that I photographed for those who enjoy such things. Let me be clear about that last statement, though; if you'd care to submit photographs of American military aircraft for possible use on this site (at replicainscaleatyahoodotcom ) I'm perfectly cool with clinical side views! They aren't a first choice, doggone it, but who am I to ever say no to a decent picture of an airplane? Friddell<br />
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That's it for today's look at the immortal "Phantoom", although you can pretty much bet you'll be seeing more of the type in the months ahead. We're fond of the <i>Phantom II </i>around here, dontchaknow? <br />
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<b>One Big Honkin' Flying Fortress</b><br />
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By now you've all noticed that certain folks show up repetitively on these pages. One such individual is Norman Camou, who has supported us with a seemingly endless supply of really neat YouTube links to aviation topics and, more recently, with photographs of some of his models. Here's yet another example of the latter:<br />
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HK happens to make an extremely attractive B-17G kit in 1/32nd scale, and Norm turned his talents to building one of them a while back. This photograph says a lot for the overall quality of the kit and, more importantly, for Norm's not-inconsiderable talents. The completed model is a big 'un, and takes up a fair amount of space when on display, but the kit has been designed in a manner to allow the wings to be removed and reattached, thus simplifying storage when the beast isn't on display. We like it! Norman Camou<br />
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Norm's B-17G is seriously cool, but that shot is also the <i>only</i> photograph of a completed model we've received here since I asked for such submissions last issue. No, wait; Frank Emmett <i>did </i>send me a couple of pictures of some model railroad buildings he's working on for a mutual friend of ours, but nobody else has, so I'd like to re-extend the invitation to you all. Remember that title: <i>Replica in Scale</i>? That "replica" part means models, ya'll! I happen to like what Norm's doing, and I tend to like what I'm doing as well but it's a far bigger world than that so how about it? Do you build? Do you build to a reasonable standard? Then you're our guy or gal! Photos should be in JPG format if possible and large enough to present well. You don't get paid for them, nor do you receive any sort of prize, but you probably <i>will </i>get your fifteen minutes of fame if we publish one of your photos. That e-mail addy, suitably gomed-up to mess with The Spam Brigade, is replicainscaleatyahoodotcom .<br />
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<b>Willy in the Balkans</b><br />
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Or one of his creations, anyway. This one's a reproduction of a JG27 BF-109E-7 in use during the latter stages of <i>Operation Marita</i>, Mr Hitler's ultimately flawed excursion into the Balkans, and is from the much maligned 1/32nd scale Eduard kit:<br />
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Several years ago our friends over at Eduard made an attempt at breaking into the lucrative 1/32nd scale model airplane market but their premier attempt fell flat. The list of things that needed correction on that initial kit was lengthy and somewhat damning, and the kit was a severe disappointment in consequence although it was, and remains, quite buildable. In this view you can see one of the significant issues; Eduard's treatment of the fabric control surfaces. I rather obviously didn't fix them, but you could if you wanted to. I also didn't bother to put the hand-holds in the windscreen corners and I really should have done that, but such is life! Friddell<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h5SFjgNAu7A/XdG7awX_AOI/AAAAAAAAJy4/S3TQ0iQPtjw47lbBB6NmJ8P2y_m-ZvRqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Eduard%2BBf109E-7%252C%2BJG-27%252C%2B1-32nd%2BScale%252C%2BFriddell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1349" data-original-width="1600" height="269" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h5SFjgNAu7A/XdG7awX_AOI/AAAAAAAAJy4/S3TQ0iQPtjw47lbBB6NmJ8P2y_m-ZvRqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Eduard%2BBf109E-7%252C%2BJG-27%252C%2B1-32nd%2BScale%252C%2BFriddell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
This photo shows something I actually did correct, and you should too if you choose to build this model: As things come out of the box the slats on the wing leading edges are just too darned deep, chord-wise, and look pretty silly if you know how the real airplane appears in comparison. Fortunately the fix is an easy one, simply a matter of laying in a filler strip in the slat well (which is actually incorrect on almost every 109 kit ever made that allows for dropped slats, not just Eduard's, because there isn't any deep slat bay there at all) and then trimming back the slat itself. The mlg tires and wheels on this model are from an Aires accessory set meant for the 1/32nd scale Bf109F family, while the lawn-tractor tread has been sanded off the kit tailwheel and said edifice slightly reshaped. It looks ok, don't you think? Friddell<br />
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On the other hand, the Eduard kit just isn't very good when taken as a serious replica of the E-series Bf109s. There are some dimensional issues that are difficult to address in addition to other flawed details, and there's actually no point in building one if you have the far better Dragon offering available to you BUT that's with a huge caveat. The kit is extremely buildable, and it looks pretty good once it's done, but like we said, it isn't accurate out of the box and getting it up to a higher level of fidelity to the real thing is a chore at best. It can be done, of course; just go over and visit the fine folks at <i>BritModeller </i>and look for examples of what some of their contributors have done with the kit if you don't believe me. The point is that a decent-looking, if somewhat inaccurate, model can be produced from the kit. Would I enter this model in a contest? No; I would not. Would I put this model in my 1/32nd scale <i>Luftwaffe</i> collection as an adequate representation of a late <i>Emil</i>? Yes I would, and in point of fact I have. It's all something about the eye of the beholder, if I'm not mistaken...<br />
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<b>A Nifty <i>Warhawk </i>From Bobby</b><br />
<b><br /></b>An issue of <i>Replica </i>just wouldn't be the same if we didn't offer a photo or two of the war in the Pacific from Bobby Rocker's extensive archives. Let's begin with a really nice P-40N:<br />
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This is such a neat photo I had to run it, although I don't know all that much about it. It was taken on Biak in 1944, which should make it from either 78 or 80 Sqdn RAAF, but I'm not sure which. What I am sure of is that it's a well-worn P-40N (Warhawk Mk IV) and its overall appearance makes it a wonderful candidate for a scale model. Notice in particular the generally disreputable appearance of the lower wing between the landing gear fairings and the outer guns, and the heavy lead deposits on the exhaust stacks, the result of cruising the aircraft with an extremely lean throttle mixture. The devil's in the details, as they say, and there are a whole bunch of those details visible here! Rocker Collection<br />
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<b>Just How Low Is Low?</b><br />
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Yep; that's a rhetorical question, and one that makes no sense without a context. Let's consider the American 5th Air Force in the Southwest Pacific as context then, because Low had a whole lot of meaning for them, at least where their attack aircraft and medium bombers were concerned.<br />
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How about this one for starters? It's somewhat of an enigma in our world since we don't know the serial number, nor do we know if there's different artwork on her port side, although we'd willing to bet there is. What we do know is that she was an A-20G with the 90th BS in 1944, and she was one impressive-looking airplane! Rocker Collection<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xkL6sxrNfQ0/XdLICOK0Y3I/AAAAAAAAJzk/2HcX9tlSBio9-2dXxebOg_Ku7QFHI557gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/01%2BA%2BStrafer%2BOwi%2BIsland%2B42-64809%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="897" height="202" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xkL6sxrNfQ0/XdLICOK0Y3I/AAAAAAAAJzk/2HcX9tlSBio9-2dXxebOg_Ku7QFHI557gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/01%2BA%2BStrafer%2BOwi%2BIsland%2B42-64809%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Of course, there was a price to be paid in the SWPAC, even if you were in a smokin' hot outfit and flew an airplane like the B-25G. By 1943 the odds were mostly in your favor, but that didn't eliminate the danger altogether because, besides the Japanese, you still had to contend with capricious weather and extremely poor operational conditions each and every time you got in the airplane. We don't know for sure which one of those things did in this 499th BS <i>Mitchell</i>, but we suspect the place to be Owi Island and it would appear her crew got out ok. It wasn't always that way. Rocker Collection<br />
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Here's a really poor photograph of another B-25G, this time undergoing maintenance, for your consideration. Think about what you're looking at for a minute, and let's put it in the proper context. Let's pretend like you're doing major repair work on your car, and let's pretend you live in the Florida Everglades and your driveway is on the edge of a swamp. Let's add heat, humidity, bugs, snakes, and the occasional air raid to your repair efforts. That was every day for those guys; every stinkin' day, and they got it done every day. Every stinkin' day! Rocker Collection<br />
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Every once in a while Bobby will send along a photo that's carrying a caption. Such is the case with this shot of "Mexican Spitfire", a B-25D from the 500th BS of the 345th BW. She's obviously seen the elephant more than a few times, and will eventually see it one time too many. There were no easy days in the 5th AF, not ever. Rocker Collection<br />
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<b>And Now For Another <i>Havoc</i></b><br />
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Just one, but it's a SPECIAL one! Take a look and see if you don't agree!<br />
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Ok; everybody who's seen this photo of an 89th BS A-20 undergoing field maintenance (in the truest sense of that term, we might add) raise your hand. Got it! Now; everybody who's seen this image more than once, including right here on this very site, raise your hand again. Yep, it's true. We've all seen this airplane before, but most of the prints out there are pretty iffy at best and you can't really see the airplane, which means you can't tell she's carrying nose art and the name "Daisy Mae", along with a bunch of mission markers. This particular image is better than most and you actually can see those things this time around. Don't thank us; thank James Gallagher! James P. Gallagher<br />
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There are two sides to every story---here's the largely unknown other side of "Daisy Mae"! This photo defines even more details about 0146; note in particular the U.S. Army logo still under her wings. Many thanks to Gerry Kersey for sharing this image from Gus O'Donnell, 89th BS crew chief. O'Donnell Collection via Kersey<br />
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And finally, just when you thought things couldn't possibly get any better, here's a detail of the name, mission markers, and part of the nose art on "Daisy Mae"! Jack Taylor was her pilot and we'd like to raise a glass to him and all those like him. They were a special breed! John Taylor Collection via Gerry Kersey<br />
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Many thanks to Gerry Kersey, both for correcting some misinformation we had on this aircraft and for supplying the additional images. The help is greatly appreciated!<br />
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<b>Links From Norm</b><br />
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Frequent contributor Norman Camou, a man who's becoming ever more prominent on these electronic pages, sends in all sorts of really neat aviation-related links, sometimes several a week. Here are a couple of them for your enjoyment:<br />
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First is a link to an A-4 story from the Naval Institute's on-line magazine that might be of interest to you:<br />
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<a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2019/december/skyhawk-down">https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2019/december/skyhawk-down</a><br />
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And then THIS jewel, off of YouTube and an absolute must-see if you have any interest whatsoever in the Naval air war in the Pacific:<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9rkKtK1b44&app=desktop">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9rkKtK1b44&app=desktop</a><br />
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And finally, there's this:<br />
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<a href="https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/pearl-harbor">https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/pearl-harbor</a><br />
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A few minutes with any of these should prove well worth your time!<br />
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<b>See You Later, Alligator!</b><br />
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Which is a relatively goofy way of saying we're done for this particular issue. We should be back once more before we're done with 2019, though so watch this space and be good to your neighbor!<br />
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philphillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6526572295670324822.post-5836245758107390922019-09-28T08:11:00.002-05:002019-10-07T12:58:40.173-05:00An Early Lightning, Part of a SpAD, An Unusual Zipper, A Contrast in SAMs, "Hun" Addendum, A Couple of Fords, and A Recce 'Doo<br />
<b>I'll Bet He Never Built It</b><br />
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He, in this particular case, being the guy who drafted the instructions for the WingNut Wings Halberstadt family of kits (all both of them!). I say this with a sense of considerable regret, because I'm a big, no; make that HUGE, fan of their kits. I've got several in the closet waiting for the inspiration to start them, as well as several (that Junkers J.1 you saw here a couple of issues back and several Albatri) completed and on display in my studio. They're big, as 1/32nd scale kits should be, they're well-detailed, as any decent kit from the 21st Century should be, they look absolutely great on display, and every one of them was a little fussy to build.<br />
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You heard me right; they were all fussy to build in some area or another, but not for the reasons that might immediately come to your mind. The pieces fit just fine, for the most part, and the industrial design of the kits leaves nothing to be desired. If you build any of them correctly they'll go together beautifully and without problem, but there's a major qualifier to that statement---you <i>have</i> to read the instructions, and not just for the step you're working on. No indeedy; you can't just follow the instructions and zip right along ala Tamiya or Airfix. You've got to read ahead to the next couple of steps too. Got to. Have to. Absolutely. Positively. You cannot, not ever, just take what you're looking at and accept it at face value because you will inevitably discover that the piece you need to attach in Step Whatever-It-Is could have easily been attached a step or two before but has, thanks to the way the instructions are written, become an exercise in patience and, perhaps, black magic, when incorporated when said instructions say to do it if you do indeed want that part to reside on or within the finished model. If you'd only known!<br />
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We're not, however, indulging in Sir Peter Bashing, nor are we particularly unhappy with the individual(s) who write the instructions for his otherwise superb kits. Our world is bigger than that, so let's jump right ahead to the part where we say what we actually mean.<br />
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The premise is this: We, which is to say me, are convinced that the instruction writer for some if not all of those outstanding WNW kits doesn't actually build the models he or she pens said instructions for, or at least doesn't assemble any of them the way the instructions that come with the kits say to do it.<br />
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Then again, we can remember the time another well-known kit manufacturer defined a new release of theirs as the most accurate of its kind ever released, an edifice right up there with the second coming of the significant religious figure of your choosing, and we can remember the folks who run a couple of prominent electronic modeling magazines announcing that it was indeed so, and even stating that those Kit's of the Second Coming had been measured, which they obviously hadn't been, and were spot-on accurate, which they equally obviously were not. For that matter, and while we're talking about on-line modeling magazines, how about those seemingly endless I'm Right and You're an Idiot disputes about accuracy that people all too frequently become embroiled in on their forums regarding kits that, as of the moment of that particular electronic dispute, only exist as CAD renderings?<br />
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OK; ramble, ramble, ramble; there he goes again! Is there a point to this drivel? Why yes; there is! Here's the part we're going to define as The Take-away for today's meandering:<br />
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Sometimes the people who write the instructions for our kits don't build actually them and may, in fact, have never even held the sprues of their constituent plastic components in their hands. (No; we're most assuredly not accusing WNW of that particular transgression so put that Orc, or whatever the heck it is, back in its box!). Sometimes the editors of electronic magazines get fooled by the previously impeccable reputation of a given kit manufacturer and don't actually perform their own due diligence on certain kits, and those Internet Flame War Guys couldn't possibly know the truth about a kit that doesn't exist yet. Further, those two seemingly unrelated things actually come from the same container; they're related and, somewhat sadly, becoming increasingly frequent in our polystyrene and resin world. And that, my friends, is the point. If you did it, then you did it. If you didn't do it and in point of fact couldn't do it or wouldn't do it but said or implied that you had, or did it wrong and claimed for all the world to see that you'd done it correctly, then you didn't do it and shame on you.<br />
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On a personal level, I've been involved with this hobby for a very long time and am generally able to figure out an after-the-fact way to deal with that part that should have been installed a step or two previously but wasn't, or measure the pieces of a kit before sticking them together (not that I always do it myself!), or throw the bovine defecation flag when someone who has yet to see the kit he or she is bashing engages in public and highly vocal criticism of it. I can do that, as can most of my modeling friends, but quite often the Brand New Modeler can't. The experience isn't there so that comment you just made, or that review, or that mis-step in the instruction sheet, jumps from being a mere point of humor or a minor annoyance into a really big thing that can actually cause serious problems for said Newby. It can also cause Said Newby to stop buying that particular brand of kit, or stop building a certain type of model, or maybe even leave the hobby altogether if the experience was bad enough.<br />
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In my own personal world figuring out what the guy who wrote the instructions actually meant is part of the fun of it, as is fixing the construction mistakes I inevitably make with or without that particular writer's unwitting assistance. It's somewhat less fun to buy a kit that someone gave a glowing review of, given the current asking price of most modern polystyrene kits of recent manufacture, only to find that it's not at all what I expected it to be or was told that it was. <i>Caveat emptor</i> is a very real thing and at the end of the day we're all the captain of our own ship, but it's nice when things are actually what they're made out to be.<br />
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Just sayin'...<br />
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<b>Jumping On That P-38 Bandwagon</b><br />
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The modeling world is currently all agog at Tamiya's recent announcement of a 1/48th scale kit of the P-38F/G, and we have to admit that we're in there agogging with the best of them. It's a kit whose time has most assuredly come, and one that we can't wait to get our hands on. The early P-38s saw extensive combat useage in the Pacific, from the Solomons to the Aleutian Islands, and thanks to Bobby Rocker we've got a couple of examples of the former to share with you today.<br />
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Here we are, an early P-38G <i>Lightning </i>of the 339th FS/347th FG sitting on the ground, most likely on Gualdalcanal. Noteworthy are the early corcardes, post-red center but pre-bars, and the sit of the airplane, which implies that it's fueled and armed. The photo may have been taken immediately prior to engine start since there appears to be a pilot in the cockpit, but we have no way of knowing that, and we're willing to bet there's nose art on the port side of the fuselage as well although, yet once again, we don't know what it might look like. At any rate, it's an interesting photograph from a challenging period in AAF history. Rocker Collection<br />
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You say you want to do some authentic-appearing weathering on your brand new Tamiya P-38G once you get it built? Well, here's a great example of just what that weathering should look like. If you look at the nose you can see where the major panels were taped off for the long ocean voyage to New Caledonia prior to prep and delivery to a combat area, and the paint on the entire airframe is pretty severely and uniformly weathered. There's a nose number but no nose art or kill markings as yet, although there's a fair chance this aircraft is Rex Barber's Yamamoto mission mount from the 339th FS/347th FG. Those ground echelon guys are in pretty high cotton since there's a maintenance stand next to the airplane, but they've still got to contend with the heat, the insects, and the Japanese. There were never any easy days in the Solomons. Not ever. Rocker Collection<br />
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One further note regarding this pair of photographs: Both Bobby Rocker and Jack Fellows think those airplanes were most likely sitting on the strip at Fighter Two on Guadalcanal and I'm in no position to dispute that. Thanks as always to Bobby, and to Jack, for sharing the photos and for their insight.<br />
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<b>I Could've, I Should've and I Didn't, But It's Still Useful</b><br />
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By which obtuse title I mean the photograph we're about to view. I made my first attempt at aviation photography in 1972, at a Randolph AFB open house attended by the staff of the original <i>Replica in Scale</i>. It was a wonderful opportunity I totally wasted by shooting details of airplanes without taking more than one or two photos of an entire example of same. Here---See what I mean?<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qHljdV2efBs/XWl3Xvi_gAI/AAAAAAAAJvA/5qTeNGHRRaEDT_hv07cCL7QcWzOA5T8bQCLcBGAs/s1600/A-1J%252C%2B52820%252C%2B1st%2BSOW%2Bat%2BRandolph%2B18%2BJune%2B72%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qHljdV2efBs/XWl3Xvi_gAI/AAAAAAAAJvA/5qTeNGHRRaEDT_hv07cCL7QcWzOA5T8bQCLcBGAs/s320/A-1J%252C%2B52820%252C%2B1st%2BSOW%2Bat%2BRandolph%2B18%2BJune%2B72%2BPhillip%2BFriddell%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
By 1972 the Douglas <i>Skyraider </i>was an endangered species, almost totally gone from the Navy and Marine Corps and quickly disappearing from the Air Force inventory as well, but there were still a few around, one of which showed up at Randolph at a 1972 armed forces day celebration and public display. It's pretty obvious that someone put more than a little TLC into getting the airplane ready for its appearance but it was still a well-used A-1H and the one new thing about it, those shiny wheels, were totally incongruous in consequence. As a record of this particular 1st SOW airframe (52820) it's a fairly useless image but it does provide a fine look at paint chipping and the general wear and tear associated with continuous use in an operational (but not combat) environment. Phillip Friddell<br />
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<b>A Peculiar Zipper</b><br />
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As our readers may or may not remember the AIM-9 <i>Sidewinder </i>family of air-to-air missiles was a child of the Navy, but the birthing of that particular child came with a catch: The NAV was going to use the weapon in conjunction with its jet fighters, both already in service and projected, but there was a catch. It seemed that the Navy didn't have anything in service in the late 1950s that offered the performance it would have once the F8U <i>Crusader </i>and F4H <i>Phantom II </i>became available as production/service aircraft, which left a substantial gap in testing the <i>Sidewinder </i>under operational supersonic conditions. The obvious solution to the problem was to borrow a couple of the Air Force's supersonic <i>Century Series </i>fighters for the job, which in turn led to the loan of 3 F-104As to the Navy from the 83rd FIS' inventory, a task made easier by the type's impending 1960 removal from the Air Defense Command inventory.<br />
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A sight you don't see every day; an F-104A assigned to the Navy and wearing contemporary Navy markings, right down to the Air Force serial number being presented on the aft fuselage in the style of a Navy BuNo. 56-0740 was built as an F-104A-5-LO and was in active use at China Lake in March of 1960, when this photo was taken. It's service with the NAV didn't last very long, however, as it crashed to destruction with the loss of its pilot on 22 September 1960. Navy via Replica in Scale<br />
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Here's the reason for the loan of those airplanes: An early AIM-9B sits on its wingtip launcher on 0740 prior to another test flight. It's interesting to note that the F-104 lasted far longer than anyone would ever have thought possible, albeit in foreign rather than US service, and highly improved variations of the <i>Sidewinder</i> are still in service as this is written. A simple airplane with a simple missile---there's something to be said for that combination, at least under the proper circumstances! Navy via Replica in Scale<br />
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<b>Ground to Air Plastic</b><br />
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Norman Camou normally educates us all with those outstanding YouTube videos he discovers and submits for us every issue, but today the contribution is a little different:<br />
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Our hobby used to be full of all sorts of neat things, from plastic kits of birds and spaceships to the then-latest (read "largely imaginary") jet fighters and bombers. The IM-98 and 99 <i>Bomarc </i>missiles were an early, and largely flawed, American attempt at a surfact to air missile that could protect the Continental United States and Canada from enemy attacks routed over the north pole, while the Bachem Ba349 <i>Natter</i> was a Second World War German attempt at a similar weapon aimed at stopping the ever-growing fleets of Allied bombers then pulverizing Mr. Hitler's Third Reich. While differing in concept (the <i>Natter</i> was designed to be manned and was of decidedly short range), both were considered to be serious answers to the question of air defense in their respective times. Norman took a comparative approach with the two weapons, to the end illusrated here. We admire that sort of thing and don't think there's nearly enough of it in our hobby! Norman Camou<br />
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While we're talking about such things, let's consider a new section for this effort. The title says we're a modeling publication when we rarely are, so how about submitting pictures of your models for publication every once in a while? The parameters are simple: Well built and reasonably accurate, and having something to do with the sort of thing we write about on these electronic pages, which is to say no dinosaurs, fantasy figures, etc---those guys already have their own sites and we do airplanes here, along with the occasional missile, so let's keep it to that, ok? Ok! If you're interested, please send your submissions to replicainscaleatyahoodotcom, but substituting the approprate @ and . symbols where we used words. (Get thee hence; accursed spammers!) This is strictly an ego thing on your part, by the way, because we can't and don't pay for photographs or anything else around here; it's a BLOG, for cryin' out loud, but we'd really like to see what you've been building!<br />
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<b>More On Those MoANG Huns</b><br />
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Reader Joe Vincent, a man who might be familiar to many of you, logged 171 combat missions in the F-100D while serving with the 309th TFS/31st TFW between October of 1969 and September of 1971. He's very nowledgeable regarding North American's F-100 <i>Super Sabre </i>and sent us an addendum to our Missouri ANG F-100 piece when we originally published it, way back in 2017. It's been on our list of things to run ever since then, but it just never happened and it is, by golly, high time we took care of that particular ommission!<br />
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<i>Phillip,</i><br />
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<i> I added some comments about the MO ANG F-100C with practice bombs in your March posting. I think I may have clicked on the wrong thing when adding the comments because after I submitted them my browser had me on the Feb posting. <b>(Actually, Joe, it wasn't anything you did. We've never printed reader comments because of the spammers and rarely ever look at the "comments" feature on the blog in consequence---apologies for that one!) </b>Anyways, here are a few images to support my comments concerning the Bk-37 practice bomb rack. These are on OV-10s, but they are the same racks. A typical flight to the gunnery range would be loaded with a Bk-37 rack with 4 BDU-33 practice “slick” bombs on one outboard pylon, and an LAU-59 (7-shot) 2.75 inch rocket pod with only 3 rockets loaded on the other outboard.
Also,the F-100s pictured with TERs on the inboards are carrying only 2 weapons per TER. My friends who flew them at Phan Rang say that they regularly carried three M82 bombs on them, but BLU-27 napalm and Mk117 bombs were physically too large. When they are loaded with fewer than 3 M82s it was because they were maxed out at takeoff weight and couldn’t carry more. One friend will send me photos of a Hun with eight M82s so I can forward it to you.
As for the F-100C, I don’t know, but I doubt they were modified with the intervalometer release system and TERs. We brought the Ds back to CONUS to the ANG units to replace a lot of those Cs.
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An OV-10 utilizing the Bk-37 Practice Bomb Rack with LAU-59 on the port outboard station and 4 BDU-33 Practice Bombs on the starboard one. Joe Vincent<br />
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A better view of that starboard rack illustrating the Bk-37 Practice Bomb Rack to excellent advantage. Those practice bombs have approximately the same ballistic characteristics as a real low-drag bomb and are therefore highly useful as a training aid. Joe Vincent<br />
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A 615th TFS F-100D in-country and on its way to some mischief carrying four BLU-27 napalm cans on the inboard stations, two per side, and a Mk 82 low-drag bomb on each outboard station. Modelers note: This was a fairly standard load for the 615th while serving in SEA. Joe Vincent<br />
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Here's another "Hun" from the 615th illustrating the two Mk82-per-TER loading on the F-100D while in-country. Modelers in particular will want to re-read Joe's comments regarding the use of TERs on the F-100 while in SEA. This load, and the one illustrated immediately above, were standard loadouts used as appropriate to requirements on the ground. Joe Vincent<br />
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Many thanks to Joe Vincent for this invaluable information regarding the F-100 and its air-to-ground weaponry, as well as apologies for our tardiness!<br />
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<b>Inspiration, If You Will</b><br />
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We've already shown you some of Norman Camou's work in this edition of the project but there's more at hand! Norman sent us a Douglas photograph of a lineup of late-50s/early-60s Navy jet fighters that was heavy on the F4D <i>Skyray</i>, and coincidentally also sent a photograph of a pair of 1/72nd scale Tamiya "Fords" in differing squadron markings. We don't know if that's coincidental or not, but it provides an excellent example of how to turn inspiration into hardware, as it were:<br />
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Here's that Douglas photo for your perusal. If this doesn't inspire you to go build a model, nothing ever will! Douglas Aircraft Corporation via Harry Gann via Norman Camou<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M_tkZQeAB4A/XYUvuShN4-I/AAAAAAAAJws/D28Sc9RkBcgqTno7PKPGeb-W1txtbKUPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Tamiya%2BF4D-1s%252C%2B1-72nd%2Bscale%252C%2Bby%2BNorman%2BCamou.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="239" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M_tkZQeAB4A/XYUvuShN4-I/AAAAAAAAJws/D28Sc9RkBcgqTno7PKPGeb-W1txtbKUPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Tamiya%2BF4D-1s%252C%2B1-72nd%2Bscale%252C%2Bby%2BNorman%2BCamou.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
And here are Norman's models. Pretty cool, huh? Norman Camou<br />
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<b>Who Do That Voo Doo</b><br />
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OK, it's a corny lead-in, but it does pretty much tell you where this is going. Richard Franke was the quality manage at an aviation company I worked for many years ago, a man who had spent part of his career in the Air Force, with part of <i>that</i> time spent assigned to Laon AB in France during 1964. He photographed these 66th TRW RF-101Cs while he was there, and we're glad he did!<br />
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56-0210 was a looker, as were all of the 66th's birds. By 1964 a great many of the Air Force's tactical jets had already been painted in silver but the 66th's <i>Voodoos</i> were still largely in natural metal. The markings are plain but effective, and compliment the massive fighter perfectly. Richard Franke<br />
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Here's 56-0125 to prove the point regarding silver paint and USAFE's RF-101s. The Silver Air Force definitely knew how to decorate their airplanes, didn't they? One thing to note; neither of these 'Doos are carrying external gas bags. The entire F-101 family was delicate in that regard, in that the airplanes were barely supersonic with external tanks and overall handling was greatly diminished as well. Those bags have a way of ending up on most scale models of the <i>Voodoo </i>family regardless of the variant being replicated, but it's a really good idea to check available photographs before attaching them because they were rarely there in practice. Richard Franke<br />
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And that's what I know! Be good to your neighbor and we'll meet again soon!<br />
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philphillip friddellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02427557905913078850noreply@blogger.com0