What Did We Know and When Did We Know It, A Korean War Player We Rarely See, Some South Carolina Deuces, It's Always a Good Day for Scooters, and Just to Prove We're Old

If It's a Secret, Why Would Anybody Talk About It?

Let's clear one thing up right off the bat---we're not talking about airplanes that we shouldn't be talking about (secret ones, that is) and, in point of fact, we're not even talking about real airplanes. Nope; we're talking about model airplanes, and in particular about new kits that haven't been released yet.

Rumors started showing up on several of the internet modeling boards about a new 1/32nd scale release from Tamiya a couple of weeks ago, but with no specific airplane identified; just mention that something new and exciting was on the way. It goes pretty much without saying that it was business as usual for that sort of thing once intial mention of the impending release was made, with everybody and his brother contributing a guess/wishful thought as to the subject of said Tamiya Treasure. Great fun was had by all and, if truth be known, is still being had, since our Brand New Most Amazing Model Airplane Ever Kitted still hasn't seen public release. Nope, it isn't even out yet, whatever is is, so why, you might reasonably ask, are we talking about this phenomenon on our Little Old Blog? Simple, sez we. We've been watching this exact same thing with some degree of amusement for the past forty years or so. Let us 'splain:

Frank Emmett caused me to join IPMS/USA back in 1968, and I've got (or would still have, if I'd kept that membership active) a low 4-digit IPMS number in consequence. That date, reaching back into the antiquity of Serious Scale Modeling, has allowed me to observe quite a few things, one of which has been the proliferation of "guess what they're doing next" rumors within the hobby. Sometimes the rumors have been spot on---witness the Hasegawa A3D rumor that first surfaced in 1969 (and it was true too, because we got a 1/72nd scale Hasegawa A3D, even if we did have to wait until the 1990s to get it)---and sometimes they've been way, way out there, claiming the imminent release of kits that nobody in their right mind would ever tool up for. The whole thing is almost a hobby within a hobby, as it were.

That notwithstanding, there apparently is something New and Wonderful heading our way from The Big T, and nobody knows what it is, which is going to make me, your Humble Correspondent, go out on a considerable limb and tell you, without any fear whatsoever of being contradicted by anybody, what it isn't. Are you ready? All keyed up and ready to hear our Very Own Replica in Scale Best Guess as to What the New Tamiya Kit Won't Be? Right then! Here it is:

The brand new, about-to-be-released Tamiya 1/32nd Scale Plastic Model Airplane will not be an FJ-3, nor will it be an FJ-4, not in that scale nor any other. Not today, not tomorrow, and probably not ever.

Phooey! I said Phooey and I meant Phooey! And now, back to what passes for regularly scheduled programming around here!

So What's a Tornado?

If you're of relatively tender years, a Tornado is, of course, a twin-engined strike fighter and interceptor employed by the remnants of the RAF. If your years are somewhat less tender, you might instead remember a bomber by North American Aviation that bore that particular name. (And, if you're really old you might also recall the Hawker Typhoon's immediate predesessor, the Hawker Tornado, but we aren't going back that far, ya'll! Not this time.) That particular North American product was, if I remember correctly, the United States' first operational jet bomber, and it was used with success in the photo recon role for a number of years, with several being shot down by Those Other Guys during the Cold War.

One of these days we ought to run a photo essay on that venerable platform, but for today we'll limit it to one tiny image. Don Gay was doing a little house cleaning and came across a pretty nifty B-45 shot.

Hi Phil. Today I have been battling the computer world and not winning. I am trying to ‘hook up’ a scanner and PC without too much success. Our mutual friend Jim Sullivan is well aware of what’s happening. Chalk it up to an ‘old phart’ trying to learn a new technology!!!!!!!! Anyway, I came across this in my musings-seeing how you like Korean War stuff-I sent this to you . RB-45 is one of those rare ac you don’t hear much about. This was taken at the end of the Korean war-May/June time frame-can only imagine it was trying to photograph the bases in N Korea prior to armistice.   Photographer unknown, exact date unknown but it was at Suwon. Cheers, dj

And, in my particular world (and limited expertise regarding the type), the unit is unknown too, which is a cue for our readers to chip in with the squadron. The RB-45 was an extremely useful airframe and served for a number of years although, as Don said, the type is virtually unknown today. It was a big airplane and would make a pretty large model in 1/48th scale, but I'd love to see a kit of it some day!  Don Jay Collection

Dixie "Deuces"

A whole bunch of Air National Guard units flew the F-102 at one time or another, and played a vital part in the air defense of the United States. One of those units was South Carolina's 157th FIS, as captured here by author and photographer Jim Sullivan:

A busy day at the field. 56-0993, an F-102A-55-CO, taxies in from a mission in August of 1971; note the opened speed brakes at the base of the vertical stab. 993 went to MASDC after her stint with the Guard, then on to conversion to QF-102A status, and finally to PQM-102B configuration. The F-102 was a useful airframe right up until the end. Jim Sullivan 

Here's what 56-0993 looked like when in her element. The gear's up and the fast-acting landing gear doors are snapping into the closed position. You can almost hear the thunder...  Jim Sullivan

57-0903, an F-102A-95-CO, reaches for the sky in this August 1968 portrait. The wing fences and tips of the gas bags are painted red, a treatment often seen on ANG F-102s. Note the lack of an IR sensor.  Jim Sullivan

And 903 comes home to roost. The F-102 was among the many 1950s USAF designs that routinely streamed a drogue chute upon landing, said chute sometimes (but not often) being deployed while airborne. The drogue chute was opened by a pilot chute, which is that little parachute hanging off the big one, just in case you didn't already know that.  Jim Sullivan

What the "Deuce" normally looked like when on final. It's our old friend 56-0993 again---what a neat photo! Jim Sullivan

Touchdown! The "Deuce" generally recovered nose-high, and did a fair portion of the rollout in a similar attitude in order to take advantage of aerodynamic braking, which was far easier on the brakes than bringing the nose down and tapping the binders early. 56-0995 ended her days up a pole in a city park in California. A sad end to a noble aircraft...  Jim Sullivan

Just Can't Get Enough of That Tinker Toy

Our last thrilling installment (or maybe it was the one before that; it all runs together sometimes) included an in-flight photograph of an extremely early A4D-1 Skyhawk. Here, right here on these very pages, is an even earlier one for your consideration, edification, and amazement. We've included a couple of shots of somewhat later "Scooters" too, because just can't stop at one! (We can't, anyway...)

Can you say "Prototype"? This is about as close as you can get to The Primieval "Scooter" and my, oh, my; what a seriously goofy-looking little airplane. It was a sound design, though, and paved the way for what was arguably the best light attack aircraft ever built. We won't dispute that claim! US Navy

Farther along. By the time this photo was taken, the A-4 was a standard fixture in the NAV and could be seen virtually anywhere the US Navy or Marine Corps was in residence. 152061 was an A-4E from VMA-131. The 20-mike-mikes have been removed and their ports faired over, but check out the MERs fitted to the inboard stations; it was the MER that turned the A-4 into the highly versatile attack aircraft it became. Talk about a force multiplier!  Mark Morgan

The NAV thought the A-4 possessed similar performance to the classic MiG-17, and used the type extensively in the adversary role throughout the 80s and early 90s because of that. 154172 was an A-4F used for the mission and was assigned to VFA-127 when photographed at an air show at NAS Corpus Christi in May of 1988. The paintwork was dark green over tan, a scheme that did abosolutely nothing for the "Scooter's" classic lines!  Phillip Friddell

It Seemed Like Such a Good Idea at the Time

In our last installment on the F-102 we related one of our many modeling-related disasters to you, and in the course of that discription made mention of the use of Letraset on that ill-fated project. There's Letraset and there's Letraset (both trademarked names, by the way); most of you probably thought we were discussing those sheets of thick rub-on letters and numbers that you can buy in any decent art supply store, but we weren't. Nope; we were talking about Letraset's brief foray into markings for model aircraft and armor, a noble effort somewhat ahead of its time.

They were called Letraset Scale Aircraft Markings, and were marketed by Alan Breeze in Canada, although every sheet in my collection was printed in England. They were available in 1/72nd and 1/48th scales, and were also available for 1/76th and 1/48th scale armor.

Here was what lived inside that Canadian sheet shown above. Letraset products were generally in register and super-easy to use, performing like any other rub-on dry transfer if the modeler was careful and followed the directions. And the subject matter wasn't run-of -the-mill either; there were some fairly esoteric topics covered on those sheets. (This was one of them!)

Their mainstream topics were well-done, and covered colorful airplanes. This sheet dates back to 1971 or so, pre-dating all of our contemporary dry-transfer decal sheets by some 35 years.

Once you got past MicroScale, virtually nobody was doing Japanese subjects Way Back When. Letraset did two sheets of them, plus a sheet of hinomarus. We never had it so good, and we didn't have a clue...

And here's the sheet, the Very Sheet, that provided some of the US AIR FORCE markings for that "Deuce". They should've been Insignia Blue instead of black, but I won't tell if you won't. I think I ran Dibble's Arts and Hobbies in San Antonio out of the Letraset Air Force Letters sheet when I built that "Deuce"!

Letraset decals died a natural death pretty early in the game, partly because their adhesive became disfunctional as they aged but mostly, I suspect, because most folks just weren't ready for them. Dry transfer decals for scale models are being made again, and may well be the Next Big Thing, but Letraset did it first. Me, I wish they were still making them!

A Ground-Bound Happy Snap

We're in a holding pattern waiting for our next batch of air-to-air photos taken by our readers to arrive, but to tide us over here's a really tasty photo from contributor Jim Sullivan. No, it's not an air-to-air, but it's pretty doggoned special, as I think you'll agree:

I've enjoyed seeing the action flight shots from Don Jay....some nice material. I've attached a candidate for your consideration for some future use. This is a brace of F-106's breaking over Blumenthal Field in Wilmington, NC on 4APR70. The 48th FIS had a detachment stationed in Wilmington for several years in the late 60's - early 70's. Hope you like it. Jim Sullivan

A classic shot of a beautiful airplane. Thanks, Jim!

The Relief Tube

It seems like almost yesterday when we ran those F-102A drawings, the origin of which I couldn't quite remember. Since then we've heard from Marty Isham, who reminds us that they were penned by Mike Druzilowski---apologies Mike! We've corrected the captions (and look forward to hearing more from Marty in the months ahead, so please stay tuned!) and will try to make sure that doesn't happen again!

Last issue we ran a few FJ-4 photos while we whined about the lack of a decent Fury kit, any variant, in any scale, from which we could build a decent model and, in captioning the piece, we made more than the usual number of errors, which Tommy Tomason caught and corrected for us. To wit:

That FJ-4 on the catapult in the first picture is an FJ-4B, it's not in chains but ready to launch with bridle and hold back in place, and that candy-striped weapon under the left wing is a Mk 7 nuclear bomb, much more attention getting (instant sunshine!) than four piddly 20mms. Other than that...
The pod on the FJ-4B in the second picture looks more like a four-shot rocket pod than the Bullpup guidance pod. The guidance pod was bigger all around and had a radome on the front.


The third FJ-4B has the retrofitted Martin-Baker seat, which doesn't appear in FJ-4s all that often. Nice catch on the lack of cannon. They were taken out of the ADs for a max performance nuclear strike. Same concept?


On the fourth FJ-4B (the Marine one), there are gun ports. They're just hard to see.
Best regards,
T
http://tommythomason.com/

Thanks Tommy and, just so our readers know, we've already corrected a couple of those captions in the original piece. One other thing: Just in case you were wondering why we're always so willing to own up to making a mistake; we pride ourselves on doing it right, but nobody's perfect and we understand that. We'd far rather own up to making an error than put out The Bad Word so please; if you catch us in a mistake, or would just like to add to something we've done, or maybe even just send in an original photo or information contribution, please contact us at replicainscale@yahoo.com . We welcome your comments and corrections!

And finally, here's a comment from long-time friend of Replica Frank Cuden:

Hi Phil,


Had a chance to view the "new to me" info on your site this morning - I confess to not having visited recently and that FJ-2/3 installment sure got my juices flowing all over again. I simply WANT a kit of that bird to build in my lifetime! Simple as that. I keep hoping Special Hobby will see the light and produce one or two variants for our modeling pleasure.


I really liked what I saw as I read through the verbage and viewed the photos - nice stuff and chock full of info - "same thing, only different" from the paper magazine days.


I did build the 1/48th Monogram Sabre ala XFJ-2 configuration, seemingly eons ago, and it didn’t come out too bad. Of course, I HAD to include that orange side elongated rectangle on the fuselage sides and that made the model. As I recall, I used the "Old-Fashioned, Real Floquil" at the time - think it was B & O Enchantment Blue and that seemed pretty close to the dark blue color - keep in mind, that was EONS ago! Today's Floquil, although workable, is a far-cry from the original formula but over the years, I have managed to keep a stock on hand - heck, I even have some (Pullman Green, I think it is), with a price tag of 95-cents on it. Still is good too.


Before this gets too long, again, thanks for turning out the periodic updates. I will make it a point to check in more often. Frank Cuden

Thanks to you for your kindness, Frank. And, thanks to the rest of our readers for all the great letters we've been getting. It's great to have all our friends, both old and new, back with us! And one more thing before we go; write to the folks at Special Hobby, or Hasegawa, or whoever-else-you'd-like-to-contact, and tell 'em we need a decent 1/48th FJ-3! Tell 'em enough times, ya'll, and maybe we'll get one before I get too old to build it!

Until then, be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon.
phil

Another Big 'Un, An Unusual Phantom Shot or Two, A Cold Corsair, and An Unfamiliar Shape

We Missed a Week

You noticed that; I'm certain of it. That sort of thing happens from time to time and I don't like it any more than you do, but it's a fact of life that such things will occur during the course of what other projects call production. One-man operations are like that. Please accept my apologies if that matters to you, or ignore this paragraph completely and get on with the rest of our humble offerings if it doesn't. Either way, we've got some spiffy stuff to look at today, so let's get on with it.

Before There Was Old Shakey

Douglas pretty much had the whole transport thing sewed up way back when airplanes had reciprocating engines and propellers, and most of us are familiar with that particular family tree. There's one Douglas product that frequently escapes the scrutiny of enthusiasts though; the capable, homely, and largely unsung C-74 Globemaster. The type was designed as a heavy airlifter and flew combat support missions during the Korean War, before it morphed into the immensely more capable C-124 Globemaster II.

Contributor Mark Morgan had promised some fighters to us a while back (well, to me anyhow---I never said anything about it to anybody else), then mentioned that he was having a tough time finding the photos he was after and that we'd have to wait a bit longer. That's not a problem for me, given the uniqueness of many of Mark's contributions, so we're going to presume it's not an issue for any of you either. Unique is unique, and sometimes that means Big Airplanes. That said, let's look at some pictures!

I don't know about you, but I've really got a thing for sepia tone photos, even though that spiffy color means that Bad Things are in the process of happening to them. This soon-to-fade-away-but-for-the-magic-of-electronic-imaging photo depicts 42-65408 during an engine run-up, time and location unknown. Check out the dust cloud behind the aircraft; that dust, plus a liberal dose of oil droplets from four thundering radials, was probably making quite a mess out of a number of uniforms that day. Betcha there were some colorful metaphors on that ramp!  AMC History Office via Mark Morgan

Doing what it did best. 42-65412 is loading up in this photo taken at Bolling in 1951. Note the aft cargo pallet in its lowered position, a feature that carried over to the C-124. The Globemaster was a capable transport, but its offspring, the Globemaster II, upped the ante beyond all recognition. That's a tantalizing ramp, isn't it?  AMC History Office via Mark Morgan

This is one of those photographs that just screams for a caption, but I'm not going to be the one to write it. I'm also not going to print any that might be submitted, although there's certainly a temptation to do that. Nope; we're running this shot to illustrate the small handling boom in the front corner of that cargo hatch. Details like that make military transports fascinating kit subjects, although decent models of such things are few and far between. This bird's on the ground at the Middletown Air Technical Service Command facility at Olmstead (Harrisburg, PA), date unknown. The C-74 was a lot smaller than the C-124 that replaced it, but it was still a pretty big airplane.  AMC History Office via Mark Morgan

It's a sad ending, but at least this one's not on the scrap pile yet. This is how 42-65412 ended up, sitting apparently derelect on the ramp at Long Beach. She's carrying an N-number, although I don't know much more than that. Maddog, consider this an open invitation to educate us!  AMC History Office via Mark Morgan

Sometimes Airplanes Get Makeovers Too

Which means you've got to do an acceptance flight before you give it back to the customer, which is what's happening here:

Let's see if it works...  F-4C-17-MC 64-7455 manning up for a pre-acceptance test flight. This sort of thing isn't particularly glamorous but can certainly have it's share of what we might call "interesting moments", and it's a fact of life for any new airplane, military or otherwise. It's also the norm for refurbished birds coming out of overhaul, which is the case here. Note the scuffed overall finish, a direct result of paint stripping, and the serial and line numbers on the fuselage. Strip lights have been added to the airframe, and the sharp-eyed among us will notice the yaw string hanging down from the top of the radome. Her next stop will be a visit to Corrosion Control for a coat of primer and a new paint job. The location is the old Douglas Tulsa plant.  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

And here's where that unpainted Phantom came from. This photo depicts the PDM line at Douglas Tulsa and was taken on 31 April, 1981 when the F-4 was still the primary fighter for the Air Force. These birds will eventually be as good as new, but they sure don't look it here. Note that all these F-4s have brand new canopies---that covering won't be removed until just prior to acceptance testing.  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil 

A Cold Corsair

If you're at all familiar with the Korean War, you're aware that a big part of it was fought in the dead of winter. Cold weather operations at sea were a special treat, as typified by our next shot.

Now that looks cold! This one's an F4U-4P from a VC-61 Det 3 aboard the Philippine Sea during her July 1950-March 1951 deployment off the coast of North Korea. That red thingy between the folded wing and the fuselage is called a wing fold jury strut, and secures the wing to the fus so it can't move around when it's folded. The 1/48th scale Tamiya kits include a pair of these; a neat touch to a fine little model.  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried  

A Model You Probably Didn't Expect to See Here

When I run pictures of models around here (something I try to do every issue if I can because of that whole Replica in Scale thing) they're usually of something I've built lately, and lately several of them have been of of Luftwaffe subjects. Today's modeling topic is a little bit different; it's something from the same general part of the world, but from The Other Side, as it were.

The Soviet VVS pretty much took it in the shorts during the early days of their country's involvement in the Second World War, but evolved into a highly effective and capable air arm able to stand up with the world's best by the end of that conflict. Today's model represents those early days and, at least to me, symbolizes the courage those airmen displayed during the dark early days of the war.

Accurate Miniatures did some really neat kits back when they were in their prime. They often stepped outside the box to produce kits of airplanes that other mainstream manufacturers wouldn't touch, and this kit's one of them. It's an early Il-2, a single-seater, and the two I've got on the shelf both originally came with skis. I'd be lying if I told you I knew much about the type, so I'm going to explain how I got to the model instead. The markings were inspired by an illustration on Erik Pilawkii's excellent VVS web site (vvs.hobbyvista.com) and depicts an early-War aircraft in the black and green scheme. The kit is pretty good and relatively easy to build, but I didn't like the guns provided and replaced them. I also added the tell-tales for landing gear extension, and a set of nice but largely un-necessary QuickBoost exhausts. You may note that there's no radio antenna between the mast and the vertical stab; not all Il-2s had radios installed, so I left it off. I may go back and add it some day, but that's honestly pretty doubtful at this point.

Here's one of the reasons I wanted to build this model---that black on green paint scheme has fascinated me from the first time I saw it. Pilawskii provided the details of the scheme, and ModelMaster supplied the paint. The black is Testor Interior Black enamel, while the green is a ModelMaster mix. If I'd been paying attention to what I was doing I would've documented that green color for you, but the kit was built several years ago and I have no idea what I mixed to get to that shade. Decals were a throw-together from several sources---this isn't a scheme offered by the kit. This view really shows what a tank the Il-2 family was.

A view that graphically illustrates why the airplane existed, and gives an idea of why it was so effective in combat. It could be fitted with 8 unguided rockets (not used here but included in the kit), and could carry bombs in small bays built into the center section or, as depicted in this photo, haul a pair of larger weapons under the wings. Those bombs are kit items, once again painted per an article on Pilawskii's site. The undersurface color is ModelMaster VVS Undersurface Blue. If memory serves I had to drill out the wheels and insert a set of brass axles in order to put normal (vs ski) landing gear on this one. Weathering, which may or may not be to your liking, was done with Grumbacher pastels. Every once in a while I sit this next to a 1/48th scale Me109 just to get a sense of what the aircrew on both sides were up against. It's pretty enlightening to do that, I think.

The Relief Tube

Sometimes we get a lot of entries for this part of the project and sometimes we don't. This time we did, so let's get started.

Let's begin with the "Ford". The Douglas F4D-1 Skyray has assumed a life of its own on these pages, or at least that's how it seems to me. The first installment of that series included a comment by me that the type had never been used by the Navy Reserve. That, my friends, was a serious error, although nobody commented on it at the time. Then, in the next installment, I ran a photo of one of those Reserve birds, and that provoked some informative reaction from The Morgan Boys:

Phil: regarding the Reserve F4Ds (F-6s); NAS Olathe, KS was the only base that got Reserve Fords, with the first arriving in the spring of 1962, replacing F9F-8s. They had four units (VF-881, -882 and VMF (AW)-113, 215) that shared around 20 aircraft at their peak. They lasted through early 1966, when the Marine units went to F-8A/Bs and Navy converted to Atkrons with A-4A/Bs. Their retirement left Naval Air Test Center and the Test Pilot School with the last of the type.
Rick

And from Mark:

Phil - Checked Steve Ginter's Ford book in the Naval Fighters series, also looked at some information collected by yours truly and brer Rick over the last few years.


7K was the tailcode for Naval Air Reserve Training Olathe. The first F4D-1s showed up around May 1962, replacing F9F-8/8Bs. The last F-6A departed in early 1966, replaced by F-8As. The squadrons which took turns flying the aircraft were VF-881 (which transitioned to A-4Bs as VA-881 in 1964), VF-882, VMF(AW)-113 (inactivated October 1965 following a brief period in Crusaders) and yes, VMF(AW)-215, which inactivated 30 January 1970 with the shutdown of Olathe.


Hope this helps...and beware, beware, I have access to C-123 photos...MK

Thanks, guys! And let's talk about those C-123s...

Frequent contributor Doug Siegfried wrote in with a comment on our "Stoof" piece which, I think, means we're in for a treat in that direction in the near future!

Hi Phil:



Nice ME-109 and good shots of the F4Ds. I am crushed that you have not had many shots of the S-2 on your site. Since the S-2 and C-1 were primarily the only planes I flew in my 27 years in the Navy I think they should get some play... I will have to get you some S-2 shots from S2F-1s to S-2Gs since a 1/48th S-2D/E/G is lurking out there on the drawing board of one of the model companies. ...

Cheers,

Doug

How about it, Gang? Anybody up for a few more S2s? I know I am!

One of the really neat things about running this site is that it put me back in touch with one of my best friends from my high school days at Misawa. Jack Dusenberry and I learned to ride motorcycles together and also shared a common interest in building models of WW2 fighters. We never talked about what our dads had done during the war, and all I knew about Jack's father was that he was the base paymaster. We're going to go a little bit away from our norm here and, by inference if nothing else, pay a little respect to all those young men who answered the call in that far away time:

A farm boy at home. There's a story to this picture, though. Let's hear about it from Jack:

Phil,



I wish I had more pictures to send but my dad had pictures of himself and his crew that he has misplaced-I guess all that moving around will do that for you .I found this picture on the internet . (I'm pretty sensitive to potential copyright issues and have omitted that photo. pf) The crew in this picture is Dad's second crew. His first pilot was Charles Whitcombe - haven't found pictures of that one yet .


I also included a picture that one of my cousins thought was taken of Dad and his father's mules when he was in high school .As it turns out, this picture was actually taken after he returned from England with 35 combat missions under his belt at the ripe old age of 20-he does look young !(he enlisted when he was 17).


Hope you find the right Ducati -I think I'll stick with my Honda for now -I can get in enough trouble on it !

Jack

35 combat missions with the 8th AF... My hat's off to you, Major Dusenberry, and thank you for your service.

We also ran a photo of a VF-154 F8U-1 a while back. We identified the aircraft as being aboard the Hornet at the time, but Rick Morgan has another thought on it:

I wonder if the shot of the Grand Slammer (VF-154) F8U-1 was on Hancock vice Hornet; they made the first WestPac for the Crusader on Hancock in 1958. Hornet was a 27A; its cats and A/G supposedly couldn’t handle an F8U. Hornet was on its last WestPac as a CVA during the same period however, with ATG-4, F2H-3, FJ-3M, FJ-4B, AD-6.
Rick

And a final note on a project by a friend of mine. Some of you may have noticed a recent lack of contributions by friend and Corsair authority Jim Sullivan. He's been extremely busy of late, authoring yet another title on the U-Bird for Squadron Signal. I'm looking forward to its release early next year and recommend it to you if you've got an interest in the aircraft. Jim does good work, and anything he does with the Corsair is well worth getting.
And that's what I know. Be good to your neighbor, and we'll meet again soon.
phil

More F-104s, Return of The Swoose, Some Early Whales, A Nifty Model On The Cheap, Some Fords, and A Little More Banjo Pickin'

Bet You Wondered Where I Was...

Or maybe not; at the end of the day it probably doesn't matter all that much, but we did manage to miss a week (the original "occasionatical" scheduling of our primieval print effort comes somewhat to mind at this moment). I gave that some thought and decided today's installment would be a little bit larger than normal to make up for it! Not much, but a little. To wit:

Zip-a-dee Doo Da

It's possible that there's a limit to the number of times we can look at F-104 pictures on this site, but I haven't found that limit yet and honestly have no intention of ever doing so---I absolutely love that airplane! Don Jay's somewhat fond of it too, and sent these in for our amazement and edification:

In the beginning...  We've all seen 787 before, and we've all seen this particular shot before, but I've never seen it in color. 53-7787 was an XF-104A, and is the one Revell (and probably Comet/Aurora too) based their mid-50s kit on. The short fuselage and original intake configuration is interesting. This bird didn't last long, crashing to destruction on 14 April 1955 following a malfunction of the aircraft's gun. The test pilot ejected successfully, but this could well have been the beginning of the Starfighter's reputation as a coffin-corner airplane. Lockheed via Don Jay

This is for all of you who wanted to see more of that F-104A/M-21/YF-12A combination that we ran a few installments back. 56-0801 was built as an F-104A-20-LO, later rebuilt to F-104G standard and used for weapons trials. Somewhere in-between she flew chase for the A-12/M-21 program. Like most F-104As, 801 has her M-61 gun removed and a fairing installed over the gun port. It took a while to get that whole cannon thing sorted out in the "Zip". Lockheed via Don Jay

We've all seen this photo before but, once again, I can't remember seeing it in color. The aircraft are from the 479th's 2nd SEA deployment in 1967, at Udorn, Thailand. The F-104C didn't do particularly well in that environment, but rarely saw MiGs either. A well-driven Starfighter could leave you talking to yourself, providing you survived the encounter. We'll never know...   USAF via Don Jay

It's About Time, Ya'll!
You could make a movie out of the history of this airplane, and I'm not joking. 40-3097 was built as a B-17D, and was in the Philippines on December 8th, flying as "Ole Betsy" with the 19th BG. She survived the Japanese attack and flew a number of combat missions, basing out of the Philippines, Java, and Australia in quick succession. She was damaged during a combat mission in January of 1942 and then partially re-built, acquiring the name "The Swoose" in the process. After that rebuild she served as the personal transport of General George Brett, then ended the war as a high-speed transport in the United States. She was held in the National Air and Space Musuem's storage facility for a number of years, and  then transferred to the Air Force Museum (I don't think they call it that any more, but I still do---just humor me, ok?) for refurb and display.

Mark Morgan got a chance to photograph her a while back and sent these photos along. Let's see all the  old military guys snap out a highball for her. This one's definitely worth a salute!

OK, when's the last time you saw a real B-17D? My guess is Never, unless you've seen this one; "The Swoose" is the sole survivor of her type, and we're truly fortunate that the Air Force chose to restore her. This shot really shows how tiny the B-17 was, doesn't it?  Mark Morgan

A neat shot that defines the shape of the waist gunner's position on the early 'Forts. Check out the ventral gun tub forward of the waist position; no ball turret for those guys! All those clecos will go away soon, to be replaced by rivets, but there's a fair amount of skin that needs to be renewed on this bird.  Mark Morgan

In myth and folklore the swoose was a legendary bird, half swan and half goose. It's an odd name for an airplane, but I'm not complaining! If only that artwork could talk...

Then There's That Other Famous B-17...
Since we're airplane folk around here, you've probably all seen the 1990s movie The Memphis Belle. Taken as entertainment it was a pretty good film. Taken as an airplane movie (with just about every misfortune that ever befell the Flying Fortress during its combat career included) it wasn't too bad. There is, however, another movie by the same name that you really need to see; the original USAAF film of the same name directed by William Wilder. It was filmed on location, a documentary of sorts, and the star was a B-17F named, what else; "The Memphis Belle". It's what you might call The Real Deal.

The "Belle" got her crew through 25 combat missions over occupied Europe, and returned to the ZI with that crew for a war bond tour. After the war she ended up in a public park in Memphis, Tennessee, where time, the elements, and assorted vandals very nearly achieved the destruction that the Luftwaffe was unable to provide. The Air Force Museum (humor me, remember?) acquired her a few years back and she's under restoration as well. Here are a couple of shots:

There's a lot of rebuilt airplane there, but that nose art is The Real McCoy, preserved for posterity. There's not much more to be said other than Thank You to a superb museum staff who knows when to hold 'em! This one's a keeper.  Mark Morgan

Not particularly neat, and certainly not airbrushed. But it's real. What a treasure! Thanks to Mark Morgan for sharing this marvelous restoration in progress with us.  Mark Morgan

It's a Whale of a Tale I'll Tell You, Lads

We've run a couple of photos of the Douglas A3D Skywarrior in these electronic pages from time to time. It was a really neat airplane, and a long-lived one at that, even if not in its envisioned roll as a bomber. It's history is far too lengthy (and I'm far too lazy) for exploration here, but we'll always run photos of the type when we run across them. Check out this one!

Boy oh boy oh boy; what a photo! A section of AD3-2s from Heavy One taxi pull away from the ramp and begin to taxi out. Based on the fact that the aircraft designator still says "AD3-2" rather than "A-3B" makes contributor Mark Nankivil guess this shot to be of pre-1962 vintage---I concur. The weapons bay doors are open on the two aircraft on the left, and RATO bottles are attached. Note the refuelling fairings on the bellies of the two taxiing aircraft. That crewman in the opened canopy hatch was a normal part of A-3 ground ops. Hey Morgo, how about some "Whale" stories?  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

Save a Buck or Two When You Can

I don't know about you folks, but I enjoy building 1/32nd scale model airplanes. I don't happen to have a whole lot of room to display them in, but it's still neat to build them---they have a "feel" to them that the smaller scales often have difficulty capturing. People have been kitting model airplanes in 1/32nd scale pretty much forever, but the past few years have seen the dramatic appearance of out-of-the-box museum-quality models in that particular size arena. There's a ton of good stuff out there, with more kits appearing almost every month.

Of course, most of those spiffy new kits are expen$ive, and building one can become costly indeed if you want to stick in a little bit of candy and add some resin or photo-etch. It's really easy to invest a couple of hundred dollars in a kit and accessories, and that's not including the cost of stickies or references. It can be a big-bucks sort of game. It doesn't have to be that way, though.

First, let's have a perspective of sorts. In my very own personal world I'll spend what I have to in order to buy a kit of something that floats my boat. I've always been that way, with model airplanes and with everything else. (I think there's a Ducati in my future, for whatever that's worth, but for cryin' out loud don't tell Jenny!) Still, why spend a lot of money for a kit when you don't have to? Makes sense to me! Take, for example, this installment's Token Model Airplane.

The 1/32nd scale Hasegawa Me163B was a revelation when it first came out in the mid-1970s, and we said so when we reviewed it Way Back Then. It didn't have many pieces but, when all was said and done, it looked like a Komet, which is all I've ever asked of a model airplane. The kit's still in production and is sometimes pricey depending on the boxing, but you can buy it all day long at vendor tables in model shows for next to nothing, which is what I did here. This particular kit was still in shrink wrap, in its original 70s box, sitting on a trade table at a show in San Antonio for the princely sum of twenty bucks, and I'd always wanted to build one so I snagged it.

I'd remembered it as a pretty good kit, and it was/still is, but an interior that was "really good" in 1976 is pretty much doggie defecation in today's scale modeling environment, causing me to search out An Alternative Interior. King's Hobbies in Austin took care of that with an elderly Grand Phoenix interior, which I think I paid ten bucks for. Another ten bucks bought a decal sheet, but I can't for the life of me remember who produced it, and I already had the paint. Here's what my forty bucks bought me:

The starboard side, which shows what a goofy-looking airplane the original was. It's always reminded me of something from a cartoon, but it was no laughing matter in combat, not that it was particularly effective (because it wasn't) but rather because of the threat it posed. The real thing was short-ranged and dangerous to fly, but when it was under power it was pretty much un-catchable, a threat-in-being as it were. That big Hasegawa kit, on the other hand, is no threat at all and builds easily in spite of its age. It would be a lie to say that everything fits precisely, but it's not especially bad in any particular area. It is missing some detail so you'll want to have good references around, but it's an easy way to add an attractive and inexpensive model to your 1/32nd shelf. 

And the port side. That opened canopy is the reason you'll want to put a decent interior in there, because you can see absolutely everything that is, or isn't, included. While we're here we'd may as well discuss that canopy, because it won't stay attached to the airframe very long if you install it the way the instructions say to do it. Instead, you'll want to use one of those references we all know you've got, and determine where the canopy hinges live on The Real Thing, then drill a couple of holes in the cockpit sill and a matching pair in the canopy, then bend a couple of pieces of wire (I used insect pins, but then I've always use insect pins for that sort of thing) and attach the canopy at whatever time you deem to be appropriate. It's pretty sturdy that way, and you can set the angle of the opened canopy properly. Good pooky all around, I think...

Here's a shot that illustrates how the seat looks. Those straps aren't photo-etch; they're molded into the resin seat. I like the way they came out. On the other hand, I'm not real crazy about the job I more-or-less did installing that quarter-window, but I don't lose sleep over it. This thing has a pretty good presence, I think.

Here's a little bit of the interior to illustrate how good that Grand Phoenix kit is. To paraphrase (or quite possibly lampoon, but in a kind and gentle way) the modern breed of kit reviewers, it's cast from some color of resin (it might've been gray but I can't remember) and is comprised of not very many pieces. There was a photo-etched instrument panel with film instruments too, I think, and I'm pretty sure nothing came pre-painted. That sheen on the airframe was deliberate, by the way. Wartime Luftwaffe paint started life as a semi-gloss or eggshell finish, and I built this on the logic that your average Komet didn't have a particularly long shelf-life once assigned to an operational unit. If your personal philosophy differs, please feel free to weather the snot out of your model. Sometimes I do that too, but not this time... 

And the instrument panel. It doesn't look like much in this photo, but the film instruments (painted appropriately from the back of the film after it was attached to the panel) looks pretty good. As simple as the 163's interior was, there's still room for additional detailing which I didn't do, being lazy and all. The paintwork is all Testor's ModelMaster applied with a Badger 150 airbrush and I had a bang-up good time with those splotches. This was one model that was Fun from start to finish!

The Me163's a tiny airplane, right? Right! But so is the Me109 family, as illustrated here. That goofy-looking whatsit in front of the Gustav's wing is part of my tripod, which I cleverly left in place so you'd think I forgot about it being there. Those of you who are old enough may remember a piece on modeling desks that we ran in the original Replica in Scale way back yonder in the 70s. That desk, those bins, and that drafting board were all in the original photos for that piece, as was that round thingy my brushes live in. I'm not sure what that means...

Helping Out When I Can

There's some pretty neat mail coming in here (replicainscale@yahoo.com) almost every week. Sometimes that mail takes the form of requests, and I can honestly say that we don't get too involved in that sort of thing around here. There are, however, exceptions. A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from a Russian modeler named Anton Kochetkov who was requesting photos of VF-174 F4Ds. He included links to his work which is, in a word, Breathtaking and, even though I don't normally take requests (it's not that kind of band, ya'll), I'm pleased to help out this time.

On the boat. This VF-74 F4D-1 is taxiing up to the cat; note the V2 Division airdale coming to meet the aircraft with a bridle. There are a lot of handlers helping position that aircraft, which says something about the joys of operating the "Ford" aboard ship, I think. Still, that's one sexy little airplane! Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

Just sitting and waiting. Skyrays rarely went anywhere without extra gas, mostly because they couldn't go anywhere without extra gas. The AIM-9 rails on the inboard stations are noteworthy, and check out that boarding ladder; what a neat touch for a model. Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

This is what we might call The Money Shot! I can't think of a prettier scheme for this airplane, and the photo makes me want to go out and buy a Tamiya kit or three. The Real Airplane wasn't all that hot, but it sure looked good! Sharp eyes will note that the aircraft designator and BuNo appear both on the nose and the tail of this bird. Beauty!  Tailhook Association via Doug Siedfried

OK, Anton, there are some pictures. How about sending in some photos of your model when it's finished? We'd love to see them!

Other units flew the Ford too. Here's a hint of things to come in future issues. (And check out the nose of the F9F-8 in the background. VF-213 had a pretty classy ramp in those days!) Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

Yet Another Portender of Things to Come (Is "portender" a real word?)

The McDonnell F3H Demon family was another one of those Fabulous Fifties Failures; a really neat airframe marred by a terrible engine. It was a beautiful aircraft in spite of its shortcomings, and we now have adequate kits in a couple of scales with the promise of more on the way, which gets me pretty ding-dang excited about building one in the near future. We've got a whole bunch of Demon photos to share with you, but not today. Here are a couple of teasers to whet your appetite until next time:

Beauty and the Beast, all in the same airplane! These VF-14 F3H-2Ns sit patiently on the deck of the Franklin D. Roosevelt prepping for what appears to be an early-morning launch. This photo, taken in September of 1956, shows the unique nose treatment of the airframe. The Demon lasted until the early 60s with the Fleet---can you imagine taking it to war in Southeast Asia? There but for the grace of God...  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil 

Ohboy ohboy ohboy ohboy! What a photograph! BuNo 137033, an F3H-2M from VF-61, launches from the Saratoga in April of 1957. The paintwork's getting a little bit weathered (and makes a good candidate for pre-shading if you like that sort of thing on your models) and she's getting a little bit shopworn, but she's still got her good looks. Then again, looks aren't everything, right! Oh poot! This is a Good Looking Airplane, ya'll! Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

The Relief Tube

Wherein resides the corrections and all the stuff that just doesn't fit anyplace else. First up and, I hope, for the Very Last Time, is a comment from Tommy Thomason about the length of that accursed F2H-2 Banshee:

ACK! F2H reference is still not right. You wrote "the McDonnell F2H-1 Banshee was actually longer than the prototype F2H-2." It's longer than the prototype F2H-1 not the -2. Now I see why this error has so much life. It fights for it. (And how! pf)


The full story is here: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/12/f2h-banshee-modeling-notes.html and here: thanhttp://lont.blogspot.com/2010/09/xf2d-1f2h-1f2h-2-fuel-system.html . Attached are the pictures that illustrate the difference. Note that the 1/48 Hawk kit closely resembles the XF2D with prototype tip tanks...
T

Here's the shot Tommy sent of an F2H-1. I'm almost afraid to say anything about it since my luck with this airplane, at least to this point, has been so extraordinarily poor, but I am going to say that I started converting an Airfix F2H-2 back to this variant when the kit first came out. At this point I think I'm glad I never finished it! via Tommy Thomason

And the XF2D. I think I'm going to take the safe road on this one and say that these shots sure remind me of those Colby books I enjoyed so much from back when I was a kid. And, on a more serious note, thanks to Tommy for pursuing this thing until we got it right. It is right now, right?  via Tommy Thomason


Thanks, Tommy. I hope this puts it to bed!!!

Then there was that shot I ran of the pair of F3H Demons sitting together, one in Glossy Sea Blue and one in Light Gull Grey over Insignia White. In the truest spirit of never denying me the opportunity to completely miss the obvious, let's hear from contributor Mark Nankivil:

Phil, you might want to make a note that the photo of the pair of Demons - dark blue and the gull gray over white - distinctly show the differences in the wing planform of the F3H-1 (the dark blue babe) and the F3H-2 Demon which increased the chord of the wing significantly to increase the wing area to offset the overall weight increase of the aircraft as it morphed into the more capable J-71 powered variant. HTH!
Mark

Pay attention to the photos! Pay attention to the photos! Pay attention...  Thanks, Mark.


Next up is a kudo from a reader, presented here not because of the praise ("professional compliments are always appreciated" however, to quote a line from John Ford's "Stagecoach") but because of the exceptionally neat site that's linked therein, very much worth your time and a visit:

Just wanted you to know just how much I’m enjoying your Replica in Scale Blog ! A long time ago I was fortunate, over here in the UK, to get hold of some copies of the original publication from US modelers based at Mildenhall with the USAF and they were, and still are, a revelation on how stuff should be done and I still have them today!


Imagine my complete surprise when I stumbled upon your blog last week and recognised your name; I have been ensconced in it since. I too run a Blog off of my SEAWINGS website – the largest dedicated flying boat reference website in the World – and I have you listed as one of the very few favorites I have. It’s at: http://seawingsblog.blogspot.com/ .


Do keep up the great work you are putting up; it’s great to see that the ‘Good ‘Ol Days’ are so well represented, and in such detail.

Best Regards,
Bryan Ribbans

Thank you, Bryan, for your kindness. And folks,  I'm serious as can be about checking out Bryan's site. It's excellent. There's nothing more to be said.

And finally, a postscript to one of the pieces we ran last time. I don't think this one needs any explanation.

Phil,


Fond memories reliving our Del Rio photo shoot (or the "Ride From Hell"). You nailed that event - God's truth! A couple of other details came to mind:


As we listened to the engine coolant cascading to the ground, I remember standing and mumbling "Oh Shit! Oh Smit! Oh Smit! Oh Smit!..." ad infinitum, while you ran 'round and 'round the van muttering the same incantation, then running back down the road to see if Bambi was OK. You've always been a softy for our furry little friends. (That softy thing was to change after nailing one in the CRX, one in the Miata, and five in the F150 but that's a story for a different day and format, and I changed some words to read "smit", not wanting to get yet another letter from the clergy regarding what passes for taste around here...  pf)


Our BNBF originally had every intention of securing the van in his creepy, darkened lot. My feeling was that the van would have no wheels in the morning (or any other accessory) and begged him to take us to San Antonio. He did, but required that he be paid in cash on arrival, so Kay had to go out in the middle of the night to come up with the one hundred plus bucks he wanted (remember, this was in the days before ATMs). My AAA policy would only pay for three miles of towing; but I was able to convince them that the van was in great danger being parked at BNBF's poorly-lighted junk-yard of a lot so close to the border. They picked up the whole tab. Great fun!


Jim


Footnote: That was not the last South Texas Whitetail that the Beauville was to score - but that's another story.

It was never a job, ya'll. It was always an adventure. Until next time, be good to your neighbor. We'll meet again soon.
phil