A Nifty Mitchell and a Handful of 'Saders

A Thought; Just a Thought

I was thinking the other day, which is something I haven't done in a while, and I've reached a conclusion that may be of interest to you regarding the big wonderful world of The Latest and Greatest New Kit, to wit: It's the latest and greatest right now, but it won't always be in that category so let's play nice with the older stuff.

Huh, you might well say to yourself. That makes no sense because I wanted a new state of the art kit of the Fill in the Blank Here and now I've finally got it, and my wonderful new kit has actually managed to successfully escape and evade the best efforts of that nefarious collection of self-appointed experts colloquially known as The Red Line Police so I'm going to jump right in and build it just as soon as the aftermarket guys get on the stick and produce a whole bunch of stuff to fix problems that may or may not actually exist and may not even require fixing even when they do. Exist, that is. 

OK then, it's the same old story you so often hear on these pages and on and on and blah blah blah, right? Right, but today let's sing a different verse to the song. Let's try this lyric set for a minute, and let's ignore things like scale or any of that other model review stuff---do you or anyone else really care what color the plastic is, for example---and jump right into what matters.

Way back when, about a gazillion years ago, a company called Varney released a kit of the Stearman PT-17 in a sort-of plastic as opposed to the then-current balsa and basswood that the non-flying scale models of its era (1946) were made from. It was a highly innovative kit and substantially better as a replica than the wooden models that preceded it had been, but it didn't sell all that well so the molds got themselves sold to another company called O-Lin, and then it all went on to become Lindberg. It was a pretty good kit for what it was and you can still find one for sale in any of its iterations should you want to do that, but it's been decades, a great many of them, since it was the best kit of the PT-17. It most assuredly held that title at one time but times and technology change and companies such as Revell and ICM have released kits of that same subject that have long since passed it by.

You can hold that thought as the recurring lyric to our song because times do indeed change, whether we want them to or not, and that whiz-bang wonderful new superkit that everyone is either raving about or busily covering up with a plethora of red lines will soon become yesterday's papers, a relic that nobody builds any more because something new, even more whiz-bang and wonderful, just came out and is so much better than any and every single thing that came before it. Except that it isn't that at all.

Here's your takeaway then; your lesson for today: Every single kit out there, even the old and crummy ones, was new once and were often the best thing available to the polystyrene modeling hobby. Don't believe me? Then ask that grizzled old-timer, the one that won his class in the national IPMS contest way back in the 60s, which kit he used to build his award-winner from and how he managed to do it. It's true that contemporary kits are generally, but not necessarily always, better than those that came before, but many outstanding models have been built from kits that most of our current generation of scale modelers wouldn't take a second look at simply because of their age. To go back to our musical metaphor, it's the singer and not the song, folks. Learn how to actually become a modeler rather than an assembler of parts, and make each and every kit you build a growth experience for yourself. Use aftermarket when you actually have to and not because The Kool Kids all use it. Challenge yourself!

Never forget that your brand spanking new styrene and photoetch and resin and 3d-printed wunderkit will be somebody else's Varney PT-17 some day. Forget about red lines and learn to take other people's opinions for what they are and nothing more. Learn how to do your own research. Become a scale modeler to the best extent you can, and be amazed at how much more fun you have with the hobby. 

Whiners, moaners and groaners need not apply!

A Filthy Slide But My Oh My!

Sometimes you just have to take what you can get, even when you know there's something better out there. Take this image, for example:

This shot could have been, and at one time probably was, an image worthy of a frame and a place of prominence on someone's wall, and in all likelihood there's a far better version of it out there that I'm not aware of, but for now it will have to do. It came to me via Doug Barbier, an old and valued friend who's been actively engaged in rescuing the remains of Marty Isham's files for posterity. The subject matter for today is a B-25J (44-30476) operated by the long-defunct Military Air Transport Service (MATS) in 1957, and that's pretty much all I know about it; no unit, no location; nothing. Still, as a fan of The Silver Air Force I'm delighted to have it and grateful to Doug for sharing it with me. 

That said, it's still a filthy negative that time has been far less than kind with. I've color balanced it and done a few basic things to aid in its presentation but spot-repairing every single anomaly is something I simply don't have the time for anymore (see my last thrilling installment of this project for a less than satisfactory explanation of that little situation) so what you see is what you get. Speaking for myself, I'm extremely happy to have the image and, thanks to Doug's kindness, to be able to share it with you.   Isham Collection via Barbier

It Wasn't Really a Gunfighter, You Know

But the Chance Vought Corporation's F8U nee F-8 Crusader family of carrier based jet fighters was a revelation in its day. It was everything that conventional wisdom said it couldn't be as a shipborne fighter; fast, maneuverable, well armed with 20mm guns as well as missiles and, most importantly, designed from the outset to operate from the deck of an aircraft carrier. It was a cutting edge design with a lengthy service life, one that included honorable service in what many have deemed a less than honorable conflict. It was the Real Deal, one that survived Robert McNamara's mass change of American military aircraft designations during 1962 and with a major war thrown in to boot,  and more than worthy of our consideration today, so let's take a look at a few F-8Js from the late Jim Sullivan's collection.

January of 1969 was a good month to be on the ramp at Miramar, as demonstrated by this F-8J (150882) from VF-194, photographed there on the 28th of that month. She didn't last much past the date this image was taken and was lost in an accident while serving with VF-24, on 03 December 1974, but she was a beauty when she was in her prime. The J-model Crusaders were reworked F-8Es and closely resembled that variant in many ways. Modelers take note: 407 is yet to receive its additional tail fin antenna and still carries its E-model small blister back there. She's also sitting nose-high due to lack of ammunition and fuel, in an attitude that is not the norm for an F-8 on the ground.   Clay Jansson via Sullivan Collection

150888 was sharing the ramp with 150882 on that 28th of January, 1969, having been converted in May of 1968, and was manned up and ready for flight when Clay Jansson took this photo. She was assigned to Fighting Fifty-One at the time and was a gorgeous example of the type. She survived service with the Navy to be sent to MASDC in 1975.   Clay Jansson via Sullivan Collection

150302 was another F-8J from VF-194 (converted in January of 1968) and shows a variation of the squadron's markings as photographed at Miramar on 05 October, 1974. Her career was more varied than most; besides her time with VF-194 (among other fighter squadrons) she also served with the PMTC during 1976 and with VFP-63 before her last trip to MASDC in 1980, and there were earlier assignments to the Fleet as well. You could say the old girl got around!   Steve Miller via Sullivan Collection

Here's another Clay Jansson shot, taken once again at Miramar but this time of an F-8J (149210, converted during November of 1968) during her time with VF-211 in 1975. She had a lengthy and varied career with the Navy prior to her ultimate retirement in 1976, although with all that behind her she wasn't done yet; she ended up with the French Navy in 1990 as a source of spares for their navy's Crusader force. Not a bad life span for the old girl, eh?   Clay Jansson via Sullivan Collection

150846 from VF-13 sits placidly on the ramp early in her career. Built as an F8U-2NE and re-designated F-8J, she had a relatively brief career, all of which was spent with Fighting 13, prior to ditching off Puerto Rico on 11 March 1966.   Nobody ever said military aviation was safe! 

***Special Note: I had some issues with the captions while preparing this quick essay and ended up running everything past Rick Morgan as a sanity check. This aircraft was actually still an F-8E at the time the photograph was taken, and AIRLANT never operated with the J-model in its Fleet squadrons. Additionally, VF-13 and sister squadron VF-62 were the last two F-8 squadrons flying with AIRLANT and flew off the Shangri-La into 1969. The loss date on this airframe, however, is correct. To use Navy talk, let's belay that F-8J stuff where this airframe was concerned!  Navy via Sullivan Collection

Let's end today with a bolter! 150904, from VF-191, is on the throttle to go around in this dramatic shot most probably taken aboard the Oriskany by Bob Lawson in 1974, possibly during her Vietnam cruise that year. It's a dramatic shot and provides us with a fitting way to end this essay. Of not is the fact that VF-191, alongside VF-194, were flying the last F-8 fighters to be assigned to the Fleet prior to conversion to the F-4J during 1976.   Bob Lawson via Sullivan Collection

Those of our readers with a good memory will know that this isn't the first time we've visited the F-8 family, and we can guarantee it won't be the last. Meanwhile, here's hoping you've enjoyed this jaunt into the past!

Thanks very much to Rick Morgan for quite literally jumping into the fray at what was very much a moment's notice to correct several captioning errors I made. I've said it before, but we never do this stuff alone, do we? 

The Relief Tube

Nope, not this time! If you recall it was only yesterday that I last published and in that highly abbreviated issue told everyone, among other things, that our old Replica in Scale email address was temporarily tango uniform, which means that you probably wouldn't be able to get through right now unless you already had some other way to do that. That was a run-on sentence, by the way.   I pretty much took care of that whole Relief Tube thing up there in those captions that required some massaging and correction! It's probably for the best that you not say anything about it and just move on...

Happy Snaps

How about I look for one for next time? It works for me!

Under the Radar 

And under the radar is where the book reviews that normally live under that heading will have to stay for a while, because everything I've read of late, squeezed into those brief moments where I've had the time to do it, have been about topics other than aviation. I know that's wrong but that's what I've been doing

And there you have it, a record pair of blogs issued just a couple of days apart. Let's see, now; I tell everyone that things are getting back on a schedule of sorts just a few short months ago and don't do it, and now I say there's going to be a long dry spell between publications and then I pop another issue out almost immediately afterwards. I guess it makes sense, sortof.

Anyway, be good to your neighbor and with any luck at all we'll meet again soon!

phil

A Change of Pace, 'Saders,

Just BUILD the Darned Thing!

There was a time many years ago, several decades ago in fact, when there was no aftermarket at all available for plastic modeling except for decals and paint, and those were often difficult to find. I think, with no particular reason to believe I'm 100% right, that the first primitive photoetch began to show up sometime during the late 70s or early 80s, with primordial attempts at resin parts coming on the scene during the mid-to-late 80s. The timing honestly doesn't matter, because the point to be taken is that those innovations were game changers, taking those who wanted to employ them to new levels of detail and, occasionally, accuracy. An entire cottage industry of what became known as "aftermarket" was birthed and grew. New materials gradually came on board and new uses for the old ones were discovered. It was a magic time. It was also a bit of a trap, because it helped to create a world in which aftermarket wasn't gravy on the finished model, it was a de rigueur enhancement that had to be there if the modeler was to be taken at all seriously.

That trap pushed and shoved its way into necessity and created some moderately sick and twisted situations along the way. People began using aftermarket for the sake of using it, regardless of accuracy and whether or not it actually improved the finished product in any way, and they began using it in places where it could never be seen once it had been installed on a model. It became a polystyrene Moloch, and it eventually got us to the place we're in right now, where it actually ruled our polystyrene world. There was once a time when we bought kits, decals and paint, and styrene shapes and sheet, and learned how to scratch-build and modify things in order to produce more accurate, or maybe just more visually pleasing, models. Nowadays we can easily spend our money on a kit and then drop as much or more of our treasure on aftermarket and enhancements that may, or may not, actually improve anything on the kit. 

Some modern kits can be really poor in terms of accuracy even with the advent of computer aided design and 3d printing, and some can be absolutely amazing on every level, the point being that not every kit requires aftermarket or maybe it does but only on a minimal level. Not all kits are bad, not even the older ones, and not all kits require help in order to get a decent model. The recent offerings by Kotare, those whiz-kids down in New Zealand, could be the poster child for that sort of thing because the prove on a daily basis that such things can be done.

Suppose we take a deep breath and look at things in a different light than the one conventional wisdom tells us to employ? Suppose we carefully evaluate the kits we propose to build and determine whether or not they actually require help? Suppose we look on the whole thing at a somewhat primal level and determine whether we're actually spending all that aftermarket money for the sake of actually improving the model or are just doing it to keep up with The Cool Kids? 

We're actually reaching a point, finally, where some manufactures are putting what can only be described as aftermarket into their kits as a normal thing. Resin and 3d-printed parts are showing up more and more frequently, and canopy masks have been in upscale mainstream kits for quite some time. Aftermarket definitely has a place in our hobby, particularly when it helps out kits that are older but still viable and just need that little kick to get them up and on a par with whatever the current state of the art is. It probably doesn't have a place when using it involves accurately placing a scale chemical toilet in the back of a fuselage in a place where Superman's x-ray vision couldn't see it. 

Am I saying that you should forego aftermarket in your models? Nope; most assuredly not. If the kit needs it and it's available you might seriously consider using it if your goal is a nuts-on accurate take-it-to-the-contest-and-win-the-grand-prize sort of model, or even if you just want it to look better than what's provided in the kit will allow you to do. The thing is, you don't HAVE to do any of that. You could just hone your skills producing the occasional model with what comes in the box. Or not.

So, what do I personally do? That may not be a fair question because of my time in the saddle and the ability I've acquired over many years to correct things in a kit without spending a small fortune while in the process of doing it. When I was younger our hobby was darned near a quest for the holy grail and The Aftermarket Trap was a real thing, a place where I hang out and thrive. Nowadays I use it if I have to, but not because I HAVE to, if that makes any sense to you. I truly don't care what my friends think about the subject because, quite frankly, we're all in the same boat and pretty much see things the same way. I model because I love the hobby and because it's fun. What I don't do is model because I want to show someone how I managed to triple the cost of a kit doing things that didn't need doing. 

We have a neat hobby right here, Ya'll, and we've never been in a better place in terms of the things available to us that improve our enjoyment of it. Sometimes those things are good, but sometimes they're merely an ego-satisfaction money trap with no clear-cut positive outcome. As for myself, I'm building a 1/48h Hasegawa F-8J right now. I'll correct the few things that are significantly wrong with the kit, and I'll replace the seat. I'll do my best with it and I can promise you I'll have fun with it. Fun. Remember that word? FUN!

As usual, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

The Relief Tube

Last issue I mentioned with a great deal of self-pity that nobody was sending corrections or comments to The Relief Tube so there was nothing to publish there. Well, I was wrong, because a reader known to me only as SPS had sent in a comment and a photograph linked to a shot I'd run of a Korean War Sikorsky HRS-1 that showed a pair of black-bellied USAF C-47s in the background. Here's the image in question, along with that message:

 What I find very interesting about the photo of the HRS-1 in Korea are the two C-47s with their bellies painted black. I've seen a couple of photos of them painted like that, but never two in the same picture. Were they dedicated to some kind of 'classified' night mission? I've read that some were used as flare launchers for the A-26 Invaders.

I should've known the answer to the question right off the bat because I'd already run it past Don Jay, a long-time friend of mine and my go-to information source for Most Things Air Force, after I'd published it, but I had managed to misplace Don's answer so I contacted him again, question in hand. Here's his response: 

During the Korean War, Flight "B" (part of the Special Air Missions Detachment of the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron, Fifth Air Force) was the primary clandestine unit responsible for dropping intelligence agents into North Korea during the conflict's first two years.

Flying primarily out of K-16 (Seoul City Airport), Flight "B" crews used C-47s to drop intelligence agents and saboteurs deep into North Korean territory. I ran across that B-26s were also used on particularly dangerous missions!! Just how much more dangerous could this be?? The H-19/HRS-1 was used for transport between Kimpo and Seoul City Airport.

Flight "B" provided the air assets for the 6004th AISS (Air Intelligence Service Sq), which was the main unit recruiting and training the Korean espionage agents. All agents were Korean. Too often, Flight Bs mission is confused with the CIA (think CAT) mission that dropped Chinese and Americans (all known as partisans) into greater China aka Operation Aviary (I think).

Cheers, dj

Many thanks, Don! Keep those corrections and additions coming!

Happy Snaps

Not this time but, to steal a famous line from that classic movie Casablanca; Soon. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon!

A Special Note From Our Staff (That would be me!):

This is the part where you get to ask, and with considerable justification, just where the heck happened to us THIS time. Really! What happened? Where did he go? 

You still read this blog, or at least look into it from time to time to see if there's anything new there TO read, so in my world you're owed an explanation. The fact is, most of what's happened has pretty much been a huge dose of that good old Defecation Happens thing that hit us pretty much all at once, except that "all at once" has been spread over a number of months. It's been ongoing and mostly in the nature of petty nuisances and computer related glitches, but it's been there nonetheless, and has had to be dealt with. 

So, is all of that stuff behind us now, and is the project back on track again? I'd be lying if I said it was,  but we're gaining on it and there's far too much effort put into these electronic pages to let things end now. Unfortunately, however, it also means that production around here will be sporadic at best for the foreseeable future, but you're used to that, right? 

One more thing while we're on this topic: That replicainscaleatyahoodotcom address I normally ask you to use with corrections, questions, or just as a general point of contact for the project, is tango uniform both for now and for the foreseeable future, which means using it is pretty pointless since I haven't set up any sort of alternate way to contact us yet. Maybe someday, but not right now. 

SO...

The project isn't dead, not by a long shot, and will still publish sporadically, but holding your breath until our next thrilling installment is going to be an exercise in futility. Keep the faith, though, because we really and truly are still around. 

Until next time, then; be good to your neighbor. It's the right thing to do!

phil