Every Dog Has Its Day and a Battered Cat

The Tale (Not Tail) of the Iron Dog in 1/48th Scale

You gotta love the internet. There's lots of information out there to be had for nothing more than a little effort, although you have to be careful because a whole lot of that information is either re-hashed stuff that was wrong in the first place or, worse than that, somebody's opinion and not fact at all. Today's main topic, the Bell P-39 Airacobra in 1/48th scale, is a good case in point, having suffered from internetitis more than most kit subjects. It seems as though every Instant Expert on the planet has landed squarely on the three available kits of the airplane and figured out that this one or that one is the only Good One. I personally don't agree with that, not at all, and am going to borrow the next few minutes of your lives to explain why. (If you're an Instant Gratification sort of person you can skip what follows, because I think you can get a really good P-39 from any of the kits we're going to discuss. See, I just saved you all that reading! You're grateful, right?)

Honkin' With An Oldie

Let's go back to those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear which, for the purpose of this ramble, would be 1969 or so. There was a lot going on back then, including Monogram's release of a ground-breaking P-39 kit. That particular Airacobra has stood the test of time better than you could ever imagine, and has been released in several guises (including one in the late, lamented Monogram's "ProModeller" line). It was The First One, for many years The Only One, and is still a Darned Good One. Let's talk about that kit and a couple of others for a minute, taking great pains to remember that this isn't a review, or even a P-39 shootout. OK? OK.

The folks who have complained about the admittedly-ancient Monogram kit have landed squarely on two "issues"; the raised panel lines and the lack of detail. Both complaints are relative. Those panel lines are finely-drawn and look just great under a coat of paint, and you can get around the Loss-of-Detail-When-You-Sand tragedy by carefully sanding the panel lines that will be erased until you get to a panel line you want to keep, thus preserving the appearance of complete panels. At the end of the day I'll bet you're the only one who'll ever notice you did that, too. If your personal Holy Grail includes having every single panel line that ever was or could have ever been on your model, then you can sand those horrid raised lines entirely off and scribe everything in place instead. This is the part where somebody gets to chime in with a resounding "Some Modeling Skills Required". It ain't nothin' but a thang, ya'll!

Mommy, Mommy, look at the dinosaur! Actually it ain't all that bad a kit, and definitely captures the shape and sit of the real thing. This is Monogram's 1969 offering of the Airacobra, complete with hand-made personal markings---there was no aftermarket available when this was built. Note the cloudy canopy, which is the major thing that shows how old this model really is. It was completed in 1983.

As for the detail, this kit represented a benchmark in that department when it was first released, although time and technology have since passed it by. There's adequate, albeit minimal, detail in the wheel wells, and either Eduard or True Details (I think TD has a set, anyway) can help out that cockpit more than you might think.

Here's a shot showing a little bit of the canopy and the poorly-fitted (because it's removeable) gun panel on the nose. You can also make out some of the interior detail in this shot. It's definitely not up to contemporary standards, but that's why Eduard makes those nifty photo-etch sets. It doesn't take all that much work to make this kit a real contender if you happen to be so inclined.

The model is basically accurate too, with some minor issues on the lower center section of the wing (as found on the real airplane), probably due to molding limitations at the time the kit was produced. Monogram used to love to open up panels and in the P-39 you can display the gun bay in the nose and part of the starboard engine compartment and no; the covers for those areas don't fit very good. The starboard door is also provided as an open item, which is a nice touch, while the roll-up windows in the doors are separate clear parts which means you can display the thing with a window "rolled down" if you'd like. And, in keeping with the way The Big M used to do things, the kit includes enough pieces to allow you to build any Airacobra variant from the P-400 through the P-39Q. Hasegawa and Eduard could both take a lesson from that one!

Those Czechs Make Pretty Good Model Airplanes

Eduard started out in the kit business by making limited-run stuff, then graduated to The Big League after a short time in the saddle. Their P-39 was one of the first really good Eduard kits and still holds up well. It's also dimensionally close enough and is, even in its "standard" version (as opposed to the ProfiPack range of kits they also market), a pretty good representation of the real thing, albeit with a couple of minor caveats. It's also an excellent value for the money in its "Weekend Edition" incarnation. Let's talk about those caveats, though.

First, there's the wing. It's a little too thick pretty much anyplace a wing can be a little too thick although, in all fairness, virtually nobody will ever notice it even though it got a fair amount of internet exposure a few years ago. It's not a deal-breaker sort of problem, although I personally wish they'd represented the wash-out at the tips a little more convincingly.

The Big Gripe, and it's one with some merit, is the way the cockpit doors mount to the airframe. They're molded in clear, which is a really nice thing, and they look great when they're posed in the open position. They don't fit very well when they're closed, though, and that's caused quite a bit of tooth-gnashing with the folks who've tried to do that. Once again, we're simply going back to Modeling 101 to fix the problem. Those doors can be closed if you want. Repeat after me: "Some Modeling Skills Required". Say it again. And again. Now we can move on to another problem in the same area of the kit. The cockpit sills are a little bit wider than the clear parts that fit to them, which results in a tiny step where they join. It's not a particularly big step, but it's there. I didn't fix it on the one Eduard "Dog" that I've built, but the simple substitution of a vacuum-formed canopy would make the whole problem go away.

The Eduard kit complete with extensive photo-etch, most of which you can't really see. One thing you can see is that step between the canopy and the fuselage. It's not a Deal Breaker but you'll need to address the problem if you want the model to be accurate. Eduard definitely nailed that Airacobra "sit".

You'll also need to clean up a few minor details, and you'd be best served by picking up one of the seemingly endless range of ProfiPack releases of the kit., but no matter which iteration you chose, you'll be happy with what you end up with once it's all been said and done. Note also that all the Eudard P-39s contain all the parts you'd need to build anything from a P-400 to a P-39Q already included in the box, including the 4-bladed prop for the P-39Q-25 variant, but Eduard doesn't tell you that going in. The major difference between their various kits is the selection of decals, the inclusion (or not) of masks and photo-etched details, and the picture on the box.

And Then Came The Big H

Which would, of course, be Hasegawa. In my opinion (never humble, as you've been reminded so many times before) it's the best of the lot, although it's got a couple of problem areas that, quite frankly, make no sense at all. On the other hand, it's extremely accurate in shape and dimensions and is well detailed right out of the box. It's one you can just build if you're so inclined, but you really ought to know about a couple of things (and they're neat things because they're so exceedingly minor, and because they had some folks out there in Internet Land hopping up and down about them when the kit was first released!).

First, there are the fuel caps on the upper surfaces of the wings. Somebody at Hasegawa must have been going through their very own bas relief phase when they were working on the molds, because those caps stand well proud of the wings and don't look like anything ever found on a real airplane as a result. There's a Quick Fix for the problem, though. There's a highly technical term for the necessary operation; it's called "Sand Them Flush With The Wing". That will take you all of 5 minutes to do, which will allow you to move on to the other problem with this kit; the rudder.

And the Hasegawa kit. I didn't fix those fuel caps because I wanted to see just how bad they really looked, and because I had a major case of The Lazies the day I did the wings on this one. I don't like the way they look but it probably bothers me more than it does anybody else. Still, if I had it to do over again (and I will, because there are a lot of P-39s I intend on building) I'd sand them flush with the wings. There isn't a step between the fus and the canopy, but this shot hints that there might be. It just ain't so...

Once again we aren't facing anything major. The molds were cut by that same bas relief guy that we met in the paragraph just before this one, except that this time he provided the detail in an overly-recessed manner instead of making it stand proud from the adjoining surfaces. It will, for all intents and purposes, go away when you paint the model, particularly if you like to squirt floor wax all over everything and then coat it with a flattening agent after you've applied the decals. You could also do a very minor bit of filling (maybe with something like Mr. Surfacer 500 or similar) and sanding if you wanted to. Either way the problem's pretty much a non-player.

And a nose view. This kit is well-detailed and honestly doesn't require the use of aftermarket, although there's a boat-load of Eduard in that cockpit! This is the one to buy in terms of fine detail, and is easier to work with than the other two. It's also far more expensive, for whatever that might be worth.

Hasegawa loves to market kits in different versions and, unlike either Monogram or Eduard, they don't give you everything you'll need in order to build almost every variant of the P-39. There's some commonality ("parts not for use") but it's not comprehensive. The model will also benefit from a little bit of good old fashioned Eduard Zoom, but it's not necessary should you choose to pass. This is a pretty good kit right out of the box.

Now we're to the part where I remind you that this is neither a kit review nor a "shootout". All three of these kits are good enough to grace anybody's shelf, although you'll end up putting a little bit more effort into the Monogram Oldie than you will the others. That said, my personal First Choice would be the Hasegawa kit, but if all I could find was an Eduard or Monogram offering I'd build it and feel very well-served. Each kit has its own peculiar problems, and in each case those problems are minor and easy to correct.

So what are you waiting for, Amigo? Go build yourself a 'Cobra!

Here's a shot showing you the three different kits (L to R: Monogram, Hasegawa, Eduard) plus a bonus glimpse of one of my desk drawers down there in the corner. These kits are basically produced to three different levels of molding technology but all will produce an excellent P-39 model if you do your part. The Monogram kit was built in the early 80s but holds its age well, while the Eduard was finished about 3 years ago. The Hasegawa kit was done shortly after it was released.  Oh yeah, and that white spot on the wing root of the Eduard kit is a white spot of Mystery Something-or-Other. I noticed it after I took this photo. Such is life...

And a comparative view of the undersides. This is one place where Hasegawa wins hand's down. It's far better detailed down there than the others, and has the proper washout on the wingtips. Note that Monogram provided a raised circle to represent the landing light (and provides not even a hint of that wing-tip washout we mentioned), while both Eduard and Hasegawa offer that part as a separate clear piece. What do you think of the hi-tech model stands those 'Cobras are resting on? I worked a really long time to do that...

Iron Dogs on The 'Canal

These shots were provided to me several years ago by Bruce Smith during his tenure as Superintendent of the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas; he had the name of the original photographer but, unfortunately, that name didn't make it to the backs of the photos. They're a pretty neat way to end the day, though.

A P-400 of the 67th FS/347th FG at Henderson Field in early 1943. This airplane is in RAF-contract camouflage although it isn't that evident here; the only place you can really see the demarcation line is on the rudder. Note also the natural metal prop blades, the 250-lb GP bomb on the centerline, and the way the Insignia Blue background of the fuselage corcarde appears to blend into the OD of the fuselage.  It actually doesn't do that!  Nimitz Museum via Bruce Smith

A shark-mouthed P-400 of the 67th all bombed-up and ready to go. Of particular interest is the manner of exhaust staining and the prop blades, which are black with yellow tips---stencilling is evident at the base of the blades. In the original photograph the number 22 can be made out on the fin. The Bell fighter's shape makes the sharkmouth design particularly aggressive looking, although the AAF never enjoyed the same level of success that the Soviets had with the type.  I've seen better reproductions of this particular photograph but this is what we've got so it'll have to do! Nimitz Museum via Bruce Smith

A 'Cobra in the raw. "Pair a Dice", arguably the most famous 67th FS P-400, has definitely seen better days; note the missing windscreen quarter-panel and the opened access panels. The gun panel exhibits the remains of a sharkmouth, while the 20mm cannon is notable for its length and is well-depicted here.  The aircraft may be undergoing maintenance, but her general condition makes one wonder if she hasn't been recently consigned to the scrap heap instead.  Nimitz Museum via Bruce Smith

A Salvaged Cat

Oh heck, let's do another couple of photos of something that isn't an Airacobra before we go. The F6F-3 you see below is a recent salvage and was shot by John Kerr, presumably at NAS Pensacola. (John?) I don't really follow the warbird scene and know next-to-nothing about the stuff that's being recovered and salvaged these days so there aren't any captions other than the credit lines for these shots. Apologies!

Be good to your neighbor. We'll see you again real soon.
phil

Old Shakey, The Big Green Pickle Before It Was Green, More Things That Go Bump in the Night, and Lighting Things Up a Little

Shakin' It One More Time

For those of you who served with the C-124, or maybe even just grew up around them like I did, here's one more photograph for your perusal. (Bet you didn't think I knew fancy words like that "perusal" one, did you?) It's a C-124C undergoing maintenance at Kelly AFB in the early 1960s. Beyond that I don't know much about it (the story of my life; ask anybody who knows me well), but it's a nifty picture and deserving of publication.

AF52-1012, a C-124C from the 53rd TCS (Heavy)/63rd TCG out of Donaldson AFB, South Carolina, preparing for engine runs at Kelly AFB. Note the way the cowlings hinge to allow full access to the aircraft's R4360s. The nose doors are opened in this shot and the twin ramps have been deployed, while the aft cargo doors (under the wing filets) have been opened as well. Note the arctic conspicuity markings and, in particular, the way they wrap around the USAF lettering underneath the port wing. This photo was taken at the north end of the transient area at Kelly, where the bicycle was a normal part of airfield life. Visit the facility some day and you'll understand why; two of them are evident in this shot. This aircraft was damaged beyond repair and written off in the Philippines in 1967.   KAFB History Office 13066008

It's a Big 'Un

For many years the Lockheed C-5 family held the distinction of being the largest aircraft in the world. Still in active service after some 40 years, it's proven itself to be a heavy lifter par exellence and has become sufficiently invaluable to have been declared a National Asset. (That's a Really Big Deal in case you didn't know...) Mostly I cover the tactical side of things, but since we're already off in Heavy Lifter Land this week I thought you'd enjoy seeing these photographs too:

Here's 66-8303, the first C-5A,  undergoing flight test. Note the test boom and chase T-33.  Can anybody say "majestic"? Or maybe "large"? Lockheed via Jus Rose

Tanker trials. Here's a very early C-5A (66-8303 or 8304) sneaking up on the boom. That, my friends, is one big honkin' airplane!  USAF via Jus Rose

Closing in. Note the open boom receptacle just aft of the windscreen. I'm guessing there was a fairly high concentration level inside that cockpit when this photo was taken!  USAF via Jus Rose

Hooked up and passing gas. Of interest is the walkway demarcation running from just forward of the refueling receptacle to the vertical tail. Note the "Galaxy" logo visible on both sides of the fuselage.  USAF via Jus Rose

Everybody knows the C-5 is a big airplane, but if you've never been around one undergoing maintenance you may not appreciate just how big it really is. Here's 69-0013 undergoing maintenance at Kelly AFB during the early 1960s---it's a 4-story drop to the ground from the tip of that fin. I'm not sure I'd want that job!  KAFB History Office, File No. N/A

Shine a Light

We've already looked at a couple of categories of airborne weapons during our brief time together. Today's opening installment of same is something just as important but less directly lethal; AAF pyrotechnics. The chart below comes from TM 9-1900 (June 1945) and depicts the signal cartridges, flares, and photoflash bombs in use at that time. Overall color of pyrotechnics was specified to be gray with black markings. Any colored markings on the casing would indicate the color of the pyrotechnic effect produced, although the color purple was reserved for incendiary devices. Not all pyrotechnics were painted, and it's possible to find casings in natural aluminum or magnesium as well as in gray paint.

More than you probably wanted to know about pyrotechnic devices used by the AAF at the close of the war.  The scale is defined by a six-inch bar at the top of the illustration. Look for the little bar that says "inches" with a number 6 in the corner.

Even More Bomb Stuff

This is the part where you can wonder why I didn't just put everything together in one big ordnance article instead of spreading it around like I have. The answer's simple; it's not how I wanted to do it. Besides, I'm still waiting for either one of The Two Jims to publish their weapons book which (it's Broken Record Time again) will be the definitive work(s) on the topic. Consider this stuff to be an interim effort until those books arrive. Until then, just follow along and you should end up with a pretty fair overview of US aviation ordnance from 1941 'til 1970 or so. Or not. It's your call, I suppose, but here's some more on USAAF bombs, once again taken from our Old Friend, TM 9-1900.

A couple of days ago we took a look at how a typical Mk-Whatever bomb was broken down into its constituent parts. Here we have the same thing from TM 9-1900 , but illustrating a typical WW2 bomb instead of the Aero shape.

Here's an illustration defining the differences between a general purpose bomb, a light case bomb, and a depth bomb. The light case bomb is a blast weapon and contains a high ratio of explosive-to-casing thickness. The depth bomb is essentially a blast weapon as well, although it's intended for underwater useage and normally utilizes a hydrostatic fuse for that purpose. A conventional fuse could be utilized instead, thus making the depth bomb a viable weapon for surface warfare, but that was rarely if ever done in practice. All of these weapons were painted in OD with yellow stripes and black stencilling.

 Semi-armor piercing, armor piercing, and practice bombs. The percentage of explosive filler is much reduced in these weapons (and not there at all in the practice bomb, which is filled with concrete rather than explosives) and the casings are extremely heavy to allow penetration of the target. Note that the fuzing of these weapons is done at the tail. The capped semi-armor piercing bomb is just that and features a steel cap to the bomb's casing at the nose. My scanner cut off part of this page (and no, I'm not going to cut up the book so you can see it better!) but the face of the cap is only slightly curved and is very nearly flat. The cap termininates at the edge of the illustration.

And finally; the mighty parafrag. Based on a pre-War frag bomb, the parafrag is the weapon you see trailing behind A-20s and B-25s on itty-bitty parachutes in the Pacific. The finned weapon is a variation on the same thing. Casing color is OD with yellow stripes and black markings.

And that's enough for today. Be good to your neighbor and we'll see you again real soon.
phil

Of Huns, Shakers, and a Quick Trip to the Hard Deck

Nothing Much Going On

Or in other words, I've got a full plate today with things that have precious little to do with aviation  or  model airplanes, so it's going to be a short one. Regardless of that, we still oughta do something,  so here are some odds and ends to start the week:

All We Need is For Him to Start Another Project!

About 18 years ago I began building a 1/48th scale Heller RF-84F. It was a pretty neat kit for its time, although it's somewhat less so nowadays---time and technology have largely passed it by. Still, the Thunderflash was a pretty significant airplane in its day and even though you'd hope that in this New Golden Age of Plastic Modeling somebody, preferably somebody mainstream, would see fit to issue a brand new, state-of-the-art kit of the RF-84F, it probably happen any time soon. That leaves us with Heller to fill the gap.

There are a couple of different ways to approach a project like this. One way is to take the superb if aging Monogram F-84F and graft the RF nose and wings to it. That's a possibility, but not this time. This time it's going to be the straight Heller kit, since it's already been started and most of the bad places sanded out. How do you feel about building that dinosaur?

There's Good News to be found regarding that old Heller offering, you know. It isn't a bad kit. It isn't a real good one either, but it's not so bad that it can't be built with a relative minimum of hassle, and there's lots you can do with it. There's a resin set by somebody (I can't remember who, though) that replaces the entire cockpit (the kit's major shortcoming) and also spiffs up the intakes a little, and another French company (FM, I think) did a re-issue of the Heller model but with the addition of photoetch and resin. I haven't seen that one either and I'd have to tear my existing Thunderflash apart to utilize the new components anyway, so what you're probably going to see here is an excercise in 1980s modeling! All the big pieces are together (have been for years, remember?) so it ought to be a quick project, one that we'll probably kick off in a day or so. And we'll proceed once you stop laughing about that "quick" part. I shall serve no model before its time...

Here's a shot to whet your appetite for the Thunderflash. It shows a pair of Taiwanese RFs in close formation with a pair of PACAF birds. Of partilar note to modelers is the shape of the wing anti-skid material and the Olive Drab anti-glare panels.  USAF via Jahant

It's a Good Day For a Hun

Remember that part, really early on in this adventure, when I said I got by with a little help from my friends? Here's proof; a couple of really nice photos of the F-100 from the collection of valued friend Jim Sullivan. Enjoy!

How about a gorgeous F-100C from the 120th TFS stationed at Robertson ANGB, CO, during December of 1969? 54-1748 has a tiger's head painted on the vertical stab and the name "Coors Express" on the nose. Her paintwork's a little bit worn but she's well-maintained!  Fred Roos via Sullivan

Here's 55-2853 of the 524th CCTS/27th TFW at Cannon AFB during August of 1970. She wears a Wing badge under the windscreen and the normal TAC badge on the tail. Note the articulated pitot boom. Every production F-100 ever built incorporated this feature. It made life on the ramp a whole lot easier!  Chuck Mayer via Jim Sullivan

It's Just a Big Ol' Truck, That's All

The fighters, bombers, and attack aircraft get the glory. The transports keep their more flashy cousins in the air. Let's take a quick look at a couple of classic transports:

More Douglas C-74 Globemasters in one place than I've ever seen before. This ramp full of MATS C-74s sport full arctic conspicuity markings and are representative of the way that command's birds looked Way Back When. 42-65407 is obviously undergoing fairly heavy maintenance at the Home Drome, but that's about all I know about the shot!  AMC via Mark Morgan

Photo and caption removed due to possible copyright issue.  pf  07 Apr 2010

Progress on the Scooter, By Jingo!

Yep; hard though it might be to believe, that A-4C that's been languishing on the bench for the past month made it out of the paint shop yesterday! Somebody call the headline news! Hot diggedy!!! (Does anybody know if that's really how you spell "diggedy"? That's the problem with using that sort of slang...)

Anyway, the Scoot's all nice and gray, with white undersurfaces and red in the appropriate places. It's beginning to look a whole lot like an A-4C, ya'll! There's a tiny, almost negligible, amount of touch-up to do, then it'll get a gloss coat (I use Testor Metalizer Sealer for that sort of thing; never did like the notion of spraying floor wax on a model airplane!) and some stickies. I still haven't figured out who's bird I'm doing yet, but there are a couple of strong contenders under consideration. I also haven't found that accursed Hasegawa Weapons Set with the MERs, sway braces, and MK 82s yet (you wouldn't believe how much stuff is in that attic of mine!) but that's apparently the remaining stumbling block of any great significance, although you should never deny me the chance to snatch defeat straight out of the jaws of victory. I've done it before; got the tee-shirt to prove it!

One thing, and it's a neat reason to keep your collection in a constant scale; right now this minute that Scooter's sitting on my workbench next to a P-38G that's awaiting a canopy. The P-38 is, by any standard, a big fighter, but it doesn't look like that parked next to the A-4. I won't say the Hot Rod dwarfs the P-38 or anything absurd like that, but almost any military jet is big compared to the tactical stuff of the WW2 era (we aren't counting Folland Gnats here, so please don't write me about that particular airplane, ok?) and sometimes the difference is pretty dramatic. If I can remember to do it I'll photograph those two airplanes sitting together so you'll understand what I mean!

Here's An Airplane I Dropped

Not once but twice, and both times were after it had been painted and had the wings and floats attached. That Hasegawa F1M2 "Pete" is one tough cookie; both times it dropped from waist height to a tile floor, and both times it bounced. I ended up reattaching one wing float and that was the extent of the damage! (I've always said I'd rather be lucky than good!) We're showing you this one because of that "defeat from the jaws of victory" thing. This was one of those at one time!

Be good to your neighbor. We'll see you again real soon!
phil

Little Bitty Airplanes, Great Big Airplanes, and a Big Ol' Thank You

Everybody Starts Someplace

Holy Cow, look what happened! I turned my back on the week and all of a sudden it's Friday again! How could that be? Where did the time go? No matter; let's start today by thanking everybody for their kind words regarding the site. We're evidently off to a pretty good start, which pleases me no end, so thanks, guys, and thanks also to those of you who knew me from before and have offered to help out with photos, data, and information. People like you made things work so well the first time around, and I'm grateful to each and every one of you for your enthusiasm this time around.

Time to Scoot...

But we ain't leavin'. What we are doing is publishing a few more A-4C shots for your files since we haven't done that for a while and the Charlie is still a project over here, albeit one that's presently somewhat stalled, mostly because I did that Short Attention Span thing and went off adventuring into the late-War Luftwaffe again. (Boy, was that a long sentence or what?) Funny thing, that; back in The Old Days I wouldn't touch that particular air force with a ten-foot pole (and said so repeatedly, which is the way I say most things), but now I really enjoy modeling the almost endless variety of camouflage and markings those guys employed. Just goes to show you how things change as you gain seniority on Life.

Instead of rambling on about that, how 'bout some more Scooters for a Friday? I thought you'd like that. Let's do it!

This photo was taken during 1966 and shows BuNo 148495, an A-4C from VA-106, taxiing towards the Saratoga's cat in company with an RA-5C from RVAH-12. Both aircraft would later be lost off North Vietnam; the Vigi ended up on the Constellation and went down near Vihn on 17 August 1967, while the Charlie fell victim to an engine failure during the launch cycle while assigned to VA-172 aboard the Shangri-La and was destroyed on 22 June 1970.  Modelers, note the red paint in the slat bays of the Scooter   USN via R. Morgan

Saratoga was a humming place during that 1966 cruise. She had no medium attack assets assigned to her at that time, carrying instead an attack component that consisted of three light attack units; VA-34, VA-46, and VA-106. Aircraft from all three units are illustrated in this shot, sharing the deck with a UH-2A from HC-2 Det 60. Note that the slats have been pushed back into the retracted position on the Scooters. Those guys from HC-2 seem to be getting in some serious relaxation but they're on the boat---it won't last long!  USN via R. Morgan

Another Charlie from VA-106, this time preparing to launch with an empty practice bomb dispenser ("bang board") on the centerline. Of particular interest in this shot is the striping on the refueling probe. If you look closely you can also make out the red trim on the MLG doors. Wonder why Sara's making all that nasty smoke!  (Rick sez she belongs to the Kaiser's navy!)  USN via R. Morgan

Real Big. Real Fast. Real Darned Pretty.

Nobody was talking about Vigilantes today if we don't count that one mentioned in the photo caption above, but it's one of the most beautiful aircraft ever to grace the decks of any aircraft carrier (and apparently one of the scariest, if that LSO I talked with back in the 70s can be believed) and deserves some space today. It's a strange thing, but we have a couple of prehistoric off-scale kits of the Vigi, two or three in 1/72nd scale that can be made into really nice models with some work, and a quarter-scaler that really misses the mark in terms of accuracy. I'm thinking it's about time we got a decent 1/48th scale kit of this absolutely gorgeous airplane!

This Vigi was from RVAH-11 and was photographed while operating with Constellation's Air Wing 14 during the 1971-72 time period. The sharkmouth and eyes painted on the intake trunks was extremely short-lived, being used for approximately 30 days before the artwork was removed. This airframe was lost in 1974 due to a suspected fuel fire in the bomb bay area while assigned to RVAH-6 off the Forrestal. The vertical stab is pristine-looking, but the rest of the airframe shows the effect of an extended period at sea. Modelers take note of the way this airplane's weathered out!  Friddell Collection

How much gas can you hang off an RA-5C?  This NATC bird is carrying a max load of external fuel and sporting a test boom on the nose.  It's still a beautiful aircraft, even with all that stuff hanging from it!  USN via John Kerr

We all have at least a couple of shots in our collections that constitute Mystery Meat; we don't know much about them but they're too cool not to share. This photo is part of my own personal Mystery Meat Locker. It's obviously an RA-5C (BuNo 147860) from RVAH-12, and I think it might have been shot at an airshow at NAS Corpus Christi during the 70s or very early 80s, but I'm not sure. I'm also not any too certain who took the photo, but I know it wasn't me! (I'm thinking Frank Garcia was the photographer, maybe...) It's a pretty airplane, though, and a fitting shot to close out the week with.  Friddell Collection

And In Conclusion

There we are; another week gone by. From my perspective it seems like only yesterday, but I've now been doing this blog for a little over a month. It's an anniversary of sorts! 26 posts and a whole month gone by. Who'd a thunk it?

Next week we'll do some modeling on something that doesn't sport black crosses and maybe even try to make some progress on that Hasegawa Skyhawk that's just sitting there gathering dust. Until then, be good to your neighbor. See you next week!

phil

More Things That Go Bang, Things That Go Boom, A Pranged Hawk, and Merlins on The 'Canal

Boolits

A few days ago, or maybe more for all I know, we discussed Second World War US Army machine gun cartridges, providing a color illustration of the basic sorts of rounds and making a vague promise to do the same thing for the Navy at some point. Well, friends and neighbors; today is that day. The day for the Navy machine gun ammunition. A promise kept, as it were.

The following information is taken from the Aviation Ordnanceman's manual, NAVAER 00-80T-65 dated 1958. That's later than WW2, to be sure, but the rounds described were still in use, primarily in the turret mounts of the Nav's remaining patrol bombers. On the other hand, if you're modeling The Second World War and plan on detailing out a .50 caliber gun, you'll need this information:

The basic aviation rounds; notice there are abbreviations by each one. Here's the breakdown:

Ball:      The standard round, used against personnel and "soft" targets.
AP:       Armor Piercing.
INC:     Incendiary.
TR:       Tracer.
API:      Armor Piercing Incendiary
API-T:  Armor Piercing Incendiary, Tracer

These are specifically cited by the manual as aircraft rounds and have direct counterparts in that Army manual we cited a minute ago.

Bigger Boolits

You knew it was coming, right? Right! Here's an illustration depicting 20mm aircraft ammunition and showing the different types used:

You'll want the Secret Decoder Ring for the markings, of course. The different rounds for the M3 gun are:

High-explosive Incendiary                     Yellow ogive, red body.
Incendiary                                             Blue ogive, gray body.
Armor Piercing with Tracer                    Black.
Target Round                                        Black.

If the weapon in question is the Mk 12 gun, the colors are:

High Explosive                                       Red.
Armor Piercing Incendiary                      No Color
Target Round                                         Green

The projectile in a 20mm round is large enough to make stencilling viable. Since we're discussing these things as they would apply to a model airplane we aren't going to get involved with what was stencilled on the ammunition, but a quick glance at the illustration above will show you where it is and what it looks like, just on the off-chance that you're manic enough to want to duplicate it. (And I promise you, somebody will duplicate it on a model. Different strokes...)

The Big Bang; Second Verse But Different From the First

By popular demand, here's some more bomb stuff for you out of the same manual. The publication date is far enough along to include all the Aero shapes that were used in the Vietnam Unpleasantness and gives a pretty fair overview of what's what the Navy was hanging off its airplanes during the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Sorry, Gang; no color this time around!

We've briefly touched on the different parts of a bomb once before (see the first B-26MA photo Way Back When for a reminder) but here's clarification in the form of a drawing. Note that American bombs can be fuzed at either end and, in particular, notice the component breakdown. Put an extended nose fuse on the bomb and you've got a daisy cutter. Change out the fins and you've created a high-drag weapon. Take an Aero Mk 81 bomb body, add a rocket motor at the back and a guidance package at the front, and you've got yourself an AGM-12 Bullpup. Do the same thing but with a Mk 82 bomb body and you've got an AGM-12D Big Bullpup. Fast-forward to the 1980s and add a guidance package and a rocket motor and you've got an AGM-123 Skipper II. Pretty cool, huh? Note the suspension and hoisting lugs, which are screwed into the bomb body rather than cast onto it.

Here's the drawing you've all been waiting for. In the top row, that can with the fins at the far left is a 350-pound AN-Mk 54 MOD 1 depth bomb, while the "stick" at the far right is an AN-M50XA2 4-pound incendiary bomb. All the other bombs are identified on the chart, which means that I don't have to list them one by one, for which I'm grateful! Of interest here are the AN-MK 1 and AN-MK 33 armor piercing bombs; notice the shape of their casings, which is defined by their purpose. The Aero series of bombs (MK 81 through MK 84) all feature a casing designed by Ed Heinemann back when he was working on the F3D.

Next time we talk about air-launched weapons we'll discuss rockets, but not today. I'm all weaponed-out for the time being!

Why You Don't Want to Loan Your Airplane to Other People

Back in the 80s I was priviledged to work with a former member of the AVG, armorer Jack Jones. Jack was kind enough to let me copy the photos in his scrapbook so you may have to endure the odd shot of American Volunteer Group Hawks from time to time. Here's the first, and it's a prang, ya'll! This 1st Pursuit ship, s/n 8105, was nominally assigned to John Jay Dean. He loaned it out to a Chinese aviator one day in 1942 with the result you see above. I'm guessing that harsh words were spoken.  Jack Jones via Friddell

Warhawks on the 'Canal

A lot of folks know that the AAF operated P-40s out of Guadalcanal, but many aren't aware that the 18th FG operated P-40Fs from there. Here are a couple of shots from my collection to round out the day.

Of poor quality, this photo shows a P-40F from the 18th FG preparing to launch. I've never understood the fascination some people have for the Merlin-engined Warhawks but they are clean airplanes and they are P-40s, even though the 49th FG never used them. I sure wish whoever took this photo had shot it from the side instead!   Friddell Collection

Gettin' ready to rumble. A mechanic is tightening the sway braces on the aux tank of this 18th FG P-40F. Of special interest to modelers are the propeller blades, which have the regulation yellow tips but not much else in the way of markings (although that may be stencilling on the top-most blade; it's hard to tell), and the brake line evident on the port landing gear leg (that would be the one on the right of the picture, just in case you got turned around). If you look closely, you can also make out the camouflage demarcation line coming up under the nose. Did anybody mention "primitive working conditions"?   Friddell Collection

Gettin' to the End of Things

I recently ran a couple of shots of an EA-6B and a couple of F-14s that were taken by Rick Morgan. The photos were right where they should have been, safely tucked away in my files in the appropriate folders. The photos were all labeled on the back, also as they should have been. The documentation for them was/is undoubtedly in the letter that Rick sent to accompany the photos, and that letter is, alas, nowhere to be found.

Why, you may rightly inquire, am I mentioning this? Well, there's another error to correct! (Lordy, how I wish I could use that "Relief Tube" name with a clear concience again; I'm really beginning to need that department!) The easiest way to fix things is to let Rick explain so, without further ado:

I finally noticed the shots of the TR's nose art you put up. This was actually done after the war, when we were bored with the lack of flying. VF-41 did it without asking permission, CAG Fallon thought it looked good and most of the other squadrons followed suit (neither of the F-18A units did for some reason). We ended up with a contest and the VAW-124 submission won.

The art remained until we our first port call in the Med, in May, when it was supposed to come off. Somehow the E-2 unit managed to cover theirs up and they unveiled it again for the July fly-off into Norfolk.   Rick

Thanks for the correction, Morgo. You guys did some seriously neat artwork on those airplanes!

Also, for long-time (and long-lost) friend Mark Morgan: Mark, if you're reading this, would you drop me a line at replicainscale@yahoo.com please? It's the right thing to do!

And that's what I know. Be good to your neighbor and we'll talk again soon.
phil

Hustler Maintenance, Bad Day in Birmingham, and a Token Zero

All Tore Down; Hustlers in the Barn

I saw my first real B-58 in 1961, when one flew over our quarters at Sheppard AFB. It was loud (four J-79s, remember?) and it looked like something from another world. It also looked like the landing gear was about to fall off, a characteristic of the Hustler's MLG trucks when in flight and a visual that's stayed with me to this day. (In retrospect I think my friends and I were all hoping the wheels would fall off so we could have them. It's funny how the 12-year-old mind works...) That was, if memory serves, the only time I ever saw a B-58 in flight; we went to Japan the next year and SAC started phasing the aircraft out of service shortly after we got back. It seemed that PACAF just didn't have much use for the beast, Southeast Asia War Games notwithstanding.

To get to the point for once, the Air Force operates several Air Logistics Centers around the country (but fewer than before thanks to that BRAC thing), each depot dedicated to a number of different aircraft, engines, and weapons systems. Kelly AFB in San Antonio was prime on the B-58, and it wasn't unusual for several Hustlers to be there at the same time undergoing maintenance. Here are a couple of photos of the B-58 for those of you who like to open things up on your models. Anybody out there brave enough to turn one of these shots into a diorama?

OK Gang, here's a project for you; how about three Monogram Hustlers undergoing depot level maintenance? This 1965-vintage photo shows three B-58s with various panels removed and work well underway. The escape pods have been removed and a small amount of cockpit console detail is visible on the aircraft in the foreground, while 61-2068 shows extensive use of paper and masking tape on the intakes and windscreen.   KAFB History Office 51832277

Here the escape pods are ready for installation on a 305th BW B-58A. This photo provides us with an excellent view of the nose gear and landing light detail as well. It's hard to imagine the clutter that surrounds an aircraft that's undergoing major maintenance until you've seen it first-hand, but the area is properly squared away. There's a lot to be seen here including jacks and access stands.  KAFB History Office 6672184

So You Think You're Having a Bad Day?

Contract maintenance for military aircraft isn't a new thing; it's been going on for years. Mostly it's a business-as-usual sort of deal, but every once in a while there's Drama. Sometimes there's a lot of Drama. Sometimes there's so much drama that you need fire trucks to get it to stop being Drama so you can go back to Business-As-Usual, which is what's happened in the series of photos below. The ramp is the Hayes Aircraft Corporation facility in Birmingham, Alabama (now Pemco); the year is 1957. I don't know much about the incident except that Hayes must've been big into KB-50 maintenance at the time, and either Hayes, the Alabama ANG,  or the airport had a really good fire team.

This is how things are supposed to be when you work in the aircraft maintenance business; just a nice quiet ramp with nothing much going on. In addition to KB-50 work, there was apparently some C-119 and B-25 activity at Birmingham as well.  Hayes AC 1-57-863

This bird's been burning for a while, but the fire team has it under control. Note the color of the smoke; this wasn't a fuel fire. (It would be normal for the aircraft to be de-fueled while undergoing maintenance.) Notice the proximity of other aircraft to the fire scene. Yikes!  Hayes AC 57-375

This closeup shows how the aircraft has broken in two at the wing. Note the fireman standing between the fus and the inboard engine still playing a stream of foam onto the fire. As bad as this looks, it could have been far worse. Somebody was definitely on the ball when this one started.  Hayes AC 1-57-362

The fire is out and the investigation begins. The KB-50 is a write-off, but as far as is known nobody was injured.   Hayes AC 1-57-374

Just how bad could this have been? Take a look at the rows of KB-50s parked near 8052 and figure that one out for yourself. There's no doubt that a tremendous amount of skill went into extinguishing the fire and minimizing the damage, but there had to have been a fair amount of good luck going on as well. You might want to think about this series of photos the next time something goes wrong where you work---maybe things aren't so bad after all!  Hayes AC 1-57-376

A Token Model For Today

Today's been a Real Airplane kind of day, so here's a shot of a model to keep things in perspective. It is, after all, Replica in Scale and it's a model airplane sort of deal, right? Right!

You can never have too many Zeros. This is Hasegawa's 1/48th scale A6M3 Type 32 marked as V-190 of the Tainan Ku as based at Buna during 1943. My dad was there, helped to take the place in fact, and may have even gotten a first-hand look at V190. That's something I can never know, but I always liked the airplane and wanted to build something from the Tainan Ku that wasn't a Type 21. Here's the result.

I'm lazy at heart, so extensive mixing of paint to get to the Flavor of the Month for the Zero's factory color just had no appeal for me at all. I'd read someplace that Floquil's "Concrete" (we're talking about the New Floquil here, not the much-loved DioSol-based paint of our youth) was a pretty close match to what the color faded to when exposed to the tropical sun for a while. That, plus the fact that the color comes reasonably close to matching the few chunks of Real Zero that I've been priviledged to examine clinched the deal; Concrete it was! The hinomarus were painted rather than decalled---it's really easy to mask and paint a Great Big Spot on a model---while all other markings were from the kit's decals. The back of the prop blades should be brown primer and not black as shown and it's in the plan to repaint them some day, but that pretty obviously hasn't happened yet. I mention it only to quell those of you who are poised to commence jumping up and down shouting things like "look at the prop blades, look at the prop blades".

Anyway, the model has the ubiquitous Eduard belts and harness but the rest of the cockpit is courtesy of the kit. The radio mast has been sawn off flush with the canopy per the Tainan Ku's long-established habit of removing the com gear(which apparently didn't work any too well in any case) from their aircraft. Hasegawa molds a radio into the side of the cockpit and removing it from the model to ensure that last bit of scale accuracy would be what an English modeler might term "fraught with difficulties", so it's still there should you care to pick up the model and take a look. I did give thought to removing it, but so doing would require a fairly extensive rework of the cockpit and I just didn't feel inclined to jump into that particular bucket, thus giving the Jump-Up-and-Downers an opportunity to do that again.

One final thing about the Hasegawa Zeros before we sign off. They all have a little triangular doohickey molded in front of the arresting hook well, and it shouldn't be there. Sand it off and fair in the hook because this airplane didn't have one installed. Build the model. Move on.

Something I Keep Forgetting

A few days ago I ran a color photo of a really pretty T-28B from VT-27 that a friend of mine shot at NAS Corpus Christi back in 1980. Robert Perry wrote me (at replicainscale@yahoo.com ) to let me know that the bird ended up at War Eagles Air Museum in New Mexico. There's a photo of it in its present guise at http://www.airliners.net/photo/North-American-T-28B/1313760/L/ if you're interested in what it looks like today. Robert let me know about this back on the 12th, which may mean I forgot to mention his update until now. Late is better than never, right?

And Something Else I Keep Forgetting to Remember

I've got a project underway and am looking for photography and/or personal recollections on the 21st TFW while they were flying F-100s out of Misawa AB, Japan during the late 1950s up through 1964-65. The squadrons would be the 416th and 531st TFS, and their operations included frequent TDYs to Kunsan AB, RoK. Any help would be greatly appreciated and all loaned materials returned promptly. Please contact me at, you guessed it:  replicainscale@yahoo.com if you can help.

And that's what I know for a Wednesday. Be good to your neighbor and we'll meet again soon.
phil