Plastic Fury, Not What It Seems, A Rare One, And Some Sleds in the Guard

The Thing About Irony is That So Few People Get It

Ray Wiley Hubbard said that and it is, in my opinion anyway, one of the essential truths of our time. Irony is one of those ever-present things that haunts all aspects of our lives, each and every day. There's no escaping it even when it rears its, dare I say it; ironic little head, often in the most incongruous of places. (How's that for a profundity, ya'll?)

Here's the deal: A couple of issues ago I was rattling on endlessly (which is, after all, the only way I ever rattle on) about having a small collection of model airplanes that were sitting on a shelf, mostly-finished but nowhere near to getting themselves actually completed. I went to great pains to describe each and every project in sufficient detail to allow our readership to picture that project in their mind, and I think I might have even talked about what it was each of those models was lacking; the specific culprit that was keeping them from an honored place in the light of day on a display shelf.

Since that time several projects have actually seen completion around here. Yep, that's right! I went back, plucked a couple of those models out of storage, and finished them, or at least made substantial progress on them. The HMS Bounty has had her masts stepped, her bowsprit attached, and her boat (the great big one, whatever it is that sailors call it) has been started in a fashion far more detailed than Revell had ever intended way back when they cut the molds for the kit in 1956. The winter-camouflaged Fw190A-4 is complete, and so is the SG-77 (not SG-11 as originally and erroneously reported by me) Fw190F-8.

So where's the irony, you might ask. Well, if you've ever built an Eduard Focke Wulf, or an Eduard Anything for that matter, you're well aware that they inevitably give things like gun barrels as little round blobs that do an extremely poor job of replicating whatever it is they're supposed to be representing on the model in question. They're best replaced, and that's what I did---the guns on both of those 190s gave way to a really nice set of turned brass barrels, and they look 100% better than the kit offerings. Or maybe I should say they did look better, because the aftermarket I used provides the inboard guns in two pieces, which makes them a snap to install after the wing has been built and sanded. It's a great idea and it works like a champ as long as you make certain to get a good bond on the barrel sections when you attach them to each other and to the airframe. I apparently got a really good bond on one of them, and a not-nearly-so-good bond on the other. You can probably guess where this is going so I'm not going to describe what happened, or that it happened over a deep-pile carpet. Sadly, and contrary to Ray Wiley's quote that I cited at the beginning of this piece, everyone will probably see the irony in what happened within mere minutes of the model being placed on the display shelf. There just ain't no justice in this world!

Big sigh. Move on.

Why Can't We Get a Decent Fury?

If you've been with this blog from the beginning, or if you've ever bothered to go back and read all of the various issues we've published, you've probably noticed that I've got an affinity for the North American FJ Fury family of naval fighters. I like 'em all, from the tubby FJ-1 that started it all through the definitive FJ-4B that rang down the curtain on one of the most elegant of jet carrier fighters. With that as a basic premise, it should be easy for you to appreciate the fact that decent FJ-Anything kits don't exactly grow on trees around here. Yes; there are a few kits out there but none of them are particularly good. Let's elucidate.

In no particular order save that of variant, we've seen at least one limited production 1/72nd scale FJ from somebody, although I can't remember who did it, a good vac form from RarePlanes, as well as a nice but fiddly 1/48th scale kit from Czech Model. The FJ-2 was sortof-but-not-really kitted by Lindberg back in the 50s, and by ESCI's thoroughly confused FJ-2/-3 kit of the 80s. (It has to be one or the other; you can't do both from one kit, a fact which seems to have totally escaped ESCI at the time since they incorporated elements of both variants in a single airframe, creating a beast that was neither fish nor fowl in the process.) The FJ-4 was better served, sortof, in that Emhar did an injection molded kit in 1/72nd, RarePlanes did one in the same scale, and Matchbox, Grand Phoenix, and Hobby Boss all issued kits in 1/48th. In today's adventure we're going to explore the FJ-4 and FJ-4B in 1/48th scale.

To start things off, let's pull the Matchbox kit off the shelf, look at it briefly, and quickly put it away again. It was ok, but barely that, when it was The Only Game in Town, but that was a very long time ago. By today's standards it's not a very good kit and better offerings are out there.

Better could, and in fact does, define the pair of kits (an FJ-4 and an FJ-4B) issued by Grand Phoenix, but without going into an agonizingly long and somewhat pointless review we'll just say that it's a tough date and not one of their better efforts. It does, however, make a good source of detail parts for the Hobby Boss kits and comes with great decals---if you bought one during any of the various Squadron Shop sales your money wasn't wasted, because you can use a lot of the parts in that box as ad hoc aftermarket for the Hobby Boss kit. You can also build it if it's the only kit of the FJ-4 in your closet, but be advised that modeling skills are definitely required.

Hobby Boss is the kit of choice these days if your tastes run towards the last of the Furies, but you're going to work for your model if you choose to build it. Both variants, the FJ-4 and FJ-4B, are offered, but you can build either variant from either kit (exclusive of ordnance) so it really doesn't matter which one you start with.

We're going to try a different approach with this thing today and give you marked-up photos as reference for the details on the FJ-4 family in lieu of a long, rambling article. Things to watch out for on the Hobby Boss kit include an interior that needs help, and poor landing gear and wheels. The kit interior is best replaced with a resin one (although it's usable and easy enough to detail if you don't want to spend the money), and the nose wheel strut is too short. The nose wheel is usable, but the mains don't replicate anything normally found on the last of the Furies (or any of the earlier ones, for that matter). There are other issues to work out too, but those are the main ones you'll have to address.

One major detail you'll be interested in is the presentation of the speed brakes. The FJ-4 has "normal" components reminiscent of those found on the F-86, while the FJ-4B retains those brakes and adds an additional pair (with strakes) under the aft fuselage. They don't overlap between variants, so it's a good way to tell what you're seeing when you're looking at pictures of the real thing. Another item, and one that will be easy to destroy by accident, is the fuel dump mast, which the kit gives as a little stump hanging off a fairing behind the rudder. All it takes is a swipe or two with a file to give it the correct profile and it belongs there, so don't go cutting it off when you're doing the basic bodywork---it's easy to mistake it for a molding flaw!

I bet you thought we weren't going to show you the other side, but here you are! The FJ-4B (which almost all of the aircraft in this piece were since that's what I was building) was the fighter-bomber member of the family, and a whole bunch of the folks who build the kit do it up with a full (and full-fantasy, at least in the Fleet) load of five Bullpups and a guidance pod for same. You can build your model that way too, if you want to, but you'd do well to remember that the airplane was designed to deliver other ordnance as well. One of the things it could drop was a largish lump that eliminated the requirement for guns and some FJ-4Bs were so modified, this aircraft being one of them. Another structural thing to notice are the presence (or absence---it could go either way) of those little "fences" you can see on the leading edge of the wings in this shot. They aren't fences at all, of course, but are there to assist in snagging the barrier during emergency landings on the boat. The odd thing is that not all  FJ-4Bs (or FJ-4s, for that matter) have them fitted. Photographs are your friend!

The ultimate Fury had a lot of internal fuel capacity and could carry refueling pods under the wings, a reality that saw the type widely used as a tanker during its service career. This photo illustrates that feature, and gives us a look at a number of other details as well. Modelers should note that there's a transparency at the bottom of the intake, in the middle of the intake lip. It's got lights in it related to the carrier approach attitude indicator and is a piece of cake to add to the model---you need to do that, too, because the completed airplane won't look right if you don't.

I think this is a really neat photo, one that would make a great basis for a small diorama, but it also shows off a number of details to advantage. Of particular interest are the wheels and landing gear struts, both because of the detail shown and because it shows another one of the FJ-4 family's "typical" anomalies---that gear and those wheels are painted silver. It's pretty normal to find that on the Fury once you know to look for it. Those fuselage ducts are shaped incorrectly on all the kits of this airplane, by the way, and in addition to that the ones in the Hobby Boss kits are too tall as given. They're easy to modify and you need to do that.

All tactical FJ-4s and 4Bs were painted Nonspecular Light Gull Grey over gloss Insignia White and you would have expected them to have had an anti-glare panel on the nose as a result, but none did. They weren't supposed to have anti-skid walkways on the wings either, but 1463 puts the lie to that notion! The Devil's most assuredly in the details when you're dealing with the last of the Furies!

We've been talking a little bit about what color things were on the airplane, and you've been reading captions that describe those colors, but there's nothing like a good photo to prove the point. Shots like this really make me wish for a good FJ-4, but then again that helo in the background is another aircraft that has long deserved a decent kit. Someday...

This RAG bird is getting close to the end of the line but she shows off a number of her details quite well. The MLG wheels are worth noting; they're spoked, and the Grand Phoenix kit provides spoked wheels, but those Grand Phoenix wheels don't look anything like the ones on the airplane. The photo also gives us a good view of the vortex generators under the horizontal stab---all of the kits give us a "clunky" presentation of this feature, but in defense of the several manufacturers who have already kitted this airplane it would be pretty tough to get them in scale. I lived with that feature on my model but you're more than welcome to correct them if you're so inclined.

We don't have much to say about this shot that we haven't said in the photos we've already shown you, but it's a nice clear photo and well worth running.

The Fury also saw service in a couple of utility squadrons as well as in the reserves. These VU-7 birds are absolutely gleaming in the sun, and showing off their different tail treatments as well as their anti-glare panels---we'd mentioned before that the tactical FJ-4s didn't make use of them, but the utility birds did! The Engine Grey and yellow on those birds really stands out, doesn't it? Oh yeah, and notice the insides of the wing fold detail on side number 31---that's been painted yellow too. What a model this would make!

And here's a final shot of a utility bird to end our day with. You can pick out the details by reading the captions on the photo, but you should also notice the way the Engine Grey looks in these photos. It could be faded paint but it's just as likely to be the angle of the shot and the ambient lighting. Gotta be careful with color on a model!

And Speaking of models, let's talk a little bit about what I think is the best of the available 1/48th scale kits of the FJ-4 and FJ-4B, the Hobby Boss offering. Yes; you can get there with either the Grand Phoenix or Matchbox kits and you're welcome to do it if you want to go that route, but remember that the Matchbox kit is almost an antique at this stage in its life and will be a lot of work of you want to use it as a basis for a decent model. The Grand Phoenix kit is far better but is, as I'm wont to say on these pages, a Tough Date. You can get a really nice model from it but it's going to require substantial modeling skills, which is relatively pointless since that Hobby Boss kit is moderately easy to get together and is reasonably accurate to boot. That gives us what I'm going to call Perspective, so the HB kit is the route we're taking today. One more thing---a lot of internet modeling sites will give you a blow-by-blow description of how to build something, and tell you how many parts are in the box and what color they are. That's not my style, so I'm not going to do it that way. Instead, let's look at the areas that could stand a little improvement and go from there.

First, let's get the kit's dimensions out of the way in a really fast and loose manner, which is to say it looks like an FJ-4 and I'm making a leap of faith and saying that HB got the dimensions from someplace and they look ok to me. There was a time when I wouldn't have taken that stance but at this stage in the game close enough is close enough, besides which I won't lay awake at night worrying about something being 1/64th of an inch off if I'm not aware of it. Seems fair to me! The things that do bother me are few in number and all are fixable. Let's take a look at them.

First, the landing gear isn't all that hot and the nose gear strut is molded in the fully-compressed position, which you'd never find on a real airplane if the oleo was properly charged. You'll need to extend it or, if you're lazy, buy yourself a set of SAC landing gear made specifically for the kit (SAC 48018 at the Sprue Brothers site) (or use the one from the Grand Phoenix kit if you've got one of those). It's molded with the strut in a far more believable degree of extension and is worth the money. The wheels are another matter entirely, and you'll have to either make a compromise there or be a far better modeler than I presently am. It was  mentioned earlier in this piece, but I've never been shy about repeating myself so I'm going to say it again: None of the 1/48th scale FJ-4 kits come with accurate wheels for the mains. You can use the spoked wheels from the Grand Phoenix kit if that's what your model requires, or get the "solid" ones out of the HB kit, but neither one is particularly accurate and I don't think the aftermarket offers replacements for them. I'm going to live with the kit offerings but you may choose another route---if you do that and it looks good please write me and let me know how you did it! (  replicainscale@yahoo.com  )

Next are the gear doors. They're too thick (most kit gear doors are) and their interiors aren't as good as they could be detail-wise. They're good enough, though, so you can probably use them as-is if you're lazy. One thing of interest about those doors is that they're often painted Insignia Red on their inner surfaces, although conventional wisdom says they should be Insignia White with Insignia Red edges. Photographs of the aircraft you're building are your friend! (And in that vein the landing gear and struts should be Insignia White too but are often painted silver. Pay attention to those photos!) It's also worth your while to remember that the FJ-4 family were products of North American Aviation, which means that most of the landing gear doors will be up most of the time and your model should reflect that, although it's not uncommon to see them down as well---you pays your money...

The basic airframe is ok, thank Goodness, but could stand a little refinement here and there. Three things you'll need to watch for require mention in that regard. First, the scoops on the aft fuselage are too deep and incorrectly shaped. They're also separate pieces so that's easy enough to fix. Second, there should be a transparency in the bottom of the intake lip---it's a cover for the three small lights used in the aircraft's approach attitude indicator suite and is also easy to make using a piece of scrap clear sprue and a jeweler's file. Finally, the wings may or may not have tiny "fences" on them for engagement with the barrier in an emergency landing on the boat. I looked at a bunch of FJ-4B photos and they're there sometimes and not there others. Once again, you'll need a decent photograph of the airplane you want to model in order to accurately replicate a specific BuNo.

Another thing you'll want to do, but only if you're building a straight FJ-4 fighter, is to fill in those additional speedboards that live on the lower aft fuselage. They were added to the fighter-bomber member of the family, the FJ-4B, but didn't show up on the -4. A word to the wise...

Finally, the kit's cockpit is sortof ok, but there there are two aftermarket interiors available for the model (AMS 48021, which includes all the stuff under the canopy, and Aires 484448 which doesn't; both part numbers are once again from the Sprue Brothers web site). That assortment of gear under the canopy is an essential part of the Fury "look", so you'll need to do something under there whether you buy it or build it yourself.

Paying attention to those things will result in a reasonable model of the FJ-4 or -4B, and you can certainly proceed from there if you're so inclined. (And if you're one of the many who purchased the Grand Phoenix kit in either of its iterations, don't despair! The plastic contained within those boxes is a challenge to be sure, but the kit comes with photo etch that includes those windscreen mirrors, an excellent resin cockpit and a nice set of wheel wells, and a white metal nose landing gear strut of the proper length! The kit can be had for next to nothing at model shows and it's a whole lot cheaper to get the necessary aftermarket that way than it is to buy landing gear and a cockpit set separately. If you go that route, the only thing you'll be missing is the stuff under the aft canopy and you should be able to scratch that up yourself. Just sayin'...)

This image will give you an idea of what can be done with the Hobby Boss FJ-4B if you take your time doing it. The model isn't complete by a long shot, but it's far enough along to give you and idea of how good the kit is. The model is 100% HB, with no aftermarket whatsoever at this point---I've even kept that fully-compressed NLG strut, although it will most likely have been replaced by the time you see photos of the completed model. Still to come are the intake warning stripes, a little bit of paint touch-up, plus some stencils. The airplane will, in all likelihood, carry just two pylons (stations 2 and 5), one of which will carry a gasbag and the other a big silver lump---note that on this model the troughs for the nose-mounted 20mm guns have been faired over to accommodate a mod sometimes performed on mission-specific FJ-4Bs. The IFR probe needs to be added, and I'll need to either find an AMS detail set or scratch up the plethora of stuff that's found under the aft portion of the canopy. The kit doesn't provide barrier stops on the wing and I didn't add them during construction---the idea of scratching up three identical sets of tiny handed parts just didn't appeal to me at the time! As noted up above someplace, they don't seem to have always been there, but I've got photographic evidence that they were on the bird I modeled. (All together now: Big Sigh!) I'll probably paint the little Gomer in the cockpit and put him in the finished model too; I used to do that all the time way back when I was building jets exclusively and am of the opinion that he adds to the ambiance of the model.

In theory you'll see photos of the completed project next issue, but that's what I said about that T-6G nearly a year ago. I'd like to hope that you're interested in seeing how this thing comes out, but if I were you I wouldn't hold my breath over it---my completions track record hasn't been very good of late!

The Magic of Hollywood

We get a fair amount of correspondence around here, and some neat things show up as a result. A couple of days ago one of our many friends from the old days (in this case the old days of the 1970s and 80s) dropped us a tantalizing photograph with no information attached except that it was a shot from a forthcoming movie.

Thanks to the diligence of Captain Banzai, aka David Aiken, here's a fine example of a Zeke 21 for your perusal. It's a non-flying prop for the movies, but Holy Cow, did somebody do a good job on it or what? We wish we could tell you a little more about it, but what's just been said is 110% of what we know. One thing we do know for certain---when that movie comes out, no matter what it's about or what language it's in, it's on our Must See list! Many thanks to David for sending the heads-up and this image to us. Banzai!

Tropical Storm in the East

When the American Volunteer Group, colloquially know as The Flying Tigers, first arrived in the Far East, they based out of what was then known as Burma, sharing airfields with the RAF. We don't know much about the photograph shown below and the photographer, Jack Jones (a former AVG armorer) couldn't remember (and quite probably never knew) the unit, although 28 Sqdn RAF is a prime candidate for the honor. At any rate, thanks to the fact that Jack took a camera with him and used it until he mustered out with fever in mid-1942, we get to look at a photograph you won't see every day.

The Bad Old Days in Burma. Jack mentioned in passing that "those British guys were long on guts but they just didn't know how to fight the Japanese". That was true enough, but nobody else really knew how to fight the Imperial Air Forces either, at least not prior to Claire Chennault's implementation of a hit-and-run strategy that involved a diving pass from altitude with associated refusal to enter into a turning combat with the Ki-27s and the Ki-43s the AVG most often fought against. It was a crummy war for everybody concerned. Let's raise a glass...   Jack Jones via Friddell Collection

The Lead Sled Finds a Home

While it's true that the Late Great Republic Aviation built one of the best radial-engined fighters of the Second World War, and that it also built one of the most legendary jet-propelled fighter-bombers of all time, what came in between sometimes left a little bit to be desired. We're specifically talking about the F-84 family of aircraft, of both straight and swept-wing variety. It wasn't that the Thunderjet or Thunderstreak were bad airplanes, mind you, but they were relatively heavy when compared to the North American F-86 family and suffered greatly as a result of that weight when combined with the often poor-performing first generation American turbojet engines. Although both sub-types eventually saw sterling service with the United States Air Force, the Air National Guard, and the air forces of a number of foreign operators, there was a shred of truth in the classic slur regarding those first and second-generation jets: If anybody ever builds a runway around the world, Republic will build an airplane that can't take off from it. Hot and high is not your friend in a heavy, underpowered airplane!

In all fairness most of the problem did indeed lie with those not particularly stellar engines, and there was even a time when the ramp in Farmingdale was rapidly filling up with F-84Fs that had no powerplants available for them. Most of the kinks were eventually worked out, and both the straight and swept-winged F-84s ultimately enjoyed long and mostly successful careers in their respective roles. A great many of them ended up in the Air National Guard, and we're going to look at several examples of those today thanks to the kindness of Mark Nankivil and The Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum.

We'll start off today's piece with an early example of an ANG F-84F. 51-1707 was an F-84F-25-RE and was assigned to Missouri's 110th TFS/131st TFG when this photo was taken in November of 1958. The guys in the 110th knew how to paint an airplane, and 1707 was easily as attractive as anything the regulars were flying at the time. She just screams "Silver Air Force", doesn't she?  RA Burgess via Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

In stark contrast, 51-1808, an F-84F-30-RE was bare bones as far as markings were concerned. We think she belonged to Illinois' 170th TFS/183rd TFG  in May of 1960, which was when this photo was shot, but she could just as easily have been assigned to the regular USAF. The point to be taken is that she carries no markings of any kind that would indicate her unit. One thing she does carry are those big honkin' 450 gallon gas bags. None of the early jet fighters had very long legs and extra fuel was an essential if you actually intended to go someplace in the airplane.  P Stevens via Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

Paul Stevens took this portrait of 51-9313, an F-84F-1GK (built by General Motors rather than Republic) on the same day and, on the same ramp, which is what leads us to presume that 1808 belonged to the Illinois Guard---this airplane obviously does! She doesn't have aux tanks in this photo and her speed brakes are deployed, providing the scale modeler with some interesting detail. She's painted silver and carries a badge on the nose as well as extensive stencilling. The 170th kept their F-84s until 1972, when they transitioned into F-4Cs. 9313 survived it all and presently lives on a pole in Peoria.   P Stevens via Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

51-1735, an F-84F-25-RE, sits in her natural metal (and totally un-decorated) splendor on an overcast day. The date is August of 1962, and we don't know the airfield or the unit. She's another bird that ended her days on public display but was very much The Real Deal (and over ten years old---note the 0 prefix to her serial number) when this photo was taken. Check out how busy that nose gear is---it's something that's tough to get right on a model.  P Stevens via Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

Those of you with a certain seniority on life may recall that "Rodan" was a flying monster of the "Godzilla" ilk back in the 50s, a creature that scared the dickens out of your average ten-year-old when viewed in the base theater. We don't know if fear is what drove the pilot of 51-1697 (an F-84F-25-RE) to paint that name on her nose, but we can see how it would have been deemed appropriate. She's another bird from Missouri's 110th TFS and very much resembles 51-1707 which we illustrated at the beginning of this piece---this photo is dated 1962 and on the face of things very little has changed in terms of markings.  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

We'll end today's essay at an airshow in August of 1963. Ohio's 162nd TFS/178th TFG was a star attraction at that show, although the airplane was nothing to write home about in terms of special markings; once you get past that ANG badge on her tail she becomes pretty much just another F-84F. 51-1747 was yet another -25-RE and was on public display in Indiana until 1996.  Greater St Louis Air and Space Museum via Mark Nankivil

The F-84F was more of a fighter-bomber than she ever was a fighter, even though she managed to get herself painted grey to portray a "MiG" in the classic Korean War aviation movie The Hunters. She had a brief air-to-mud combat career with the French AF during the Suez conflict, but most of her days were spent preserving the shaky piece that was The Cold War. She, and the regulars and Guardsmen who flew her, were ready to go at a moment's notice, although it was probably a very good thing for all concerned that she never had to go up against the Warsaw Pact in an air-to-air combat situation. Still, she helps define The Silver Air Force of the 1950s; that shape is an iconic memory of a time that once was. (And if you'd like to know what it was like to live with her on a day-to-day basis we strongly recommend you find yourself a copy of Richard Bach's Stranger to the Ground and read it. You can thank us later.)

Many thanks to Mark Nankivil for sharing these photos with us.

Under The Radar

The Air Guard, Aerograph 2, Rene Francillon, Motorbooks International, copywrite date unknown, 180pp, illustrated.

Jay Miller's Aerograph project lasted but a few brief years, but the quality of work done by both Jay and the various authors who worked with him during the course of the project have guaranteed that the titles he produced became standard references on their specific subjects. The Air Guard has been around since the late 80s (we think) and contains, in a concise and easy to use format, a history of the Guard and all of the units that operated under its auspices. The text is authoritatively done by Rene Francillon, and the book is well illustrated. It has been a go-to reference from the moment of its publication and has not, to the best of our knowledge, ever been equaled, much less surpassed in terms of coverage of the subject matter. It's one of those books that belongs on every aviation enthusiast's shelves, yet a great many of the folks that have become interested in American military aviation since its publication are entirely unaware of its existence. Long out of print and now only available on the used book market, it's well worth seeking out and acquiring if you have an interest in either the ANG or the USAF. We recommend it highly.

Happy Snaps

As a matter of perspective, we've done a couple of ground-bound Happy Snaps of late, even though that's an anomaly of sorts when you recall that the entire purpose of this particular part of the blog is to present air-to-air photography submitted by our readers. Yes; we've got quite a bit more of said air-to-air to share with you. No; today's not going to be the day we do that.

Once upon a time, not so terribly long ago, there was an Air Force organization called the Air Defense Command, or ADC, a command charged with the air defense of the Continental United States. That command had airplanes, personnel, exercises of various sorts and, more to today's point, an annual competition known as William Tell. The competition was open to all ADC and ADC-gained units which means that the Air National Guard got to play too, reason enough for Michigan's 191st FIG to send a contingent to the festivities. In 1982 Michigan sent, along with its normal contingent of interceptors, a somewhat unique support vehicle. Doug Barbier explains:  Now this brings back some memories...... as I recall, they drove it all the way from Michigan to Tyndall - complete with that AIM-7 on the roof. Stylish transportation at its best!   Doug   Bet they couldn't do that today!   Barbier Collection

The Relief Tube

Sometimes we get a lot of comments and corrections for this section and sometimes we don't. Today is one of those Don't days, but we've got one thing we most assuredly do need to correct. Here are comments from a pair of folks regarding our mis-identifying Len Morgan and calling him "Les" in our last Under the Radar segment, even though we should have (and in fact did) know better. First, from writer and former editor (and, in this case, man of few words) Mike McMurtrey:

Len (short for Leonard) Morgan. WW II RCAF pilot, Braniff captain, and writer for Flying magazine. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Morgan And here: http://www.flyingmag.com/news/richard-collins-bids-len-morgan-farewell   His biography would make an excellent book in itself.  Mike

And from author and Historian of Things SWPAC Steve Birdsall:

Hi Phil - As one of the authors in the “Famous Aircraft” series – I did the B-17 and B-24 – I feel I should correct a minor slip in your review of the Childerhose F-86 book. It was Len Morgan, not Lou. Len was a Braniff pilot and a pretty good writer in his own right . . . as I recall he did the P-51, P-47 and DC-3 books in the series. He also had a regular column in Flying for many years. All the best - Steve

Thanks, guys---we should've known better!

And that's about it for this issue's Relief Tube, and for today's installment in general. We've got some interesting things coming up in the very near future (including some nice Berlin Airlift) photography, so stay tuned. It's our intention to publish again before Christmas but that's only three weeks or so away and this is a busy time of year, family-wise, so it may not happen as quickly as we'd like for it to. However things go down, you'll see another issue fairly quickly. Until then, be good to your neighbor!

phil

A Fury You Could Build Right Now, Things You Never Saw, A Primordial Scooter, Some Equally Early Deuces, and A Couple of Teasers for Next Time

I Want a Second Generation FJ Fury and I Want It Now!

That said sounds a mite prickly, to quote a line from a recent movie about the Alamo, but it's true. Think about it; we've got kits for the First Gen FJ, the FJ-1, in 1/72nd and 1/48th scales, and they're buildable. We've got at least two different 1/48th scale kits of the Third Gen FJ-4/4B and one sort-of ok one (Emhar's, but there may be others; I don't keep up with the scale so I'm not sure what else is out there) in 1/72nd, but we don't have any sort of decent Second Generation FJ, said generation being comprised of the FJ-2 and FJ-3, in any scale. The Late and Largely Unlamented ESCI gave it a shot back in the 80s with a neither-fish-nor-fowl combined FJ-2/FJ-3 that was, simply put, a terrible kit. That was mostly because the manufacturer didn't seem to understand any of the differences between the two types or, for that matter, between the FJ-2/3 and its parent F-86---unfortunately, that's a common malady when we're talking about the FJ and Plastic Modeling.

That's really a shame, too, because there are so many colorful schemes for the Fury out there and because the type was one of the better 1950s Navy jet fighters. It's my guess that an accurate 1/48th scale FJ-3/FJ-3M would sell like the proverbial hotcakes---I'm betting that such a kit would literally fly off the shelves, and that the aftermarket decal people would make a small fortune doing markings for it. Maybe we'll see one someday...

Meanwhile, reader Brad Poling has provided us with a couple of neat XFJ-2 photos, a great way to start any day. Let's get right to it!

Bud Sickel delivered FJ-2 (the first production FJ-2) 131927 to the Navy on Dec 11, 1952. Attached are two photos of that a/c. My period prints do not have any info printed on them. I do not know where they originated. Also attached is Bud in an AP photo being catapulted in his XFJ-2 from the USS Coral Sea (If memory serves, this took place in November 1952). The picture of 133754 being catapulted I sent you previously was taken at the same time. As a side note, Bud was the first Naval aviator to reach 1000 hours of JET time. He was the assistant director of the Test Pilot School, Pax River at the time of his death.

And here are the photos:

Cat shot!  133754, one of the FJ-2 prototypes, goes flying. The cat bridle is falling to the deck and the aircraft is a little lower than Bud Sickle might have liked given his proximity to the deck, but then carrier suitability trials include a phase in which the aircraft under evaluation is launched at increasingly lower speeds, and with varying wind-over-deck conditions, to determine handling characteristics and optimal launch parameters. Being a test pilot is rarely easy.  Poling Collection

Climbing out. The aircraft is carrying a fairly high angle of attack and the canopy, open during the launch, has been closed. The FJ-2 saw limited operational use but is still a pretty airplane (it's a Sabre, isn't it?!) You could actually convert the F-86 kit of your choice into XFJ-2 configuration if you wanted to. That said, I'm holding out for a decent FJ-3!  Poling Collection

You Can Hide Your Mistakes by Throwing Away the Model

We've all been there, at least those of us who model. Seemingly endless research is followed by careful construction and modification of a kit, followed by painstaking detailing and finishing. The end result is a once-in-a-lifetime model that we can proudly show to anybody; a world-beater of the highest order. That's what we all aspire to. Sometimes we even get close to that aforementioned world-beater, but more often we don't and sometimes, every so often, we drop a real clanger in the name of Scale Modeling. This diatribe has nothing, unfortunately, to do with the former.

Want an example of what I'm talking about? (Say "yes"!) It's easy enough to find; let's go back to the early 1970s and the print edition of the original Replica in Scale. The feature article of the issue in question was the McDonnell F-101B/F Voodoo, and we (read "I" here) needed to construct a model for that portion of the article. Easy enough, even then.

The kit of choice was the late-60s Hasegawa offering of the RF-101C. The conversion to the two-seater required some modeling skills, but nothing too dramatic, and Jim had come up with all the detail information any modeler could possibly need in order to accomplish the task. The major part of that conversion revolved around the nose, which had to be replaced, and the addition of a second cockpit with appropriate one-piece canopy. The cockpit was a simple case of making an existing hole that much bigger and adding a simplified interior. The different nose (and it's entirely different, with no similarity to the RF nose at all) was fabricated by the addition of the cone from an Airfix F-4E, suitably wrapped/laminated in sheet plastic until the proper diameter was achieved, topped off with a liberal application of Green Stuff and a lot of sanding. The canopy was a vacuum form over the appropriate AirModel canopy, which was close to the right shape but way too thick for use, even way back then.

Everything was coming along just fine with the project when your humble author discovered that there was an issue with the overall length of the model, to the tune of a couple of scale feet! Holy cow! They must've stretched the fuselage, and I completely missed it! Phooey! 

You need to know that when, not if, I make that sort of mistake nowadays I give one of those long sighs and introduce the Object of My Recent Affection to Mr. Trash Can. That's Now. Things were different Way Back Then, and I did my very best to save the project by taking my trusty razor saw and cutting the fuselage in two at what I deemed to be the appropriate place for the stretch. I added a plug to the model and made up whatever that missing length was imagined to be, and puttied and sanded a while. The result was a stretched F-101B that matched the specified length. All was well.

It all stayed well too, until I took the fuselage over to Jim's place so we could discuss the project during one of our weekly work-on-the-magazine sessions. He looked at it a while, admired all that putty work, then turned to me and said "what about the pitot tube?". The pitot tube! You know; the pitot tube---that thing that sticks out from the nose of the F-101B for exactly the amount I'd lengthened the fuselage of that model!

We didn't run any photographs of a model of the F-101B that issue, or any other for that matter. I did eventually build one, when Revell issued their superb 1/72nd scale B-model in the late 80s, but that Hasegawa conversion never got finished. I kept the hulk on my work bench for a couple of years to remind myself not to do that sort of thing anymore. It was a lesson that, sadly, I never quite learned.

Where It All Began

While we're exploring those Sunny Slopes of Long Ago, let's take a look ad the first version of Douglas' immortal A-4 Skyhawk. The A4D-1 was a goofy little airplane, revolutionary for its time but not terribly useful in its initial version.

Literally a shape of things to come. The A4D-1 was an amazing airplane, but it was limited. There was no provision for in-flight refuelling, and weapons carriage was limited to what could be carried on whichever hardpoint was available after the addition of gas bags to suit the particular mission at hand. The type became far more effective with the addition of MER and TER racks and proved itself repeatedly in combat thereafter, but it probably would have been an also-ran without those racks and definitely didn't have the range to be effective. It was, however, an excellent starting point. That beautifully-skinned rudder was an early casualty of the Skyhawk program; a nasty little aerodynamic buzz resulted in the externally-ribbed rudder we're all familiar with. Ed Heinemann once said he'd always intended to design a better rudder but never got around to it. Of such stuff are legends made.  Nankivil Collection

That Short-Tail Dagger

We could, if we were so inclined,  provide you with considerable boring detail regarding the F-102 program and its somewhat miraculous rise from the ashes, but we won't . What we will do is show you a couple of photos of those early "Deuces". The F-102 wasn't much of an interceptor when these photos were taken, but that was soon to change.

The "Deuce" started life as a short little fellow with no tail and a stubby shape. The airframe morphed its way into the production article in stages; here we have a 4-ship of early-production F-102As in flight. 53-1792 and 93 were F-102A-5-COs, while 1795 and 1796 were -10s. They don't look like much, but their progeny served ADC for over two decades before retirement. That was after they got all the bugs out...
Isham Collection

Of course, if you've got yourself a Brand New Airplane you have to show it off! 53-1802 poses for the public early in its career; check out the presentation of "U.S. Air Force" on the intake trunk and the aft-fuselage positioning of the star and bar. 1802 was serving with the ARDC at Wright Pat when this photo was taken but ended up in the museum at Eglin AFB where it eventually fell victim to corrosion, being expended as a range target. Rowland Gill Collection via Isham

53-1806 was somewhat of an oddball; its serial number should make it an F-102A-20-CO, but when photographed here it was in YF configuration as the YF-102C. All that day-glo made for a pretty airplane, I bet!  MacSorley via Isham

It's an interceptor, so let's go intercept something! The gear's coming up as F-102A-20-CO 53-1810 launches out of Eglin on an evaluation hop. She was with the 3211th Interception Test Group when this photo was taken, and survived (after conversion) until 1971 when she was delivered to MASDC for disposition.  Isham Collection

If it goes up it comes back down sooner or later. 53-1812 was the first F-102A-25-CO and is shown here while serving with the 3211th. She'll drop that drogue chute in a minute and taxi back to the squadron area to prep for another flight. Note that the national insignia has moved from the aft fuselage to the intake trunk, while the "U.S. Air Force legend has been reduced in size and moved to the vertical stab.  Isham Collection

We've been looking at test and evaluation airframes up to this point, but the short-tails made it into squadron service too, as illustrated by 54-1396, an F-102A-35-CO of the 327th FIS. The checkertail treatment on the vertical is repeated on the intake lips, and the national insignia has moved to the nose! They eventually got that national insignia thing sorted out, but it took a while to do it!  Robert Doer via Isham

The "Deuce" does look odd with that little bitty tail; this is more like it! 56-1319 is shown here while attending William Tell in 1972; the weapons bay doors have just transitioned and she's ready to launch. That's an interceptor, ya'll! 1319 was a relative latecomer, a -75-CO. This bird looks grey in the photo, but most of the 57th's aircraft were painted in aluminum laquer during this time frame. Isham Collection

How about an Oopsie to end this installment? 1316 was an F-102A-75-CO and was assigned to the South Dakota ANG's 175th FIS when this dramatic photo was taken. We aren't running the picture for sensationalism, though, but rather for detail; take a look between the main mounts and you'll see what the "Deuce's" barrier probe looks like in the extended configuration. 1316 survived this incident and was retired to MASDC in 1970. The F-102 was a tough old bird...  Isham Collection

A Modeler's Footnote, or I Wish I Hadn't Done That

Go back up to the beginning of this week's edition and you'll read about my trials and tribulations while I was attempting to build an F-101B model for an issue of the original RIS. Well, Gang; I built an F-102 for the magazine too, a 1/72nd scale model from the 1968-give-or-take Hasegawa kit. And it came out pretty good, right up to the part where it was time to paint it.

I was a Floquil guy back then, and real Floquil, as opposed to the contemporary They Call It Floquil But It Dang Sure Isn't product we have these days, was pretty much bullet proof. If you applied it correctly it would withstand almost anything, and that property was the catalyst, literally as well as figuratively, for one of my more profound modeling screwups. Read on:

The "Deuce" was done, painted, decalled (with Letraset if you're old enough to remember that particular product), and ready for a good glosscoat on the airframe to finish things off. The early 1970s weren't exactly the high point of scale modeling as far as gloss products went, most of what was available to us being relatively useless, but there was one product that was guaran-dang-teed to produce a high-gloss finish each and every time it was used; Krylon Clear Lacquer. That last word is important to our story because the product really was lacquer-based, which we all know is a Bad Actor if you spray it onto things that aren't lacquer, but I was painting with Good Old Bulletproof Floquil so it wouldn't matter, right? Right!

I had a Plan, and marched my Happy Self outside to spray my brand new F-102 model with Krylon. Since I was using an aerosol can it only took about three or four minutes to coat the model with the stuff, after which it took about 30 seconds for my aforementioned Brand New F-102 Model to wrinkle up into something that resembled the texture normally found on basketballs. Uh-oh...

The model was ruined, but we were always late back in those days (sort of like this very issue is; a commemoration of sorts, I suppose) so I had time to build another one and use something else for the final gloss finish and actually made my deadline.

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

Happy Snaps

You may recall that we run our "Happy Snaps" section in order to present air-to-air photographs taken by our readers. Here's a really neat shot taken by contributor Don Jay back when he was participating in The Late Southeast Asia War Games:

Don had sent along a couple of photos for use in this section, but this was The Money Shot, so it's the one we ran. Enjoy! Phil, (This) one is an F-105G of the 6010 Wild Weasel Sq out of Korat. Cheers, dj

What a gorgeous photo---thanks for sharing, Don!

The Relief Tube

I don't often do early corrections to these things, generally preferring to wait until the following edition to change or fix things, but I dropped a major clanger in the introduction to the two XFJ-2 photos we ran this week and I need to make things right! I had originally commented that reader Brad Poling had sent some comments to me via this blog's comments mechanism, which often results in lack of information at my end (full names and so on and so forth). That sort of thing makes crediting photos, etc., pretty difficult and, of course, I commented on that too. All that would have been just fine, except that Brad had indeed sent his comments via e-mail ( replicainscale@yahoo.com ) and I had his last name all along! I could chalk it up to the aging process, or to the fact that I'm an Adult Male and that's the sort of goofy thing we do, but the simple fact of the matter is that I messed up! Apologies to Brad, and many thanks for sending along those XFJ-2 photographs---they're a great addition to our ongoing study of the type.  pf

And while we're fixing things, Dave Menard's been contributing to these pages for a while but up until now had been silent regarding corrections. The silence has been officially broken and we've now got a small stack of corrections from Dave so, without further ado:

10 Oct 10 (Hmmm, 10-10-10!) ALL of those F-80As remained As until well after the Korean War, when the As became C-11s, and the Bs became C-12s No F-80A flew combat in Korea, but RF-80As did. The 49th got brand new C models in early 1950, and were combat ready just in time for the Korean War to start! That F-84G 11327 was not a CO's a/c, just normal unit markings The F-80As went back to the USA for use by ATC and then ANG/AFRES.


9 Dec 10 shot of two Thuds hooked up to a KB-50 over the Pacific in 1964-NOT! The Thuds are Ds of the 23rd TFS, 36th TFW out of Bitburg AB Germany, while the tanker is a KB-50J from the 420th AREFSQ out of RAF Sculthorpe UK. Since the fins are in solid color, this shot dates from 1961/2 time frame as the unit markings were painted on the a/c at Brookley AFB AL, which was the depot for 105s in USAFE. Yes, unit markings put on before delivery to gaining units, only time have ever heard of this happening.

OK, here are some from the 2 Apr 10 blog:



The markings on that NH ANG F-86L were not in "arctic" red but plain old orange fluorescent color, known as "conspicuity" markings. These consisted of bands around the nose, rear fuselage and outer wings, top and bottom. I shot some of these in May 1959 a few days before PCSing to France and an example is enclosed.

And here's the photo---Thanks Dave!  Menard Collection

The Fox Peter One det was the 31st SFW led by Col David Schilling taking their brand new F-84Gs over to FEAF. Fox Peter Two was Col Donald Blakeslee leading the 27th SFW out of Bergstrom to FEAF. That is Schilling stepping out of 058 in the one photo. That antenna sticking out of the top of the nose in the two photos of 058 was not nav equipment, but a plain old ARC-34 VHF or UHF radio.


That one B-29 shot with what you say(correctly)is a B-17G serial was either B-29B-40-BA 44-83893 or B-29B-50-BA 44-83983. It is very possible that you misread the number stenciled way up on the fin/rudder and it is very easy to do so what with the stencil style presentation.


In another blog, you have a camo'd F-102A with a tail code on it, captioned ready to deploy to the Far East. No Deuce in the states ever got any tail code period. First of all, these did not show up much before 1968, while the Deuce units went over in 1965/6. I never saw a Deuce during my three month TDY to DaNang in the spring of 1965, the one month TDY to Bien Hoa after the previous TDY, nor during my PCS tour with the 3rd TFW from Nov 65-Aug 66! Saw lots of gray ones at Clark, where the 509th ruled, but never a camo'd one. Did see camo'd Deuces at Travis from the C-124 I was in while taxiing out for T/O enroute to Bien Hoa that November however. Missed the IFR probes.

And finally:

Hello Phil


In reading your blogs about your time at Misawa sure brought back memories. Have a clarification however. The 21 TFW deactivated on 18 June 1960, leaving the two Hun units plus the 4th and 45th all answering directly to the 39th Air Division, which was a really goofy setup, as Air Divisions were then supposed to be composed to at least two Wings. Never found out who or where this second wing was either. I had served under a similar setup when up at Ladd AFB Alaska in 1956/7 as the three F-89D units were answering directly to the 11th ADIV after the 5001st ADW deactivated. Never found a second wing up there either! After the 8th Wing at Itazuke AB Japan sent their three sqdns of Thuds to Yokota, those units answered to the 41st ADIV, not a wing, as the 8 number wound up in Thailand! Amusing but confusing as Little Abner used to say.  Cheers, Dave

Many thanks to Dave and all the rest of our readers for helping to keep us honest. If you've got something to say or share, that address is replicainscale@yahoo.com . We look forward to hearing from you.

One final thing before we go. Dave Menard and I were both in Northern Japan during the same time period, way back in the early 60s, and while there we both developed a respect and fondness for the country and its people that's lasted a lifetime. In his final set of corrections Dave made mention of the tragedy that's befallen that part of the world, and we here at Replica want to extend our sincere sympathy to the people of Japan. We know you will recover, because that's the sort of place Japan is, but times are pretty tough right now and we want you to know our prayers are with you.

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

A Finished Hillbilly, Still Truckin' Along With the FJ, Looking Backwards, and Another Zipper

And the Nate is Done

It shouldn't have taken this long to do it, except I didn't have a whole lot of time to finish the thing. The Bottom Line is that it's finally completed, and there are some photos below to prove it.

The kit itself is a treasure, and has held its age quite well against its more modern competition (of which there is absolutely none in 1/48th scale!). You'd never know the thing was pushing 40, and it's easy to see why Hasegawa keeps reissuing the kit. It's quite a tribute to those guys at Mania that the model is viable after so many years, and that it produces such a great replica with very little work on the part of the builder. We've already discussed most of what was done in our previous installments, but there are a couple of things worth noting before we get to the photos.

First, the canopy (either one) fits relatively poorly, but it does fit after a fashion and the gap created by its attachment is nothing a little bit of white glue can't fix. I'm not sure but I don't think anybody makes a vacuum-formed replacement for it, but with a little effort you can use the kit part with no ill effect.

Second, the upper portion of the landing gear struts (those little post thingies that stick up through the wing over the main mounts) really do look better if you cut the kit representation of same off the wings, drill an appropriate-sized hole, and insert a piece of plastic rod after the airframe is painted. The tiny bit of extra work is well worth the effort in terms of final appearance.

Third, the pitot tube is very much over-scale. The one on my model wasn't rebuilt, but it should have been. It's a lesson relearned, so to speak.

As for painting, which we'd may as well discuss, all of the colors are pretty much out-of-the-bottle. The lower surfaces are Testor IJAAF Gray-Green enamel, while the upper surface brown is Testor RAF Dark Earth. The lighter of the two greens is new Floquil Coach Green (which honestly bears no resemblence whatsoever to the real Coach Green---so much for progress!) while the darker shade is Floquil Pullman Green, which doesn't in any way resemble its honored predessesor either. I think they work together fairly well in this case, but you're more than welcome to do it another way if you don't care for the shades or tonal values. (And if you do, please send along a picture or two of your model---I'd really like to see what you're doing out there! The address is replicainscale@yahoo.com .

See, I told you it was done. The stripes aren't perfect but I can live with that, although the ones on the real airplane were a little more precise than these! The tops of the landing gear oleos are painted to match the top surfaces of the wings---that's a guess on my part but it's a logical one and that's how I did it. Feel free; etc, etc.... Weathering is minimal because the airplane in That One Famous Photo doesn't look too gnarly, or at least it doesn't to me. The base is a bamboo cutting board (appropriate, that), while the figure is from a Fine Molds Ki-10 Perry. And yes, the white glue on the radio antenna is still drying. I'm not terribly patient these days...

And a better view of those stripes. I really like the way the colors work on this one, and it's definitely something different for the JAAF shelf! Banzai, ya'll!

Still Crankin' Along With the Fury

We should've finished up with the FJ series a couple of installments ago, but the photos that Doug Siegfried sent along were just too good to ignore, so tonight we're going to take a look at the Ultimate Fury, the FJ-4, also known as the F-1E and AF-1E in the McNamara realignment of America's military aircraft designation system in 1962.

Your Humble Servant first began to care about the FJ back in 1980 or so, which was when he (that would be me) decided to put together a unit list. I sent it off to our mutual friend Rick Morgan for annotation and correction and he was was kind enough to re-do it and send it back to me. Here, with considerable apologies to Morgo, is that compilation from Way Back When, scanned in from its typed (anybody out there remember typewriters?) original. It'll be easier to read if you remember that Rick appended both previous and subsequent aircraft types to the lists.

Rick was quite a scholar even then, and these lists definitely show why his books are so darned good. You might note that I did a little editing on the sketch of the Marine emblem on the last page. If you were in the Nav or the Corps you know what the missing phrase said. If you weren't, it may not matter. I covered it over just in case there might be folks of a sensitive nature reading this thing. Oh yeah, and please note that there's no attempt whatsoever to edit the piece.

And now for a couple of pictures:

Here's a gorgeous photo of 143549, an FJ-4B from VA-144. Note the color inside the wing fold; it ain't yellow green! Modelers take note: the airplane is lightly weathered.  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

GMGRU-1 hung some interesting stuff off their FJs. Note how the pylon sweeps around to conform to the aft end of this particular store. Kindof makes you wish somebody would do a decent set of 50s/early 60s-vintage tanks/stores/pods/etc., doesn't it?  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

The FJ-4 was a transition aircraft in many ways, and a lot of them ended up in utility squadrons. 139439 is shown while serving with VU-7; colors are Engine Gray, Chrome Yellow, and International Orange. It was an ignominious if colorful end to the career of a great fighter.  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

VX-5 flew the Fury in several variations. Their treatment on the -4 was particularly pretty, I think, and this shot of 139549, an FJ-4B, displays it well.  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

When most of us think of VF-126 we think of the late, lamented West Coast F-14 RAG, but they were the Real Deal when they were VA-126 flying the FJ-4. Love those markings!  Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

And another really pretty FJ-4B scheme, this one from VA-151 on display at an airshow. In reality the FJ series wasn't much of an attack aircraft, putting the lie to their assignment to attack squadrons, but then no other Navy jet of their era was much better. It could be argued that the A-4 only became viable with the advent of the MER and TER, while the A-6 represented the next generation of VA birds. Tailhook Association via Doug Siegfried

The Saga of Reptiles and Scales

No, this isn't another flying dinosaur thing, gang. It's a true story from Those Good Old Days when Jim and I were trying to birth the original RIS which does, I suppose make it old, but it ain't that old, ya'll! Stay with me and I'll tell you a tale.

Jim and I had met in the late 1960s, back when I was going to college and "working" at a San Antonio hobby shop. We'd talked about the mutual disappointment we felt in regard to the modeling magazines available to us, and then decided we could do better than those other guys were doing. It couldn't be that tough, could it? And no, at the end of the day it really wasn't that tough to do the magazine, although I'll admit the business end of it was a little tricky.

Anyway, we'd decided that a modeling magazine, one done our way, was in our future, so we began work on our Very First Issue. It took a lot of hard work, a lot of planning, and a substantial (to us, at least) infusion of cash, but The Big Day came and we submitted our copy to the printer (a quick-print sort of place, because it was all we could afford for that first issue) for production. What we got back wasn't bad at all, and served its purpose well in terms of launching the magazine. It was the bill that surprised us.

That first bill wasn't all that bad in monetary terms; just a few hundred bucks (we're talking early 1970s, remember?), but the printer's invoice was for a periodical called "Reptiles and Scales". It was hilarious then, and it's funny now, at least to me. It's possible that it wasn't terribly humorous to the poor soul who wrote it out, since we called the owner of said Quick-Print-Sort-of-Place and told him about it, but we thought it was a riot. It didn't take a whole lot to amuse us back then, I guess.

There's no moral to this story, and there really isn't much of a punch line either, but it caused us to refer to ourselves as "Reptiles and Scales" for years to come. It could've been worse.

A Well-Used Zipper

Don Jay sent me this F-104A a while back, but I'm just now getting around to publishing it:

This F-104C-5-LO was photographed at Edwards back in the mid-60s. The aircraft is 56-0934, and it's shown prior to being transferred to NASA as a space re-entry trainer. This is one of the few times, not counting the use of the aircraft in SEA, when a Century Series fighter appeared as heavily weathered as most modelers depict them.  via Don Jay

Better Late Than Never

Which is what we could've titled this installment since it's appearing almost a week later than it should have. Life got in the way again, ya'll! Anyway, I'll try to do better next time, so until then be good to your neighbor.

phil

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