f111guru

@Ad-4Nseems odd you mention that and was looking on Sprue Brother site and low and behold Hasegawa has released an addition to the F-111 family. Granted it's a re-release but with new decals. I bought 2 and may build one in the future. Now on to the F-111 series. Made a little bit of progress today. I cut out the main instrument panel and the anti-glare shield. Here are the test fit images. Only 2 today. With and without the wind screen Thanks for viewing and have a great day. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

I should have the new decals re-release of the F-111A HAS02441 1:72 Hasegawa F-111A Aardvark 'Vietnam War' within the next 7 days. Bought it for the decals. This is the second F-111 I purchased this year. The other was the Hobby 2000 F-111D/F with new decals. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

That just means the wife will have to endear another aardvark/pig in the house. I'm waiting the day I have to take out a loan for a 1/32nd scale kit!!!

I've been plugging along with the late model FB-111A module from Reskit RSU48-0200. Finally cut the mold bases from the cockpit floor and consoles plus the back wall with the lighting panel. Took some time to get the cross forms from the area where the cockpit cut out. Filed and sanded the upper part of the module to accept the cockpit back wall. Here are the test fit images. In due time I'll have the main instrument panel cut out and test fit. I'll also cut out part R19 the MSD hood. I'll have to see what paints I have I can use from my stock. Not betting many of the will be good because it has been a couple years sitting in this new workshop without and heat or AC. But in thinking they are no good I've purchased Vallejo series gray scheme to test with. It does have FS36231 for the cockpit. I haven't used this type of paint since my days with Poly S back in the 70's. So time will tell. Working to fit the module with the cockpit installed has been a challenge. Found the kit nose wheel well ceiling part A7 is way too thick to have the module and cockpit floor spacing as the instructions call for. I sanded the cockpit floor near paper thin and have ground at least half the thickness of part A7 to allow for the module to sit flush. A shown below, this is the part A7 before it was sanded. After part A7 slimmed down and the module test fit. Maybe by the next update I'll have something painted. I may place the wings in position and tape everything with the crew module in place and see what it looks like. Until then thank you for viewing. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Nice thing about the Hobby Boss kit is that it gives you both sets of intakes. My guess is that the wheel wells you should still be able to obtain from OZ Mods/Scale Down. It is listed on their website. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Yes I can say that is a live round. Painted in what appears to be ADC gray with black stenciling. When were they painted gray I don't know. My last dealing with the B-61 and or any other type was the fall of 1979 just before I was to leave Lakenheath. I can't say what the first image round is suspended on. What I remember in my SAC and early Class A TAC base days, were determined for the first strike package launch after the alert force numbers. Those numbers were determined by the command level wizards. It always changed. So the numbers would be 1 to how ever many aircraft were in the squadron. In reality, don't think it ever was. The WAS at RAF Lakenheath wasn't that big and the structures seemed large enough for 2 trailers linked and backed in. I was never in green section when a Victor Alert was changed over. Myself and my loadcrew were the lucky ones doing the preps and change over. In the following photos, this is how I remember seeing special weapons stored in their igloos. They were on trailers ready to load or on rolling stands ready to be trailered. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

My best guess when I took these would be in the neighborhood of your thought to summer 1984. I would hit up the transient alert facility on the weekends and sometimes during the week. That depended on my work schedule. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

@Rob de BieI'll answer question 2 first. I'm trying to remember how the WSA was at RAF Lakenheath while I was there from 1977 - 1980. Okay, your confusion is as you say confusing. In my 22 years loading and supervise the loading of bombs I've seen exactly what your saying. Generally the white shaped munition which looks like a B-61 is a BDU-38 drop shape. When we were tasked to demonstrate our capability to drop nuclear weapons we used BDU-38's. WE treated the BDU-38 as a live B-61 and we did not deviate from our training. The two man concept and such. This included the aircrews. Our load training munitions during my time from 1971 to 1993 had not changed. We had B-28, B-43 B-57, B-61 and AGM-69 training munitions. These looked the part of a live ordnance except it had TRAINING USE ONLY or INERT stenciled on the sides. They're a few companies in the past few years have come out with resin castings of these or most of those munitions. I have a few in my stash and saved the AFM-69's from the Monogram/Revell B-1. As far as question 1, the WSA (Weapons Storage Area) had a double fence but the double I thinking was on each side of the post. On top of the posts were a Y shaped metal for the lines of barbed wire and the double rolled concertina wire set in the Y. At least this is what my memory is telling me. Myself and load crew were tasked to aide the Security Police to guard the WSA during one of their exercises. On top of the earthen berm had fox hole dug so 15 to 20 feet apart. We were placed in these fox holes for their exercise. If my memory is correct the earthen berm was 3 sided and the WSA being shaped as a rectangle. The MSA or munitions storage area was some distance away from the weapons storage area. This may or may not help. Memory is lacking after some many years. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Not sure if reskit or black dog have what your looking for. I have a couple old kits in the stash but have not looked to see what is or is not available. Have not checked either site for what they may have. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Welcome Marthijn from the other side of the world. Or at least half way around. 1/48th scale aircraft is my said subject but have gone head long into ships from time to time. Have completed some 50 years or so ago the Revell Cutty Sark and the Thermopylae in 1/96th. Also have the Revell USS Constitution and Hellers 1/100th scale HMS Victory. They'll; get started one of these days. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Thanks for sharing Mike. Tons of information in those photos. As they say "a picture is worth a thousand words". All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

@Rabbit LeaderDave, The only kit I remember having the pre-production pointed speed bumps, pointed fuel dump mast and the flat rear main gear door was the 1/72nd scale Revell TFX kit back in the late 60's and early 70's. For the time it was a great kit. Had features that today's kit do not have. It was re-released under a different box art in the late 70's and 80's but don't recall if it had the same kit parts. You could also make a Navy F-111B out of it. I may have a couple in my stash but am uncertain about that. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Nice photo @finn Jari. It is a early one indeed. Note the pointed TFX style speed bumps and fuel dump mast. Also the opened left engine cowl. Another interesting modelling subject. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Thanks for posting this ultra clear photos of 66-0020. Quite an interesting subject to model. Appears to be painted in Combat Lancer colors right down to the medium green undersides. I still haven't found any reference to the white diagonal stripe on top of the crew module. Haven't found any above shots looking down on these. From the shading differences on the radome to the dielectric panels on the forward avionics panels to the bright orange small formation lights. Also what interests me is the Aero-3B on the lower station of the number 4 pylon. Still early enough in the F-111 program to have the original aft main gear door. Again thanks for posting. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

@tony.tand @Rabbit Leaderanother to the list. F-111A 66-0016. This tail number is the one I've selected for my diorama because it is a combat veteran of Combat Lance and was converted to an EF-111A. It is also on display at Cannon AFB. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Welcome Dom and what a beautiful trio of aircraft. Subtle weathering really makes them stand out. I'm mainly 1/48th scale aircraft but do dive in on other subjects. Again welcome to the forum All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

@Rabbit LeaderDave, the thin black or dark line runs up the tan area just below and slightly left of canopy hatch center. The larger dark rectangle is the armament placard that would show carts installed and other important info for emergency responders. Also note in the background is a light gray or white underside F-111. I'll have to go through my inventory and find the tail stripping over the years. Until then Ron VanDerwarker

That's what I get for not checking before hitting send. Could have thought I was addressing @Rabbit Leader. Sorry about that I will check from now on. As for the colors from the internet. Old photos that are in the public domain seem to fade over time. However, this is a 430th TFS I believe with a red and white striped tail. Take note to this photo that the stripping and other markings were abandoned over the years. The red area where the horizontal stabs would be up under power, unpainted HF antenna area on the vertical stab. Lastly the black striping under the right canopy hatch. BTW this aircraft was sent to Australia to be converted to a C model A8-113 as a replacement for a lost one. F-111A NA 67-0113 delivered to USAF Aug 14, 1969, assigned to 474th TFW at Nellis AFB. To RAAF as A8-113 May 23, 1982 and modified to F-111C standards. Put on display at Aviation Historical Society of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia Jun 16, 2013. Not sure how long in the late 60's did this tail stripping last. My first duty with the F-111 aircraft was in September 1975 when I was assigned to the 509th BW Pease AFB with the FB-111A. Then January 1977 I was assigned to the 48th TFW for operation ready switch where the F-111F's came to RAF Lakenheath. After that I was assigned to the 27th TFW F-111D and the next 13 years was the FB-111A conversion and finally the F-111F once again. 17 years on the F-111 series for weapons. I've seen the tail stripping change over the years. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

@rabbiteatsnakeDave, I can atest first hand the 428th F-111G's were painted light blue. Somewhere in one of my reference books I should have all the wing and squadron colors. So every F/FB-111 was represented if my old age memory is correct. Here is 68-0273 428th FS 27th FW Cannon AFB All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Dave, I don't have any photo evidence of 67-0049 but I do have photos of 66-0042 with the white undersides. Also the narrative from Joe Baugher's serial number listing and www.f-111.net/index.html 66-0042 crashed and destroyed 12 February 1969. Flew into mountain in NV due to terrain following radar failure. Crew killed. 67-0049 crashed Dec 22, 1969 due to wing carry through box failure during bombing run which caused wing to fall off. Ejection was out of envelope and both crew killed when capsule impacted the ground. Credit goes to whom are listed. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Having gone through my FB-111A photo inventory I did find one image of an FB-111A on victor alert. It has 4 external fuel tanks and the outboard fuel tanks are cranked 10 degree inboard. See photo below: I have no idea who took this photo but another from the other side and maybe the same aircraft was found on www.fb-111.net Those pages have changed over the years so I sure it's still there somewhere. At any rate I have a set of Scaledown external fuel tanks cast in resin and the FB/F-111A/G conversion kit. This set includes the FB style fuel dumb mast and 4 wing pylons. I did some years ago make a set of 4 FB style pylons using 4 Academy pylons. After a while they turned up the nose. As shown here I'm going to do the same thing with a set of Hobby Boss pylons. Only difference id the resin support for the Reskit FB capsule I'm going to trim to fit the cutoff part of the pylon and super glue in place. Back to the fuel tank thingy I'm going to do. I was thinking about getting a few more resin tanks but was concerned about the weight. So my idea was turned to the amount of Academy fuel tanks at hand and the slightly fatter Hobby Boss tanks. Also was thinking about using the full set of Monogram/Revell A-10 tanks at hand. I've measured and marked the Academy/HB tanks and will cut and resection to the correct length as the Scaledown tanks should be as accurate. I measured the tanks as 6-1/4" US sorry don't have a metric ruler that long and 5/8" wide. I'll have to add 1/16 approx to the circumference of the tank. Here are the measured photos. The Academy tank is on the top and the Hobby Boss bottom. I'll use the center section of the HB tank to start and the nose and fin section of the Academy. I'll show the progress as that happens. Your thoughts please, good bad or just plain nuts. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Your answer may be best viewed under the Modelling then tools and tips section. There you will find subsections for paint and general modelling. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

At any rate this by far is the best casting of parts. Here are the rest of the cockpit parts, starting with the wind screen and hatch glass: followed by the rest. The latter two have some 3D printed parts and really look great. This will be a slow and go process. New territory for me. I have the Caracal FB-111A CD40111 sheet for the 380th and 509th Bomb Wing aircraft. I've decided on the tail number 68-0287 as my aircraft of choice. Was assigned to the 509th BW and is on display at the Wings Over The Rockies museum Denver Colorado USA. CD48111 Caracal FB-111A Caracal CARB48001 Although it says for the Academy kit I can make it work for the Hobby Boss FB-111A kit. Somewhere in my photo library I have one photo of the alert facility at either Pease or Plattsburg AFB to go by for the diorama I'm wanting to do. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker

Hello Pappy, Thanks for the info. This is a new road for me. I'm working and saving to get a mid way 3D printer. Not one that will break my bank nor a cheap one where it is outdated on the second go. Again Thank You Ron VanDerwarker

Well that was quick. LOL! The cutting of the support came off without a hitch. Razor saws work great. A light sanding to the back end and here is a four view of the test fit. So folks let me know what you think. Good bad and indifferent, always open to any and all. Still have some flash to trim and the cockpit parts are no exception. Some have flash. Not sure how that happens with 3D print but this is all new to me. All The Best, Ron VanDerwarker