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Found 9 results

  1. Hello, As promised over on the build thread HERE below are the pictures of the old 1/72 Hasegawa boxing of the F-110A (Navy F-4B) Spectre, one of the first two loaned by the Navy to the Air Force for evaluation: I was originally going to make up an F-110A using an old Fujimi F-4B and homemade decals, but since I tracked this kit down, I just took the easy way out. This is an old kit, worth building, but the directions are attrocious, as far as best build order of lots of small details. The build article pointed to above shows several decal and paint marking details probably not readily available to reviewers and builders of this kit years ago. Thanks for looking, Ed
  2. As mentioned in the build thread, here are a few pictures my model of the F-100D flown by Colonel George E "Raven" Laven, Jr, on the ill-fated first mission into Laos on 9 June '64 out of DaNang. The model is a modified Trumpeter 1/72 scale F-100D as described here: F-100D Build Only one photo is known to exist of this aircraft, and this is my interpretation: Thanks for looking, Ed
  3. Hi, as promised over on the P-38L Build Thread Here are some pictures of my recent build of then Major George E. Laven, Jr.'s Lockheed P-38L-5-LO, "Itsy-Bitsy II". I was going for the old South Pacific "oxidized" look, but further weathering opinions would be welcome! Thanks for looking, Ed
  4. Hello everyone. As many of you know I'm rather fanatical about the colorful aircraft of George E. Laven, Jr, and it is my hope to build at least of of each aircraft type associated with him. This effort continues today with my take on the 1/72 scale Hobby Boss P-38L-5-LO kit, which fortuitously, has most of the correct markings for Laven's "Itsy-Bity II" in the box. I say most, as some decals are missing, as well as some parts needed to make an accurate model. I will address these items as I come to them. To begin, here is the kit: I will say that I have avoided the Hobby Boss models, as in the past, I've associated models with easy assembly and few parts as being rather toy-like. In this case I was very pleased to find that the model is very accurate, and fits almost perfectly. That is, excluding the items that they inexplicably forgot to include. More on that later. Meanwhile, I began, as most kits do, with the cockpit and other items that have to be placed inside, before the fuselage halves can be closed up: I didn't add anything to the cockpit other than some foil seat belts and a couple of "black boxes" behind the seat. Most people who research such things agree that the primary color for the late-model Lightnings was Interior Green FS 34151), so that's what I used, along with the kit instrument panel decal. On the right side of each of the above photos, are the I.D. or recognition lights. Care was needed here, as pre-fitting showed that the lights fit in the fuselage bottom one way only, and they are colored (from the front) red-green-amber. I used Model Mater clear paints for these, and in the right photo, the entire back side of the light's clear piece was painted with aluminum. The lights were to be masked after installation with tiny discs of masking tape. Guess what I forgot to do.... Next, the kit instructions call for 6 grams of weight to be added to each engine nacelle, but I managed to cram 6 grams into just the front of the fuse, which will hopefully reduce the total amount needed, reducing load on the landing gear later. I used little 1 gram each crimp-on fishing sinkers, made either of lead, pseudo-lead, or whatever fairly dust they are using for such things now: Next, I painted the top fuselage halves in the cockpit area. Note the added black boxes: Next, the fuselage halves (top and bottom) were glued together, with excellent fit throughout. I only had one bad seam, alongside the nose, where apparently the lead shot were not bent flat enough for the top to nestle onto the bottom as designed. my mistake. The underside fit about the same. Careful test-fitting and sanding produced a near-perfect fit on the boom intakes, and only minor sanding was needed where the seam at the back of the booms meets the tail area. Next, the nacelle fronts were added, each containing 2 grams of weight. I was only going to add one each, but I became a " 'fraidy-cat", and added more. Note the filler in the one bad seam that I created... Next, masking the canopy. I used bits of Tamiya Tape to mask the front and rear part, using a sharpened lead pencil to mark the panels lines, then cutting out the masks.. The masks were then applied, with masking liquid being used to touch up here and there. The center section is masked with two layers of Parafilm "M", because the molded panel lines on the kit cockpit were not pronounced enough to use tape. They were, however, visible enough to later on be ale to use a sharp #11 blade to cut through the Parafilm "M" to create the masks, after carefully removing that cockpit framing lines that had been cut into the film: The work up to this point was done in about 4 hours, including glue and paint drying time. I will have spent many more hours researching this aircraft, than actually build it! Well, more next time. Be good. Ed
  5. Hello, Here, finally, are the finished pics of George E. Laven, Jr.'s FIRST P-38E, #41-2076. This model presented a difficult problem about exactly how is should be finished and weathered. The base colors were O.D. and Neutral Grey. The problem is, it served in the Aleutian Campaign of WW II, and was subject to harsh weather and volcanic dust and mud -- but only for a fairly short time. The aircraft was moved to the Aleutians somewhere between June and August, 1942. After registering two kills with this aircraft in September and November of 1942, Laven was allowed to fly the aircraft back to Dallas, Texas for repairs, while be had a brief R&R at home in December of 1942. Laven re-appears in Alaska, but by the "red surround" period of U.S. national markings, he was then flying his SECOND P-38E #41-2069, buzz no. 80 . I do not know when (or if) #41-2076 ever returned to Alaska, and we may never know, as official records are said to indicate that this aircraft was lost on April 04, 1942, in a fatal accident in Washington state -- clearly an impossibility! In any event, how to paint and weather a model that flew around 6 months in some of the harshest climate on earth? I don't know, and I WISH someone would write that how-to book for us modelers!! Dana Bell, do you have one more left in you.... :<) Meantime, this model is my best S.W.A.G. interpretation, and undoubtedly is NOT the final answer... The RS Models P-38E is a nice kit, but definitely has it's quirks. For more on that, see the Build Thread Thanks for looking, Ed
  6. Here is the latest addition to my collection of George E. Laven Jr's colorful aircraft -- in this case a conversion of the Heller 1/72 scale F-84G kit. Why Heller? This question, and others, including creating the unique artwork for the decals, can be found in the build thread: F-84B BUILD As I just returned from holiday, I haven't had a chance to set up the photo booth, so I only took a few pics, of not super great quality: And last, a comparison with Laven's F-84E: Thanks for looking. The build was easy, but the artwork was a little tricky! Hope you enjoy her as much as I do... Ed
  7. Hello everyone. Since my last WIP I've been very busy, both modeling and whatever else you call the rest of the time (NOT-modeling, I suppose!) In any event, I've been working on some old projects, completing my F8U-1 (or F-8A) early Crusader conversion, and Col George E.Laven's colorful F-104C. Finally, I have time for a small WIP, an F-84B conversion of the Heller F-84G Thunderjet. Why the Heller kit and not the more detailed Tamiya? you might ask. Basically four reasons: 1) The Tamiya kit wants to have it's gun door left open, and that's not what I'm after on this build; 2) The Heller kit has the option for the early 4-hole air brake, which the Tamiya does not; 3) The Tamiya canopy is too thin to sand off all the F-84G canopy reinforcement, while the Heller has enough plastic to do so, and 4) The Heller kit is available for less money at auction! There are several things required to backdate an F-84G to an F-84B version: (1) The fuse has to be shortened by one scale foot (4mm), just ahead of the wing. Technically, you should also remove three scale inches from behind the wing as well, but as the fuse slopes dramatically in that area, and the 3" equals 1 mm, I ain't goin' there! (2) As mentioned above the canopy has to revert to the old, non-reinforced model, as well as needing to be shortened that same 1 scale foot or 4mm. (3) The refueling door outline at the leading edge of the wing, next to the fuse, on the left wing, needs to be removed (4) The auxiliary air inlet doors ahead of each wing need to be filled (5) The multi-holed later style air-brake needs to replaced by the aforementioned 4-holer. (6) The trim tabs on both ailerons and the rudder need to be modified. (7) The pitot tube needs to be relocated to the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer. (8) Earlier style ejection seat. There is some difference of opinion here, with some experts saying that the first few B models had no ejection seat, while others say that the seats were there, just that the pilots were NOT authorized to use them.... must have been a bit dodgy there! Let's see "should I pull the handle and get the heck out of here before I die, or do I slide back the canopy, unhook the seat harness, roll the aircraft over and hope I fall out and miss the tail.... Sorry sir, I must have been out of my mind when I pulled that handle..." Anyway, I began by sawing the fuse in half on both sides, right at the panel line in front of the wing, removing one scale foot on each side with a razor saw. Then, I glued both pieces of each half together, taping the fuse parts together temporarily as needed, to align everything: As usual for me, the fit was not perfect, and requires a small shim of plastic card on the right side (arrow) to line things up. Figure "A" shows parts of the kit read decking that I removed, and figure "B" is the slice (4 mm wide) that I removed from each side of the fuselage. Below the arrow is where the auxiliary intake doors where filled. Next, we see some modifications needed on the wings: Figure "A" shows the trim tabs that need to be removed from both wings. Figure "B" shows the type and location of scribed trim tab that needs to be added to the right wing. Figure "C" shows removing the fin on the fuel tank, which was not on the "B" version; and figure "R" shows the refilling doors that need to be sanded out. Both wings should then be asymmetrically similar. Next, we have the cockpit: Figure "A" is the Heller instrument panel, and figure "B" is the Heller cockpit. I will use a resin copy of the Tamiya cockpit, (bottom), which will be sawed off at points "C" and "D". Point "C" so that the cockpit can be installed one scale foot further forward than on the original Heller fuse half, and "D" must be shortened anyway, or a scratch built replacement made, as this one is too long. I will, however, use the Heller instrument panel, because (1) it will fit, and (2) I am lazy. However, the next item will require some work, and is the thing that usually puts modelers off from trying this conversion, yet it's "Duck Soup" if done properly. That is to desecrate and remodel the canopy: First off, we have the canopy, with the reinforcing frame sanded off, using both sides of the 220/320 nail sanding stick shown above. The four-gritted stick (bottom) will be used later, thru each of it's four successive grits, from rougher to smoother. It is important NOT to skip a grit! Oh, and the grey thing is just a bit of neutral grey card, used for white balance when shooting the photo, but in this case, it was also to be used to set the canopy upon, to make it stand out a little better. Below, a closer shot, showing the reinforcing strips having been wet-sanded off, with the 220, then the 320 grit stick: followed by a shot after wet-sanding with the #1 grit (blue quarter) of the lower sanding stick. Then two shots showing the #2 and #3 grit progression from this stick: Then, after wet-sanding with the #4 grit: Probably, most rational people would have polished the canopy AFTER sawing off the extra 4mm. I didn't, because the existing front canopy frame was a little thicker than the rest of the canopy, and I felt that it might help resist inadvertent shattering of the plastic while sanding, etc. In the end, I had no problems, so I'll chalk that up as a brilliant decision by Ed! Next we prepare for the surgery: The canopy has been marked with a piece of tape 4mm (1 scale foot) back from the leading edge. MY next step will be to make one very perfect pass along the edge of the tape with the razor knife. This helps guide the scriber (bottom) with which I will make a couple of passes to make a line to guide the razor saw while it saws off the unneeded front. Results shown below: Then after a little cleanup with the sanding file on the cut edge, one coat, then another dip into the Future or PMF or whatever it is by the time you read this, drying between dips: And we now have a usable F-84B canopy. More next time, Ed
  8. Hello everyone, The latest bird in my colorful George E. Laven collection is the 1/72 scale Revell F-104 A/C kit, along with Microscale's #72-358 decal sheet and an unnamed F-104 resin cockpit, probably an ancestor of CMK or something. The resin set had parts for the radar, fuselage spine and area behind the cockpit, but as I wanted to show the sleek lines of the aircraft, I only used the cockpit and vacuform canopy. The directions for the resin set were not very specific, and it took a while to get everything located to fit. I ended up using the vac canopy, because the resin ejection seat wouldn't fit under the kit hard plastic canopy, even after sanding. The decal set was a little misleading, in that the simple illustration provided showed some decals on the wrong side of the aircraft, such as the colored stripes on the air intakes (which had to be installed, trimmed and masked before the kit was assembled!) , spiraling in the wrong direction. In addition, the tiny delta on the fuel tank decals needs to be on the top of both wing tip tanks, the illustration shows one up and one down. Also, the U.S. Air Force decals are a little bit too large, which precluded applying some of the minor decals on the nose sides. The nose stripes decal is best installed AFTER the anti-glare panel is painted, then install the decal, and trim to fit with a sharp razor knife, before the decal sets fully. Lastly, the decal sheet call for a white nose and underside of the wings, which should almost certainly be FS 36495, a very light grey. Also the decal sheet calls for an olive drab anti-glare panel, but it should be FS 34079, as was the standard. To help me determine these things, I used the following photo, found in several places on-line. I do not own the rights to this photo, but I cannot explain my observance of the above-mentioned errors without it. It may get taken down if the owner requests, so grab it, if you want it, while you can. Otherwise, PM me an email address, and I will send you a copy. This is the only photo I've found that shows the various colors on the wing tip tank fins. Many other decal sheets ignore this factor. Of course, at various times, maybe these weren't painted at all... Note the clearly light grey nose cone, and the placement of the lightening bolts. Contrary to other postings on-line, these are the correct sizes, if installed according to this photo, and NOT as the decal sheet illustration says. Anyway, as always being not quite perfect, here she is, in all her colorful glory: It was sort of a tough kit to build, for a ham-handed guy like me. The landing gear HAS to be installed at an early stage, and predictably, it got broken off several times. There doesn't seem to be any way to work around this, due to the kit's design, so be wary if you build one. Also, the very thin tabs that hold the wings to the fuselage were broken off a few times, when I tried to hold the model by it's wing tips (wearing a white cotton glove!), and applying decals. Don't hold the model by it's wings! But, despite the kicking and screaming, I am proud to add this model to my collection -- AND I'm glad it's over...!!! Ed
  9. Just a few pics to show my recently completed 1/72 RS P-38E, in the marking of the second P-38E flown by then Major George Laven during the Aleutian campaign: Markings are a little speculative, as discussed in the WIP here: P-38E WIP One thing to note -- if you build the RS P-38's, leave the mass balancers off till the very last step. I knocked mine off many time and finally lost them both. Have another kit on order and will try to copy and re-install them later on! Thanks for looking, Ed
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