Booty003 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 F111A, 66-0025, 428th TFS/474th TFW 'Combat Lancer', Takhli RTAFB, Thailand April 1968 The USAF decided to rush a small detachment of F-111As to Southeast Asia under a program known as "Combat Lancer". Six 428th TFS F-111As were allocated to the "Combat Lancer" program, and departed Nellis AFB for Takhli RTAFB on 15 March 1968. By the end of that month, 55 night missions had been flown against targets in North Vietnam, but two aircraft had been lost. 66-0022 had been lost on 28 March, and 66-0017 on 30 March. Replacement aircraft had left Nellis, but the loss of a third F-111A (66-0024) on 22 April halted F-111A combat operations until 1972. 66-0025 was one of the replacement aircraft. The Italeri kit is not too bad a kit to put together - tricky bits were the ill fitting tail area and the forward fuselage. I do have a Hase version up in the loft 🙂 A very decent sized model even in '72. With a re-issue due sometime soon I would well recommend picking one up. Cheers all, Phil 42 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Lovely! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAGATIGER Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Hi Booty003 Wonderful kit, I'm stock with one F-111A but it will have Rolling Thunder 1972 markings Cheers Armando 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Beautiful model of one of my favourite Cold War US types. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky Keg Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Very nice Phil!!!! Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
br60066 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Looks great . I’ve always had a soft spot for this kit despite its age since it's surprisingly well detailed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 I've always had a soft spot for the F-111. Your model is very well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reini Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 (edited) You've got so many cool SEA camo planes, many of which I'm hoping to do one day. Well done, this is done to a very high standard Edited May 26, 2020 by reini 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kampartiger Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Yes,an excellent F111, I remember this one quite well when it was first released by ESCI. The pictures however reminded me of the 'ridge' infront of the canopy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Joyce Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Another nice one, Phil, showing some great airbrushing skill. I might have to get one of the kits when it's released again. Cheers, Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Nice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Excellent F-111! Great work on the camo scheme in particular - well done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 That's very cool. As a matter of interest, what caused those combat losses? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Callahan Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Outstanding work, very awesome 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booty003 Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 1 hour ago, jackroadkill said: That's very cool. As a matter of interest, what caused those combat losses? All three had been lost through a malfunction in the horizontal stabiliser, not by enemy action. September 1972 saw the F-111 back in Southeast Asia, stationed at Takhli Air Base, Thailand. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 3 minutes ago, Booty003 said: All three had been lost through a malfunction in the horizontal stabiliser, not by enemy action. September 1972 saw the F-111 back in Southeast Asia, stationed at Takhli Air Base, Thailand. Thanks, that's very interesting to know. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f111guru Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 Phil, Wonderful job on the Italeri F-111A kit. I've build a number of those and other company kits. I know the problems you may have had with your build. I've been away from the forum for some time. Greatly under the weather at times and not from the world traveling virus. If you had a build I did not go back in the Work In Progress far enough to see your build. Here is part of a word document converted to an image of the original deployment from Nellis AFB. This document gives the first flight and weapons load plus the known cause of the crash. I have plans for a few aircraft in both 1/72nd and 1/48th scale. I'll have them and any other builds in the WIP section of the forumI have the Two Bob's sets. So again nice finish and one question. I the underside painted a faded Flat Black or Olive Drab. I can't tell my monitor is giving me fits at times. All The Best Ron VanDerwarker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Dyck Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 Hi Phil, what a beauty! The most impressive camouflage for planes in this time period. You nailed it! Cheers Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 That's a lovely example of an early 'Vark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, f111guru said: I have plans for a few aircraft in both 1/72nd and 1/48th scale. I'll have them and any other builds in the WIP section of the forumI have the Two Bob's sets. So again nice finish and one question. I the underside painted a faded Flat Black or Olive Drab. I can't tell my monitor is giving me fits at times. All The Best Ron VanDerwarker G'day Ron, The kit undderside is black but the Combat Lancer undersides were a dark green shade, some sources claim (including an ex -crew chief) that it was the FS34079 extended underneath, others that it was O.D, but not black. The later deployments featured black undersides which became the typical SEA scheme for F-111s Pappy Edited May 29, 2020 by Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangseat Posted May 29, 2020 Share Posted May 29, 2020 Lovely build and finish! And thanks for pointing me to the kit which looks quite acceptable, I gave up looking for a Hasegawa, poo-poohed Airfix and for some reason never knew about the Italeri. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booty003 Posted May 29, 2020 Author Share Posted May 29, 2020 Cheers guys. Thanks for posting the additional info Ron @f111guru, yes the belly is black ( I didn't know that is was green). Have fun with your future builds and that you are now on the road to recovery health wise. 👍 Thanks for the colours update @Pappy, good info for anyone else planning on doing this kit. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin M Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 Lovely model, I'm keen to build one of these at some state. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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