Completed Plastic Models: Hasegawa 1/72 Republic P-47D Bubbletop

     The Republic P-47, as covered earlier in my blog with the razorback version, was America’s great workhorse for the Army Air Corps in World War Two. It’s engine, a powerful Prat and Whitney R2800 radial, had the muscle power to dogfight any enemy aircraft it came upon and with eight M2 Browning .50 Caliber machine guns, it also had the fire power up front to attack ground targets as well as enemy aircraft.

     This Hasegawa kit was bought a few years ago because of my purchase of Sky Models P-47 decal sheet. The sheet came with various nose arts of famous pilots, as seen with the other P47 on my blog, which grab my attention to because of the uniqueness of nose arts on airplanes. Also, I was inspired by the P-47 Bubbletop version at the United States Air Force Museum which has on display a recreation of Col. Joseph Laughlin’s famous aircraft Five by Five. He commanded the 362^nd Fighter Group of the 9^th Air Force in early 1945.

     The plane was sprayed in Tamiya aluminum and detail painted with Testor’s enamel for the red and yellow. The olive drab was achieved with Tamiya acrylic that was taped off after the aluminum had dried. As always, the model was cleared with a gloss coat, decaled, and dull coated. Similar to the other Hasegawa P-47 on this blog, the kit assembles very well and I can’t wait to tackle another one of these aircraft with some special nose art. TRWBM.

Completed Plastic Models: Academy 1/72 North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco

     As the United States left the nineteen fifties it was apparent that the early Cold War idea of fighting the enemy with long range, unguided weapons was not the answer. Instead, a need was apparent in the end of the decade for an aircraft to perform counter-insurgency (COIN for short) and forward air command (FAC). At the dawn of nineteen sixty there was no aircraft able enough to meet those requirements, the fast F86 Sabre with its swept wing design was only a match for the Russian build Mig 15. The fighters of the fifties, F89, F94, etc. could not fly slow enough and or carry a payload capable of supporting ground troops or even loiter for a reasonable time.

     North American and Rockwell brought forth a joint design to meet the needs of COIN and FAC. Originally known as the NA-300 during the test trials, it beat out all of the other ten proposals from other airplane manufactures. The Bronco saw service in the US Navy, Air Force and Army during its service along with many foreign countries.

      The Academy 1/72 scale version is of the A model, an early variant. The kit assembled very nicely and a surprise for me since I have found many Academy kits to have poor fitting parts and crude detailing. The kits assemble starts as most do with the cockpit interior put together then the main fuselage halves are glued in place. Only two extra items were added to this otherwise out of box build, a single sidewinder from an Eduard set was added with a cover for the heat seeking sensor and also “remove before flight” tags from Eduard were also added. The airplane was hand painted and the gloss coated for decaling. The decals are from the kit and I had no struggle getting them to sit properly on the model. I chose to represent my aircraft as serial number 14694 (reversing the supplied number of 14649) of the 20^th TASS (Tactical Air Support Squadron)/ 504^th TASG (Tactical Air Support Group) stationed at Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam in 1969. The model was then sprayed with Testors Dull coat and finally lightly weathered with Tamiya powders. I enjoyed this build like most of my builds; it is an inexpensive model for someone with a few kits under their belt to try out. TRWBM.

Completed Plastic Models: Revell of Germany 1/72 North American P-51B Mustang

     There isn’t much that can be said about the North American P-51 Mustang that hasn’t been said, it has entered into legendary status since WWII as a powerful escort fighter for bombing raids made by the Americans. It saw service in the European theater and in the Pacific theater and after WWII it still proved to be useful in the early conflicts of the Korean War. It is in a league of fast and very maneuverable fighters along with the P-47, Hellcat, and Corsair.

     This completed model is molded by Revell of Germany and was built from the box with no added aftermarket parts, only small decals from Warbird Decals for kill markings. I don’t recall any majorly bad fitting issues with the parts and the decals needed very little convincing to fit on to the surface of the kit. The aircraft is painted and marked for Col. “Tex” Hill with the 26^th fighter squadron, 51^st fighter group in Kunming, China in 1945. When flying this aircraft Col. “Tex” Hill was credited with six kills, so I only put four kill markings to represent the airplane in active service. It was painted with Tamiya Olive Drab 2, the first time I have used their olive drab and was very pleased with the result of the finish, and Tamiya light grey primer for the neutral grey underside. For the first time, I tried out Tamiya’s TS-13 clear and loved it. The glossy smooth finish it creates is great for decaling and the model was finished with Testor’s dullcoat and then weathered with Tamiya weathering kits.

   

     I enjoyed the model and the like the results I got with the building process, it is my first time doing the legendary P-51 and I have always preferred the “B” model compared to the bubble top “D” model of the Mustang. I hope you enjoy the photos! TRWBM.  

Modeller on the Move: Trip to the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio

     During the weekend of August 22 and 23, my father and I took our annual road trip to central Ohio, The first day and night consisted of a day in Columbus, Ohio to cheer on our beloved Columbus Crew SC, one of my other hobbies, and the next day a trip to Dayton, Ohio for an all-day adventure of touring the National Air Force Museum. I thought I would give my readers who haven’t been able to visit this wonderful museum a quick look into what it has on display and for everyone who is a frequent reader of this blog a chance to see my favorite aircraft on display in the museum.

     For those looking to more information of the museum, take a look at their website, http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

Here are some of my highlights of this massive museum:

Grumman X-29A in the Research and Development Hanger

North American F107A in the Research and Development Hanger

North American F-100 Super Sabre In Thunderbirds Scheme

Wright Brothers 1909 Military Flyer in the Early Years Hanger

SPAD VII in the Early Years Hanger

Boeing P-26A "Peashooter" in the Early Years Hanger

Republic P47D Thunderbolt "Bubble Top" in the World War II Hanger

Junkers Ju-88D-1 in the World War II Hanger

Lockheed F-94A Starfire in the Korean War Hanger

Republic F-84E Thunderjet in the Korean War Hanger

Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star in the Korean War Hanger

Republic F-105G Thunderchief in the South East Asian Hanger

The very large Boeing B-52D Strtofortress in the South East Asian Hanger

Northrop F-89J Scorpion in the Cold War Hanger

North American F-86D Sabre in the Cold War Hanger

Panavia Tornado GR.1 in the Cold War Hanger

An overview of the Cold War Hanger

Thank you for looking through the photos, this is only a sliver of what is in the museum and it can easy fill up an entire weekend looking though what is in each hanger. I hope everyone who enjoys aviation history gets to visit this grand museum. TRWBM