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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USAJanuary 2003

PREZNOTES

In This Issue

NWSM MOF Display 3Kit Sale 3McChord Photos Wanted 3PanAm B-52 3Roden Gloster Gladiator 4Warpaint: Gladiator Book 6Constellation Roundup 8Fine Molds Jedi Starfighter 9Amodel Lavochkin La-250A 10Flashback Sopwith Pup 11Revell Republic F-105D 122003 Renewal Form 16

Here it is - after midnight on the third dayof the New Year and I still haven’t writtenthis column. Heaven forbid that ouresteemed editor should have to run a“Best of Preznotes” this issue. Ewww.

At least the rain, hail, wind, lightning andthunder are keeping me company thismorning!

I’ve been giving the new workbench apretty good test drive the last few days.Comfy seating, decent mileage, andmechanically sound. A few little glitcheshere and there - some of my paint is hardto reach - but all in all I hope to have a fewmore models to show in the months tocome. It’s a good space.

Whilst visiting the local hobby emporiumrecently, I had a chance to peruse the newTrumpeter kits: USS Hornet, P-51D, andBear bomber. Of these the Hornet and theBear intrigue me the most but at over $100a pop...I just don’t know. In the case of theHornet I would reconsider, but only if a fullcomplement of aircraft was provided. Allyou get with the model are a few TBDs,SBDs, F4Fs, and two B-25s. The aircraftare also marketed as separate sets @$12.95 each, ten aircraft of a type for eachset. Now I have purchased models inexcess of $100 before, but considering Ibought their USS Arizona kit, a decentmodel of comparable size, only a fewmonths ago for roughly three times lessmoney, as much as I want to have theHornet model I think that I will wait untilone becomes available for under $100.Same with the Bear. I really like the subject,but...Personally, I feel I am being gougedby the manufacturer and unless he cangive me a good reason for the threefoldprice increase in his kits, I’ll spend my hardearned hobby dollars on something a littlemore reasonable.

And what’s with this new Tamiya P-47? Itappears to be a great looking model, butwhy? We already have enough P-47s. Whynot a North American O-47, or Douglas B-23, or Capelis XC-12?

Speaking of bargains - that 40-year-oldLindberg/Life Like/Inpact Gloster Gladiator(I got mine at Skyway Hobby Shop for $10)holds up quite nicely to the new RodenGladiator kit.

Well back to the workbench - time foranother test drive.

See you at the meeting,

�����

I hope to have a more complete schedulefor the 2003 meeting dates in next month’snewsletter; don’t forget that the SpringShow will be a month later this year, onApril 19 at the Renton Community Center.More details will be given as the dateapproaches.

I’d like to thank everyone who contributedarticles to the newsletter in 2002. An effortsuch as this is only as good as its writers,and we have some excellent ones. Thanks,guys!

I’d also like to give special thanks to ChrisBanyai-Riepl of www.internetmodeler.comfor sharing writers, such as Jim Schubert’sGladiator articles in this issue.

- Robert Allen

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:Terry Moore Keith Laird Norm Filer Robert Allen3612 - 201st Pl. S.W. 528 South 2nd Ave. 16510 N.E. 99th 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Lynnwood, WA 98036 Kent, WA 98032 Redmond, WA 98052 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-774-6343 Ph: 253-735-9060 Ph: 425-885-7213 Ph: 425-823-4658moorethan4@worldnet.att.net n.sfiler@GTE.net baclightning@yahoo.com

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Jon Fincher & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested plastic modeler, regardless ofinterests. Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues.Dues are $24 a year, and may be paid to Norm Filer, our Treasurer. (See address above). We also highly recommend our members join andsupport IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the members listed above will gladly assist you with further informa-tion about the Chapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word or WordPerfect document for the PC would be suitable for publication. Articlescan also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to the nextmeeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 2

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2003 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our new meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

January 11 February 8

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 3

NorthWest Scale ModelersMuseum of Flight Display

by Stephen Tontoni

The Museum of Flight in Seattle has anarrangement with the NorthWest ScaleModelers to put on an annual display inthe Great Gallery. This year, the display willrun two days: Saturday and Sunday,February 8 and 9. Hours will be from 10AM to 5 PM each day. The theme of thedisplay will be “1903 - 2003; 100 Years ofPowered Flight”. All models, of course, arewelcome but we’d really like to follow atheme this year. We will have the tablesdivided up decade-by-decade wherepossible so that spectators can really learnsomething about the evolution of poweredflight since the Wright brothers. There willalso be a special section devoted to themodels of the late Ted Holowchuk.

In addition to the display area, we willhave work tables set up so that modelerscan bring in their kits and work on themthere. We encourage people, especiallychildren, to ask questions to learn moreabout the hobby, the clubs, the tools, thetechniques, and the history.

Kit Sale

by Andrew Birkbeck

At the January IPMS Seattle Meeting, Iwill be selling a large chunk of my modelcollection, principally 1/48th scale aircraft.Kits are mostly mint in box, and consist ofFine Molds, Hasegawa, Tamiya, Mono-gram, Revell of Germany etc. Main areascovered are Post-WW2 Jets, WW2German, Japanese, Italian, British, andAmerican fighters and some bombers.

Priced to sell. Come one, come all. If youwish a preview prior to the meeting, pleasee-mail me at: abirkbeck@att.net

All modelers who bring a model for displaywill have free admission to the entiremuseum for both days.

NorthWest Scale Modelers is also plan-ning on running an IPMS judging clinic.Those modellers who attend can learn thebasics of contest judging. Even if themodellers never become a judge, they willlearn to think like a judge; there is nobetter way to improve one’s modeling.Time and location of the clinics (one onSaturday, one on Sunday) will be an-nounced closer to the date. For moreinformation regarding the February 8 and 9display and workshop at the Museum ofFlight in Seattle, please feel free to contactStephen Tontoni attontoni@mindspring.com or Will Perry atwillkath@attbi.com.

Tony Roberts of IPMS OHMS kindly sent me the above photo. On an absurdity scale of one to ten, it has to rate a 9.9...

McChord AFB PhotosWanted

Tracy sent me the following note:

“I am trying to locate some photos of thehanger at McChord AFB and/or thegeneral tarmac area. It would be best if it

was near the hanger that reads "McChordAFB" because what I would like to do isput my SabreDog model "in" the photo asit is a McChord bird and that would lookcool.”

If you can help out, please e-mail her attrace@olywa.net.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 4

Roden 1/48th Scale GlosterGladiator Mk. I

by Jim Schubert

The Gloster Gladiator came into existencebecause it was a safe bet, at the time, bythe Air Ministry on a fairly conservativeevolutionary development of well knownbiplane principles already demonstrated bythe Gloster Gauntlet and it was beingoffered by a stable firm with a goodreputation and a brilliant chief engineer, H.P. Folland. At that time the Hurricane -itself a bit of a conservative hedge - andthe Spitfire were still only paper airplaneswith unknown lead times to productionand delivery. Knowing the world was onthe brink of war and that the monoplanesmight not be available in time drove the AirMinistry to order the Gladiator intoproduction as a stopgap effort eventhough the design was already obsoles-cent. The Gladiator shows clearly itsdescent from the precedent, tried and true,Gloster Gauntlet. The first of 747* Gladia-tors, K6129, was delivered to the RAF onFebruary 16, 1937 and the last sometime inlate 1938; a production run of only about ayear and a half. Gloster executed contractsfor Gladiator deliveries to the RAF, theFAA, Belgium, China, Eire, Greece, Iraq,Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, andSweden. Many airplanes from thesecontracts were later transferred to, orcaptured, and operated by: Australia,Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iraq,Portugal, South Africa, and the USSR.

The Gladiator’s first blooding occurredover Nanking, China on February 24, 1938when a flight of Chinese Air ForceGladiators shot down two ImperialJapanese Navy Air Force “Claudes” forthe equal loss of two Gladiators. The lastGladiators in active service were with theIraqi Air Force as late as 1949. A servicelife of 12 years - right through WWII - waspretty good for a fabric-covered biplane.The history, technical details and colorsand markings of the Gladiator are welldocumented; see the list of references atthe end of this review.

There were three basic Gladiators; theMk.I, the Mk.II and the Sea Gladiator. Theexport airplanes were all minor derivativesof these three varieties.

Faith, Hope and CharityNo Gladiator review would be completewithout mention of the three Gladiatorsreputedly named “Faith, Hope andCharity”, which were the sole air defenseof the Mediterranean island of Malta fromMay 5 to June 28, 1940. As there were nofighter planes on Malta four crated FleetAir Arm (FAA) Sea Gladiators from a lot ofeight to 12 - these stories are always fuzzyon the facts - stored at Kalafrana as fleetspares were assembled on May 5, 1940 foroperation by RAF 261Squadron, which kept threeflying and one in reserve.These were N5519, N5520,N5524, and N5531.Unserviceability due todamage and heavy usagerequired the erection of twomore airplanes, N5523 andN5529, to maintain strength.These four operationalGladiators, out of a pool ofsix, were supplemented withfour Hurricanes on June 28,1940 and by 12 more Hurri-canes on August 2, 1940. Inearly 1941 the Gladiators were retired.N5520 was rebuilt and used for meteoro-logical flights by 185 Squadron. Afterbeing damaged in a ground loop it wasrebuilt only to have its wings and all itsfabric blown off by a Nazi bomb blast. Itwas abandoned until September 3, 1943when the wrecked remains were presentedto the people of Malta identified as“Faith”. Sometime late in the war thelegend of the three Gladiators - “Faith,Hope and Charity” - that had, alone,defended Malta for three months gainedcurrency and has now become an estab-lished part of aviation lore. The sixGladiators, flown in rotation, that becamethis legend were standard Sea Gladiatorswith tail hooks, dinghy packs and other“non-essential” gear removed to compen-sate for the added weight of an armoredheadrest. One of this lot, N5519, was at

one point, due to a shortage of spares,fitted with the engine and controllablepitch propeller from a Blenheim bomber.The fuselage only of “Faith”, N5520 orN5519 - there is a great deal of uncertaintyabout its identification - survives in theNational War Museum of Malta at Fort St.Elmo. The Malta Aviation MuseumFoundation will shortly begin the properrestoration of “Faith” with a set of wingsdonated by the RAF Museum-Hendon andother newly fabricated, or scrounged,components.

It’s a good story and if it ain’t true - itought to be.

Roden’s new Gladiator is a very good - nota great - kit. I really wanted it to be greatlike Tamiya’s Swordfish or AccurateMiniatures’ Grumman biplanes. I waspredisposed to like it and so was undulydisappointed at its being only “verygood”. So I dropped my intention ofcomparing it with Tamiya’s and AccurateMiniatures’ biplanes and switched mybasis for comparison to the 37-year-oldInpact kit of the Gladiator and, for morecontemporary reference, to the ClassicAirframes Curtiss P-6E, Boeing F4B-4/P-12E, Grumman Duck, and SupermarineWalrus.

Now - with my druthers, and prejudicedbiases revealed - let’s look at the kit itself.It comes in a stout enough, rather large,lidded box; none of those flimsy, pre-crushed, end-opening affairs we’ve been

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 5

getting from the near east. Eighty-nineparts are well molded, with very few sinkmarks, in a pale grey styrene. Five sharplymolded clear parts comprising a three-partwindscreen/hood, instrument panel andbelly I.D. light complete the plastic contentof the kit. There are no resin or photo-etched parts included in this kit.

The instructions, contained in 12 wellillustrated pages of slightly less than A4size, include: A brief tri-lingual (Ukrainian,German, and English) history with specifi-cations, general instructions, color guide(referencing paints by Humbrol, Testors,Gunze, and Lifecolor names and numbers),parts map, 16 step assembly sequence, fivethree-view color scheme drawings, riggingdiagram and an ad for Roden’s kit #405 - aSea Gladiator, and kit #401 - a Mk.II withski option; both to be released in 2003.

Lamentably - to me - only one of the fivecolor schemes is for a pre-war silverwinged Gladiator, that being K8036 of 33Squadron in Palestine in early 1939. This isa very plain airplane completely bereft ofthe colorful squadron markings of the UKbased airplanes of the period. The remain-ing four color schemes - all in the darkgreen/dark earth over black/white fighterscheme of the 1939-1940 period - are forL8009 of 809 Squadron in Egypt in 1940,K7995 of 607 Squadron in the UK in 1939,K6134 of 112 Squadron in the Sudan in late1940, and L8011 of 80 Squadron in Amiyra,Egypt in early 1940. These five colorschemes are provided for on the sharp,well printed, kit decal sheet. I had accessto two kits for this review - one providedby the publisher ofwww.internetmodeler.com and one that Ipurchased from Squadron Mail Order for$23.96 (Why don’t they quit this foolish-ness and simply price it at $24?). Thedecals in my kit were in perfect register;the decals in the publisher’s kit had thebullseyes in the centers of the roundelsslightly off center. Roden pack a separatesmall instruction sheet with the decalscalling attention to the fact the instrumentdecals are reverse printed for applicationto the back side of the clear instrumentpanel. In addition to the national and

squadron markings, the decal sheetincludes extensive stenciling, the mostunusual - and welcome - of which isDunlop markings for the tires (tyres). I’ll bephotocopying these and printing them invarious appropriate sizes on decal stockfor other applications such as the Sword-fish.

Engineering of the kit is conventional withtwo welcome exceptions; all the controlsurfaces are separate and the undercar-riage joints are deep and of large contactarea for strength. The top wing is onepiece tip-to-tip and the bottom is in rightand left halves. The fin, rudder, stabilizers,elevators and ailerons are all also moldedin one piece. Typical of smaller kit manu-facturers, there are no locating pins on thefuselage halves but there are deep fittingtabs of good area for locating the lowerwing, the tailplane and the fin - no crudebutt joints here.

Kit Minuseso Wing and tail rib detail is weak and thereis no rib tape detail.o Sink marks in the propeller face bladeroots and on the external skin along themolded internal fuselage structural detailwill require filling.o Propeller rear face roots need a fair bit ofreshaping for accuracy.o The external, plate type, oil coolermolded integrally with the right fuselagehalf is very shallow and weak on detail.o Cabane and interplane struts aremarginally too narrow in chord and a bitcrude at their ends.o The interior detail, although moreextensive than that of the Inpact kit, ismuch less than on a typical ClassicAirframes kit and is not up to the state oftoday’s art.o The kit design engineer did not addresssimplifying top wing installation oralignment. All you get is four individualcabane struts and four individualinterplane struts and it’s up to you fiddlethe top wing into proper alignment.Monogram, Hasegawa, Matchbox, Frog,Heller, Tamiya, and Accurate Miniaturesdid a good job of making top wingalignment a piece of cake for the modeler

and I’m sure their mastering and moldmaking was no more expensive as aconsequence. Biplanes will be moreattractive to a wider market and sell betterif kit designers will intelligently addressthis problem in their future efforts.Advanced modelers will build an assemblyjig to ensure the top wing is correctlyaligned with the rest of the airplane but theless experienced may give up in frustrationand buy no more biplanes.

Kit Pluseso Control surfaces are all separate.o Undercarriage/fuselage joints are reallywell engineered.o Cockpit flap doors are separate.o Stout enough, lidded box.

Items To Be Alert Too The kit provides a tropical carburetorintake filter for use as appropriate andnothing - correctly - for the non-tropicalairplanes covered by the kit decals.Beware; many Mk.I Gladiators had Mk.IInon-tropical intakes fitted. Always checkyour references as well as your six.o The underwing gun barrels will break off- replace them with barrels made from metaltubing.o The cockpit fresh air intakes (parts 57D)inside the engine cowling need to bedrilled out.o Gladiators came from the factory withvery nice, closely fitting fairings betweenthe ends of the undercarriage struts andthe inside faces of the internally sprungwheels. The kit does not provide these.You should also add the short length ofbrake hose between the struts and thewheels.o The kit does not include the threevisually prominent exhaust collectormounting struts that attach to the enginecrankcase. These are easily made fromwire.o The nose of the fuselage is a bit too fullwhere it tucks inside the engine cowling.It’s a simple matter to correct with a bit offiling and sanding; check your referencedrawings.

A very good - not a great - kit; quitebuildable. I will kit-bash mine with an

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 6

Inpact kit (or one of the reissues by Pyro,Lifelike, Hobby-Life, and Lindberg) usingthe Inpact wheels/tires, oil cooler, andcabane and interplane struts. Rodendeserve to have this kit be a good selleralong with its soon to be released siblings.Now - Messrs. Roden, how about somemore biplanes, a Boeing-Stearman,perhaps, or a De Havilland Tiger Moth orFocke-Wulf Stieglitz?

I’m sure the manufacturers of aftermarketproducts will soon offer us resin, PE, anddecals in plenitude for this kit. Presentlythe only other items I personally know offor the Gladiator are a variety of decals.The Inpact, et al, kit contains decals forsilver winged Mk.I K7985 of 738 Squadronat Digby in 1938. Replica Decals issuedtheir sheet Z-4 back in the 1960s includingmarkings for silver winged K6147 of 3Squadron at Kenley in 1937, and camou-flaged Sea Gladiator N5519 of 261 Squad-ron at Luqa, Malta in 1940 (putatively of“Faith, Hope and Charity” fame - seeabove). A few years ago AeroMasterreleased their sheet #48-187 for fourcamouflaged Gladiators: Pattle’s Mk.IK7971 of 80 Squadron at Larissa, Greece in1941, Sea Gladiator N5519 of 261 Squadron- Malta, Sgt. Valio Porvari’s Finnish Mk.II,GL-264 of LeLv 26 at Joetseno in 1942, andJ-8 (the Gladiator’s Swedish designation)#15 of the Flygvapnet’s Flygflottilj 19volunteer unit at Kemi in northern Finlandin 1942. Robert Allen, editor of our IPMS-Seattle newsletter advises that Max Decalssheet Max4801 has markings for GladiatorMk.I #26 of the Irish Air Corps and thatMike Grant Decals sheet 48-MG001 hasmarkings for an Egyptian Mk.II, aLuftwaffe Mk.I, a Greek Mk.I, a LithuanianMk.I, and a Latvian Mk.I. The Warpaintbook reviewed below also lists Tally Ho’ssheet TH4207 with Finnish Air Forcemarkings.

Buy this kit and have fun. Better yet - buyseveral and have lots of fun.

* Some sources say 746 Gladiators werebuilt but being a Boeing guy I naturallyprefer the number of 747.

Referenceso On Silver Wings - RAF Biplane FightersBetween the Wars: Alec Lumsden & OwenThetford, Osprey Pubs., London, 1993,ISBN: 1-85532-374-5.o Aeromodeller - December 1958: “FamousBiplanes No. 18 Gloster Gladiator”, C.A.G.Cox, short article with 1:48 scale drawings,detail sketches and photos.o Aircraft Monograph - Gloster Gladia-tor: Francis K. Mason, MacDonald, UK,1964. (Does any reader have a copy of thistitle they’d sell to me?)o Profile Number 98 - The GlosterGladiator: Francis k. Mason, ProfilePublications, Ltd., London.o Camouflage & Markings, RAF NorthernEurope 1936-45, Gladiator, Gauntlet,Fury, Demon: James Goulding and RichardL. Ward, Ducimus, London.o Air Enthusiast - March 1973: A fine in-depth article on the Gladiator.o Scale Models - August 1973: “Gloster’sGladiator & A Portfolio of Scale Data forModellers”; many good detail photos.o Airfix Magazine - January 1974: “Fight-ing Colours 1914-1937, Part 19: Guide tothe Gladiator”, Bruce Robertson.o Flying - August 1976: Gladiator, JamesGilbert, nostalgic article with many goodcolor photos of Shuttleworth airplane.o Scale Models - October 1978: Article onsuperdetailing the Matchbox kit.o Scale Models - January 1980: Battle ofBritain No. 5 – “Building Gladiator Mk.II,N2308 of 247 Squadron from the Frog kit”,Ray Rimell and Neil Robinson, good detailphotos.o Scale Aircraft Modelling - May 1981:“Aircraft In Detail - Gloster Gladiator”,Lindsey Peacock.o Modelaid - Issue Unknown: Richard J.Caruana article on Faith, Hope & Charity.o Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 44 - GlosterGladiator Aces: Andrew Thomas, Osprey,UK, 2002, ISBN: 1-84176-289X.o Mushroom Magazine Special: YellowSeries - Gloster Gladiator: Alex Crawford,Mushroom Model Pubs., UK, 2002, ISBN:83-916327-0-9.o Monographie Lotnicze No. 24 - GlosterGladiator: B. Belcarz & R. Peczkowski,Poland. (Does any reader have a copy ofthis title they’d sell to me?)

NB - I have not listed the small WilliamGreen Fighters volume here as it is so longout of print and has nothing in it that isnot covered in any of the above notedbooks. All of us old-timers have the “LittleGreen Books” but most of the youngerenthusiasts have never even heard ofthem.

Warpaint Series - No. 37 -Gloster Gladiator by Tom

Spencer

reviewed by Jim Schubert

In the May 2002 issue of Internet Modelerwe reviewed the new Osprey and Mush-room books on the Gloster Gladiator andliked them both. Well, now here’s another -and very timely it is too. My initial reactionto this (only) 52-page A4 magazine formattitle was - “Twenty five bucks for this!” Istarted the review carrying the baggage ofa very negative, hypercritical, predisposi-tion toward the book because of its price(I’m cheap). When I finished I liked it a lot!It’s worth the $25, plus 8% WashingtonState sales tax, that I paid Emil Minerich atSkyway Model Shop in Seattle.

The developmental history of the type andits descent from the Gauntlet are lightlycovered and quickly disposed of in favorof author Spencer’s in-depth operationalhistory. It’s a good, easy, read and, despitethe small number of pages it is morecomprehensive and better organized thaneither the Osprey or Mushroom volumes.The updated “Box Score” comparison fromthe earlier reviews in may be found on thebottom left of the opposite page.

The print and paper qualities of all threebooks are quite good and are nearlyidentical.

* As a matter of personal taste - I like thebright, generally pre-war, silver wingedliveries on these planes. From this lot ofcolor profiles we get, altogether, silverwinged examples for: RAF Squadrons - 3F,33, 54, 65, 72, 73, 80, 83, and 87; FAA

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 7

Squadrons - 769, 801, and 802 plus othersilver wings from Egypt, Iraq, Lithuania,Norway, Spain, and Sweden.

The tables, with one exception, in this newtitle are especially good. The two-partProduction List accounts for all 747Gladiators - including the prototype - built,including those assembled by SABCA inBelgium. From this list you can see thatGladiators were used by 18 different airforces: RAF, FAA, Australia, Belgium,China, Egypt, Eire, Finland, Germany,Greece, Iraq, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway,Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, and theUSSR. I appreciate most the short, but neatand thorough, table titled, “PreservedGladiators”, which accounts, quitepositively, for nine survivors - oneairworthy and another being madeairworthy. In the Sprue Bits section ofSeptember 2002’s Internet Modeler Imentioned correspondence from ReidarBerg telling of four more RAF Gladiators,one quite complete, having been recentlyrecovered in Norway. Perhaps from thesewe will see at least one more Gladiatorpreserved and displayed.

The poorest table purports to list Gladiatorkits and accessories. Two things aboutthis list offend my sense of propriety: forthe Airfix 1/72nd issue the list notes only,“Discontinued” and, “Also Heller”. Asmany will recall, in 1956 Airfix issued, whatis by today’s standards, a truly awful kit ofthe Gladiator. Heller’s much later 1/72ndissue, on the other hand, is really verygood - the best yet in 1/72nd and it’s not

even given its own line entry here nor isthe very good Frog kit, which like theMatchbox offering was released in 1973.Oddly, they do mention the Encore reissueof the Heller kit! In the same vein, theparadigm, and also the only, until now,1/48th kit by Inpact is not even mentioned.Further, the Lindberg reissue is the onlyone of the four reissues of the Inpact kit tobe mentioned - the other three being fromLifelike, Hobby-Life, and Pyro.

The excellent GA line drawings and thecolor profiles and plan views are byRichard Caruana, who is well known forthe work he does monthly for SAMI andpreviously did for the, lamentably, defunctMODELAID magazine from Malta.

This is the best of the three recentGladiator books for the model builder/amateur historian.

Warpaint Books, Ltd., Luton, UK, 2002,ISSN: 1361-0369

Notes:

1. I received several e-mail messagessubsequent to the May 2002 review of theOsprey and Mushroom books suggestingthat the old 1964, MacDonald AircraftMonograph - Gloster Gladiator byFrancis K. Mason was a “Must Have”reference. I have not found one yet socannot comment on that point. Does anyreader have a copy they’d like to sell?

2. A newer title referred to by severalcorrespondents as another “Must Have”is B. Belcarz & R. Peczkowski’sMonographie Lotnicze No. 24 - GlosterGladiator. I’m looking for a copy of thatone too.

The Gladiator’s Seattle Connection

There’s actually a tenuous connec-tion between the Gladiator andSeattle. Arthur Shin (or Shi-TinShin), who is listed in the Ospreybook as the top scoring ChineseGladiator ace, was a Chinese-American who was born in Seattle,of a Chinese father and Peruvianmother. After getting his pilot’slicense in the US, he volunteered forthe Chinese Air Force, and wascredited with 8.5 victories, 6.5 ofthem while flying the Gladiator. Hewas severely burned during a battlewith Japanese aircraft on December27, 1939, and was hospitalized inHong Kong, eventually receivingplastic surgery back in the US. Afterhis release, he worked for the USPostal Service in Portland until hisretirement.

- Robert Allen

OSPREY MUSHROOM WARPAINT

Cover: Color painting Two color Color photo & aprofiles color profile

Back: One color profile Two color Two color photos& one B&W profilesphoto

Color profiles*: 40 32 62Color photos: None 44 14B & W photos: 103 102 88GA Drawings: 8 views 20 views 10 viewsIsometric dwgs: None 6 1Appendices: 6 3, plus 3 tables 5 tablesPages: 90 160 52MSRP: $18.95 $24.95 $25.00

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 8

The LockheedConstellation in 1/72nd

Scale

by Keith Laird

Heller from France has marketed theLockheed Constellation in three different1/72nd scale versions, the Model L749A,L1049G Super Constellation, and themilitary EC-121K. I have purchased all theissues of the kit and have found that themajor drawback of the kit is the decalsheet. They have beautiful box art but thedecal sheet turns out to be disappointing.

This article is not a kit review as much as itis a synopsis of what models of theConstellation can be easily built from thekits and what markings are available.

These three kits allow you build everyversion of the Constellation, most withoutdoing major surgery to the basic kit. Theexceptions are the aircraft built during andjust after World War II and the lastversion, the model 1649A Starliner. Thisversion had a completely new wing bututilized the same fuselage, tail grouping,and engines and propellers of the L1049GSuper Connie. Two very good resourcesthat break down each model of the airplaneand its differences are Lockheed Constel-lation by Curtis K. Stringfellow and PeterM. Bowers, published by Motorbooks,and Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913 by Dr.Rene J. Francillon, published by Putnamand Naval Institute Press. The first volumeof the Airliner Tech series is also on theConstellation. I do not have this book, butI know that they do a technical breakdownwith drawings of the subject airplane.

The L1049G has only been issued in onelivery and that is Trans World Airlines(TWA). The EC-121 was also a singlelivery for a US Navy aircraft. The L749Awas issued in five liveries, the first beingAir France with alternate TWA markings.The second issue was KLM Royal DutchAirlines. The third issue had markings forPan American World Airways (PAA),

which is also the current offering of thecivilian version. The fifth issue is acommemorative for the Berlin Airlift anddepicts a US Air Force C-121A.

The kit decals for the Super Constellationare usable unless you have very earlyissue. I have three sheets of which two Iwould possibly use. The nice thing aboutTWA is they used a very simple schemewith a large quantity of red trim that can bepainted on instead of relying on the decal.

The TWA, Air France, KLM, and Pan Amkit decals are also usable. The Berlin AirliftMilitary Air Transport Service (MATS)decals are only partially usable becauseseveral parts of the sheet are off register.The EC-121 kit decals I have are notusable, just because they are of very poorquality. I do not know if the re-issue kitshave any improvement.

Micro/Super Scale have produced sheet72-383 for the L749A kit. Markings areprovided for a C-69, C-121A, and VC-121A.You can use this sheet to make up for thedeficiencies in Berlin Airlift kit. AstraDecals sheet ASD7206 provides a full setof markings for a MATS C-121A. VernRathburn’s restored, and flying, C-121Awas used to produce this sheet.

Micro/SuperScale also produced sheet 72-382 with markings for a Pan AmericanL049/L749. The Pan Am paint scheme fromthis period was pretty simple so you haveoption of painting on blue trim rather thanusing the entire after market or kit decalsheet.

Dutch Decal/Cloudmaster produced sheets72/5 for an Air Ceylon L749, sheet 72/9 hasmarkings for a British Overseas AirwaysCorporation (BOAC) L749 and a BritishEagle Douglas DC-6. Sheet 72003 is called“Collection Sheet 1”. It is all KLM subjectsand has markings for the L749A, L1049G,Douglas DC-3, Fokker F-27,Messerschmitt-Bolkow BO-105D helicop-ter, and Aerospatiale AS365 Dauphinhelicopter. Sheet 72/8 has markings for aKLM L749A, while sheet 72/10 haswindow decals, wing walks, and wingoutlines for the L749. Sheet 72/017 hasblack and orange registration letters forKLM, sheet 72/013 for the L1049.

Whiskey Jack Decals make severalConstellation sheets, with a distinctlyCanadian slant - 72-002, Trans CanadaAirlines Super Constellation; 72-004,Nordair Super “H” Constellation; 72-008,CanAir Relief Super “H” Constellation;and 72-025, World Wide Airways L1049Constellation.

Now defunct Golden Wings did a sheet forusing with the EC-121 that is the BlueAngels aerial demonstration team supportairplane, “Blue Angels 8”. You can modeleither their VC-121J or R5D. Again you canchoose to paint the trim now that paintexists for Blue Angels Yellow.

Navy squadron VX-8 operated Constella-tions in conjunction with Artic researchand the missile test ranges. The airplanescarried the names “El Coyote”, “RoadRunner”, and “Artic Fox”. Lockheed P-3Orions replaced these airplanes, and thenames and nose art were transferred tothose aircraft. Superscale did a P-3 sheet,72-242, which has these markings.

Aeroclub makes sets ABP094 for whitemetal Hamilton Standard propellers, andABV138 for under carriage legs.

To the best of my knowledge, that coversall the 1/72nd scale Lockheed Constellationkits, decals and accessories. There aresome other books available for referenceand you can probably still find the old AirModel and Rareplanes vacuform kits.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 9

Fine Molds 1/72nd ScaleJedi Starfighter

by Valentin E. Bueno, IPMSHawaii

I wonder if Uncle George had to askLockheed for permission to use the nameStarfighter? As the only Star Wars:Episode 2 kit currently available, the folksat Fine Molds have done it again andproduced an absolutely gorgeous kit. Iwas very surprised at how tiny, and I domean tiny, the Starfighter was. It measuresa total of 4¼” long, about 25½’ in fullscale. Yet the box is bigger than theprevious X-Wing and TIE Fighter kitboxes. This is because of the HyperdriveRing included in the kit. The ring looks likeit will be 8" in diameter when fully as-sembled. It has those two huge Hyperdriveengines and the center section where youcan mount your finished Starfighter.

Interestingly enough, they do not provideyou with a way of displaying the kit withand without the landing gear extended andretracted. They did this on the X-Wing byproviding vinyl polycaps to install the X-Wing’s landing gear. On this kit, I don’tsee how you would do both, thus youmust chose now and forever hold yourpeace which way to display your JediStarfighter, on the Hyperdrive Ring or off?

The cockpit is well detailed with six partsand decals for the sidewall detail. An ObiWan Kenobi pilot figure is included. Theyeven dressed him in the appropriate robes.At first I thought it was the same pilot

figure from the old 1/72nd scaleMonogram kits until I gave hima wash with dirty thinner andsaw the folds of the robes andlight saber. And no, he is nothappy to see you, that is a lightsaber in his pocket!

The decals are a sight tobehold. I counted about 211separate decals before my eyeswent looking for something elseto look at. All the red andgreen-yellow areas are suppliedas decals. Everything needs tobe painted white when com-pleted with the decals addingall of the color. Building andpainting this kit will be a breeze.Decaling and finishing might bea chore. I think I’ll go nuts anddecal one of these as aThunderbirds or Blue Angelsmachine, wadda ya think?

Currently this kit willbe only available inJapan. Hobby LinkJapan, Rainbow 10,or a buddy going toJapan are the onlyways to get this kit.Good luck findingthis kit and May theForce Be With You.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 10

Amodel 1/72nd ScaleLavochkin La-250A

“Anakonda”

by Bill Osborn

Any of you who read my ramblings in theDecember newsletter will wonder why Iwould be dumb enough to try anothersilver airplane. What can I say; I’m amasochist.

Who else would start another model thatcame only in natural metal? Anyway, afterthe December meeting and feeding frenzy Istopped by Skyway Models to see whatwas new. Well, what to my wondering eyesshould appear, but a new Russian modelfrom that favorite limited run kit makerAmodel, this huge fighter. Now most ofyou know that I have a soft spot in myhead for Russian aircraft, so I couldn’tpass this baby up.

This is a typical Amodel kit, which meansthat if you really want the model in yourcollection you have your work cut out foryou. There are close to eighty parts listedon the instructions. For those of you notfamiliar with the La-250, in the mid-to-late’50s the Russians needed a supersonicinterceptor to counter the threat from thewest. One such was the “250”. The needwas for the K-15 air-to-air rocket. Theaircraft carried only two rockets and hadno radar! Only four aircraft were built whenthe K-15 program was canceled. There isstill one “250” at the Monino Air Museumoutside Moscow. About the only thing Ican say about this twin-engined airplane isthat it sure is big. It’s over eighty feet longwith a forty-three foot span.

The kit is molded in the standard whiteplastic with the usual flash and mis-matched molding. Panel lines are recessedand rather crisp. Some of the molding onthe inside of some parts is a little crudeand heavy. The leading edges of the wingsalso require work as the mating surfacesare not flat and leave a gap that just

doesn’t look too good. The kit is ratherstraight forward with no complicatedassemblies. However, there are no locatingpins to show exactly where some of theparts go. This means some fitting isneeded to fit sub-assemblies together.There is no see-thru as there is a turbinefaceplate to blank off the eight-inch inletand duct. If you have a flashlight and asharp eye you may be able to see it.

The biggest problem so far is that theedges of some parts next to the matingsurfaces are somewhat rough andmismolded. Oh well, that’s what filler is for.Sometimes it seems that the people whodesign the kits and the guys who make themolds speak a different language. Whenthere is a piece of hardware to get theinformation from you would think therewouldn’t be any mistakes. Well, this kit isone of the better ones in that regard, theonly one so far is with the canopy. Thebackseater only has two small windows topeer out of, and they are not marked on thecanopy.

I have found that some kits show the partssprue with numbers so when the instruc-tion sheet points out where a piece goesyou know which lump of plastic is the oneneeded. Amodel goes one better and liststhe numbers needed in each assembly atthe top of each picture box on the plans.This is a help until you come across a partthat you can’t find on the plans. This hashappened several times lately.

The only things that hang under the wingsare two K-15 missiles. These need to bebuilt up as each one has eight parts.Unfortunately, the parts suffer from themolding problems listed above and need alot of work. I could leave them off but theyare about the only “color” on this kit. Thedecals are limited to red stars in sixpositions, a side number and a fewstencils. I have had no trouble with any

Amodeldecals, theyare opaqueand lay downwith only atouch ofsettingsolution. Thephotos I’veseen showthe real thingto be all onecolor, naturalaluminumwith a darkgray fin cap,a pale gray

aft canopy, and the white K-15s. Really avery colorful aircraft.

Well, back to the filling and sanding, thenwhen it’s ready to paint it goes back to theshelf so I don’t have to paint that damnedsilver again.

A Week Later

With this kit Amodel had taken a stepbackward. Their last few kits have been animprovement over the earlier ones. The La-250 is not up to the early standards. Nowthat most of the main parts have beenglued together, more or less, I don’t thinkanyone at Amodel made a test shot oreven tried to build this kit before sending itout to unsuspecting modelers everywhere.

To start with, the cockpit parts interferewith each other. If the seat is in place, thereis no room for the control stick, as theinstrument panel is tight against the frontof the seat. I wanted to use a resin seat butit stuck up way above the canopy. I didn’t

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 11

bother with the rear cockpit because thewindows are so small nothing inside canbe seen. Speaking of the cockpit, thecanopy seal surfaces are not flat and needto be smoothed down to get a good fit, agood trick with the bulkheads sticking up.Then there are the inlets. They don’tmatch the body contour, so out comes thefiller; I should invest in 3M. The aircrafthas a droop snoot from the canopyforward; the kit nose cone is at the correctangle, but the lower body doesn’t have thecontour to match and must be faired inwith still more filler. Do you see a patternhere?

Next come the wings. They are bothwarped down at the trailing edge and don’tmatch the molded-on fairing on the body.No big deal, a little super glue in the rightspot should fix them. The tail cone andexhaust nozzles are a little bothersome, asthe exhaust cans need to be installedbefore the tail cone is glued to the aftbody. This makes it just a tad hard to paint.The fin and rudder can’t be stuck on untilthe tail cone is in place, because the aftbody and tail cone must be recontoured tofit the lower fairing on the vertical.

Also, come to think of it, the gear doorsare warped and will need work. The gearstruts are molded with no mismatch, aswitch from the past kits, but their locationand fit leave a lot to chance. The two partwheels are O.K. and have a nice brakeplate indexed to the struts. The main andnose gear struts are in two parts with noindexing or location marks, so getting themodel to sit square is going to be fun. Nowexcept for these flaws, which could be areal bear to fix, I think this model will lookgood in my case with all my other uglymodels.

One last item, I said before that the “250”didn’t have radar. The reason for thatstatement is that it doesn’t have a radome.The nose is all aluminum; maybe theproduction aircraft would have had them.But we’ll never know. [Actually, we do.Production aircraft were scheduled tocarry the 30-km acquisition rangeUragan (Hurricane) radar. – ED]

Flashback 1/48th ScaleSopwith Pup

by John Stokes, IPMSBirkenhead and District (UK)

The Pup was ordered for the Royal NavalAir Service in early 1916, and also servedwith the Royal Flying Corps. Its service lifewas relatively short as it was replaced byits higher-powered stablemate, theSopwith Camel. On August 2, 1917, Lt.

Commander E. H. Dunning made the firstsuccessful landing on the deck of a ship atsea, when he landed the Beardmore-builtPup N6453 on HMS Furious. This calledfor considerable skill, but proved thepossibility of operating land-based aircraftfrom ships. Unfortunately Dunning waskilled on his third landing attempt whenthe Pup pitched over the side of Furious,and he was drowned.

Originally released by Eduard, thishas been repackaged by Flashbackwith new resin parts and alterna-tive markings for two RNAS Pups.One of them is the model shownhere, the other option is for a skid-equipped version with no wheels,which was used in early trials. It istypical limited run injection-moldedplastic, with thick sprue gates, butall it needs is a little care and half-an-hour cleaning up all the parts

and everything is fine. It goes togethervery well, but I made a couple of modifica-tions in that I cut out the ‘Vee’ shapechannel behind and below the enginecowling, and opened the extreme rearfuselage and inserted a kingpost in theopening. The cowling is actually a castmetal item, and polished up nicely with finesteel wool. You need to create the centersection cutout in the top wing for theLewis gun, the dimensions being shownon the instruction sheet. The fuselage towing struts are supplied in resin, and Ifound them to be very brittle. In fact two of

them broke, so I replaced themall with brass ‘Strutz’ material,which is far stronger. Riggingis from nylon monofilamentthread pulled through pre-drilled holes that go rightthrough the wing surfaces,and secured with cyanacrylateglue. Once dry the excess istrimmed off with a sharp knife,and any blemishes sandeddown. I then resprayed thetop of the top wing and thebottom of the bottom wingbefore putting on the decals.There is a mass of tiny detailsupplied on a brass fret,

which needs to go on last. Look closelyand you will see small leather straps underthe lower wing tips and rear of the fuse-lage, used for sailors to grab on to andhold as the aircraft came to a rest on thedeck. This is a lovely kit of a beautifulaircraft, in a scheme that really suits it.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 12

Revell (Monogram) 1/48thScale Republic F-105D

Thunderchief

by Bryant Dunbar, IPMS Capt.James McKinstry

I remember growing up and lookingthrough various books and periodicals onmilitary aircraft. The Republic F-105 alwaysstruck me as a very unusual and perhapsbackwards looking aircraft with its unusualair intakes. It wasn’t until later when I readJack Broughton’s books Thud Ridge andGoing Downtown that I truly appreciatedand understood what the F-105Thunderchief was all about.

The F-105 “Thud” or “Lead Sled”, as itspilots liked to refer to it as, was designedto deliver nuclear weapons at supersonicspeed. Fortunately the F-105 was nevercalled upon to fulfill that mission. Whatthe F-105 did do was to fly more air strikesand deliver more ordnance to NorthVietnam than any other aircraft during theVietnam War. As a result the “Thuds”suffered more losses than any otheraircraft but statistics showed that thenumber of “Thuds” lost versus missionsflown reflected a relatively low loss rate.

The F-105B was the first of the F-105family to become operational on May 27,1958, but it was the F-105D that wouldresult from a number of improvements andeventually be deployed to Vietnam in early1965 with F-105Fs and F-105Gs to follow.This was the beginning of what manywould later refer to as Defense SecretaryRobert McNamara’s F-105 phaseoutprogram. Over the course of seven yearsof flying missions over North Vietnam from1965 to 1972, of the original 610 F-105Dsproduced only one quarter of their numberremained at wars end. Of all the “CenturySeries” fighters, none saw more combatthan the F-105.

As a result of the attrition of the VietnamWar F-105s returned to the US to godirectly into US Air Guard and Air Force

Reserve units. Consideration had beengiven to reopening Republic’s F-105assembly lines but it never happened. Asfor Monogram’s 1/48th scale version of theRepublic F-105D the same thankfully cannot be said. Originally released in 1978 byMonogram and re-released earlier this year,it still holds up well to today’s standards inthe modeling world. Granted this kit hasraised panel lining and doesn’t come withlittle extras like photo etch metal pieces butit still holds true to good model engineer-ing and overall accuracy.

Upon opening Monogram’s F-105D kit Inoticed it came in the typical Monogramboxing of the 1980s with a separate topand bottom, not the more resent flimsy onepiece boxes. The only differences fromoriginal release and new release are newbox art to reflect new decals and the factthe fact that the manufacturer’s name isreplaced by Revell. Sad to say, like the realF-105s having disappeared, so to has theMonogram name in this case. Having saidthat I still refer to the kit as being aMonogram kit and not a Revell kit sincethey are the ones who designed andoriginally released the kit.

Inventorying the contents of the box I wasconfronted with a straightforward modelmolded in dark olive drab plastic, sealed ina plastic bag except for the clear parts andinstructions, which were floating free. Onesheet of decals comes with the kit withoptions for two F-105Ds of the 388thTactical Fighter Wing, Korat, Thailand,1968. The decals appeared to be of goodquality and would not have posed a

problem had I used them but I chose toresearch aftermarket decals for an aircraftstationed at Takhli, Thailand. I’ll explainlater the reasons for this choice. Theinstructions were a four-page bookletconsistent with Revell kits as opposed tothe single-page folding map style that wastypical of Monogram kits.

Looking at the kit itself I believe the mostimpressive aspect is the length of thefuselage halves. This is a 1/48th scale kitbut their length makes one think the

manufacturer put1/32nd scale parts inthe box by accident.Once you’ve acceptedin your mind that it isthe correct size thenyou take a look at thewings, which appearjust the opposite andnow you start torethink everything allover again. Safe to saythe F-105 was a ratherlong aircraft, and yesthe wings were short

with an extreme sweep, not to forget theyalso incorporated the engine inlets as well.The rest of the kit is straightforward withsimple but well detailed parts for thecockpit and landing gear.

Assembly starts with the cockpit and nosewheel well before the fuselage halves areput together. Monogram should beapplauded for their faithful representationof the cockpit instrumentation. Forreference I used Bert Kinzey’s F-105Thunderchief in Detail and Scale as wellas Ken Neubeck’s Walk Around F-105Thunderchief and both supportedMonogram’s efforts for accurate detail. Iairbrushed the cockpit with an interior grayfollowed by brush painting of particularinstrument panels and boxes with flatblack. After that I retouched variousswitches with gray and indicator lightswith an amber, red, or blue using a detailbrush. The last item to be painted was theradarscope central to the main instrumentpanel. Here I mixed a deep maroon colorand again applied the paint with a detail

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 13

brush. The control stick was a similar affairwith a black grip only here I touched thebuttons with a drop of silver first then asmaller red drop to show the silvermounting ring around each button.

The one aspect of the cockpit that is notaccurate to most photographs of the F-105is the ejection seat. The seat as designedby Republic had a cushioned bucket whilethe pilot’s parachute acted as the cushionfor his back. Whenever the pilot wasabsent from the cockpit so was theparachute/cushion so to speak. In the caseof the kit it appears that Monogramincorrectly attempted to mold a cushioninto the seat with the shoulder harnessdangling down over it. Void of anycushion-like detail it just doesn’t look righteven for a cushion. In all fairness toMonogram I can see them doing thisbecause the kit does come with a pilotfigure and the need for more detail is notneeded if he were to be added. However Iprefer showing as much of the cockpit aspossible. To correct this problem I wasable to get a resin replacement seat madeby KMC. The resin seat is very accurateand well defined. With this seat I was ableto paint the bucket cushions the appropri-ate drab greens, the shoulder harness light

gray, the head rest red, and the ejectionhandles yellow and black. As a final touchI gave the entire seat a wash of verythinned-out black to give it a weatheredlook.

Once the cockpit was completed, and thenose wheel well and main wing spar werein place, it was time to glue the fuselagehalves together. Overall a simple processdespite the long length of the fuselage, butits good to keep a few rubber bands handyto secure the nose and tail as you go.After that was complete I puttied the seamline with Tamiya’s model putty. Thefuselage halves had matched up well with

little to no problem areas when sandingbut the sanding process did take a littlelonger than usual. As a result of the raisedpanel lines I took my time and carefullysanded between the many detail lines tosave them. In the end it was well worth theeffort.

The instructions call for the petal speedbrakes aft of the exhaust nozzle to bemounted next. The speed brakes, however,were natural metal finish so they wouldneed to be painted separately and addedafter the final camouflage scheme of theaircraft was completed. Instead I primeredthe entire model to include its wings,which had yet to be glued together, withModel Master Camouflage Gray FS 36622due to the kit being molded in olive drabplastic. I studied many photos and it’shard to confirm but I believe that many F-105s were painted Camouflage Gray in theirwheel wells. The only way to determinethis was to look at the inner main geardoors, which faced out while the landinggear were down. If the doors were indeedthe same color as the rest of the wheel wellthen most were gray with some aircraftbeing white. My intention was to primerthe aircraft the same color as the interior ofthe wheel wells, and then airbrush a fineline of gloss black over each panel line onthe entire kit. This is a technique I’vefound works very well with models withrecessed panel lines. It was interesting tofind the same technique would workalmost as well with raised lines.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 14

I next glued the wings together makingsure I had complete paint coverage for thewheel well panels. Now it was time toattach the wings to the fuselage. Mono-gram engineered the kit to have the wingsslide over a sleeve that also acts as theengine intake. Understandably this seemsnecessary to provide strength and supportfor the wings where they meet with thefuselage. From most angles it’s generallynot an issue but looking at the finishedproduct head on you can tell that theinside of the intakes is not accurate to thereal aircraft. It’s something that could becorrected with a lot of effort but I chose toleave it as is considering when the kit wasoriginally released it was of acceptablestandard for the time. I also wasn’t inclinedto have my wings break off due to a lack ofsupport. During the wing attachmentprocess I found it necessary to run acouple of rubber bands under each wingand over the fuselage with a paint bottle inbetween to provide tension. The wingstend to not want to fit snug against thefuselage along the top surface, thus therubber bands hold them in place until theglue has cured.

At this point I decided I didn’t want to usethe kit decals, which depicted aircraft thatflew out of Korat. I’ve read JackBroughton’s books and also having adistant relative who flew ”Thuds” out ofTakhli I’m partial to F-105s that flew fromthat base. Having been sometime since Iread Jack’s books and not knowing myrelative’s unit I wasn’t too picky just solong as I found a decal sheet of an F-105Dthat was stationed there. Norris Graser waskind enough to let me check out hiscollection of SuperScale decals. Not onlydid I find a decal sheet that depicted an F-105 stationed at Takhli but one with somenice artwork to boot. SuperScale’s sheetnumber 48-269 depicts F-105D 59-822 ThePolish Glider, a real find in my opinion*.At a time in U.S. Air Force history whenartwork was limited I thought this was anF-105 that accommodated my criteria aswell as displaying a bit of humor.

Aside from F-105 59-822’s unique artwork,she would otherwise conform to the

standard four-color paint scheme consis-tent with most F-105s of the day. Now thatI had an almost white F-105 with blacklines running all over it I again airbrushedthe appropriate areas that were to remainCamouflage Gray. These areas consisted ofall underside surfaces and all interiorsurfaces of the wheel wells and landinggear doors. Being careful to airbrush inthin coats the black panel lines wouldshow through the Camouflage Gray. With alittle time and patience I was able toachieve an appropriate weathered look.This same process would be carried outwith all the subsequent colors.

The next color to follow was MediumGreen FS 34102. By airbrushing theMedium Green next I was able to get agood contrast of where I would need toapply the Dark Tan FS 30219. Once thesetwo colors were done it was easy to applythe final color, Dark Green FS 34079. TheDark Green has very little contrast to theMedium Green and it can be difficult todetermine exactly where the color is to go.So by doing the scheme in this order it waslike fitting the last pieces of a puzzle intoplace. In doing the camouflage scheme Iwas able to accomplish it freehand withvery little masking. The only areas thatwere of concern were the canopy and overspray around the wings. While working onthe upper surfaces it was easy to over

shoot with a green or tan paint and get thegray fuselage adjacent to the area. Simpleuse of wide pieces of masking tapeprovided enough coverage. Aside from thenatural metal finish of the speed brakes theonly other area that needed to be paintedwas the nose cone. The nose cone was astandard flat black. Once painted I addedsome lead air gun pellets on the inside toprovide ballast and glued it to the fuse-lage.

The next area that needed to be tackledwas the landing gear and unfortunately theMonogram kit suffers from something I

don’t think exists in any other kit that Iknow of. Prior to getting to this stage ofthe project I was notified that the model istoo heavy for its main landing gear. Whileperusing Norris’s decals he informed me ofone case in which by walking by acompleted F-105 and causing a little aircurrent it would wobble sideways as themain landing gear would flex. It turns out Iwas informed by the modeler that built thatparticular model that it eventually didbreak the mains. Whether the failure wasdue to the shear weight of the model orNorris’s repeated demonstrations was notconfirmed.

To correct the problem I went on line andwas lucky to find that Aeroclub Scale

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 15

Accessories still makes a white metal copyof the Monogram main landing gear. Iordered a set and was surprised to findthat that the replacement landing gear areexact copies of the plastic kit ones. After alittle trimming and clean up to removesome flash I was back in business andcontinued with the project. Painting was asimple affair, painting the struts silver anddetailing the brake lines with red paint. Asmall drop of Elmer’s white glue where thelanding lights should be gives a realisticrepresentation of glass. The nose landinggear was a similar process only with ablack brake line instead of a red one.

The last area to be painted was the speedbrakes. I used Model Master stainlesssteel metalizer on the outside and exhauston the inside. With the model on itslanding gear it was easy to mount thebrakes with consideration to the bottomone. The bottom speed brake is molded tolook drooped, as it would be on the realaircraft while at rest.

Now that painting was completed themodel needed to be prepped for the decals.I used my old airbrush to shoot generousamounts of Future Floor Wax over theentire model. After letting the model sit fora couple of days I applied the SuperScaledecals. Despite these decals being a bit oldthey went on with little fuss and only smallamounts of Decal Sol were necessary toget a couple of decals to lay over somepanel lines. Once all the decals were in

place and dried I got out my collection ofpastel chalks and weathered the undersideof the model. I used a combination ofgrays and browns to convey hydraulic andoil leaks underneath the engine. At first Ithought I had overdone this effect buthave since been told it looks correct. Tolock in the weathering I once again shotthe model with Future to seal the chalk inplace.

The final process for this model was toreverse the glossy effects of the Future byflatting the model back down. I prefer touse Polyscale Flat with a drop of dish soapas a leveling agent. As of this writing theaircraft looks complete save for the 500 lb.bombs. The construction and painting ofthe external fuel tanks were a straightfor-ward affair using the same techniques Iused to paint the aircraft itself. I intend toadd the 500 lb. Bombs and display themodel theonly way anF-105 shouldbe displayed,fully fueledand ready togo “down-town”.

Overall Ifound this kitenjoyable towork on andam happywith the

results. Despite the problems encounteredI kept in mind the simple fact that the kitwas originally created over 20 years agoand yet it still holds up well even bytoday’s standards. As for the landing gearissue I found it more humorous than aproblem and figured the extra expense ofgetting metal replacements will only insurethe model’s survival in the future. Havingsaid all that I actually ordered two sets ofmetal landing gear as I’m already workingon the F-105D’s brother, the Monogram F-105G “Wild Weasel” in the same scale.While it is nice that Revell is releasingthese kits it would be great if at some pointin the future someone does do thiswonderful aircraft justice and designs anew 1/48th scale kit with today’s engineer-ing. I know what you’re going to say - thatTrumpeter is coming out with a 1/32ndscale Thunderchief. My question to thatis, where are you going to put the darnedthing once you’re finished?

* - While I appreciate the humorousaspect of the name, in fairness to the realPolish gliding community, it should bepointed out that Polish gliders and gliderpilots have long been among the world’sfinest. Polish gliders have won variousclasses at several World Gliding Champi-onships, and Jan Wroblewski was WorldChampion in both 1965 and 1968, amongothers. - ED

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 16

Meeting Reminder January 1110 AM - 1 PM

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East tothe 148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit(the second of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continuenorth on 148th until you reach the Senior Center. TheSenior Center will be on your left. The Center itself isnot easily visible from the road, but there is a signpostin the median.

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2003 IPMS Seattle Dues Renewal

If the envelope that this newsletter came in has a “LAST ISSUE” label on it, it means that I have no record of your renewal for the nextyear and this will be your last newsletter. Don’t let that happen! Robert and the other members have a lot of good articles planned forthe next year.

You can renew by writing a check for $24.00 to IPMS-Seattle and mailing to the treasurer, Norm Filer, at the address on page two of thisnewsletter. Or you can bring the form and payment to the January meeting. Please be very careful when filling out the form. Many ofour returned newsletters are the result of my poor interpretation of handwritten address information.