1/60 1950s USAF Fighters

[Don Boose]

Many thanks for stopping by zubie, Wayne, gotham, Joe, Jeff, and Joshua.

Eric - Thanks for the info on Buck Danny. I will be on the lookout! Somehow, I have never learned of this series, although I have read and have an extensive collection of reprints of Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon, Scorchy Smith, Buzz Sawyer, and, of course, Tintin.

Don - Great to see you the past weekend. Been very busy since the Paper Modelers at Army Heritage Days event ended yesterday, but hope to post some images tomorrow.

I made simple bases for the models from 8-inch octagons of 1mm card covered with 1/60 pierced steel planking from Dave Winfield's airfield accessories kit. The third image shows the two models on display at Army Heritage Days.

I started on the FG F-84G, but ran into some problems, so may build the P-80 next, instead.

Don

[MacSongLi]

Nice work on both the F-84 & F-86, Don. They're both great looking models. I look forward to the P-80.

Gary

[Robert Woolley]

Wonderful models Don. I particularly like the F84. During the mid 90s I lived near the JASDF Iruma airbase just outside of Tokyo. They operate T33s at the time, in a nice silver and dayglo scheme. I used to enjoy sitting at the end of the runway watching them come and go on a sunny day. I didn't realise at the time that I was witnessing the end of an era. I would have liked to have been around during the golden age of fighter jets.

Robert

[rmks2000]

Don,

Curious to know what issues you had on the G version.

[gotham]

Great looking models, and very well displayed. Is it the 'raw' simplicity of these aircraft that is the attraction ? The 'no frills' approach much like classic cars ?

[gomidefilho]

Awesome display Don!

[Gene K]

While I very much admire Don's narrative, workmanship, and his displays, I can't say the same for the FG Sabre model itself. Like many FG models, it's a cartoon caricature ... and that's OK if that's what's acceptable or wanted.

Gene K

[Don Boose]

Gary - Thanks for the good words - and for your patience. I hope to soon get back to work on the Vietnam50 project and to make a stab at OUTLAW Six, the Huey slick you so kindly recolored for me a LONG time ago.

Robert - I enjoyed hearing about your experiences at Iruma. In the late 80s I was the USFJ J-5 and flew out of Iruma several times in JASDF Kawasaki C-2s. I also had a joyride in a USAF 3rd Bomb Wing T-33 in 1963 when I was visiting Yokota Air Base as part of a USA-USAF exchange program (a dozen Army 2LTs spent a week in Japan with the Air Force, while a dozen lucky USAF officers got to eat C rations and wear combat boots in Korea). About 30 years ago I built, and still have, a 1/72 plastic model of a JASDF T-33. If this project continues, I will certainly include a T-33.

Bob - Am decisively engaged in grading papers just now, but later I will provide some images of the FG F-84G issues. In brief, the F-84G was produced by someone other than Rob Carleen and Kancho. The other designer drew straight wings, tail surfaces, tip tanks, and a canopy to be added to the F-84F model. The 78th TFS fuselage with the straight wings just doesn't work for me (the incorrect buzz numbers for the F-86E were bad enough), so I decided on the Thunderbirds scheme. Next problem is that the new canopy doesn't fit the gray outline of the long F-84F canopy on the fuselage (not a problem if I was competent at recoloring, but a problem for me of little skill). Furthermore, the canopy provided is frameless and lacks the distinctive multi-framed canopy of the G. I have shrunk the canopy from Ken West's 1/32 F-84G down to 1/60, but given the other problems, will probably just go on to another model.

gotham - I agree that the austere natural metal of the early 1950s USAF fighters looks good. I can't find it just now, but I have a boys book of jet fighters from around 1950 with full page pictures that I poured over as a youngster - and, of course, I could see some of those airplanes at Harbor Field (Maryland Air National Guard) and Friendship Airport in Baltimore.

Péricles - Many thanks for your kind comments. I have learned a lot from your posts over the years. You really set the standard.

Gene - I agree completely with your assessment of the FG F-86. I built it because Peter Ansoff, John Glessner, Anne McCombs, and I selected it as a handout for last month's Fairfax, Virginia, IPMS event, the theme of which was the 70th anniversary of the USAF. We chose it because it goes together pretty well, fits on one page, and looks kind of like a Sabre Jet. Plus, Scott Fyn is very generous in giving us permission to reproduce FG models as handouts. I built it to make sure it really was easily buildable and, once having built it, decided to build more USAF early 1950s fighters. Since I am working with Scott to identify problematic FG models, I decided to build other FGs, and was pleased to discover that the Rob Carleen/Kancho Iliev models are of good quality.

Depending on how this project develops, I may continue with FG models in order to evaluate them or I may switch off to other models (Nobi has the F-89 and F-94C and may someday produce a Korean War era F-94B, Aaron Murphy has an F-86D, DGA have P-80s and T-33s, and Roman Vasiliev has a line of F-86Fs. But there are also other projects (Vietnam50, e.g.) that I want to pursue and, as I have mentioned earlier, I build slowly, not terribly well, and am easily distracted. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I have been very encouraged by the supportive comments from all of you.

Keep 'em flying!

Don