trietmcam

Bird's eye view Close up view of the 20 Mike-Mike. Only the inboard hatches are left opened. Also, about the red rod protruding out from the wings, that's the wing fold locks. They extend out when the wings are in fold positioned. And ind down position, they flushed with the wings. I planed to pose the model in the folded position. So this is the only time you'll see them down. That's the first installment. The folded wings pics come later.

Left side view walk around.

Close up view of the ripples I put on the fuselage. I had a tough time shooting this view. Sorry the ripples don't show up very well in the pics.

All right, it's officially DONE!!!! But here's the first of two installment of the final photos. The first set will be with the wings down. First up, the right side walk around.

Hey let thanks you for the kind words! Been a long struggle. I only had a few regrets; one, wished I had finished this on April 01, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of this plane loss in battle, and two, wished I had used the unbelt Yankee seat. I would've been better to scratch build the seat belts than used the molded-on belt. But it turned out ok - I am happy with it. Cheers Triet

Just experimenting with the camera. Trying to get a good focus on this whole model is nearly impossible with this Canon DSLR kit lense. Maybe a more pricey lense may work, but this model is so big, I had a hard time focus the outer wings and tails.

Thanks very much Chuk. I actually used your salt chipping method, though not for paint chipping but weathering smudge effect. If you look at the armor plate near the cockpit entrance, and the cowl ring lower, it was done that way with a very diluted but darker paint version. The pastel post shade couldn't really pulled this off that well. Thanks Cheers Triet

John, You mean like this? Now that's a dirty bird; yep, looked like someone just poured 55 gal of dirty oil all over it. I used the Tamiya weather set, mostly used soot and rust color, and the rubber sponge applicator that came with the set. At the sharp corners where the applicator can't reach, I used the Tamiya cotton swab with the pointy cone shape to brush the weather powder on. The swap is very durable; it almost like a pencil, so you can almost draw with it. What I also like about the weathering set is, you can also dip a wet brush in and paint with it wet. That's how I did the fue

Thank you FD. This has been a very long build, with lots of stumbles along the way, but well worth it. Regards Triet

One more close up view to show some oily mess from the radial engine. More update later. Thanks Cheers Triet

Trilene XL line, rated 2 lbs, avg. diameter 0.005 inch 400yard. I got it at Bass Pro Shop here in Mich. That's the smallest dia. I have seen for fishing line. I used to use stretch sprue, but you probably know, it doesn't take much to knock it off. Cheers T.

The tires get a weighted look. I just put the wheels on a hot iron, but not too hot, and gently applied pressure down til I get the flat wheel look. At this time, the landing lights get added onto the legs. Not all A-1 had landing lights on the legs; some had them at the wing tip ends, so do check your reference before installing them.

I used very thin fishing line for the antenna wires. The dia. is only .005 inch, so the scale looked just right. It also had a tinted smoke color, so I left it unpainted.

Greeting again modelers, I spent a considerable time fixing the windshield; the fit bothered me quite a bit. The windscreen was wider than the body, so it had to be sanded thinner for better fit. Well, the task almost spiraled into the deep end, cause I had to cut off the painted and glued windshield. Let me say "DON'T EVER DO THIS". It is painful! Lesson learned, don't fix the model after it is painted. :doh:/>/>/>/> At least I recovered, and it looked much better now, compare to before. See pic above. I should also mention that the two yellow canopy slide handles were

BRAA..VO!!! Real cool marking FD, tell me how you did the marking. Cheers Triet

Like other said, Hasegawa. But the cockpit is very basic and plain though, you could upgrade the pit with the CMK or Aires set. But both sets come with the bucket seat, no Yankee seat, I think. If that is your desire, scratch building is your only option, I'm afraid. Unless you can find the long OOP KMC set. KMC had an excellent resin set in the days, in both 1/48 and 1/72. Another annoying thing with the Hase kit is the wrong prop shape. They're way too skinny, and doesn't have the oval shape. That said, it's still best kit out there.

Super F-5A let. I know what you went through. Boy I still have nightmare with the kit. The CA kit was a tough one, but you pulled it off with an unusual scheme. Great work. Cheers Triet

I thought the 1st picture was real at 1st. Great work FD. That Lambreta is super cool. Cheers triet

After the Tet Offensive, the VNAF 23rd Tactical Wing always rotated part of the A-1 unit between Bien Hoa and TSN for ready alert, as Saigon was always in constant threat. Each pilot rotated to TSN 1 week per month; that's as much as I know. That must've been something living in TSN. It was the busiest airport in the world. I always wonder how anyone could sleep with all the aircraft noise. I heard TSN also was the operation HQ for US recon intel, where recon pics were delivered straight to the highest brass. There was rumor U2 often landed there in the cloak of night. Never any saw any pict

Roger that. Thanks for pointing that out Jari. IIRC, this pic was taken right around when SEA scheme first appeared in VN. Probably around 1966, maybe earlier. They were all painted in country, so it't not surprising they all had variations. Note not one had pattern exactly like described in Techorder TO-1-1-4 manual. Cheers

Thank you for your words and encouragement Joel. It's almost home stretch now. Hope to have it completed soon. One of the few pics I have that showed the A-1 top wing. You can see the exhaust starting to build up heavily at the wing root. Cheers Triet

I replaced the position lights with clear colored plastic paint brush. I cut and rough them into shape, then filed and smooth sand them the rest of the way. An example of post shaded with Tamiya weather set on the wings.

Closeup view of the side fuselage. Some of the exhaust also got deposit onto the wing roots. The tail end. I added some light amount of post shade, leaving the area a little cleaner than the front. I need to touch up the paint chip near the F.

It looks like I'm in the top of the 9th inning. The model is mostly done, just a few tidbits here and there left. I got to the weathering to the point where I think it's about done. Got the eye brows on the fuselage, starting with Tamiya weathering set. I started outlining lightly where the smoke pattern goes and gradually add more to make it heavier. This way I have more control how it look. If it turned out bad, just wash it off and start over. Once I was satisfied with the black pattern, I went over the center of the smoke flow with lighter brown and sand smudge. The right side didn't h

Yeah I was going for the beat up look. As I mentioned, by late war the VNAF was fighting for survival. Most of the available combat planes were pressed into action so often. Maintain fighting condition was higher priority than appearance. I studied the underside of this pic and used it as reference. This bird looked like it had been fighting for awhile without a bath. The chocks are off, and it's ready to go. I think my model is still clean relative to this bad boy.