Rob de Bie

I ordered and received the HiMAT, AD-1, M2-F1, Sniffer I and III kits from Muroc Models in 2013. The M2-F1 is an impressive model, but I will probably never build it. I tried to find the kit in my stash, but it's not in the numbered storage box that it's supposed to. That means I have to go through all my boxes. Please hold the line.. Rob

I'm also after trustworthy C-130 drawings, but probably for another purpose. I want to build a simplified wire model of one, to do photo measurements. This is how far I got: I mainly used dimensional data from Lockheed station drawings and Jane's, plus the drawings in Verlinden's C-130 booklet (red is my own wire model). I found one fairly large error so far: the tail planform was wrong. The artist assumed the root chord value was valid for the fuselage side, but it is measured on the a/c centerline. The drawing therefore shows a tail that's too large in chord and area

What does this remark add?? This thread seems to attract snotty armchair experts. Rob

Thanks for your constructive comment. Rob

I colorchecked Su 24MR 'white 10' at the 1992 Damgarten air show, and noted FS 26373 for the gray. Rob

I use 1.5 mm solder, fixed with Blu-Tack. Previously I had scaled the paint scheme to 1/48 scale, allowing me to bend the solder to the correct pattern. I use aluminium foil to fill in the areas - it sticks to the Blu-Tack, and usually I fold back the excess. It's quite easy this way. Both solder and Blu-Tack can be reused. Previously I used Blu-Tack only, but it very difficult to maintain a constant diameter, also because you need to press it down. The diameter determines the soft edge, and was therefore inconsistent. That problem was solved by using solder.

It looks a bit like the USAF font as defined in Tech Order 1-1-4, but drawn on a 5x3 grid instead of a 6x4 grid. And then slanted left or right of course. Rob

30'11" is the wing root length. I'm talking about the measurement at the very right of the upper view drawing. It's outside the scan you posted. Rob

Note that the dihedral is in degrees and minutes, 2 deg 30 min, or 2.5 degrees, not 2.3 degrees. To recreate the wing planform, you need 4 out of 5 of these numbers: - half span, clearly reads 92'6" - root chord, clearly reads 30'11" - tip chord, clearly reads 12'4" - wing sweep, probably reads 35 deg, measured on the leading edge (note: usually it's measured on the quarter chord) - distance between root leading edge and tip leading edge. I think I read 60'5" ? Now if I calculate wing sweep angle, I get: wing sweep = atan (6

I searched some more, and found something of use in Walter Boyne's book 'Boeing B-52'. But warning: it's getting confusing! In appendix 10 the book shows two drawings with lots of measurements. They appear to be Boeing drawings, since there are quite a few station numbers shown. Unfortunately the drawings are printed a tad too small, making some crucial numbers difficult to read. In a subdrawing it is shown that the wing has a *positive* dihedral of 2.5 degrees. Wing incidence is listed as 6 degrees. Wing sweep is 35 degrees on the leading edge. If you assume a 'wing pl

I'm pretty sure that the B-52 wing itself has no dihedral or anhedral. It is built 'flat', and it's the combination of wing incidence and wing sweep that makes it look like there's anhedral. If you rotate the root airfoil say 3 degrees, you can imagine that the wingtips move down, because they are positioned further aft. And that looks like anhedral, but because of definitions in a/c design, technically it's not. Furthermore, the bending of the wing makes the above almost useless. Rob

Ah, I missed that.. Rob

I just bumped into this German-language article (part 1 actually) about building a 1/72 RC-135U. It seems very thorough, and therefore probably of use to other RC-135 builders: https://www.modellversium.de/galerie/8-flugzeuge-modern/17944-boeing-rc-135u-combat-sent-amt-ertl.html Rob

Lone Star Models (Mike West) did a TF-33 engine set too: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/lone-star-models-lsm720580-b-52h-engine-upgrade-set--1189909 From memory it's visibly larger than the old DB Models TF-33 set. Rob

I think the only real low rpm motor tool is made by Foredom, the LX model. I bought one ~10 years ago and never regretted it, despite the very high cost. I think I can have it do 50-100 rpm, really slow.. Rob

Yes, it does. But still someone needs to determine the fonts, find them, make the required text, size them properly, discuss things via e-mail (count on 10+ messages), and arrange the printing, and ship it. I would be amazed if all of that fits in one hour of work. Rob

I do custom decal design, and can provide ready to apply decals. I have a webpage with several examples: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/customdecals.htm From experience, the cost is often an obstacle. The custom decals are probably double or triple the cost of the Caracal sheet. Rob

My first stop would be the 'Cruise books' website: https://www.navysite.de/cruisebooks/ They have cruise books up to 2016. You can view the contents online, or order a high resolution PDF file. Well worth it I think for your project! Rob

I would recommend: - 10-20 Shore-A - addition type a.k.a. platinum cure - lowest viscosity you can find Rob

I found something in Wayne Mutza's 'The A-1 Skyraider in Vietnam', page 79: "Spad pilots quickly learned to identify the types of ground fire headed their way: 37 mm appeared as red balls, they were fired in clips of seven, and they were slow; 23 mm rounds had a yellow-white color and were much faster. ZPU fire was even faster." Page 89 shows a 37 mm captured in Laos. Rob

I did not know that! It made me think a bit more about AAA. From what I know (or think I know) of the German use of the 88mm is that they basically tried to saturate the sky with shrapnel, leading to impact damage. And the sky was filled with a few hundred bombers. With the smaller calibers, I'm under the impression that they are aiming at a single aircraft (with lead etc) and are trying to actually hit the aircraft directly. Is there a distinction between these two approaches, or naming convention? Rob

Yeah, I saw that footage.. bizarre. Not very peaceful I think, but enough has been said about it.. Rob

That was an 'interesting' night.. I've searched a bit for the ammo colors in my books, but there are so many to consult - no results yet. Rob

Interesting! Your remark leads to another question: could each weapon be identified by (say) the color and speed of the munition? I think I read something about that, long ago, but I don't remember the details. Rob

Rob, thanks! I found it in two versions on Scalemates: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/um-516-37mm-aa-gun-k-61-early-variant--948996 https://www.scalemates.com/nl/kits/um-517-37mm-aa-gun-k-61-late--1355302 In what I read so far, the version from the Vietnam war was called 'M38/39', maybe it's different? Rob