Brian J

Many thanks to the gentlemen who took the time to respond to my questions. First off, I have a copy of Tommy Thomason's 'Scooter!', a must reference for any Skyhawk fan. Over the years I have collected as many A-4 references as possible dating back to the old AirCam Aviation Series No. 27 in 1971. KoKu Fan use to include many colour photos of Skyhawks during the Viet Nam War as well. I'll have to make a trip to my local Staples and check out those felt tipped pens. Great idea! Wow! What an impressive series of close-up photos that 'a4s4eva' included. They should

I have two questions concerning my 1/32 Trumpeter A-4 Skyhawk build-up. 1. I'm using the aftermarket one piece AMS resin intake set. How do members paint the interior of the curved inside lip? Obviously it it very difficult to mask off. I am considering using red decal strip. Is there a better way? 2. Many if not most parked A-4s have the horizontal stabilators angled downward at the leading edge. When they are angled downwards there is a hole or opening in the vertical tail. Should this opening be blanked off in its interior, with plastic card or just left open at

I'm having a difficult time finding an answer to a question concerning the markings of the A-4E that Lt Col John Caldas of VMA-311 flew on the last sortie of the Viet Nam War on 27 January 1973. I have an old Micro Scale 1/32 scale sheet with his name on an A-4 WL 1, BuNo 150105. Does anyone know if this was the A-4 he flew on that last mission? I have two b&w photos of this aircraft from an old KoKu Fan magazine that verify the 1/32 scale sheet. I would like to do a build-up of the aircraft he flew on that mission.

Thanks for asking but no, nothing definitive. I've kind of put the whole thing on a back burner (along with about 15 or 16 others) waiting for a definite response. I really should get back to it as it is a very nice kit.

I keep referring back to my references hoping a definitive answer to my latest question will pop up. No luck yet on the three pane 'bay window' as found on a late photo of Kentucky Belle. I did find a comment that I'd like to share with those who may be interested. It can be found on page 54 of the B-24 Liberator in Detail by Bert Kinzey where he discusses staggered waist gun positions. "It should be noted that the gun windows were not staggered as they were on later B-17Gs. On Liberators, it was the guns and their mounts that were staggered rather than the windows themselves. The left w

I think I have all my ducks in a row to finally start that Hasegawa B-24J, and I'm thinkiing of using clear sheet styrene to create those 'bay waist windows. So hopefully I only have one more question. If a B-24 had the three pane 'bay window' in the waist area would the guns be staggered? I mean if the starboard gun was in the front 'pane' would the port gun be in the rear 'panel'?

Hoping to have all my ducks in a row in preparing for my AVG build-up I noticed during my research that photos indicate that there was no standard in antenna wire arrangements. Over the years I have read that inflight radio communication was a constant problem during the first couple of years during WWII. Navy and Marine Corps F4U Corsairs come to mind and so various radio systems were experimented with. In the artwork produced by Thomas A. Tullis in the excellent EagleFiles #4 Tigers Over China: The Aircraft of the A.V.G. all of the drawings/artwork indicate that antenna wires

Many thanks for the gentlemen who took the time to add to the above postings. I'd like to share my concluding observations on the subject. This subject was covered in some detail on Britmodeller back in the summer of 2014. A member, '72modeler' from San Antonio, Texas quoting a paragraph (page 16, bottom paragraph) from the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #41, American Volunteer Group Colours and Markings by Terrill Clements, "Colour photos of newly-assembled Curtiss aircraft in the pre-Pearl Harbor time period indicate that yellow zinc chromate primer was used for protecting undercarriage do

Many thanks for taking the time to comment on my questions. I am still undecided as to how to interpret the gun ports. I found a couple of photos on pages 53 and 73 of The Skull & Cross Bones Squadron: VF-17 in World War II by Lee Cook that show taping of the gun ports. There is distinctive signs of the use of straight edged tape and in the case of the photo on page 53, multiple layers of tape, which makes sense in a combat zone. That in flight photo I keep referring to suggests to me a clean, circular shape, maybe a bit lighter in shade then the prop hub but not white li

Thanks for your informed comments, Andrew D. A couple of comments and another question if I may. On page 55 of F4U Corsair at War by Richard Abrams there is an often published photo of Kepford's second Corsair. It is taken from the starboard side and you can make out an antenna wire from the top of the rudder to the outer tip of the horizontal stabilizer. Another often reproduced photo inflight photo of this second Corsair can be found on pages 50 and 51. If we agree (and I do) that the upper port star and bar originally had the red surround that was painted over in blue would

My apologies for being dull of intellect, but I am still unclear as to the correct colour of the canvas boot that was inserted in early wheel wells of P-40's. It makes sense that the metal part of the wheel well would be primed and painted, but would the actual canvas boot be painted as well? Would it be necessary? Would the canvas boot be inserted before or after the wing under surfaces were painted? Would the canvas become stiff and difficult to work with once it had been painted? Would this boot be removed very often during operations? I guess my conclusion is that this can

After reading several references and studying relevant photos I am still uncertain about the colour of the prop hub of the often photographed Corsair flown by Ike Kepford. There is a large b&w air to air view on pages 50-51 of F4U Corsair at War by Richard Abrams. This same photo can be found on the title pages of The Skull & Crossbones Squadron: VF-17 in World War II by Lee Cook. According to written sources this squadron painted propeller hubs various colours to denote various flights (some say four, others five aircraft per flight). Tommy Blackburn's flight colour was red, Hend

On the topic of P-40 wheel well colour, the earlier comments included in dogsbody post indicates that early P-40's up to the E model had a canvas boot. The fact that it was not metal would suggest there was no need for a primer and interior paint to protect metal surfaces. My question is, would these earlier P-40's e.g. AVG P-40B/C's have wheel wells the same colour as the wing undersurfaces?

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I ordered that set from Roll Models a while back and while I haven't used them yet they seem to fill my need. While on the topic of gunsights, does anyone know if AVG P-40s used American or British versions?

I'm working on three 1/72 Airfix P-40's in AVG markings and would like to dress them up with some detail. Does anyone produce photo etch ring and bead sights in that scale? I've got some1/48 scale ones but they would look wrong. Been checking around since my above post and found that Eduard does a set in 1/72 (EDU72403). Has anybody used them and would they still be available?