This past month I had the chance to stop in at the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation in Portolla Valley, Ca during our vacation to Oakland and San Francisco.  It is about 1-1/2 hr. drive from Oakland. For those of you not familiar with MVTF, http://nonplused.org/panos/mvtf/ it is the foundation set up by the late Jacques Littlefield to preserve his military vehicle collection of over 240 vehicles from WW1 to the present.  Cost of emission is $20 for adults and $10 for children.  You are led on a guided tour of the four buildings and the surrounding grounds which holds a number of vehicles which need restoration. Chris "Toadman" Hughes was our tour guide. He has a website that has walkarounds of various vehicles both from the MVTF and from other sites around the world.    Some of the pictures are free and he also has cd's for sale of various vehicles. http://www.toadmanstankpictures.com/

A few of the more interesting exhibits are the cut aways of the M4 Sherman turret and the turret simulator for an M1 Abrams.

If you ever find yourself up in that neck of the woods I highly recommend stopping in. You do need to make reservations in advance. They do tours usually on Wednesdays and Saturdays. http://www.mvtf.org/contact.html

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First off, the annual StarFest sci-fi convention, which includes a large and aggressive model competition, takes place in Denver this year on the weekend of April 19–21 at the Marriott Denver Tech Center.  Details are on their web site (http://www.starland.com). The hotel is filling up fast, so if you're interested, move quickly!

Polar Lights (http://round2models.com/models/ polar-lights) has been busy, and has introduced a full-blown kit of the 1960s George Barris Batmobile (the deluxe kit is 1/72; a 1/25 kit is also available). Parts are included to build a big block engine or a full jet-turbine engine. Photoetch parts are also included for some details. The obvious figures are included, along with extensive decals.

Along with the Batmobile, they are also offering the Black Beauty from the 1966 television series The Green Hornet. This kit is in 1/32.

Moebius Models (http://www.moebiusmodels.com) is bringing out a new Battlestar Pegasus, in scale with their Galactica model. See photo for comparison.

   

On the Star Trek front, Polar Lights is issuing old and new kits, some with new box art.  A special snap-kit edition of the old TV-series Enterprise will come with an in-scale Botany Bay from the episode "Space Seed". Go ahead, you know what to shout!

A Klingon battlecruiser is also offered, shown here in Romulan livery.

And are we finally going to get a kit of the new movie Enterprise?  Starship Modeler has this photo from Revell Germany (http://www.starshipmodeler.com).

 

 

 

Webmaster's note:  More pictures from this trip report are posted on the Field Trips page.

You need a computer to run this (PC or Mac) with a DVD drive.  There is a lot of material here, as they have literally reproduced every page of every issue, ads and all.  Navigating the search system can be a little tricky; they include an insert with installation instructions and helpful tips to make things go a little easier.  Once you get the hang of it, searching goes pretty well, and you can find all kinds of stuff.  After spending hours looking for a specific article with no luck in my pile, I tried it in the CD and it took about 5 minutes to find it and open it up. That sold me.

The CD set sell for $99.95, and can be purchased directly at finescale.com.  At first I thought that the price was a little high, until I realized that today this is just the price of a nice aircraft model. I think it is well worth the price.

Brian scheduled another awesome ASM road trip for September 2012 and it was really fun even if there were only four of us that could make it. On this trip we flew Southwest out to Ontario, California and then drove on over to the Planes of Fame and the Yanks Air Museum in Chino.

Webmaster's note:  More pictures from this trip report are posted on the Field Trips page.

The main building has displays from the inception of US Navy aviation through the Early Cold War arranged by periods of time (see maps).  There is a great display of aircraft carrier models right as you come in the entrance doors in the "Quarter Deck" area, so be sure to spend some time viewing those.  I recommend starting in the "South Wing" with the World War I, Early Aircraft and Early Cold War displays and then working your way through that to the "West Wing" that has World War II and additional Early Cold War displays.  There is a "second deck" balcony in this building which provides for good shots of the aircraft on the "main deck" area, but there are also displays tucked away in a few areas on the second floor that are easy to miss.  One of these is the "Carrier Exhibit" which is an "in-action, quick-turn below decks on the carrier" display of an F6F Hellcat in the "Minsi III" markings of top US Navy ace David McCampbell.  You also view the airship control cars up on this level.  Aircraft of note in the main building were the Curtiss NC-4 that was the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in May 1919, the D-558-1 Skystreak test aircraft, Sopwith F.1 Camel, P-40B Warhawk in American Volunteer Group markings, an SDB-2 Dauntless that participated in the Battle of Midway, the whole Grumman "Cat" series of fighters, K-47 and L-8 Airship control cars, Skylab Command Module, and a four-ship of Blue Angel A-4E Skyhawks suspended in formation in the "Atrium" area.  There are also several captured/foreign aircraft, including an A6M Zero, NiK2-J George, Me 262B, and a MiG-15. 

The second building (Hangar Bay One) houses aircraft and displays from Viet Nam through present time, presidential support and Coast Guard aircraft, plus a few large aircraft that would not fit in the main building.  Aircraft of note include the P2V-1 Neptune "Truculent Turtle" that set an un-refueled long-distance flight record of 11,235 miles over 55 hours and 17 minutes of flight in September 1946 (note: this was finally broken by a B-52H in 1962), a huge SP-5B Marlin flying boat, and aircraft that flew in Viet Nam (A-1, A-4, A-6, A-7, O-1, F-4, F-8) and Desert Storm (F-14, EA-6B, F-18).  The F-14D "Bombcat" on display flew the last operational F-14 combat mission.  An A-3 Skywarrior is parked outside between the main buildings. 

If you have the time, it is worthwhile to take the tour of the museum's aircraft parked on the flight line area awaiting renovation and inside display.  If you want to take the tour, be sure to get a ticket (free) on a specific tour time when you first get to the museum.  It takes about 45 minutes, and the trolley car-looking bus leaves from in front of the museum.  Aircraft of note include a PV-2 Harpoon, SP-2H Neptune, C-46, AJ-2 Savage, PB-4Y-2 Privateer, and RA-5C Vigilante. 

The museum is located in the northwest corner of Naval Air Station Pensacola, and you enter the base through the gate off Highway 295 (South Navy Blvd / Duncan Rd).  The signage to get there was not the greatest, so it would be good to have either a GPS in your car or a map application on your smart phone to help you find it. 

Plan on spending almost a full day at the museum if you want to see everything.  I spent five hours looking at the displays, and probably could have used at least two more.  There is a souvenir shop that I did not have time to check out, and an IMAX theater in the museum.  The museum hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily, and admission is free.  You will need a valid ID to be able to enter into NAS Pensacola. 

Check out the museum's website at:  http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/

 

 

 

 

 

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ASM Make 'N Take with Cub Scout Pack 336

ASM conducted a Make 'N Take with Cub Scout Pack 336 on October 17, 2012 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints in Rio Rancho.  There were 13 Cub Scouts present and five ASM members: Jim Guld, Victor Maestas, Larry Glenn, Patrick Dick, and Mike Blohm.  The purpose of the Make 'N Take was to give the Cubs an introduction to modeling, have fun building a model, and then take it home with them afterwards.

Mike Blohm started the program by discussing "What is Scale Modeling" using a large group of models (approximately 50) in different scales, including aircraft, armor, automotive, ships and science fiction models.  The discussion explained what "scale modeling" means, what the different scales are and the pro's and con's of each, and gave a quick overview of going from what was in a typical model kit box – sprues, instructions and decals – to getting a finished model.  Lots of finished kits were on display to show what could be built and there were a lot of good questions.  It was obvious that the Cubs really liked the Star Wars models and the "UFO Fly-In at Roswell" diorama.  Jim Guld also talked about the hobby and demonstrated how a sprue-cutter works. 

The next step was the fun of model-building.  The kits, supplied by IPMS-USA, included the F-117 Night Hawk, F-14 Tomcat, SR-71 Blackbird, '68 Camaro, Hummer, '34 Hot Rod, and Space Shuttle.  The Pack set-up was very well organized with five tables each with one ASM member, three to four Cubs, and a couple of parents.  ASM members provided coaching, tips, and recommendations as they worked their way through their kits.  The F-117, F-14, and Space Shuttle kits each had their own little challenges to work through, but the Cubs persevered and had a lot of fun.  Feedback from the Pack leadership was that the Cubs enjoyed the Make 'N Take and had a lot of fun.   Hopefully we'll see some of these Cubs get the spark and decide to take up the hobby and have some great fun while doing so.  Please check out the pics below.  Thanks to all who helped out. 

 

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2012 New Mexico State Fair Model Contest Results

Creative Arts Division 13: "Model - Military, Science Fiction and Others"

Sponsored by ASM

Display cases with all the 2012 model entries are shown below. 

Pictures of model entry registration and the model judging are shown below.  

This article is written to coincide with ASM's "New Mexico Centennial of Statehood" contest in September 2012. 

Capt Daniel T. "Danny" Roberts Jr. is a little-known but fairly high-ranking fighter ace born in Tucumcari, New Mexico.  At the time of his death in November 1943 Roberts was one of the top-scoring aces in the Pacific theater with 14 aerial victories.  He was barely behind Dick Bong and just ahead of Tommy McGuire in scoring. 

Roberts was born on 20 Sep 1918 and graduated from New Mexico Highlands University with a degree in music and became a music teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada.  He joined the U.S. Army Aviation Cadet Program and was commissioned as a second lieutenant and rated a pilot on 16 Sep 1941.  He initially served at Mitchell Field in New York, but after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he was sent to the Pacific.  Due to his quiet nature - he never drank, smoked or uttered a strong curse - he almost ended up being assigned as a base commander out in the desert.  However, he was able to influence a general that was passing through and instead joined the 80th Fighter Squadron (FS) "Headhunters" of the 8th Fighter Group (FG).  The unit was equipped with the P-400 (export P-39) Airacobra which was not much of a dogfighter but Roberts used it to gain his first two victories.  Roberts was involved in a surprise attack on Milne Bay early on the morning of 26 Aug 1942.  The 80 FS caught the Zeros of the 2nd Wing just as they had just begun their takeoffs and Roberts scored a "double" and 1 damaged.  He scored another "double" over two Vals on 11 Apr 1943, at that time flying the P-38G Lightning. 

8th Fighter Group	80th Fighter Squadron	475th Fighter Group	432nd Fighter Squadron	433rd Fighter Squadron

Roberts joined the 475 FG "Satan's Angels" when it was formed in May 1943 as the first "all P-38 squadrons group".  He initially served in the 432 FS "Clover squadron" as the Operations Officer and scored 5 victories in Aug - Sep 1943 while flying the P-38H.  Roberts was unusual as a fighter pilot because of his meticulous habits and gentle speech and manner.  He easily won the trust and affection of his comrades and showed a knack for leadership.  Roberts was the commander of the 433 FS "Possum squadron" from Oct - Nov 1943 and knew how to get the best from his men by fully understanding them and leading them with the example of his hard work.  Roberts quickly impressed the pilots with his enthusiasm for their survival as well as maximum efficiency in accomplishing the mission.  "Stay together like a pack of wolves" he would repeat to his men.  During his short time as squadron leader the 433 FS was credited with fifty-five victories against the loss of only three P-38s.  Roberts himself downed five Zekes in one week, including two "doubles" on 17 Oct and 23 Oct 1943. 

Roberts was killed in action on 9 November 1943 during an escort mission of B-25 Mitchell bombers hitting Japanese airfields at Alexishafen on the northern coast of New Guinea.  Roberts had scored one kill - a Hamp - and was engaging an Oscar at low altitude when Roberts own wingman collided with him during a hard turn, destroying both P-38s.  He was posthumously promoted to major.  Roberts is buried in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial on Luzon in the Philippine Islands.  Roberts credits were 14 destroyed, 1 probable, and 1 damaged.  Various sources credit Roberts with 15 victories but the official USAF Historical Study No. 85 and Air Force Aerial Victory Credits: WW I, WW II, Korea, and Vietnam documents both list him with 14.  His awards include a Distinguished Service Cross and three Distinguished Flying Crosses. 

Had Roberts not been lost in this accident, he may have become one of the top-scoring aces and fighter leaders in the Pacific theater, such as Charles MacDonald, who commanded the 475 FG from Nov 1943 to Aug 1944.  Overall, Roberts is the top-ranking ace of the 433 FS (tie), the 9th-ranking P-38 ace (tie), the 38th-ranking American ace (tie), and the 33rd-ranking USAAF/USAF ace (tie). 

Roberts neither swore nor drank, but is still remembered affectionately today as "The Quiet Ace."   

Sources:

Stars & Bars - A Tribute to the American Fighter Ace 1920-1973 by Frank Olynyk

Attack & Conquer - The 8th Fighter Group in World War II by John C. Stanaway & Lawrence J. Hickey, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 1995

 Possum, Clover & Hades - The 475th Fighter Group in World War II by John Stanaway, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 1993

 USAF Historical Study No. 85 - USAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II, Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center, Air University, 1978

Air Force Aerial Victory Credits: WW I, WW II, Korea, and Vietnam, Edited by Dr. Daniel L. Haulman and Col Willam C. Stancik, USAF Historical Research Center, 1988

Pictures of his P-38H aircraft are posted below, built by Mike Blohm from the Heller 1/72 scale P-38 kit
Spinners and props are from the Hasegawa P-38J/L kit, with wheels from True Details

Bernalillo County held a grand opening ceremony of the New Mexico Centennial Hall History Exhibit on Friday, August 3rd 2012.  The exhibit features historical photos and other items from Bernalillo County's history, and is located at the City/County Government Center, One Civic Plaza, in downtown Albuquerque.  The model of the Landing Ship Tank (LST) USS Bernalillo County, built by ASM member Mike Blohm and Larry Neiderman, is on display in the Bernalillo County Commissioners office and was able to be viewed by everyone attending the opening ceremony.  Harry Davidson, Mike Blohm, and Larry Neiderman were invited to attend due to the support to the New Mexico Centennial from the Cavalcade of Wing's New Mexico Named Ship Project - see article below.  Pictures of the exhibit and LST model are posted below.  The exhibit, located on the 6th floor, will run through October 31st, 2012.  The County Commissioners Office is located on the 10th floor of the building, and the model will be on display continuously.  The model is to the right as you come in the front door to their offices.

This diorama is of a KC-135A refueling Vic Vizcarra's F-105D "Pussy Galore II". The scene takes place in 1966 while he was based at Takhli Air Base in Thailand during the Viet Nam war.  The diorama was built for display at the F-105 pilot reunion of 34 TFS to be held in Colorado Springs, Co. in May, 2012.  The request to build this diorama came from Howard Plunkett, an ex-coworker that has a great interest in the F-105 Thunderchief.  He also helped Albatros decals with the research to produce the markings for several F-105s including Pussy Galore II.

This specific aircraft is the second aircraft to carry these markings, both by pilot Vic Vizcarra.  They were applied to help boomers to connect with his plane when air-to-air refueling. These particular markings were put on but only lasted about two weeks before having to be removed. 

Having worked on aerial refueling simulators for the KC-135 and always wanting to do "those" markings on the F-105, this seemed like an interesting project.

F-105D

This aircraft is shown in a photo (see below) with the following loadout: 

- Centerline hardpoint: MER with six 500 lb bombs

- Two fuel drop tanks on the inboard hard points in un-camouflaged finish, which is unusual, but when the original tanks are damaged during side-slip 
  maneuvering after a bomb run they are replaced with new ones without the camouflage.

- ECM pod on left side outer hardpoint

- Empty right hand outer hardpoint

The starter kit for the F-105D is a Hasegawa kit. This kit has very fine recessed panel lines but an extremely basic cockpit and pilot. The kit also didn't have the gun camera or refueling receptacle.  The kit fuselage did include the afterburner cooling intakes on aft sides of fuselage which were appropriate for this specific aircraft.

An Aires cockpit set (meant for the Trumpeter kit) was added that included a resin cockpit tub with side consoles, throttles, HUD as well as a more complete instrument panel and glareshield. The set also included a nice resin ejection seat. A pilot figure from a Hasegawa pilot set was added to complete the front office. Since the set was intended for the Trumpeter kit, it did require a lot of chopping and filling to get it to fit in Hasegawa fuselage.

The refueling receptacle was added to give the boom a place to plug into with the open in-flight refueling door.  A set of line drawings from one of my reference books were used to determine the size of the cutout and locate the opening in the correct position on the nose. On the F-105, the receptacle is located off center to the left. After the correct size cutout was made, the panel lines around the receptacle were scribed.  The actual receptacle inside the fuselage was built up from blocks of styrene glued to the inside of the fuselage. The receptacle was sanded and drilled to the correct shape and angle to mate with the boom extension. The receptacle door/ramp was made from brass sheet from a piece of spare photo-etch and rolled to match the contour of the fuselage.

On the outside of the fuselage, additions to the Thud included adding the gun camera under the nose from carved styrene and an aftermarket brass pitot tube on the nose (from Master Models).  The afterburner cooling scoops were drilled out as they were molded solid.

Reinforcements made from sprue runners were added inside the fuselage aft of the centerline pylon and forward of the ventral fin to accept an insert made from brass tubing.  This was sized to fit a 3/16 inch diameter stainless steel support rod. The hole for the insert was drilled at angle to match the correct angle of attack of the aircraft during refueling, about 10 degrees, as seen on pictures of the aircraft. The upper end of the insert and the lower end in the base were crimped in-line with the fuselage centerline and then glued in place. Both ends of the support rod were ground to a chisel point.  The shaped rod and insert self-aligns the aircraft on a single support rod.

After masking the clear parts, the nose and canopy frames were painted black along with pre-shading the panel lines. The nose was then masked off and the camouflage was applied starting with the tan.  The medium green and dark green were then applied freehand with the airbrush at a low pressure and the tip just off the surface.  The yellow seals around canopy panels are thin strips of yellow Tamiya masking tape cut by clamping two X-Acto blades together and cutting strips of tape on a glass surface with a straight edge.  After touching up missed spots and some overspray and letting it all dry, the whole plane was covered with several coats of Future floor polish applied with a wide soft brush. This provided a smooth finish for the decals and sealed in the yellow tape around the canopy.

The Albatros decals went on well with no problems.  For the refueling "target", the receptacle door was placed in the closed position by supporting it with a small chunk of poster tack from inside the receptacle opening.  The whole decal was placed over the nose making sure to have everything aligned.  After the decal had dried, the outline of the door was cut out with a sharp X-Acto knife.  The door was then repositioned to the open position and glued in place. After all the decals were applied, the plane was again sealed with a coat of Future.

The aircraft was weathered with a black wash in the panel lines followed by a brown wash around moving surfaces and especially on the bottom of the aircraft. A final flat coat was sprayed over the aircraft. Pastel powders were applied to break up the colors and show paint fading.

The final steps included loading up the bottom of the aircraft with the MER, fuel tanks and ECM pod and unmasking the canopy.

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KC-135A

The KC-135A used for this project was an Esci kit. It has the correct configuration for the A model with the proper engines.  The kit has engraved panel lines and generally good detail. The wings parts were warped and taping them together showed that they wouldn't stay straight.  One wing tip pointed up and the other drooped down.

 

In the interest of time, all the internals were blacked out and only structural internals were used.  The clear windows were installed and painted black on the inside before the fuselage halves were put together.  The windows were then all masked with liquid mask on the outside.

 

The fuselage parts were reinforced all around with bits of styrene sheets at all the joints.  Reinforcements were added just forward and aft of the landing gear bays, which is where the wing spar went through.  These were added to support the two rods that would hold up the plane.

 

On the wings, supports were added at the joint between lower center section and outer lower wing sections.  The wing spar was extended by installing nested brass tubing and rod (3 sizes) to the lower wing halves.  These were covered with two part epoxy to hold them in place inside the wing.  The wing was clamped to sections to square tubing sections on the outside to ensure the wings stayed straight until the epoxy set.

 

All the doors were installed in the closed configuration and most didn't fit well, especially the main landing gear doors. The seams and joints were cleaned up as much as possible before paint.

 

The plane was painted with one coat of Bare Metal Silver from Tamiya rattle can as a primer and all blemishes cleaned up.  After the second coat of silver, the nose, tail top, ruddevators and wingwalk areas were painted in black and these areas were then masked.  The wing walk lines were masked with long sections of thin pin striping tape. The boom extension markings were painted with red / orange / yellow / green fluorescent paint decanted from Tamiya rattle cans.

 

The decals used were the kit markings for a standard refueling aircraft used in this particular timeframe. After the decals had dried, the entire plane was then sealed with a coat of Future floor polish and then overcoated with semi-gloss and flat top coats to vary the sheen of the silver paint.

 

For final assembly, the boom was installed free to rotate vertically and the boom extension free to extend for ease of assembly to the fighter.  When installed between the planes, they would adjust to the correct extension and angle.

 

Support structure

The support structure consisted of a main wood dowel with two cross dowels passing through.  The ends of the cross dowels were supported by wood balls with flats on the bottom.  The three holes for the aircraft support rods were then drilled into the main dowel after setting the planes directly on the main dowel and marking the correct locations.  The goal was to have the boom extension at half throw to allow easy assembly while still remaining stable when on display. All drilling had to be set up on a drill press to ensure that they were all parallel and perpendicular to each other as needed.  The vertical support rods were then trimmed to ensure that the correct relative height between the two aircraft was maintained.

 

The final touches, done by Howard, included a wood base, white batting to represent clouds (and hide the support structure) and a Plexiglas enclosure to protect the diorama.

 

 

The report from the reunion was that the diorama was well received.  This was a challenging project, but it satisfied several of my modeling goals, stretched my skills a bit and provided an accurate depiction of an event that occurred forty-six years ago.