Egilman

That is a Korean War version which would be predominantly bare unpolished aluminum with stainless steel panels..... A very distinctive look..... I'm sure you will do it justice Dan.... I'm in.....

Hi Gary, yes that would definitely give a focal point and highlight the vehicle......... Chain hoists and pits were not the only way they lifted/ got under cars back then.... They had screw, air and hydraulic jacks.... For example.... Screw... Long reach hydraulic... And high lift bumper jacks both hydraulic and air... I've used all of them, of course the high lift bumper jack is no longer used on modern cars, (in fact no bumper jacks are used anymore) but in the '40's a shop would have had all of these in their equipment stash.... Screw jacks were folding and generally went on the tow truck or whatever vehicle they used for bringing in broken down vehicles.... They would fold into a small package..... I don't know if anyone makes a miniature of these, but it would add a bit of the old time feel to an auto shop....

My father went into the army in early '42, my aunt Alice took a job with Pratt & Whitney in late '42 at their Bridgeport, CT. plant assembling aircraft engines.... she eventually moved to their Waterbury CT. plant in '44... She was trained to assemble aircraft engines.... R-2600's to start eventually R-2800's... She passed in 2006 at 82... but not before retiring in '95 as a senior engine line supervisor, (assembling turbines) Not all of them lost their jobs to returning servicemen, some were good enough to have long careers after the war....

And the prodigal son returns.... Welcome back! Will be good to see this finished as well....

Probably late but Tamiya's Interior green is a couple of shades darker than MM's ZC green, absolutely accurate for an early birdcage F4U-1 or 1A corsair.... This is the basic early corrosion treatment and the colors used to about mid '43... (stolen from Large Scale Planes) From what I've gathered over many years for an F4U-1 and some Early -1"A" -"Salmon" ( with Indian red paste in the chromate base to achieve the shade color/tone)- on everything as a secondary primer coat in interior and exterior application. Fuselage, tail sections, outer wing panels, cowling interiors. This is excluded in... - Cockpit- dull dark green/interior green derivative of a Vought/Brewster/Goodyear application and variations based on paint stocks and manufacture at the time. Excluded are from "Salmon" are the tops/ bottoms of the wing center section, parts of forward fuselage, eg: accessory section covers and sometimes tail gear wheel bay, colors explained below. -"Yellow" zinc chromate primer- exterior of center wing section throughout production. At times the tail gear bay and engine accessory section depending on production block time frame saw "Yellow" zinc chromate in these areas. But later became standard on F4U-1"A" production. There's more to this but these are basics. Images illustrating this from the same source...... The images I believe are from an early corsair some sources say it was recovered from Lk Michigan and being restored up there and others say it is from an F4U-1 Corsair being restored in Pensacola FL... Video of a Corsair being restored in California.... So dark ZC Green on the cockpit, ZC yellow everywhere else that will show, open engine and fuselage panels pink salmon..... That's what they were.... Hope it helps....

Coming out very nice, the upcoming blending is going to really make it stand out.... Wear patterns over aluminum are difficult to reproduce in scale..... But I think I see where your going.... Excellent work Bob....

Well, skirts are cool, but I draw the line at wearing dresses....

You know the old sayin..... "Whatever floats your boat" {chuckle} She's a gorgeous lady whichever side it up..... Seriously she looks good, she sure passes the 4 foot rule for DIY hand builts I must say.... Much better than I would have done.... And, I'll hazard to say, If the top side comes out as well as the bottom did I would be proud to paddle her anywhere, anytime..... (sorry, I had to quote it, it was too good to pass up, now I'll go slinking back to my hole)

Oh now THAT will get the job done and look very good in the process.... Well done brother.....

Chris, Generally, it works like this... Allow 24 hours (or more) between coats for poly paints, unless specified by the product. Specifically, later coats may require 48 hours to cure before you can sand them again. As far as toughness/durability, it greatly depends on what formulation of paint your applying.... Here is a website that goes into that question for a variety of brands and types.... Practical Sailor Topside-Paint Endurance Test 3-Year Checkup..... Very interesting read.....

Suggestion Brother.... A strategic drop of canopy glue in an unseen place.... (personally I use Formula 560, probably cheaper on evilbay) If any pieces move, they are easily separated and re-positioned without damaging the paint or plastic, failing that, postage stamp thin pieces of bluetack will do the same thing.......

Whistling Death was the nickname given this aircraft by Japanese Marines, It was based upon their experience and admiration for the job this AC could do in an air-ground delivery role... (trust me, they REALLY understood) In my opinion one of the five best aircraft in the world coming out of WWII.... I'm in.... Hey Chris, GPM does a reasonable Corsair..... (not quite Halinski, but very close)

If it is an original craftsman built timber slab table from the 16-1800's I wouldn't worry about parking my semi on it... any built after that, I wouldn't take the chance..... Why, mechanical fasteners.... They allow you to build lighter with less select, thinner wood and hence a lot weaker... That table in the pic, has enough wood in it to make four modern tables.... Hence more profit for the table maker...

Sorry Brother, without more pics you can't even tell what they are much less where they go.... In the pics they look like picnic tables, but you have already ruled that out... Without more info I haven't a clue and submit there is no way to say....

If I remember it was a fabric tape over wax paper The Ketone would liquefy the wax which penetrated every thing and left the stains you see, it worked a lot like cosmoline once it dried, and left darkened paint especially on flat paint... They could wipe it off with gasoline, but that would damage the paint adhesion which would require a complete repaint.... They eventually realized that it was easier to use carriers to transport aircraft as they could be immediately used when delivered and it didn't change the time before repainting... So they ended the practice....

Yep the green is very well faded... then you also have that oily dirt staining reflecting in the sun, (traffic pattern, probably combined with some paint wear) It appears on all the aircraft in the pic... and the same oil staining along the horizontal stabilizer, (where they would push the aircraft on the ground when backing it up) Looks like you are a long ways to replicating the faded green paint, but that traffic and handling pattern is going to be a bear.... Very nice work....

Looks good Chris, just one question though... Doesn't Nationalists wing look about a scale foot shorter than White Tails? Or is it just the perspective of the pic making it appear that way?

Thanks Gary, I try to give some context to what I'm building, and it's the family here that really adds the great stuff..... Welcome to the thread and feel free to add anything you like.......

There are several variations as well.... "A Helicopter is 10,000 parts flying in loose formation around an oil leak" And another... "Helicopters don’t fly, they beat the air around it into submission" Amazing pieces of machinery......

Just in case you want to brother....I'm sending you two scaled drawings of the M-3 37mm..... In the correct 1/29th scale... And an image that shows how it was mounted.... In case you decide to do it, these have the proper images my friend... M3 37mm Gun 1-29 scale 1.tif M3 37mm Gun 1-29 scale 2-1.tif

Primary flight training, (actually physically learning how to fly a helicopter for the airforce once you become flight qualified) is still done by the Army at Ft Rucker to this day...

Simple math brother, Dumas says it is 33" long and 1/30th scale..... At an actual size of 960"and a scale size of 33" that makes it 1/29th scale, 1/32nd scale wouldn't look too out of place.... The M3 37mm is roughly 13ft long with trails, in 1/29th scale that is roughly five and three eights inch long, in 1/32nd scale it is four and seven eights inches long, 1/35th scale it is roughly four and a half inches long.... Barrel length is roughly 7 feet (6'11") x12 = 84" / 29 = 2.9" long; in 1/32 scale 84 / 32 = 2.625" long; in 1/35th scale 2.4" long.... 1/32nd would pass in a pinch, 1/35th is way too short to any one who understands, it would be obviously underscale.... If there isn't a 3D printer that has a scalable M3 then the only option is grab a 1/35 model (Bronco) and scratch one up at 15% larger.... Interesting but very doable challenge.....

All the services had their own training facilities, by far the Army's were the largest though..... One big difference in approach, US Airforce, Navy, (including Marine) and Coast Guard Helicopter pilots (initially trained thru the Navy) had to be academy graduated officers and fixed wing pilots first before they could qualify for helicopter school.... Navy policy ws that helicopter training was a post graduate aeronautical occupation not open to enlisted personnel..... The Army took a different tack, Helicopter pilots could be recruits straight out of boot camp and complete initial flight training as warrant officers.... Not needing a degree.....Then there is this... April 23, 1964–The Chief of Naval Operations broadened the opportunities for Naval Aviators to qualify as helicopter pilots by extending responsibilities for transition training to commands outside the Flight Training Command.... Two months later, the Airforce also went the same route and the Army accommodated them.... They opened up an officers training course at Ft Wolters for primary helicopter training.... Officers from other services could get their initial training along side Army officers then moving on to their respective advanced schools of helicopter training... The reason was simple, the need for butts in the seats created by the expanding Vietnam war. Navy and Airforce primary helicopter school is and always has been a transition training, taking fixed wing aviator officers and giving them a new skill..... Ft Wolters trained some of them, not all of them mind you, but a good share of them when existing in branch training facilities were working at capacity and unable to meet the need..... The Army had the capacity...... The first two Naval officers trained to fly helicopters were trained by Sikorsky's test pilot at their Bridgeport CT factory by their chief test pilot in 1943 flying the R4 Hoverfly.... the first Naval helicopter training facility was set up in Maryland and was primarily a research and development installation that also trained pilots.... Army usage of the Helicopter in Korea didn't start until mid '51 using H-13's... Before that the Airforce, Navy and Marines were using their WWII age H-6's not only for search and rescue but for air ambulance services...... When the Army came in big with helicopters in '51, they pretty much took over the air ambulance duties and allowed the Airforce and Navy to do the search and rescue. the Marines continued doing both services until their H-19's arrived when they started the process of heavy air transport and eventually vertical troop delivery..... Eventually, they were joined in this by the Army with their H-19's and between the two services working in tandem created the whole airmobile concept during the Korean war.... Several of their troop insertion operations during Korea were battalion level troop movements... Actions that set the the stage for what the US military was going to become ten years later in Vietnam..... The whole history of the development and usage of the military helicopter is very fascinating, and represents one of the first truly combined arms efforts of the US military... It required all of the services to take a role and develop it to an ability to interact with all the other services in concert..... It can be argued that the interoperability of or different military branches was a direct result of the need to get the helicopter into useful action as quickly as possible.... it definitely required inter-service cooperation.... It's a fascinating story......

Yeah they were along with Hiller H-23 Ravens's and Hughes H-55 Osages's as well as H-13 Sioux's out of Ft Wolters, that was the primary helicopter flight school for all military helicopter pilots in the late 50's to early 70's..... I have a video of what it took in '67 to become a military helicopter pilot..... Shows Primary at Ft Wolters and Advanced at Ft Rucker.... At one time, the three largest heliports in the world were 1. An Khe, Vietnam, 2. Ft Rucker, Alabama, and 3. Ft Wolters, Texas..... Over 15,000 Chopper pilots got their wings at Ft Wolters..... By the end of 1972 3/4ths of all helicopter pilots in the world came through Forts Wolters and Rucker...