CH-53 Sikorsky by mtaylor - 1:48 - Revell - FINISHED

[CDW]

I've noticed with some Tamiya flat colors, they turn out extremely flat...too flat. They need some gloss clear mixed in as a binder to bring some gloss to it.

[lmagna]

Another thing that came to mind, (Feeble as it is any more) is that at least in the case of our blades, they were not really all that flat in color at least not when new. They were really a kind of satin black when new and kind of went dark gray/black with age and developed a gray/silver lead edge where the paint was worn entirely. We also painted one blade white on top so that it was easier to see from another helicopter flying in close formation. 

[HIPEXEC]

On 1/20/2020 at 3:40 PM, mtaylor said:

This guy was a work of art.  He'd inspect (at random even if not on as OD) the guys on perimeter. Write them up for dirty uniforms or dusty rifles.   I actually had to carry my M-16 on guard duty instead of my "prefered" weapon.  CO told me just take the M1 with me and stash it in the bunker because he was tired of seeing guys getting written up.

 

This OIC actually hounded people he didn't like.  On lad was overweight and he was first target.  Eventually getting him kicked out on a General Discharge.  Others.... any reason at all to write someone up.

 

My final act of nastiness occurred while turning the rotors under power while trouble shooting a funky gyro problem.  The bird suddenly shot straight up about 20 feet before I could kill the autopilot.  On the ground, I climbed out the cockpit, and he's standing there holding a gyro in hand yelling "I found your problem stupid... the gyro is loose".  I didnt'say a work, I threw a wrench and hit in the forehead.  Then walked out side, sat on the ground and had cigarette waiting for the MP's.  They showed up in the morning and took me to the Colonel's office. He fined me $10 and told me not to do it again.  As for the Captain.... he had a royal asschewing that was heard well out into the hanger.

 

Uh... no.  

Ah yes.  Anyone who flew a 53 or is flying them have probably seen that video.  He won a Navy Cross as I recall.  Semper Fi, my brother.

 

Yes. Bob Guay won the Navy Cross with our squadron in 1966.

[mtaylor]

It's new paint, Lou.   Maybe I just didn't stir it enough as Denis pointed out.  I'll fix it, either repaint or apply some clear "flat" to it.  

 

No gloss wanted CDW.  I'm using all flats from Model Master.  

 

Thanks Rich.  That confirms what I thought.  He did love to fly apparently.

 

 

On the build side, I'm painting away while waiting for the .50's to come in.  

 

[lmagna]

I thought  you had ordered the .50s from France, but I also thought that was what you received the other day and were unhappy with. What did you order that when it arrived you were unhappy with the purchase?

[mtaylor]

What came in from France was the first set of guns I ordered... wrong scale and missing parts. <sigh>  The correct scaled ones will be on their way but things have been messed up due to postal strikes and also getting shipments from the supplier in the Ukraine.  They've told me they will credit my account on the ones I received missing the parts.   I just need to figure out what to with a 1:72   .50 cal MG.   Put it on Belle Poule maybe? 

[lmagna]

I suspect that if the Belle Poule had been fitted with a couple of .50s and enough ammo she would have been unbeatable in her time!

 

They are a little expensive but you could have these by next week:

 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Verlinden-1-48-M2-Browning-50-Caliber-Heavy-Machine-Gun-4-pieces-Resin-2259/170589175368?hash=item27b7e83e48:g:Y-0AAOSwRLZT-n~5:sc:USPSFirstClass!98201!US!-1

 

 

[mtaylor]

No rush, Lou.  I will keep those in mind though if there's any more problems.    

 

I've had second thought.... I'll mount the good 1/72 .50 on my 1854 Constellation.  I think the Marines on board would appreciate it.

[Old Collingwood]

.50cal   1/72 scale  .....anyone building a B17  I wonder.

 

OC.

[lmagna]

14 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

I'll mount the good 1/72 .50 on my 1854 Constellation.  I think the Marines on board would appreciate it.

Can you imagine the chaos and terror even one .50 would have done back then?

[popeye the sailor]

throw a Gatling gun their way and they would be the angel of death  

[mtaylor]

At one point, there was discussion of putting mini-guns on the 53's... They never did though.  Pity, that would have been a blast to fire.  Saw Puff or maybe Spooky(?) working out several times around the Marble Mountain...  just long red strip headed to the ground.  When you consider that tracers were 1 out of 5.. there was a lot of hurt headed someones way.

[lmagna]

I saw the same thing with Puff's. We were close enough to not only see the solid red lines, (Almost no visible spaces) but to see the impact area TOTALLY disappear in a cloud of dust. I think the 53 would have been a great mini-gun platform. I wonder what they would have called it, Rotary Death? 

Edited January 23, 2020 by lmagna

[Canute]

Saw an AC-130 Specter gunship doing his thing one night. 20mm, 37mm(I think) and a 105 mm for good measure. Charley would be hurtin', for certain. And we threw some CBU cans on top of all that. Wasting trucks on the Trail on Laos. The  gunship would mark the target with a call for the 20mm of sparkle and boy did it.

[Old Collingwood]

1 minute ago, Canute said:

Saw an AC-130 Specter gunship doing his thing one night. 20mm, 37mm(I think) and a 105 mm for good measure. Charley would be hurtin', for certain. And we threw some CBU cans on top of all that. Wasting trucks on the Trail on Laos. The  gunship would mark the target with a call for the 20mm of sparkle and boy did it.

Those Ghostriders  were some planes.

 

OC.

[Canute]

Yes, OC. I'm sure the ground forces feel better when they have some of them for night cover. And maybe a few A-10 Hogs around during the day. 😀

[mtaylor]

One of my "fun" memories.   We had a 53 call in saying they were setting down with a chip light problem.  This can mean metal in the main gear box which is very bad.  So the Office of Day starts calling departments to get mechs, toolkits, a quantity of lubricant for the tranny, a hydraulic's guy and an electricial type in case it's wiring.  They're getting the 53 loaded up and trying to find out where they were.  They did and suddenly there were about 100 guys lining up to "go help".   The aircraft set down in a large field at a nudist camp.   To everyone's dismay, the refired her up, got the head spinning, and the light went out.  (If had been a chip, it would have remained attached to the chip detector as the detector has a strong magnet in it.).  They made it back to base and everything checked out after doing tests and changing lube. Needless to say, there were bunch of very disappointed lads who didn't get to go.

 

Moving slowly... have some painting and assembly done.  Photo below.  The close up tells me I need to do a touch up and also do better.

 

[CDW]

Looks like a CH-53 office to me. 🙂

Great start, Mark. 

I always find my photos are a buzz kill because photos have a way of showing little details I don't see with the naked eye. A good way to "proof" your work.

I like the story, did the guys know it was a nudist camp ahead of time? We once had to do a job at a nudist camp here in Florida, and I gotta tell you, most of the folk at the camp were people I would never ever want to see in the nude again. Almost gave me nightmares for weeks afterward.

[Old Collingwood]

15 minutes ago, CDW said:

Looks like a CH-53 office to me. 🙂

Great start, Mark. 

I always find my photos are a buzz kill because photos have a way of showing little details I don't see with the naked eye. A good way to "proof" your work.

I like the story, did the guys know it was a nudist camp ahead of time? We once had to do a job at a nudist camp here in Florida, and I gotta tell you, most of the folk at the camp were people I would never ever want to see in the nude again. Almost gave me nightmares for weeks afterward.

Hey!   I take a bath in the nude😝    not a  nice sight,    mark   the first coat of paint down is  not a worry  good thing about paint  easy to  touch it up - and  I believe if you use a really high power  magnifier to build/paint with,  when viewed at normal distance  you will find it will look superb,   as  Craig  said above  cameras  are terrible for exposing  tiny things.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

Thanks CDW. No one knew until there was a communication to find out where they were.  We had the "rescue bird" ready to go and then it was like "where are they?".   As I understood it, that after landing a few members of the facility came up to the aircraft and told them. 

 

Funny thing, OC.  I didn't see the problems until I saw the photo.   Give that this area will be a bit buried, I'm going to use it to practice touching up.

[Old Collingwood]

Tell you what mark  - cockpits in model heli's  you can basically  add what you want  to super detail them  - like  fuse wire  for  wiring runs, odds and sods of boxes  anything really   just adds to the  sense that its a one off  even if it is hidden.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

True.   When I was looking for the guns (which will be here on the 10th) I was amazed at what detailing parts, etc. were available.  I could spent easily $200 or more.  I do understand what you're saying.   For now, I'm just going to plod along and see where things lead.  My sinuses are finally clearing and if I can get a couple of nice days outside, I'll be jumping back on Belle Poule.

[lmagna]

Nice to see the pictures of your progress Mark. You already have the opinion and suggestions of two of our better painters so I don't have much of value to add except that I hope when ! get to my First Class compartment I can do as well. I hope I can as mine will be much more exposed, in the bigger scale.

 

I'm with CDW. My ex father-in-law's house overlooked a beach in Santa Cruz California. In the mid 70s the beach at the bottom of the cliff went topless optional. He kept a pair of binoculars at the window but like Craig, all I ever saw were people who you wished would put their tops back on! Remind me to tell you about a call I went on years later though, it was a whole nother matter! Especially for my partner!

[Moab]

Wow! This was a long, long time ago in a place far, far away. Thanx for everyones service...Moab

[src]

Mark, Nice progress and good to hear your sinuses are clearing up.

15 hours ago, mtaylor said:

To everyone's dismay, the refired her up, got the head spinning, and the light went out.  (If had been a chip, it would have remained attached to the chip detector as the detector has a strong magnet in it.). 

HHHmmmm.... Any possibility this was a coincident? They "Just Happened" to have a light flash on just in time to land at a nudist camp??? I mean, a crew of lonely young testosterone laden men in or just out of there teens flying over a nudist camp? Seems like a fairly creative way to spend an hour or two. 😁😁

 

I was at work the other day and the subject of the blimp hangers came up - one of the guys parents live over that way. He mentioned they are so large they have their own weather system inside them??? Seems unlikely to me, do you know of or recall anything like that? It gets cold and misty in Orange County where these hangers are, perhaps its condensation forming on the steel and dripping he is referring to?

 

Sam

[John Allen]

11 hours ago, lmagna said:

Especially for my partner!

pm me on that one, will swap one with you

 

[CapnMac82]

Specs on the 53 are impressive.  Then, go check the "seven blade" (Echo) specs, almost a whole 'nuther bird.  IIRC gross take off weight is like 54K #

 

While waiting on a SpaceA flight, the USAF guys decided I needed to see one of their Spectres as it had 40mm Bofors installed.  And, that was cool, as they were ex-USN from the data plates.  The 105 howitzer fascinated me more at the time.  Particularly the part where they only have the one airman to serve the thing.

 

MSC brings back memories, on one ship I was bunked in with the DisbO (Disbursing Officer).  Among the other valuables he had signed for was a ridiculous quantity of scrip (especially since every one was paid on a GECU debit card).  For being a fancy bank teller, he sure spent a lot of time coming in and going out with a side arm and a couple of armed PO--it was probably not time to coincide with my precious rack time, it only seemed that way.

Life itsownself.

[lmagna]

8 hours ago, John Allen said:

pm me on that one, will swap one with you

Just shows how good of a story it was John. We were telling PD war stories by email back in November and about the third back and forth I included the Loud party complaint call that I am referring to. Looks like it made a more lasting impression on me than you. I will send it to you again and see if it rings a bell. You know this will kill the rest of my night. I type like a slug, unless I want it to look like tHisss an soUndd lik somthang my kid tiped. Well sometimes it probably still does!

[mtaylor]

20 hours ago, lmagna said:

Nice to see the pictures of your progress Mark. You already have the opinion and suggestions of two of our better painters so I don't have much of value to add except that I hope when ! get to my First Class compartment I can do as well. I hope I can as mine will be much more exposed, in the bigger scale.

 

I'm with CDW. My ex father-in-law's house overlooked a beach in Santa Cruz California. In the mid 70s the beach at the bottom of the cliff went topless optional. He kept a pair of binoculars at the window but like Craig, all I ever saw were people who you wished would put their tops back on! Remind me to tell you about a call I went on years later though, it was a whole nother matter! Especially for my partner!

 

Thanks Lou.  I'm sorting things out.  I have an eye appointment for new glass eyeballs next week so I've slowed things down a bit and anyway, I have to wait on the guns.

 

11 hours ago, Moab said:

Wow! This was a long, long time ago in a place far, far away. Thanx for everyones service...Moab

Indeed... in hindsight, it was different world maybe even a different universe.  

 

9 hours ago, src said:

Mark, Nice progress and good to hear your sinuses are clearing up.

HHHmmmm.... Any possibility this was a coincident? They "Just Happened" to have a light flash on just in time to land at a nudist camp??? I mean, a crew of lonely young testosterone laden men in or just out of there teens flying over a nudist camp? Seems like a fairly creative way to spend an hour or two. 😁😁

 

I was at work the other day and the subject of the blimp hangers came up - one of the guys parents live over that way. He mentioned they are so large they have their own weather system inside them??? Seems unlikely to me, do you know of or recall anything like that? It gets cold and misty in Orange County where these hangers are, perhaps its condensation forming on the steel and dripping he is referring to?

 

Sam

Sam, we had those warning lights come fairly often.  As I recall, Sikorsky replaced all the detectors and problem solved.

 

Actually the did.  Under the right conditions we actually had clouds inside them.

 

29 minutes ago, CapnMac82 said:

Specs on the 53 are impressive.  Then, go check the "seven blade" (Echo) specs, almost a whole 'nuther bird.  IIRC gross take off weight is like 54K #

 

While waiting on a SpaceA flight, the USAF guys decided I needed to see one of their Spectres as it had 40mm Bofors installed.  And, that was cool, as they were ex-USN from the data plates.  The 105 howitzer fascinated me more at the time.  Particularly the part where they only have the one airman to serve the thing.

 

MSC brings back memories, on one ship I was bunked in with the DisbO (Disbursing Officer).  Among the other valuables he had signed for was a ridiculous quantity of scrip (especially since every one was paid on a GECU debit card).  For being a fancy bank teller, he sure spent a lot of time coming in and going out with a side arm and a couple of armed PO--it was probably not time to coincide with my precious rack time, it only seemed that way.

Life itsownself.

Ah... the E-model and beyond.  They have 3 engines instead of 2 adding the extra blade provided more lift. They are a different critter.   There's currently a new model of the 53 in development but haven't seen the specs on it.   That will run something $23 Million per bird.  It is supposed to be somewhat bigger but I don't know the details.

 

Yes, the gunships are really impressive.  My era was Puff and Spooky but the C-130 based is amazing.   There's a video out there where one is doing the "Angle of Death" by firing all it's flares at once.    Here's an image of it: 

 

No comment on the disbursing lad.  We were paid in cash in the 60's and he was armed with a .45 and had 2 guards with him with M-14's and .45s.  

[lmagna]

29 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

We were paid in cash in the 60's and he was armed with a .45 and had 2 guards with him with M-14's and .45s.

I always thought that was funny. Every payday the duty officer and guards would s how up with the pay, (In cash as Mark says even though "Cash" was military funny money, MPC.) The funny part was that we were a closed community and everyone knew everyone else at least by sight and besides we were probably better armed than they were. I was almost always armed with my .45 and many times was carrying the M-16 we carried clipped to the rear bulkhead. Almost all of the crews carried at least a personal sidearm. Some had knives as well. I would have had a knife also but I could never find a marine who would trade his K-Bar to me.