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WildBill50

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Everything posted by WildBill50

  1. Thanks Gil. It is quite the "can opener". Oh, the possibilities.
  2. Thanks Mark. Making this was fun. I have never attempted a "what if" project before. I tried to keep it in the realm of a possible reality. Using parts from an AC-130 for weapons, scratchbuilding the 105 and flir turret from other bits and pieces, this was just a blast (get it). I checked some things out with a friend who was a crew chief on a B-52 just to be semi-correct in my thinking. I could just imagine something like this roaming up and down the trails and waterways of Viet Nam, being on call. With a 5,000 mile range (it was a strategic bomber after all) it could apply its trade anywhere it was needed in a relativly short time. Truly "Have gun, will travel". I think I just got my nosegear art! Thanks again for looking.
  3. Hello all, Well, the standard B-35 is no more. After being retired to the bone yard after years of service, they were brought back to service as a flying test bed for truck hunting, hamlet security and firebase support. The Air Force wanted a gunship to supplement the AC-47. While trying different aircraft, they settled on the C-130 and C-119. These aircraft were equipped with various sensors and weapons and became symbolic of the gunship concept. What was not talked about though is the "bigger/better" concept. I bring you the "AB-35A(H) Banshee". This proof of concept vehicle brought about a host of concepts under the guise of one aircraft. Use of a larger aircraft was a natural progression in gunship philosophy. The B-35 was a natural in this idea. With 6 turrets and a bomb bay, there was plenty of room for conversion and experimentation. First the .50 cal machine guns were deleted and in place of them were as follows: upper turrets...20 mm gatling gun and a single .20mm gun on each. Lower turrets...each has a single 40mm bofers cannon. The lower center turret has been installed with a 105mm howitzer. The upper turret was fixed in place and is used for electronics, with a small antennae suite on top. A combination FLIR/LLLTV/AVQ-19 Laser target designator was also mounted under the aircraft in a aerodynamic fairing with a ball turret in front. All of these weapons are deployed on the other gunship types but only on the port side of of the aircraft. This was standard pylon turn saturation coverage of a target. With the AB-35A, this could still be used but with a difference. With turret mounted weapons an aircraft could bring to bear its weapons to the front of the aircraft, which would be devastating for flying down a major flow point of material. It could be used like the B-25's in an anti-shipping role also. All sensor operators are in their war room in the former bomb bays of the aircraft. Alas, these concepts were a little ahead of their time. The B-35 proved the concepts, but not in one package with too many movable parts. Taken apart they worked well. Time has a way of fixing things and this is true for this concept. Pieces were taken and mounted on the AC-130 and are still there today. Here are the pictures of this proof of concept vehicle, the AB-35A (Heavy).
  4. Rob, Here are a few shots of the Sea Shadaow. BTW..the real one was for sale if you might be interested. Just saying.
  5. I use MM Acryl's almost exclusively. I put a few drops of flow enhancer into my color cup and that keeps the drying on the tip in check. I use MM Acrylic thinner for thinning (who knew!). When I finish up I clean out the brush with a couple of jars of tap water and then a final cleaning with lacquer thinner. Bright and shiny needle and innards are the result. Bill
  6. Sweet!!! One of my favorite builds. I've got another one to build; Desert Storm. The Harm's look very cool. Nice job. Bill
  7. Thank you one and all for the info on these kits.
  8. She also has these two from the series to build. 1/1000 scale Yamato.
  9. Italeri's GR1 Tornado with too much resin to count. Wing flaps, fin correction, seats, interior, JP-233's, exhausts and wheels bt Paragon. Nothing like a $12.00 kit turning into an $80.oo kit. The other kit is the ESCI kit with some exhausts and a new bang seat. I added the overwing sidewinders also.
  10. My daughter is working on this as I toil on my projects. She has gotten this together so far and is starting to paint it up. We can't remember what the TV show in Japan was. Anyway, she saw one of these built at a local contest and wanted to get one to build. Luckily one of our members had one that he was willing to part with. Thanks Bob.
  11. THIS PLANE HAS BEATEN ME! This being said, I can say that it's OK. By beating me, I mean I just could not get a good natural metal finish on it. I tried MM metalizers, Krylon nickel colored spray paint, MM Aluminum and Chrome paint and finally foil. All for naught. I have therefore decided to change my initial "what if" paint scheme of the 92ND Bomb Group. I have decided to make this into an AB-35A gunship. I will be adding updated weapons, LowLight, FLIR and some ECM equipment. This was a concept ship for truck busting along the HOCHI MIN trail early in the Viet Nam war. If the B-35 was in the inventory before the war and the US was using different concepts ak..AC-47, AC-119 or AC-130, the a bigger might be better concept could have taken place. More details as they become available. There are spies everywhere. Meanwhile, here are some pics of the new paint scheme. Standard SIOP upper colors using MM SAC Bomber green and tan and Darrk green 34079. The bottom is Gloss Black to hide its shape in the dark.
  12. Here are the pictures of the intake adjustments I've made. I added a wedge to the splitter plate to bring it to a more vertical position. I used Aves Epoxy sculpt to fill in the areas inside the intakes that were enlarged. It came out really well. I used a wet finger to smooth out the epoxy and finished up with some fine sandpaper. I painted the intakes white and you can't see the seams. Now all I have is the canopy to put on and then the camo can go on. Question for anyone...The new canopy is vac-form. Should this just be "FUTURE'd" or should/can it be polished out. There are some swirls in it but it is really clear. I don't want ot wreck it by sanding it and then having it still with the swirls in it. as it looks like they go all the way through the plastic. It can still be used as is if you don't really look too close. Here are some pictures of the intakes. Thanks for looking.
  13. Gotta love Israeli cammo. Looks good. Nice build also. Bill
  14. Well, the wings are attached, the fuselage is sanded and sealed up and the keel has been rescribed. It looks pretty good so far. I was masking off all of the camera windows and started noticing some things about the intakes. On the kit, the intakes have a slight angle to them that slants back a few degrees. On the three view drawing that I have, the intake is 90 degrees to the centerline. What to do, what to do? Leave them alone and start painting, that what. I wish! It was bothering me a lot. The splitter plate has a rake to that also. Here is what I am doing: First I ran a line down the splitter plate from the top to the bottom of the intake. I then cut the splitter off on that line and added a piece of plastic to bring the splitter plate more vertical as on the early Voodoos compared to the "B" model. After that was corrected I added a thin piece of plastic stock and wrapped it over the intake and glued it down to get that 90 degree offset of the leading edge. Now all I have to do is add some putty to beef uf the interior of the intake. I can sand down the exterior to make it look like a panel line. Pictures to follow soon. I could of been well on my way to having this thing painted without doing this extra work. Oh well, it looks better now. Now I won't have to hear the "experts" tell me what is wrong with this aspect of the kit.
  15. NICE!!!! How much time a day are you working on this thing if I may ask? You get more stuff done in a day even with all of the scratchbuilding than I can building a "regular model". Great job. Bill
  16. Page 46...bottom picture.
  17. Hi Richard, In the "F-3 Demon in Action" book, it states it is from the cooling air exhaust vent. Hope that helps. Bill
  18. Hey Duke, I thought the Modeling Gods took you so the rest of us could sort of catch up. Glad to see you were just helping the handicap on the ratio of all of our builds to yours. How do you like that Valiant? V-Bombers are the bomb... Bill
  19. Hi Randy, Thanks for the comments on the B-70. I have that vac-form kit also in the stash. Mine came with metal gear and engine exhausts. I remember seeing your completed build in FSM. That looked really nice; wasn't it with an X-1 in the picture? I agree with you in that the B-70 was the nicest looking aircraft to fly. It looks good on the ground and it looks like it's going 2,000 mph while on static display. Now a foot-note in the B-52 replacement catagory. Again, thanks for the comments. Bill
  20. Looking good, nice detail. Being not much of a scratch builder, I admire the work put in to this. Pictures truly are worth a thousand words...keep them coming. It gives me ideas on how to do some things. This got me thinking about an orientation ride I had on one of these when I was in the Civil Air Patrol back in the day. Took off out of Glenview NAS and attacked subs in Lake Michigan for a few hours and then came back and shot approaches for a few more. Not alot to see as there aren't many windows. After awhile we all couldn't wait to land. Still was a pretty cool time overall. Bill
  21. Never thought about cutting them off. After having to trap the nose gear inside the well, that is even more of a problem of keeping it safe.
  22. Hello all, Another update...I have the wings sanded and the intakes finished up, they just need to be repainted. I put together a pretty nice looking camera bay for what will be seen. I used some plactic tubing for the focal lenses with a MV lens for the aperture. I placed these on a 1/32nd scale F-104 radar package from a Hasegawa kit that was glued together side by side. I looks like a couple of different cameras stacked next to each other when painted up. It fit into the nose section of the Voodoo perfectly with the lenses being able to be seen through the bay windows. I added a bulkhead just ahead of the nosewheel bay and closed up the fuselage. Adding all of the "glass" for the camera bays was easierr than I thought it would be. I had to trim here and there to get a decent fit and then used some super glue and putty to finish up the seam work. So far so good. I also cleaned up the rear keel and have to detail it a little better. The cockpit was added and it fit really well also. The wing/lower fuselage will be added as soon as the seamwork gets completed on the upper fuselage. So far the only damage was a spilt bottle of paint (of course it was full). Thanks for looking. Bill Here are my "in action" photos:
  23. Hi Rob, I built that kit years ago. It's pretty cool looking when finished. The decals stink though, as they are all dots. I used PollyS "dust" for a wash to look like dried salt water. If it wasn't for the decals; pretty nice. Overall fir OK, some putty needed on the bottom seams. Bill
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