Grumman US-2 Tracker Walk Around Part II

Photographed by Don Gilman at Cavenaugh Flight Museum, Dallas

Part I here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2024/05/05/grumman-us-2-tracker-walk-around-part-i/

Women Warriors 269

Lt. Col. Riel Erickson, CF-18 Fighter pilot of ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE

Aviation pioneer Jackie Cochran was instrumental in founding both the ATA pilots and WASP. Seen here with her P-51B Mustang air racer after the war.

ww473_USArmy_in_Afghanistan — **US Army in Afghanistan**

ww473e_Gilboa M43Carbine — **Gilboa M43 Carbine**

ww274 — **Swedish soldier with Carl Gustav**

ww275 — **1LT Clancly Morrical, 36th Fighter Squadron F-16 pilot, Osan Korea**

WAVES Aviation Machinist Barbara Stroud, NAS Jacksonville

ww076AAMWS2 — **Australian Army Woman’s Medical Service**

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AMP Focke Achgelis Fa 223 Drache Build in 1/72 Scale Part I

This is the Focke Achgelis Fa 223 from AMP, a limited-run kit released in 2018. The type first flew in August 1940 but only about 20 were produced.

Parts are presented on a total of five sprues. Many of these parts are delicate and form the intricate latticework for the rotor supports and interior structural framing. Mold lines are prominent and there is some flash, so all these parts will need clean-up before they can be used.

Helicopters models are not the same as a conventional aircraft without wings. The few I have built are surprisingly delicate and tend to take up quite a bit more room than you would expect. This one does not appear to be any different.

The interior framing is delicate but the parts fit together well. The area behind the pilot’s seat is difficult to see on the finished model but the forward section will be visible. I have added wiring for the instruments and rudder pedals.

The kit provides a good representation of the radial engine which is buried in the fuselage. Very little of this can be seen at all on the finished model so I didn’t add any extra wiring or details.

The interior was painted RLM 66. PE seatbelts are from Eduard

Another view of the interior. The instrument panels are just drybrushed which looks fine through the canopy.

The engine with a coat of paint. If the engine wasn’t provided in the kit I likely would not have bothered adding one as it is difficult to find an angle where any of it can be glimpsed.

The forward and aft sections of the fuselage have a gap between them which is joined by exposed structural latticework. I was under no illusions that these delicate parts would survive handling so I replaced the kit parts with bronze rod and Evergreen to give it strength.

This is the forward fuselage section with the kit supplied canopy masks and PE screen. The canopy is composed of four pieces and is the fit is tricky. I had problems with the vinyl masks lifting on the curved surfaces so I used those pieces as templates to cut masks from Tamiya tape.

Picture of the Week 19

A Vickers Wellington photographed during a Press Day at RAF Watton in Norfolk, July 1941 by Robert Capa. This aircraft is particularly interesting as it appears the starboard wing is a replacement wearing a different camouflage, while the starboard engine nacelle looks to be the original. The port nacelle has been touched up as well. A unique modeling subject!

As an administrative aside, this is the 2,000th blog post!

The Chinese Kong Jiang-1 – The B-29 Superfortress AWACS

One of the stranger stories in aviation history is how the Boeing B-29 Superfortress became an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft – not for the USAF, but for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force.

For most of the Second Word War Japan and the Soviet Union were at peace. One of the stipulations of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact obliged the Soviets to intern American aircraft which landed Russian territory as a result of conducting combat missions against the Japanese. The Soviets honored the treaty to the letter, seizing three American B-29 Superfortresses and their crews which had diverted to the Soviet Union after various emergencies. This is the first Superfortress to divert, B-29-5-BW serial 42-6256 “Ramp Tramp” at Tsentralnaya-Uglovaya in July 1944.

In total three Superfortresses landed intact and one crashed. In addition to Ramp Tramp, B-29A-1-BN serial 42-93829 “Cait Paomat II” crashed, B-29-15-BW serial 42-6365 “General H.H. Arnold Special” landed on 11NOV44, and B-29-15-BW serial 42-6358 “Ding Hao!” landed on 21NOV44. All were based in China and diverted due to either combat damage or fuel exhaustion. The crews were interred, but later allowed to “escape” via Iran. The aircraft were not returned, but were studied by the Soviets. This is Ding Hao! In the markings of her new owners.

The B-29 was years ahead of anything the Soviets had on the drawing boards. Stalin directed that the Superfortress was to be reverse-engineered for Soviet production, a priority project second only to the development of atomic weapons. After a monumental effort the first Soviet Tupolev Tu-4 “Bull” made its first flight on 19MAY47. A total of 847 were produced in several versions and served into the 1960s. Pictured is one of fifty Tu-4K versions produced for the Soviet Navy with an AS-1 Kennel anti-ship missile under each wing.

In 1953 the Soviets transferred twenty-five Tu-4 to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force. The Chinese flew these aircraft in front-line units as bombers until 1978 and in reserve units for more than a decade later. In the early 1970s their Ash-73TK radial engines of 2,400 hp were replaced with Al-20M turboprops, each producing 4,250 hp. Pictured is one of the turboprop Bulls with a WuZhen-5 (WZ-5) recon drone under each wing. The similarity to the AQM-34N “Firebee” is not coincidental, the WZ-5 is a Chinese copy.

One airframe was converted to the Airborne Warning and Control System role by plant No. 5702, located in Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province. In addition to the turboprop engines, the aircraft featured a prominent circular radome for the prototype Type 843 radar. The bombay was converted into crew space for the radar operators and all defensive armament systems were removed.

The Kong Jiang-1 made its first flight on 10JUN71, and began a flight test program which eventually reached several hundred hours. Problems quickly became apparent. While the thrust of the engines was much greater, empty weight had increased by five tons and the new radome and other antennas had greatly increased drag. Excessive vibration was induced by both the engines and the radome, and the aircraft had problems with lateral stability. Adjustments to the engines and a redesign of the radome improved the situation but never totally eliminated the problems.

While the Type 843 radar was able to detect targets out to approximately 200 miles the Chinese were never able to solve the problem of differentiating low-flying aircraft in the radar’s ground clutter. This ultimately doomed the project and the Kong Jiang-1 never entered serial production.

A close-up of the Al-20M turboprop which produced 4,250 hp. The turboprop engines were a great deal longer and much narrower than the radials they replaced. The new engines projected 90 inches (2.3 meters) further forward, and the complexity of fairing them into the nacelles is apparent.

The Kong Jiang-1 was limited to a single prototype, but that airframe is preserved as an outdoor display at the China Aviation Museum near Beijing.

Fine Molds Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6/R6 of Oberleutnant Gerhard Stamp in 1/72 Scale

Gerhard Stamp was a successful Kampflieger, flying the Junkers Ju 88 with LG 1 in the Mediterranean. As a bomber pilot he flew over 300 missions. He was an anti-shipping expert, sinking the destroyer HMS Defender, damaging three British cruisers, and sinking 35,000 tons of merchant shipping.

As the German war situation deteriorated, Luftwaffe emphasis shifted to defending the Reich. Several bomber pilots were retrained on fighters. This did not sit well with Stamp. The symbol painted on the nose of Stamp’s Yellow 17 is the Luftwaffe Bomber Pilot Clasp, emphasizing that he still considered himself a Kampflieger.

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6/R2 of Oberleutnant Gerhard Stamp, III./JG 300, Oldenburg, Germany, September 1943

No Easy Day Audio Book Review

No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden

Written by Mark Owen, Narrated by Holter Graham

Audiobook, 6 hours and 50 minutes

Published by Penguin Audio, September 2012

Language: English

ASIN: B0095PEFYS

There are a number of books written by former Navy SEALs, with more being added regularly. I have read several myself but generally shy away from them now. While they are interesting they tend to follow similar formats and have become repetitive. Details are often sanitized (rightfully so) for security reasons, and there is debate as to whether some secretive missions should be revealed at all.

No Easy Day breaks several of these paradigms. First, the mission to eliminate Osama Bin Laden was truly of historical significance and it is therefore important to record the operation from a first-hand perspective. Second, the author has striven to protect operational security by not disclosing any means and methods not already released by political operators in Washington. The author’s name “Mark Owen” is a pseudonym and several other names and details are similarly altered. Lastly, the author does not focus on SEAL training (BUDS) at Coronado, which is a fixture of almost every book authored by a former SEAL. Instead, he details a few of the schools and screening processes SEALs face later in their careers, and a few other missions which he was a part of, including the Maersk Alabama hijacking and subsequent rescue of Captain Phillips.

Like most others, I was broadly familiar with the mission to get Bin Laden. “Owen” writes a great account of the operation, and does so with humility. In addition to the raid itself, the level of detail in the intelligence and training the team for the mission was fascinating, as was the return from the operation and handling of materials taken from Bin Laden’s compound. This book is somewhat different from other SEAL narratives, and well worth the read.

Grumman US-2 Tracker Walk Around Part I

Photographed by Don Gilman at Cavenaugh Flight Museum, Dallas

Part II here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2024/05/12/grumman-us-2-tracker-walk-around-part-ii/

Women Warriors 268

Quartermaster Seaman Verda Butler takes bearings with an alidade

LCOL Iulia Madan, Modovian UN in Central African Republic

ww469e_Lithuanian_Iron Wolf_Mechanized Brigade — **Lithuanian Iron Wolf Mechanized Brigade**

ww469g_RoyalNavyEngineeringOfficer — **Royal Navy Engineering Officer**

ww472_First_ATA_pilots_TigerMoth — **First ATA pilots with Tiger Moth**

ww272 — **WRENs moving submarine torpedo at Portsmouth, 29SEP43**

ww070 — **USAF F-16 pilot Major Wendy Hendrick**

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Bf 109G Comparison Build – Hasegawa, Fine Molds, Tamiya, Eduard Kits – Part III

Messerschmitts on a stick! Here is the batch all primed up and ready for paint. The five G-6s which are being compared in this build are to the right, the other five are earlier versions of the 109 that somehow managed to tag along. Priming is the last chance to catch any bad seams or panel lines. One thing I am always on the lookout for are stray mold seams, these can often be found along the trailing edges and tail surfaces. I also try to drill out any needed holes at this stage to avoid potential damage to the paint later.

Here are the five G-6s under paint, Fine Molds, Tamiya, Eduard, Eduard, and Hasegawa left to right. This photo illustrates one of the potential efficiencies of building in batches of similar subjects – all of these models are painted in variations of the Luftwaffe 74 / 75 / 76 scheme. The common pallet saves significant time in clean up and prep as each color can be applied to multiple models at the same time.

This is the Fine Molds kit with a field applied scheme of RLM 74 over black with subdued markings for night operations. Sources were not specific as to the gray used on the upper surfaces so I went with the darker of the standard grays, RLM 74. The markings were blacked out with Mr. Color Tire Black, which was also mixed with Flat Black to lighten the distemper paint.

This is the Tamiya 109 wearing the standard 74 / 75 / 76 colors with 02 blotches, one of the schemes provided on the Eduard decal sheet. The white tail markings were used by flight leaders as an aid in gathering formations together.

Another scheme intended for night operations, this is RLM 76 with RLM 74 bands and black undersides. The yellow “1” was simple enough to mask off with tape. There is a similar scheme as one of the marking options on the Eduard decal sheet, this one is another JG 300 machine but has the Red Reich Defense band.

The group after the conclusion of the decal-a-thon. Messerschmitts have a lot of stencils which makes this job tedious. These markings are all from either EagleCals or the Eduard kit sheet. I experimented with removing the film from the Eduard decals with low-tack masking tape. This worked but I did tear a few of the markings themselves, likely as the result of the gloss coat underneath failing to adhere. I don’t see a real advantage of Eduard’s new decal type over those from a quality manufacturer such as Cartograph.

The design of Eduard’s landing gear allows the building of the complete assembly before it is attached to the model. This is novel so I thought I’d give it a try.

Here is the entire batch completed, Hasegawa, Fine Molds and Tamiya in the back row with the two Eduard kits in front. All the kits received Albion tube for the R6 gun pack barrels and pitot tubes. Radio ariels are my go-to Nitenol wire. So how do they compare?

SUMMARY

The Hasegawa kit is now 30 years old and is beginning to show its age. Not that it was a bad kit for its time but it has been clearly surpassed by the newer tools. Like most Hasegawa kits the deficiencies are most apparent in the cockpit area and the wheelwells, both of which are minimalist and lack any detail. The outlets on the coolers on the undersides have been simplified and are best cut out and replaced. The nose is slightly undersized, as are the fuselage bulges for the gun breeches. On the plus side fit is good and the kit goes together without any issues. If you are not too picky this kit can make for a quick “pallet cleanser” or a practice kit for a beginning modeler, but it won’t stand up to scrutiny without some extra work.

The Fine Molds kit has been my Messerschmitt of choice for almost two decades now, and there are still a few lurking in the stash. With the exception of the later tall-tail variants just about all the major versions from the F-series on are provided for. Cockpit detail is shallow and most modelers will want to make some enhancements here as this will be visible even on closed canopy builds, thanks to the flat panels on the canopy. The canopy is molded as a single piece, so if you want to pose it open, get out the razor saw. You’ll also need the saw to drop the slats and flaps, this is time-consuming and is always a tedious part of the build for me. Build ‘em if you’ve got ‘em, but not the kit to get now if you’re buying new.

The Tamiya G-6 is an excellent kit and a joy to build, it is everything you’d expect a kit from Tamiya to be. Cockpit detail is excellent right out of the box and the canopy can be posed open to show it all off. The landing gear is well detailed and the engineering ensures proper alignment, the only issue with this is the gear must be installed during the major construction which risks breakage. I’m not put off by this but others might be. Looking at the sprues Tamiya does not appear to be planning any other versions, so the G-6 is all we’re likely to get from them. There are not a lot of options there either. There is a drop tank but none of the fairly common R6 wing gun packs, the packs on this build are spares from Eduard kits. My biggest disappointment with this kit is the need to cut out the slats and flaps, a rather surprising omission from an otherwise excellent effort.

The Eduard kits are the most detailed Messerschmitts in the scale and represent the best value – my Dual Combo pack was less than $30 from Hannants. The decal sheet provides fourteen options with stencils which is almost worth the price alone. Also included are canopy masks and PE frets. The kit itself has parts for just about any option you’d want as well as spares for the tiniest of the fiddly bits – a nice touch. There will be plenty of parts left over for the spares box! Surface textures are outstanding and feature finely engraved rivets. The biggest innovation is the kit comes with separate slats and flaps for the first time, no more cutting. You will have to pay close attention to the instructions to get the most out of this build, many of the parts options are similar and PE is always tricky to work with, but the result is a gem of a model. You could make the argument the Eduard kit is over-engineered, but the true Messerschmitt aficionado will appreciate the attention to detail and the plethora of options provided in the box. This is a more complicated build than the Tamiya kit, but the Eduard kits are the best detailed and the best value for the money.