Category Archives: Kit Bashing

Painting & decaling a 1:1 scale M4 Sherman

The above World War Two photo is considered to depict the third In The Mood, a M4A1 76(w).  Note that the gun tube has no muzzle break.  The current restored In The Mood does.  Apparently all three In The Moods had extremely short lives.  There’s more info about the confusion over the various In The Mood M4s @ SSgt Lafayete Pool-“In The Mood”.

Despite bad luck with losing tanks, In The Mood’s tank commander, Lafayete Pool, is considered the U.S. Army’s tank ace of aces.

It took about 5-hundred hours and five volunteers, working from July to August 2019, to restore the current In The Mood.

Video of painting and decaling of restored In The Mood.  Note the use of the M60 AVLB to tow the Sherman out of the hanger. In the interview the volunteer refers to the engine as a “star engine”, another term for radial engine.  The volunteer mistakenly says the gun tube is 107.62mm, it’s actually 76.2mm (commonly stated as 76mm, known as 76w).

To see video of the moving of In The Mood from Belgium to Grafenwoehr, Germany, for its restoration, check out Vehicle I-D: M4 Sherman.

American Forces Network music video of restored In The Mood:

Vehicle I-D: Model T & White Motor Warriors

At the beginning of November 2019, the Illinois State Military Museum held its Great War Encampment event and two 1917 Ford Model Ts showed up.

The Ford Model T gun truck is owned by John Krug, he also brought his 1917 Model T Ambulance.

In May 2018, Oregon’s Military Museum held its 22nd Annual Living History Day and retired Reservist Jack Gieson drove down from neighboring Washington in his 1917 Model T ambulance.

https://youtu.be/2rBzyseQ-54

A standardized class B truck, or ‘Liberty Truck’, also made the Living History Day show.

According to the folks at the AMedD (Army Medical Department) Museum at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, during World War One the U.S. Army also bought two 1917 White Motor Company ambulances.   While they look similar to the Model Ts, they were smaller than the Ford ambulance. In 1917 they cost about $1,650 each.

I so far haven’t found any information as to why the White ambulance has a GMC radiator.  U.S. Army orders for White logistical vehicles, during World War One, made White the top producer of trucks in the United States, which was a burden since the company was new to truck building.  Immediately prior to WW-1 the White Motor Company began shifting from car production to truck production, but was only able to make the truck chassis, they had to contract with Riddle Coach and Hearse Company to make the bodies of the trucks.  It’s possible White was also outsourcing for powertrain parts.

The driver’s seat sits on the fuel tank.

World War Two FORD FIRETRUCK RETURNS TO SERVICE WITH THE U.S. Air Force!

Bare Metal: NASA’s MD-11 experimental, your taxes saving the ‘private sector’ airline industry

29AUG1995

Between August and November 1995, an experimental McDonnell Douglas MD-11 conducted landings under engine power only.

It happened at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, and it was the first time a transport aircraft landed with normal controls switched off.

It was part of a NASA project to develop a computer-assisted engine control system that enables a pilot to land a plane safely when its normal control surfaces fail.

The Propulsion-Controlled Aircraft (PCA) system uses standard autopilot controls already present in the cockpit, together with the new programming in the aircraft’s flight control computers.

The first PCA tests by NASA were carried out with a modified twin-engine F-15 Eagle research aircraft.  The F-15A was the second U.S. Air Force Eagle (71-0281), sent to work with NASA in 1976.

04FEB1976

BARE METAL: C-17 STRIPPED (with video)

 C-130 PAINT PREP, OR THE EMPEROR GETS SOME NEW CLOTHES

 B-1B & B-52H

Painting a P-51 with vinyl decals?

Photos by Fried Color Graphics and Samuel King Junior.

The Air Force Armament Museum (Near Eglin Air Force Base in Florida) recently repainted its TP-51 Mustang, for the first time in more than 30 years. But this time it was ‘painted’ with vinyl decals.

Photo via Fried Color Graphics, July 2019.

The idea is credited to iSpark and the 96th Test Wing innovation office.  Originally the museum’s director wanted to vinyl wrap an outdoor aircraft display’s painted canopy so it would look like glass.

Photo via Fried Color Graphics, July 2019.

Employees kept adding ideas concerning what could be wrapped until finally they asked ‘why not wrap the entire display’?  Vinyl wrapping is waterproof and is used on yachts, luxury vehicles,  racecars and advertising vehicles.

Photo via Fried Color Graphics, July 2019.

U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Junior, 28OCT2019.

Once the U.S. Air Force approved of the idea the problem was getting funding.  That’s when iSpark, which owns the Armstrong vinyl flooring maker, immediately funded the wrapping project.

Oh no, not another hanging chad! Photo via Fried Color Graphics, July 2019.

Another plus to wrapping the 1:1 scale Mustang was that the indoor display aircraft could be ‘painted’ where it sat.  It also took only one person (a local contractor) ten days (during July 2019) to wrap the Mustang in the colors of the Tuskegee Airman Mustang  flown by Charles Bailey (never mind that the museum’s Mustang is two seat TP-51, as indicated by the bigger canopy and second seat in the cockpit).

U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Junior, 28OCT2019.

Contractor Gary Householder said he could’ve gotten the wrap done in less than ten days but “Whenever I’m working on a wrap, people tend to like to watch. This time, they just thought I was a museum employee.”

Photo via Fried Color Graphics, July 2019.

The Air Force Armament Museum plans to wrap as many of its display aircraft as it can.

POKEY AIRPORT 2012 & 2014:

This plane has been around for a while. Bob Hoover began naming his P-51D airshow planes Ole Yeller starting in 1962. The FAA declared him physically unfit to fly in the 1990s. John Bagley of Rexburg, Idaho, is the current Ole Yeller owner/operator. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins, 02AUG2014.

P-51D MUSTANG, OLE YELLER FLIES ON IN IDAHO

Bare Metal: C-130 paint prep, or the Emperor gets some new clothes

Ohio Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Alexis Wade, 31JUL2019.

July 2019, Ohio National Guard C-130H2 gets new tail markings.

Video from 2018, Dobbins Air Reserve, Georgia, explains how they picked the nose art for their C-130s:

Wyoming National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Jimmy McGuire, 16NOV2017.

In November 2017, after Hurricane Maria laid waste to Puerto Rico’s Air National Guard base their C-130Es were sent to Wyoming to get some depot maintenance.  Yes, using a roller brush to apply primer paint.

Missouri Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Audrey Chappell, 12JUN2018.

June 2018, this C-130H is fresh from the paint shop, with its Cold War era camo, heading to its new home as permanent ‘gate-guard’ for Rosecrans Air National Guard Base, Missouri.

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Dana J. Cable, 26OCT2017.

October 2017, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, a vinyl decal is readied for use as the new tail flash for the 314th Airlift Wing’s C-130Js.

USAF photo by Greg L. Davis, 09FEB2017.

United States Marine Corps KC-130T sits at Oklahoma City (Tinker) Air Logistics Complex, waiting for new clothes, February 2017.

Oklahoma City Air Logistics video explainer:

USAF photo by Tommie Horton, 27JUL2015.

Masking the windows of a C-130 for painting, July 2015, at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, Georgia.

Warner Robins video explainer:

McChord Air Museum photo, 25NOV2014.

November 2014, McChord Air Museum, Washington, primer paints C-130 for static display.

McChord Air Museum photo, 10DEC2014.

McChord Air Museum photo, 08JAN2015.

It took two months but finally, in January 2015, McChord Air Museum’s Vietnam era C-130 is almost ready for display.

USAF photo by Danny Webb, 09OCT2013.

Sheppard AFB, Texas, October 2013.

BARE METAL: C-17 STRIPPED

BARE METAL BOMBERS: B-1B & B-52H

Bare Metal: C-17 Stripped

All jacked-up!

The following official USAF pics were taken at Warner Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 13NOV2019.

Thrust reverser doors waiting to be re-installed.

Video explaining the C-17 thrust reversers:

Those turbines are hungry.

New door hinges.

New leading edge slat seals.

Trailing edge panels.

Prepping for new fuel tank seals.

BARE METAL BOMBERS: B-1B & B-52H

Another A-10C with invasion stripes

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Hayden Legg, 03NOV2019.

An A-10C flying formation with a TF-51D Mustang at the Moody Air Force Base air show, 03NOV2019.

USAF photo by Airman Azaria E. Foster, 02NOV2019.

Formate-ing with an TF-51D and a F-22 Raptor.

The A-10C got its new stripes back in September (RETROGRADE AN A-10 INTO A P-51?).  Here’s a music video of how they did it:

 

The new invasion striped A-10C of the A-10 Demonstration Team takes first flight over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, 23SEP2019.

Idaho Air National Guard: 124TH MILITIA A-10 SHOOTIN’ & SCOOTIN’ THRU IDAHO NEVADA CALIFORNIA

Vehicle I-D: New F-16 Wraith! Night Fighter WW-2 style!

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Miranda A. Loera, 28OCT2019.

On 28OCT2019 the 64th Aggressor Squadron (Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada) revealed their new ‘Wraith’ paint-job for the F-16.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 16NOV2019.

The paint scheme resembles the late World War Two/Korean conflict U.S. night fighter paint-job; black with red markings.  However, in WW-2/Korea the black was glossy as U.S. Army Air Force studies revealed that amazingly glossy black actually was harder to see from the ground with search lights, than a flat/matte (‘nonspecular’ as it was called back then) black.  The new F-16 Wraith uses flat black.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 16NOV2019.

https://www.facebook.com/NellisAFB/videos/3030768496950918/?t=0

The commander of the 57th Wing crowdsourced the new livery to be applied to the 64th Aggressor Squadron’s F-16C.    But it’s not the first time an F-16 was painted black (New Black And Red Aggressor Paint Job).

USAF photo by Senior Airman Dylan Murakami, 08MAR2021.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Alexandre Montes, 17MAR2021.

NEW F-16 DIGITAL GHOST?

‘NEW’ F-16 VISTA

Oregon Mohawk flies again (sort of) & some other Mohawk news

OV means Operational View, and OV-1 sounds like Obi-Wan.  The OV-1 entered production in October 1959 and served in United States, Europe, Korea, Israel, VietNam, Central and South America, and during Desert Shield/Desert Storm in the Middle East. The Mohawk retired from U.S. service in September 1996. At least 133 OV-1Cs were built (sources vary, as many as 169?), the C designating the model which used an IR (InfaRed) imaging system in the nose.

Oregon National Guard’s Project 926, move the old tail number 926 OV-1C Mohawk ‘gate guard’ to a better location.

23OCT2019 was the culmination of three years of volunteer work by Oregon National Guard retirees who worked and flew the OV-1 Mohawk from 1972 to 1992.  Almost all of that three years was spent restoring the gate guard.

The new home of the 926 Mohawk is at Deibert Flight Facility, Army Aviation Support Facility.

The official dedication ceremony was held 02NOV2019.

Video of relocation operations called Project 926:

See more about Oregon National Guard’s long use of the Mohawk here (OV-1 Mohawks in Oregon).

The 02NOV2019 dedication for the new home of 926 came one day after a pilot was killed flying a Mohawk, while preparing for an air show in Florida.

Doctor Joe Masessa, of Mohawk Airshows, was killed when he lost control of the aircraft during a practice flight.  Updated news reports said the air show was forced to cancel all flights due to bad weather.

Mohawk Airshows flies the POW-MIA ‘flying monument’.

https://youtu.be/P8hAbpHAwj4

Somebody needs to make a decal sheet of the Flying Monument.

In the early 1980s, NASA created an automated stall-speed warning system for OV-1Cs.

From February 1983, a NASA-U.S. Army operated Grumman OV-1C over Edwards AFB.

U.S. Army-NASA OV-1C Mohawk, automated stall warning system tests @ Edwards AFB, July 1983.

Hasegawa’s now ancient 1:72 scale OV-1B (also issued by Frog in the early 1970s) can be easily modified to a C version by scratch-building the IR glass in the nose.

Roden’s 1:48 scale D boxing depicts the IR nosed Mohawk.  The D Mohawk is simply a consolidation of all the best upgrades from previous versions.  Oddly, Roden’s C boxing does not depict the IR nose, and the instructions even tell you not to use the IR nose part (which is included on the clear sprue of every Roden Mohawk kit).

Roden’s C version also does not come with the SLAR, but you still need to get it because it comes with fuselage mounted flare dispensers and ‘classified’ electronic recon under-wing pods.

‘Aftermarket’ companies produce a variety of detailing/correction sets for the Hasegawa and Roden kits: Eduard, Cobra Company and Black Dog.

OV-1 vs MiG-17: How the Mohawk became a MiG killer

MINI AIR TANKERS TAKE OFF IN NORTH CAROLINA