P51D

Ash got me this a while back

Quite a tidy kit to build, though only comes with decals for the Italian version. I scrounged these from my spares, the little kangaroo decals are not authentic but I thought they'd look alright 

Armament is x2 50lb bombs, x6 3'' rockets + mgs

I marked and painted it for my Korean War aircraft collection, representing the Australian 77Sqd before they converted to Meteors in 1951

I'd like to get some more aircraft for the communist forces as well.

De Havilland Sea Venom

The last of my Korean War projects for now

Very tidy, well engineered kitset, no flash, no faults

Pilot is an Esci ground crew figure with the head off a sci-fi figure I found in my bits box, not the best but better than nothing

Base colours, sea grey with thin black shading

Locking in the tail section

Added missiles from the bits box

Working up the topside colours, deep sea blue, think black wash

These were actually operational by the late 1940s and eventually saw service with about ten different nations

They saw active service in multiple conflicts until withdrawn in the early 1960s

Much smaller compared to the US carrier based Panther.

The Bell Sioux

Well, from that family anyway. This is an old Italeri kit of the slightly later A47 variant.

The pilot is a heavily modified Esci figure from the NATO ground crew set

 

A few of the parts were broken but for the most part it went together well 

It came with machinegun options for quad .30s or twin M60s. I went with just a pair of .30s in the end. Including a crew figure pushed the bubble canopy out slightly, and I will patch this area with some green-stuff later

The air frame has a couple of different shades of green over a green/black base with some black details on the engine parts

  

The landing skids required major repairs

Mostly a recon and spotter unit for my Korean War collection but will also feature in other theatres and other eras. In service from the late 1940s and probably still in use somewhere; this aircraft was eventually adopted by over thirty nations.

Texan

Been doing some work on my Korean War collection lately...

The aircrew are cut down volunteers from one of the Airfix ground crew sets, they look okay from a distance

Research showed that during the early part of the conflict some of these were armed  with .30 machine guns front and rear, and/or light bombs. I kept my one unarmed pending further reading

I painted the air-frame a lot darker than the original

This may get some more attention at some stage, weapons and better looking crew but for now I'm happy with it the way it is

The decals went on okay, but the canopy painting is not my best work. Still, something different from other projects currently on the go.

Grumman F9F Panther

Another addition to my Korean War aircraft collection

Undercoated on sprue. I used my last remaining pilot figure, which was among a few that were sent to me from Portugal a few years ago

Holes drilled out to accommodate the ordinance. As with all my aircraft kits, modeled undercarriage down   

The colours are Vallejo, French Horizon Blue with several coats of a dark blue wash gradually added

The kit comes with a choice of decals, both from carrier aircraft dating from 1951. It also had a choice of bombs, rockets or a mixture of both, I went with bombs which research suggested was more common, this being primarily a fighter bomber

Even taking my time and using luke-warm water I still had problems with the decals, and tried to touch them up with paint where I could

This was an excellent kit to build, well engineered and zero flash; highly recommended.