Viking73

That’s pretty cool! Don’t worry, my wife says the same things about my ejection seats and flight helmets -Derek

Over 40,000 Vietnam-era pilots got their wings at Fort Wolters, near me here in Texas. Many in this bird (along with the OH-23). I am super excited about this kit! Any idea on a release date? Can’t say I’m familiar with AMP - how is their reputation? -Derek

This is going to be one cool diorama. I remember that picture of the P-40s ready for the smelter. Can't wait to see more progress! -Derek

Great pictures and a fantastic build so far! -Derek

Hi Brian, Looking good sir. Nothing a little putty won't take care of on those seams. I am still waiting on my seat belts to arrive. Looks like today finally...! I have been working on the wings, prop, and wheels in the meantime. How does the wing fit onto the fuselage? My initial plan is to leave them off until after painting to ease masking of the clear parts and cockpit. It would be great to install all that glass after painting. But - if the fit is horrible that might not work which would be a bummer. Keep going!! Looking forward to see more. -Derek

Hi Brian, Please - steal away! I hadn't really thought about the yellow around the windows honestly... I do need to think about that one. Looking forward to seeing your finished interior so you can tackle the engine, -Derek

Hi, I think it's about time for another update on this one. I've made some pretty good progress on the interior this week. Things started off simply with a coat of Model Master Interior Green and Model Master SAC Brown for the seats: While that was drying, I made up a first aid kit to mount behind the rear seat: Also, I scratched up some radios. I used some resin blocks I had laying around and added some old Reheat photo-etch generic instrument placards. They look pretty good under a coat of paint. Once the interior paint was dry, I gave it a good oil wash of Payne's Gray. I then started to add some details here and there with various bits of wire. Here is the left side of the fuselage: The map light was made by wrapping some wire over a small drill bit to get the coiled wire. The light itself is a small piece of scrap plastic. I have a couple more made up for the cabin but I don't think I'll install them until the final assembly. The right side: I made the "Data Case" decal on my inkjet printer using Testors clear decal paper. It's supposed to be in yellow but that didn't show up against the interior green very well so I settled for black letters. Here is the cockpit floor so far: And the rear seat with the first aid kit installed: I should be getting my seat belts in with my Hannants order sometime this week. I need to add the lap belts to the floor board, so I'll have to scratch up the mounting brackets for them. Once that is complete, I think I might be able to glue the fuselage halves together. Thanks for looking. -Derek

Looking great Brian! Glad to see the update. I need to do one on my build today as well. I'm not as far along as you, I seem to keep getting bogged down in the cockpit details Plus I'm still waiting on my seat belts, which should be here this week sometime. Your belts came out great btw! How are the window fitting? Too big as Ron pointed out? I'm not looking forward to that... As for that Thai AF O-1, I'll bet it is painted in standard USAF ADC Gray, same as USAF O-1s. Must be the lighting or film processing in that second photo making it look too blue. -Derek

These belts look good too but are a bit more expensive: http://www.ebay.com/itm/191733695498?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT -Derek

Hi Brian, Thanks for the kind words. Your interior is helping me plan mine and your work is inspiring my build. As for the seat belts, no there isn't a specific set for the O-1. Any set of U.S. seat belts will do. Here is what I have decided to order: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/HGW132015 They are some type of fabric which should be easier to work with than photo-etched belts which are tough to use IMHO. The only tricky part is how the belts are mounted in the O-1 cockpit. For one, the front seater's shoulder harness comes up through a triangular shaped bar that hangs from the ceiling. This part isn't in the kit of course so I'll have to scratch build that... I did get the interior and seats painted today. I hope to have another update soon. -Derek

Good Morning, This will be my WIP Thread for the new Roden O-1 Bird Dog kit. I'm going to use the beautiful new AOA Decals for this build. I wasn't sure what scheme I wanted to finish my Bird Dog in so I had to decide which sheet to order first. I thought about a VNAF Bird Dog and while I'm still not 100% sure but I did narrow it down to a gray USAF machine. I'm also going to use Airscale Decals to dress up the IP: I don't have a whole lot done yet to show you all, but here's where I'm at now. I started with the kit IP since I was dying to use the Airscale Decals for the first time. Going by the walk around photos here and also the IP shot in the Squadron "In Action" book (see page 33) I decided to go with an overall gray panel with some interior green bits. This make sense to me because the "F" and "G" models were rebuilt/modified "A" and "D" airframes. So I shot some paint and the panel and broke out the small tipped brush and toothpicks for the instrument bezels. I was a bit worried that the 1/32 Airscale Decals would be too big. Luckily, they worked out just fine. They really make the IP pop for sure! I was very happy with the way it turned out. I also used some 1/72 decals for the decal stash/dungeon to fill out the rest of the panel details. Next up, I'm assembling some of the basic cockpit parts in preparation for the interior green paint: My control forward stick was broken on the sprue <sigh> so I'll have to glue it back together once I've cleaned it up: I've also started some work on the engine, trying to be careful of the mounts per Ron's notes. My intake was short shot so I'll have to do something about this: That's about where I'm at now. I'm going to paint the seats and also shoot some interior green today on the rest of the cockpit once it warms up a bit. I'm planning what details I'm going to add to the interior now as well. At minimal, I want to add the radio gear and compass in the front windscreen. Also the cockpit lights and some wiring. I'm not sure what if anything I'll do with regard to the interior padding. I might not do anything. I did orders some nice looking seat belts from an outfit in Hong King from eBay. However, it's been almost a month now and I haven't received them so I am thinking about ordering another set of belts from Hannants... I am really hoping that I can leave the wings off and paint the fuselage and wings separately and then add the wings once everything is done. That would make detailing the cockpit and masking off the clear parts so much easier! Not sure if this is possible but I'm sure going to try it. Thanks for looking at my progress so far. More soon, I promise. -Derek

Looking great Brian! Thanks for the updates, keep them coming. Really nice job on the radio equipment and wiring. Those Airscale Instruments do bring the IP to life don't they?! Thanks too for the notes Ron. I'm about to start my own WIP in a few minutes although I don't have much to show yet. -Derek

Hi Brian, Any updates on this one? I started mine this afternoon. I was disappointed to see that a couple of my engine parts were apparently short shot - both side of my engine intake for one - ugh... I'll have to build that up with sheet plastic as best I can. I hope I got the angles of the engine supports right! Perhaps I should start my own WIP so we can compare notes. -Derek

That's good info Ron, thanks. Are you talking about part numbers 12D and 9D in step 9? -Derek

Wonderful! I have this kit too (along with the AOA Decals) and I'm going to try and start it as soon as I clear a few things off the bench. Needless to say, I'll be watching your build closely! Are you planning on adding any details to the cockpit? -Derek

That's strange. I just ordered the first sheet (USAF options) and had no problems. -Derek

Merry Christmas everyone! My Bird Dog kit arrived yesterday. It looks very nice indeed as others have said. The cockpit seems a bit spartan (especially compared to the reference photos link in this thread) but other than that, I am very pleased with how this looks in the box. Once my 1/32 Airscale instruments arrive, I can let you know how they fit the panel. I don't know, looking at the kit panel now, I think I should have gotten the 1/48 scale set. I hope I'm wrong! -Derek

Hi Chuck, I went with the WWII USAAF Instrument Dials as I feel they are the closest to what the O-1 would have. Hopefully they will be the correct size to fit the bezels on the kit panel. As for the belts, I'm sure any US ones will work. I choose these on EBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kamizukuri-1-32-feeling-parts-US-Standard-Aircraft-Model-Seat-Belt-x2-FP-30-/141588768015?hash=item20f759250f:g:2AQAAOSw9mFWILBE I've never seen these before but they look pretty good to me. -Derek

I just bought one of these kits on EBay along with some Airscale instruments and a set of seat belts. Should be all set now to build this. Just waiting on the AOA Decals. First I need to figure out if I want to do a VNAF or USAF machine! -Derek

This book has some good O-1 and O-2 stuff in it, mostly in black and white : https://www.amazon.com/Cessna-Warbirds-Detailed-Personal-Involvement/dp/1879825252/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480595721&sr=1-1&keywords=cessna+warbirds -Derek

Thanks for all the kind words gents. I really appreciate it. William - the chaff and jamming pod were nicely done. Great work. You are right, you don't see them on many T-33 builds in any scale. Kevin - if you think it's good enough, please feel free to publish it. -Derek

Good news Carl, I was starting to worry about you! Can't wait to see it done. -Derek

Hi Guys, This one is finally all done and off the bench. This kit fought me at every step of the build, perhaps the worst fitting model kit I've ever attempted/finished as I know some others have stated here! Even the canopy didn't fit in the closed position very well despite all my grinding and sanding. I really need a break with a something a bit easier now. I was glad to add the wonderful Fox 3 resin stuff to correct the items that Czech Model forgot or ignored. About the last thing I added to the kit was the fuel dump "saber drain" on the rear of the right side of the fuselage. It's not included in the kit either of course. I think the excellent AMS Resin under wing stores and Master Details pilot figures add a lot of interest to the build. All in all, I'm happy to add this to my collection as my first completed 1/32 kit. I won't be my last! I have the KH F-86D and Revell (Q)F-4G in the stash now. Thanks for looking everyone, I really enjoyed doing my a WIP thread here. -Derek

This one is finally done! I'll post some more pics in the "Ready For Inspection" forum right now. -Derek

Hi Guys, Well another long gap between my last update but this builds continues. I've come too far to not finish this one! I had to go out of town again for work for a week this month so that put things on hold for a bit. When I got back, I did get some paint on my T-33: As I stated earlier in my thread, I do love Model Master Aircraft Gray enamel paint. Always lays down nice and smooth. I let her dry for a few days and then sprayed on a nice coat of Future. After the Future cured for 24 hours, it was time to start my favorite part - the decals! I used the nice kit decals for the stencils and other common markings, including the national insignia. They well down very well with the Micro System. The wonderful Caracal Decals provided the Texas ANG markings. Here is a shot after a few days worth of work: Once the decals were done, I sprayed another coat of Future on to seal them. I then glued on the tip tanks and removed the tissue from the cockpit. The small, delicate details were added to the cockpit at this. I glued on the oxygen hoses, added the stick to the rear cockpit, and also added the canopy breakers which I cut from pieces of scrap sheet stryene and painted black. I can really see the light at the end of the tunnel now! I am finishing up the underwing stores and also some other small details. My main goal now is the finish the base that I need to mount my T-Bird on. I hope to get that done this week sometime. More photos soon, she is almost done. -Derek