rjones726

Jennings, Thanks for reposting your drawing. I am planning a SAAF F-51 during Korea. I have a lot of info to sift through on wing appearance. While it may not be 100% accurate it is close enough to get me started. I can tweak it as I see fit during my build and that's what is important to me. v/r, Rob

Jennings, Did your hospital cancel elective surgeries? My wife is an RN who has worked in the OR for 30 years. They halted everything but urgent and emergency surgery. She was given a choice of working the wards or the ER. She took the ER and is in the parking lot screening patients. She can't wait to get back to the "easy" 10 hour shifts in the OR

Way to take one for the team John. Well done. P.S. I'm going to try to get the new sprue to make my build a bit easier to do v/r, Rob

I am 100% certain that if/when Tamiya decides to release another 1/32 aircraft it will be.... molded in light grey plastic

Miss Marunouchi in all her glory. Typical load outs included HVAR rockets and either a pair of 500 lb bombs or napalm depending on the type of target. Four plane section often went out with 2 of each. As to the anti glare panel to my eye it could be either OD or black. I'm thinking I'll go with black. The spinner is orange and appears to match the tail flash and the springbok on the roundel. That'll be fun to mix. Getting ready to head out for a weekend getaway of tubing, tennis and cycling with my bride of 31 years. I'll get a WIP put together and posted next week. v/r, Rob Rob

Hi John, I have a set from a Tamiya Corsair. They will require some work to get them to fit but it shouldn't be too tough. As far as the anti glare color I think in general you are correct but I'll need to check the available photos and decide...that's a ways down the road. v/r, Rob

Hi Mike, This is exactly the "look" I am hoping to achieve. "Wanda" in particular, is a beautiful example of a well-used Mustang. Thanks, Rob

Hi Nick, I've searched and read everything I could find on the internet on 2 San. I came across a group of photos (many in color) and one jumped out at me. It was a young African-American pilot standing beside his Mustang. At first I thought some knucklehead had put it in the wrong file but as I read more I discovered it was, as you said, Lt. Chappie James. While I appreciate the offer, I don't have a Silhouette and intend on using the AIMS decals provided by John. Thanks, Rob

I've pretty much decided to build it as an ANG Mustang that has been through "refurb" with stripped wings and black cockpit. The goal is a worn dirty "bomb truck" so I can have fun weathering to my hearts content. I'm horrible at photography but I'll get a WIP up soon. If nothing else it'll be good for a few laughs

Thanks for your comments Nick, They raise some interesting questions. Did the aircraft stored in Japan go through any type of depot upgrade/maintenance between the end of WWII and the time they were issued for Korea? If not they most likely had green cockpits and smooth wings. Same question for the ANG aircraft-what was done to them before/during the time they were issued for use by the Guard and reissued to the SAAF. As I said before- I'm sure the answer is...it depends The aircraft I want to model appears to have come from the states (I'm guessing an ANG unit as I found some info showing it was involved in an accident in Alabama between '45 and '50). As I said in my original post while I enjoy the research I don't want to let it keep me from building so I need to just decide on a finish and go for it. Film at 11... v/r, Rob

Nice photo Jari. I hadn't seen this one. The wing on the foremost aircraft certainly looks smooth to me. v/r, Rob

Inspired by John and several other builds I have seen lately of post war F-51's, I pulled a Tamiya P-51 D/K out of the stash and decided to build a SAAF 2 squadron F-51 -specifically "Miss Marunouchi". I contacted John to see if I could purchase the SAAF markings from his AIMS decal set and he graciously donated them-Thanks again John!!! From my research it appears many (not all) of the aircraft in this squadron came from ANG units including North and South Dakota, Utah and Texas. Some may have been pulled from reserves left over from WWII. My question for those more knowledgable is this: Would ANG aircraft still have puttied (smooth) wings and cockpit in interior green? I know some went through a depot refurbishment where the wings were (sometimes) stripped and cockpits painted black. None of the photos of SAAF F-51's I have seen clearly show the cockpit and I am unable to determine if the wings are smooth or not. I suspect that the answer will be that all of these combinations are possible and I'm good with that. My goal is not 100% accuracy because I don't really want to get bogged down in research (been there-done that) but to end up with a reasonably accurate representation of a bomb truck. Thanks, Rob

My 3 wishes: 1. A Jenny (Yes ,I know it's post-war) 2.Something French (Yes, I have heard of Copper State Models) 3.Something Italian ( Yes I know it's pretty esoteric)

Are you sure this is a re-release? They have (or had) a Hannover Cl. II but I think this may be a new (early) version. In any case it's a WNW kit so it's all good.

When dealing with a sequel, my motto is "Go in with low expectations and you won't be disappointed"