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Hi everyone, Time for a new build. This is the Czech Models/Squadron T-33 Shooting Star kit I won in the LSP Christmas draw. I've always thought about building one as the Canadian version which was called the CT-133 Silver Star. They were licence built by Canadair at Downsview, ON which is now a national park. They were in service with Canada for over 50 years so there are a lot of paint schemes to choose from. Winning this in the draw just pushed it to the forefront. A view of the box contents: Some extras I picked up from Harold: The cockpit set Exhaust and MLG wheels which were a bonus item that Harold threw in. Thank you very much! For markings, I haven't made a final decision yet. I really wanted to do the Silver Shark version which was in a bluish grey with a shark mouth but no one makes decals for it in 1/32. Leading Edge did a couple of sets in natural metal and greys but they looked a bit dull. CanMilAir has a number of options but I don't know anything about them and well, the prices are up there. I'm leaning towards a Natural Metal finish which will be a first for me. So we'll see. Carl

Well, since it looks like I'll be able to finish the UH-1 in time, I've decided to start a kit that at least I have some familiarity with how it goes together. This will be my third Tamiya Phantom and my first D model. I plan to work on it during the down time while the UH-1 is drying or when I want something a little more painless. I will be building it as the London Int'l Airshow version as I was fortunate enough to see the plane in person. In addition to the Speedhunter decal sheet, I have Rhino intakes, GT Resin exhaust cans, Eduard bang seats and cockpit PE, and AMS splitter ramps and chin pod. Carl

Hi Folks! Well after thinking real hard (yes it did hurt!) I am getting ready to do another Aircraft for our group build. This will definitely be a challenge for me, and I will be using skills I have never used before. This one will take me until the end of December because I am going to take it nice and slow. From the research I have done so far on this kit there will be a " few" modifications I will need to tackle. This Kit is notoriously challenging to people who have built more then a few aircraft models in 1/32, but I have a great source of reference in you all and my own private model building tutor at the next bench over here at home, so I am going to bite the bullet ( or a case of them) and do it! I will be working with a LOT of resin, some of will need to be custom fit. I will work with a LOT of filler and putty, and I will be producing a model that will be in a bright multi-tone natural metal finish. Scared off yet? OK First some background on this model and its real world counterpart. A U.S. Air Force Lockheed RT-33A-1-LO Shooting Star (s/n 53-5347). This aircraft was used for 16 secret reconnaissance flights over Laos between 24 April and 10 May 1961 flown from Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, code-named "Project Field Goal". The RT-33 flights resumed sometime after May 1961, and ended on 7 November 1961. Following the partition of Vietnam in 1954, North Vietnam increased its support of not just the Viet Cong insurgency in the south but also provided support to the Pathet Lao insurgency in Laos. With the increase in activity of the Pathet Lao in the latter half of the 1950s, the Laotian government in Vientiane needed more information on the disposition and activities of the insurgents but the air arm of the nation lacked any sort of reconnaissance capability. As a result, the Vientiane government turned to the United States for assistance. At the time, the international commission (the ICC) that was overseeing the partition and planned reunification of Vietnam had strict rules about the activity of combat aircraft over Laos. So the first efforts consisted of a camera-equipped Douglas C-47 that was "assigned" to the US air attache in Saigon and Vientiane. As the C-47 flew between the two cities it was "assigned" to, it would fly over suspect Pathet Lao enclaves. This continued until February 1961 when the aircraft got shot down in the highlands in the northern part of Laos. As a result, President John F. Kennedy asked for more effective measures to be put in place to keep an eye on Pathet Lao activities. In April of that year, the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) asked for volunteers from the two McDonnell F-101 Voodoo squadrons in the area, the 15th TRS at Kadena AB and the 45th TRS at Misawa AB. The recon pilots had to have recent Lockheed T-33 experience. Two pilots, Captain Bob Caudry and Lieutenant Fred Muesegaes, volunteered and were flown to Clark AB, Philippines, the headquarters of PACAF, to begin briefings of their top secret mission code named "Operation Field Goal". Operation Field Goal was made up initially of the two Voodoo pilots, five enlisted men, a crew chielf, and an additional officer to command the operation. A single Lockheed RT-33 was assigned to the project. The RT-33 was a hybrid of the T-33 trainer with the camera nose of the RF-80 Shooting Star. With an uprated jet engine and an additional fuel tank in place of the rear seat, Operation Field Goal was then moved from Clark AB to RTAFB (Royal Thai Air Force Base) Udorn in the northern part of Thailand, a short hop from the Laotian capital of Vientiane. Udorn would later in the Vietnam War become and important USAF base that would become home to several F-4 Phantom squadrons, but in 1961, Udorn hadn't changed much from its days as a Japanese Army Air Force base in World War 2. The only navaid at Udorn was a low-powered radio beacon with a range of about 25 miles, and on arrival, the RT-33 had to buzz the main runway to drive water buffalo away. A Marine detachment provided fuel and also built a tent city at Udorn (the first US presence at this base aside from the irregular operations of CIA-run Air America). Both Caudry and Muesegaes developed their own procedures for operating the RT-33 from the primitive base, right down to their own approach procedures for use in bad weather. A US Military Advisory Group in Vientiane tasked the RT-33 missions and at the end of each flight, the film was flown by an Air America helicopter to Vientiane for development and analysis. The pilot on that mission often accompanied to film to assist the photo-interpreters. Captain Bob Caudry flew the first Operation Field Goal mission on 24 April 1961, first overflying the Plain of Jars at 20,000 feet before making a low level run at 200 feet of a major road in an insurgent-held area of Laos. A total of sixteen missions with good intelligence were flown until 10 May 1961 when the ICC demanded the flights over Laos stop. Given the primitive nature of the RTAFB Udorn at the time and the grueling nature of the recon missions, Operation Field Goal moved to Don Muang Airport in Bangkok with plans of resuming the missions from there once the ICC lifted its ban. The ban did get lifted finally on 9 October 1961 and the Field Goal missions resumed, this time flying from Bangkok northward to Laos. Upon return to Bangkok, the RT-33 was then flown by non-recon pilots to deliver the aircraft and its film to the photo-analysts who were no longer in Vientiane but moved to RTAFB Udorn. On 5 November 1961 the last Field Goal recon mission was flown and all subsequent reconnaissance missions were now assigned to a detachment of four McDonnell RF-101C Voodoos that were assigned to Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon under Operation Pipe Stem. Subsequent reconnaissance efforts were now flown by regular USAF units, but the work done with that RT-33 resulted in the RT-33 being marketed by Lockheed to foreign air forces needing an inexpensive jet reconnaissance capability. The Model : For the Model I am using the 1/32 Czech Model T-33, Squadron / True Details Recee Nose and Wheel bays, AMS Resin Cockpit and the Photo etch parts that come with the model. Alrighty then! Wish me luck, here I go!! Thanks for looking in. Teresa

Alright so some of you folks have been very non observant.. over two weeks ago I changed my airplane pic in my sig.. then last week I changed my personal pic to the 90thTFS "pair o dice" logo.. then Ernie did, and THEN some of you guys noticed... Well, here we are. So here is what we are doing! A brief background to the 90th in Vietnam: The Squadron we chose to represent in the Group Build is the 90th Tactical Fighter Squadron. The 90th Was Assigned to the 3rd Fighter Wing on 9 June 1964 and Flew the Hun from 9 June 64 to 19 November 1965 from Bien Hoa From 3 February though the 10th of May 1965 the unit was detached. From 3 February 66 through 31 Oct 1970 the unit flew from Bein Hoa and conducted the large proportion of its strike and interdiction work over South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Ernie and I will be doing a first ever Buddy Build in a Group Build of the same kit, same materials same squadron of the F-100 D Super Saber. Trumpy Kit, Aires Super Set , LOTS of AMS Parts, Quickboost Refueling probe ,Zacto nose, Master pPitot tube etc etc custom art/ masks decals. You guys kick back and relax.. we got this! Now that Ernie has gotten all but his IFR probe we can get going.. Wish us luck folks.. Paul

Well this little beauty showed up in the mail this morning a few days early (Thanks Jack!) From This kit I will be building a USAF A-1J From the 1st SOS NKP 1969 She will be marked using Zotz decals for Miss Eileen I have all the parts in the box to do the USAF modifications courtesy of Jack( again) so I'm all set. I'll decide later what else I'm going to put in and on the plane as far as A/M, I'm going to get a good ways into my A-4 build before I get this one going. All the best, Paul

Hi Folks! I'm back again with a product review for AMS Resins new 1/32 scale napalm bombs in resin and man are they detailed! The BLU 27B's were 750 lb fire bombs were filled with Napalm B and the BLU-32 was the 500lb version also filled with Napalm B. These could be carried by most of the fast movers and props in Vietnam and into the 80's and the models of them from AMS are perfect for just those kind of subjects. AMS has just released these weapons in the following versions: finned with end caps un-finned with end caps un-finned with no end caps. AMS Has previously released : The travel BLU-27 pods. Both the BLU-27 canister and the later purpose built pods without the filler caps. http://store.spruebr..._p/ams32075.htm http://store.spruebr..._p/ams32078.htm Harold has re-mastered the pods so that they are cast in one piece. They do have a larger casting block on the bottom, but after removing and cleaning them up, they look better painted. These are the new pods below. Now in most pictures of jet aircraft carrying these, they have end caps installed to make them the least drag producing and the plugs in the ends aren't visible. F-100's for example commonly flew them without fins but with end caps installed and this produced a tumbling delivery when released from the aircraft. In a lot of pictures you'll see of Skyraiders in particular, you will see they could be flown in any configuration as AMS have modeled them and they fill up the bottom of a huge model Skyraider wing nicely! The resin is super smooth and the welds and other details are very crisp and nicely done. Pour stubs to me were minimal and the parts fit well with very little extra sanding. I shot the painted samples with Krylon semi gloss black acrylic and then various shades of Allclad II. I think it took me about a half an hour to clean all three up, prep, paint and airbrush. Thank you to Harold at AMS Resin for providing all of us some accurately detailed armament to hang under our models! And thank you Harold for the review samples of these great new products! Paul

Well here we are. Just a while ago this GB was nothing more then an idea.. a dream. My first project will be Trumpeter's A-4F. I bought the following additions for it and plan to use them all. Aires Resin cockpit set AMS Resin Corrected Air Intakes Eduard Slats and Vortex generator parts CAM Decals for VA 212 I will most likely do my own landing gear bay details when I wire and plumb the landing gear on the scooter. I will also use Harold's New MK 82 snake eye bombs and Paul Fisher's Zuni Rockets. Here is the prerequisite first day shot, taken early this morning before I went to bed.5/1/2014 I am looking forward to watching all the great builds, and thank you all for joining in! Paul

A couple of weeks ago , Harold sent me a small box. In it were the parts I needed for my two current builds plus a pair of missiles he is going to release shortly. Some background on the missile, The Air Force deployed AIM-4 in May 1967 during the Vietnam War on the new F-4D Phantom II, which carried it on the inner wing pylons and was not wired to carry the AIM-9 Sidewinder. The missile's combat performance was very poor. The Falcon, already operational on Air Defense Command aircraft, was designed to be used against bombers, and its slow seeker cooling times (as much as six or seven seconds to obtain a lock on a target) rendered it largely ineffective against maneuvering fighters. Moreover, it could only be cooled once. Limited coolant supply meant that once cooled, the missile would expend its supply of liquid nitrogen in two minutes, rendering it useless on the rail. The missile also had a small warhead, and lacked proximity fusing. As a result, only five kills were scored, all with the AIM-4D version.(The Falcon was also experimentally fired by the F-102 Delta Dagger against ground targets at night using its infrared seeker.) The Model Missile, I found in the parts one main missile body, 4 sets of large fins and 4 sets of small fins, and the rocket motor exhaust section. All parts were cleanly cast in gray resin with excellent detail, especially the locating areas where the fins connect to the body. The fins are all attached to mold blocks that have been thoughtfully kept very thin and the parts separated very easily after one pass from a sharp # 11 Blade.I found very minimal warping despite the ultra thin parts and the ones that had a slight warp straightened back out nicely during the gluing process. I tacked the fins to the body with slow setting superglue and then made sure they were straight and aligned, then ran a tiny bead of ultra thin down the joins. Then I painted the Missile with a couple of coats of Tamiya Fine White Primer. And there ya have it! Harold's new Falcon Missiles will be released soon, price to be determined at this point. The launch rails are in the production process and I'm sure will be every bit as well engineered and detailed as the missiles themselves. Another Great Product from AMS Resin! Thanks Harold for the review sample. Paul