Quad-City
Scale Modeler Society’s
September 2007
Newsletter
The August meeting was held at the
The Dates:
September 8: Chapter Meeting
September 15: IPMS/Gateway; Gateway to the West Invitational; First Baptist Church of Harvester, 4075 Hwy. 94 South, St. Charles, MO; contact Chris Merseal at CRM@InlInk.com
October 13: Chapter Meeting. SGM Dan Bowman will be our guest speaker
November 10: Chapter Meeting – at the Butch O’Hare show
November 10: IPMS/”Butch”
O’Hare; 25th Annual Open Model Contest and Swap Meet;
December 8: Chapter Meeting. Christmas party and annual “What If? Contest. The $20 challenge will also be held. Bring in the completed kit you bought for $20 from Ed and get your money back.
I have not heard much at all about the National convention, but here are the special IPMS awards:
Regional Coordinator of the year – Don Kehrer, for outstanding leadership to Region 10 and IPMS/USA.
Newsletter of the year – Spare Parts,
edited by Mark Elder of IPMS /
A little humor submitted by Paddy Mcgannon:
When NASA was preparing for the Apollo Project, it took the
astronauts to a Navajo reservation in
suits doing?"
One of the astronauts said that they were practicing for a trip to the moon.
When his son relayed this comment the Navajo elder got all excited and asked if
it would be possible to give to the astronauts a message to deliver to the
moon. Recognizing a promotional opportunity when he saw one,
a NASA official accompanying the astronauts said, "Why certainly!"
and told an underling to get a tape recorder. The Navajo elder's comments into the microphone
were brief. The NASA official asked the son if he would translate what his
father had said. The son listened to the recording and laughed uproariously.
But he refused to translate. So the NASA people took the tape to a nearby
Navajo village and played it for other members of the tribe. They too laughed
long and loudly, but also refused to translate the elder's message to the moon.
An official government translator was summoned. After he finally stopped
laughing, the translator relayed the message:
"WATCH OUT FOR THESE ASSHOLES -- THEY HAVE COME TO STEAL YOUR LAND."
Congratulations
and thanks to Tom Meyer, on retiring from the Air Force. Tom submitted the message below:
A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national
guard or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a
blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an
amount of "up to and including my life." That is Honor, and there are way too many
people in this country who no longer understand it.
-- Author Unknown
Diary of a scratch build project. Part II, June 2007 -- August 2007.
By Bob Hortob, IPMS Quad Cities
The Revell/Monogram Peterbuilt 359 kit conversion/build is progressing slowly. The main portions of the conversion has been completed and what remains is finish assembly; some minor detailing; painting the chassis and installation of the engine, hood and cab unit. The cab is going to be a little dicey as there is a good deal of chrome work attached. For the moment, then, I want to leave that aspect of the project and return in time to about late January or early February when the initial work on the layout of the trialing units was also begun. Before we get into the nitty gritty details of building this huge load carrying trailing unit it might be well to discuss the full size rigs a bit. We have all seen the rather large single unit flat bed trailers on the road. They can vary in size and design details but basically are single units behind the tractor. They usually have two or sometimes three sets of rear dual wheels. In our local area we see them traveling thru with large pieces of construction machinery or farm implements. There are strict laws, from state to state, governing the dimensions of the load and amount of weight allowed on each axle. When this is exceeded the only answer is to add more axles. With the largest units consisting of multiple “jeep” units and overall length sometimes exceeding 100 feet it is necessary that these units must be steerable. To this end, also, these large trailers are designed to be coupled up to distribute this additional weight. I had only been able to personally examine the original unit that came into our plant. Very recently I have been able to check out, locally, five other units traveling the I-80 interstate. One thing becomes obvious very quickly….no two units are exactly alike. In fact, in one case, I was able to examine and photograph two units together from the same trucking company. These two units were hauling two loads exactly alike and even these units had many features quite different. I mentioned in the beginning of Part One that I was initially working with very little information concerning the details of the several sections making up the load carrying portions of the trailing units. I had acquired a few additional pictures that were loaned to me by one of the people still at our plant. These additional pictures didn’t help much in the initial layout of these trailer but they did help in filling in details later. The pictures I have are two 3” x 5” color prints of the total length of this rig which in real life spanned about 100 feet from front bumper to the rearmost point of the last trailing unit. My first steps were to calculate what the enlargement value was going to have to be to bring portions of these 3” x 5” photos up to full model 1/25th scale. Most of the sections were going to have to be “blown up” somewhere around 500% plus or minus. Part of the problem was the fact that these two pictures were taken at a bit of an angle. For example, the tractor in the left foreground was going to be slightly larger then the very tail end of the rig on the right side of the picture. The only measurement I could use as a standard measurement was the known diameter of the tractor’s and trailer’s wheels with a standard tire diameter of 40”- 41”. I began by enlarging sections of the picture to the maximum the scanner would take, and processing about three or four separate sections of the photo. I then would go back to each of those sections and calculate what it would take to do the second and third enlargement to bring the wheels in that sectional picture up to a scale 40” diameter. (I had to deal with the fact that in both of my reference pictures there was a little bit of a vanishing point effect- that dimensions in one side of the picture was different then the portion that fell away into the distance.) This was done to the left hand portion of the first picture and repeated for the right hand portion of picture number two. Eventually after three or four enlargements of each section I was then able to literally paste up a composite picture of the total rig in 1/25th scale. It made for a rather patch work quilt looking assembly of sheets of paper but it worked. If you have ever seen some of the aerial photo recon pictures from WW II that were assembled from many recon shots, you get an idea of what I had crudely assembled. It was close enough to allow me to then reconstruct what the side frames of these several sections of trailers would look like. Most of the sections of these articulated truck trailers were going to be something over a foot long. I could not have even considered fabricating these sections using the standard sheet sizes of Evergreen stock. Luckily some years ago I had purchased several 3 foot by 5 foot sheets of varying thickness styrene. When I arrived at what would be the side elevations of each section of the trailer I trimmed out blank rectangles out of .020” thick styrene sheet. For the first two trailers “A” & “B” and the last two trailers, “D-1 – D-2” & “E” two side girders each would be all that was needed. When it came to laying out the center section load carrier deck, “C”, it appeared that there would have to be at least five or six girders running the length of the deck and a total of 4 girders for the two “gooseneck sections. I also arrived at a figure that seemed to work for what would be the overall width of these wheeled dolly trailers. I should add that I had temporarily laminated thicknesses of the rectangles needed for a given girder so that duplicate pieces were made at the same time. These side girders would then be exact duplicates but in addition to that, these girders had rows of square holes cut in them to create a little lighter structure while maintaining strength. (at the conclusion of assembly of all of these girders and the cross members separating them I calculated that I had made 998 square holes. I knew that the trailer girder widths would have to be about the same as the truck chassis frame to allow them to lay inside their wheel suspension and brake units. I had also measured the width overall of the load deck from comparison pieces of full size equipment found around the Quad Cities area. This would fall somewhere about 96’’ to 100” wide. This doesn’t mean that an oversize load could be no wider then 100”, simply that the carrier trailer deck unit isn’t usually any wider. Another point should be added. These trailers had many girder-like I beam cross piece braces spaced down the length of the side girders. These cross members in almost all cases also were perforated with these geometrical lightening holes. One final consideration was that down the lengths of these girder frames there would have to be places where additional holes were cut along the edges for passage of brake control tubing lines; electrical wiring bundles and control lines and hydraulic pressure tubing going to the steering cylinders and platform raise/lower leveling cylinders. For modeling purposes, these hole locations would have to be determined after the rough assembly of these trailers was completed. Layout of the frame sides proceeded to be plotted on heavy shelf paper. When it seemed that the spacing of the individual trailer frames would clear one another, the patterns were transferred onto the laminated pieces of styrene. For the individual trailers it was sufficient to just laminate two styrene rectangles each. (Only two sides to the girders.) The lamination was accomplished using a coating of rubber contact cement. We wanted to be able to separate these pieces after the shaping process was done. For the load carrying deck, I laminated six rectangular pieces and laid out the pattern. I later found that it would work out better to actually only use five girders on the load deck. I then laid out the pattern of square holes in each section and cut out the overall pattern and then proceeded to drill pilot holes and file out the square pattern. This was accomplished at the speed of smell. It was a long and tedious process but gave a really authentic look to the trailers when assembled. I assembled each trailer with the installation of the “I beam” shaped cross bearers. It is amazing how much strength some flimsy sheets of plastic can take on. It really tends to prove the concept of the strength in the heavy hauling capability of the full sized trailers. Be aware that in tackling a project like this, you have to be prepared for the possibility that you might possibly miscalculate layouts by translating and interpreting some photo angles incorrectly. I ran into several of these little glitches and you have to figure that this just comes with the territory. In one instance I was under the impression that the heavy wood planking that covered the load carrier deck ran from side to side as in a railroad flatcar. Not so in oversize truck carriers. It runs parallel to the length wise spaces between the load carrying girder’s framework. This was an easy one. I just ended up, thanks to member/friend Ron Franck, with a little extra wood. The second miscue caused a good deal more work then the planking error. I miscalculated the layout of the front trailer, “A”, the one that attaches to the fifth wheel of the tractor unit. The gooseneck area was made too short. Upon completion I could see that attaching the kingpin to the tractor’s fifth wheel plate would not allow the trailer to swing around the rear of the semi tractor chassis without hitting the truck frame. Back to the drawing board to build a completely new slightly lengthened trailer. Time passes and the trailers are assembled and clearances dry fitted between sections of trailers. In real life these trailers must be able to pivot around the fifth wheels or king pins to allow this long “train” to “articulate” in and out of rather tight spaces. One small trailer “D-1” had yet to be designed and built. In the full size trailer lineup this is a rather small 2 axle dolly trailer that follows directly behind the load deck and connects via hydraulic cylinders to the following trailer “D-2”. This small dolly unit is controlled and swiveled by way of horizontal hydraulic steering cylinders. In use, this small trailer is locked directly to the load carrying deck, “C” by way of a solid strut. This insures that the following units stay locked in line and don’t tend to wobble. But when the equipment arrives at the destination, there must be a way to steer and position the complete unit in and out of tight places. So the entire rear section is unlocked and allowed to steer independently of the front sections. These drivers are amazing as to what kind of tight spots they can maneuver into. There is a lot of detailed work to add to these trailers and we will cover that aspect in the next edition of the “Diary.” I would like to include here a few of the website locations that I have found to be very useful in the search for details concerning truck modeling in general and this project in particular.
www.truckpaper.com A huge want ad website for full sized trucks. Go here and go to your specific make and type of truck.
www.stsmodeltrucks.com Spaulding Trading & Shipping. Model trucks and parts.
www.timstrucks.com A web page of a master truck modeler with comments on conversions.
www.modelcarsmag.com/forum a huge model car-truck forum site.
www.griffendesigns.com/pages/3208.htm A model trucks parts site.
www.plasticcowboy.com/tmc/ A private collector/builders site…lot of good reference info. www.kitformservices.com/ A British model parts and supplies dealer…good stuff.
www.truckinfo.net/trucking/ Commercial full size trucks…for special equipment of interest.
Last but not least is the IPMS Special Interest Group truck website: Doc225@ msn.com
Doc Wiseman maintains the site…no periodical “publications” but just chat in and out. Doc has a lot of information and is very helpful.
Research Resources
by Ed Mate, courtesy IPMS Will-Cook newsletter
Modeling Korean War
Aces F-86 Sabres – Part 1
I’ve been collecting books and decals on this subject for a while now, so I prepared this article to share some information about where to find reference photos, profiles and 1/48 decals (sorry, I only build in 1/48 scale) of your favorite Korean War Ace’s F-86 Sabre. To keep track of what I’m doing, this list is in order of victories tallied.
Captain Joseph D. McConnel, Jr. 39th FIS, 16 total victories. Being the highest scoring ace, information about Capt. McConnel, Jr. is widespread. Here is information on his Sabres: F-86E s/n 51-12753 Beautious Butch FU-753. Photos can be found in Mig Alley (p. 77), Korean War Aces (p.74), and The Korean Air War (p. 173). I have never seen decals for this aircraft. F-86F-15 s/n 51-12971 Beautious Butch FU-971. This is very interesting. There is a color photo in F-86 Sabre Aces of the 51st FIW (p.44) which shows that the photos in Korean War Aces (p.74) and The Korean Air War (p. 173) are cropped versions of this photo and are mis-captioned as FU-753! It is now perfectly clear to me why I could never find the leading edge slats in the Mig Alley (p. 77) photo. I have never seen decals for this aircraft. F-86F-1 s/n 51-12910 Beautious Butch FU-910. Profiles can be found in Mig Alley (p. 45), F-86 Sabre Aces of the 51st FIW (p. 56) and Korean War Aces (p. 53) and photos in Mig Alley (p. 77), Korean War Aces (p. 74), and F-86 Sabre Aces of the 51st FIW (p. 78). Decals are on SuperScale sheet 48-52 and Aeromaster 48-448. F-86F-1 s/n 51-12910 Beauteous Butch II FU-910. This is the same aircraft repainted for Public Relations purposes – note name misspelling! Profiles can be found in Korean War Aces (p. 53) and F-86 Sabre Aces of the 51st FIW (p. 57) and photos in Mig Alley (p. 45), Air War Over Korea (p. 50), Sabre in Color (p. 28), and F-86 Sabre Aces of the 51st FIW (p. 79). Decals are on SuperScale sheet 48-52, 48-102, and Aeromaster 48-449A.
Major James Jabara 334th FIS, 15 total victories. I have information on 4 of his Sabres:
F-86A-5 s/n 48-0259 FU-259. Profile can be found in Korean War Aces (p. 45). A photo is in 4th FIW in the Korean War (p. 55). I haven’t found 1/48 decals. F-86A s/n 49-1318 FU-318. Jabara was flying
this aircraft on
F-86A s/n 49-1319 FU-319. Photos in 4th FIW in the Korean War (p. 56, 57 & 58) indicate that this is the aircraft Jabara used to down his 5th and 6th Migs. F-86F-30 s/n 52-4513 FU-513. Profile can be found in Mig Alley (p. 48). Photos can be found in Mig Alley (p. 72) and Frontline Color #6 (p. 122), but from the angle, it is very hard to tell if it really is this aircraft or the following subject aircraft. Decals can be found in the ESCI F-86E Sabre kit (#4093). One can get the squadron badge decal on Aeromaster 48-448.
F-86F-30 s/n 52-4519 FU-519. A photo can be found in 4th FIW in the Korean War (p. 184 & 186).
Captain Manuel "Pete" J. Fernandez 334th FIS, 14½ total victories. Here is information on 2 of his Sabres:
F-86E s/n 51-2830 FU-830. Photos can be found in Mig Alley (p. 74), and 4th FIW in the Korean War (p. 177). I haven’t found 1/48 decals.
F-86F s/n 51-2857 FU-857. Profiles can be found in Mig Alley (p. 41) and Korean War Aces (p. 45), and photos can be found in Mig Alley (p. 41, 67 & 74), Air War over Korea (p. 52), F-86 Walkaround (p. 22 & 79), and 4th FIW in the Korean War (p. 180). I haven’t found 1/48 decals. One can get the squadron badge decal on Aeromaster 48-448.
Major George A. Davis 334th FIS, 14 total victories. I haven’t found any information on his Sabre, what information I’ve found shows him in Dick Creighton’s Sabre:
F-86A-5 s/n 49-1225 FU-225. Profile can be found in Korean War Aces (p. 48). Photos can be found in Mig Alley (p. 26) and 4th FIW in the Korean War (p. 98, 99, 101, & 104). I haven’t found 1/48 decals.
Colonel Royal "King" N. Baker 335th FIS, 13 total victories. I have found information on only one Sabre:
F-86E s/n 51-2822 Angel Face & The Babes FU-822. Profiles can be found in Mig Alley (p. 41) and Korean War Aces (p. 48). Photos can be found in Mig Alley (p. 73), Korean War Aces (p. 67), Sabre in Color (p. 6), 4th FIW in the Korean War (p. 181). Decals are on Aeromaster 48-449A.
Selected References:
F-86 Sabre Walk Around (Walk Around Number 21) by Larry Davis, Squadron/Signal Publications 2000
F-86 Sabre in Action (1033) by Larry Davis, Squadron/Signal Publications 1978
F-86 Sabre in Color (6502) by Larry Davis, Squadron/Signal Publications 1981
Air War Over
Mig Alley (6020) by Larry Davis, Squadron/Signal Publications 1978
Korean War Aces,
Aircraft of the Aces #4 by Robert Dorr,
F-86 Sabre Aces of the 51st Fighter Wing, Aircraft of the Aces #70 by Warren Thompson, Osprey Publishing 2006
F-86 Sabres of the 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing, Osprey Frontline Colour #6 by Warren Thompson, Osprey Publishing 2002
The Korean Air War by Robert Dorr and Warren Thompson, Motorbooks International 1994
The 4th Fighter Wing in the Korean War by Larry Davis, Schiffer Publishing 2001
Mike Valentine sent this in, a listing of upcoming episodes
of Dogfights on the History Channel:
Season TWO
KAMIKAZE
Imperial Japan, desperate to prop up their rapidly collapsing empire, sent
poorly trained volunteer pilots in suicide attacks against American naval
targets. This wasn't the only time pilots used the plane itself as a weapon.
German, Russian, and even US ramming tactics will be
explored.
JET VS. JET
In the skies over North Korea F86s slug it out with communist MiG-15s.
American pilots are in pursuit of a previously unknown glory...the title of jet
ace.
THUNDERBOLT
The P-47 Thunderbolt, or Jug as it was known distinguished itself as one
of the most lethal dogfighters of World War II- a classic warbird
best remembered for its size, ruggedness, and reputation for protecting the
pilot.
DOGFIGHTS OF THE HOLY LAND
The innovative, delta-winged MiG-21 arrives in the
GUN KILLS OF
The era of missiles had arrived. Electronic warfare was coming of age. But when
technology fails pilots are forced to do combat the old-fashioned way-maneuver
in close and blow the enemy out of the sky with guns.
THE FIRST DOGFIGHTERS
Some of the greatest fighter pilots of all time
engaged in epic duels over the battered landscape of
NO ROOM FOR ERROR
It's where a pilot can ill afford to make a mistake...but where dogfights are
inexorably drawn. Down on the deck-at treetop level-the margin for error is
zero.
NIGHT FIGHTERS
From Radar equipped Hellcats in the Pacific to modern stealth technology.
THE BLOODIEST DAY
P-51 MUSTANG
In the European theater of world war II the P-51 Mustang proved itself to be
the quintessential dogfighter and went on to become the most famous warbird in history.
DOGFIGHTS OF DESERT STORM
The planes have changed but the jeopardy remains the
same. American fighter pilots pit F-15s against Iraqi MiG-25s and advanced
MiG-29s as part of Operation Desert Storm.
BATTLE FOR THE FALKLANDS
The 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands
triggered war with the
SUPERSONIC
Stories of the development of jet aircraft and their subsequent introduction
into combat. Includes stories of test pilots who were
the first Germans and Americans to fly these aircraft and the great air battles
that were fought through the years at Supersonic speed.
DEATH OF THE LUFTWAFFE
The Luftwaffe's last great offensive was launched on
January 1, 1945...called Operation Bodenplatte. Oscar
Boesch was a German pilot who took part. Sandy Moats
and Alden Rigby were American pilots whose airbase was swarmed by fighters.
After this day, the Luftwaffe was shattered as an effective fighting force.
African-American pilots of the 332nd distinguished themselves as one of the
most successful fighter groups of the war, despite the bigotry and prejudice
they faced from their own countrymen.
Revell
Diesel LeMans Winner
Kit #7248 1/24 Scale
First Look
By Tim Leicht, courtesy IPMS GTR newsletter
The most spectacular
racing car and until now most powerful Audi ever is powered by a twin turbo
charged twelve cylinder TDI engine with 5.5 liter cylinder capacity. The powerful
power-unit offers over 650 horsepower and a torque in excess of 1100
- Multi-part
bodywork with original detail of the 2006 Le Mans Race
- Multi-part, highly
detailed Twelve Cylinder Engine
- Detailed
Suspension
- Multi-part Rear
Spoiler
- Detailed Cockpit
- Authentic Tires
and Rims
- Separate removable
Bonnet if preferred
- Authentic
Transfers for the Audi R10 TDI from the Le Mans Race 2006 for both driving
teams
After the impressive
second year n a row win of the Audi R10TDI Diesel powered at the 75th
LeMans 24 Hour race, my kit arrived one week later. Audi has dominated LeMans
for years now, first with gasoline power and now with diesel power. But this
year was not easy for Audi with two Audis knocked out by accidents during the race,
and Peugeot gave them a real run for the money until wet weather hit with just
two hours to go. Luckily Audi had a lead
of several laps over the Peugeots and won easily. I can tell you
Peugeot will be back
next year and look out! They were really strong this year and most certainly
will be even tougher next year. So, on to the kit. This is another race kit from Revell
The timing could not
have been better and the nice part is that use can use this for the 2007 car as well! I can see tons of aftermarket stuff coming down the pipe for
this kit very soon. For us race car builders this is a MUST HAVE and buy a lot of
them to make all the different European and American race versions of this
historic car.
Build review – Resicast 75mm Pack Howitzer
By Mark Corbett,
Courtesy Spare Parts, IPMS Richmond Newsletter
IPMS #42356, AMPS
Recently Resicast released a nice addition for all of the “King of
Battle” and Airborne fans with a rendition of the M1A1 75mm Pack Howitzer. The
kit has options for either a
The Boxart Den-The Website!
From: Christian Bryan <craviola880@msn.com>
It’s finally here. A project begun over ten years ago, we
have been compiling rare and classic model kit box art from the 930's through
today. http://www.theboxartden.com.
And a humongous job it has been and continues to be. Now for the neat
part; the group owner (That's me) is an airliner junkie, so we have about 95%
of all the airliner model kit box art ever made from the 1940'S to today. In addition, I have also added folders for
airliner post cards, and airliner ads and articles (All cool, esoteric stuff-no
"Run of the mill" things that you see everywhere else. And now for
the very best part: all the box art, instructions, decal, post cards, ads, etc,
are all fully restored to "better than new" condition!! Very shortly, we will be opening our print
shop, where members can purchase securely, and full size prints of the classic
box art, printed on high quality glossy photo paper. These look absolutely
wonderful framed, and hanging in your building room, office, den, etc. All
modeling categories are covered; Space, Figures, Armor, Missiles, etc, but we
are very airliner friendly! Check out our display; our collection of model kit
box art will astound you (I hope it does; after ten years of searching,
begging, pleading, and tracking down over 3,000 box tops, and restoring them) I want to thank all the AMD members who have
sent us scans over the years, this has been a huge help. We are still after these extremely rare tops,
if anyone can help:
Aurora/Netherlands Garuda DC-8
Swissair DC-10
SAS DC-10
Lufthansa 737 (NOT 727)
Aeros DC-8 & CV-880
Airfix QANTAS 747 "Type 4"
BEA Comet "Type 2"
Progress-werk Lufthansa 707
Revell/Brasil Varig 707
(NOT mid '60's "Orange" box, but earlier issue)
Solido Air France Caravelle
& 707
Tri-ang BOAC Bristol Britannia
Plus many scattered Revell & Aurora "Wide body" not so rare titles.
Email me for list craviola880@msn.com.
Many thanks and we hope you enjoy the site!
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Sept. 3, 2007