Flag Plot

1/72nd scale Hasegawa F-15C Eagle   On January 26 th 1991 4 F-15C Eagles of the 58 th TFS/33 rd TFW intercepted 3 Iraqi MiG-23s south of Bagdad. Operating with an E-3 AWACS, the F-15s were vectored to intercept 4 MiG-23s for a frontal aspect AIM-7 shot as the MiGs approached the city.   Before the AWACS could vector the F-15s for reasons unknown, one Mig-23 turned back and departed the way he came.   At 30 miles from the MiGs , the F-15s divided up the remaining targets with the 4 th Eagle the odd man out as they   dove to increase speed   & locked onto the targets.   Almost immediately, the 3 Eagles were at optimum range and ripple fired two AIM-7s at each MiG.   The lead MiG never know what hit’im until he was on fire; the other 2 started evasive action soon enough to take the missiles in gut instead of blowing up in their face.   In 7 seconds, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!    3 smokin’ holes in the dunes!   (1p104)    To build this F-15C, Ser No 85-108, MiG killer, I used:

1/72nd scale Hasegawa F/A-18C Hornet Here is a F/A-18C of VMFA-251 in OIF at Al Jaber,  Kuwait During March of 2003.          For this Hasegawa kit I used the High Flight resin wing-flap set, 2-Bobs decals and assorted Hasegawa weapons sets. The weathering is careful painting and pastels.         I built this model for my Marine son when he thought he might like to fly for the Marines. Even though he decided to take another career field, it adorns his desk.  I can't think of a better place for it! RJ  

1/72nd scale Academy OV-10A Bronco with Fireball Modelworks decal sheet FMD-13/72 This OV-10A Bronco model represents the US Navy VAL-4 “Black Pony” side number 107 “Gandalf the Gray” at Bihn Thuy S Vietnam March 1972.   The armament: The LAU-33, 2-shot, 5” rocket tubes on the wings came from the Academy F-8E Crusader kit.   The warheads on the Academy Zunis look like a ring-toss at the fair. I replaced them with resin copies of the Fujimi rocket pod warheads. The pair of LAU-10/A 4-shot 5” rocket pods came the Fujimi A-4 kit The LAU-68/a 7-shot 2.75” rocket pod came from the Italeri weapons set. SUU-11/a minigun pod is a resin copy of a scratch-build master. This is petite kit with fine engraved panel lines and accurate shape & outline. Construction is pretty straight forward with a few aggravations to keep you honest. The fuselage takes filler around the nose and weapons pylons. The wing-boom joints, also, require some filler.   There are a

  Fujimi 1/72 scale F-4E Phantom II This is the F-4E (non slat wing) Fujimi kit built as F-4E-35-MC 67-308 of the 469th TFS/ 388th TFW in SEA camo scheme. Miss Betty Lou, here, was the mount of Wing Commander Col. A.K. MacDonald sporting the tail code: JV-308 circa 1969. The load out with fuse extenders & rocket pods is clearly for a close-air support or battlefield interdiction sortie. The Hasegawa weapons set I provided the "world of hurt" soon to come. (I'm sure you can think of more Vietnam era clichés). The decals are from the ancient Microscale sheet 72-112 USAF Vietnam Phantoms. Decals for AIM-7s are from the Hasegawa weapons set III. Refs: 1.  D&S F-4 Phantom II, Part 2 USAF F-4E & F-4G by Bert Kinzey, Aero Publishers, Fallbrook CA USA 1982 2. USAF PHANTOMS in Combat by Lou Drendel, Squadron/Signal publications, Carrollton TX, USA 1987

Hasegawa 1/72  F-4B/N Phantom II  This model depicts the F-4N CAG plane of VMFA-531 embarked with CVW-14 onboard the USS Coral Sea during the Iranian Hostage crisis in’79-‘80. This is the 1/72 Hasegawa F-4B/N kit with an Eduard F-4B/N zoom set, True Details bang-seats, Hasegawa Weapons Set III, and decals from the Hasegawa CAG special issue. The missile decals are from the Hasegawa kit, Microscale stripes & Scale-Master sheet SM-39.      A big shout-out to Zone-5 members John B for all the deployment pictures and GW8345 for clearing up my confusion about the differences in the AIM-7E &F.

The Fujimi  1/72 scale  A-4F Skyhawk    The Mission : “On 23 May 1972, VA-55's Lt Dennis J Sapp launched with his wingman, Lt Ken Bray, from USS Hancock (CVA-19) on an Iron Hand mission to cover an Alpha strike against targets northeast of Haiphong , in North Vietnam . Sapp's section had two missions - to destroy a SAM site adjacent to the target and to silence a lethal cluster of SAM sites ringing Haiphong near the target area.   Sapp flew A-4F BuNo 154996, which was armed with two AGM-45 Shrike anti-SAM missiles and four Rockeye bomblet canisters. The A-4Fs had recently been equipped with the Target Identification Acquisition System [the APS-107], which allowed the pilot to centre the radar from the SAM site or flak battery on the cockpit radar, then look through the gunsight for tracking purposes to decide where and when to drop weapons. Iron Hand A-4s orbited over a known site, or between sites, at 10,000 ft, fired their Shrikes and then rolled in to drop

 Italeri 1/72nd scale HH-53C "Super Jolly Green Giant" Here’s my HH-53C CSAR helicopter. It’s a kit bash of the ancient Italeri &  MPC (Airfix) kits.  I built this for a friend who flew HH-53 CSAR missions in Vietnam; later,  he became a USAF Chaplain. AND the stinger! The figure was the lovely & gracious Mrs Tucker’s suggestion since “only a geeks’ geek has any notion of what "1 inch = 6 feet" means.“  I’m not much of a figure painter as you can see, but he does give a good visual as to how big this beast really is! The emblems came from the local airbase exchange. (I’m retired military, so I can shop there.  Uniform stuff is available online.) The trophy shop down the street did the placards. The Italeri kit is pretty ragged, but I’m pleased how it turned out. But I will rescue you on that day, declares the LORD; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear. Jeremiah 39v17

By now everyone knows Photobucket has changed & 3rd party posting costs some bucks. For better or worse, we all want free. So, I've got a blog.  I'm hoping to post pictures here & link them to various forums & web-sites.  This is a crude work in progress. If the picture linking works out, I'll try & make the this place suitable for company.  Seems to be working: so far so good! RJ Here's where I'll add misc. pictures for linking to other websites & forums: Red Tailed Hawk in my backyard Home made photo-etch tool (top)  Home made photo-etch tool (side)  Home made photo-etch tool (bottom) Car Porn? AAW Stiffer? gloss finish