Ok, I got a bit more completed.
Close study of reference pics reveal most of the Marine M26's had the armor plug welded in the periscope positions either side of the blower. Since only the first 500 Pershings had periscopes here it's a good bet the repo depot installed them or they were already there.





References also indicate the turret casting continued past where the Tamiya engineers created the piece for the under mantlet. A bit of ApoxieSculpt and we have a winner.



I used some .020 rod to replicate the headlight mount tensioners.





Who needs PE huh?

The problem with good reference photos is the need to replicate everything. Can anyone give a good technique for footman loops?

G

@ Bruce, WMJ -1 or 2 offer some interesting options, take a look at this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Museum_Marines_aeq.jpg
but I don't think they got to Korea until 1954.

More likely something from VC-62 like this:

I think that they were in theater during 1951.

May have to scavenge decals from all around.

@Jeremy, all MPC are Airfix at heart, so I'm not optimistic about great fits.

G: Nice work! Wish I could be of some help with the footman loops..

Mark: Ok, I see what you mean now. I like it, sounds like you may be able to source the decals from another kit since your kit includes a -2P nose in it. Does your kit have the glazing for the cameras?

Of course not...

I'm planning on drilling / sanding them out and installing pieces of clear sheet to be the windows. I think I can put a shelf in place and put some black boxes in for the cameras.

Lol, I figured as much, was just hopeful. I will have to add cameras to my PR Spitfire when I have a chance to get back to it. The flipside is if it's in 1/72, then you could just paint the inside of the glazing black and it will still look pretty convincing. However if it's 1/48 then you are probably better putting in the little boxes.

This Campaign is really taking off! I'm delighted!

Andrew, you got me there... I checkd the book and found the same pic. I also noticed that the M19 has these tracks as well, so it could just be that once in a while an M24 was equipped with tracks for the M19.
As for not allowing your build with the "wrong" tracks, don't worry, it's a hobby! I just thought I'd mention it in case you or anyone else wanted to know. It's everyone's own business how far they take thir accuracy, as long as we don't see vehicles and markings that were definitely not in Korea.

Tom, I know what it's like. My grandfather fortunately is still here (turning 81 this year) but talks only little (though booze has its effects on him too). Looking forward to those pics!

Mark, that looks like a really old kit... 1960ies or something? Never even heard of MPC... Looks like you're in for some work. But I like an old kit once in a while, improves your skills more than a shake and bake...

Wayne, if I understand correctly what you mean by footman loop (tie downs?) I made them with two small round discs (punch and die) and then a bit of stretched sprue on top. You should then get something like this (on my M36B1):

My own build won't start for another couple of months as I want to finish two other campaigns first (1/48 scale and Braille Scale).

Cheers everyone and keep the progress flowing!
Stefan

Mark,
I went digging - here's a little info for you
Marine Photo Reconnaissance Squadron One (VMJ-1) flew the Banshees from its K-3 base near Pohang in South Korea beginning in 1952 .The J-1 Banshees were considered the best of the photo reconnaissance aircraft in Korea and the squadron was credited with providing the highest percentage of the film taken by any unit in the Far East Air Forces and was assigned to the highest value targets ranging from the Main Line of Resistance to the Yalu River on the China border. The Banshees were often engaged by Mig-15s and were usually escorted by F-86 fighters. One of VMJ-1’s famous enlisted pilots MSGT. Ed Chestnut, was quoted as saying “Sure, an F2H will outrun a Mig, if you don’t mind putting the nose down and popping a few revets!”

This came from the Marine Corps Aviation Recon Association.(MCARA) I thought you might find this interesting. Enjoy..........Semper Fi .............Bruce

Hi
Still havn't made my mind up on what to build. Plenty of time.
I've still too finish a Mig 15bis crashed with USMC grunts checking it out. Been building this for over a year now. Oh well will finish one day.
Once I've made my mind up will let you know.

Shaun

Thanks Stefan!

Naturally references show these all over the tank. I'll have to replicate some, the rest will be hidden by storage.

G

man was I sleeping? great builds so far everyone!

@Bruce Thanks for the update. I'll keep VMJ-1 in mind. Don't have plans for many USMC planes, so this could work.

@Stefan Your observation caused me to learn a lot today (most of it came from Wiki, so I may have a few things wrong). MPC was started around 1965 by a former AMT executive to build presentation model cars for Detroit. They competed with AMT and Jo-Han. Model sales soon turned more profitable than the presentation models. In the late '70's MPC was acquired by General Mills (the cereal company) as they diversified into toys. In the early '80's they stepped in during one of Airfix's downturns and began marketing Airfix's kits in MPC boxes.

MPC never actually tooled any aircraft. I think they marketed 2 lines of A/C, the Golden Opportunity line (straight Airfix re-boxes) and the Profile line (where they added line art markings to the box and included decals for several versions)

General Mills got out of the toy business and sold the car lines to AMT - ERTL - Racing Chanpions - Round Two. I think the A/C reverted to the improved Airfix/Humbrol/Heller organization.

The Airfix DNA is all over the kit. But the age seems to be mid '70's instead of '60's. The canopy is molded closed and is a loose piece, no sprue. Panel lines are raised, but kind of petite, no huge rivet farms here. There's a sparse cockpit, tub, seat, pilot and an instrument panel with raised instrument faces. The gear bays are shallow ( no where near scale) and the outer MLG doors are molded closed.

Probably more modeling history than you signed up for, but I enjoyed the search.

Haha, Mark, thanks for the history lesson! Since I was born in 1980 I guess I missed most of these very early companies (the Airfix kits I grew up with must have been second editions). It's always interesting to see how molds travel. But we certainly could use new molds for these early jet fighters!

I have some rather unfortunate news do deliver. Our XO, Bruce (grayghost666) will be absent from the forums several months for health reasons (see his post here). I wish him all the best. If anyone wnats to take over his post (no work unless something happens to me...) please state your interest here.

Cheers!
Stefan

I'll man his post for the time being, just let me know what I need to do.

My prayers and best wishes go out to Bruce and his family at this time and will see you back here in the future.

Bob

Thanks Jeremy, I had a hunch you would jump in! For now all is well. You're just on standby and if anything happens to me you will be promoted to command the ship. I might need some help with the feature at the end of the year though.

Cheers!
Stefan

Very good then, feel free to send me a pm if you want to run anything by me or need me to take care of anything for you

Ready for.
1. Paint.
2. Future.
3. Decals.
4. Oil pin washes.
5. Future.
6. Oil Filter.
7. Future.
8. Flat coat.





Bob

Boy Bob, give you a couple of days off from school and no telling what you'll get done.

fMark, it is as if I can breathe now and I love to builld.

Bob

Rock on Bob! Can't wait to see the paint, I love the M41

Stefan: My build probably won't start for a couple of months either. I still need to get some AM replacement parts, and have a load of campaigns that I need to get some stuff finished up for

Like Jeremy, I won't be starting just yet - I have a few builds to clear away first.

I'm going to start with an M36, but in my vain search for evidence of the elusive M36B2 I stumbled across pics of the one in Beijing - anyone know anything about it? The shots are from the front, and it clearly has the hull MG and roof armour, but as the rear can't be seen I cannot tell whether it has the petrol or deisel engine. Also, is it really a Korea vehicle? The logic I read was that the Chinese might have nabbed it there, but I wonder if it could be from the French in Indochina instead? Answers (and pictures) on a postcard...

Tom

Hey guys, I finally got my hands on one of the 1/72 Airfix F-86 Sabres, and it is a sweet looking kit! I'm probably going to hold onto it for another campaign, but if anybody is still looking for a kit, then I highly recommend this one

Tom: That actually sounds like a very likely scenario and wouldn't surprise me one bit. You may want to check out this article on wikipedia. It briefly touches on the M36's role in Korea and Indochina. There is probably more information out there, just need to dig to find it

*edit* Found another post that addresses this a little more clearly. I don't think they changed the engines, but nobody has addressed it so far...

Jeremy,

Thanks - I've seen these sites before, but I'm still no nearer to knowing for definite whether the ROK actually got only M36's (with gasoline engines, as seen in published pics) or also M36B2's (with deisels) - the answer is only really visible from the engine deck. Some sites say they got both, but I haven't seen any definite photos of the B2 in Korea yet. That one in Beijing is interesting, but I still need to see its engine deck and get confirmation that it came from Korea before I could confidently model it for this campaign!

The French had M36B2s in Indochina, so it could easily be one of those... (And I can't afford the flight just to read the sign in front of it! I knew I shoulda wrangled a ticket to the Olympics!)

Regards,

Tom

I figured as much, and I agree that what little information available thus far is vague at best. I'll keep an eye open for anything that may actually be useful

Btw, would you mind sharing the link for the picture that you found? That may help us to better source the necessary information.

Sure - this is one link to the M36 in Beijing:

AxisHistory link

There was another site that had a discussion and different front views, but I can't find it at the moment.

Tom