Hello from SoCal

J

jamesgpobog

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73 y.o. disabled Navy Vietnam vet here. Built lots as a kid, none for many decades.

I've wanted to build the A4-E Skyhawk number 416 from USS Forrestal fire in 1967. I have 2 kits right now, a Hasegawa 1:72 (to which I have lost the clear canopy), and a 1:48 Lindberg that I have yet to start.

I'm finding myself need some items in both scales. As mentioned, the canopy, and I would like authentic Mk65 (WW2) 1000lb bombs as well as the correct decal sheet (A4E, USS Forestall, and squadron VA-46 Clansmen).

Hobby shops seem not so easy to find now, and I have zero idea where to look online, my searches haven't turned up anything. I am on a fixed income, so price is a factor, I can't afford 50 bucks for a parts set or decal sheet.

Any advice/suggestions?
 
If you have local model shows that are held in your area, those are even better. Vendors sell off their stash at good prices. Buy raffle tickets too. Oftentimes they raffle off kits donated by vendors at the show. Check with your local IPMS chapter in your area.

This past October I went to Syrcon in Cicero (an hour drive from my home) and picked up 3 Tamiya 1/48 scale kits for $25 (F4F Wildcat, AM6M Zero, and Nakajima A6M2 Rufe Floatplane)
I also picked up an X-15 Experimental Aircraft for $10 and a decal set for $3. A raffle winner was a 1/72 scale pre-war German biplane. I may have picked up another kit cheap too. Came to the show with $60 spending money and went home with $10 or $15 leftover.

eBay is another source for model kits. I always choose Buy now option in the filters list and US only. I avoid getting in a bidding war. Key to the Buy Now option, watch for shipping charges. Sometimes you can place an offer. I often will click on Watch this Item. You might get lucky the seller will come back with a discounted price than his asking price on his listed price - usually 10% - 30 % discount. ALWAYS pay attention to the seller's shipping charges. Free shipping is even better if he lists it.
 
Last edited:
I have found a 1/48 model by Italeri that has the correct decal sheet. Is this a re-boxed Lindberg? My Hasegawa 1/72 has more detailed weapons mounts than the Lindberg 1/48, but neither have the correct decals and bombs. I'm probably springing for the Italeri because of the decals, but I'm looking at links you guys posted, and the bombs....a bit of a dearth. There are some nice 500-pounders, but to be correct for the Forrestal event, they should be hi-drag WW2 1000-pounders and no joy there so far.

If it were you, and that was the situation, would you just mount the 500's? I know some would fab your own, but scratch building ain't in my skill set...
 
Italeri… weird kit. Some stuff tend to be out of scale. A belly tank off one of the F-16 Italeri kit was too large and didn't look correct.

You're better off finding a Hasegawa kit.
 
jamesgpobog said:
73 y.o. disabled Navy Vietnam vet here. Built lots as a kid, none for many decades.

I've wanted to build the A4-E Skyhawk number 416 from USS Forrestal fire in 1967. I have 2 kits right now, a Hasegawa 1:72 (to which I have lost the clear canopy), and a 1:48 Lindberg that I have yet to start.

I'm finding myself need some items in both scales. As mentioned, the canopy, and I would like authentic Mk65 (WW2) 1000lb bombs as well as the correct decal sheet (A4E, USS Forestall, and squadron VA-46 Clansmen).

Hobby shops seem not so easy to find now, and I have zero idea where to look online, my searches haven't turned up anything. I am on a fixed income, so price is a factor, I can't afford 50 bucks for a parts set or decal sheet.

Any advice/suggestions?
Click to expand...
Hi James, welcome to the forum. Loads of good advice and help to be had here. Don't forget to post plenty of photos please. Pantherman
 
Welcome back to the hobby, James, and welcome to the Herd!

The others have offered good suggestions, so I'll follow up on your question about kit origins. There is a website, Scalemates, that is a wiki, a community site of modelers. People upload information about kits, including kit history or lineage, as well as detail sets and other products. It's extensive, as good as a site driven by its users can be. It's worth checking out.

I look forward to seeing your build!

Best regards,
Brad
 
urumomo said:
Were you an AO , shipmate ?

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mpm-hobbies-0236-an-m65a1-1000lbs--1413420
View attachment 112591

Set of 4 for 16 bucks :
https://mpmhobbies.com/products/1-48-an-m65a1-1000lbs-set-of-2


3-D printed ones :
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/us-gp-bomb-an-m65a1-1000lb-1-48
View attachment 112592



https://www.resin2detail.com/produc...bomb-trolley-w-an-m65-resin-diorama-accessory
View attachment 112593
Click to expand...


Great items! gonna check them out very soon!

Per your question, if you are asking if I was on an AO (fleet oiler), the answer is yes. 1971-1973 USS Mispillion, AO 105, WESTPAC 1972. I was a BT.

wolfman jim.jpgmispillion 2xxx.jpg
 
urumomo said:
Fellow Snipe .
I was an MM on the Theodore Roosevelt
Click to expand...
Very cool. When?

Also, from 2012 until covid, I was on staff on the Battleship Iowa museum ship in San Pedro, CA. Though I had a departmental boss, he was management, and was the ticket sales beancounter. I was hands-on in charge of the tour route and developed the Engineering Tour.

This vid is before that was instituted, but this is me showing the videographer around, my stepson is the the guy in the background in the blue T-shirt. Enjoy. Almost 2.25 million views.....

 
Very cool .
Good video .

She was next to us one time at pier 12 in Norfolk .
We were always on the north side of pier 12 .
They pulled her in port side to the pier -- You're looking down on her when you come off the elevator and I remember her looking like a giant canoe , covered in guns .
They pushed her over to pier 11 later that day .

I recently discovered that pier 12 is now pier 14 and pier 11 is 12 .
They obviously added a pier down there somewhere .

I was active Aug 85 to Aug 91 , got out right after the Gulf War .
Ships company 87-91
It was BT/MM A school when I was there in Great Lakes but I was one of the last classes , when I got to nuke school in March of 86 the very first MM a school class arrived down there in Orlando , they sent all the nukes to A school down there after that .
I only found out a few years ago that they moved nuke school to South Carolina .


I rode this ride ,
Your steam rupture mention reminded me ;)
I found out why those main steam headers have those huge coil springs in the mounts
I was in the plant for shocks 2 - 4 :

LTj6Zri.jpg

I had several good friends up in ordnance ,
The guy that took me up on deck during night flight ops ( coolest shit ever ) is one of the guys in that line of squids on the port side . There's a line of tractors in front of them .
He said all kinds of chit was falling off the island on the 3rd shock .
The 4th shock was uneventful -- the 3rd one broke everything that was going to break .

LOL , he got out in like early 90 , going back to Alabama --- and not a month later I run into him up in the hangar , :D
The Teddy Rux institutionalized the poor guy
 
urumomo said:
Very cool .
Good video .

She was next to us one time at pier 12 in Norfolk .
We were always on the north side of pier 12 .
They pulled her in port side to the pier -- You're looking down on her when you come off the elevator and I remember her looking like a giant canoe , covered in guns .
They pushed her over to pier 11 later that day .

I recently discovered that pier 12 is now pier 14 and pier 11 is 12 .
They obviously added a pier down there somewhere .

I was active Aug 85 to Aug 91 , got out right after the Gulf War .
Ships company 87-91
It was BT/MM A school when I was there in Great Lakes but I was one of the last classes , when I got to nuke school in March of 86 the very first MM a school class arrived down there in Orlando , they sent all the nukes to A school down there after that .
I only found out a few years ago that they moved nuke school to South Carolina .


I rode this ride ,
Your steam rupture mention reminded me ;)
I found out why those main steam headers have those huge coil springs in the mounts
I was in the plant for shocks 2 - 4 :

View attachment 112599


Man, that looks unpleasant. I've been many feet below the waterlines of Mispillion and Iowa in the harbor, and it was strange hearing so much going on in the harbor. That must have been sooooo loud...
Click to expand...


urumomo said:
I had several good friends up in ordnance ,
The guy that took me up on deck during night flight ops ( coolest shit ever ) is one of the guys in that line of squids on the port side . There's a line of tractors in front of them .
He said all kinds of chit was falling off the island on the 3rd shock .
The 4th shock was uneventful -- the 3rd one broke everything that was going to break .

LOL , he got out in like early 90 , going back to Alabama --- and not a month later I run into him up in the hangar , :D
The Teddy Rux institutionalized the poor guy
Click to expand...


I never went to A school. I'd been a Sea Cadet in junior high, and one of the perks was that not only did going to a 2-week boot at Great Lakes at the age of 16 count, you got to fast-track in as an E-3, and I needed that in 1970 as I had a very bad draft number. And six years later my contract finished with an Honorable, still as an E-3. I was noted for my ambition....

I had a deck assignment during UNREP's as a ship/ship phone talker on station 6, right at the base of the kingpost. Port side is just off camera left. I took that pic 01/12/2012 when I had a chance to go back on board Mispillion when she came out of the Ghost Fleet and was in drydock at Mare Island.

STATION 6.jpg

22852939_1714938005193483_8642933076011412735_n.jpg

22549804_1709177809102836_5512420145532662561_n.jpg
 
You went to boot @ 16 ?
Talk about Needs-of-the-Navy , lulz .
I enlisted @ 17 but you had to finish high school , boo hiss , and be 18 to go to boot -- parents had to co-sign my enlistment .

Snipes are definitely the heart of the ship .
Those things are just giant barges with no running water or electricity without us .
Did that oiler you were on have A/C in berthing ?
 

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