[Foxbat]

1:200 JC Wings Diecast Iberia Airlines Airbus A340-642 EC-JOH "Miguel de Unamuno"










The Real Aircraft.


In 2007 this aircraft over shot the runway during a landing in Ecuador and suffered substantial damage. No one was killed and the aircraft was recovered but the damage was too substantial to be repaired and it was scrapped.



Next to a Lufthansa A340-600.



Next to its little brother, an Iberia Airlines A330-300. The Hogan plastic model is so detailed its hard to differentiate it from the diecast one.

[V.Narayan]

Congratulations Foxbat. Along with the 747 the A340 remains most beautiful aircraft in my eyes. The two A340s look grand. Please oblige us with more detailed snaps of closeups - nose, tail, wings:-)

Originally Posted by Foxbat

1:200 JC Wings Diecast Iberia Airlines Airbus A340-642 EC-JOH "Miguel de Unamuno"

Next to a Lufthansa A340-600.
Next to its little brother, an Iberia Airlines A330-300. The Hogan plastic model is so detailed its hard to differentiate it from the diecast one.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

1:1000 Scale Diecast USS Iowa (BB-61).

Alongside Yamato and Bismarck.

This is quite something to be very proud of. Congratulations. Great looking ships

Originally Posted by Foxbat

1:200 JC Wings Diecast Iberia Airlines Airbus A340-642 EC-JOH "Miguel de Unamuno"

Extremely gorgeous looking A340.

You are right, from a distance hard to make out that the Hogan A330 is plastic.
There are a few 1/200 diecast metal Iberia MD-87s of different registrations by Hogan. Look for that, it will be a great addition to your Iberia fleet. Your Iberia fleet will compliment your LH fleet.

Meanwhile, another MiG killer addition to my collection....
1:200 F-4B McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II . VF-111 "Sundowners", CVW-15, USS Coral Sea (CVA 43), 1972



Aircraft flown by Lt. Garry "Greyhound" Weigand and Lt.(jg) William "Farkle" Freckleton on MiG-17 kill of 6 March 1972.

The MiG kill
NL-201 (BuNo 153019) was an F-4B Phantom that belonged to the VF-111 Sundowners embarked on USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) during the Nov 1971 to Jul 1972 cruise to SEA. Using the callsign, 'Old Nick two-zero-one', the aircraft was flown by all the squadron pilots and Radar Intercept Officers at one time or another during the cruise, but on 6 March 1972 it was flown by Lt Garry Weigand and Lt(jg) Bill Freckleton. When they launched off the USS Coral Sea that afternoon and headed toward North Vietnam they had no idea the mission would ultimately end with their engagement and shoot down of an enemy MiG-17 aircraft near Quang Lang airfield.

Weigand and Freckleton had flown many missions together over South and North Vietnam and Laos, and on 6 March, they were flying wing to Lt Jim Stillinger and Lt(jg) Rick Olin on a MiGCAP mission 50 miles north of Quang Lang airfield in NVN where an A-5 Vigilante recon mission was taking place. Between the two aircraft there was just one pulse radar (this was Rick Olin's radar and it was limited to the search mode which negated any sparrow employment). In fact, there was no sparrows aboard Old Nick 201, there was only a sidewinder capability which (for that older model- AIM-9D) meant any shoot down would have to be from the rear quarter..

The two F-4s from the Coral Sea had just arrived on station when they were advised by Red Crown that there were Red bandits to the south of them. The controller kept them informed of the MiG's position by constantly giving range and bearing calls: "Red bandit bearing 230 degrees at 15 miles, 240 degrees at 10, 250 at 8, 270 at 6, 295 at 4 miles." Neither crews in the F-4s had obtained a visual contact with the enemy aircraft. Then, as they were in a descending starboard turn, a final bearing and range call of 330 degrees and 2 nautical miles was given. The Red Crown controller was now desperate and radioed for them to 'look left and look low'. The lead F-4 manned by Stillinger and Olin took the flight into a left bank and immediately saw what they were being vectored on- a single green MiG-17 at a 1000 ft AGL aggressively pulling his nose up into them. The Phantom crews' combat training and responsibilities were now going to be put to the real test. Lt (jg) Freckleton, who, without radar, immediately loosened his straps and began a twisting and turning in his cockpit visually looking for the MiGs that had been called out near Quang Lang. Lt Weigand, a fighter pilot in every sense, followed Stillinger's instructions to go to a high cover position. As Stillinger and Olin engaged the MiG they descended to low altitude losing radio contact with Red Crown.

As they rolled into the MiG and Jim Stillinger began executing a series of scissors maneuvers in an attempt to get to the MiG's six o'clock. At one point, he fired a sidewinder which the MiG-17 pilot must have seen because he skillfully and effectively evaded it. The MiG driver was proving to be extremely aggressive and agile in handling his aircraft and Stillinger called Weigand to cover him as he put his nose down and proceeded to extend away from the MiG. Determined to chase the F-4 down, the MiG-17 pilot lit his afterburner and proceeded to go after Stillinger and Olin to blast them out of the sky.

As the extension was taking place, a sandwich situation soon developed when Weigand and Freckleton came back down from cover position and engaged from the rear quarter. With Weigand at the controls, they easily got into a 6 o'clock position with either the MiG-17 pilot not seeing them, or, ignoring them due to his concentration with closing on the F-4 in front of him. With a good sidewinder tone indicating the missile was locked on a heat source, Freckleton was shouting for a missile launch as Weigand pressed his trigger switch to release the AIM-9D sidewinder from the port side of NL-201.

The missile tracked true to the heat source of the afterburning MiG, and went right up its tailpipe. The subsequent explosion took the enemy aircraft's tail off and it immediately began a fatal descent to the ground only a few hundred feet below. With debris from the explosion flying past their aircraft, Weigand executed a hard turn to starboard to avoid it as the MiG crashed to the ground in a huge fireball. The was no parachute seen to indicate that the enemy pilot had ejected and it was readily assumed that he met his demise instantly. But there was no time to contemplate the fate of the enemy pilot, Stillinger, Olin, Weigand and Freckleton were still in deep jeopardy.

The Red Crown controller, (Chief Larry Nowell) who had been out of radio contact with the two Phantoms during their low level battle, eventually was able to contact the flight and warn that 6 MiG-21's that were closing at a high rate of closure in an attempt to get into Atoll firing position.

The two Phantoms successfully outran the MiG-21s and exited North Vietnam in afterburner. They were refueled from an airborne tanker off the USS Constellation and were able to make it back to the Coral Sea . Both aircraft executed victory roles and brought the F-4s back to the flight deck with 'OK-3' wires.

Many crew members of the ship must remember rushing out to the flight deck to greet the four aviators . Much of the victory that day belonged not just to the aircrews involved, but all those aboard the Coral Maru steaming in the tepid waters and hot humid air of the Gulf of Tonkin in March 1972. The victory belongs to the ship- USS Coral Sea (CVA-43).

From Left to Right: Lt.(jg) William "Farkle" Freckleton(RIO of Old Nick 201), Lt. Garry "Greyhound" Weigand(Pilot of Old Nick 201), Lt James "Yosemite" Stillinger(section leader on the MiG killing mission) an Lt(jg) Rick Olin(Stillinger's RIO)



The MiG killing F-4B still exists. It's on a pedestal just inside the front gate at NAS Key West, Florida. The present Sundowners (VFC-111) had the plane re-painted to look similar to the way it was aboard the Coral Sea back in '72.


The two aviators infront of their bird


For a model of this size( about 10 cms length, 6 cms in width, the detailing is unbelievably good






The three MiG killing F-4s in my collection:


The two 1/200 Hogan fighters in my collection:

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Please oblige us with more detailed snaps of closeups - nose, tail, wings:-)

The shot of the landing gear was really difficult because the model is so heavy!

Originally Posted by skanchan95

You are right, from a distance hard to make out that the Hogan A330 is plastic.
There are a few 1/200 diecast metal Iberia MD-87s of different registrations by Hogan. Look for that, it will be a great addition to your Iberia fleet. Your Iberia fleet will compliment your LH fleet.

1:200 F-4B McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II . VF-111 "Sundowners", CVW-15, USS Coral Sea (CVA 43), 1972

If they are available at a good discount I will get them, I'm a very price sensitive customer

The detailing on the F-4 is pretty impressive for a 1:200 model. The "Sundowner" livery on the tail is pretty puzzling. It's an almost exact copy of the Imperial Japanese Navy flag of WWII. The US Navy was fighting the Japanese Navy just 20-25 years before this aircraft was flying. Not sure why they would use it, never seen an American aircraft with a Swastika inspired livery!

[V.Narayan]

Foxbat your A340 is striking. Thank you for the close up's and congratulations again. In the good old days my firm worked on all the A340s and A330s of Iberia - literally the tail numbers in your collection.

Skanchan95, congratulations on your third F-4. In its time it was the multi-role combat aircraft that everyone else was measured by especially after the 20mm gun was installed. In all wars victors write the history‎. Vietnam is the rare case of the losers writing the history and the Victors version left unheard.

The 3 F-4's look rather powerful lined up like that. Enjoy your collection. Maybe you could aim for the A-4 Skyhawk and Vought Crusader. Both outstanding machines as you know.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Foxbat your A340 is striking. Thank you for the close up's and congratulations again. In the good old days my firm worked on all the A340s and A330s of Iberia - literally the tail numbers in your collection.

If possible do elaborate more on the work done? maintenance work?

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Skanchan95, congratulations on your third F-4. In its time it was the multi-role combat aircraft that everyone else was measured by especially after the 20mm gun was installed. In all wars victors write the history‎. Vietnam is the rare case of the losers writing the history and the Victors version left unheard.

Exactly the same thought was going through my head. 689 F-4s were lost in the Vietnam war. Among fixed-wing aircraft, more F-4 Phantoms were lost than any other type in service with any nation. In total, the United States military lost in Vietnam almost 10,000 aircraft and helicopters. South Vietnam's army lost 2,500 aircraft and helicopters. North Vietnam lost 150 – 200 aircraft and helicopters.

Two Mach 2 capable, radar equipped, long range, missile carrying fighters managed to shoot down a single sub sonic, short ranged, gun only aircraft manned by a pilot from a 3rd world country. That too after considerable trouble. To top that they made it seem like a huge achievement and a cause for celebration.

I think the real star of the Vietnam Air War:

[V.Narayan]

We will all always have our views on the politics of aircrafts and wars and both sides of a debate will have a point. Personally I am on the side of the Vietnamese in this particular war being old enough to have read the developments in daily newspapers as events unfolded. The Vietnam war was as complex as they come. In 1966 Indira Gandhi in a deft move of real politick praised Lyndon Johnson's handling of this war in order to woo him to send India many tonnes of wheat as a grant under what was known as the PL480 scheme! - and her real politick worked. Due to famines we were desperately short of wheat.

I would share Sandesh's joy in his collection of what he likes. Similarly if we had a British member on this thread he may not like my soft spot for German WW2 machines.

Foxbat, you may want to double check the figure of 10,000 in your thread. Though you are right there was a huge disparity in the losses. Main reason for that was the North Vietnamese AF was primarily a air self defense one focussed on defending against attacking American aircraft while the Yank fast jets & B-52s were almost always flying aggressive missions over enemy territory.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Foxbat, you may want to double check the figure of 10,000 in your thread.

I'm pretty sure of the numbers, checked numerous sources. Roughly 5,600 of the 10,000 aircraft lost were helicopters, the others were fixed wing.

"The Air Force lost 40 percent of its total production of F-105s to combat in Vietnam. Approximately one out of every eight F-4s ever built by McDonnell Douglas—for all services—was destroyed in Vietnam."
-www.airforcemag.com

Sources:

http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineA...13vietnam.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...he_Vietnam_War

https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.p...he+Vietnam+War

https://spectator.org/remember-the-b...ar-in-vietnam/

These are all from Western Sources and I would take them with a spoon of salt, they are known for fudging their numbers (i.e. weapons of mass destruction in Iraq).

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

I'm pretty sure of the numbers, checked numerous sources. Roughly 5,600 of the 10,000 aircraft lost were helicopters, the others were fixed wing.

"The Air Force lost 40 percent of its total production of F-105s to combat in Vietnam. Approximately one out of every eight F-4s ever built by McDonnell Douglas—for all services—was destroyed in Vietnam."
.

thank you Foxbat, for sharing those links. I stand corrected. The losses were indeed staggering. Sandesh my friend your F-4 Phantoms have stirred a F-18's nest here. Solve the riddle :-)

Back to aircraft models. Two Soviet era transports coming soon as are two of the B's and two love birds from the same stable as the F-4.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

If they are available at a good discount I will get them, I'm a very price sensitive customer

To tempt you even more, Hogan has Iberia's A320(diecast metal) & DC-8( plastic) in 1/200 scale.

Originally Posted by Foxbat

The detailing on the F-4 is pretty impressive for a 1:200 model. The "Sundowner" livery on the tail is pretty puzzling. It's an almost exact copy of the Imperial Japanese Navy flag of WWII. The US Navy was fighting the Japanese Navy just 20-25 years before this aircraft was flying. Not sure why they would use it, never seen an American aircraft with a Swastika inspired livery!

Here's what a book of mine has to say about the Sundowners:
The original Sundowners were established at NAS North Island on the 10th of October 1942 as VF-11. While at NAS Maui, for training prior to deploying into combat, the famous insignia was designed in order to boost spirits, increase morale and show it's tactical superiority over the Japanese.Depicting two Corsairs shooting a "rising sun" into the ocean, it was stencilled onto each one of the units' F4F-4 Wildcats, along with the legend "Sundowner" (numerals were not allowed upon unit insignia at that time).

The theme of this carried on into the later years as their tail design.This can be interpreted as a direct opposition to Japan's 'Rising Sun', by calling themselves sun down - showing that they're bringing down that sun.



Fun fact: VF-111 were one of the F-14 squadrons involved in shooting Top Gun and Maverick's new RIO after Goose's death, had a rising sun helmet and had the callsign 'Sundown'.

That era had probably the most colourful fighter jets ever. F-4 and F-14s from VF-1, VF-111, VF-84,VF-142 were the most flamboyantly painted jets ever.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Skanchan95, congratulations on your third F-4. In its time it was the multi-role combat aircraft that everyone else was measured by especially after the 20mm gun was installed. In all wars victors write the history‎. Vietnam is the rare case of the losers writing the history and the Victors version left unheard.

The 3 F-4's look rather powerful lined up like that. Enjoy your collection. Maybe you could aim for the A-4 Skyhawk and Vought Crusader. Both outstanding machines as you know.

Thank you Sir. I have the "Last Gunfighter" on my wishlist. But a navy aircraft that I wish to have in my collection is the A-6 Intruder and/or EA-6 Prowler. Stephen Coonts "Flight of the Intruder" was among my first aviation themed novels I bought and I have a DVD of the movie as well. I had thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel and watching the movie and It made the A-6 my favourite USN attack jet. The A-6 for its time, had the most sophisticated and able nav/attack suite(DIANE) in the world and in the movie they tried to show that system worked. They even managed to "suggest" the differences between a standard A-6A and a dedicated "Iron Hand" A-6B.

Enjoy this iconic Iron Hand mission scene from the movie with that one liner....."There's Four, Ya happy now?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf8kBmMzr4I

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Two Mach 2 capable, radar equipped, long range, missile carrying fighters managed to shoot down a single sub sonic, short ranged, gun only aircraft manned by a pilot from a 3rd world country. That too after considerable trouble. To top that they made it seem like a huge achievement and a cause for celebration.

May be I have a bias for Western military aircraft after reading about them and having played so many fight sims, but its not as if I do not like models of Vietnamese or any Non-US allied air arm. Infact I tend to collect military models based on their history. Tomorrow if I come across a Vietnamese MiG model, I will have no hesitation to go after it. Similarly, If I come across a detailed PAF F-86 or F-104 model, keeping patriotic feelings aside,I will not mind buying it, purely because of the history behind those jets.

As hobbyists, we love aviation passionately. It is better to leave politics to the politicians. Why North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam or why US and her allies decided to defend the South Vietnamese, it is another debatable political history chapter. Nothing will ever change what happened in the past and to be debate the political aspect of wars will be futile and never ending.

Fighter pilots have always been taught to think of a dogfight as a fight between two machines...to keep the human element out of it. When they shoot down an enemy aircraft, they are taught to think they are just doing their duty and they shot down a machine. They are not supposed to think that the enemy is incapable, so his aircraft should be spared. Of course there have been exceptions to this like the one case where a Luftwaffe Me-109 pilot let a badly damaged B-17 and its mortally wounded crew to go home. In the sub-continental theater, I remember reading F/O P S Pingale Sabre shootdown incident, where he deliberately delayed pressing the cannon trigger of his Hunter and loosened the grip of control column of his Hunter by fraction of a second so that he aimed for the non-cockpit part of the Sabre and rounds he fired didn't hit the Sabre's cockpit, thereby sparing the PAF pilot's life.

After a victorious duel, the victor pilots do feel remorse when they see their opponent not being able to get out of their stricken aircraft or die in the process of doing so. Israeli Mirage Ace Ran Ronen's words come immediately to mind. After battling it out with a valiant Jordanian Hunter in a Mirage III in a canyon, the Jordanian Hunter was hit by Ronen and the Jordanian pilot had to eject. Ronen saw in horror as the Hunter banked to the left, the pilot ejected out of his Hunter and the pilot, still strapped to his ejection, set smashed into the canyon wall, head first. Ronen said after the battle, that as a fighter pilot and as a colleague of the fighter pilot fraternity, he would have wanted to see the brave Jordanian pilot eject safely. Similarly, meetings organised to honour former enemy fighter pilots have shown that they harbor no ill-feelings towards their former opponents. In fact they joked about and were happy to share their experiences during combat and expressed regret for the pain they or their comrades may have caused.

Coming to the Americans celebrating, I see nothing wrong in it. Any fighter pilot would have done the same after achieving success while performing their duty. A Vietnamese MiG pilot would have celebrated a kill after shooting down a hapless US A-1 or an A-4. Its not as if they were shooting down an aircraft full of civilians like the KAL007 incident. These guys were losing close friends/colleagues very quickly. In some case the pilot bailed out successfully while his RIO/WSO couldn't and vice versa. The joy of a kill, the pain and horror of war have been written beautifully in books by former fighter pilots. Ed Rasimus, who flew two tours of Vietnam as a F-105 and F-4 pilot, recounted many such experiences in his books, "When Thunder Rolled" & "Palace Cobra".

Lets also not forget that the early Sparrows and Sidewinders were highly unreliable. They were nowhere as good as the modern L/M/X model AIM-9s or the later F/M model Sparrows. It could be argued that Atolls the Vietnamese used were unreliable too, so they were fighting on even terms. But still, to send aviators into air combat with no guns, was probably the stupid thing American planners did. As per an estimate after the Vietnam war, the Sparrow had a kill success rate of less than 10%, of 600+ AIM-7s fired, only 56 managed to score kills on VPAF aircraft. The Sidewinder fared slightly batter by achieving a kill rate of about 18% - 81 kills for 454 AIM-9s fired. It was only after USAF F-4C/Ds were fitted with the centerline station SUU-16 or SUU-23 gunpods and the arrival of the gun equipped F-4E, that the Americans started scoring more gun kills. Soon after this, an F-4D flown by Capt Simmonds & his RIO Lt Mckinney managed to score the only double gun kill(in a single mission) of the Vietnam war, when they shot down two MiG-17s using their centerline gunpod. Till then US gun kills were achieved only by A-1s, A-4s, F-105s and by a USAF F-100(the first kill of the Vietnam war by a US aircraft...though it was probably a PLAAF MiG-17). The US Navy Phantom variants (B/N/J) however never flew with gunpods in the Vietnam War.

Its better to respect what those brave men from both sides achieved. It was a tough war they were fighting, with many questioning why they were there in first place. But when the time came to do their duty, they were as professional as they come and for that they deserve the greatest amount of respect.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

In 1966 Indira Gandhi in a deft move of real politick praised Lyndon Johnson's handling of this war in order to woo him to send India many tonnes of wheat as a grant under what was known as the PL480 scheme! - and her real politick worked. Due to famines we were desperately short of wheat.

Another history lesson . Did not know that.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

thank you Foxbat, for sharing those links. I stand corrected. The losses were indeed staggering. Sandesh my friend your F-4 Phantoms have stirred a F-18's nest here. Solve the riddle :-)

Hornet's nest.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Back to aircraft models. Two Soviet era transports coming soon as are two of the B's and two love birds from the same stable as the F-4.

You sir, are such a tease. I can't even guess the ones you will receive soon. Any More hints?

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

1:200 JC Wings Diecast Iberia Airlines Airbus A340-642 EC-JOH "Miguel de Unamuno"

I was inspired by your purchase and as I was passing through the new terminal in Mumbai last night I picked up an Iberia MD-87 Hogan 1:200 diecast and then on impulse a MD-11 Lufthansa Cargo plastic model too. Photos will follow.

These are all from Western Sources and I would take them with a spoon of salt, they are known for fudging their numbers (i.e. weapons of mass destruction in Iraq).

Agree with you on the one sidedness or s-t-r-e-t-c-h in a lot of sources. Some are very maturely written but most on the net is a repetition. If you go through the net you will rarely see the truth about the English Electric Lighting for example and only limited data and praise on the Yak-3 and Yak-9 of WW2 fame. I have made writing on Wikipedia at least on Indian aviation and warships one of my hobbies now.

Originally Posted by skanchan95

To tempt you even more, Hogan has Iberia's...& DC-8( plastic) in 1/200 scale.

Very interesting. I am on the look out for a DC-8 especially Series 50 or 62 or even 72.

Thank you Sir. I have the "Last Gunfighter" on my wishlist. But a navy aircraft that I wish to have in my collection is the A-6 Intruder and/or EA-6 Prowler.

Outstanding and unique aircrafts.

May be I have a bias for Western military aircraft after reading about them and having played so many fight sims,

Really!!? We would never have guessed......

but its not as if I do not like models of Vietnamese or any Non-US allied air arm.

...be careful bro, you are entering Foxbat's territory now

Similarly, If I come across a detailed PAF F-86 or F-104 model, keeping patriotic feelings aside,I will not mind buying it,

Sadly they don't have an icon on '....and then he fainted...' THUD ;-)

As hobbyists, we love aviation passionately. It is better to leave politics to the politicians. Why North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam or why US and her allies decided to defend the South Vietnamese, it is another debatable political history chapter. Nothing will ever change what happened in the past and to be debate the political aspect of wars will be futile and never ending.

Fighter pilots have always been taught to think of a dogfight as a fight between two machines...In the sub-continental theater, I remember reading F/O P S Pingale Sabre shootdown incident, where he deliberately delayed pressing the cannon trigger of his Hunter and loosened the grip of control column of his Hunter by fraction of a second so that he aimed for the non-cockpit part of the Sabre and rounds he fired didn't hit the Sabre's cockpit, thereby sparing the PAF pilot's life.

After a victorious duel, the victor pilots do feel remorse when they see their opponent not being able to get out of their stricken aircraft or die in the process of doing so. Its better to respect what those brave men from both sides achieved. It was a tough war they were fighting, with many questioning why they were there in first place. But when the time came to do their duty, they were as professional as they come and for that they deserve the greatest amount of respect.

Very mature and well written post Sandesh.

Another history lesson . Did not know that.

From 1941 to 1949 Ho Chi Minh saw the Americans as his strongest allies and best bet first against the Japs and then the returning collaborationist Frenchies. In 1944 the CIA parachuted a doctor into the jungles to save Ho Chi Minh's life who was deathly ill!! But Truman saw things in cold war terms and not as a Asian country trying to throw off France's colonial rule. He did not back Ho Chi Minh and paved the way for the French to re-occupy Indo-China. In 1951 JF Kennedy as a young Senator toured Vietnam and grasped the situation better than anyone in Washington and urged Truman to stay out of Vietnam and not back the French. But alas. Only in 1953 or so Ho Chi Minh fully embraced China, Vietnam's thousand year old enemy, because he saw no choice. Then came the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 where the Frenchies were decimated and only then was Ho Chi Minh accepted across Vietnam as the national leader who would rid them of the French. It was a very complicated war with bestial cruelty on both sides as well as by the Viet Minh against the South Vietnamese.

Hornet's nest.

Tum exam mein pass ho gaye

One of the dozen photos sent for the manufacture of the Kiran Mk II HJT-16. For my fellow aviation enthusiasts.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I was inspired by your purchase and as I was passing through the new terminal in Mumbai last night I picked up an Iberia MD-87 Hogan 1:200 diecast and then on impulse a MD-11 Lufthansa Cargo plastic model too. Photos will follow.

Happy to have inspired your purchase, you have done business with them and would relate to them closely. Could you message me the prices? Wondering if they are close to the ones in the US.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Agree with you on the one sidedness or s-t-r-e-t-c-h in a lot of sources. Some are very maturely written but most on the net is a repetition. If you go through the net you will rarely see the truth about the English Electric Lighting for example and only limited data and praise on the Yak-3 and Yak-9 of WW2 fame. I have made writing on Wikipedia at least on Indian aviation and warships one of my hobbies now.

One of the common themes is attribute losses due to accidents or ground fire and never to enemy aircraft. An heavily damaged F-4 after combat with Migs that crashes is lost due to "crash landing" or "pilot error". During the Korean war the US claimed a 10:1 kill ratio. Many years later data showed the US shot down more Migs then the total ever present in Korea! Later analysis showed the ratio was at best 2:1. I wonder how many US "Aces" returned their awards?

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

One of the dozen photos sent for the manufacture of the Kiran Mk II HJT-16. For my fellow aviation enthusiasts.

Perhaps you can ask HAL for the original drawings, they probably would give them to you after you tell them your good intentions

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I was inspired by your purchase and as I was passing through the new terminal in Mumbai last night I picked up an Iberia MD-87 Hogan 1:200 diecast and then on impulse a MD-11 Lufthansa Cargo plastic model too. Photos will follow.

The Hogan Iberia DC-8 is a -63. I've heard that the Hogan diecast metal MD-87 is quite beautiful, very close in detail and quality to the Air NZ All Blacks and Scandinavian Hogan metal A320s.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Sadly they don't have an icon on '....and then he fainted...' THUD ;-)

Hahaha. Yeah, well i would love too see an IAF Hunter F.56 and an IAF MiG-21FL in tiger stripes camo flanking them as well. I shall make a dedicated display box for those four and title it 'Adversaries'. But i know chances of thst happening are one in a million.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

In 1944 the CIA parachuted a doctor into the jungles to save Ho Chi Minh's life who was deathly ill!! But Truman saw things in cold war terms and not as a Asian country trying to throw off France's colonial rule. He did not back Ho Chi Minh and paved the way for the French to re-occupy Indo-China.

Another big reason why politics is best left out of discussion...how politicians change colour and align as per their conveniences rather than principles.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

One of the dozen photos sent for the manufacture of the Kiran Mk II HJT-16. For my fellow aviation enthusiasts.

3-view drawings of most aircraft are available on airwar.ru. if need be, you can send them that for a detailed and accurate model. Your keen eye for detail and accuracy is well demonstrated in that pic.

By any chance, if you ever go for a custom made IAF MiG-25R or Canberra PR.57/67, the finflash on the vertical fin on them is reversed i.e the saffron of the finflash faces towards the cockpit. This was a very peculiar detail on IAF's recon birds. In all other IAF aircraft,the finflash was 'correctly painted' i.e. the green part faces towards the cockpit.

[V.Narayan]

First....IL-76MD IAF; 1:500

Tiny model about 3 inches in length and with a wingspan of 4 inches

I normally stay away from 1:500 due to size and weaker quality but this was a rare find. I think one other BHPian too has this. How I wish we one day have a IAF IL-76 in 1:200. Great aircraft in their time. Uptime got hampered by lack of spares from Russia in later years. The Russia we deal with today is not to be confused with the nostalgia for the USSR of yesterday




With the IAF, excellent rough field capability. Note how the engines are close together and more inboard than say a B707. This is to ensure the engine efflux goes straight to the giant double slotted flaps to raise lift and give it a steep descent when landing. Compare the engine spacing with the An-124 below, for example, which is not designed for STOL ops.

Second....IL-96-300; 1:400 scale; diecast

Model length about 5 inches and wingspan about 6 inches

A decent model but not of the best heart stirring detail. Took it 'cos Russian models are hard to get. The IL-96 is a beautiful looking aircraft but sadly will remain relegated to the background as Russia of today simply cannot muster the resources to compete with Boeing & Airbus. Alas.





And finally.....(sound of drums rolling & bugles blowing) the An-124 Ruslan; 1:400, diecast

Length and wingspan both around 7 inches

Some fun factoids :-

Maximum Payload 230,000 kgs
Normal MTOW 405,000 kgs; modified one-off's have taken off with 455,000 kgs
World record for a non-stop flight of 20, 151 kms in 1987 (since exceeded by other aircrafts)
Has transported most if not all metro rail carriages to Indian cities. Because of this the An-124 can be spotted in those Indian cities undergoing metro rail projects.


Note shoulders where the wing mates with the airframe. Wing kept high (as in the IL-76 to allow a clear straight through cargo hold beneath the wing structure.




Note 4 nose wheels


Livery celebrating the 20th anniversary of Volga Dnepr company


The trio...


In real life...


Kneeling down with nose open for large cargo loading

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

First....IL-76MD IAF; 1:500

That Gajraj is a very rare model. Congratulations on these great additions to your fleet. It has good amount of detailing. Really like the fact that they got the hindi font type right on the model.

Are the tail guns modelled? Probably it won't matter because upgraded IAF IL-76s got rid of the tail guns and tail gunner cabin completely.

I believe there were metal scale models of other IAF transports in 1/200 scale long ago.... an IAF C-119G with dorsal Orpheus jet engine J-39 pod modelled and a DHC-4 in IAF dark green livery.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

And finally.....(sound of drums rolling & bugles blowing) the An-124 Ruslan; 1:400, diecast

This is a very beautiful looking model of the An-124. If i may suggest, try looking for a model of its gigantic elder sister....the Mriya.