[Foxbat]

Not my work but found this on YouTube: Detailed assembly of a very complicated 1/48 Su-30MKI kit:

https://youtu.be/DtjK1Db9r_E?si=oTVoqGFyXwioYjX2

[FrozeninTime]

The Emperor has landed!
AIR INDIA BOEING 747-200 VT EBD

[Foxbat]

Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. (Korean: 주식회사 대한항공; Hanja: 株式會社 大韓航空; RR: Jusikhoesa Daehan Hanggong), operating as Korean Air, is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations, and international flights. It is owned by the Hanjin Group.

The present-day Korean Air traces its history to March 1, 1969 when Hanjin acquired government-owned Korean Air Lines, which had operated since June 1962.[4] Korean Air is a founding member of SkyTeam alliance and SkyTeam Cargo. It is one of the 10 airlines ranked 5-star airline, and the top 20 airlines in the world in terms of passengers carried and is also one of the top-ranked international cargo airlines.

Korean Air's international passenger division and related subsidiary cargo division together serve 126 cities in 44 countries. Its domestic division serves 13 destinations. The airline's global headquarters is located in Seoul, South Korea.

Korean Air became the 11th customer for the Airbus A380, signing an order for five aircraft and three options in 2003.

1/400 Korean Air Airbus A380-861 HL7622











The real aircraft A380 serial HL7622





Back in 2018 I had the opportunity to fly to from Delhi to San Francisco with a stop over in Incheon (main airport next to Seoul, South Korea) on Korean Air. The service was top notch and the flight steward actually bowed in front of each passenger just before landing which I thought was nice local touch. I saw one passenger being helped to take off their shoes and put on socks given by the airline which was bit over the top!

Best part was that I had a 10-12 hour layover in Incheon and the Korean government gave a free 30 day visa on arrival in about 40 seconds looking at my boarding pass for my next flight. On top of this Korean Air provided a free city tour of Seoul and long with lunch during the layover. This was memorable and unexpected trip which I will always be thankful for.

Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, one of the landmarks we visited.



A crowded street in Seoul.



An A380 parked at Incheon International airport.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

1/400 Korean Air Airbus A380-861 HL7622

Beautiful model and nice photos as well!! Congratulations.

[skanchan95]

1:72 Grumman F-14B Bu No. 162912 US Navy VF-11 "Red Rippers", AA101, Last F-14 Cruise 2005(JC Wings)

VF-11's Tomcats were the first to drop JDAM bombs from F-14s in combat on 11 March 2002 during Operation Enduring Freedom.

During the VF-11's final Tomcat deployment aboard the USS George Washington in 2005, the CAG and CO aircraft both wore high visibility paint schemes with some eye-catching nose art. Since the retirement of the F-14 also meant the retirement of the long-range AIM-54 Phoenix Missile, the nose art depicted a Tomcat perched atop an AIM-54 with the title "Thanks for the Ride! 1980-2005" (1980-2005 was the time period in whcih VF-11 operated the Tomcat).

VF-11 became VFA-11 after transitioning to the F/A-18F Super Hornet in late 2005.





















Nose art that depicts a Tomcat perched on top an angry AIM-54 with the title "Thanks for the Ride! 1980-2005


















BOMBCAT!!!! 2 X GBU-31 JDAMS & GBU-12 LGBs, 1X AIM-54C Phoenix, 2 X AIM-9M Sidewinders, 1 X LANTIRN pod, 2 X 1000L F-14 drop tanks

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:72 Grumman F-14B Bu No. 162912 US Navy VF-11 "Red Rippers", AA101, Last F-14 Cruise 2005(JC Wings)

I think the most detailed Tomcat in your collection, congratulations ! It looks almost like a assembled model from a plastic kit. There seems to be hints of weathering on some parts of aircraft.

[skanchan95]

1:100 Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk 85-0835 "The Gray Dragon", 53rd Test and Evaluation Detachment, 53rd Wing, United States Air Force, Holloman AFB 2004

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft that was developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The F-117 was based on the Have Blue technology demonstrator. It was the first operational aircraft explicitly designed around stealth technology.

With no afterburners and a shape designed to deflect radar signals, the F-117 is subsonic but effective. It has an automated planning system, sophisticated navigation and infrared target acquisition. However, massive sacrifices were made on the F-117 to be stealthy. That shape was not aerodynamic and weird. The weird shape of the F-117 was only used because, at the time of design, it was the only way to achieve stealth. As a result, it lacked speed, manoeuvrability and had stability issues. It was unable to fly supersonic and would fall out of the sky in a dog-fight with an interceptor. It also limited the effectiveness of its stealth because it was highly wavelength-dependent. That’s how the Serbians managed to shoot one down during Operation Allied Force. They adjusted the wavelengths of their radar sets and got enough of a return that they could launch their missiles.

The Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft to be designed around stealth technology. Its maiden flight took place in 1981 at Groom Lake, Nevada, and the aircraft achieved initial operating capability status in 1983. The Nighthawk was shrouded in secrecy until it was revealed to the public in 1988. Of the 64 F-117s built, 59 were production versions, with the other five being prototypes.

F-117 in Combat
The F-117 was widely publicized for its role in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 but its combat debut was in Panama during the United States invasion of Panama in 1989.

The F-117 again went into action during Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991 when the 415th Sqdn "Nightstalkers" and the 416th Sqdn "Ghostriders" of the 37th TFW moved to a base in Saudi Arabia.

On Jan. 16, 1991,Operation Desert Storm commenced with the largest aerial bombardment in the history of modern warfare. During the first night of bombing against targets in Iraq and Kuwait, there were over 1,000 sorties. That is equal to all the sorties flown during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day.

The first manned USAF aircraft to fly into hostile Iraqi airspace were the F-117As of the 37th TFW. At approximately 01:30 on 17 January, two squadrons of F-117As dropped approximately sixty 2,000 pound bombs on key Iraqi air defense, command and control facilities, ammunition bunkers, SCUD surface-to-surface missile bunkers, missile storage facilities, and the headquarters of the Iraqi Air Force.

the F-117As flew some 1,271 sorties during the war, or about one per cent of the total sorties flown (110,000) by Allied Air Forces, with a success rate of 80%. The F-117As attacked thirty-one percent of all targets struck during the first twenty-four hours of the war, and were the only aircraft involved in attacks on heavily defended targets in and around Baghdad on the first night of the war.

It was an F-117A that dropped the first bomb of the war, attacking a telecommunications center in Baghdad. The F-117 was the only U.S. or coalition aircraft to strike targets in downtown Baghdad.

In Operation Desert Storm, the Saudi Arabians named the F-117 as "Shaba” Arabic for "Ghost."

Although it was commonly referred to as the "Stealth Fighter", it was strictly a ground-attack aircraft. F-117s took part in the conflict in Yugoslavia, where one was shot down by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) in 1999(F-117A 82-0806 "Something Wicked", callsign "Vega 31", flown by Lt. Col. Darrell Patrick "Dale" Zelko); it was the only Nighthawk to be lost in combat. The U.S. Air Force retired the F-117 in 2008, primarily due to the fielding of the F-22 Raptor.


F-117A 85-0835 "The Dragon" becomes "The Gray Dragon"
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk 85-0835 "The Dragon" first flew on June 30th, 1988. During the Gulf War, 0835 carried out twenty six combat missions with the 416th TFS "Ghostriders".

During the development of the F-117, the Skunk Works (the Lockheed legendary division that designed secret aircraft) found that to evade visual detection the best solution was a paint scheme in different shades of gray.But since the F-117 had to fly only night missions, the U.S. Air Force stated that the Nighthawks had to be painted in black.

In 2003, 0835 was painted all gray; hence the Gray Dragon, for testing the effectiveness of color other than black, with the task to determine if the aircraft could play a role in daytime missions. The standard F-117 black scheme helped stealth at night but was poor in sun light so 0835 was flown twice daily to test the 24 hour stealth presence. Before any conclusion had been reached, the Nighthawk fleet was retired.

Flying two missions every day on the Gray Dragon, the pilots were able to determine their daytime capabilities and limitations.

The new kind of coat proved immediately that the “classic” black paint scheme wouldn’t be good during daylight operations. During the tests “The Gray Dragon” was also upgraded with new software and hardware; furthermore the new paints were evaluated by measuring the impact that the gray had on the maintenance.

All these trials were necessary to provide an accurate evaluation of the daytime operations with the gray paint scheme, to ensure a 24-hour stealth presence above the future battlefields.

However, despite the good results of the trials, “The Dragon” would have been the only F-117 painted in gray. In fact, in 2005 when the USAF had to take a decision about repainting in gray the entire fleet , it was decided to retire all the Nighthawks.

The F-117A was officially retired from USAF service on April 22, 2008, withdrawn prematurely to release funding for the F-22 programme.However, 5-6 F-117s were briefly retained by the 410th Flight Test Squadron at Palmdale for flight test duties, the last of them (‘831’) being retired to Tonopah on August 11, 2008. And that should have been that.

Most of the F-117s were then placed in inviolate ‘Type 1000’ storage, maintained “in a condition that would allow recall of that aircraft to future service”. They were stored in their original climate-controlled hangars at the Tonopah Test Range Airport, with their wings removed to allow multiple aircraft to be cocooned five to a hangar at Tonopah. These hangars had been built as single-aircraft shelters.

F-117s had been spotted flying periodically from 2014, perhaps merely to keep them in the condition required by the congressional mandate that demanded the possibility of a “recall of that aircraft to future service”. Press enquiries attracted the response: “The Air Force retired the F-117 from active service, but pilots from the Air Force Test Center still fly them for limited research activities.”. F-117s continued t oshow up at Red FLag Exercises and otehr exercises as recently as May 2023, clearly meaning that the F-117As continue toeb used as LO (stealthy) aggressors (as well as for continuing research and development work) and will cotinue to fly in the years to come.

[skanchan95]

1:43 M4A3(76)W Sherman Medium Tank "Thunderbolt IV" Lt Col. Creighton Abrams, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, Bastogne, Belgium, December 1944

The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. The tank was named by the British for the American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman.


The M4 Sherman was regarded as the workhorse of the US Army during World War II. In fact, virtually all of the Allied armies employed the Sherman in their armed forces, including the British, who developed an upgunned variant called the "Firefly". Eleven different US plants manufactured six basic models of the Sherman, and by June 1944 over 49,234 battle-ready vehicles had been produced. While it was no match for the German Panther or Tiger tanks, the Sherman soldiered on, using its weight in numbers to wrest control of Europe from the Wehrmacht.

After World War II, the Sherman, particularly the many improved and upgraded versions, continued to see combat service in many conflicts around the world, including the UN forces in the Korean War, with Israel in the Arab–Israeli wars, briefly with South Vietnam in the Vietnam War, and on both sides of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and 1971.

Thunderbolt IV
This particular 1:43 scale replica of an US M4A3 Sherman medium tank, equipped with a 76 mm main gun, was commanded by then Lt Col Creighton Abrams and nicknamed "Thunderbolt IV"(as each of the personal tanks he commanded were named, which was attached to the 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, then deployed to Bastogne during December 1944. The modern M1 Abrams tank was named after General Creighton Abrams.

On the morning of December 26th, 1944, as part of a concerted effort to relieve the 101st Airborne ("Screaming Eagles") defending the all-important crossroads town of Bastogne, the 4th Armored Division's ("Breakthrough") Combat Command Reserve (CCR) was ordered by Division HQ to link up with Combat Command B (CCB), which was still fighting for the town of Chaumont in southeast Belgium. Colonel Wendell Blanchard, commander of CCR, called together Lt. Colonel Creighton Abrams of the 37th Tank Battalion, and Lt. Colonel George L. Jaques of the 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion. He told them to attack and seize the village of Chaumont, which was just 3 miles from Bastogne. From there, they were to advance in earnest up the main road, break through the German cordon, and make contact with the beleaguered 101st, which was rapidly running out of ammunition.

After capturing Chaumont, the two commanders initially planned to attack the town of Sibret, but because it was so heavily defended, they instead chose to assault the nearby village of Assenois, which was located on a secondary road but still provided access to Bastogne. With artillery firing in support, the leading element of CCR, comprised of three Shermans followed by a halftrack full of infantry, then two more Shermans, stormed the village. Abrams' tanks blasted their way through the obstacles, while dismounted infantry mopped up the remaining strongpoints. After eliminating several enemy soldiers laying Teller mines along the road, Abrams command linked up with elements of the 101st at 1700 hours. The siege had been lifted and with it came the collapse of Hitler's "Wacht am Rhein" operation.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:72 Grumman F-14B Bu No. 162912 US Navy VF-11 "Red Rippers", AA101, Last F-14 Cruise 2005(JC Wings)

As Foxbat said this is probably the most detailed F-14 you have. Have you collected each squadron of F-14s now?

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:100 Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk 85-0835 "The Gray Dragon", 53rd Test and Evaluation Detachment, 53rd Wing, United States Air Force, Holloman AFB 2004

Gosh. 40 + years after it first flew this aircraft still looks so star wars like!! Great catch.

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:43 M4A3(76)W Sherman Medium Tank "Thunderbolt IV" Lt Col. Creighton Abrams, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, Bastogne, Belgium, December 1944

Congratulations on this excellently crafted piece. everytime you post a tank I start wondering if I should start a tank collection not withstanding my lack of shelf space! I think this officer was the one after whom the M1 Abrams tank was named.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

As Foxbat said this is probably the most detailed F-14 you have.

I always felt that the Calibre Wings F-14s are the most detailed and closest to the real thing. JC F-14 comes next followed by HM & Century Wings.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Have you collected each squadron of F-14s now?

I will go bankrupt if I attempt to do that, considering the number of US Navy squadrons that operated the Tomcat and that too in some incredibly flashy liveries.

Here's a list of Tomcats I have in my collection:
1:72
US Navy
F-14A 162603 NE103 VF-1 "Wolfpack" Mi-8 Killer, 1991 (HM)
F-14B 163227 AG200 VF-11 "Red Rippers" (Easy Model)
F-14B 162912 AA101 VF-11 "Red Rippers" (JC)
F-14A 160406 AJ207 VF-84 "Jolly Rogers" 1986 (HM)
F-14B 162926 AG143 VF-143 "Pukin' Dogs" (Easy Model)

<Semi-fictional>
F-14A 160681 104 VFA-213 "Iceman/Slider" Top Gun(Calibre)
F-14A 160694 114 VF-1 "Maverick/Merlin" Top Gun(Calibre)
F-14A 160665 114 VF-1 "Maverick/Goose" Top Gun(Calibre)

IRIAF
F-14A 3-6079/160377 82nd TFS(Calibre)
F-14A 3-6045/160347 82nd TFS(JC)

1:144
F-14A 160393 AJ200 VF-84 "Jolly Rogers", 1979 (JC)

1:100
F-14A 163894 NE100 VF-2 "Bounty Hunters" (Unknown)

1:200 - all Hogan Wings
US Navy
F-14A VF-1
F-14D VF-2
F-14D VF-31
F-14A VF-111
F-14A VF-154
F-14A NSAWC

IRIAF
F-14A Desert/Asia Minor Scheme
F-14A Two tone Blue scheme

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I think this officer was the one after whom the M1 Abrams tank was named.

Yes, the same man- General Creighton Williams “Abe” Abrams Jr, for whom General Patton had famously remarked during WW2 - “I’m supposed to be the best tank commander in the Army, but I have one peer, Abe Abrams. He’s the world champion.”

After WWII, Abrams went on to command all US forces in Vietnam and was later appointed the Chief of Staff of the US Army. An avid lover of cigars, Abrams died of lung cancer in 1974.

[Jeroen]

Love the F14 and F117 models. Really neat!

I have only come across a F117 once on an airshows. My two sons when little were absolutely fascinated by it. Matchbox made a series of metal toy planes in those day, including a black F117. The Matchbox model was not well modellen, it looked even more boxy and square lined than the real McCoy. My boys always called it the bat plane.

I have only come across one during an airshows. Fascinating plane.

Jeroen

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:100 Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk 85-0835 "The Gray Dragon", 53rd Test and Evaluation Detachment, 53rd Wing, United States Air Force, Holloman AFB 2004

Great model with an interesting livery. Coincidentally I was about to buy this same model when I was buying the Korean Air A380 but then decided not to because I have no other military aircraft in the odd 1:100 scale.

Originally Posted by skanchan95

F-117s took part in the conflict in Yugoslavia, where one was shot down by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) in 1999(F-117A 82-0806 "Something Wicked", callsign "Vega 31", flown by Lt. Col. Darrell Patrick "Dale" Zelko); it was the only Nighthawk to be lost in combat.

A lesser known fact is another F-117 was damaged by this same SAM battery and probably written off. The same SAM battery also shot down a F-16. Here is a video summary of the incident, a great story how against all odds an obsolete SAM battery shot down on of the most advanced aircraft at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is3R4ie21Mc

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

A lesser known fact is another F-117 was damaged by this same SAM battery and probably written off. The same SAM battery also shot down a F-16. Here is a video summary of the incident, a great story how against all odds an obsolete SAM battery shot down on of the most advanced aircraft at the time.

Hear warming part of the story is that the Nighthawk pilot & the Yugoslav(Serbian) SA-3 battery commander - opponents became friends later

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

After watching many videos online I have started scratch building details from common household materials. This kit (like many others) did not come with a pilot so I ordered one online (complete rip off but I could not find a better option).

Attachment 2510779


I painted it in IAF colours including the brown hands
The seat belts are thin pieces of tape(about 1-2mm wide) painted and glued on the pilot. The pilot did not come with a oxygen tube so I took two pieces of thread and painted it black and joined them together.

Attachment 2510781

Attachment 2510780

Any guesses for this aircraft? This is how the cockpit appeared in the 1980s- early 2000s probably.

Almost complete, here is a teaser



Weathering and decals remain. Spent many hours filling the gaps, sanding and painting multiple times due to the ill fitting kit.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Almost complete, here is a teaser

Attachment 2525225

Weathering and decals remain. Spent many hours filling the gaps, sanding and painting multiple times due to the ill fitting kit.

Clearly another Foxbat classic is about to emerge.