Monogram F9F-5P. Pix/story to follow

[Daryl J.]

After sanding down the Fokker, this kit is being rescribed prior to build up.     The plastic is pretty soft which is proving to be both a blessing and a curse.   LoL.   I don't plan on rescribing the lower wing and some detail on the fuselage but most of it is going to be redone.     

Oh....my boy built his 1/72 Snap Tite Tomcat someone gave him at the museum today while I was pursing this GB.    It made for very good times together.     We didn't need to spend all day together on the Columbia getting skunked while fishing for salmon like most of my family do, repeatedly frustrating themselves.     

This machine is going to be based in Marrakech, Morocco in the mid 1950's.    Dad was there, was recruited by the OSI while there, and talks often of what North Africa was like.    He's more than happy he refused to take the course offered him but the backstory involved for this machine will be based off some of his experiences the USAF gave him between 1953 and 1956.    And, since the Panther was USMC.....heh heh heh.   


Like with the Eduard D.VII, pix to follow later.    It's dinner time and the kids need their Sat. night showers.   
,
Daryl J., heading upstairs to cook some lamb with the lovely Mrs. J.

[Daryl J.]

Preliminary picture to qualify it.   Quality of camera operator?   <---

[Daryl J.]

The real stuff:

Dad tells of being recruited by the OSI when he was serving the USAF at Ben Guerir near Marrakech, Morocco during the summer of 1955, a role which he refused.   The book ''Legerdemain, the President, the Bomb, and what the French Didn't Know'' is apparently involving the same air base during the time he was there and is on order from a major online purveyor; it has yet to arrive but could be a source of relevant backstory information.    

Additionally, dad helped service a small group of B-29's in Kadena, Okinawa that had every last serial number removed, flown by civilian-clothed men whose garments even had the tags removed, and were painted overall black rather than the Korean War era black undersurfaces and sides.   For what it's worth, I am very curious to know if it were iron ball paint.    Apparently, the Superfortresses flew leaflet missions into mainland China although information on these aircraft and missions has eluded me and dad won't say anything more than that other than they lost a B-29 one night right before he transferred back to Mountain Home AFB.   The newspapers reported a B-29 had been ''lost on a routine training mission over the Sea of Japan.''    It had been nowhere's close to the Sea of Japan if dad had been told correctly.    The B-29's were known on the base as ''The Ba$t@rd  Squadron.''

And to make it just a bit more real, here's dad 55+ years later:



USAF, 1953-56, 9th Bombardment Wing, SAC


So:

The F9F-5P will be an Kadena-esque, anonymous, N. Africa-based machine suitably painted in desert colors.    Obviously, it will be reconnaissance based machine playing a role in a much larger story.  While the Panther was Navy/USMC, that role will be now obsolete in this fictional piece, especially since it is in a post-Korean Conflict time frame.   I may put dad into the backstory.    

13 Mar:   Upper wings, horizontal stabs, port fuselage half rescribed.   Tedious!    But not overly so.    I do miss the old time Made in the USA Monogram plastic, however, as it rescribes much easier.   This made in China stuff is a bit too doughy for rescribing.  

[Taiidantomcat]

Really great stuff Daryl! 

[Luis Almeida]

Very nice!

More photos, please