I’m looking for some help in finding a kit of the C-7a caribou and decals for the 483rd TAW. My father in-law served with the 483rd in cam run bay(I know it’s spelled wrong). I’d like to build him a plane as a gift, hobby craft made a kit but I cant find one for sale, didint look hard, figured someone here could steer me in the right direction. I dont know if there are aftermarket decals out there. Here’s a link to show info on the plane. I’ve a little research.
I don’t know about the markings, but Hobbycraft has released two 1/72 kits of the Caribou. The one I have is in UN markings and the other I think is in U S Army markings. It has been a few years since it has been issued but looks like a pretty good kit to me. The kit I have is HC1343.
Here’s a guy selling a 1/72. Have no idea about the reliability of the site.
http://www.toytrainheaven.com/.sc/ms/cat/Millitary--Hobbycraft/
I just read ( and I cant remember where) that someone just re-reliest a resin one. But its pricy, around $150 i think…Harv
Thanks guys, $150 for a kit is more than I’m willing to spend, and I dont do resin anyway, thanks though.
Thanks for the link to the kit for sale, I’m gonna keep looking, maybe I can find it cheaper, then I gotta figure out decals.
I know your not interested in the resin kit but I figured that it would be of value to see what you get for the $$$. Here is a llink to the site that sells them with images of the kit:
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/ozmodsscales/Complete.html
It’s expensive but big! I own one of the older kits from here with out the new decals. I beleive the new decals provided are not realy worth it due to poor printing but they may have improved by now. The old ones are good but there are some better decals produced by an Australian company for RAAF versions, alas no American ones.
Thanks harv, but I wont be touching that, too expensive, plus I’ve never done a resin kit so I’d be to concern’d about screwing it up then being out money. The hobby craft kit will do just fine, cant find decals I’m needing but oh well. I want to build this for my father in-law, he was in the 483rd during vietnam and talks about it alot, so I figured he wants a plane, I build planes, I’ll find and build one for him. But I’m gonna have to wait now, some of ikes remnants came up here and caused power problems and half of my plant is out of power, the half I work in! So I’m out money till it’s fixed, gotta wait to get the kit.
Just checked, and Squadron Shop, Roll Models, and Great Models all have the 1/72 scale injection molded Caribou by HobbyCraft on their internet sites (just google the names above), apparently available to order, and for about $30.00+.
My local hobby shop, just outside of Chicago, has one on the shelf for about the same price.
Far as I know, there are no aftermarket U.S decal sheets for the 'Bou, but looking at the Hobbycraft kit reviews, the ‘Vietnamese’ version (# 1343) should contain decals for the 457 TAS, tail code ‘KA’. The 483th tail code was ‘KL’, so with a little mod of some stips of white decal, and maybe a change of tail numbers, there ya go.
Hope this was helpful.
Joe ( who is building the OzMods 1/48 'Bou. Slowly. Very Slowly.)
B17 Guy, perfectly understandable for not wanting one fo the 1/48 kits! Not just very expensive but it is a hard kit to make and it turns out very lare and takes up a lot of space. I have one that I bought a few years ago for the original price but it’s still unmade as I need to have a decent size place to put it and my moving all the time (am in the Army) is not good for something that large!
Hopefully you should be able to cobble the markings together for the aircraft you are after.
my dad was stationed at cam rahn bay with the 12tfw 558tfs he waorked on the f-4 c/d
joes…Actually you were very helpful. I’m gonna wait a bit to order the kit but I’ll get it. The only thing with your post I wonder about is what you said about the tail markings. The link in my original post shows a bunch of 483rd a/c from various squadrons, they have a K as the first letter on the tail, but the second letter is differant each one. I’m guessing from looking at the link again that KA= K being 483rd TAW and A being TAS, so KA identifies the the a/c’s wing and squadron. Every a/c in the link with the same KA, KC, KL, KN, is from the same squadron. Which will make decaling easier for me.
Harv…I’m not geting the because of the scale, no problem there as I only build in 48th scale anyway. I’m only doing this 72nd scale kit because I cant find a reasonably priced kit elsewhere, plus it’s going to my father in-law any way. The price and the fact that it’s a resin kit keep me from that.