I spoke with Bob Carlsen today to make sure I had all the correct information before I began the build. Byron Hukee was also a tremendous help in getting great info on the A-1, and providing some amazing reference photos. Bob was active duty Air Force for 9 1/2 years. After pilot training for the A-1, he attended jungle survival school in the Philippines. He arrived in Vietnam July 1971. After Inprocessing, he was assigned to Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai AFB, Thailand as part of a search and rescue team.
The Skyraiders would go out with the Jolly Green Giants to rescue downed pilots. Bob left Vietnam in December of 1972. In his time there, he was awarded 8 Distinguished Flying Cross’s, with V device, and 3 Silver Stars.
He told me that there were pilots that got more than him. He attained the rank of LTC. After his time in service, he flew for UPS.
He is a very humble man. He has given me permission to post these photos of him, and his plane. The decals are complete. I’m waiting for the last of the aftermarket items to arrive.
Just about everything has arrived. After the remaining parts are cleaned up, everything will be primed. The engine will take the longest to build. Trumpeter did a pretty good job on designing it. I’ve purchased the Eduard detail set to dress it up.
.Man Chris, this is going to be one heckofa build and I going to be following this!
I had a few opportunities to build for pilots/aircrew and I tell ya what, that’s the best feeling ever and quite an experience!!
Happy Modeling,
Mike
Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I love a good Skyraider build, especially a SOC/SAR bird.
What an excellent build idea/tribute for this man and the important missions that he flew.
You just gotta love the “Sandys!” I am still on the lookout for the Air Force version of this kit since I have the other 1/32 Trumpeter kits.(Korean War and U.S. Navy)
Thanks guys. I want this build to be all about him. He absolutely deserves all the attention. Some more photos Bob provided.
cBowling, have you read the book “Cheating Death?” It’s about SAR missions during the Vietnam War.
No sir, but I’ll definitely put it on my reading list. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Those are some great reference photos
I’ve finally tackled the cockpit. The fuselage is now ready to be closed up. I used Aires Cockpit Set to update the seat, and ejection system under the canopy. I used Quinta studios decals for the instrument panels. The seat itself took the longest. The photo etched seatbelts were a bit of a challenge. I had to keep the original cockpit hood. I removed the gauges on the top of the Aries hood, and transfer them over to the original Trumpeter hood.
The propeller is from Barracuda Studios. I didn’t go into too much detail on the firewall. Once the fuselage is closed up, you won’t see it anyways. I hope to get the fuselage closed up this weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend!
The detail is amazing!
Getting ready to close up the fuselage. You have to manipulate the cockpit and engine assembly quite a bit to get it to fit. I was worried about the engine exhaust pipes breaking off in the process. I have to give it to Trumpeter on this one. They did a really good job designing this aspect of the built. I did a test fit of the other half, and was surprised how well everything lined up.
