Hi all,
Can you guys tell me which are the best kits of the F-100, F-5, F-4, A-6, A-7, F-102, F-104, F-105, and F-8? I am wanting to build as complete a collection as possible of aircraft used in Vietnam? By the way I try to build mostly in 1/48 scale.
In 1/48, I’d go with the following:
Revell/Monogram : F-100, A-6, F-102, F-105
Hasegawa: F-4, A-7, F-104, F-8
Classic Air Frames: F-5
Actually for some of these birds, there aren’t many kits to choose from.
Regards, Rick
Thanks Rick,
That helps out a bunch. Are these kits still pretty available?
All of the Hasegawa kits you should me able to get really easiy. Revell/Monogram the only one that I see around is just the F-102, so you might need to hunt around and look on ebay for the others. But you should find them if you look. I dont know about the classic Air Frames kit sorrry.
Hope this helps
They should be findable, but some of the Revell/Monogram kits may be hard to find. The A-6 is quite rare, but the EA-6 kit should be available. One thing about Revell/Monogram, if you wait a while, they will likely be reissued.
Regards, Rick
Revell recently re-released the F-105 and F-100 about a year or so ago so Ebay might have a few of them. I haven’t seen the A-6 in stores in a long time, though. Also, Revell released the HAsegawa F-4E under the Promodeler name, complete with parts for the early F-4E. The Hasegawa F-4E that is out there now is the late so depending on which E you want to do, choose the right one to save some work) Don’t forget the A-1 (Tamiya’s the best) and the A-37 Dragonfly (Revell) as well as the OV-1 Mohawk (Roden) and the OV-10 Bronco (Testors, although not a great kit it is cheap. Saw it at Hobbytown for $11)
Definitely don’t forget Hasegawa’s nice A-4 too!
For the F-104, you’ll need to hunt down a 104C model from Hasegawa (the old Monogram kit is just too long in the tooth), and add the appropriate decals, which aren’t that common for SEA Starfighters, since F-104’s went from quite colorful to very dull in Vietnam livery. The Zotz/Albratros sheet has very good markings for “Smoke II” during it’s turn in SEA.
Same with the F-102’s markings. From colorful to drab. But then, their role was even smaller than the Starfighter’s, and most accounts of the Vietnam air war mention them only as footnotes.
As for the Starfighter’s role, I’ve often wondered how it felt to be a grunt under fire and needing really close air support, and then finding out it was going to be delivered by an airplane that couldn’t even stay aloft if it was going less than 350 knots with a bomb load. Not a real confidence-builder, I’ll bet.
TOM
I picked up Hasegawa’s F-104C Vietnam from Hobby Link Japan a while back. I have not seen that particular issue since. It is in typical SEA camo, but is otherwise a rebox of the BMF F-104 they released. Sharksin, I need to check out that decal set. Is it BMF or camo?
I wasn’t aware that an F-104 even COULD carry a bomb load. What was it? One 250 pounder! LOL. FYI. The USAF lost 3 F-104C s in South East Asia. #56-0883 was lost on 20 Sept 1965 to Chinese Mig-19s when the pilot lost navigation equipment and overflew Hainan island. Two other Starfighters were lost to a mid air collision while searching for the pilot of the first one. #56-0911 and #57-0921. All three were part of the 479 TFW, 436 TFS out of Da Nang.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
Interesting way to lose 3 birds. Paul Chinnery’s Air War in Vietnam gives a list of the number of planes lost for each type and each branch of sevice and it says 14 F-104 (no subtypes given) were lost. I wonder if his includes “non-combat” losses?
There the
C-130/C-130 Gunship (Spooky)
C-123
C-47 (Puff the Magic Dragon)
Caribo (sp & C-??)
C-45
C-46
C-119
B-57
B-52
Just to mention a few that were also in Vietnam.
The C-7 Caribou is almost an essential, and it’s available only in 1/72, if I’m not mistaken, from Hobbycraft Canada. I never forget that haunting photo of the C-7 just as it’s hit by outgoing friendly artillary an the tail has just departed the aircraft. The moment is frozen, and you know there are men in there who are just realizing they are going to die. Like I said, it’s a haunting photo.
Jason, check the TwoBobs site, which will link you to the Zotz/Albatros site. “Smoke II” was in SEA camo, as were all the 104C’s that went to Vietnam, if I’m not mistaken. And yes, you could get a few bombs under those razor thin wings.
Back to the Starfighter sheet by the outstanding firm of Zotz/Albatross (the firm and its owner/founder, Eli Raphael, are based in Mexico City), you can make about twenty different Starfighters from various nations, but my favorite will always be Col. George Lavin’s outrageously colorful C model, which is included on this sheet.
And as for carrying weight, yes, it is strange that this very persnickety thoroughbred could haul iron. The Italians, after all, if I am not mistaken, flew them with both Sparrow missiles and bombs under the wings. The Sparrow was not a lightweight missile. Supposedly, that’s why the Italian license-built version was called F-104S, for Sparrow.
The CF-104D we operated at Combat Jets Museum came with underwing drop tanks to go with the tip tanks, but the added drag and weight of the full tanks just about exactly cancelled out any extra range you might have got from carrying the extra fuel. On cross-country flights the Starfighter was generally flown in a cruise-climb mode with tip tanks only.
TOM
Thanks for all of the info guys. I am not really into building the cargo planes, mainly because they are almost too big to display.
I will check that out, Tom
modelbuilder- definitely check out Chinnery’s Airwar in Vietnam. His first name was Phillip, not Paul as I stated above. Barnes and Nobles has it in the out of print section fro $5. A great hardback book with lots of color and B/W pics
If you are going to do jets. don’t forget the RA-5C. They were flying most of the recon missions for the Navy during Vietnam. It wasn’t untill later on in the war that the RF-8 arrived in sufficient quantities to take over the recon roll.
Another jet was the F-111A. It didn’t fly combat untill late in the war.
Those are om my list to build Berny, but thanks for the input. Hey maybe you ( or anyone for that matter) can answer a question for me. I have a list of aircraft used during Vietnam and it lists the F14 Tomcat, Was it an operational aircraft during the war or is this a type-o?
The F-14 did not see any action in Vietnam. The only time it was involved was the last two days prior the fall of South Vietnam, the F-14 flew top cover for the evacuation of Americans from Saigon. The NVAF made no attempt to send aircraft after American or friendly aircraft evacuating the country. Records indicate the Tomcats kept “Feet wet” and never penentrated Vietnam air space.
Thanks for the clarification Berny
There is an Australian 1/48 scale Caribou (which did fly in Vietnam) available through Ozmods, I think.