Clunkmeister

Like the vast majority of gunship and strafer shoot downs over the target, it all started with a blown approach due to weather. Hindsight is 20/20, but a steep turn at altitude dictated by lack of viz blows their surprise and the gunners are wide awake. Strafing by bombers was always incredibly successful and devastating, IF they came in low, fast, and with every single gun blazing, dropped 250 lb bombs with delay fuses, they more often than not would never need to return. Ever. But cruising around up high to stay out of the soup and then looking for a break in the cloud, always ended up with at least one kite getting shot to crap. I highly recommend reading “Air Apaches”. It’s a true history of the 345th BG in the PTO. “Warpath across the Pacific “ is as good also. They’ll curdle your blood when you read how, almost every time there were casualties on target, bad approaches started it happening. The 612th and 613th had 3 years of AAF Ops doctrine to guide them, which they usually used

Hey Carl, that text looks awesome and may answer all my questions, but favor time… I know it might be a pain, but is there anyway you could scan or copy those pages flat so I could easily read them? You can PM me or email me if you wish. Post them if you’re comfortable. And, do they have any pics of the light installations as well? This is gold mine quality info here.

Thanks for that, Martin! Thank you again so much.

Craziness. Bureaucracy working its magic.

That IS odd. You could darn near get a group order together and one guy do a day trip to the Company itself.

What’s amazing is how crews with these gunships and strafers would turn into attacking Japanese aircraft and willingly mix it up. They were quite effective. In a head on attack, an attacker would be overwhelmingly outgunned.

Here’s a couple pics of her and of the witness reports with crew disposition, courtesy of Pacific Wrecks. It can be very hard to read.

In Feb, 1945, Love Bug went in hard after being hit by concentrated ground fire from a single Japanese defensive placement while clearing the target on Ponape. They had no chance, as was stated by all who witnessed it. After crashing and exploding, a single 500lb bomb detonated onboard. The wreck was cordoned off by Japanese defenders, the crew removed and buried together in a marked grave that read “to the brave American fliers”. Any remaining bombs were defused at the scene and the parts left in place. The wreck is all but unrecognizable as a PBJ. As a result, to honor this ship and her crew, I will change the load to four 500lb GP bombs.

It’s actually a Profimodeler set. Or should I say, several sets. You can buy them direct or from Hannants.

A test fit of the aileron along the bottom shows a decent fit. Although the Profi Rad one didn’t provide for the edge, i will add a small piece on the trailing edge of the redone to match the aileron

Wingtips are always the first thing wiped out by a pilot. By a measure of about 1000 to 1. That’s why they are always removable and stocked by the dozens by any decent parts house. Tips or vertical surface are a distant second.

Yes. Cabin heaters and waist windows were removed by the VMB-613 in the field. 613 was apparently the only Marine unit to operate the gunship. Removing all unneeded weight allowed precious extra gasoline for long missions overwater.

No going back to make it an Army bird now.

I hope so too, Rob. They were required on all Allied aircraft, and even the Marines would have wanted them. VMB-613 and the 345th bomb group might have been better off putting them on the topside of their aircraft, being that they literally flew at wave or treetop height to avoid attacks from below

When the wingtip section was removed to mount the wingtip radar pod, where were the three recognition lights relocated to? Early B-25s had them in the lower fuselage ahead of the bomb bay, but they were located to the starboard wingtip starting with the H. Did the Marines eliminate them altogether, or did the put them elsewhere? The obvious place would be the lower fuselage behind the bomb bay like the A-20, but I can’t find any clear enough pictures.

LSP I think is where I saw. I will verify with Eduard. I had saved it but can’t find it right now. so I’ll post when I find it

They are too large a diameter, but Eduard is sending the main tires with the correct ones to those who let them know. Yes, it’s too late for my completed A-20, but hopefully others will benefit.

That’s ok. I’m on my way to burn mine.

Great choice Mike, and I’m curious to see how you approach the canopy fit. I have this kit in my stash somewhere and just didn’t want to deal with the issues in such an itty bitty scale

A bit of an update. Some basic interior frames done. Sorry for the darkness. It’ll get some lightening washes, dust, wear, and wiring. Every single solitary bit of which will be forever invisible in a week from now.

That’s looking amazing, Phil. Dang! Just wow, man!

What I like about the Vegan is that JetMads decided to be somewhat conservative, and therefore safe regarding their approach here. The entire exterior is cast resin, with everything else printed. I’m the exact opposite of Gus: I love working in resin, but somewhat less so in 3D print. The fragility of the parts is my number one reason. Resin is tough, 3D, at least to me, crumbles if I look at it wrong, like this:

looks green to me, but not as much as 76

Either that or use RLM76 But it's easy to doctor up some IJN green to make a really decent looking bronze green