Administrators Fran Posted January 24 Administrators Posted January 24 1:48 Nahkon Phanon Air Base Set ICM Catalogue number DS4804 Price: around 69,40€ (at ArtScale Kit) Nahkon Phanon Air Base, a U.S. Military base in Thailand. At Nakhon Phanom the mighty Mekong River slices through the heart of the unified tribal cultures of the Mekong River Valley People forming today the current modern border between the countries of Thailand and Laos. Situated in extreme Northeast Thailand, known as Isan, Nakhon Phanom is adjacent to the central Laotion town of Thakhet which means “foreigner crossing” in Lao. Nakhon Phanom “The City of Hills” was affectionately known as “Naked Fanny” or NKP by the Americans and refered to as the “End of the line at the edge of the world.” To see a lot more of this base, check this site: https://sogsite.com/nakhon-phanom/ ICM Models often makes combo kits sets with several ICM model kit in a single box giving a better price option to the modeller. This set is a very well packed one with a B-26K, an O-2 Skymaster, and several sets, like U.S. Armament set, a figure set and a landing mat, giving every thing that the modeler needs to represent the Nahkon Phanon base. So let´s crack the big box. And the first thing is: Well, that`s a lot of plastic and fun!! It`s is an impressive combo. There are 196 parts for O-2 Skymaster, 344 parts for B-26K Counter Invader, 88 parts for US Aviation Armament, 38 parts for five figurines and 128 parts for M8A1 landing mat. And this set is really is a mix of all, as you get instructions for each set and kit. There`s not a unique booklet but one for each. All this were already release by ICM in the past individually. In an overload loo, the grey plastic is typical for ICM with very good subtle surface details. The B-26K is a recent tooling from ICM, with parts for the -K, which includes new wings with pylon recesses underneath so that is why, there is lots of are not to being use, including two underwings. The B-26 is compose by fourteen sprues in grey styrene and one in clear. The panel lines are very crisp, narrow and restrained, not deep lines! The surface is very neat-looking, with plenty of engraved and raised features on the parts. Props come as one-piece parts. Such design should be easier to assemble, but a bit more tricky to paint. The clear parts, as usual, are in fact, clear This B-26 only has one decal sheets with the markings, some stencils and the instruments panels. The instruction booklet, which has painting profiles in colour on the rear pages. The schemes gives in the decals sheet are four options included, all in SEA (Light Green/Dark Green/Brown) topside with black undersides. 64-17651, ‘Mighty Mouse’ 56th Special Operations Wing, 609th Special Operations Sqn., Nakhon Phanom 1969 64-17649, ‘Sweet Therese’ Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), 1970 64-17645, 56th Special Operations Wing, 609th Special Operations Sqn., Nakhon Phanom 1969 64-17679, ‘Special Kay’ 1st Special Operations Wing, USAF Late 1960s. This aircraft has been restored and is the only B-26K currently flying. All the colours are ICM references and no other. Next we see O-2A Skymaster. The Skymaster is a little beautiful aircraft and ICM got their lines in perfection released in 2020. And this kit is exactly the one release in 2020 (even the instructions said model kit n.º 48290) and ICM have had the care to in this release add (DS4804) The Skymaster model only got 3 sprues. Sprue A with the tails tail booms, wings wheels and parts of engine and nose. The Sprue B with upper wing, fuselage cockpit, instruments panels and minor details. The Sprue C are the clear parts set with the front windshield and the side windows. It has a quite window cabin cockpit so some masking will be a must it. My usual mask brand (artscale) doesn’t have mask for it so is very most welcome the masks templates using the printed shapes on the right of the page and the diagrams on the left to create your own masks. The plastic is like the B-26K, in plastic grey (quite good to work with) with very good subtle surface details The construction could bring some alignment issue but ICM gives some good help in the design constructions steps of it so I believe that with some care and patience you can get it done. The decal sheet, with very good color registration, gives the modeler 4 options, the first 3 with blue grey and white on top and blue grey on bottom. The last one is all black. ICM doesn’t give any reference about it, only painting profiles in colour on the rear pages which, nowdays and being in a combo Nakhon Phanon airbase box it should have some information about plane, place, squadron. I went to Scalemate and I just check the instruction for the O-2 Skymaster release in 2020, and the instructions are literally the same. Nothing against but I think ICM could have put some information about the schemes option. Not having hen, it will come up to the modeler to do some research and check which option could be use in this set. Probably all but I`m not at all an expert in Vietnam war. I found some Nahkon base pictures and you can see the Skymaster in black and others in blue gray and aluminum. So, I presume that they are all from Nahkon base, but with no indication, year, pilot, etc…. I would like some information on the instructions about it. The booklet instruction is the usual one from ICM with color indication only from ICM colors. Moving to the others sets that are in this box and all were previous release as set as a stand-alone boxing. Starting with ordnance. The weapons are compose by four sprues and gives a lot for this project and any other in Vietnam: 2 x LAU-10A Pods of 5" Rockets 2 x LAU-69 Pods of 2.75" Rockets 2 x LAU-68 Pods of 2.75" Rockets 2 x BLU-23 500LB Fire bombs (Can be made with or without the fins) 2 x BLU-27 750LB Fire Bombs (Can be made with or without the fins) 2 x Mk.77 750LB Incendiary Bombs 2 x SUU-14 Dispensers 2 x Mk.81 Snakeye Bombs 2 x MK.81 Low Drag Bombs So, no excuses to load up your B-26K with everything: iron bombs, napalm, rockets, you name it! This set has its own decal sheet, and instruction. The decals place indication on the ordnance is quite easy to follow. Next, figures set. You get 5 figures, in different poses and you can use all or just one… It’s just one sprue in grey plastic. but all parts have no flash at all, and the surface detail is very good, as usual now with ICM, with very subtle details on the cloths and on the faces with less seam line from the mold. The figures have the torso in one piece without arms or legs as they are separated. No assembly instructions are given… but if you look carefully we see the parts numbers on the figures. So there`s the assembly instructions. As for the landing mat (even in 1:35) please check our review here. Conclusion Wow! What a combo set!! This box gives the modeler long hours of modelling and joy. The combo diorama with B-26K Counter Invader, O-2A Skymaster, US Aviation Armament, five figurines, and an M8A1 landing mat is a great value for your money. You just need to have the space to put them all together. If not, you can build them separately Every is perfect inside and a great price. The only two things I would add, if I could would be some PE parts (or 3D parts) with seatbelts and color indications besides ICM color… Some AK, or Tamiya, or MRP or Gunze color. Highly recommend this to intermediate/expert modeler 2 1
Bomber_County Posted January 25 Posted January 25 Thanks Fran, that’s a lot of building. Hats off to ICM for combining all these elements, with careful research you could add a massive amount of extra vehicles etc……..food for thought…… 1
rverissimo Posted Tuesday at 11:24 AM Posted Tuesday at 11:24 AM On 1/24/2025 at 7:34 PM, Fran said: 1:48 Nahkon Phanon Air Base Set ICM Catalogue number DS4804 Price: around 69,40€ (at ArtScale Kit) Nahkon Phanon Air Base, a U.S. Military base in Thailand. At Nakhon Phanom the mighty Mekong River slices through the heart of the unified tribal cultures of the Mekong River Valley People forming today the current modern border between the countries of Thailand and Laos. Situated in extreme Northeast Thailand, known as Isan, Nakhon Phanom is adjacent to the central Laotion town of Thakhet which means “foreigner crossing” in Lao. Nakhon Phanom “The City of Hills” was affectionately known as “Naked Fanny” or NKP by the Americans and refered to as the “End of the line at the edge of the world.” To see a lot more of this base, check this site: https://sogsite.com/nakhon-phanom/ ICM Models often makes combo kits sets with several ICM model kit in a single box giving a better price option to the modeller. This set is a very well packed one with a B-26K, an O-2 Skymaster, and several sets, like U.S. Armament set, a figure set and a landing mat, giving every thing that the modeler needs to represent the Nahkon Phanon base. So let´s crack the big box. And the first thing is: Well, that`s a lot of plastic and fun!! It`s is an impressive combo. There are 196 parts for O-2 Skymaster, 344 parts for B-26K Counter Invader, 88 parts for US Aviation Armament, 38 parts for five figurines and 128 parts for M8A1 landing mat. And this set is really is a mix of all, as you get instructions for each set and kit. There`s not a unique booklet but one for each. All this were already release by ICM in the past individually. In an overload loo, the grey plastic is typical for ICM with very good subtle surface details. The B-26K is a recent tooling from ICM, with parts for the -K, which includes new wings with pylon recesses underneath so that is why, there is lots of are not to being use, including two underwings. The B-26 is compose by fourteen sprues in grey styrene and one in clear. The panel lines are very crisp, narrow and restrained, not deep lines! The surface is very neat-looking, with plenty of engraved and raised features on the parts. Props come as one-piece parts. Such design should be easier to assemble, but a bit more tricky to paint. The clear parts, as usual, are in fact, clear This B-26 only has one decal sheets with the markings, some stencils and the instruments panels. The instruction booklet, which has painting profiles in colour on the rear pages. The schemes gives in the decals sheet are four options included, all in SEA (Light Green/Dark Green/Brown) topside with black undersides. 64-17651, ‘Mighty Mouse’ 56th Special Operations Wing, 609th Special Operations Sqn., Nakhon Phanom 1969 64-17649, ‘Sweet Therese’ Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), 1970 64-17645, 56th Special Operations Wing, 609th Special Operations Sqn., Nakhon Phanom 1969 64-17679, ‘Special Kay’ 1st Special Operations Wing, USAF Late 1960s. This aircraft has been restored and is the only B-26K currently flying. All the colours are ICM references and no other. Next we see O-2A Skymaster. The Skymaster is a little beautiful aircraft and ICM got their lines in perfection released in 2020. And this kit is exactly the one release in 2020 (even the instructions said model kit n.º 48290) and ICM have had the care to in this release add (DS4804) The Skymaster model only got 3 sprues. Sprue A with the tails tail booms, wings wheels and parts of engine and nose. The Sprue B with upper wing, fuselage cockpit, instruments panels and minor details. The Sprue C are the clear parts set with the front windshield and the side windows. It has a quite window cabin cockpit so some masking will be a must it. My usual mask brand (artscale) doesn’t have mask for it so is very most welcome the masks templates using the printed shapes on the right of the page and the diagrams on the left to create your own masks. The plastic is like the B-26K, in plastic grey (quite good to work with) with very good subtle surface details The construction could bring some alignment issue but ICM gives some good help in the design constructions steps of it so I believe that with some care and patience you can get it done. The decal sheet, with very good color registration, gives the modeler 4 options, the first 3 with blue grey and white on top and blue grey on bottom. The last one is all black. ICM doesn’t give any reference about it, only painting profiles in colour on the rear pages which, nowdays and being in a combo Nakhon Phanon airbase box it should have some information about plane, place, squadron. I went to Scalemate and I just check the instruction for the O-2 Skymaster release in 2020, and the instructions are literally the same. Nothing against but I think ICM could have put some information about the schemes option. Not having hen, it will come up to the modeler to do some research and check which option could be use in this set. Probably all but I`m not at all an expert in Vietnam war. I found some Nahkon base pictures and you can see the Skymaster in black and others in blue gray and aluminum. So, I presume that they are all from Nahkon base, but with no indication, year, pilot, etc…. I would like some information on the instructions about it. The booklet instruction is the usual one from ICM with color indication only from ICM colors. Moving to the others sets that are in this box and all were previous release as set as a stand-alone boxing. Starting with ordnance. The weapons are compose by four sprues and gives a lot for this project and any other in Vietnam: 2 x LAU-10A Pods of 5" Rockets 2 x LAU-69 Pods of 2.75" Rockets 2 x LAU-68 Pods of 2.75" Rockets 2 x BLU-23 500LB Fire bombs (Can be made with or without the fins) 2 x BLU-27 750LB Fire Bombs (Can be made with or without the fins) 2 x Mk.77 750LB Incendiary Bombs 2 x SUU-14 Dispensers 2 x Mk.81 Snakeye Bombs 2 x MK.81 Low Drag Bombs So, no excuses to load up your B-26K with everything: iron bombs, napalm, rockets, you name it! This set has its own decal sheet, and instruction. The decals place indication on the ordnance is quite easy to follow. Next, figures set. You get 5 figures, in different poses and you can use all or just one… It’s just one sprue in grey plastic. but all parts have no flash at all, and the surface detail is very good, as usual now with ICM, with very subtle details on the cloths and on the faces with less seam line from the mold. The figures have the torso in one piece without arms or legs as they are separated. No assembly instructions are given… but if you look carefully we see the parts numbers on the figures. So there`s the assembly instructions. As for the landing mat (even in 1:35) please check our review here. Conclusion Wow! What a combo set!! This box gives the modeler long hours of modelling and joy. The combo diorama with B-26K Counter Invader, O-2A Skymaster, US Aviation Armament, five figurines, and an M8A1 landing mat is a great value for your money. You just need to have the space to put them all together. If not, you can build them separately Every is perfect inside and a great price. The only two things I would add, if I could would be some PE parts (or 3D parts) with seatbelts and color indications besides ICM color… Some AK, or Tamiya, or MRP or Gunze color. Highly recommend this to intermediate/expert modeler Hi Francisco ! very nice and spot on review ! this is a very appealing set ! thanks! 1
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