F-111F, 48th TFW, Lakenheath, Operation El Dorado Canyon, 1986

[Lucky13]

A review and build on the 1/48 Hobbyboss F-111A....a h*lluva lot of plastic!

Hobby Boss 1/48 F-111A Aardvark

Hobby Boss 1/48 F-111A Aardvark

 

[Lucky13]

Bought a set of decals....just to wait for the next one... Shame that you can't find Twobobs set for the 8 Vietnam F-111A's....

 

[kgambit]

Bought a set of decals....just to wait for the next one... Shame that you can't find Twobobs set for the 8 Vietnam F-111A's....

Heck I would settle for even a PARTIAL sheet. I managed to find the tail splashes for the combat lancer planes on another microscale sheet - but that's it.

But I DID manage to get THIS. Mint condition, still FSW.

 

[Wayne Little]

Man, those are some fine looking decal sheets...

 

[Lucky13]

Got these today....some sheet that for the F-111's!! Have to say though, that they have confused me with the 70-2413, shown with a blue tailflash, but says on the list, as you can see, 'Red'.....hmmmm....what's correct?

Sure that you're not better off, building a 1/48 F-111 mate? 8)
....and what's the meaning of the blue camels??

 

[Airframes]

Nice spread! Maybe the camels were just cold.......

 

[evangilder]

Wow, memories. I have the Lakenheath is bombing your azz patch, as well as the Pave Tack patch. It is interesting that the tail numbers and call signs for all of the aircraft are out in public.That was a huge secret back then. The WSO from 70-2389 is still MIA and is one of the names on the MIA flag that hangs on the front of my house (Captain Paul F. Lorence).

 

[Lucky13]

Karma 52? I'm surprised that they didn't add decals to do that bird.....

 

[evangilder]

Yes. The remains of the pilot were returned after the Vatican got involved (Major Ribas). Capt. Lorence was not Catholic, so the Vatican did not get involved on Capt Lorence's behalf.

 

[Lucky13]

WHAT!?

 

[kgambit]

Jan,

It is VERY tempting to do those in 1:48 - especially with those decals and the UH sheets coming out; but I'm committed to the 1:72 scale builds.

Here's shots of four of the planes involved in the Libyan raid (Puffy 14, Karma 54, Jewel 64 and Lujac 24) - ALL flew as spares. From what I can find, Lujac 24 replaced Lujac 21 which had to abort.

The Remit, Karma, Elton and Jewel groups were armed with 4 x GBU-10s, while Puffy and Lujac were each armed with 12 Mk 82s.

 

[evangilder]

1/48 on a 111 would be humongous! 1/72 is a good size for display. I have the Lakenheath 1/72 that a friend built for me. Somewhere in the garage, I have an EF-111 Raven that I built in the 1980s.

 

[kgambit]

And last but not least, a photo of F-111F, 70-2389, Karma 52 on September 18, 1985 at Ramstein AB, W Germany, just a few short months before it was lost during the raid.

Jan,

72-0413 Karma 51 might have been re-assigned from the 494th (red stripe) to the 492nd (blue stripe). My info says that it was assigned to the 494th at the time of the raid, hencethe stripe would have been red. From what I can find out, Karma 51's Pave Tack unit malfunctioned and it's planes were dropped off target.

 

[Lucky13]

Built a 1/72 F-111 back in the day, can't remember which make though, it was big already in that scale! And now, now I want to do one of these in 1/48...

Thanks for sharing the info guys and sorry for hijacking the thread!

Great pics!

 

[evangilder]

And last but not least, a photo of F-111F, 70-2389, Karma 52 on September 18, 1985 at Ramstein AB, W Germany, just a few short months before it was lost during the raid.

 

[kgambit]

Built a 1/72 F-111 back in the day, can't remember which make though, it was big already in that scale! And now, now I want to do one of these in 1/48...

Great pics!

Get the new Academy 1:48 kit. One of the F-111 WSO, Jim Rotramel, worked with them on the kit. It's supposedly a REALLY good kit.

And here is a shot of 72-0413 BEFORE the raid, taken in Glasgow - Prestwick - Scotland, June 8, 1985, with a RED tail flash! Note the corresponding red wheel center on the main wheels.

Photo by Derek Ferguson

 

[Airframes]

Great pics Dwight. Got me wanting to do one now, in 1/48th, and yes, the Academy kit !

 

[Lucky13]

And last but not least, a photo of F-111F, 70-2389, Karma 52 on September 18, 1985 at Ramstein AB, W Germany, just a few short months before it was lost during the raid.

Get the new Academy 1:48 kit. One of the F-111 WSO, Jim Rotramel, worked with them on the kit. It's supposedly a REALLY good kit.

And here is a shot of 72-0413 BEFORE the raid, taken in Glasgow - Prestwick - Scotland, June 8, 1985, with a RED tail flash! Note the corresponding red wheel center on the main wheels.

Photo by Derek Ferguson

Now you're just teasing me! It's settled then, '413' when the economy is back in good health...

Academy, eh? Hmmmm......will have to check and compare then me think. 8)

 

[kgambit]

Now you're just teasing me! It's settled then, '413' when the economy is back in good health...

Academy, eh? Hmmmm......will have to check and compare then me think. 8)

Double check to make sure. At least one review at ARC forums panned the new Hobby boss kit, but I've read others that rave about it. It isn't cheap - around 60$ US give or take for the A and around 75$ for the D/E but it's VERY complete. On the flip side, the Academy kit is cheaper and there is a TON of aftermarket stuff for the 1:48 F-111 Academy kits as well. But the aftermarket stuff isn't cheap and you might be better with the Hobby Boss kit in the long run. I thought I had read something about Academy re-doing the F-111 kits but I can't find the reference anymore.

 

[Lucky13]

Didn't know that were a new Academy F-111 out!

Plenty of stuff for them as well I see... Scaledown F-111 modelling