Korean War Era planes

[Ace423]

This post is to Guillows: When are you going to add some Korean War planes, such as the Sabre Jet F86, Thunderjet F84, etc. I was a kid during the war and used to make these planes from kits I think they were made by a company called Comet, which has probably long gone out of business

[Mitch]

Apparently Guillows did make a Mig 15. Long out of production. You can buy an SRK (Shork Run Kit) from DPCmodels for $18. It has a 16 inch ws and maybye it is a glider? I don't know. These SRK's are have lazer cut parts and a canopy when needed! You need to supply all strip stock. I would buy that, and hope Guillows will continue to make newer kits! So buy one and let us know how it looks!!!

Good Luck, Mitch

[BillParker]

look at this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1951-Guillows-Martin-B-57A-Canberra-Scale-Balsa-Airplane-Model-Kit-/150857492159?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item231fcea6bf

Kind of close to what you're looking for...

good luck!


bp

[rayd]

Guillows does have the Douglas A-1, one of the last but fast piston fighters made. Used in Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere. While not jet powered, it came close, and was capable of carrying much ordinance. It could go slow if need be, depending on the mission. It had considerable range and flying time. I understand many pilots respected this plane, and the last of the lot was retired not long ago...supposedly, they were real battlewagons. I know what you mean about the early jets, but don't know if there's much demand for rubber powered versions nowadays, so you may have to consider scratchbuilding from plans or items you may find on the web.

[bitlerisvj]

The Panther and Cougar were heavily used from carriers during the Korean War. If you get a chance see, the movie (and read the book), "The Bridges at Toko Ri" with William Holden, Mickey Rooney, and Grace Kelly. It has some awsome jet fighter sequences. By the way, Comet made those airplanes and I built the Cougar when I was about 12 years old. I did not have a motor for it, but it really had a wonderful glide.
Regards, Vic Bitleris

[Mitch]

Ace,

I've done a little internet surfing and found that "Diels Engineering" makes a Sabre F-86 (18 + in ws), 1/24 scale. To be flown with rubber and prop or as a glider, and the Mig 15 (16 in ws) seems to be close to 1/24 scale also, as the Mig was a small plane. So there you have it... with the other Guillow kits also mentioned here, I think you can build your Koren War Planes.

Mitch

[kittyfritters]

The Panther and Cougar were heavily used from carriers during the Korean War. If you get a chance see, the movie (and read the book), "The Bridges at Toko Ri" with William Holden, Mickey Rooney, and Grace Kelly. It has some awsome jet fighter sequences. By the way, Comet made those airplanes and I built the Cougar when I was about 12 years old. I did not have a motor for it, but it really had a wonderful glide.
Regards, Vic Bitleris

The Cougar did not arrive soon enough to see combat in the Korean War. If you read the book "The Bridges at Toko Ri" you will find that the pilots in the story were flying the forgotten jet fighter of the Korean War, the F2H Banshee. The Navy just happen to have Panthers available to the movie company for the flying sequences at the time. The other forgotten fighter of the Korean War was the F3D, Skyknight. As an escort for B29 night raids over North Korea F3D pilots downed 6 enemy aircraft for one loss...the highest score of any Navy fighter during the war. Guillow, briefly, had an F3D model in their catalog during the 1950s.

[BillParker]

[bitlerisvj]

Thanks for the update. It has been a LOOONG time since I read the book. I do remember enjoying it, so may read it again with a different perspective. When I first read the book, I was thinking of the planes in the movie, the Panthers. I just assumed that Cougars were also used in Korea, since they were basically swept wing Panthers. n fact the first Cougars were modified Panthers. I do agree that most sites pretty much state that the Cougars did not get get delivered until after the Korean war was over. However, according to this Internet blurb, the modifed Panther Cougars were used extensively in Korea and was the first one to shot down a Mig.
http://www.history.navy.mil/museums/paxmuseum/f9f/f9f.htm
I suspect this is an account of early modified Panthers that led to hurry up the Cougar production. I doubt that very many were actually used in Korea. Personally, I always thought the Cougar was a very pretty flying machine.
Regards, Vic Bitleris

The Panther and Cougar were heavily used from carriers during the Korean War. If you get a chance see, the movie (and read the book), "The Bridges at Toko Ri" with William Holden, Mickey Rooney, and Grace Kelly. It has some awsome jet fighter sequences. By the way, Comet made those airplanes and I built the Cougar when I was about 12 years old. I did not have a motor for it, but it really had a wonderful glide.
Regards, Vic Bitleris

The Cougar did not arrive soon enough to see combat in the Korean War. If you read the book "The Bridges at Toko Ri" you will find that the pilots in the story were flying the forgotten jet fighter of the Korean War, the F2H Banshee. The Navy just happen to have Panthers available to the movie company for the flying sequences at the time. The other forgotten fighter of the Korean War was the F3D, Skyknight. As an escort for B29 night raids over North Korea F3D pilots downed 6 enemy aircraft for one loss...the highest score of any Navy fighter during the war. Guillow, briefly, had an F3D model in their catalog during the 1950s.

[joecrouse]

Not quite a Guillows plane but
Frog used to make a F86 Saber-esq plane that was rubber powered.
Theres a set of plans on the House of Frog website.

[Mitch]

Well since Guillows does not make this anymore... I will say it here... The Mig 15 is available in the same scale that Guillows Kit was, it is available from Easy Built Models, the same company that I get my LITE Tissue from, they also sell a kit of the Panther.

They say these kits will make a nice glider, I think they would accept one of those rocket engines to get them launched


This model is 1/25 scale and has a 16inch ws, and the cost is $15.56.


This Panther model is 1/24 scale and ws of 19.5inches, costs $16.08.

There site says building/flying for both of these is easy/easy

I like the scale appearance and assembly of Guillow Kits, but I would not wait for Guillows to make what you want. If you want something you can usually find it. Of course the more obscure airplanes might have to be scratch build and that can be a challenge. I have done a few kit-bashes and even that is a bit more work than I expected... I think these kits would work out very well!

And as I mentioned before Diels Enginneering has the F86 and also F100 and they are in the $30.00+ price range, they are both 1/24 scale

Mitch

[Mitch]

Look what I just found at my local hobby shop, (This one specilizes in OOP kits)

After I finish my Fokkers and before the Edge 540, I plan to build this...

Paid just a bit more than the 1.00 price list inside the box cover... Since Comet was bought by Guillows I thought I would share...model has a 24 inch ws and there are instructions "How to Tether Fly" ...with that recent posting... I think I might just try that... Mitch

PS: It has "PRINTED" Parts ... I"VE DONE THIS BEFORE... now I'm showing my age...

UPDATE: Had to go back to SKYWAY HOBBIES in Renton, WA, and found this book... I have my reading material for tonight...
If you live in the Seattle Area check out this LHS. He has alot of high quality plastic models and sometimes gets old balsa kits... He has a website...

[Phugoid]

Can you guys get rapiers in the States?

If so.....

http://www.ffscale.co.uk/page4d.htm

Andrew

[Mitch]

I do not know, but I will inquire... I was thinking of using estes rockets, but looks like you guys got this stuff figured out.

It may be a while before I start on the Cougar. I want to finish my projects that are on the work table now... Also I plan to photo copy the printed sheet parts as this kit does NOT have part pictures like Guillows. I want to be able to produce the model more than once. The plans are VERY old and delicate. So I will preserve those as well.

No decal sheet, but if there was it would be useless. I plan to make model w/o landing gear and be a glider... I'll look into those engines... Maybe start my JET AGE, collection. My new book will help me with details and markings.

This was a very basic model, the ONLY plastic is the canopy, The nose is a block of balsa wood. This is a large model for $1.00, so I believe the age of this kit is close to the copywright date of 1955. That makes it older than me! Mitch

UPDATE: Just found this info. off the internet...

The Cougar was the U.S. Navy's first swept wing, carrier-based, fighter jet. The XF9F-2/XF9F-3 Panther contract awarded in October of 1946 had included a clause calling for design data on a swept-wing version of that fighter. Grumman, worried about the poor low-speed characteristics of swept-wing aircraft, prevailed upon the U.S. Navy to postpone procurement of a swept-winged version of the Panther. Development of a swept-wing Panther became more urgent as MiG-15s appeared in the skies over Korea in November of 1950. The swept-wing version of the Panther was designated F9F-6, but it was given a different name-Cougar. This continued the tradition of assigning feline names to Grumman-built fighter aircraft. It remains something of a mystery why the navy did not renumber the Cougar as the F11F-1, which was the next numerical designation available

[kittyfritters]

I do not know, but I will inquire... I was thinking of using estes rockets, but looks like you guys got this stuff figured out.

It may be a while before I start on the Cougar. I want to finish my projects that are on the work table now... Also I plan to photo copy the printed sheet parts as this kit does NOT have part pictures like Guillows. I want to be able to produce the model more than once. The plans are VERY old and delicate. So I will preserve those as well.

No decal sheet, but if there was it would be useless. I plan to make model w/o landing gear and be a glider... I'll look into those engines... Maybe start my JET AGE, collection. My new book will help me with details and markings.

This was a very basic model, the ONLY plastic is the canopy, The nose is a block of balsa wood. This is a large model for $1.00, so I believe the age of this kit is close to the copywright date of 1955. That makes it older than me! Mitch

UPDATE: Just found this info. off the internet...

The Cougar was the U.S. Navy's first swept wing, carrier-based, fighter jet. The XF9F-2/XF9F-3 Panther contract awarded in October of 1946 had included a clause calling for design data on a swept-wing version of that fighter. Grumman, worried about the poor low-speed characteristics of swept-wing aircraft, prevailed upon the U.S. Navy to postpone procurement of a swept-winged version of the Panther. Development of a swept-wing Panther became more urgent as MiG-15s appeared in the skies over Korea in November of 1950. The swept-wing version of the Panther was designated F9F-6, but it was given a different name-Cougar. This continued the tradition of assigning feline names to Grumman-built fighter aircraft. It remains something of a mystery why the navy did not renumber the Cougar as the F11F-1, which was the next numerical designation available

Estes rockets burn too fast. They are designed to give a fast blastoff to a rocket launched vertically and one powerful enough to fly it will probably tear your model apart. The Rapier and Jetex are designed for airplanes and give a longer, steady thrust. The old Jetex worked very well (same fuel used in the Sidwinder but very much smaller and with no hollow core). The new Jetex fuel doesn't seem to give as steady a run with the thrust being a bit uneven. The Rapier is, like the Estes, a throwaway motor, and I have seen it work well, however, I have heard people complain that they can be difficult to light reliably, have a fairly high percentage of duds, and can be just plain hard to find in the US.