Tamiya 1/48 Douglas F4D-1 Skyray USMC VMF-114
Aug 11, 2024 10:13:11 GMT -5
406 Silverado, deafpanzer, and 3 more like this
Post by garybrantley on Aug 11, 2024 10:13:11 GMT -5
This was my second Tamiya kit to finish and it was well-engineered and thoughtfully designed. It was finished in August of 2015 and photographed out at the Cameron Municipal Airport nine years ago today! The new hangars out there made for a different background, and I was eager to "try them out". It was damned hot while I was there, 10 am-noon, building up to a heat index of 108* that afternoon. It's a wonder the plastic didn't fatigue in that heat! 
The gull gray on top and insignia white underneath are Model Master enamel, and the wing walks are Humbrol dark gull enamel. The leading edges were done with Humbrol matt aluminum. Paint was applied with my Paasche H using CO2. The paint scheme was deceptively simple at first but turned out to require a lot of masking, compounded by several mistakes on my part. The final finish is MM semi-glass acrylic clear, and Future was used for a gloss-coat for decaling and weathering with Flory washes and pastel chalks. I used the Tamiya decals for the most part with a few from my decal spares stash. EZ Masks were used for the canopy. It is pretty much all out of the box, with tape seatbelts added to the 'pit. Originally, I intended to build her "clean" to show off the Skyray's cool lines but in the end, I did gaudy her up with a full load out. 😁
Man, I just love the planes from this era. The Navy and the Air Force weren't afraid of trying any new designs it seems now, and new designs were coming off the 'boards at a fast rate back then. The F4D Skyray developed from a study of delta-wing technology. The design study had harnessed the research of the German aerodynamicist Alexander Lippisch, who had moved to the United States following the end of World War II, and whose work had been examined by several of Douglas's design team.
Built as a high-speed, high-altitude interceptor, the F4D holds the distinction of being the first carrier aircraft to hold world speed and climb records. The Skyray equipped All-Weather Fighter Squadron (VF(AW)3) during the late-1950s, the sole Navy squadron assigned to the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). The Skyray entered operational service in 1956 and served until 1964. A total of 420 were built. The 1947 Navy requirement for which it was designed called for an aircraft that could reach 50,000 feet in five minutes, enabling it to intercept enemy bombers.
Here are some interesting facts from Wikipedia:
"Although it was in service for a relatively short time (1956-1964) and never entered combat, it was the first carrier-launched aircraft to hold the world's absolute speed record, at 752.943 mph,[1] and was the first United States Navy and United States Marine Corps fighter that could exceed Mach 1 in level flight.[2]It was the last fighter produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company before it merged with McDonnell Aircraft and became McDonnell Douglas."
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_F4D_Skyray)
Even though the Skyray didn't see combat, it's intriguing to imagine how that might have played out. It's first test flight occurred January 21, 1951, during the Korean War. A couple of its early test pilots, Bob Rahn and Major Marion Carl, said this about the Skyray:
" Rahn called the machine a "fighter pilot's dream", the best machine he had taken into the sky since flying the Spitfire. Its instability made it supremely agile for a skilled pilot, and Rahn claimed that he out-flew every Air Force chase plane sent up with him. Marine Major Marion Carl, one of the top test pilots of the era, flew the Skyray and claimed: "If we had this airplane now in Korea, I could just pop off the MiGs -- one, two, three."
(https://web.archive.org/web/20070805072633/http://www.vectorsite.net/avskyray.html)
The Skyray was also the only Navy jet fighter assigned to NORAD.
"The F4D not only served with the US Navy and Marines, it also served under USAF command, though not with USAF pilots. One Navy Skyray squadron, VFAW-3 out of North Island in San Diego, was assigned to the North American Air Defense (NORAD) system under Air Force control, scrambling to intercept intruders entering the southwestern corner of the USA. The Navy Skyrays participated in Air Force interceptor competitions and walked away with their share of prizes. VFAW-3 Skyrays deployed to Naval Air Station Key West in Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall of 1962, protecting US airspace from Cuban intruders. There were radar contacts with MiGs but nobody ever tried to force a confrontation."
(https://web.archive.org/web/20070805072633/http://www.vectorsite.net/avskyray.html)
It doesn't help that all these cool aircraft were coming along when I was a tender youth, zooming their plastic lookalikes around my room and yard! 😄
Please feel free to leave some comments, and thanks for stopping by for a look at the Ford!
Gary
The gull gray on top and insignia white underneath are Model Master enamel, and the wing walks are Humbrol dark gull enamel. The leading edges were done with Humbrol matt aluminum. Paint was applied with my Paasche H using CO2. The paint scheme was deceptively simple at first but turned out to require a lot of masking, compounded by several mistakes on my part. The final finish is MM semi-glass acrylic clear, and Future was used for a gloss-coat for decaling and weathering with Flory washes and pastel chalks. I used the Tamiya decals for the most part with a few from my decal spares stash. EZ Masks were used for the canopy. It is pretty much all out of the box, with tape seatbelts added to the 'pit. Originally, I intended to build her "clean" to show off the Skyray's cool lines but in the end, I did gaudy her up with a full load out. 😁
Man, I just love the planes from this era. The Navy and the Air Force weren't afraid of trying any new designs it seems now, and new designs were coming off the 'boards at a fast rate back then. The F4D Skyray developed from a study of delta-wing technology. The design study had harnessed the research of the German aerodynamicist Alexander Lippisch, who had moved to the United States following the end of World War II, and whose work had been examined by several of Douglas's design team.
Built as a high-speed, high-altitude interceptor, the F4D holds the distinction of being the first carrier aircraft to hold world speed and climb records. The Skyray equipped All-Weather Fighter Squadron (VF(AW)3) during the late-1950s, the sole Navy squadron assigned to the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). The Skyray entered operational service in 1956 and served until 1964. A total of 420 were built. The 1947 Navy requirement for which it was designed called for an aircraft that could reach 50,000 feet in five minutes, enabling it to intercept enemy bombers.
Here are some interesting facts from Wikipedia:
"Although it was in service for a relatively short time (1956-1964) and never entered combat, it was the first carrier-launched aircraft to hold the world's absolute speed record, at 752.943 mph,[1] and was the first United States Navy and United States Marine Corps fighter that could exceed Mach 1 in level flight.[2]It was the last fighter produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company before it merged with McDonnell Aircraft and became McDonnell Douglas."
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_F4D_Skyray)
Even though the Skyray didn't see combat, it's intriguing to imagine how that might have played out. It's first test flight occurred January 21, 1951, during the Korean War. A couple of its early test pilots, Bob Rahn and Major Marion Carl, said this about the Skyray:
" Rahn called the machine a "fighter pilot's dream", the best machine he had taken into the sky since flying the Spitfire. Its instability made it supremely agile for a skilled pilot, and Rahn claimed that he out-flew every Air Force chase plane sent up with him. Marine Major Marion Carl, one of the top test pilots of the era, flew the Skyray and claimed: "If we had this airplane now in Korea, I could just pop off the MiGs -- one, two, three."
(https://web.archive.org/web/20070805072633/http://www.vectorsite.net/avskyray.html)
The Skyray was also the only Navy jet fighter assigned to NORAD.
"The F4D not only served with the US Navy and Marines, it also served under USAF command, though not with USAF pilots. One Navy Skyray squadron, VFAW-3 out of North Island in San Diego, was assigned to the North American Air Defense (NORAD) system under Air Force control, scrambling to intercept intruders entering the southwestern corner of the USA. The Navy Skyrays participated in Air Force interceptor competitions and walked away with their share of prizes. VFAW-3 Skyrays deployed to Naval Air Station Key West in Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall of 1962, protecting US airspace from Cuban intruders. There were radar contacts with MiGs but nobody ever tried to force a confrontation."
(https://web.archive.org/web/20070805072633/http://www.vectorsite.net/avskyray.html)
It doesn't help that all these cool aircraft were coming along when I was a tender youth, zooming their plastic lookalikes around my room and yard! 😄
Please feel free to leave some comments, and thanks for stopping by for a look at the Ford!
Gary
the plastic "lookalikes" you would have been zooming around back then would have at least been vaguely Skyray shaped but we didn't know any better.
