More info on the River Rat C-47

 My friend Jamie from Australia.  Sent me this email.  The email is full of grat information on the River Rat C-47.   Looks like the aircraft had numerous different paint scheme.

Hi Jamie, I've attached an email I received from Greg Lewis (USAF Ret), who's Dad may well have flown 'our Dakota'

'Nick,

Sorry to be late getting back to you, dealing with a lot of snow here in the NE of the USA.  I really got a kick out of this picture.  This C-47 belongs to what was the 355^th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Tahkli Royal Thai Airbase, probably taken around 1967.  At that time, the 355^th flew F-105s and EB-66s, and along with the 388^th at Korat, was responsible for most of the Rolling Thunder bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong.  Our organization was founded the year prior.  Also, most USAF bases, including Tahkli and Korat had a couple C-47s assigned for their use as “utility” aircraft.  Here’s the cool part, my father, Oliver W Lewis, was the support group commander at Tahkli, responsible for all things required to “support” a combat operation.  Dad was a WWII B-29 pilot and a Korean War B-26 pilot, but was sent to Tahkli in a non-flying job to run the support group, which he had done in the USA at other bases.  Since he had lots of time flying C-47s after WWII, he checked out in Tahkli’s C-47 and flew it all over South East Asia, he may very well have flown this aircraft.  To answer your specific question, Tahkli hosted River Rats tactics conference in 1967 and 1968 I believe.  This airplane flew to other bases to bring combat pilots to Tahkli, the “party bus.”  Obviously the additions to the standard paintjob are “non-regulation,” we fighter pilots have a rebellious streak!  I’m sure the rest of the aircraft had the standard USAF markings.  Dad passed in 1994 way too young at 71 years old from a horrible cancer which I have come to believe was very likely a result of Agent Orange exposure.  I had my own 29 year USAF career and a second 18 year career as a pilot for Southwest Airlines.  After retiring from SWA, I took this on as a fun part time job to keep me off the streets.  I was a 15 year old kid at the time of the photo, and by the way, many years later, had a wonderful tour in the UK flying A-10s from 1979-82, fond memories.  Anyway, hope this helps, made my day!

Greg

 

Nick,
If anybody ever tells you anything about an aeroplane which is so bloody complicated you can't understand it, take it from me: it's all balls.
— R. J. Mitchell

 

Who makes the best decal solvent or setting solution.

 I did a review a while. back.  But the video goes in great depth.

Amazing 1/72 Hurricane by Arma. Built by Glenn Woodruff

 Truly an amazing new model of the Hurricane  Glenn woodruff is the builder of the Hurricane. My hat off for his great modelling skills.

More MIANG photod

 I'm need to add these photos before I loose or deleted.  The RF-84 photo was taken at Metro Detroit airport. The F-100F at Selfridge ANGB, MI.   The last is an old 127th "D"

in it last markings as a Drone.

How to fix mistakes.

 Another great video by Paul .

191St Maintenance control folks. Also know as the puzzle palace

 During my time with the 191St Fig I worked in maintenance control.  During the day shift we would have two controller, Maintenance control specialist in the Delta One van and a Plans and Scheduler.  Sometime additional personnel would be assigned because some injury.   WE would decide what planes would be on the flight schedule for that day.   Additionally put aircraft on rotation to our alert Det in Seymour Johnson for air defense.  Along with the Alert aircraft for our sector that include Detroit.    After every flight we would review the flight records for miniatous problems that would dictate the flying status of the aircraft.

   This where the name the puzzle palace into play.   A lot of time the flight line and the maintenance shops would not agree with our plans of action.  All decision and actions would have been blessed or okay by the Maintenance officer  Skip Kimberly.   

The crew

Controllers

Gary Williams

Gary Vikar

Mike Elwart ( later 80's)

Phil Gaffke

Delta One

Henry Clays

Plans and Scheduler

Linda Bullis (L.B.)

Maintenance Officers

John Doty

Skip Kimberly.

Assistant Maintenance Control officers

Ziggy Zuber

Larry Milburn

On the right is Gary Williams.   Gary and I where good friends.  He was he Tim Allen of M.C.  He always had a wood working project in the works.  Sadly he passed away on Father's day 1995

On the left is Smgt Kelo,  

 

Gary Williams relaxing.

More pictures to come at I find them.

Skip Kimberly

Fixing Silvering on Decals by David Aungst

 This was posted on a Facebook page

Decals 101: Fixing "Silvering"

There are things you can do to limit decal "silvering", but eventually you will get some anyway.

• A glossy surface can help limit the amount of silvering, but some decals will still do it, even though the surface is glassy smooth.
• Lots of water when applying decals can help, especially making sure the surface under the decal is plenty wet before the decal covers it.
• Setting solutions can also help, but most are on top of the decals. The Micro-system places a surface prep solution on the model ahead of the decal, but even this is not always successful. While all the solutions melt the decal to help it conform better to the surfaces, they will not always resolve "silvering" on their own.

So how to fix it when it happens?

I stacked the deck here. I had a friend over on the weekend to talk about decals. I wanted to be sure to get "silvering". I applied a few SuperScale decals over flat paint and did not use any setting solution. I also applied a light flat clear coat over the decals to make the "silvering" really pop out. The shine of the decals can hide the "silvering" until you are near the end and do the flat coat. I got lots of "silvering". And, the "silvering" can still be addressed, even after a clear coat is done.

I have used this method for years.  I works very well.  Since David explained this much better than I could. I just borrowed for the Modeling tips.

The silvering is microscopic air bubbles under the decal. All three of these were "silvered" but I fixed two of them while my friend was watching on Saturday.

Step 1: Lightly hash through the silvered part of the decal with a new Xacto blade. Use just the weight of the knife. You only need to cut the thin decal film and not damage the painted surface. I hash the lines about one per millimeter.

Be careful on this. "Silvered" decals are not attached to the model where the "silvering" is found. If you are not careful with this step, the decal will break and flake off (game over).

This got messier than normal since I was brushing with my left hand while looking through my camera and taking the picture with my right hand. Touch just the ends of the hash cuts. Capillary action will draw the solution under the decal. Swab over the decal after capillary action has already got the solution to go under most (if not all) the decal.

Step 3: Evaluate the result. On tough decals, I may re-hash and re-treat the decals a couple times until I get all the "silvering" to disappear.