Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

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Spaceowl
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Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by Spaceowl »

As part of my South Vietnamese Air Force project, I completed this mid-seventies era Airfix Bird Dog:

Image

Image

This was a model of the O-1 flown by Major Buang Lee that landed on the USS Midway during the evacuation of Saigon in 1975

Image

carrying himself, his wife and five (!) children. The full story, which is fascinating, is here:

https://tacairnet.com/2015/08/20/a-sout ... -all-time/;

I'm not normally a fan of weathering, but looking at the state of the real thing in the picture, it perhaps could have done with it, especially around the cowling. I also note the original had tac codes on the tail which were missing from the decal sheet. I may add them at a later date. Other than that, I was quite pleased with how this one went together, except for the carpet monster eating a whole wheel! Luckily i had a scrap Mil-1 which gave up its wheels for the greater good (Also note, the otherwise intact carcass of the Mil-1 is now free to a good home. PMs to the usual place please).
Overhead a rainbow appears...in black and white.

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jssel
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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by jssel »

Really nice work.
Besting 60 years of mediocre building of average kits in the stand off scale
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Gregers
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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by Gregers »

That's a beauty. Very nice work. Wouldn't mind doing a model of that aircraft myself.

All the best.

Greg
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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by Old_Tonto »

Top build mate.
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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by iggie »

Spot on build, with a nice dollop of history behind it!

Landing that on a steel decked flat-top in the rain must have been 'interesting' to say the least!
Best wishes

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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by Spaceowl »

iggie wrote:
Landing that on a steel decked flat-top in the rain must have been 'interesting' to say the least!
And critically overloaded too! It was such a feat of flying that the Air Wing Commander presented the major with a pair of USN wings afterwards. Next to staying behind in conquered South Vietnam, it was still the easy option for Ly though...
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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by Marek »

Very nicely done! The story was both tragic and interesting.
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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by MarkyM607 »

iggie wrote:Spot on build, with a nice dollop of history behind it!

Landing that on a steel decked flat-top in the rain must have been 'interesting' to say the least!
Landing was easy, it was stopping that was the hard part!!. :lol:
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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by skypirate »

Lovely model! Will you display it on a carrier deck base? That will always prompt the fascinating bit of history.

Cheers,

David
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Spaceowl
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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by Spaceowl »

skypirate wrote:Lovely model! Will you display it on a carrier deck base? That will always prompt the fascinating bit of history.

Cheers,

David
I wasn't going to, but that's an interesting suggesting! Right, Coastal Models then...
Overhead a rainbow appears...in black and white.

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Re: Ly Buang's Cessna O-1 Bird Dog

Post by CementNotGlue »

You've mad a great job with a very challenging kit.

Here is a link to thread that demonstrates the lengths one has to go to to produce a convincing Bird Dog:

http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=180& ... dog+#p1124;
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