The Flying Dump Truck

Completion of my dual build is slowly coming to life. I have completed the landing gear and the ordinance on the SU-34 and I have only been able to do some minor work on the F-94. Fortunately, I have yet to have any difficulties within these two kits. While I am working towards completing these builds, I wanted to feature an earlier work of mine.
A good number of my builds start with me reading a book about a pilot that flew the particular aircraft. This was no exception. The idea of this build came from reading “Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War”. It was a great read about Lt. Dieter Dengler. As a boy in war torn Germany, Dengler witnessed American fighters in flight over his hometown and forever changed his dreams. He came to the United States and proceeded to gain his citizenship. He ultimately became a pilot for the U.S. Navy. On his first mission over Laos, he was shot down and became a POW. The rest of the book details his life in a prison camp and his eventual escape and rescue.
Here we have two 1/72 Airfix A-1 Skyraiders. I wanted to give this diorama a feeling of movement so I added spinning propellers and built the wings of one Skyraider coming down from the folded position. I used a Fujimi Flight Deck Crew set for the figures and fire truck. This build was my introduction to weathering with pastels. You just can’t build a Skyraider without the unmistakeable exhaust stains. Luckily the decals were already the squadron of Lt. Dengler’s. I just had to make a few decals on my computer so they wouldn’t have the same numbers. I had fun with this build. I am a huge fan of the Skyraider and I am positive that if you were to ask a downed airman during the Vietnam War, he would feel the same.