RF-101C Voodoo

[rossm]

I want to build one of these in 1/72 and just got the Hasegawa kit (the only game in town ?). I got the box with 'Kathy's Clown' on the front but none of the options gives a location for where they were based and I would like to do a Vietnam one to go next to my 'Patricia Lynn' RB-57E. I've got the Warpaint and the Osprey Air Combat books on the Voodoo but they're short of details.

Please can anyone help with the following:-

Base locations (and dates ?) for 'Kathy's Clown' 45th TRS, 460th TRW, SEA camo; 66th TRW, silver; 'Polkadots' 45TRS, silver.

Detail photos for the nose cameras and sensors, also details of mission equipment - e.g. I know ECM pods were sometimes carried but how often and where were they mounted, were drop tanks usually carried ....

Thoughts on what needs to be done to update the kit - I plan to scribe the panel lines and I'm happy with decals for the instruments but does it need a new seat ?

Thanks in advance for all help,
Ross

(PS - topic also posted on Britmodeller)

[mig23]

Ay up Ross,

If you email me at [e-mail] I will send you a scan of the only pic I have of an RF-101C carrying an ALQ-71 pod. (I don't think I'm allowed to post it here as it's a scan from a book). It does seem the use of ECM pods on recce Voodoos was not a great success which may explain the paucity of photographs !

Kathys clown was with the 45 TRS/460 TRW at Tan Son Nhut in 1969.

Polka Dots (the Squadron nick-name) was with the 45 TRS at Misawa Air Base, Japan and later Tan Son Nhut.

The 66 TRW were originally based at Laon AB in France with additional squadrons at Phalsbourg and Ramstein. This wing had a secondary nuclear strike mission and subsequently ended up at RAF Upper Heyford in (I think) about 1965.

Cheers,

Haydn.

[rossm]

Thanks for the reply, email on the way.

I was hoping the 45TRS 'Polkadots' option was one flown as part of Able Mable so I could have a silver (natural metal ?) aircraft in my Vietnam collection but it's not easy to find information on that detachment (even worse than Patricia Lynn). I'm going to have camouflage on an F-4, B-57G, F-100, F-105 and F-111 to go with the black RB-57 and O-2 so a different finish would stand out.

Some searching around more obscure parts of my bookshelves and the web has got me as far as......

Camouflage seems to have been introduced around 1964/65 (?) and the KA-45 panoramic camera was fitted about the same time. There were 16 aircraft in the Able Mable detachment in August 1964 so maybe I can get away with the 'Polkadots' option in silver if I leave off the panoramic camera.

Any more information gratefully received,
Ross