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Mike Maynard
52 articles

U.S.Coast Guard HU-16E 1963

August 4, 2015 · in Aviation · · 34 · 2.4K

Well today is the US Coast Guard's 225th birthday, so I had to post something the "wing maggots" (we-who-did-not-fly's endearing term for our CG aviator brothers) would recognize. It's the last of my 1:72 scale 's builds for a while, I've built about 15 or so of these kits over the years. As with the other kits I've built the big thing is sanding off all those lovely oversize rivets that detract from a pretty accurate kit from the 1950's. Since it is going to the CG museum on Cape Cod, I mounted it on a piece of wood with the landing gear up and lack of radio antenna wires. The paint scheme is Testors flouresent orange markings over gloss white, all done with my airbrush. On the actual planes in that 1963 time period the hi-viz appearence was a sucessful one but in 1967 the Service would paint their HU-16's (along with every piece of equipment, aircraft, boat, and cutter) the now famous CG red "stripe". "Semper Paratus", Always Ready!

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8 additional images. Click to enlarge.


34 responses

  1. Mike. my all time favorite scheme. I also now see that the hi-viz doesn't wrap under the fuselage and nose, which I've missed, so far. I have one to do, in these markings, and I'll refer to yours. Agree them rivets gotta come off, or somehow get toned down.
    15 built? That must be a record.
    Happy Birthday, USCG, Semper Paratus!

  2. Great photo of the NUG doin' corrosion control. That's the kind of photos I like to have, before getting out the paint. Thanks for posting it, classic shot.

    • Hi Bernie
      Thanks for the nice comments, the old Monogram kit can make up a nice model. If you look at the "water wash down" picture you'll see a white stripe along the bottom edge of the nose orange paint "arrow". I didn't mask paint my model like that (lazy). But I have two photos of the plane in that paint scheme with the hi-viz orange all the way down to the bottom edge. So when you build your HU-16 either way is correct.

  3. brilliant...i love what you do to these old models

  4. Wonderful to see Coast Guard subjects occasionally…nice work as usual Mike.

  5. Nice clean build - I've got one of these old kits in my stash, and always cringe with I see the rivets. I just hate all that sanding...!

    I like the CG scheme also - certainly adds a splash of color to the display cabinet!

    • Thanks Greg. As for sanding down the rivets... just put an old movie on you've seen before and start wet sanding the plastic..since it's an old movie you can concentrate on the sanding and not miss anything going on in the movie, plus it keeps your sanding from becoming monotonous 🙂

  6. Excellent result, Mike...much better than mine a few weeks ago. Nice work!

  7. Continuing the theme from June with the Martin Mariner - nice hi-vis colours and a great presentation. Nice one, Mike.

  8. Lovely clean build, very eye-catching. Nice one. Although I think the propellers are the wrong way round.

  9. Thanks Steve for "stopping by" with a nice comment...you know I thought that too regarding the props...but I'm a strict ''follow-the-instructions-as-written" man, I don't want any trouble with the model police:-)

  10. Fifteen builds of the same kit? You must have a higher threshold to boredom than I do. Looks superb Mike, but then it's a floatplane with dayglo orange bits on it, so it would. One of these days I'll build this kit myself – hope it'll come out as sharp as yours.

    • Thanks Mike for the kind words. Actually the kits of the Albatross were built over a long period of time, my first HU-16 build was in 1960 and it was a real glue bomb. If I had to build any plane more than once over a short period of time, YES, it would be boredom city!

  11. Mike,
    Happy Birthday and thank you for your service. The nation owes a debt to the Cost Guard for all it has done throughout the years. A great job on this model. I miss seeing all of these older USCG aircraft flying out of SFO (Mills Field)

    • Thank you Frank, I used to string Christmas lights on the HU-16 that was on display at Air Station Cape Cod. It was the last Albatross to fly in service, now it is a memorial to the crews that manned it and all the rescues they performed.

  12. A place in a museum is a perfect place, for this beautiful build. Great work on this rather old kit and a great paint job, looking great !

  13. Beautiful work (as usual).

  14. Nice Mike, in those loud colours quite striking.
    Lovely clean finish too.
    Well done mate.

    • Thanks for the nice compliment, Simon. To be truthful, I'm surprised the paint finish wasn't all messed up, it was a humid day I airbrushed and a lot of moisture in the "paint area".

  15. said on August 6, 2015

    As always nice build , but one question . I noticed the E-city on the tail and you said it's going to Cape Cod . So how come not Cape Cod air station ? Just asking , as you and I sailed some of the same waters . Thanks

  16. Hey Gary, you trying to start trouble or something with provocative questions? (Only kidding) Thanks for the compliment.

    I've donated about 30+ aircraft models to the Cape Cod Heritege Museum, mostly 1:72 with a few 1:48. I tried to vary the historical paint schemes and in turn, the aircraft that wore an Air Stations home base name on the tail/fuselage. We get a fair amount of visitors to the museum from out of state and having different aircraft models with names from around the country adds to the visual effect. If you check my articles here you'll note I donated two HU-16's with "SALEM" on the tail, that indicates to visitors we had another air sta in Massachusetts before Cape Cod. By the way, what did you sail on the waters you mentioned?

  17. said on August 6, 2015

    Hi Mike , 3yrs. on the Munro WHEC 724 and 2yrs. at Group Boston which was split with 1yr. At Plymount light station and one year at Pt. Allerton sta . In Hull . My first year in th Coast Guard was on the Dallas WHEC 716 out of Goveners Island NY . By the way in case you want to know I was a "deck ape" hope that answers your question 😉 oh and we ran ran 40 , 41 , and 44 at Pt Allerton .

    • Gary, It's a small world I guess. I was stationed at Point Allerton after the CGC BIBB. Was "Spar Dog" still alive when you were a crewman there, what years? I could write a book about my time at "PA".

      • said on August 6, 2015

        Yep spar was still alive , I was there late 75 until July of 76 . Bobby Beoutte was C.O. , was Paul Dodds and Brian Nagle still around when you were there ?

  18. Master Modeller.

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