Alpine Canary…1/48 North American T-6G Texan, Austrian Airforce
After my fellow countryman Roland Sachsenhofer posted his Italeri (Occidental) French Texan I looked through my foto albums and realized that there were only very old pics of my father´s Austrian T-6 that he built with the same kit a while ago for our homeland collection. So here it is with fresh new pics.
The decals are from IPMS Austria. As far as I remember my dad used masking tape for the seatbelts and added some scratch antennas for the belly. The yellow paint was a selfmix. Back then I didn´t do WIP threads so I can´t tell you more about the model.
Like many other airforces around the world, also the Austrian one used the good old T-6 as trainer.
In 1959, the US government loaned 10 Texans to our Austrian Airforce. They were stationed in Graz-Thalerhof /Styria and Linz-Hörsching/Upper-Austria. The last aircraft was decommissioned in 1971. One survived and is now in a museum, two were lost in accidents (2 people killed) and the rest was scrapped.
20 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Andrew H said on July 10, 2020
I love it Reinhard. The yellow and black is a perfect match for this airframe in my opinion. The yellow paintwork is beautifully executed, especially given how difficult it can be to paint and weather (even so subtly). You should be very proud of your father’s work. Also thanks for all the great photo angles.
Reinhard Spreitzhofer said on July 11, 2020
Thanks Andrew!
Yes, yellow suits it, was a very common paint on Texans.
Here´s a rare colour pic of Austrian ones
https://www.gotech.at/t6g_texan_4c-tj(c)gfl.jpg
Andrew H said on July 11, 2020
@grimreaper, after seeing that pic, I’ve gotta say the model looks even more astonishingly dead-on…
Roland Sachsenhofer said on July 10, 2020
Great how you modulate the yellow and make it look natural in a convincing way! Combined with the differentiated treatment of the panel lines, this simply results in a wonderful, successful effect! Quite a adorable outcome…
Reinhard Spreitzhofer said on July 11, 2020
Thanks a lot Roland!
Initially my father airbrushed the model with a different yellow. But he wasn´t satisfied with the tone, so he mixed a new one and applied it over the first one. Guess this caused the modulation. But he usually tries to airbrush in a way the paint surface doesn´t become too even or “boring”.
Spiros Pendedekas said on July 10, 2020
A magnificent build, Reinhard!
Great “new” photos too!
caudelguille said on July 10, 2020
What a clean job, even with weathering!
hats off
Robert Royes said on July 10, 2020
Nice!!
CJ said on July 10, 2020
Either you or your friend Roland are both tossups for the most Austrian names ever. Your model is ausgezeichnet. Speaking of the T-6, maybe you just saw this recent post:
Reinhard Spreitzhofer said on July 11, 2020
Thanks!
Yes I saw that post, Texans everywhere 😀
I guess the T-6 was one of the most widely used trainer aircraft in the world.
Yeah, the names Hofer and …..hofer are very common in Austria (and also Bavaria)
John vd Biggelaar said on July 11, 2020
Fully agree with all the previous posts.
A great build, especially because of the full yellow painting.
Well done.
Tom Bebout said on July 11, 2020
Good looking Texan, especially in yellow.
Reinhard Spreitzhofer said on July 11, 2020
Thank you very much for all the comments and likes!
George R Blair Jr said on July 12, 2020
Trainers have such cool paint schemes. Great job, Reinhard.
Greg Kittinger said on July 12, 2020
Everyone stole my thunder – beautifully done! Love the paint work.