The "Boneyard Wrangler" .

Augie
Hehe Sneaky

Kerry COX
Ya think so. ?? 🙂

Augie
Naw just want more pictures😉

Kerry COX
Don't move, some are now on their way INSTANTLY. !!! 🙂

Augie
Excellent, realtime delivery.

Kerry COX
Howzat. ?

Augie
Excellent 🙂

Kerry COX
I also have all the Blackhawk photos I took being posted too. 🙂

Stephan Ryll
very nice pictures - thanks for sharing

Kerry COX
Use them any way you like Stephan, make a folder and save what you like of them, as they were purely for reference any way. 🙂

Bill Gilman
Nice photos Kerry! This will be quite useful for an F-111 project that I have coming up. The F-111G is basically an FB-111, right? When were these taken? I thought Australia had retired all of their F-111s. I remember seeing that awful picture of some being buried.

Kerry COX
Hi Bill, The 111 had a number of variants, some with a shorter wings and avionics packs and some with stockier nose cones, but basically all the same.👍
As for how long ago these were taken, take a look at the last uploaded image and that will tell you exactly when where and how. AND, we were the ONLY film crew to gain this much freedom to literally 'crawl in and out and all over the top' of one, especially in such a close up capacity. Something I am very proud of. 🙂

Augie
Aussie 111c's were IIRC basicly F-111A with F-111B wings and FB-111 Undercarridge.

They bought some F-111G (FB-111 redesignated) when the USAF retired them. These were retired in 2007.

Kerry COX
The "Boneyard Wrangler" was one of those too Augie. Great research girl. 🙂 👍.
Well done 🙂

Augie
thanks bud, the vark is one of those airframes that i love.

Kerry COX
Me too. 🙂

Kerry COX
This was a sad day. 🙁 Youtube Video

Bill Gilman
Thanks Augie! I thought I remembered that the "Gs" were re-purposed "FBs."
Kerry - I hate that video! So sad! But thanks for posting it. 75 years from now, some treasure seeker will be looking to dig them up like those guys who thought there were buried Spitfires in Southeast Asia.

Kerry COX
Or all the Harley Davidson WLA's buried under the concrete slab that is now Bandiana, in Albury hehehehe

Scott Dutton
Makes you cry

Kerry COX
Yes, it certainly does. 🙁 I remember the very first 'Dump and burn' they did over Brisbane. ! Car accidents all over the place and people thought they were UFO's or war had broken out. LOL 🙂

Scott Dutton
We still have an escape module at work, from USA not one of ours and it gets used for the Children's XMAS party. Ogh the injustices.

Kerry COX
Interesting. !
I remember hearing that the joy stick becomes the bilge pump if the escape module ends up in the drink. hehehehehehe

Martin von Schreckenstein
Hello Kerry. thank you for this! I am building two tf30s right now and there are some very useful pics in your album!

Kerry COX
Believe me when I say, 'Other than 'media', we were the only civilians to ever get as close to an F-111 as we did, all because it was, "For Scale Modellers".
And while we were there, we also got to photograph and video the Caribou, the A-20 Boston 'Havoc' which had just been totally refurbished.
And then we were invited to Oakey, west of Toowoomba to film the Black Hawk.
But thanks to some who had other motives, Mod Vid never got off the ground, but I would still like to put all my digital videos of these aircraft onto disc, but I lack the equipment and would be charged a massive amount to have it done. But, Oh well. 😉 👍

Slavo Hazucha
The photo-material is superb, a pity with the videos :/ Still, you are helping people & sharing cool stuff here on scalemates - I i.e. already very much look forward to building the Wrangler, will order the kit in the next days 🙂

Kerry COX
Slavo, having built the 1/48 Hobby Boss F-111, I can assure you that there is so much scope for improvements /detailing, your head will spin. The box when you open it is "FULL TO THE BRIM" of everything you will need to have a fantastic result. The surface detail is brilliant, as I am sure you have seen on my post. 👍
Have fun mate. 🙂 👍 The best decals actually come from 'Red Roo' decals, with the walk lines and other stenciling. google.com.au/url?sa..ust=1562099700768154

Kerry COX
Well, this looks like it may turn out a 'group build', as I have just ordered the pig from BNA and the decals from southern models. Happy times. 👍 😉

Augie
Ooo vark group build 😄

Slavo Hazucha
A splendid idea, let´s see if we get more people on board! 👍

While I can most likely get the kit without problems, It does not look so cool for me with the decals... To paraphrase the T-Shirt motto:

"No Australian Pig decals in Austria"

seems to be the order of the day... Actually, stretch that to Europe, as my search so far seems to indicate... I also did not find the generic decals sheet on Red Roo - but I would be more than happy to go with these:

RAAF F-111C/G - 1 Sqn. & 6 S..els Australia AAF-053, 1:48)

- for the lines & stencils

and:
F-111C & G (Aussie Decals A48022, 1:48)

- for the aircraft-specific theme

Is there any chance of inter-continental help & support? 🙂

Regarding my process & timing, I still owe some hours of work to my Fullback-baby, so even if the kit arrives, I will not start before mid July realistically... I´m eager to have a look at the HB-model and see if I can get it built with wings folded... maybe even in-flight, if the fit of the bay & all doors supports it... I would be happy to do the Boneyard Wrangler, but if that one´s occupied I can settle on another specific plane too 🙂

Kerry COX
The 'Bone yard' is an all grey beast, and as I love the SEA colour scheme, I will pursue the original lay out.

Slavo Hazucha
OK, so I claim the Wrangler! You got a nice SEA one already, what´s the deal this time? Engine out? Avionic bays? 🙂

Kerry COX
I am happy with a 'clean' build. Nothing too heavy on the detailing, but better attention to the overall look.

Stephan Ryll
It's always good,to have a F-111 around 👍

Kerry COX
They always had a 'distinct' sound, very reassuring. 😉 👍

Sergej I
Never built the Aardvark before, more of a Navy fan, but following as someday... 😄

Kerry COX
The 'Ardvark' was the shorter wing span than all other F-111's version, mainly built for the jamming role .

Scott Dutton
I always thought the scheme at the end of its life here was the best, overall grey, looks sinister particularly with some AGM's (142?) or similar standoff weapon. Mind you SEA with a full bomb load also looks great.

Augie
spark varks were same span as a's IIRC Kezza.

Kerry COX
Which were the ones with the shorter wing span Augie. ?
I know very little about the Pig. 😉

Augie
Ooo challenge accepted

Any but... FB-111A, 111C's, 111G's and 111B's were short wing.

Slavo Hazucha
Is this actually taken account for in the HB kits? I´ve seen sprues with multiple instrument panels & stuff in reviews, but do they really change the entire wing assembly? Or does Hobby Boss gently "overlook" the topic?

In any case, my FB-111A - to be made - F-111G is en-route and thanks to the honorable Mr. Michael Hickey, so are some unmistakably original Australian decals! Thanks Michael, I will surely give my best to put them to good use 🙂

Q about the cockpit for ordering the right eduard PE´s - the G´s kept the all-round-instrument cockpit layout, correct?

Nathan Dempsey
If the longer spans aren't in the kit, OzMods has the longer wing set. They also have the beefier wheels/tires needed on those FB-111A, F-111G/C/D and F models. Those models had much larger brake systems. Also I have no idea about the HB kit, but be aware the "boat tail" fairing between the engines was different from all other variants on the FB-111A/ G models. The only other obvious thing would be the intakes. The D/E/F &G models had "Triple Plow II" intakes. Get a look at the Radar Absorbing Material inside the intakes too. Check those reference pictures of your bird! 🙂

Kerry COX
Image 46 is a mystery to me and no one at the base knew what the stencil was all about but just happened to be in the bomb bay, (Which BTW had never been seen by ANY film crew as there was no access to this part of the aircraft before we came along.) The 'wrangler' was a replacement for one that had crashed and there 'triple plough' I am not too sure about. But there are tons more images of these Aussie issue birds around, and I am just building mine OTB without any bells or whistles.

Palo M
+1 on group build, just ordered the Hobby Boss Pig:

Australian F-111C Pig (HobbyBoss 80349, 1:48)

And trying to get at least some of Eduard's PE with it. Hope the decals in the kit are good enough. Will try to do the camouflage version.

Augie
I'm in, been looking for excuse to get fb-111 on

Slavo Hazucha
Looks like we are going to build a significant portion of the RAAF´s former complement! 🙂

Welcome aboard, did not even take so much work to convince you to join this in the end 🙂 I will sort the PE order today, no worries! If you need some more exotic tuning gear, check also Nathan´s posts up here, he seems to be very much up to speed with what´s available.

Nathan Dempsey
I just have a huge cheat sheet in my Academy EF-111A and F-111F kits with research I did years ago. Oh another thing on the HB kit. I dont know if they corrected it, but the exhaust nozzles have the wrong number of support "bumps". That kit has 5 and it should be 6. Both Academy and HB kits have flaws, but both can make decent kits. I've heard of people combining them...

Palo M
Thanks Nathan! I don't think I'll get both to build one correctly but thanks for the hint with the nozzles. Any other useful info is welcome!

Kerry COX
It's just a model in a box. Lots of fun and simple.

Slavo Hazucha
Model in a box is on it´s way to my desk... I´ll open it, count the rivets twice and we´ll take it from there - questions will be asked afterwards😉

Kerry COX
The glaring thing about this kit is the fuel dump nozzle. Totally wrong, but the Boneyard images have that covered. 👍 😉

Nathan Dempsey
Can't wait to see the build Slavo.

Another good thing Kerry's images show is the exhausts when parked. Note how one is open and one is closed much like on the F-14.

Martin von Schreckenstein
hello, I can no longer see the contents of this album. did that happen just for me or is it gone for the others as well? It vanished just as I was using it to build my TF30s.. guess i should have saved those pics huh

Augie
Kezz whats happened bud?

Kerry COX
There were many of my images used by some one out in the web land who claimed them as his own so I challenged them on copyright and told them to give me the credit for the images., and I deleted the images until I heard from him that he would honour my request.

Augie
Ahhh

Martin von Schreckenstein
oh thank god🙂 and godspeed!

Slavo Hazucha
Oh man... Good you sorted that, having the the Wrangler images is really great & particularly useful for my G-version build... Which I'll gladly state in the description once it gets done!😉

Kerry COX
That was a great result in being granted permission to 'shoot' the Bone bandit for scale modellers, Being the ONLY, (up to that point in time) film crew to be able to actually walk the wing upper surface and crawl right into both the wheel wells and bomb bay. I will post the correspondence dealing with the shoot for you.