Ira
“ike” kepford:
Ira
“Ike” Kepford from Harbor Springs, Michigan and formerly of Muskegon,
Michigan was one of the top naval fighter aces during World War II and was
hailed as a local hero in the years following the war. On Saturday,
October 7, he was enshrined into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.
The Kepford family moved to Muskegon, Michigan shortly after Ike was
born. He was an outstanding scholar and athlete at Muskegon Sr. High
School. He was a blocking back on the championship football teams and
became captain of the State Championship 1937 team and elected to the
All-State Team. He went on to Northwestern University where he repeated
academic and athletic performance. He captained the 1939-41 teams that won
national ranking. Kepford was credited with 16 confirmed and proven
air-to-air combat victories. He scored his victories in six engagements
between November 11, 1943 and February 19, 1944 and was a member of the
elite VF-17 “Jolly Rogers” squadron flying F4U-1A Corsair fighters.
This squadron produced more aces than any other fighter squadron in World
War II—Kepford was the highest scoring of these aces. He enlisted in the
U.S. Navel Reserve on August 18, 1941 and received his flight training at
Naval Air Stations in Corpus Christi, Texas and Miami, Florida. He
graduated at the top of his class. He was assigned to VF-17 in December
1942. In his lifetime, Kepford was awarded the following: Navy Cross, Gold
Star in lieu of Navy Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross,
Ribbon for the Navy Unit Commendation VF-17, American Defense Service
Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and World
War II Victory Medal.
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Models:
The
model is the kit Tamiya in 1/72 and is absolutely perfect, the parts fit well, the cockpit is a model in the model
(only the seat seems a
little off scale). For the engine I just added the wire candles as it was already very
beautiful.
Assembly
process:
The
assembly process flowed fast and was very pleasant, as usual the
cockpit was painted interior green while the consol side painted in matt
black aged with' as an artist with earth Tones.
The
console and instrument panel were highlighted with dry brushing in grey and
adds some
touch of colour taking care to look at some pictures of the true aircraft.
The
fuselage inside the cockpit is colored in interior green as is inside of
the engine cowling and the wheel wells. Once this is done, I highlighted
the details
with drybrushing
and washes in oil colors in the cockpit and engine wheel wells and you can
then close the fuselage. Now construction of the tail
and wings was filled with few imperfections and I applied a coat of gray
primer to highlight and eliminate errors. At this point we are ready for
the painting of the model.
In
the second part of this article I will explain the painting, I hope that my
advice can be of help to some pattern maker.
Manuel
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