I’ve enlisted in The 2017 “What if?” group build at The Airfix Tribute Forum— mostly in a desperate attempt to build some enthusiasm for model building. We’ll see if this actually motivates me to build a model. Airfix’s old Douglas Invader is a remarkable kit from Airfix’s “Golden Age” (the 1970’s). I’m going to try …
Continue reading Israeli A-26 “What If?”
Really, really having a hard time right now not going political. Full political. I know I occasionally make some remarks about Germans or something, but most of the time I actually do try to avoid being political. No, really. But I came across a paper (don’t ask me how) written by a chap with the …
Continue reading USAF History and Some Politics?
How many of you guys have had the unfortunate experience of being cornered at a plastic kit “social event” (IPMS or something) and being told how great the Luftwaffe was/is? Let’s see some hands. Okay. Lots of people. We all know that “certain” kit builders do LOVE them some Germans. They just really like them–so …
Continue reading Germans Do Everything Wrong
I recently sold a (then) hard-to-get set of decals for Duke Cunningham’s “Showtime 100” a famous warplane piloted by one of only two American pilot/aces from the Vietnam War. I had acquired an old Monogram F-4J and I intended to build it as Showtime 100 and put it beside a model of “Colonel Tomb’s” MiG-17. …
Continue reading Showtime 100 and the Legacy of Duke Cunningham
The image below shows the fuselage from the Meng F-102 next to the fuselage from the Academy B-24. The F-102 was a large aircraft. So were the other “Century Series” fighter planes that were so darn huge and ended up being very large targets over North Vietnam. What happened? Why did U.S. “fighter” aircraft become …
Continue reading Big American Iron: Why So Big?
Since I started this blog I’ve had more and more difficulty doing my hobby in a “relaxed” manner. I always feel like what I’m doing is “on stage” and I should be doing it, if not properly, at least “professionally.” Oh my. I have fallen rather short. My efforts to do this thing “properly” aren’t …
Continue reading The Unsettling Story of the Sharon D
Airfix just released a new 1/72 Me-262 and it has exactly the same paint job on it that I went to some trouble and expense to get for my “one of a kind” model. Experten Decals released this booklet with a sheet of decals intended to portray an aircraft KG 54 very late in the …
Continue reading Me-262 Secret Weapon, etc.
From time, I read a forum thread where various opinions are shared about how Germany could have “won” World War II if they’d only built a jet fighter or an atom bomb or if they had invaded England in 1940. It’s nonsense. Here are some myths about World War II that are often repeated on …
Continue reading Why Germany Lost WWII
In 1963, when Revell produced their 1/72 model of the Avro Lancaster, the box cost more to make than the plastic parts. It should have. It looked better. This Jack Leynnwood masterpiece has stood the test of time far better than than the plastic parts. In fact, Leynnwood’s work has been loved in the most …
Continue reading How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways…
A brief entry today about the mysterious “71/02” camouflage that is all the rage and shows up time and time again as the way to paint a “Battle of Britain” Me-109E. I think it’s malarkey. Here is a drawing of the “splinter” pattern for a “pre war” Me-109E. Notice that the pattern is the same …
Continue reading Remove the Splinter from THINE OWN Eye!