Most Liked Content

Hey Bill, would you care to tell how your Dad got his Purple Heart, I'd love to know?

My father said he just "mopped up" on Saipan until I was 40, then it all came gushing out: he was in the Second Wave, and fought all the way across the island. It was pretty bad, and he wouldn't talk specifics, but had the usual trove of "souvenirs," including a pistol and an officer's sword. You can figure out how he got them. Said watching women throw their kids from cliffs into the sea, then jump in after them was horrific and still upset him.

 

After about a month of fighting, his platoon came out of the underbrush onto a ridge line; across a ravine was a Japanese sniper pulling off rounds. My dad says they saw the bullets kicking up the soil around them, but he said he just didn't seem to take it seriously until one of them slammed into his leg in the calf. He left his "stash" with a buddy whom he never saw again. The only thing I have from then is a flag signed with all sorts of Japanese soldiers' names.

 

The docs wanted to amputate his leg, but he begged them not to. Eventually it healed, however his war was over. After he recovered, he went to OCS (officer candidate school) and was preparing for Operation Olympic (the invasion of Japan) when the war ended. The Marines estimated that platoon commanders would be killed or wounded at a high rate, so each platoon would go in with a "spare" Louie. That was my dad.

 

Every August when the hand-wringing over the US dropping the atomic bombs begins, I think about the fact I would not have been even a gleam in my father's eye without those bombs. Thousands of Japanese lived as well. Forgive the editorializing, but the Bomb is very personal for me.

 

Here's to you, Lt. Col. William E. Cross, Jr. (retired after 27 years and three wars). Your ashes are in Arlington, but I hope your spirit has found peace somewhere else. Love you, Dad.

 

Thanks, guys, for the chance to give him a shout-out. My wife's dad was a gunner/navigator in a USMC Dauntless Dive Bomber, so we're double Marine descendents in our house. Thumbs up for Lance Corporal John P. DiNardo.

I've been sitting back, lurking and reading comments on both the Spit and the 109, not to mention the new Corsair, the T-6 and the 219 and I'm kinda gobsmaked.... Some of the conversations here are starting to sound like another place I know. On this site, of all sites, we have shown the most tolerance, support and enthusiasm. We tend to be anal yes, but we build large scale cause we love it and often scratch build our detail because you just can't get it... now that we are starting to get flooded with kits we have only dreamed about in past years, people are going off about inaccuracy or 'like we need another *** ' or 'why did they do that instead of'.... Think about the list of kits that have started showing up on the market over the last 5 years... how many times have I heard people wishing for a new Corsair or a Temptest, a MK I spit, and an accurate 109 (whatever mark), a T-6 or any one of various models we dreamed of having in 'our scale'. No one dreamed anyone would do 2 and 4 engined bombers in 1/32 much less have them available for under $70. Now we are getting them and I hear the most incredible things being said... people on this site going off on each other over kits that we've only seen pics of... Come on guys ! we are better than this.

 

I for one am thrilled that RoG is bringing out so many very reasonably priced kits that are reasonably accurate (the 219 being the exception) and with basic modeling skills can be upgraded to show winners. The reasonable price and good quality/ detail puts them in range of all modelers and bodes well for young, first time modelers. This can only help keep the hobby going.

 

I love detail and accuracy as much as any of you, my builds on this site (the ONLY site I build on) shows that. Yes, It's frustrating to have a new kit that has issues but it sure as H.E. double hockey sticks beats scratch building  the whole model, detailing an old Revel kit from the 60's or doing up a vac kit.

 

I for one will be getting at least one new Spit and 109 and have a blast building them. For the price, I can get both for the price of one Hasagawa kit. Any faults they have, given my moderate skills, will be easy to straighten out.

 

Might I suggest we all stop, take a deep breath and remember where we are, who we are talking with and perhaps take a good long look at how blessed we are, not only by our group here, the friends and fellowship we have, but also the wonderful kits we have and whats coming just this year....(gods know what other wonderful news we'll have this time next year).

 

With respect to all

 

Vaughn

We've all been here-

 

1/32 4th quarter 2013

 

 

 

Glen

A conversion kit to make it a Lancaster. 

I live about 5 miles northwest of Boston. My son Adam and his friends were at the 24 mile mark cheering on friends/roommates when this happened. Took us over an hour to get in touch with him. He & his buddies are fine. On a sad note, a lovely woman who works with my sister-in-law at a hairdressing salon on Newbury Street was at the marathon with her family and she lost both her legs. Her husband and kids were injured but were treated & released from the hospital. I know this woman and she's a real sweetheart. My wife and I feel crushed at her injury. Foreign or domestic, this terrorism is BS!! Hundreds of innocents hurt on a day that brings all 50 states and nearly 100 countries together in the spirit of sportsmanship and peace.

No matter who is responsible for this.  Just remember what I wrote man,we outnumber them and the good people WILL prevail.

After the attack on 911 I was almost done in by grief and swore these a--holes would not do that to me again. Here is my coping device. I will never forget what these aweful people did to us and what they will probably keep doing and I will remain vigilant and of course do anything I can to help. The main thing is,I will focus now on the vast VAST majority of good people. The people that rushed in to help right after this happened. The people that secured the area,administered first aid,comforted the injured and their friends and loved ones.  THAT is what I will focus on,the fact that there are WAY MANY more good people than there are bad. AND THERE ALWAYS WILL BE!! You may cause us pain,but you cannot defeat us.

 I think in this,we are all the same,in any country around the world.

J

So, think of this as less of a build thread and more of a documented descent into madness......

 

And apologies for the long intro.  Following posts will be short, I promise.

 

This kit represents something I've wanted for a very long time.....a 1/32 U-2.  I saw it on ebay and had to have it.  So excited about the project, I started cutting out the pieces the very same night I received the kit. 

 

It is also my first complete vacuform kit.  I've done canopies, partial conversions (such as AIMS' Ju-88 stuff), and major conversions (1/48 Koster/Revell B-17C...the back half is vac), but never a full kit. 

 

Taking inventory, it's typical of old ID Models vacs.  There are almost no panel lines, except for the control surfaces on the wings...only the lower wings.  Really, this is more of a blessing, since vac's tend to have over done lines that have to be filled and rescribed anyway, so this saves me the first step. 

 

The canopy is yellowed...it looks like one of the F-16 or F-22 gold tinted ones, but it's devoid of frames and detail too.  It looks remarkably clear and probably was great before it aged. 

 

The kit as a whole gives a very basic airframe.....upper/lower wing halves and tail surfaces, fuselage halves, outer part of the intakes, and a few of the bulges/pods.  It doesn't come with the slipper tanks, undercarriage or any part of the cockpit, not even the basic tub.  It is, however, very big.  The length will be about 19" and the wingspan about 30".  For overseas guys, I think that's something like 2200 meters, although my conversion may be off a litte.

I took stock of what I have in my hands.  First, I'm far from a U-2 expert.  I've got more reference material enroute.  It's obviously an early U-2, not the later U-2R/TR-1.  Looking closer, the intakes are the smaller U-2A ones.  Going by what I've heard, read, and seen in photos, there are a number of different intake configurations on early U-2's, from the small style, to an interim style (wider horizontally, giving a coke bottle shape) and a large style (wider vertically and horizontally).  This kit definitely has early, A style intakes.

 

Originally, I wanted to do a U-2C, but the intake has caused me to reconsider.  This also allows me to use an Aires exhaust tube for an F-100, since it used the J-57 also.  I believe the version on the U-2 is a non afterburning version, but it's difficult to find much on the specific version of J-57 engine the U-2 had. 

 

Converting it to a C would mean a complete rework of the intakes (as opposed to the minor rework already needed), the addition of the spine, and a number of other things.

 

Still, even as an A, it has a lot of challenges.  Off the top of my head, here's how the list is shaping up.....

 

-No usable canopy.  I'm hoping to be able to use one from an F-104.  If not, I'll have to make my own buck and vac my own.

 

-No undercarriage....going to have to scratch these, including the bays.  For wheels, I plan on digging through my spares and other kits to find suitable sized and shaped ones that I can modify

 

-No cockpit.  Again, going to start with the old Hasegawa F-104 one and modify it as necessary

 

-Unique seat.  Early U-2s had their own lightweight ejection seat developed by Lockheed.  There is nothing I can do but make it myself.  Even in 1/48, everything I saw used the incorrect early C-1 seat from the F-104.  Interestingly, I found out some of the earliest U-2s had no ejection seat, but a wicker seat.  The idea was that every pound saved gave a little more altitude.

 

-My U-2 will be black, but most U-2A's were either bare metal or a very dark, navy blue.  In my mind, though, the only appropriate color for a U-2 is black.  I plan on doing this plane, on display at the USAF museum.  It's not likely that the plane was ever operational in black like this, but I don't care.  This a/c shows up in several configs with different instrumentation pods, so it gives me room to play.  What I really like about this, other than the color, is that it doesn't have slipper tanks.  I'm a huge fan of the plane being "clean" to show off the lines.

 

http://www.nationalm...heet.asp?id=387

 

Without further stalling for time, here's where I'm at.  The parts are cut out and about 90% of the sanding is done.  This is about one and a half solid evenings worth of work.  It just shows as a baseline of what I'm working with here.

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

Guys - and dutik - apologies - manic/stressful day yesterday then got home to read comments.

I have a thin skin at best of times and over-reacted.

Dutik - if I'd just come across this thread elsewhere on the web I may have had similar thoughts to yourself (whether I'd have posted, or not is another matter) - but I do understand where you're coming from.

Please trust me when I say we're trying to tread very carefully here in terms of any tweaks to the Revell kit and aim is to just end up with as accurate a UHU as possible - it's such an enigmatic aeroplane IMHO.

We have no axe to grind with trying to make a name for finding fault - just want to have a nice model that's as accurate as I can make it. Supposed to be a fun hobby and this is in no way intended as a 'you must build your UHU this way'. The one's I've seen built look great - but having spent over a month researching there are things that - to my eye - need addressing. Others will, quite rightly, choose to ignore and just build the kit - and that's great!

No favouritism/bias whatsoever - have met the ZM team a couple of times - but likewise have met members of the Revell team - all nice people (in fact Revell's UK office is about 100m from my office door in Tring).

We may not have access to the NASM machine - but it's become apparent from photos that there are some things that can be improved. What we can't pin down at present is the specific details (dimensions/angles etc..) that need to apply.

I see Ian has popped up on the thread - as said a while back, he's kindly given me permission to use his excellent images of the NASM machine - so when I get some time I'll do some more posts comparing kit and photos.

As I keep repeating - am aware of the sometimes misleading data photo's can throw up - but I am extremely careful. I said I have some experience of working with photos and drawings - this includes studying geometrical and engineering drawing to 'A' level standard here in UK, working as a Technical Author/Illustrator in the Aerospace industry, one time driver of AutoCAD and one of the first to supply computer generated artwork to the aviation/modelling press in the mid 1990's - so I do have a little experience and suitably trained (but not infallible) eye!

Dutik - hopefully we can draw a line there - your comments noted and, I hope, we can all work together moving forward. Oh - and your English is far better than my German!  

So - apologies folks. Thread stays and we'll continue from here...

Iain

Guys hope this works .. posting for the first time with the iMac - one cool toy!
Well, for the time being, I'm going to call Big Beautiful Doll done but, it's not really. There still are a few things that need to be finished but for the present, I've run out of steam and would rather wait until the juices are flowing again. The tail codes need to be added. I had Ian at Astra Masks make a custom set and can't find them, the ammo doors need the braces added, .50 cal need final painting, one set of exhaust needs to be added and the field tools with equipment needs to be finished up. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how the vignette and the Mustang came out. This was my first go at a NMF and while it's not perfect by a long shot, it still looks OK to these old eyes. The ammo boxes are from Jerry Rutman and look great. The two mechanics are from ZM and were painted with Vallejo Acrylics.
She was a super project and Tamiya's P-51D became a classic from the day it was released. I  decided to leave one set of exhausts off so the engine wiring can be seen. What started out as an OOB, straight out of the box, never went that way from day one and I'm willing to bet, I spent more on all the AM products then  the kit itself.
Enjoy and thanks to everyone for all the help and support.








Peter

Trumpeter JU-87 corrected and just finished in time for Telford

Hi guys the title says it all really . It was built for Mai and will appear in the magazine in the future. Lots of items updated and corrected to get to what you see here. i will only post a couple of images as it is for the mag. Suffice to say i have just finished her in time for Telford.
See you all there


John

  My heart goes out to your service people in particular and your population in general after the disturbing incident yesterday in London.

Politics aside,my thoughts and prayers go to the soldier that suffered such a horrible ,brutal death and his family.

This was truly a disgusting and despicable act and I stand with my valued British cousins at this time of sorrow.

   I know you will prevail,stiff upper.

J

OK guys, let's just focus on the kit rather than each other.

 

Kev

Looks good but we already have plenty of those .... Hase, Trumpy, Eduard.... do weneed a revell too

 

please dont hurt me 

 

Eduard does not do a G-6 or any G model for that matter.  Need?  Do we need plastic models at all?  As far as I know we need food, water and shelter, everything else is just gravy.

 

These types of replies are just pointless.  We're talking about the sprue shots from the new Revel, 109G-6, not what you or anyone else thinks we need.  Just once I'd like to be able to discuss a 109 without someone chiming in about whether we need another 109 or what they want instead of a another 109 kit.  Write Revell and tell them if you're unhappy about it, as far as I know nobody here sits on Revell's board of directors and made the decision to produce this kit.

Interesting how they say people who didnt order early enough didnt get any..I ordered mine BEFORE they even offered them up for pre-order. My rep and I discussed this kit soon before it was even released and he mentioned theyd have a preorder, so I told him to sign me up for 20 kits...a few days later I asked for another 10. So, I suppose even before they actually posted the kit on the wholesale website for preorder ,that I was still too late.. on another note, when Squadron did get them in, they themselves had 500 available (going off their site and entering 1000 in the order box) it took it down to 500 as available. The day they told me "you aint gettin nun naner naner boo boo"  they had 200,currently that number is 122.  Honestly, and this is just an opinion, they seen companies like myself offering kits at low prices,well below theirs and they decided to give us a taste of whose the boss. In all fairness, their a bit right in that sense..how can you compete with a company that sells them near wholesale prices ,which is why mine was so low..trying to compete with someone who isnt making money is very difficult.

I wrote this last night in answer to the terrible events and some peoples reactions on FB....Thought I'd share it here.

 

"There will always be those who hate.. who try to destroy. Yes, lives were lost, bodies shattered.. but the outpouring of courage, love and selflessness is the ringing answer to the hate... and why love and kindness will win over the hate..because though a few did this, THOUSANDS answered, rushing in to help, to give, to rescue.. they had no idea if there were more bombs.. but they ran into the screaming horror to help, police, EMT`s, but also every day people, marathoners, men, women, young people who ran into the smoke to help those dead, dying and horribly injured.. people of all races, colors and faiths.... and that Is the reply to those who did this....your hate cannot destroy love, compassion and kindness."

 

Remember that if they succeed in making us act like them.. if they succeed in making us hate..then they have won.

 

Vaughn

Interesting day at the office today, we were sandwiched between 4 Hornets on the operational readiness platform, 4 about to take off, and 5 behind us, needless to say I was rather distracted, and just had to share the moment with you guys.

View out the front


View out the back

In August 1942, The Japanese invaded Milne Bay on the far east tip of Papua New Guinea.The Japanese landed a force of their crack marines intending to take Milne Bay as a strategic air base which would have allowed them a back door to Port Moresby over the Own Stanley Ranges and to control shipping lanes between Australia, Port Moresby and to attack US shipping on route to Australia.

"Milne Force" was stationed there and consisted of Australian Infantry, Australian Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Australian Artillery, US Army Engineers and two Squadrons from the RAAF -75 and 76. These two squadrons were equipped with the Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk.

The battle of Milne Bay raged during August and September 1942. The battle vicious and hard fought. At the worst point of the battle for the austraians, the Japanese over run half of the airstrip and the battle appeared lost. At this point the Australian kittyhawks were beginning to take off and as their tail wheels lifted off, the pilots were engaging the Japanese with their wing guns. The pilots flew a lot of ground attack missions straffing the enemy on the beaches and in the jungle. Eventual the Australians held out and the japanese withdrew. This then became the first land defeat of the Imperial Japanese Empire in World War 2.

The pilots in 75 and 76 Squadron at the height of the battle flew up to 10 sorties a day and as soon as they landed, the ground crews were rearming the Kittyhawks and the pilots took off again straight away. As a result, a lot of missions were not logged. Without a doubt, had the RAAF not been there, the battle would have been lost.  It would go down as one of the finest hours for the Royal Australian Air Force

My interest in this battle stems from my grandafther who served with the 2/2 Heavy AA Regiment and was stationed with Milne Force during the entire battle defending the airstrip from enemy aircraft. He kept a diary which is a day to day account of the battle in detail.

I always wanted to do a RAAF Kittyhawk in Milne Bay. I found a decal set on the web for a RAAF Kittyhawk A29-153 "Grace". I contacted the Australian War Memorial to get information about the aircraft. The guy I spoke too told me that A29-153 was in fact named "Orace" not "Grace" As it turns out he told me he worked post war with the pilot that flew the aircraft - Roy RIDDEL Roy was a Flt Sgt and had served in the UK flying Spits and then was sent to 75 Sqn and out to Milne Bay. He was known as "Hot shot Riddel" or "**** hot Riddel" by the other pilots. He shot down at least one zero in the battle whilst flying with Flt Lt Les Jackson.

Then out of the blue I received an email from Mrs RIDDEL, The pilots widow. One thing led to another and she sent me pictures, log book entries of sorties and lots of research info.

Soon after I was contacted by the Pilot's son. He asked me if I would make 2 1/32 scale Kittyhawks in his Dad's markings of "Orace" So I said yes and I have so far completed one. I am awaiting decals for the other. So here are the pics of the first one. Hope you like it. Ive used a RB Productions Sutton Harness and other than that, the kit is straight out of the box. The Hasegawa kit is excellent.

So here she is

A29-153 "Orace" P-40E1 Kittyhawk 75 Sqn RAAF

For having to get two different piccies into one dio I think I still managed to get things looking fairly close.

 

 Operation Epsom may not have accomplished what Montgomery planned but for these POWs the war is over.

We know that Kuret survived being captured as his interrogation record exists in England. One can only speculate about the others in this cast.

J