BiggTim

For quite some time (well into two years now), I've been trying to sort out WWII US bomb markings and shipping rings, the rings in particular. I‘ve found data that indicates that different charges were denoted by different yellow bands, but even in that regard, there seems to be a general lack of consistency.
 
It seems that sometimes actual bands are painted on the bombs themselves to mark the location of the rings, but that idea may well be a false one, and was really not needed anyway, as the rings just protected/covered the lifting lugs. While the bands themselves mostly were metal, or appear to have been, for quite a while I thought they were two pieces, but I now believe that at least part of the time, they were one piece affairs instead. The bands seem to have had a U-shaped cross section, and may or may not have had gaskets.
 
Any and all discussion and photo examples of any data pertaining to this subject would be most welcome.
 
Thanks a bunch, fellas,

Fuse no, wings yes.

Moving along with a degree of rapidity as I up-market my ancient Revell Wildcat, I am about to tackle the wings but find myself stymied by having not laid hands on a real one in a decade or more.  I cannot remember; did Grumman flush rivet the wings on that thing?   They look deceptively smooth in all sorts of photos, unlike the way Revell has them covered with a million tiny evenly spaced zits.

1. P-38 Lightning (big surprise to anyone who knows me)
2. F-4 Phantom
3. P-51 Mustang
Honorable mention: Any Spitfire

Happy Birthday, fellow PNW resident!

Hmmm...
 
*Very* difficult question - and *very* hard to pick only three.
 
If pushed probably the following:
 
#1. English Electric Lightning (any early model in natural metal) - an icon - and the aeroplane that started the fascination with aviation for me.
 
#2. de Havilland Hornet - one of the ultimate piston-engined fighters - and a favourite of Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown, which says rather a lot!
 
#3. A-26K Invader - another performer, as well as a good looker. I could go on some adventures with my buddies with one of those.
 
Other than that - most things silver and from the 1930s.
 
Blue skies,
 
Iain
 
 

Hey Max, Paul's question didn't have 'again' in it..  

Happy Birthday, fellow PNW resident!

1. P-38 Lightning (big surprise to anyone who knows me)
2. F-4 Phantom
3. P-51 Mustang
Honorable mention: Any Spitfire

A little more progress. Mostly bits and bots left ...
 

 

 

 
Thanks guys...

Thank you for the images of your parts. I would start with your basic AD-5 'Fat Face' conversion as a basis and then scratch build the AD-5W interior. I need to understand how the basic rear canopy differs from the 'W' in shape to see if I could use that either 'as is' or as a pattern to cast in opaque resin and then to alter to get the correct 'W' shape or even to plunge mould in card. The latter would probably be the best option. No rush with this project though! Not doubt someone will produce a brand new conversion before I get my act together!!

Hello Mike !!
 
And from me to Happy Birthday!!
 
Cheers
Boris

Happy Birthday Mike! Hope you have a good day, and thanks for all the encouragement you always give to everyone here.
 
Richard

Happy Birthday Mike,  hope you have a great one,  Keep on trucking and keep that GEEZER switch off.

Happy Birthday Mike 

All the best Mike, have a great day and keep up the good work.
 
Cheers
 
Dennis

have a good one  Mike 

A very happy birthday old chap, have a good one over there in Portland! 

Very glad to have a fellow Christian Warrior on here!

That's what I call a fun story.
 
Did you put those funny big wheels on your PA-12?
 
 

My wife and I just got back from seeing a specialist and are giddy after learning that the scare was no scare at all.  All is well, so we celebrated with my famous chicken soup known for its magical restorative powers and a bottle of organic Pinot noir.  The soup was grand but the wine would have been better left in the bilges of the wine boat.  No matter the label, wine often leaves me waxing eloquent.  So I will share a true “There I was” story with which hardly any of you can relate.  Maybe not even Pete.  Once upon a time I was a young USAF officer on a major base down south that played host to flying units from all the services save the Coast Guard.  There were F-15s, A-7s, OV-10s and OV-1s, C-130s, etc based there.  All but the C-130s did their best to out do each in the break at mid field.  Of course, the F-15s won but the A-7s held their own, while the rest were mostly pitiful.  Since I am not rated, I never got to play their reindeer games to prove my prowess.  Later in life after I had retired from the blue suit, I bought a very nice Piper PA-12 and proceeded to fly the hooey out of it nearly every day for seven years.  Now, the PA-12 and I became good friends once it had taught me how to fly and we shared many adventures.  We went where most airplanes don’t, flew at airspeeds slower than most cars, flew formation with a B-17 with a tailwheel problem, took off behind a Dauntless, tried to catch the Goodyear blimp on a cross country flight, hovered over one spot on the globe at 10,000’, etc.  I think you get the idea.  The airplane and I liked each other and got along very well.  One day we were returning from having great fun zipping along down low among the low hills of a neighboring state when I heard on the radio a local group at my home drome called Tiger Flight.  Tiger Flight was several nerdy guys in flight suits who flew Ercoupes (If you don’t know, google Ercoupe and try not to laugh.) painted in orange and black Tiger stripes.  Their stated goal was to introduce teenagers to aviation but they mostly were involved in self admiration.  Their leader took great pride in teaching his pilots formation flying and could be heard over the local freq reporting in, switching to “Tac 2”, shifting left and right, etc - all at less than 100 mph.  I found these wannabees laughable as did others on the field, including a retired USAF fighter pilot who raced a very specialized Lancair at Reno every year.  His airplane was a maintenance nightmare and he was forever blasting about the countryside trying to work out one bug or another.  On this particular day he was up on a check flight when Tiger Flight cruised down the center line of the runway in an echelon right and called for a midfield break.  The Lancair was close enough to see it all and had several disparaging things to say over the radio, ending with, “You want to see a break, watch this.”  At which point he came screaming along at the speed of heat and pulled on the pole until you could actually hear his airplane grit its teeth under the g load.  Tiger Flight went “Oooo!  Ahhhh!” like so many Minions.  Tiger Flight 0; retired Air Force Guy 1,000.  Well.  The PA-12 and I were next in line for a landing and had a quick discussion concerning whether we should or not.  We decided we should so we arrived over the numbers with all the speed we could muster.  I announced our intentions and at midfield, I slammed the stick over and pulled as hard as I dared.  The Cub was feeling its oats that day and surprised me.  Instead of a cheek sagging groaner of a break, we simply pivoted on a wingtip and were headed back in the direction we had just come, directly over the center line where we started. It was all very helicopterish.  The Cub was very proud of itself, but now what??  The radio was dead silent and I had no idea what to do next.  It was all very embarrassing.  We had no choice but to land and taxi past Tiger Flight and the Lancair to my hangar, mortified.  We obviously had no Right Stuff at all.  Tiger Flight tried to think of a witty rejoinder, but being nerdy guys, was limited to fart noises on the radio.  The Lancair guy simply turned his back, disgusted with all of us.  The PA-12 refused to talk to me for at least a week and fouled two plugs on our next flight out of spite.  We eventually got over ourselves but it was an uphill battle.  At least that’s the way it seemed at the time.  No real relevance here or even a moral to this story and maybe not as funny as I first thought but, damn, that was a good bottle of wine.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Amen to that!! Such incredible skills, especially considering they were before 3D printing.

3x Trumpeter P-38s: one in progress as an L-5, one in progress as an H model, and one unstarted.
2x 109Gs (one new Revell, one Hasegawa)
Only one of everything else, total about 30 kits.
 
T
 

3x Trumpeter P-38s: one in progress as an L-5, one in progress as an H model, and one unstarted.
2x 109Gs (one new Revell, one Hasegawa)
Only one of everything else, total about 30 kits.
 
T