Fred Jack

Aviatic with Pheon has just released a 1/32nd scale Frank Luke Jr. with a booklet and a set of decals that cover three different planes with enough roundles to complete two. Price is £32.00 + £5.00 postage. Just google Frank Luke Decals and scroll down to the posting and order right from there through pay pal. Hurry, they have released only 150, well, thanks to yours truly, 149.

Funny thing is, if you asked me what collor things were when I was in the Army, I couldn't tell you.

I love answering collorsof AC in the ETO. I've known pilots, crews, and mechanics. Here is the scoop. Bombers and fighters were factory finished upon completion at factories, but the paints just weren't available in England. What OD got overseas was snatched up by the armor units. Crews especially liked touching up paint chips on their birds, but the only paints available came from British squadrons, so guess what colors were used? If you tried to touch up OD with British Dark Green, no match. Some crews made a sort of blotch camoflouge over the OD, some just painted the whole business. There were a lot of collisions between the partially painted and therefore lighter birds taking off into the fog, and the heavier but prettier fully painted slower birds. Fighters ended up being mostly stripped of Paint. Some squadrons still had paint on the fuselage, but it was RAF Dark Green. Stripes were often roundel yellow, blue, or red. For some strange reason OD turned brown and blue turned faded blue gray until 1945.

All dat me wants are 1/32 B-24, Do 17, Hallifax lll, and a Hudson.

I love the zero, especially the canopy. I'm no rivet counter, but I still have some old Hase kits, one to become a Mitsubishi and the other a Nakagima, which I once read was the most numerous. Also by 1945, they had the holes, but usually one gun and not two. I have no reference, but it wouldn't surprise me that there were also missing wing guns as well. I love Tamiya's cockpit detail, but it gets lost under all that cockpit framing, and at the price, I just never bought it. I like my a/c as though they were sitting on the tarmack, like I'm used to seeing real planes.

I was cleaning out my closet and found a little white box. Inside was a Paragon mod for a Mk Xll Spit. I should clean more often.

Are there any 1/32 Griffon powered Spitfire kits?

I would imagine, since the bird cage Corsairs were never used on carriers, that the white sharp coral dust from the runways and the salt spray had the final say on the colour of the wheel wells.

With Fukushima's power plants still leaking uncontrollably, I must say, I'm pretty gun shy of getting anything out of Japan.

For those interested, you can get one from Kiwi Models for $45 US. I looked today on eBay and there are 10 available. of course, you might want to get cockpit details from Part or Eduard for the cockpit, since you can now see into it.

There are so many planes on everyones wish list, you have to get in line. Posting your favorite isn't going to put you in front of anyone else. I want a Hudson, Do 17, and a HP rectangle rudders HP Halifax.

If I put a SPAD nose on it and called it a Morane Saulnier Z, Someone would go crazy trying to find one on-line or in their reference books. And of course no one is going to admit that they can't find it. To prove it, they'll post errors, like the wing is 6" to short, etc....

I have a 1/32 Vector Le Rhone lying around. I know not to use a Clerget or Bently, but after so many decades of modelling, If I put any 9 cyl motor, would anyone know if it were the wrong one?

I did type it in two words, silly me. But I'm an old fart, so I can make all the miss takes I want.

Whoopee, got my Kiwi Resin Models 1/32 Sopwith Swallow Mod for my old Academy or Hobby Craft Camel. I know I have one of them but not sure which one. Being only one ever made, I don't expect Pheon to come out with sheets and sheets of decals. It not only converts the the old Camels, including the Korean ripoff, it fixes the problematic wing surfaces with a new wing and tail surfaces. It also has the center section struts,upper pylon halves,upper deck front, upper deck rear, tail skid, wicker seat, and seat base. Now for the Parts Photoetch for the **** pit interior and new wheels, and I'm on my way.

Fortunately, I don't have a cost or a wish list. My wife might see it and my wish list would have added on, being able to be allowed back into the house.

I wasn't thinking of getting this kit, but those decals did it for me. Beautiful build.

Don't forget to borrow a pair of wifey's nylons to put over a vacuum cleaner hose to find any parts.

I still prefer looking in a plane's windows and seeing a crew. I don't remember the old Monogram bombers having crews, other than the C47 having a couple Airborne figures.

At least I have enough Lozenge sheets to do the entire "Blue Max" Squadron of Tiger Moths, Triplanes, one Phalz, and one SE5 and any cough that might come up. Did you guys notice the "German SE5" in one of the ground attack scenes?

Darn, it makes me wish I hadn't got a Baracuda Production sheet so I could build the "Millie G".

There is hope for the Do17, since one was found largely intact in 2007 off the coast of Kent and raised.

I was jealously on the WnWs site looking at customer builds, when I came upon a FE 2b with a seated pilot and a gunner. Below the picture, the builder stated that the figures came from ModelDesignConstruction. I have previously seen seated pilots, but not with Observer/Gunners. I googled them. They have a German crew and one or two British crews. To me, they look great.

I tend to feel in general, that if someone invented a shrinking machine and shrank a real plane, someone will find problems with it. We were so happy with Monogram's bomber offerings, non of us checked the dimensions. I wouldn't know whether the old Monogram is more accurate. They both look like B-17s to me, only one is bigger and costs 300 bucks. If I spent that much on a model, I'd have to build it in the yard, because I wouldn't be allowed back into the house.

How many other NUTS like me are buying decals for models we don't even have yet? I'm not talking about just Pheon Decals for WnW models on my want list. I go back a long ways. WnWs has all of the Fok. D.Vlls. Years ago I bought the now defunct Americal/Gryphyn Fok. D.Vll in 1/32, I bought them when there were no D.Vll ALB, OAW, or F models. I still haven't bought even one D.Vll except a Battle Axe early D.Vll in which none of those decals are intended. Of course that's just one set.