HobbyZoneUSA

Folks, I just got a note from Jennings Heilig that Paul and his family were able to escape the Paradise fire, but his home and workshop are evidently gone. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as he and the other families in the area get back to rebuilding their lives.

New in the store: The new HobbyZone OM16 Magnetic Instruction Holder is in stock with free shipping. These attach to the backs of your OM05 paint modules and hold instructions and paint guides in view without covering your workspace. The new HobbyZone OM08b US-sized Paper Towel Holder is in stock now. The new HobbyZone AC01 Airbrush Painting Clips Holder is in stock now. The PS01 Aircraft Assembly Jigs are on sale. Get one soon! The Begemot 1/48 Su-34 Fullback, Su-35S Super Flanker, and P-63 Kingcobra decal sets are in stock with free shipping. The new Yahu 1/32 O-1/L-19 Bird Dog instrument panels are in stock with free shipping. We have the Green Strawberry detail sets for the Zvezda and Revell rebox Star Destroyer kit. These include the hull detail set, resin engine bells set, and ventral hangar set. We will be receiving the new B-Wing detail sets for the Bandai kit as well as the nice resin and photo-etch shield generator sets for the Star Destroyer kit. Check out our other Green Strawberry detail sets for Battlestar Gallactica, Star Trek, and Star Wars kits. We carry the full range of modular workbench products, portable work surface products, paint racks, specialty tools, and other hard-to-find products. We do not play the in-stock/backorder game in our store. If you can order it on our website, we have it in stock, and all orders received before midnight will usually ship the following business day. We no longer ship outside of the US. If you are wishing to purchase some of our products, visit our eBay Store where you have the option of using eBay's Global Shipping program.

New in the store: The new HobbyZone AC01 Airbrush Painting Clips Holder is in stock now. The next increment of PS01 Aircraft Assembly Jigs is now in stock with a special lower price. The Begemot 1/48 Su-34 Fullback and Su-35S Super Flanker decal sets are in stock now with free shipping. HobbyZone's new OM08b US Paper Towel Holder will be in stock by the end of next week (11/19/2018). We carry the full range of modular workbench products, portable work surface products, paint racks, specialty tools, and other hard-to-find products. We do not play the in-stock/backorder game in our store. If you can order it on our website, we have it in stock, and all orders received before midnight will usually ship the following business day. We no longer ship outside of the US. If you are wishing to purchase some of our products, visit our eBay Store where you have the option of using eBay's Global Shipping program.

New in the store: The new Foxbot 1/48 Red Snakes: Soviet P-39 Airacobras Part 1 decal set is in stock now with free shipping. We have new Reskit wheels including the 1/48 B-25 Mitchell, P-63 Kingcobra, MiG-29 9-13, MiG-29SMT, F-22 Raptor, F4U Corsair/F6F Hellcat, Yak-1/Yak-3, F-101A/C and RF-101A/C Voodoo, and Viggen. These are all in stock now with free shipping. The Green Strawberry Star Wars Star Destroyer engine bells and details are back in stock. Brengun 1/72 C-130 Flaps and Wheels sets are now in stock with free shipping. These are the same molds used by Attack Squadron before they ceased production. We have resupplied our Yahu stock and greatly expanded the 1/48 scale items. Check out our new items on our Yahu list or our aircraft master list. The Begemot 1/48 Su-34 Fullback decal sets are inbound, should be in the store within the next two weeks. HobbyZone's new OM08b US Paper Towel Holder is in production now and should be in the store within the next few weeks. We carry the full range of modular workbench products, portable work surface products, paint racks, specialty tools, and other hard-to-find products. We do not play the in-stock/backorder game in our store. If you can order it on our website, we have it in stock, and all orders received before midnight will usually ship the following business day. We no longer ship outside of the US. If you are wishing to purchase some of our products, visit our eBay Store where you have the option of using eBay's Global Shipping program.

New in the store: Brengun 1/72 C-130 Flaps and Wheels sets now in stock with free shipping. These are the same molds used by Attack Squadron before they ceased production. Begemot 1/48 P-63 Kingcobra and 1/48 Su-35S Super Flanker decal sets in stock with free shipping Yahu aircraft instrument panels now online with free shipping We carry the full range of modular workbench products, portable work surface products, paint racks, specialty tools, and other hard-to-find products. We do not play the in-stock/backorder game in our store. If you can order it on our website, we have it in stock, and all orders received before midnight will usually ship the following business day. Our online store is set up to ship anywhere in the United States. APO/FPO and Canadian customers, please email us at sales@hobbyzone.biz if you also wish to order (the online store isn't set up for those destinations, sorry).

David, keep in mind that you have a great deal of 'poetic license' in and around the B-17. We learned some interesting tid-bits when we started the restoration of the B-17G 'I'll Be Around' in the early 1980s for the 390th Memorial at the Pima Air Museum. Each B-17 was essentially hand-made. While the subassemblies like landing gear struts, engines, mounts, control yokes, guns, etc., were all interchangeable between aircraft, each airframe was hand-built. You couldn't take an airframe panel off of one aircraft and put it on another - none of the rivet holes will line up. The B-24 was the first production line/mass-production aircraft that came close to parts swapping. It was even worse for aircraft produced at different factories. While we were stripping paint off of our Lockheed/Vega-built airframe, another B-17G arrived through Davis-Monthan AFB to be stored temporarity at Pima for the Smithsonian. We watched as the ceremony concluded and everyone left, then we ran over to the new bird and tried to liberate some spare parts. This new arrival had come off the Boeing line, and the radio compartment overhead hatch that I 'acquired' wouldn't even come close to fitting in our aircraft. Ditto on other airframe parts that my colleagues attempted. We put them all back. The point of this is that there are various detail differences between production blocks off of the same factory line, much less between different factories (Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed/Vega). They may all say B-17G, but that's where the similarities diverge. The ammo racks in the rear may be correct for the aircraft that was researched, but it is okay to change that up for your bird. One detail I don't see in any of the kits is the parachute stowage in the nose. As you point out, there is little room in there for the nav and bombadier and that crawlway is barely large enough for a skinny human. You can't go into or out of the nose compartment with a parachute on your back or butt. The bombardier and nav had tethers on their harnesses that they would latch onto the nearest parachute, two (or three) kept in the nose, and several others around the rest of the aircraft. I think the tail gunner had a similar arrangement. Oh yes, the .50 cals all had the same barrel length so they would all have the same ballistic performance when fired. The housings would differ whether they were remote-fired or man-fired, single or twin-mount, etc., but the barrels were the same length. On installations where the barrels could be changed out (like on a tank), they had a handle under the barrel, but since you can't change barrels in-flight (with a few exceptions), the handles were left off. The flash suppressors could be added on the ends when available and needed.

In that stance, he's about 6 inches tall. If I stretch him out, perhaps 6.5-7 inches.

I had the priviledge to attend the airshow at NAS Point Mugu in 1969 while I was still in high school. On display in a hangar was a seeker head from an AIM-9B that was tracking heat going by, primarily folks smoking cigarettes. That was fascinating to see. Out on the flightline was a fantastic array of Navy aircraft, and they didn't limit the show in the air either. The gloss black VX-4 F-4J with the Playboy bunny on the tail made some impressive passes in front of the crowd including one at .999 Mach (which he had built up speed over the water and came over half-covered in condensed shock cloud). An A-4 zoomed in on the deck, pitched up into vertical, released a shape, then zoomed away. The shape dropped to the deck with a simulated nuclear blast. That was followed by a low-level bomb run by other aircraft. Off shore, an S-2 Tracker dropped a parachute flare, and when he was clear, an F-8 Crusader zoomed in and fired an AIM-9 at the flare. While the announcer had everyone looking left, we spotted a lone U-2 hugging the deck coming from the right, and when he got to show center, pushed the throttle to MIL and went vertical. Of course the show concluded with the Blue Angels. They don't do airshows like that any more...

Here's another build from a few years ago, the Accurate Miniatures/Revell Pro Modeler 1/48 SB2C-4E Helldiver

No prop motor. I added a Light Genie to the model which allows for remote control of lighting in the model. When I was first learning to fly with the CAP in the early 1970s, the squadron had a huge wall-mounted training aid for the switches, relays, and lights for cockpit, navigation, identification, etc., for the P-47/P-51 which the Light Genie could mimic. One effect is steady or blinking nav lights which, in the model, are LED and fiberoptic, and two types of cockpit lighting like these:

This is the Hasegawa 1/20 Ma.K. Grosser Hund

The fuselage is finally together!

Black Panther was one of Marvel's best to date. Infinity War indeed left us hanging as well, but Deadpool 2 was just the non-stop belly laugh to make up for it.

Here was a project on my bucket list that finally got completed.

A little progress inside the Tiger Moth cockpit. The new panels and interior are coming along, the pilots' restraints will be installed next.