Christa

Shep's How To Build Dioramas was published circa 1980. He arranged his 'bomber factory' illusion beamwise, or side by side, so mirrors worked well. Similar side by side production arrangements can be seen in several British fighter aircraft factory photographs of the era. Those parallel Mustang production lines are convoy . . .

Nodding along with a smile, gentlemen, BUT, I bought modelled aircraft kits by Airfix in plastic bags with my pocket money until I was twelve, thereafter Airfix kits in boxes with my milk round and market work income until I left home for college. With regard for the next generation, do twelve year olds earn enough for 3D kits, or has pocket money been supercharged? Maybe 3D kits are exclusively for modellers with driving licenses, bank accounts and fine arrays of airbrushes.

Congratulations Max. I have not seen K5054 modelled more convincingly. As for those 'background' photographs - cor blimey! Warm regards Chris

Welcome Merlin, good luck finding what you want to see and how big are your display shelves?

Above Coffee Creek, in the Trinity Alps we heard heavy hammering outdoors. As naive British visitors the whole family went to look-see. Four 'older gentlemen' had parked a Dodge pickup truck in a disused quarry. From the back of the truck they were cutting stone with a mounted . 5 Browning. The Browning was way louder than their laughter. Their laughter lasted longer. That P-40 was firing how many big Brownings? Wow!

Beautiful aircraft, superbly dressed.

Impressive build of an aircraft with great character, beautifully rendered - so who needs John Wayne!

For Lukgraph's first 1:32 Rapide, I have several unused sets of Hillman's Airways DH 89 decals commissioned from Fantasy Printshop. Members might know the De Havilland Museum's DH 89 Dragon Rapide is now resplendent in Hillman's Airways Ltd livery. PM if you are interested in a decal set. I believe Ted Hillman was De Havilland's first customer for the DH 84 Dragon, DH 89 Dragon Rapide and DH 91 Albatross. He had also operated DH 80 Puss Moths and DH 83 Fox Moths after learning to fly his DH 60 Gipsy Moth. Ted Hillman was a De Havilland fan!

One night in late July, 1990, I flew in the right hand seat of an air ambulance flight to Mercy Medical, Redding, from Trinity Centre in the Trinity Alps, California. Trinity Centre Airport was and still is VFR-only, so a cascade callout system was used to illuminate the runway with local people's vehicle lights. Our twelve year old son was the casualty. If you know of a 3D wizard who has printed a Beechcraft Kingair C90 air ambulance, please let me know. I believe the C90 was the aircraft we flew in that night, but I am happy to be corrected. Chris

Great result. You are an educator Mike. Thank you.

Industrialised war is not only about a weapon's fitness for purpose, high production capacity, efficient rolling delivery, numbers in theatre when needed and serviceability. It is also about people al the way through from ore mining to flying top cover, not forgetting a multitude who supported them. Martin's photographs remind me of the gigantic investment in production and personnel America committed to besting three of the 1930's brutal and rapacious tyrannies. Thanks Martin and thank goodness for Uncle Sam back when.

Too bad Hawker Typhoon JP 843 will be on the wrong side, Alan. Blue on blue wise cracks we do not entertain.

Parvan knows about AI development. He asked if I had considered my responses to the bogus 'Mustang factory line' video might be contributing to AI development? He said the video sounds like a set-up to provoke the kind of criticism and feedback I had provided in at least one of my posts. He said targeting 'enthusiasts' with an attractive topic video deliberately created to be rich with glaring and more subtle errors or omissions was a familiar strategy when he was involved with the industry. All feedback was used for training purposes, a bit like identifying traffic lights or motorcycles. Duh?

Good point Max. I only viewed this video in the warm expectation of seeing Rosie The Riveter and her cousins doing their thing. Authentic 1940's U.S. airplane manufacturing facility this aint! Disgruntled Chris

Could you not have included TAG's umbrella, Kevin? Great build, well done. Those two look terrific together. Chris