Category: History
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Fokker DR.1 – Part Two – Schwartz
Specifically, Wilhelm Schwartz – in 1918 at Mesniles. That’s the plate that I have based my Fokker triplane upon. The kits that come out of this iconic aircraft all seem to assign it to Manfred v. Richthofen and mould it in red plastic. An understandable choice, as he was possibly the most famous ace of…
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Don’t You Have Something Better To Do?
Well, frankly, no. I used to have professional practice to do, attended with terrible anxiety. It paid me money for awhile, and then didn’t. A signal… So I took up trade, and it was attended by less angst, and more money. Eventually I had accumulated enough of both to be satisfied. Now I have decided…
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The Coconut Bow
Look up the history of the WW2 cruiser USS NEW ORLEANS at the Battle of Tassafaronga. You’ll find that a Japanese 21″ Long Lance torpedo hot it at night and blew the bow off just aft of the first turret. The bow then rotated to port and passed down the port side of the ship,…
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Fokker D.XXI – Part Three – 1939
Ist Fighter Squadron, De Kooy, Netherlands. Autumn 1939. Den Helder was the location and the Dutch had about 30 operational Fokker D.XXI fighters at the base. They were used in May 1940 as defence against the Luftwaffe and the official history records some remarkable successes for the type. It was more manoeuvrable than the Bf…
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Grumman Tracker – Part Three – A Bonnie Aircraft
Bonnie, but not magnificent… The Idea Model Company Grumman S2F-1 model that came to me at a low price has proved to be an excellent bargain. It might not have the precision of a Hasegawa or Tamiya product, but it is here, now, and has built up to a good stand-off model. The Royal Canadian…
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Mitsubishi Betty – Part Three -Tour Of Inspection
Orders to Ground Crew: Rabaul 17 April, 1943 Prepare G4M1 bomber serial 323 for inspection tour by Admiral Yamamoto tomorrow. Aircraft is to be cleaned thoroughly including all windows. Make sure the defensive tail armament is in correct working order. The side positions may be left closed. As the flight will be leaving at 0600…
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When The Rest Of The World Gets it…
And you don’t… You’re either a Puritan or from Perth. Puritans didn’t see the point of the jokes and Perth people don’t see the new kits on the shelves. You may be as overjoyed as you wish about the release of a new scale model kit – I was about the the July promise of…
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Curtiss H16 – Part One – King Kong
Well, just look at the box art. This is undoubtedly the most bizarre illustration of a seaplane that I have ever seen. It holds together in an artistic sense if you are prepared to forget the horizon and just let the illustrator have his, or her, head. The kiddies balloons loose above the Chrysler building…
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If It Was On The Box Top…
It must have been real. If it was in a book, it must have happened. If it was an illustration, it must be accurate. Right? Well, that is how I used to predicate my modelling. I bought the kits, read the library books, and thumbed through the magazines at the drug store to get my…
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Sprue Trees – The Movie
May the Swarf be with you… Modellers get a bad rap in movies. We are seen as small-scale weirdos – harmless at best but psychotic at worst. It all started with Marilyn Monroe’s ” Niagara ” of 1953 when the husband of Marilyn is seen as a shell-shocked loser addicted to building plastic car kits.…
The Little World 