Clunkmeister

Peter, it would take a group of skilled craftsmen less than a year to knock out a replica of the N.28. It’s gonna take them most of that time to fix the original, so when they have the fabric all torn off, now’s the time….

What’s truly amazing is how young men actually went to war in these things. Man only learned to fly less than 15 years before, and suddenly, they’re a major weapon of war. Nothing but wood, wire, and linen cloth… You cheated death every time you flew one of these. Cantankerous engines, poor fuel, brand new technology, and then, you do it all from a closely set pair of spoked motorcycle wheels, and spokes don’t like side loads, so they often collapsed. Which left you with the backsides of two nice, hard steel machine guns to stop your face from hitting the oh so inviting soft leather coaming. Camel Face, anyone? Even today, I give much respect to people who fly these. And yes, on occasion, even today, accidents happen

Apparently the engine quit on landing and the landing gear folded due to a hard touchdown. Pilot is unhurt, but the only original, (not a replica) Nieuport 28 in the world, and it got banged up. It still ran its original LeRhone engine. As all of us know, old biplane wrecks can look a lot Öse than they really are due to everything being knocked askew. i expect it’ll be repaired, but maybe let’s build a replica and fly it instead?

Miss America and Thunderbird! Together again. Two legends of the postwar boom in air racing. How about a 109 class for next year? Tiny, crazy fast, huge engine, and then the pilots are dog tired after 10 laps of high G turns 100ft off the ground and everyone then has to try to land, and not only walk away, but also avoid a visit to the metal shop because the airplane is needed for the next heat……

Awesome pics. Thanks Smitty. I love the Texas flag on the Fouga, but it looks kinda “odd” like that, no? And ya gotta LOVE Thunderbird! What a blast from the past. It appears that the races ended with a fatal collision between two T-6s after the T-6 Gold Race. Both pilots were killed. It’s quite odd as the race was over and the aircraft simply pull up off the course. Apparently one took the tail off another. Once upon a time, T-6 races were almost a blood sport, with multiple identical aircraft conducting a flying horserace type start, and there was lots of traded paint, parts, and more, but it was cleaned up over the decades and there hasn’t been an incident for decades. But, as I’ve said many times in the past: Man is naturally competitive. You put two guys together, and they’ll quite naturally race each other. On foot, bicycles, motorcycles, go-carts, boats, cars, rockets, and yes, airplanes. and when people race, it’s competitive, and they know full well that they could die. Smithy said that the races should be in the Las Vegas area next year. Much, much more room, no hills, no houses being built up. As always happens, people build houses right next to airports and sports venues, and then complain about the noise and danger.

Seek and you shall find

There is NOBODY who can research like Martin. I look for weeks, and he finds more in 5 minutes than I find in a month. I’m in awe, and not just for bomber stuff. German, Soviet, even Japanese, Martin’s filled my coffers full of reference pics.

Das Bierfass!

Crikey! Jeroen, be sure to save the files. A few of us might even pay to have a set as well….

That V12 thing is a GREAT idea. I think that’s one we could so. Tanks, fast boats, cars, aircraft. Let’s set a time and start date. Personally, I’d like to give it a few weeks until the contest season is done, but either or.

Stick them here, y’all. I was thinking of something along the lines of what Harv likes. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t he a big night fighter guy? He built a P-38 night fighter, and F4U-2, and a stillborn Horton 2 seat conversion. Along with his 1/16 Renault FT. Night Stalkers might be cool, but just a thought. I’d love to hear y’all’s. Phantom Mike, you’ve been casting around, let’s hear it. Plus, Harv was a very proud US Veteran.

A couple standouts at the show are both in 1/48. That Ju-52 is absolutely stunning! And the opened up F-14D is an AMK kit. Truly mind blowing is too light a phrase. It sits beside a Tamiya F-14, and although I’ve always thought the AMK kit blows Tamiya out of the water, these pictures show it all for everyone to see.

I decided to attend the show here today, and attendance is certainly down this year, probably because the National show was only 3 weeks ago.

Hey folks! I talked to Bev last night, and Harv is out of ICU and is being moved to a VA Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. There is a world class unit there that specializes in spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation. This is as good as it gets, and they work miracles there. Harv so far cannot use his hands and has nothing below his waist. But the crew in a Memphis have dealt with extremely traumatic battlefield injuries, so hopefully being that his cord isn’t cut or in any way severed, we good things may happen. Don’t get me wrong, he’s got a LONG, rough recovery ahead of him, but he’s where he needs to be right now.

Fit is pretty amazing, and in many instances, is split along prototypical panel lines.

He’s using his arms, breathing on his own, and eating fried chicken. He MAY be getting some feeling back in his legs. This is Harv’s non verbal way is calling someone a dickhead

Hey y’all! Harv tripped and fell the other night, but he fell the wrong way and hurt himself. He’s in surgery right now and has been for a couple hours. He was awake and talkative, but frightened as we all would be. I’ll give more updates as I know. Or more than likely, tell John, Smitty, Martin, or Peter, so they can post it. I’m a bit off right about now.

There are many hatches and access panels on the gun nose of this model. I’m a FIRM believer in a buttoned up model, so some of that detail will be lost. Take care with fitting the hatches: they’re expected to be shown open, so go slowly when you fit them into the holes.

Haha, yes, absolutely. Thanks for the encouragement as well. Your Tiffie is an amazing build, and I expect I’ll build one soon as well. I’ve just decided to do everything I can to make what’s visible on the completed model look as perfect as possible. I was always of the “I know it’s there” crew, but like you said, I won’t live long enough to build my stash if I follow that mantra.

The engines are really not all that great. And with the rocker covers on, they don’t fit in the cowls! If I use the R2D quick fix option, I will need to use the kit engine rear, as the quick fix engines are designed for a model with closed cowl flaps. You need some detain behind the engine. PLUS, I remember that the B-25 had too narrow cowl openings. I’m wondering if this kit is the same?

Our FB page through LSM is quite active as well. Jeroen and Fran post there all the time. Me, less so, I stick close to the forum. But I talked to noted 109 modeler Floyd Werner, and he got the big hammer of FB wrath a few years back as well. Facebook has marketed themselves in such a way to have become the premier “virtual town square”, where speech is free and open, with minimum of fuss. Business and Service Organizations gave into the lure of its simplicity and long reach, putting their businesses on FB as well. Then, once everyone was good and addicted, they brought down the big hammer.

This kit has a great pair of nose weights that slot nicely on either side of the nose gear bay. Engineering is truly amazing, and it appears that the use of putty will be next to nothing. Surface detail is nice: some minor oil canning, and very understated riveting and panel lines. I’ve seen this kit finished, and it looks VERY convincing under paint

I’m starting to be more like JohnB: concentrate on what’s seen and screw the rest. Then fill seams, rescribe and rivet, followed by world class paint. What can be seen, kick it up a notch to the fullest extent allowed by reason, and to heck with what is invisible

Most of that stuff will be invisible once the fuselage gets closed up