What's everyone building at the moment?

[oz rb fan]

Beaufighters
airfix TFx.....the new one in an RAAF scheme.

frog MK1 also RAAF but with a twist

[Adam the Akrodude]

Wow! Everyone looks pretty busy or about to be busy - lookin' good for Expo next year!

Kex, amazed with your work on the Corsair so far - you are a master at turning a pigs ear into a silk purse sir! The P-39 looks a very nice kit too.

RB Paul - any chance of posting some pic's of the Airfix Beau at some stage. I'm fascinated as to how it compares to the Tamiya offering. I must build a Aussie Beau at some stage. The Tamiya kits just go together like nothing else I've ever built - almost desperate to just build a kit that literally falls together after fighting this latest Trumpeter project - Eric knows what I mean!

I'm very keen to get a 1/48 Airfix Meteor F.8 when they come out - kit looks amazing!

[Wedgetail]

House renovations, new bathroom,laundry,second toilet and a massive covered deck which even though it's still not stained etc, it has become a pisspots paradise and somewhere to watch the world go by.
Hunting around the house for a decent bottle of red to have with lunch on the above area.

Oh, you meant models Adam,

1/32
Fw-190A7, P-40E Kittyhawk still trying to find Milne Bay decals, contemplating starting on Fly's Focke Achgelis Fa 330, F8F Bearcat as a restored French warbird.
!/48
The new Airfix Hawker Hurricane Mk.1, brilliant new moldings. Monograms old Voodoo, an off and on project
1/35
British Sherman's, various models, Mk IV Merkava.

And a head full of thoughts on what I want to build, a bit like every other modeller I suppose around the world.

Cheers,
Wayne

[Adam the Akrodude]

Hi Wayne

Any chance of posting some pic's of your 1/32 Fw-190 and P-40E in particular? These are two of my fav aeroplanes of all time! I will one day be building a 190 A-5/A-6 in JG-1 markings (checker nose). I must build a 3 Sqn (Desert) P-40 one day as well.

Cheers

Adam

[Wedgetail]

Hi Adam,

The Fw-190 has to get into the paint shop yet, hopefully it will end up representing 'Addy' Glunz's aircraft from 5/JG26. He was never shot down and had over 70 victories all on the Western Front and survived the war.
I have an A5 and some other A series to do, and a few Doras to go on with as well, all 1/32 and 1/48. My various marques of 1/32 P-40's I hope to re-start soon as well.

The P-40E also needs to get into the paint shop, I was going to an Aleutian Tiger at first but saw Southern Sky Models 1/32 decal sheet on Milne bay P-40's but can't seem to find anyone who has that sheet.
I may have to obtain the Montex masks (never used them) and do 'Puddin' also from the Milne Bay area.

I hope to post some pics when I finish them, I don't consider myself to be a great modeller but I try and do my models justice. I may post some of my other models, P-47's and others.
Your model of Jackson's aircraft looks great and with those finishing touch administered by your daughter really sets the scene, I hope she tops the class.

In Saburo Sakai's book Samurai, there is a very descriptive encounter with a P-40 over the Moresby area ( I think) where Saburo and some of his pilots were returning from a raid, when he saw a lone P-40 diving flat out which sliced through his group like a thunderbolt and on the way flamed and shot down one of the Tainan wings best aces. From all accounts and records the P-40 was flown by Jackson. Saburo always said he admired that pilot.

Cheers
Wayne

[Adam the Akrodude]

Hi Wayne

Yeah, I know I'm projecting my own "hero worship" through my daughter, but I still think Jackson's story is one kids these days should learn about - self sacrifice as opposed to all the self-serving bullshit in this "celeb" obsessed period of human existence!

Looking forward to seeing your builds down the track! If you get a chance, even progress shots along the way are very interesting to see. I've built the 1/32 Hasegawa 190D-9 - not sure if you've seen it. It's a "Wurger Staffel" bird - JV-44 with the red with white stripes underneath. It took me five years to build on and off as I decided to give it a proper "rivet" job and this process almost killed me! It was a very painstaking process - one I can't see myself ever doing again. I used the "beading tool" technique with each "rivet" being applied - one by one. The 190/152 would be my fav WW2 prop fighter series. I also have the ZM 152 kit to build one day as well.

Jackson is truly one of my all time heroes. There is a tremendous book called "A lot to fight for" which is a collection of letters home written by Jackson plus his diary entries. His son and daughter put this book together after their mother died. The amazing thing about it is that it's all written in the language of the time. Jackson was pretty sure Australia was going to be invaded and was making preparations to get his family to America if that happened. He could of taken a cushy instructing job (dangerous in it's own way!), but he chose to go to war even though it meant leaving his young family.
Once at Moresby, he came under immense pressure from RAAF HQ in regard to how he taught the squadron to employ the Kittyhawk - attack by diving down from above, give a squirt and keep diving. Using that energy, climb up and repeat - perfect for the Kittyhawk as he very well knew having learnt his trade in the desert. They were all labelled a pack of dingo's - referring to the skittish behaviour of this animal. From what I've read, Jackson died in combat with up to three Zeroes and it's likely he bagged one of them before falling to another's guns. I've read he was swearing all the way down too.

Here's a link to the book if anyone is interested.

http://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/jackson2.htm

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Jackson. It's a very unique insight into life back in the late 30's/early 40's and what one man did to protect our nation. In finding this book and researching Jackson's Kittyhawk, I got to chat with his son and daughter - lovely people! They still try to keep up with 75 Sqn anniversaries.

For the 70th Anniversary, a 75 Sqn Hornet was painted with his name which I thought was brilliant.





Cheers and happy modelling!

Adam

[Wedgetail]

Adam,

There's nothing wrong with teaching young ones about the past, hopefully, that way we can always hope that the young won't repeat the mistakes of the past. So there is no way I would accuse you of projecting your "hero worship" onto others. You and your daughter and the rest of your family are all your own entities and no one has the right to say otherwise.

I'll post my builds down the track. I've got one of those Rosie the Riveter tools as well but decided life was too short so it keeps company with other abandoned tools, but, maybe one day.
The Hornet photos are great, but I must admit to not being a great fan of blowpipes except the French Lady, worked at Garbutt for years, enjoyed the trash haulers more.

Cheers

Wayne

[Adam the Akrodude]

Hey Wayne

Thanks for your support. I've even taught some locals at Port Moresby airport about Jackson. A local security guy kindly offered to escort me to Jackson's grave at Bomana Cemetery near the airport when I visited it earlier this year. It will be very interesting to her from my daughter very shortly how her talk went. Apparently her teacher does like her diorama.

I too have little interest in current military "blowjobs" from a modelling perspective - just too grey for me! I am a fan of Vietnam era jets and props and have a small library associated with the air war over Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia. Guess I was interested in all this from watching the 6:30PM news as a kid. My parents had a issue of National Geographic with a USAF article inside and I remember a photo of F-105's with nasty looking shark mouths - such a fearsome looking aeroplane and my fav jet of all time. More bombs were dropped on that part of the world than all the wars previous combined. The loss rate of aircrews was higher than WW2, with it being statistically impossible at one point to complete 100 missions up North in the 105 during Rolling Thunder (worst period during 1966 & 67). Read a brilliant book years ago about a A-1 "SPAD" pilot (George Marrett) flying "Sandy" CSAR missions and 1/3 of his fellow pilots were killed during his time over there. USAF & USN alone lost over 2,200 a/c in combat, not including other losses for other reasons - quite a titanic struggle, so poorly lead from the top. Johnson & Mc

So, aeroplane modelling interests include Vietnam War, civvie aerobatic and racers and late war Luftwaffe.

[hrtpaul]

Got some pics of this jet yesterday in TSV