Steve N

Here's a photo I took of Adm. Nimitz's barge at the National Museum of the Pacific War, restored to its 1942-44 appearance, and the accompanying sign. Hard to make out, but it says CINCPAC headquarters at Pearl Harbor had a three-boat flotilla: two 40-foot boats, one with a blue hull for Nimitz and one with a black hull for his Chief Of Staff, and a 35-foot gray officers' motor boat for CINCPAC staff. The sign doesn't mention a timeframe, so I have no idea if this was the situation at the time of the attack. Cheers! Steve

Great pic! I was curious about if any paint was used. I understand some of the internal structure of the wings was painted for fire resistance. I presume that was why parts of the wheel well were painted. Of course, with three different plants building thousands of them over a three-year span, I'm not sure how much consistency there was. SN

They look pretty darned close to me..certainly any dimensional difference is negligible. Granted, the side intakes aren't as deep as the real thing, but that can be chalked up to the limitations of the molding process. They're still by far the most accurate cowls of any B-24 kit in any scale (except maybe the upcoming Airfix kit..we haven't really gotten a good detailed look at it yet.) SN

Here's a CAD rendering of the upcoming Airfix B-24H. The cowls don't look quite as refined as Hasegawa, but the shapes are still better than any of the other B-24s (in any scale.) SN

Yep, that announcement really knocked my socks off! And the photos I've seen of built-up test shots look nearly as good as Hasegawa, and with far more interior detail. It also looks like they've molded the nose section separately, which bodes well for future releases of other variants. I'll definitely be adding (at least) a couple to my ever-increasing pile of 1/72 B-24s. Indeed. So far, Hasegawa are the only one to even try to get the complex shape of the cowling right. Every prior B-24 kit just did them as "oval with a little half-moon intake on each side," when the

The wheel wells on wartime B-17s were unpainted aluminum. Restored warbirds tend to be painted inside for long-term corrosion protection. That wasn't really a concern during the war, when factories needed to crank them out as quickly as possible, and the average combat plane's life expectancy was a few months at best. SN

Here are a couple photos I've taken of that area on the Ju 87R at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. I'm not sure if that outside cover was originally a solid door, or a window that's been painted over. In any case, it appears that it folds up out of the way during a dive. Cheers! Steve

I once posted something on another forum about a certain classic British model company, and the auto-censor changed it to "French." 😄 SN

To me, that's by far the biggest issue of the Minicraft/Academy B-24s. I've always wondered why Quickboost never made a set of replacement nacelles and cowls. They've made all kinds of other aftermarket bits for the kit, like turbos, bomb bay doors, gun barrels, etc. And Squadron did resin wheels and vac clear parts nearly 30 years ago. As far as I know, the only aftermarket cowls are from someone who made resin copies of the Airfix cowls it a bit of modification. I went the same route making my own back in the 90s, but never got around to finishing the project. SN

Concur: Hasegawa. It's not without a few errors here and there, but still the best of the bunch by far. Academy/Minicraft is so-so. Less accurate and detailed than Hasegawa, but much cheaper and easier to find. SN

My wife and I managed to get a room in the convention hotel. We plan to fly down the previous weekend and spend a couple of days sightseeing before the show. SN

Thanks! Like I said, I wasn't really concerned about any delay, just wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row on my end! SN

Hi! I ordered some decals a couple weeks ago, but I'm not sure if the order went through. I used PayPal, and the amount was deducted, but I never got any kind of confirmation. This isn't a complaint, I just want to make sure I placed the order correctly! Thanks! Steve

I lived in the Denver/Boulder area back in the early 80s. I recall tons of great hobby shops..Colpar being the Gold Standard. We visited the area on vacation in 2017, my first return in over 30 years. I was shocked to discover the first hobby shop I had visited when I lived there was still a going concern: Thompson's Hobbies in Lakewood. I have no idea if it's still open or not. Their bread and butter seemed to be primarily craft stuff, so hopefully they're still afloat. I made it a point to buy a couple things when we were there, just for old time's sake. SN

The R.J. Shop in Hillsdale, MI. In the County Seat, about 20 miles away. Might as well have been on the moon for us kids not old enough to drive. My friends and I could usually talk a parent into taking us once a month or so. A tiny little shop, part hobbies, part crafts, and part photography supplies, named after owners and operators Bob and Jean Elliott. That was where we discovered incredibly exotic things like Airfix kits and Pactra paints. I don't think the place lasted past the mid-80s when the owners retired, but I still have very fond memories. I recall how honored I was when th

I have both volumes (bought them from Mr. Doyle personally at this year's IPMS Nationals) and just flipped through them. Excellent modelling references, although leaning more towards the technical side, covering the different variants with lots of detail photos. Not much on markings or paint schemes. Volume 1 covers the early Liberators and features a bunch of walkaround and interior photos of the B-24D "Strawberry B i t c h" preserved at the USAF Museum, while Volume 2 covers the later variants and features lots of walkaround and interior photos of the Collings Foundation's B-24J "Witchcra

The correct color would be RLM 02. It's a greenish gray. I don't know if Tamiya makes it in a rattle can or not. SN

Mike West (Lone Star) is currently not taking orders, as he's occupied with caring for his ill wife. I saw him at the recent IPMS Nationals, and he said he's maintaining his presence on Facebook just so people know he's still around and still working on products, and he'll eventually get back to selling again. SN

I'm not sure you could use any actual Zero parts..the proportions are very different from the AT-6. I did a conversion using the Airfix kit back in the late 1970s! The engine was a standard AT-6 cowl, just with (fake) cowl flaps added. I still plan to eventually do the conversion using a Academy AT-6. The mods include: Rear cockpit faired over, with solid rollover pylon behind the pilot New canopy (taller and fatter than an actual Zero) Decking forward of the cockpit built up, with fake guns leading edge "bump" for the wheels smoothed out Round wingtip exte

I'm not ashamed to admit I've shed a tear or two when a beloved car fired its final cylinder. SN

I'm not sure where they're getting gray. AFAK, all HE 111s (except the pre-war ones) left the factory with the undersides painted RLM 65. I very light blue with a slight greenish cast. SN

So sorry to hear this..I know how gut-wrenching it is. We lost one of ours a couple years ago..she was very ill and we made the decision to send her off to Valhalla. SN

My wife and I caught a matinee this afternoon. I'm much more of a WWII buff, and really don't know much about modern jets, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. No spoilers, but the scene with Iceman was incredibly poignant. Maverick's character is also given far more depth than in the original. The "enemy" is never identified, and the aircraft insignia is fictitious, but based on the scenario and equipment it would pretty much have to be Iran. As for minuses, for me the finale stretched believability way past the breaking point, and there was one moment that's supposed to be super tense, but if y

We flew from Chicago to Vegas and back on Max-8s for the IPMS Nationals last summer. I'm not really a seasoned air traveler, but to me the Max definitely seemed to have a smoother, quieter ride than the older 737s we've flown on. We flew almost the same route from Chicago to Phoenix in 2018 on -800s, and they were definitely noisier. The return flight from Phoenix was pretty bumpy, but I'll put that down to weather. SN

I think we could use some Random Cat Facts right about now. 😸 SN