Steve N

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

Mine landed in my mailbox a couple days ago. Absolutely gorgeous! SN

Thanks for the info. I ordered the B-36 sheet and got an e-mail saying it wss shipped on Jan 22, and was beginning to get concerned. SN

I know I'm being nitpicky, but the cowl flaps would likely be closed in flight. SN

Looks like the retro-reflective panels on the S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carriers. SN

Just be sure to get masks for the G4M1. Hasegawa's G4M2 is a totally different kit, and masks would be incompatible. SN

I'm not sure if the Squadron Vac set addresses the issue, but the "surprised" look of the Hasegawa windshield can be rectified by carefully sanding off the frames, polishing the plastic, and then cutting masks the correct shape. SN

The Squadron canopies are simply repackaged Falcon ones, so they would be the same. SN

As a die-hard 1/72 builder I'm admittedly biased, but I would concur that overall the Academy kit is the best of the lot. Just as much interior detail as the Monogram 1/48 offering, but a more manageable size. Plus it has engraved panel lines and good fit. That's not to say it's perfect. Academy completely omitted the prominent turbosupercharger cooling gills on the engine nacelles. These could either be laboriously scribed, or you could use the panels included in the (rather expensive) Eduard PE set. Academy also doesn't include gunsights for the sighting blisters (but included one for

I'd love to see new tools in 1/72 of the Ki-21 "Sally," PB4Y-2 Privateer, and my personal dream, the Ford Tri-Motor (preferably both the 4-AT and 5-AT.) SN

I wish I had a time machine. I'd go back to the late 90s and stock up on a couple dozen bottles of Floquil Bright Silver lacquer. That stuff was fantastic. SN

The wife and I will be missing this one for the first time in two decades. The Indy show is special to us..it's where we first met in person. Unfortunately, if we leave Michigan our respective employers require a ten-day quarantine. SN

Had my first Pfizer jab last Thursday. Zero side effects. Second shot on the 22nd. Hopefully that one will be just as uneventful. SN

Here are some photos of the nosewheel well of the sole surviving B-24D, the "Strawberry B***h" at the USAF Museum (taken by Karl Hauffe, I believe sometime in the early 1980s.) The first shows the open nosegear door at the bottom of the photo (the object with two rows of holes.) The doors lifted up and then moved over to the side, rather than being a simple hinge. The whole area appears to be painted mostly Zinc Chromate Yellow, but I suspect this may have been sprayed on during her 1959 refurbishment. I suspect the area was originally mostly unpainted aluminum with some parts

Short answer: D-model opened inward, H-model and later opened outward. As I recall, they had to redesign the nosewheel doors to accommodate the ammo feeds for the nose turret. As is normal with all things B-24, it's not quite that simple. There was a "transitional phase" when there were some turret-nose Liberators that still had inward-opening doors. SN

Metal, but painted red-brown.

My wife (nursing home nurse) got her second shot last week, and had nasty reactions to both. Her doc figures it's because of her fibromyalgia, which is an autoimmune disorder. We both had Covid last summer. I just had a nasty cough for a couple weeks and extreme fatigue for a few days, but she ended up in the hospital for over a week. SN

Too soon, dude.

I've now watched the first four episodes, and frankly I didn't realize they could make tge early days of the space race so boring. We get snippets of astronaut stuff, sprinkled among hours of generic soap opera melodrama. We get it..they had troubled marriages. Get to the darn rockets, already! It's been many years since I read the book, but I don't recall anywhere near this much focus on domestic strife, which completely dominates the TV series. SN

Totally off-topic story about this movie. I saw it in the theater with my then-recently-divorced uncle (his third marriage had recently imploded after barely a month.) In one scene, the female lead pretends to be injured in order to trick the male lead into professing his love for her, then smiles and says "gotcha!" My uncle shouted (in a crowded theater) "<expletive> women always gotta play their <expletive> head games!" I slunk down in my seat and pretended not to know him.. 😆 (postscript - he eventually found the right woman, wife number five. They were together

I've had that happen occasionally with Testor's paints since the 1970s. SN

Made my first trip in months to ModelCave in Ypsilanti last week. They're still only doing phone-in orders with curbside pickup, but we needed to get out of the house. SN

Fw-200 Condor. That complex latticework with the wheels sticking way out front looks overcomplicated and just plain wacky. Seems like it wouldn't hold up, but of course the real weak point of the aircraft was the fuselage. Many Condors broke their backs on hard landings. That's what happens when you try to turn an airliner into a bomber. SN

The one real issues I've seen or heard about the Ocidental/Italeri kit are the cowling, which isn't shaped quite right (too round and not tapered properly) and the windscreen, which appears too sloped to my eye. Neither of those issues are really deal-breakers, and other than that it's a very nice kit. SN