Steve N

I've always joked that all I need to do is write a book called "Gas Caps of the Luftwaffe" or "Shoelaces Of The Wermacht (in the third week of March, 1943)" and I could retire to me private Caribbean island. SN

When I was a kid, we would make our weekly trip to the "big town" to get groceries on Saturday. My brother and I would each be allowed to get a can of pop and a bag of chips, then after dinner we'd plop down in front of the TV with our treats watch "Hee Haw" and "Emergency." SN

Drifting way OT again, but back in the mid 90s I was living in a tiny apartment with no air conditioning. One summer evening during a heat wave I went to the local multiplex specifically looking for the longest movie they had. Fortunately "Braveheart" was playing..over three hours of arctic air conditioning (with no intermission as I recall.) SN

Longer theatrical features used to have "built in" intermissions, but I don't think I've seen a film that had one since the late 60s/early 70s (some DVD releases actually include them.."Tora! Tora! Tora!" comes to mind.) Now some theaters might intentionally add an intermission of their own simply by pausing between reels, so folks would go buy snacks and such. However the only time I can recall ever seeing an intermission during a theatrical movie since I started going to movies in the mid-70s was during a showing of "Titanic" in 1997. And I believe that was a case of the theater simply pau

Yep..I remember that! In fact, during the summer the original was released (1977) I picked up a magazine featuring an ad in the back where you could buy clips of the movie on 16mm film. It was only about five minutes of footage, and as I recall it was like 50 bucks for B&W silent, and 100 for color with sound. Back then we would wait anxiously for any clips of the movie to be shown in any context on TV. Since VCRs weren't common yet, those fleeting glimpses were all we had, other than seeing it on the big screen. Fortunately since it was three years between movies, they would usually

I find if I rub the decal paper with an eraser first, it roughs up the surface wnough for the toner to stick. Even then, I still give them a generous coat of Microscale Liquid Decal Film to seal them good. SN

I've heard Chattanooga, San Antonio, Phoenix, Colorado, and Las Vegas are in the mix. IPMS has extended the bid process to three-years-out instead of the traditional two, so this year they'll be selecting locations for both the 2018 and 2019 conventions. SN

Or the Lackland Parade Ground, home of a (very rare) P-47N masquerading as Gabreki's D, and an even rarer P-51H painted as Preddy's D. SN

A couple of very recent museum restorations that have me looking for a "Picard Facepalm" meme. First up is the sole-surviving PB2Y Coronado at the US Naval Aviation Museum. They spent several years doing a beautiful job on the aircraft, only to give it a totally bogus paint job: Dark Blue over White (a scheme never used by the USN during WWII) and "borderless" national isnignia. My hope is that at some point they might add the Intermediate Blue to the sides and tails. And then don't get me started on this abomination. An ultra-rare Ford/Willow Run built B-24J at Barksdale AFB, tarted up

I've been looking for one since it first came out, and have never found one. Admittedly, I was looking in vendor rooms at shows and haven't checked any online sources. But even at the IPMS Nationals none of the vendors have ever had the kit..even the ones who carry the really obscure stuff.

I watched the live stream of the flight at work (not supposed to use work computers for such frivolites, but I'm the only one there on Sunday mornings ;) ) what an awesome sight! I'm assuming more and longer hops are intended in the coming days. I certainly applaud them for being very cautious and methodical..the B-29 is an incredibly complex aircraft.

If you're planning to have the radio room hatch open it might be worth adding at least a radio room floor and aft bulkhead. Maybe a seat and some radios as well. But even then as Bigasshammm says, it's gonna be hard to see. You could whip something up out of some styrene sheet and bits from the spares box fairly easily, and save some money. SN

..but apparently an unlimited budget. Do you have any idea how much that much resin would cost? SN

It seems to be a common thing on P-47s, but only on the leading edge of the lower gear doors. I always assumed it was to keep ground crew from damaging the doors and/or their knees. Many modern Naval aircraft have red-edge gear doors for 5hat reason

When we took the tour in '04, they told us that about half the B-1s were kept in storage at any given time, so they could spread the airframe hours out evenly across the entire fleet. SN

Apparently went down after the USAF Academy Graduation. Pilot punched out..plane looks a bit beat up. http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/06/02/air-force-thunderbirds-jets-crashes-outside-colorado-springs/

Witnesses are saying the pilot got the canopy open after ditching, but was struggling with the harness when the plane went under. My condolences to the pilot's family and the museum. I commend him for doing a stellar job of putting the plane down without incurring any casualties on the ground. Hopefully the plane will restorable. It doesn't look too bad from the outside at a distance, but there may be all kinds of things bent, torqued, and stressed on the inside. I'm sure it will need at the very least a complete teardown and rebuild. The NTSB/FAA will also need to do an investigation.

I would assume they can, although a quick glance at the kit shows that they're intended to be built in the open position. The main bomb bay doors are molded in section, like the real aircraft, so getting them aligned in the closed position might be a bit tricky. SN

Apparently it was a two-plane team show. The other pilot couldn't see his partner at the time of the crash, and didn't realize he'd gone down until he completed the maneuver. SN

As far as I know they're the same basic kit, although I don't know if the glider tug version has all the turret bits. I have the bomber version, and although I haven't dug into it all that deeply, it's definitely a massive improvement over the ancient Airfix kit. The only major gripe I have after a quick in-box look are the horribly overdone panel lines, but those can be toned down with a bit of primer and sanding. SN

While I agree that the best route it to get the Cobra upgrade set (I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing one years ago when it was a mere $50.00) there is another route. I needed a set of narrow-blade props for an early B-24D, so I took a set of Quickboost resin props intended for the B-25, and cut a bit off the root of the blade to reduce the diameter. They look OK to me. SN

It's a TRAP!!

"The Core?" What, do we now have a service branch made up of underground Morlocs or CHUDs? ;)/>

Nope. At least according to the CAD renders they've released. Looks like the top of the nose is still circular ahead of the cockpit, rather than slightly flattened as it should be. SN

I would assume it's a re-pop of the 90s-vintage AMT kit. There are lots of reviews on the interwebs. Hopefully they did away with AMT's infamous corrosive rubber tires. SN