Seattle Chapter News - IPMSipms-seattle.org/newsletters/2006Newsletters/2006August.pdf · Albatros Publications: Osprey Publications: ... some very colorful fighters and other

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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USAAugust 2006

PREZNOTES

In This Issue

Jasta Schweinhimmel 3Airbrush for Sale 3Web Site of the Month 3Trumpeter Mil-8 4Dresden 7Mach 2 Vickers Valiant 8Movie Reviews 9Spitfire War Colors 12Hasegawa Nakajima B5N2 14Upcoming Shows 16

I am saddened to report that the localmodeling community lost two of its own afew weeks ago. Cliff and Betty Shaw ofGalaxy Hobby were killed when theirhomebuilt Shaw Europa crashed on final

approach to the Oshkosh AirVentureairshow on July 23. For those of usmodelers that frequented Galaxy, youprobably dealt with Cliff at one time oranother. He always had a smile on his faceand was able to answer any question

thrown at him, regarding any aspect of anyof the hobbies that piqued our interest thatare available at the store. Betty, on theother hand, was a behind the scenesperson and took care of mail orders,special orders, and everything else to keepthe operation of Galaxy Hobby a well runthing. Services will be held on August 16th

at the United Methodist Church inEdmonds. As this is written the time hasnot as yet been determined. There will beupdated information on the Galaxy Hobbywebsite: www.galaxyhobby.com.

And we move on...

This is a relatively short column thismonth. Talk about an extreme case ofsummer doldrums. The five or thirteen half-builts on or around my bench have beengathering dust for what seems like monthsnow. So, to try to remedy the problem, I’mgoing to start (what else?)...another model!I figure I need to jump back into this withboth feet so I am starting something Iknow really well - the Revell B-17. I’ve builtfive Monogram kits and the Revell is reallya pantographed copy of the Monogram kit.Parts can be easily exchanged between thetwo, they are that close. I’m going to bedoing either the MoF B-17F, N17W, as sheappeared after her appearance in Tora ToraTora, as a firebomber when she had acombination of movie markings andfirebomber markings. Or I’m going to doone of the B-17Es that participated in theBattle of Midway. I’m gonna go glue someplastic now...

See you at the meeting,

Terry

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:Terry Moore M. Keith Laird Spencer Tom Robert Allen3612 - 201st Pl. S.W. 1825 South 330th St. F-201 318 N.E. 81st St. 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Lynnwood, WA 98036 Federal Way, WA 98003 Seattle, WA 98115 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-774-6343 Ph: 206-491-0096 Ph: 206-522-8414 Ph: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Norm Filer & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested modeler, regardless of interests.Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues. Dues are $24a year, and may be paid to Spencer Tom, our Treasurer. (See address above). We also highly recommend our members join and support IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the members listed above will gladly assist you with further information about theChapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word or WordPerfect document for the PC would be suitable for publication. Articlescan also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to the nextmeeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 2

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2006 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

August 12 September 9October 14 November 11


Badger Airbrush for Sale

John Greer has a Badger 150 M Airbrush,including numerous spare parts andaccessories, plus Binks compressor forsale. All necessary hoses, cords, etc. areincluded, plus other weird and wonderfulmodeling goodies that were lying around.The whole mess is $100 - but you have tocome and pick it up. Call John Greer at 253-964-7762.

Jasta Schweinhimmel

by Mike Millette

Following the success of the 1949Schneider Trophy Race, here is anotherproject to test your creativity, for the 2007IPMS Seattle Spring Show.

Premise – You are a World War One pilot,aircraft designer, squadron painter,mechanic, soldier, or just a pig farmer witha grand idea. You can construct and paintyour aeroplane(s) any way you choose,and put the result into service with realunits/countries, or create your ownindependent air force. Creating a backstory is encouraged.

Time Frame – 1914-1920

Scale – 1/48th or thereabouts.

1) The emphasis is entirely on creativity.

2) Models can be built straight from thebox, or you can mix, match, and modify asyou see fit. Make sure it looks like it wouldhave been technologically feasible duringWW1.

3) Rigging is not required, nor is itdiscouraged…so bring on the Farmansand Airco DH2s.

Potential Judging Categories:Pour le Merit (best overall) – Not sure howto define this yetHun in the Sun Award – Most effectivecamouflage schemeRed Baron Award – Brightest paint schemeErnest Hemingway Award – Best story

References/Inspiration:For the most part, we encourage you totoss your references (at least as far as“accuracy” goes), but we recognize thatreferences can provide some inspiration,so we list a few with that goal in mind.

The Aerodrome. This is one of my favoriteWW1 aviation sites [Mine, too – ED]:http://www.theaerodrome.com

World War I Modeling Page. Another verypopular WW1 aviation website:http://www.wwi-models.org

Fokker Factory. They don’t just doFokkers:http://www.fokkerfactory.com

Albatros Publications:http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.com/

Osprey Publications:www.ospreypublishing.com

Model Sources:The following are some of the companiesthat have made 1/48th (or thereabouts)WW1 aircraft models. Some of them areout of production, but can be found fromtime to time.

Aurora. Aurora had an extensive range ofWW1 aircraft in ~1/48th scale, now longout of production.

Aeroclub. A few 1/48th scale vacuform kits,but lots of nice accessories. http://www.Aeroclub-models.com

Blue Max. Expensive, and a bit of achallenge to build, they make kits of someunique WW1 aircraft, plus decals.

Copper State Models – A few vacuformkits, PE details, props, and decals.

Dragon/DML. Dragon used to make aFokker Dr.I and D.VIII, as well as the D.VIInow available.

Eduard. Probably the premier WW1 kitmanufacturer in 1/48th at this time. Lots ofdifferent WW1 kits available in a variety ofprice ranges. http://www.eduard.com

Gavia. One of Eduard’s sister companies,the make a Bristol Scout and Polikarpov.

Koster Aero Enterprises. A few esotericWW1 vacuforms.

Lindberg. A few inexpensive WW1 models,including an SE.5a and Curtiss Jenny. Outof production, but can still be found.

Lone Star Models. Several cool vacsincluding a 1/48th Felixstowe! http://www.lonestarmodels.com

Revell/Revell of Germany. Low costSopwith Camel, SE.5a, and Fokker D.VII.

Roden. Reasonably priced and nicelydetailed, Roden have a variety of WW1kits in 1/48th. Working hard to catch up toEduard. http://www.rodenplant.com/

Smer. Very low-cost WW1 kits in 1/48th-1/50th range.

Tom Modelworks. Used to make vac kits,now he just sells resin engines and PEsets. http://www.tomsmodelworks.com

Web Site of the Month

by Keith Laird

I just stumbled onto this site, which coversthe Nationalist Chinese Air Force. It isincredible. Having gone to school withNationalist Chinese Air Force Officers andknowing what the security was at thattime, boy, have things changed! There aresome very colorful fighters and otherairframes on this site.

http://www.taiwanairpower.org/index.html


Trumpeter 1/35th ScaleMiL-8 Hip-H

by Jon Fincher

Growing up in the shadow of the Sikorskyplant in southern Connecticut, I’ve been afan of rotary wing and VTOL aircraft sinceI was a youngster. It’s no surprise that mymost recent foray into the world of scalemodel military aircraft took the form ofTrumpeter’s MiL Mi-8MT/Mi-17 Hip-Hhelicopter. I had the benefit of an excellentreference book specific to the model, titledMiL Mi-8/Mi-17: Rotary-Wing Workhorseand Warhorse by Yefim Gordon and DmitryKomissarov, Red Star Volume 14 fromMidland Publishing.

The Mi-8, designed in 1959 by MikhailLeontyevich Mil’s design bureau, is theonly helicopter that has been used inevery type of mission for which helicop-ters are designed, including passengerservice, VIP transport, cargo hauling,flying crane, military transport and assault,close air support of ground troops, searchand rescue, firefighting, and more. Thetwin engine, single five-bladed rotordesign has been in constant productionfor almost forty years since the first rolledoff the assembly line in 1966. Almost11,000 of these workhorses have been builtto date compared to similar Westernhelicopters of which there have only been1,500 Sikorsky S-61 Sea Kings, 740 BoeingV-107 Sea Knights, and 105 AerospatialeSA 321 Super Frelons. Mi-8s have beenused by at least fifty different nations, andnot all of them Eastern bloc - Belgium,France, West Germany, Israel, Japan, NewZealand, Britain, and even the U.S. countamong the countries using them for bothmilitary and civilian roles, along with thePalestinian Authority.

My first impression on seeing the kit wasthat the large scale (1/35th) meant therewould be impressive amounts of detail,and there are over 200 pieces on sixreasonably flash-free gray plastic sprues,two clear sprues, a tree of photo-etch, anda small acetate sheet with instrument panel

details. A single decal sheet was alsoprovided, along with a sheet of paintingsuggestions.

A friend of mine refers to this next step as“the fondle” - picking up and looking at(and of course, feeling) the sprues. Thereare an impressive number of “fiddly bits”(another term stolen from a fellow modeler)- small parts meant to add detail. Thelargest pieces are the fuselage halves,around two feet long and 4-5 inches wide,but the smallest are some door handles,around 1/8th by 1/16th of an inch square.If you have an active carpet monster livingunder your workspace, take steps toneutralize it - some of those fiddly bits arevery aerodynamic and rather tastyappetizers for shag and pile carpeting(more on that later).

I was also intrigued by the openness ofthe sprues - in models from other manufac-turers, sprues are jammed with parts,leaving a bare minimum of space betweenparts to conserve space. Trumpeter took adifferent tack, adding sprues to keep theparts count per sprue down. It gives youplenty of room to get a knife or snippers into cut the pieces free - I think I like it.

The kit instructions start with building thetwo turbine engines that power the MiL-8.These took with more effort than I ex-pected to get together. The canisters forthe turbines have plenty of detail on themin the form of rivets and cooling fins butare molded in two halves. After puttingthem together I spent a good deal of timewith files and sandpaper trying to clean upthe edges. This was largely a wasted effort

as my final model is posed with the enginehatches closed. If you want the enginehatches closed too, concentrate on thedetail for the intake and exhaust as they’rethe only parts visible from the outside ofthe model.

Once the engines were done they wereplaced into a rather sparse-looking enginecompartment. There’s a lot of room here toadd detail if you want since the enginehatches can be posed open. Be carefulwhen gluing the engines down on theirsupports because later on you’ll bethreading the final exhaust port through ahole in the fuselage and if the engines aremisplaced, even a little, the fit of theexhaust ports won’t be correct. You canwait until the fuselage comes together todo the final fit.

The entire engine compartment sits on theroof of the interior cabin, which has ejectorpin marks all over the visible side. Sincethe roof has crossmembers molded into itthe ejector marks land right in the middle ofeach molded square, making them almostimpossible to sand. If I were detailing theinterior I’d scratch build a new roof withsheet and strip styrene.

The cockpit was next. Seats are blackleather and Trumpeter providesphotoetched seat belts. The instructionsaren’t very clear about where the lap beltsattach to the seat so I took a guess basedon my reference book. There are also twosmall fans that mount on a ceiling controlpanel, made from some very small plasticparts with photoetch for the blades. Mybuilt version will not have any fans as one


was eaten by the floor monster under mybench. Hint: When building the fans, twistthe photoetch blades before gluing themto the styrene body. It’s much easier thantrying to hold the fan body and twist theblades, which is how one of the fans gotaway from me.

There’s a lot of detail in the cockpit; fourseparate pieces make up the ceiling controlpanels assembly, there are two standingpanels with acetate dials, and a smallcenter panel display. The cockpit is moldedtogether with the cargo bay, with a double-bulkhead hatch between them. The cockpitand cargo bay floors and hatch all featuregood recessed details. Standard flightcontrols complete the cockpit and showgood detail for the scale. My one com-plaint is the roominess of the kit’s cockpit.There’s enough space for a hoedown inthere, which doesn’t fit with my references.

The instructions start to get a little wonkyaround page eight. The headstock for themain rotor is next to be built but with nocolor choices provided I had to wing it (nopun intended). However, once it wascomplete I was ready to contemplateassembling the fuselage. After shootinginterior gray on the detailed interior andinstalling the port lights I added threeexhaust ports and two photoetched intakecovers. They have to be installed beforefuselage assembly but since they arevisible from the exterior they’ll have to becarefully masked when you reach thepainting stage.

The cockpit bulkhead assembly has slotsthat fit positively over some beefy tabs inthe fuselage halves. The fit was a littlesnug, which provided a lot of strength tothe whole assembly and required no glue.The engine and rotor headstock assem-blies have tabs that slide loosely into slotsin the fuselage halves but the interior roofassembly needs to slide over the cockpitbulkhead and some ridges on the fuselagewalls; this was a little tricky. Gluing the twohalves also took a little doing. I didmention that this model is over two feetlong, right? I started at the front andworked my way along the dorsal, down thetail, and along the belly, clamping as Iwent. The fit of the fuselage halves wasless than perfect. There is a small stepdown from port to starboard and the openporthole over the cockpit had somerounded corners that need to be replaced.If I had it to do over I’d sand off thelocater pins so I could get the alignmentright without major work.

The rest of the fuselage is in more manage-able bits; clamshell doors for the rear cargoloading area, de-icing unit and engine baycovers on top, port and starboard fueltanks on the sides, and the single clearcanopy piece and side windows to closeup the front. Gluing the clamshell doors is

a little tricky but manageable. The canopyis very thin and flexible. It reminds me of agood vacformed replacement canopy butwith much better detail. Some goodengineering went into placing some ofthese parts on the sprues. The attachmentpoints for the fuel tank are on the gluesurface, not on the exterior, which I foundvery refreshing (too bad they couldn’t dothat for the fuselage halves). The rearcargo doors and engine bay covers can beposed open but require more work to bothadd interior detail and clean up somerough edges where the interior floor meetthe rear cargo opening before doing so.While these pieces are being added, theinstructions have you adding tons offiddly bits - exterior door handles, rearviewmirrors, grab holds, etc. I left them off untilthe whole bird was painted lest I breakthem off during normal handling.

I found a set of Black Magic masks for thismodel, which made masking the Future-coated canopy and side windows easier.There are tons of color schemes to choosefrom, but since my skills at paintingcamouflage are pretty poor I decided tohone them a bit with a simple Russiancamo scheme. Detail was picked out with abrush.


The Black Magic masks fit well on thecockpit windows but have some problemsburnishing down on the compoundcurves. I shot the canopy with clear beforeapplying paint to help control bleed underon the canopy but it didn’t work as well asI had hoped. Some polishing compound ona cotton swab and some brushed onFuture cleared that problem up (again, nopun intended). The Black Magic setprovides a set of wheel hub masks whichare almost completely useless - the wheelsand hubs are molded separately, so youdon’t need to mask anything to paint them.There is also a set of masks for theporthole windows, but I found that theytend to pop out while applying the masks -clear parts cement isn’t strong enough tohandle the stress of burnishing. Taking atip from a club member I popped all thewindows out, filed down part of the lip thatholds them in, and slid them in from theoutside after painting the rest of thefuselage.

Masking this beast for painting is a bear.As mentioned above, there are fivedifferent exhaust and intake ports thatwere added from the inside. I found thesealmost impossible to mask around so outthey came to be replaced after painting.This left numerous voids to fill around theengine compartment, main rotor headstock,and port cargo bay door, which I packedwith paper towels. Luckily no furthertouchup was necessary there.

Masking the now empty porthole open-ings was relatively easy, given the righttools. From previous auto servicing, I hadsome cardboard and plastic sleeves thatcovered the electrodes of spark plug sets Ihad bought. These protective barrels areabout an inch and half long and half aninch across - cutting them lengthwise androlling them a little tighter let them fit intothe portholes, then spring out to expand tofill the opening. A little tape on the end,and I had some custom masks for other-wise impossible to mask openings.Masking these openings can be done fromthe inside if the rear cargo bay doors areleft open.

Holding this beast for painting was also achore. Painting the bottom was the toughpart. I managed to make a jig to hold thefuselage from the top so I could paint theunderside blue on the bottom. Once thebottom was painted it was masked aroundthe edges and I could rest the body on thelazy susan in the floor of my spray boothto paint the sides. A base of stone coveredthe body, and a gray-green was used tocomplete the camo pattern. I freehandedthe camo pattern using light air pressureand a delicate touch on the paint flow. Formy first camo paint job, I was happy.

After removing the fuselage masks Iapplied the decals for my chosen scheme.The decals with the kit are superb. Thinand colorful, they release from the backingpaper quickly, have little to no excess clearcarrier film, respond very well to decalsetting solutions, and settled in nicelyunder a flat coat. Complete decals for threedifferent paint schemes are provided.

The main rotor is a 24-piece assembly (notcounting the cap) that seemed overlycomplicated for the final result. Five smallinner blades float freely in a rotor hubassembly. Between the hub and innerblades are two pieces per blade represent-ing the blade pitch and angle control arms.Collective control arms on the hub are alsoseparate pieces, as are the main blades.This seeming overcomplication wasn’tdifficult to either assemble or paintalthough it does force the blades into astatic configuration. The tail rotor, bycomparison, is a single molded piece withbody pieces representing the tail shaft andgear drive and went together smoothly.After some minor cleanup and inspectionof the sprues for missing parts (found one,no problem), I called it done.

There is one big problem with the mainrotor; the blades are very heavy. Tooheavy, in fact, to be supported positivelyby the flimsy plastic angle control andblade pitch pieces. It doesn’t matter whatkind of glue you use on these pieces,they’re simply not strong enough tosupport the blades. I found when I put the

main rotor on that its weight was too muchand pieces broke, causing the blades todroop down from their rotor attachmentpoints. There are a number of solutionsthat were suggested by fellow modelers,but I went for simple, if not accurate. Withthe main rotor upside down and the bladesheld at the correct angles to the rotor, Iflooded the joint with five minute epoxy.Leaving it to cure for 2-3 hours, I flippedthe rotor upright to find the blades satperfectly, with a realistic droop in them thistime. Modelers wanting something morerealistic will have to find other solutions.

With a completed fuselage and rotorassembly I moved on to the landing gearnext. The rear landing gears were a littletricky to attach. There are three points onthe body to attach the struts to, and oneconnection between the underside strutsand the side strut. Getting everything intoplace and solid with CA took somefiddling, and getting the second side donewas trickier still. I wound up laying themodel on its side, supporting the upperhull with a small parts cup, and hangingthe already-attached gear on one side offthe edge of my bench while I worked toattach the gear on other side. The nosegear, with a single post into a single hole,went in quickly and cleanly after that, and Ihad something that looked like an aircraft.

Fiddly bits were last. There are a lot ofantennae, running lights, door handles,bump-outs, and other such styrene andphotoetched pieces that would have beenbroken during masking and painting thatneeded to go in now. All but the lightswere attached with CA and brush paintedin place. The lights were brush paintedwith clear acrylic color, back painted withmetalizer, and then glued into place withclear parts glue. There are also two extraarmored fuselage plates that attachoutboard and below the main canopy.These were airbrushed and attached withCA, along with some photoetchedrearview mirror assemblies.

Trumpeter has done some things right withthis model; big open sprues, lots of built in


Thoroughbred

detail with plenty of room to add more,good multimedia accessories, some goodengineering of parts placement - and somethings wrong; some wonky engineering ofparts placement, ejector pin marks inimpossible to remove places, and inconsis-tent assembly and painting instructions.

When weighing the pros and cons, thereare also some other things to consider.This is a big model when it’s complete.Unless you’ve got the shelf space for it,I’d leave it at the store in favor of a 1/48thor 1/72nd scale version. The parts rangefrom huge (fuselage) to tiny (exterior doorhandles). If you’re getting a big scalemodel because your eyes can no longerhandle God’s scale (1/48th) nor eyestrainscale (1/72nd), you’re in for a struggleworking with all the fiddly bits.

If you’re looking for something big withlots of detail, be ready for a small surprise.The amount of detail on this bird isrelatively low for the scale. The cargo bayand engine compartment are very sparseon detail, and while the cockpit has somegood detail in it, it appears to be nowherenear as cramped as it should be. Be readyto add some more detail as you go along.

However, if the size and parts range don’tscare you, and you’re confident enough toscratch-built more detail and interest intoit, don’t let the other cons of this modelput you off either. With the exception ofthe ejector pin marks on the interior roof,none of them are insurmountable, and youmay have some fun figuring out how to getit from big box o’styrene to award-winningmodel. This is a great platform for somesuperdetailing work. The scale means itwill fit into an armor diorama fairly well,and the kit can be converted into one oftwo dozen different variants serving IronCurtain and other countries for the pastforty years.

[Thanks to Chris Banyai-Riepl andwww.internetmodeler.com for permissionto use this article. - ED]

Dresden

by Paul Ludwig

In 2001 I was in Hamburg, Germanyvisiting with a former Luftwaffe pilot.When he told me he contributed money tothe restoration of the Frauenkirche inDresden, I gave him a donation to be givenin my name and I vowed to see Dresdenand the church. I went there last year. Thecity and the church are beautiful. I alsolearned that the correct pronunciation is“drays-den.”

I revere church architecture and Europeand am part German. From photos in booksI saw that the Frauenkirche destroyed in1945 was once beautiful. It is a very tallchurch and its magnificence had domi-nated the city. It does, again. I wanted toknow why Dresden had been bombed andat about the time I was planning a trip toEurope I found the book, Dresden -Tuesday February 13, 1945, written byFrederick Taylor, and published in 2004. Iread it just before my trip abroad. Afterarriving in Dresden I went directly to seethe church which had been rebuilt and wasweeks away from reconsecration.

After my trip I told Jim Schubert aboutDresden and when he said he wanted tohave a book which would give a balancedview of why the city was bombed I gavemy book to him because it does give themost balanced view of the destruction ofDresden, a city once called the Florence onthe Elbe.

By February, 1945 Germans knew generallythat the war was lost and except for a fewraids and alarms in Dresden, the city waslargely untouched by war until that fatefultime less than three months before the endof World War Two. Some people stillwonder why a city as beautiful as that wassubjected to a firestorm so late in the warwhile others believe the bombing was anecessity.

Taylor points out that night bombing byRAF Bomber Command which began inWorld War Two in May 1940 was inaccu-rate at that stage of the war. Taylor remindsreaders that in the second half of 1941 theRAF had already been made aware thatnight bombing was doing little to affectGermany’s ability to wage war. D.M. Buttreported that “of aircraft recorded ashitting the target, only one in three hadactually gotten within three miles.”

A year later the mental attitude of those onboth sides fighting the air war changed tothat of seeking more ferocious ways to killpeople. Blind bombing and area bombingbecame the norm within the RAF at aboutthe time Air Marshal Arthur Harris tookover Bomber Command. Shortly after that,pinpoint bombing was no longer believedin, and day and night bombing was carriedout in a manner to degrade the morale ofthe civilian population. It did affectcivilians: they became enraged.

In April to June, 1942, the Germansbombed Exeter, Canterbury, Norwich, andYork, among other cities in England andthe raids gave rise to the term “BaedekerRaids” because tourists before the war hadtraveled to those cities using guide booksnamed Baedeker. Harris wasted no timeafter taking command, initiating raids toLubeck on March 28-29, Rostock in April,and Cologne in May. Taylor says Harris’“chief mission in life (was) destroyingGerman cities.”

In July, 1943 Hamburg was bombed sointensely over several nights and days bythe RAF and USAAF that a phenomenaknown as a firestorm was ignited. Severalseparately lit fires joined in a mass of flamewhich was so hot that flames needingoxygen to burn produced a sucking windfeeding oxygen into the flames; winds sostrong they propelled people into the fire.Some Allied officers may have regardedcreating a firestorm as an added benefit ina destructive raid and they may have

Continued on page 11


Mach 2 1/72nd ScaleVickers Valiant

by Bill Osborn

When I received my new issue of S.A.M. Iwas very pleased to see that Hannantswas listing the Valiant in 1/72nd scale. Ihave the old Contrail vacuform, but wasn’ttoo inclined to tackle that large a vacuform.So, I made a hurried call to the localpurveyor of all things plastic to ascertainwhen he might expect a shipment of thesefine models. Much to my surprise I wasinformed that a shipment had come in thatvery morning. Oh joy. I ask if by chance Iwould be able to acquire one at theI.P.M.S. meeting the next day. I wasinformed that my hero was having a largesale over the weekend and not be puttingin an appearance at said meeting (tears ofsorrow). What’s a person to do? Since Iwas riding with Scott Taylor to and fromthe meeting we had already stopped at onehobby shop so I didn’t want to delay himany longer, and besides I always stopacross the road from “the shop” formocha. As soon as Scott let me out athome, I ran into the house to inform mylovely wife I needed to make an emergencyrun to Skyway. She of course thought Iwas just losing what little of my mind Ihave left. Sometimes they just don’tunderstand.

In a flash I was out the door and burningup 167 towards the source of muchhappiness. Upon arriving at my goal Ifound the outside of the shop stacked withmany goodies to tempt the unwarymodeler. Stopping only to say hello toGordon, I ran inside to find my treasure.There it was, sitting on the shelf in a largeorange and red box. It’s from France, whatelse did you expect? I whipped out theplastic (nobody carries that much cashnow days), signed the slip, ran out thedoor, jumped into my trusty truck anddrove like the Devil was after me acrossthe street for my iced mocha. I do haveother needs.

When I got home I headed to my cave tofondle the newest addition to my treasure

trove of plastic. Now I know some of youlook upon the Mach kits as something youmight scrape off the bottom of your shoe.Well, you would almost be right. Let me tellthe story of the first look at this kit.

When I opened the box the first thing Isaw was a picture list of all the Mach kits. Iwas surprised that they have marketed so

many models. I have only built five of the32 issued kits. There is a good reason forthis, most of them don’t hold my interest,and the rest are more than I want to spendfor the quality of the kits. However this isnot the case with the Valiant.

When I was finished being amazed by thenumber of kits on the lid I finally gotaround to looking at the plastic. You gettwo sprues of white semi-hard plastic andone of semi-clear for the windscreens, anda small sheet of decals that shall becomplained about later. The instructionsheet (1) is an 8.5” x 11” but it’s printed onboth sides! The hand drawn pictures dohave two languages, one of which isEnglish; this is very handy since French isone of the few tongues that elude me.

As I gazed at my latest pride and joy, myexpectations started to decline somewhat.The panel lines are recessed and not toobad. However some of them may go awayas I sand the surfaces smooth. The sprue

with the upper wing and left hand side ofthe body is fairly well molded. But theother sprue has some major problems. Theleft-hand lower wing panel and the right-hand vertical side look like I do when I’vespent too much time in the shower (don’tlinger to long on that). I don’t know if thefault is with the mold or the plastic beingtoo cold; both parts are in the same area.

There are quite a few ejector stubs on theinside of the parts but no marks on theoutside. The sprue gates are somewhatlarge but shouldn’t be a problem. Notmuch will be seen of the interior due to therather small windscreen and windows, butyou get two rather good looking ejectionseats and a well molded instrument panel.Wheel-well inserts mount to the lowerwing halves, but dry fit them to make surethey will fit between the two parts. So far,the only weak spot I’ve found is theengine inlets. They look to be thin as theyare the thickness of the wing plastic. I justfound out that some of the parts aremarked R and L so you can get them onthe proper side, none of the parts arenumbered.

The molding is just a little less than crisp,when it comes to the smaller parts, likegear struts and such. One of my problemswith other Mach kits is trailing edgethickness. I think they have done an


excellent job this time and it should onlytake me two or three days to get them inshape. The clear parts will need some workwith sandpaper, 80 grit should do to start.Only kidding - 120 will do.

The back of the instruction sheet showsthree color schemes and one variation.First is a natural metal bird, next are two allwhite ones and last is a gray and greenlow-level plane. Now we get to the decals,there are two sets of codes and the colorguide tells you can change aircraft bycutting the letters and numbers andmoving them around, what a novelconcept. Now the main gripe, the roundelsare the standard dark blue white and brightred. Nowhere is there any mention of theanti-radiation light blue and pink markings.Oh well, I think I have a few Modeldecalsaround for a Vulcan that should fit the bill.

With every thing else, I forgot to mentionyou get an Atomic bomb and trolley. No,there is no danger of radiation - they tookall the innards out. However if you don’twant to be too warlike, it could be paintedto look just like a space ship from the oldFlash Gordon serials I watched when I wasa young lad. Yes, I was too young once!

With all this crudeness I’ve talked about,would I recommend the kit? Probably not,unless you have a sadistic streak, or likeme you’ve just gotta have the kit. Will Ibuild it next? You bet your bippy.

Movie Reviews: The EnemyBelow, and Stalag 17

by Jon Fincher

Well, it seems I can’t find any time toactually write these reviews on a regularbasis. Therefore, this month, you get a fulltwo-for-one special on 1950s movies aboutWWII.

We’ll start with The Enemy Below, a 1957film starring Robert Mitchum as CaptainMurrell of the U.S.S. Haynes, and CurtJurgens as Captain von Stolberg of aGerman U-boat. A game of cat and mousetakes place as Murrell, a former MerchantMarine dealing with personal demons, andVon Stolberg, who is tired of dealing withthe German imposed Nazi demons, jockeyfor position in the north Atlantic. Sincethis is an American movie, in the end, theAmericans are victorious but honorable.

I was a little dismayed by two facets of thismovie. First, very early in the movie we areintroduced to the idea that Murrell hassome psychological or medical problemwith which he is coping - it isn’t until laterthat we learn he was married while aMerchant Marine, and was bringing hisBritish wife back to the U.S. when thecargo ship they were on was torpedoed bya German U-boat. He saw his wife die inthat attack, which would be enough torattle the strongest man, but in typical1950s hero-worship style, Murrell neverdirectly exhibits any effects of this trauma -we hear about the coping from the ship’sdoctor, and while Murrell tells the story ofhis wife’s death, he does so as though hewere ordering dinner at a restaurant.

That wouldn’t be too bad, if the superhu-man emotional strength were consistentlyapplied throughout the picture. However,for as much as Murrell won’t directly showany emotion other than grim determination,von Stolberg is depicted as constantlyquestioning Germany’s motives and goalsin the war, and often he mutters under hisbreath at his Nazi-imposed loyalty officer.

His strength as a captain is evident, buthis determination to do his job and destroythe American ship seems to be an unpleas-ant part of his existence. Showing justthose parts of both personas in the film isa trait I’ve seen in other early war movies -this movie is far less propagandizing thanothers, but the sappy populist “we wereright, they were wrong” feeling stillpervades in parts of the movie.

The other thing I had to fight was disbe-lieving the almost supernatural abilities ofboth captains. If they hadn’t beenidentified as naval captains in the 1940s, Iwould have sworn they were both psychicmutants from the far future. Both areportrayed as master players of the greatchess game of naval combat - Murrell isespecially blessed with this gift. At onepoint in the movie, he predicts the U-boat’s course, speed, and timing to arriveat the same place at the time by a com-pletely different route - I was sure he hadplanted a homing device in von Stolberg’sshoe. Again, it plays to the populistnotions of the day, but it also keeps themovie moving at a brisk place.

That said, this was an entertaining movieoverall. The battle scenes were well done,and augmented by some real footage ofdepth charges. Special underwater effectswere very good given the day and age thismovie was made. Shots from inside the U-boat were a little too roomy to be 100%accurate, but the layout and movementwere right on. The dialogue was welldone, not hokey at all, and kept youinvolved in the movie from start to finish.

Historical Accuracy: Three and Half Stars.I can’t find a U.S.S. Haynes listed, and theU-boat was never identified, but the shotsare accurate, even if the U-boat was biggerinside than out.

Storyline: Three and Half Stars. Anengrossing movie that suffered only fromusing characters based on post-war U.S.stereotypes and a willingness to believeAmerican destroyer commanders werepsychic.


The “Guy” Factor: Four and Half Stars.There’s not a woman in the cast, and onlyone mentioned. Real battle footage andconvincing battle scenes should be takenwith 18-year old scotch, Cuban cigars, andmedium rare ribeyes only, and should workon estrogen like oat bran on cholesterol.

Overall: Four Stars. Well-done acting andwell-structured storyline. If you cansuspend disbelief long enough, and youdon’t mind some pro-U.S. posturing, you’lllike this movie.

My second film reminds me that not all warmovies have to be grim and stoic. Stalag17 stars Robert Holden, Richard Erdman,and Peter Graves as some of severalhundred prisoners in a German POW campcalled, oddly enough, Stalag 17. Thismovie mixed dramatic elements withcomedy to produce a picture that stickswith you over time - I had seen parts ofthis movie in the past, only to rememberthem when viewing this film recently.

The best way I can describe this film is TheGreat Escape meets Hogan’s Heroes (thismovie even has a Sergeant Schultz,although there is no connection betweenthe two). Directed by Billy Wilder, Holdenplays Sefton, an American noncom airmanheld at Stalag 17 by Colonel vonScherbach, played superbly by OttoPreminger. Sefton is one of more than 600POWs held at the camp. Numerous escapeattempts have always ended in failure, andSefton, known for being a shrewd operatorin the camp, is targeted early as a leak ofinformation to the Germans. As the moviegoes on, we learn he is not, learn how theinformation transfer is made, who the moleis, and get to celebrate at the open endingwith a final, presumably successful escape.Comic interludes provided by Shaprio andKasava, played by Harvey Lembeck andRobert Strauss, break up the otherwisewell-flowing plotline. The two play offeach other perfectly, however, and the1950s style comedy is still amusing today.Otto Preminger plays the camp commander,Colonel von Scherbach, with style andcomic genius. At one point in the movie,he makes a call to Berlin - his valet bringshim his boots, and proceeds to put them

on von Scherbach. As the call goesthrough to his superior, von Scherbachstands at attention and clicks his heelsvigorously with every “Ja wohl, meinGeneral!”. Once the call is complete, hehangs up, and his valet helps him removehis boots.

Some of the horrors and dark humor of theprison camps were also evident and wellshown. As the “Geneva man” comes toinspect the camp, the prisoners are allgiven new blankets for the visit, with theunderstanding they will be taken awayonce the inspection is done - the “Genevaman” even mentions that they smell likemothballs and wonders out loud whenthey were given to the prisoners. In theopening sequence, two potential escapeesmake it outside the wire, only to run into awell positioned machine gun nest. Beforethey can surrender, they are shot down -their bodies are displayed to the camp thefollowing morning. The camp is perpetu-ally muddy, and only von Scherbach isgiven the luxury of walking on boardsbridging the mud - all the prisoners live inconstant filth and dirt.

Overall, the feeling of this movie remindedme a well done and well balanced episodeof M*A*S*H, with a mix of comedy, farce,and real human drama. If you like the TVseries M*A*S*H and Hogan’s Heroes,you’ll like this movie.

Some trivia from IMDB.com and othersources: Holden won an Oscar for hisperformance (although he reportedly threwit away, feeling he should have won the

previous year for Sunset Boulevard), andgave the shortest acceptance speech inAcademy history: “Thank you.”Preminger was forever type-cast as theevil, menacing Nazi officer (although hedid play some non-Nazi villains on the1960s Batman series) and did not act infilms much after Stalag 17, although hedid direct into the 1970s. Billy Wilder shotthe movie in sequence - all the scenes wereshot in the order they appeared in themovie - and none of the actors knew thetwist ending of the movie until it was shot.Wilder went on to direct other AcademyAward winning and popular films, includ-ing Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, and TheSeven Year Itch, and is an uncreditedwriter of the original Ocean’s Eleven. Heended his relationship with Paramountwhen an exec there suggested they makethe prison guards Polish rather thanGerman to improve the box office in WestGermany. Wilder’s parents had died inconcentration camps in Germany, andwhen a demanded apology was notforthcoming, Wilder split from Paramount.

Historical Accuracy: Four Stars. Therewas no Stalag 17 (the best was StalagXIIB), but everything else is spot onaccording to my eyes, meager knowledge,and quick research.

Storyline: Four Stars. This is a long movie,as we keep breaking the main storyline forcomic side-steps and character develop-ment. It’s a cohesive story, however, thattakes a while to tell.

The “Guy” Factor: Four Stars. There’sdames in this picture - the Russian womenare encamped across the street for the mento hoot and holler at (and sometimes ogle),and Kasava lusts after his Betty Grableposter. There’s also a lot of guys postur-ing and posing and talking fast at oneanother.

Overall: Four Stars. A well done picture byone of the premier directors of the 1950sand 1960s. Superb acting and a good castwho work well together make this anenjoyable picture. And no, I won’t giveaway the ending...

photo by James Tainton


applied effort to making firestorms happenin the future. It happened in Dresden.

Though the RAF in the early and middleyears of the war fought what has beencalled the Battle of Berlin and other battlesin the air war, by the end of 1943 the tide ofthe ground war in the east had changed infavor of the Russians and planners wantedto accede to a Russian demand that Alliedbombers help take the pressure off theRussian front. Leipzig, sixty miles fromDresden, was bombed on December 4,1943 and in January, 1944 Breslau, ahundred miles east of Dresden, wasevacuated. Russian forces capturedBreslau soon after. German forces wouldmove rearward through Dresden.

Taylor points out that the decoding ofEnigma intercepts revealed great move-ments of refugees and German armiesheading westward from the Russian front,toward the protection and liveability ofurban centers such as Dresden. Taylorsays the bombing campaign shifted fromthe strategic to the tactical. Though somewanted to bomb Berlin and kill Hitler andothers to end the war that way, plannersdecided to attack oil, tank and aircraftcenters, and targets in the east andsoutheast. Others wanted attacks madeupon German reinforcements heading to,or away from, Breslau. Planners putChemnitz, Leipzig and Dresden on thetarget list. Chemnitz and Leipzig wereknown to be centers of manufacture oftanks and aircraft but Dresden with its“light industries and smaller, more high-tech factories” was thought to be worth amajor raid.

Taylor says the “attack was about creatingoverwhelming disruption, as near to aperfect state of chaos as could be in-flicted” upon Dresden.

Dresdeners heard an air raid siren the firsttime in August 28-29, 1940 and the city wasbombed in October of that year. It wasbombed very lightly in October, 1943 and a

much bigger attack came on January 16,1944. On October 7, 1944 came “the 111thalarm” when USAAF bombers attackednear noontime. Dresden produced camerasand lenses, radios, fuses, communicationsequipment, electrical products, sewingmachines, typewriters, cigarettes, torpedoparts, shells, machine guns, search lights,aircraft parts, directional guidance equip-ment, torpedo tails, bullets, cartridges,wooden tail assemblies for airplanes, fieldtelephones and artillery observationdevices. A hydrogenation works producedspecial oil for tanks.

On the night of February 13-14, 1945,Dresden suffered a firestorm. Little of theaftermath of war was noticeable to me in

Dresden from page 7

the three days I spent in the inner city,with the exception of the Hauptbahnhof(train station) which once had been a focalpoint for world travelers arriving anddeparting the Florence on the Elbe. I didsee squares of bare earth covered withgrass indicating where rubble had beencleared. There is much yet to do. It will berecalled that Dresden and East Germanywere under the domination of Moscow andthe Stasi until 1989 and though it has beenalmost seventeen years since East andWest were reunited, the Germans hadrebuilt much of what had been laid torubble. Most of the Old Town - centralDresden - has been rebuilt and the citylooks very elegant and old world oncemore. I’d love to see it again.

In 1945, two vertical short sections remainedstanding, blackened by heat and flame. In 2005, thechurch was new again, using blackened stone where

possible and new white stone replacing severelydamaged stone, giving the great church its mottled

appearance


Spitfire War Colors

by Scott Kruize

If you can remember back to my firstinstallment, perhaps you’ll recall “…time tosee if the decals look as good on the modelas they do on the sheet…”, before I had torush what I’d written off to the Editor forposting.

Well, this last installment sees color put onthe plastic. One little detail first, for youeagle-eyes out there: remember that thoseexhaust manifolds in the pictures aren’tright. My slightly-mismolded one hid itselfbefore I could work on it, so you’re seeingspares from my scrap box, tacked intemporarily so I could finish the build forthis review. Testors has an offer inside thekit for replacing missing/damaged/defective parts. I’ll be putting theirCustomer Service policy to the test…

Just for the record: I tried to show off myknowledge of Spitfires by writing, in thefirst installment, that more Mark IXs weremade than any other mark. I should stick totrying to be an authority on Hurricanes(you’ve heard of those?) because ourEditor, Robert, fixed the text before printingit. It seems my source -William Green - wasa little off-base. Volume 2, page 104, ofWarplanes of the Second World War does,indeed, say “Despite the fact that theSpitfire IX was considered solely as aninterim type, it was to be produced inlarger quantities than any other Spitfirevariant…5,665 aircraft of this type…”(There’s a roughly similar quote in hisFamous Fighters of the Second WorldWar.) Yet let’s backtrack to page 98: “Atotal of 6,479 Spitfire Vs was built…” OK?The Mark IX was second in numbers tothe V: an impressive number for a “stop-gap” kludge - dwarfing the quantities ofmany other warplanes - but not the most.Cheerio, chaps, and let’s move on back tothis kit build…

With the basic airframe completed, Iselected a paint and decal scheme from thesix choices available in the instructions,specifically “I.F. Mark IX – RCAF Com-

manding Officer, Tangmere Wing, 1944”. Ipainted the base color scheme - standardlate 1943 Day Fighter camouflage - thenthe yellow leading edge identificationmarks and fuselage band. These details areavailable on the decal sheet, but experi-ence has given me something of a horrorof trying to put large decals over awkwardcompound curves, so I held off on thedecals for awhile, and instead whipped outmy Tamiya masking tape and spray-painted them. (My research says the

fuselage bands and spinners were com-monly painted in white or Sky, but therewere variations, especially with spinnercolors. My Spitfire books - yes, I admittedlast time that there are Spitfire books onthe ‘Hurricane Bookshelf’ - show some ofthese variations.)

Finally, I started in on the decals. Recallhow impressed I was with how they lookedon the sheet: thin, perfectly registered,razor-sharp. In use, they’re worth a ‘9’,easy…better than any kit decals I’ve everworked with, and right up there with thevery best aftermarket. Their colors areopaque, and they went down perfectlyover details like panel lines, without atouch of setting solution. (To avoid anysilvering, however, they must be put down

over gloss coat or ‘Future’ floor polish…asI now know…)

My selected scheme has two variations.First, I changed the individual aircraft I.D.,so this is now one of the C.O.’s men…andI didn’t put on the Invasion stripes, so thisplane is shown as it was before D-Day. Myreasoning: in my Calvinesque modelingdays way back when, I always put on theexact kit decal scheme, since it neveroccurred to me to do otherwise. Now, I’d

rather do just a slight variation, if for noother reason than if another modelershows up with his version where I’mdisplaying mine, I can’t be accused ofdoing an inferior job - just different! Andas far as invasion striping goes, I’veavoided it since learning how appalled theground crews all over the UK were whenthey got orders to stripe every single oneof their charges in broad black-and-white…in a single day! I’ve heard manyon-the-spot “artists” resorted to paintingwith brooms, and I believe it…so thesedecals, as perfectly straight and true, cleanand sharp, as all the rest, can’t possibly bebad enough for historical accuracy…Ithink maybe on a 1/48th scale model, theyought to be done freehand with White-Outand a big black marking pen!


Besides the main insignia and identifica-tion codes, there were lots of itsy-bitsyteeny-weeny decals of stenciling all overthe airplane. Much time was spent withtweezers and blotter. But danged if theydidn’t all come out legible… “Lift Here” …“Walkway Forward” … “Location ofWingtip Steadying Trestle” …astonishing!

I made one - exactly one - attempt to be aTotal Clever Dick. This Mark IX was armedwith the most common battery: a pair of20mm Hispano cannon and four .303Browning machine guns. The latter arespread along the wing, and were to berepresented by small red squares from thedecal sheet. These simulated the cloth orpaper patches armorers would red-dopeover the gun ports on the wing leadingedges, to keep the guns clean and dry tillthey were fired. I drilled the ports out withmy pin vise before pressing on the decalscraps, and was gratified to see thematerial sag into the holes, and dry thatway; very prototypical!

These pictures show no weathering. Iwanted you to see the ‘factory-fresh’version, since this is a review of the kit,not a showcase for my weathering skills.Before I put it on display, next to well-wornfriends-and-relations, I’ll weather it withoil-, exhaust- and gunsmoke-stains...put ona few more fiddly-bits, like antennawire...and it’ll look like yet anotherwarhorse...much like...ah, say: did youknow that not all British WWII fighterswere Spitfires? Some were Hurricanes!

Nevertheless, I’m glad to add this to mystable. The kit is very good, better than myabilities to do it full justice. And while ourEnglish cousin Kevin, knowing way moreabout Spits in their various kit incarnationsthan I do, criticizes the nose contours, Ithink it looks pretty good. I’ll bet skilledhands could win awards with it. We allknow that the quickest way to transformour hobby into drudgery is to make it anobligation - self imposed or otherwise - butI’m glad I volunteered to Internet Modelerto accept this kit, and build and review it.

Hurricane Bookshelf will resume nextmonth!


Hasegawa 1/48th ScaleNakajima B5N2

by Hal Marshman, Sr.

I found this kit lurking in my cellar stash acouple of weeks ago, partially built, justabout ready for paint. I remember buying itback around when the kit had just comeout, say late 2000. As to why it had beenput away, I can only hazard guesses. Inany case, in the box was the initial draft ofa kit review. I had never submitted thereview, so here it is, suitably amended toaccount for the years between then andnow. Yeah, I know, it ain’t new! Now andagain, it’s good to revisit earlier releases,particularly as the kit companies are in thehabit of reissuing the same basic kit withnew decals and box art.

This is a kit which was long awaited. Inthis scale, the only previous entry was anill fitting, poorly detailed kit by Nichimo.That kit can still be found, and thecompanies are not at all bashful aboutcharging far above the actual worth topurchase same. Why bother? TheHasegawa offering is everything theNichimo kit is not. Let’s take a closerlook…

The kit is cast in moderately easy-to-worklight gray plastic. Hasegawa providesterrific moldings, with raised or engravedsurface detail wherever necessary. I didfind a couple of molding flaws, with smallsink holes on the separate cowling partjust forward of the windscreen, and the topand bottom of the fuselage sides in theHinomaru area. In addition there are moldrelease depressions on the landing gearoleos - a real pain of an area to fix.

The interior is absolutely superb, withquite a few small detail parts, and prettymuch makes up into a separate model all itsown. Once assembled, some of the detail isdifficult to see, but most of it is right thereto be admired, providing you take yourtime and don’t try to rush things.

The clear parts are well done, thin, andvery clear. You get both a one-piececanopy for those who would prefer closedglass, and stackable separate sectionsallowing you to display the open cockpit,showing off a good deal of the interior youso lovingly spent much time on. There aresmall wedge shaped items allowing youthe option of cutting out the marked wingtip lights and replacing them with thesetiny clear ones, or you can just go aheadand paint the marked lights using yourfavorite technique. You also get side andbottom windows, and a tiny tail cone light.

The engine is decent, providing a full frontcylinder back against a half bank for therear. The wiring harness ring and gear boxare separately cast. Be careful of theignition ring; I broke mine and had tomanufacture a replacement. The cowling ispretty fair, with a nicely done bottomscoop as a separate part. Note the tinydimples cast into the top front. These areto accommodate the torpedo sightingdevice provided. I didn’t use this kit-provided item, as it just seemed tooclumsy. It just isn’t possible to injectioncast some items. A good place for a photoetched substitute. I built mine from fineflorist’s wire with stretched sprue between,

and three small blobs of thick black paint.Suits me, anyway. Exhausts are separate,with indentations at the external end, butwill profit from further drilling out.

The landing gear is simple with slightlyflattened tires See above for the releasemark problem on the gear legs. The innerside of the gear covers also reveal releasemarks, but they’ll be covered by the gearlegs. The tail wheel is a tiny gem. Whatcan you say about the tailhook? It’s thereand looks right.

The only weaponry is the Lewis gun cloneprovided for the rear cockpit. It’s prettynicely done, but the ring sight you’regiven is grossly out of scale. Anotherplace where a photo etched replacement isnearly necessary. There are several ammodrums provided for the interior. Be certainto save one of the little gems for the top ofthe gun itself. I got the Pearl Harborversion of the Kate, so it is equipped witha very good representation of the artilleryshell bomb used at Pearl. It seems theJapanese wanted to use level bombers aswell as torpedo and dive bombers. Theydecided to use Kates for this purpose, buthad no suitable bomb. They thereforeconverted naval artillery projectiles to


heavy bombs, and they were prettydevastating. It was almost certainly one ofthese make shift devices that accountedfor the U.S.S. Arizona. I digress, the onlyproblem with the bomb is release markdepressions on the bomb fins. Please notethat once mounted, the bomb is offset fromthe center of the airplane. Other releases ofthis kit feature torpedoes - the Long Lancetype developed for Pearl Harbor’s shallowwaters.

I did have some fit problems at the frontand rear of the wing to fuselage joints, andat the wing roots. Might have been myfault, but I did trim and smooth everythingbefore I tried to cement together. Just becareful here, or you can end up with agoodly amount of sanding in this area.Bear in mind that a good many schemesfeature a bare metal bottom.

The decal sheet is very comprehensive,and includes markings for two Dec. 7 birds,plus enough number and letter combos toduplicate many of the Kates that werePearl Harbor raiders. It has been said thethe Hinomarus (Japanese national mark-ings, the red discs) are not opaqueenough. Easy fix. Take some plain whitedecal sheet, and use the old double decaltrick, or prepaint white circles in the properareas, prior to decaling.

This kit does have a few small glitches, buttake your time and persevere, and you canend up with a pretty nice model of anhistorically important aircraft.

Attached are photos of my completedKate, with home made seatbelts, photoetched gunsight, scratch built torpedosight, wired engine, and scratched brakelines. The model represents a Pearl Harborraider from the IJN Hiryu. The decals arefrom Eagle Strike Productions. Eagle Strikeprovides markings for two A6M2 Zeros,two D3A1 Vals, and two B5N2 Kates, allDecember 7 birds from the Hiryu. It’s avery nice decal sheet, with lots of helpfulpainting information.


Meeting Reminder August 1210 AM - 1 PM

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East tothe 148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit(the second of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continuenorth on 148th until you reach the Senior Center. TheSenior Center will be on your left. The Center itself isnot easily visible from the road, but there is a signpostin the median.

Upcoming Model Shows

Saturday, September 16IPMS Region 7 Convention at Evergreen Aviation Museum 2006, sponsored by Oregon Historical Modelers Society and EvergreenAviation Museum. 500 NE Michael King Smith Way, McMinnville, Oregon. Full details in next month’s issue. For more information, visitthe web site at www.geocities.com/oregonshow, or contact Brian Yee at 503-309-6137.

Saturday, October 7IPMS Vancouver 36th Annual Fall Model Show and Swap Meet. Bonsor Recreation Complex, 6550 Bonsor, Burnaby, BC, Canada. Formore info, contact: Warwick Wright, phone : 604-274-5513, e-mail, [email protected], or visit the show web site at www: http://members.tripod.com/~ipms

Friday - Saturday, October 13-14Sci-Fan 2006. This two-day event features hundreds of the best fantasy figures, spacecraft and robots in the northwest. Schedule:Friday, 12 noon - 7 PM, Contest Entry and Display; Saturday, 10 AM - 12noon, Contest Entry and Display. 1:30 - 2:30 PM, Closed forJudging; 4 PM, Awards and Door Prizes.

Categories: Movie/T.V. Spacecraft; Real Spacecraft; Other Spacecraft; Ground Vehicles; Other Sci-Fi; Display Only (Free Entry);Diorama; 1:1 Scale; Movie/T.V. Robot; Japan Anime Robot; Other Robot; Japan Anime Figure; Human Figure; Animal/Monster Figure;Movie/T.V. Figure. Entry Fee: $5 for up to five models; $1 for each additional model.

Rules:1. You may enter as many models in a class as you want but can win only one award in that class.2. It takes four models to make up a class. If fewer models are present classes will be combined.3. Classes may be added as required.4. Kids under 18 may enter but will be judged along with adults with the same fee.

Galaxy Hobby, 196th & Highway 99, Lynnwood.Phone: 425-670-0454; E-mail: [email protected] ; Web site: www.galaxyhobby.com

Documents

Seattle Chapter News - IPMSipms-seattle.org/newsletters/2006Newsletters/2006August.pdf · Albatros Publications: Osprey Publications: ... some very colorful fighters and other