Mid-50s guy getting back into plastic modeling. Haven't dabbled since the mid-to-late 80s, and most of my previous modeling occurred years earlier when I was in my mid-teens.
When my son was in cub scouts almost 10 years ago, I went on one of his pack overnights - to Falls River, MA where we slept on a WWII destroyer and toured it and the nearby battleship, submarine and Soviet something-or-other they have there. Great trip, and it stimulated me to get back into plastic modeling then. However all I did to further the project was to buy Revell's PT-109. The box sat, plastic wrap undisturbed, until a week ago or so.
In a whirlwhind of activity I tidied the heck out of a basement workbench area. I hit a number of hobby and hardware stores, and have set up something of a modeling area for myself. Back when I did modeling, I'd have killed for the kind of setup I have now. But I have no delusions that I've got a properly outfitted workshop yet!
I completed PT-109, a relatively easy project (level 2 on Revell's scale). I'm most drawn to WWII aircraft and prefer to only build Allied planes. So my goal is to have a number of well put together US or other Allied aircraft hanging from the joists in my basement playpen before too long. 1/48 scale.
Anyway here's my first question: I've been reading various WWII histories lately, and just finished "Big Week" by James Holland. I've become interested in identifying specific unit designations or otherwise being able to figure out how to tell where decals (or choice of decals) in a particular box place the model. Pacific or European Theatre? Which Bomb Group? That kind of thing. Some models provide some of this information, but some do not as I've learned.
A hobby store guy near me says he's got a guy who is good at finding alternate decal sets for particular plane models. Just have to give him whatever identifying info I want, together with the type of plane and scale desired, and he'll see what he can do. But I find that I'm not schooled on either identifying Bomb Group or whatever info from photos, or figuring out what decals should be on a plane if I wanted particular planes from information I've read.
So I'm sure there are modelers out there who pursue such information too? Are there online resources that would be good for me to bookmark for such inquiries? How about online vendors of substitute decal sets? Any advice will be very much appreciated!
I've got two 1/48 scale models sitting here, waiting for me to choose. Both Revell - a P-38 and a B-17. I'm happy with the B-17's decal options, but for the P-38 I'd like to see if I can get decals for a European Theatre Lightning, and then work the model as a fighter/bomber or a pathfinder. But for all I know the decal options for the pathfinder variant in the box could be a European Theatre participant already. I can't interpret the varous numbers and alpha characters.
And then there's the real longshot - I just read the wiki on the P-38, and came across the passage below. Is it possible that anyone could say what the markings would have been on that French version of the P-38? Or where one could get his hands on appropriate decals? I would love to put it together accordingly!
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry[edit]
The left main landing gear of Saint-Exupéry's F-5B Lightning, recovered in 2003 from the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Marseille, France.
At midday on 31 July 1944, the noted aviation pioneer and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Night Flight, Wind, Sand and Stars and The Little Prince) vanished in his P-38 of the French Armée de l'Air's Groupe de Chasse II/33, after departing Borgo-Porreta, Corsica.