NEW...AGAIN...

MarkS1 wrote:

Hey, Amazon's got it:  http://www.amazon.com/Carpetbaggers-Americas-Secret-War-Europe/dp/0890155925 It's at least $58 bucks, used.  I was right, it's out of print and in demand.  It's a good read, though.  I gave my copy to my buddy.

Hey,

Amazon's got it:  http://www.amazon.com/Carpetbaggers-Americas-Secret-War-Europe/dp/0890155925

It's at least $58 bucks, used.  I was right, it's out of print and in demand.  It's a good read, though.  I gave my copy to my buddy.

Hey Thanks for the thumbs up on my Corsair. Sorry for the delay in replying, been working much.  Made some progress on my B-24D, should have it done in a few weeks or so.

Gonna do a B-17G this year, too, never did one and think it's time.   Two weeks ago, the Nine-O-Nine (B17G) was in Boca Raton. Nine-O-Nine did over 100 missions. There was a B-25 on tour with her but it blew an engine in Ft. Lauderdale and didn't make it up to Boca. Got 117 snaps (man, I love digital cameras) of everything in hi-res for researching my project.  Could've taken another ride but didn't want to drop $425 since I'm gonna do that starting Wed. in Vegas.

"Carpetbaggers", that's the same type of unit my buddy was in, with the OSS and Bill Donovan. They also dropped agents, made pickups and even flew in and out of neutral countries on the sly. He flew out of Scotland. There's a great little book called "The Carpetbaggers" written by the brother of an airmen killed on a Carpetbagger mission.  Don't know if it's still in print but it actually tells the story of a mission my buddy claims he was on when their B-24 was shot down over the Bay of Murmansk by the Russian port defenses by mistake.  They were coming in on a pitch black night and the pilot thought it'd be a good idea to open the bomb-bay doors so as to aid the Ruskies in identifying them.  Needless to say, it didn't work out that way... they opened up with everything in the port and all the ships' defenses on the water and blew the Liberator right out of the sky.  My friend went out the nose gear door and made it. He was 22 and went on to fly more missions.  Hell, I wouldn't give most of the 22 year olds I see around S. Florida the keys to my car.

Mark,

My pleasure, always liked the gaping maw of the A-7.  Very nicely done!

I would really like to build both the 1/48 B-17 and B-24, and like the raised panel lines as they are more authentic.  But adding raised rivets to the whole plane kinda scares me.  I bet that ride was fantastic!  My fathers neighbor was a navigator flying B-24s at night over Europe with the "Carpetbaggers", the group that dropped leaflets and supplies for the French Underground.  Amazing stories he has!

As for good quality kits, I really like Tamiya stuff as well as the Accurate Miniatures offerings.  Can't go wrong with either of those two, and the customer support at Accurate Miniatures is unrivaled!  The few times I needed help they went above and beyond to solve the problem.  I sing their praise whenever I can, especially with the cold replies or even NO replies from companies like Dragon (Hasegawa importers) and Tamiya.

Sorry to go on and on, look forward to seeing you 'round the forums!

Thanks. 

Hey Daywalker,

Thanks for comments on my Corsair.  Lots of hours in that baby.

If I remember, the former "Diamond 'Lil" was the Confederate Air Force's B24-D painted in desert tan, no?  If so, I took an old friend to see it in Ft. Lauderdale.  He was a bombadier in a B-24D and flew on an early Ploesti raid. After his 25 missions he went on to fly 28 more for "Wild Bill" Donovan and the OSS in a blacked out, unarmed Liberator on clandestine missions.   What stories he has, great guy.  Seeing that 'ol bird almost brought tears to his eyes...almost.

I took a ride on a B-17 last year in Boca Raton and have some good snaps of me in her, including a pic I took standing up in the open top hatch while she banked over Boca beach and one out the nose (I was sitting in the bombadier's seat) as we took off towards the ocean.  Once I find them I'm gonna make an avatar.

Thanks for the advice on the panel lines.  I think I'll leave them be. It's just going to be too much hassle to remove them and the odds of screwing it up are too high.  Besides, I'm just not in the mood to re-engineer the darned thing.  I'll worry about real detailing on a modern kit where it's more a matter of adding third-party extras, coatings, etc. without having to fix the basic components. I don't mind being meticulous and taking my time but adding on, painting and such are the fun part for me not repairing the foundation when I know it's not necessary these days. I'm of the mind from now on to start with only top quality kits and am a big fan of Hasegawa.  What are some of the other quality brands, nowadays?

Thanks.

Sorry, forgot to mention how much I liked the Corsair pics you posted.  As for the panel lines and rivets on your B-24, the ones I have seen close up make the raised lines and rivets looks more accurate than the recent craze to sand them all down and carve grooves into them.  Last year at the EAA flyin, I was able to crawl inside "Ol' 927" (ex-"Diamond Lil") and had this photo taken of me with one of the waist-mounted 50 cals:

As you can see, the raised rivets and panel lines on the model more closely resemble the raised rivets and overlapping panels found on the real aircraft.  Hope that helps!

Welcome to the Forums Mark .  You can add graphics to your Sig in the "Update Profile" found on the top line.  They do have to be hosted on a site that allows linking, you can't upload directly to the FSM servers.

Regards,  Rick

to the forums. 

BTW,

How did you get those graphics in your signature area?

Thanks.

Thanks, Daywalker,

Yeah, about that B-24D...although I don't want to turn it into a major project I just can't stand the raised panel lines, especially when it'll come time to drybrush.  I've tried a couple of techniques to rescribe them on the bottom of the tail's crossmember and can do a fair job but what's stopping me is how can I clean up the lines after rescribing without damaging the raised rivets?  I've been around B-24Ds, even in the hanger with the official "All America" restoration sponsored by General Dynamics back in the early '90s at Tom Riley's in Kissimmee, FL, and I remember they did have raised rivets.  Otherwise I'd sand it all down and redo the rivets as well.  Just one of the perplexities of game.  Any suggestions?

Thanks again for welcome.