PBY, SBD, Mustang, B17G,  TBF...huge for a carrier plane, F4U, F4F, Oscar, FW190...both smaller than I thought.

Those and other warbirds at the Erickson collection.   All in airworthy condition.

Time in the Air Force was with 3 Phantom variants, B52G, and next door to the SR71.

Back in the 70s I went to a small airshow in Maine at a transportation museum and they had a Spitfire that was owned by the pilot who flew it during the Battle of Nritian, a collectiom pf WWI aorcraft, all operational as well as a couple other aircraft.  Before that I went to the Air Force museumbefore they built the new quanset hut like buildings.  Back then most aircraft were outside where you could touch them.

Overall I have been around The A-7, A-10, the EC-121, C-47C-123, 124, 130 and several variants, 133, C-5A, C-141, B-52D and G, The century series, F-15, 16, OV-10A, H-43 Pedro, uh-1, H-3, H-53.  I have seen the F-84F, EB-66, V-1 Loon, and been inside of the XC-99.  That's only A.F. aircraft.

If you only count living, breathing machines not sitting in museums:

A-7D, A-10A, F-4D, F-15A, F-16A, OV-10A, Avro Vulcan B.Mk2, M60A1

The A-10 impressed me with its enormous size, raised rivets at the back end, and that gargantuan gun that had “Do not rotate-gun will fire” stenciled by the muzzle.

The Vulcan was something I never dreamed of seeing.  It was at an open house at Hickam AFB, parked away from the other US aircraft.  No one seemed interested in the Vulcan except for this one little kid with a Kodak Instamatic camera with only a dozen shots.  Actually I saw a Vulcan twice at Hickam, the first time it had a light grey underside, the second time it had the darker wraparound scheme.  Man how I wished I had my digital camera or smartphone!  But that was back in 1977 and 1982 I think.

The first time I saw an F-15, the thing that struck me was that the sway braces for the Sparrow missiles were big “C” shaped chunks of metal sticking perpendicular into the airstream.

I’ll remember the F-4’s thick, warm, velvety, oily and stinky black soot from the inside of the exhaust petals.  Dad said “don’t do that”, but I just had to run my finger through that gunk!

Between a military career, lots of airshows, and lots of museums, the list of things seen, land, sea, and air, is quite long. Some things look incredibly delicate and fragile, while others seem indestructible. Seeing a B-52 once at a SAC base open house, with “clips” of inert practice B-28 and B-61 nukes ready for loading really makes one ponder the nightmare of that era. Yet seeing another B-52 mother ship at a different base location and all the mission tally markers for X-plane launches gave a feeling of wonderment to imagine those flights.

Seen a bunch of stuff listed here growing up in an airforce familly.  Then all the air shows at NAS/MCAS Miramar.   I saw a flying  He111 at the CAF show at Gillespie field was very cool.  Shame it crashed a while back.  

This takes thought. My modeling impetus comes from recreating historic things I've read about or seen.

I'll probably come back and edit.

The first one was the Douglas rocket at Tomorrowland at Disneyland.

Dad took me there when I was 5 and he bought the kit at the gift store.

Of the hundreds that I've built, there are only nine that I haven't seen in real life:

- CF-105 Avro Arrow (I have seen the front fusleage section at the museum here in Ottawa), F-6F Hellcat, P-47 Thunderbolt, Me-262, F-105 Thunderchief, B-26 Marauder, Me-110, Do-335 and FW-190.

F-4 F-14 F-15 F16 F-18 F-22 F-86

P-51 P-38 P-47 Dauntless 

Tiger Jagdtiger Panther Jagdpanther Panzer IV

T-34 T-72

A-4 Skyhawk A-10 Warthog A-7 Corsair

USS New Jersey USS Intrepid

Jeremiah O'Brian

HUMVEE  Sherman

Hetzer

Mig 15 Mig 29

Me109 Me262 Spitfire Zero Corsair

There probably are more,will add if they comes to me

Where do you want me to start?

Remember I got 67 years worth under the ole' belt?

 Here's a short list.

A-4-E Way smaller than I expected. Midway Bird

F-4-F-Midway Bird-I touched it too.

F-86 AirMuseum Gorgeous

F-100 CAL. A.N.G Bird, Natural Metal and shiny!

F-104 Stunning- First Air Force Bird up close

Bell-Iriquois-Factory as a child

Huey three types. Nam. Anyone I could hitch a ride on out of an L.Z.

W.W.-2 fit Gearing Destroyer+Fram of same. Very first Navy Duty Station 3 Yrs.

 U.S.S. Missouri- Bremerton,Wa.-before Reactivation

 U.S.S. Hornet-Docent on board ( Museum)

 U.S.S. Midway-At Sea Marine Duty 2 yrs.

 Lincoln Futura( Before Batman)

 M-113 two versions.Nam Two tours

 A-10 Ugly but kinda personable! Daughter's bird

 B-52-Buffs are Beautiful!

 AV-8-B. Rode in it. Knew the Pilot

 C-130-Bumpy Ride that one!

Far too many to remember or count.

the main thing that strikes me is that the real this is nowhere as perfect as we try to portray them in minature. Everything has scratches, dings, dents, miss colored areas, oil canning, etc. I like to study the exhaust paterns or where oils and fluids accumulate. On ships, most everything is hand painted, chipped, rusted, dented, again, nowhere as perfect as we strugle to make them.

My last Command ;Second of the Company's new ships For me

 She was only two years old.( that's how long it took to build her.) Already had paint chips and multi coats of paint covering up wear and rust! First voyage on her we had twenty seven feet of paint peel off both sides of the Bow.  Company got her painted by folks in boats in Bahrain!

I'd say sixty to seventy percent of my collection.  That is because I tend to build what I see and what I am familiar with.  I build a lot of civil aircraft, especially golden age stuff (Stinson, Beech, etc.) and airliners.  I have been to so many airshows I can't count, plus many Rockfords and Oshkosh.

The big exceptions are ships, but I build a lot of Great Lakes freighters, of which I have seen many and toured a few, and spacecraft, though I did see a lot of Atlas, Thor and Delta launch vehicles when I was stationed at Vandenberg for four years.

Oh, I also worked at McDonnel  in St. Louis, so I saw more than my share of Phantoms and Eagles.

castelnuovo

And what was your impression when you saw it? I haven't seen many.

Spitfire, elegant and somehow fragile, althought there must be a better word then fragile

P-47 was HUGE.

T-55 which I saw in action were frightening, I felt so scared and halpless.

 

I don't know how exactly this fits in your thread but I'll try. Back in the 1970's when I went to my first CAF warbird airshow in Titusville, FL, I had the opportunity to fly in a Ryan PT-22. Later that summer I got to fly in a T-6G out of Kissimmee. I have an Occidental T-6G kit that I will build later this year that will depict that T-6. A couple of years later, I had joined the Florida Wing of the CAF and got to fly in a member's P-51D. With a little luck, I'll build a model of that Mustang, maybe this year. In the 80's, the fellow who influenced me to get my pilot certificate had a Canadian Harvard Mk.II followed by a Tiger Moth. I flew with him a lot in both airplanes. I'll do my best to build models of those two airplanes too.

When I see an airplane at an airshow or in a museum I can be influenced to build a model of that airplane but usually in some historical context.

Between my AF time and museums, airshows, etc.. I've seen quite alot of US stuff. The one bird that really sticks in my mind over the years is how impressive and HUGE the Valkerie is..What a montster of a plane. Watched the SR-71 up close in action..that's beyond impressive. B1's, the old bomers, B-52's...many old US and Soviet fighters, both piston and jet driven. The list is huge. It's easier that say I haven't had the joy of seeing any Japanese or German birds up close. But that Valkeie....WOW !!!

BK

Served in the USAF, worked on the flightline and saw many different aircraft. Many airshows the most intersting of which was the Confederate Air Force back in the 80's which flew WWII aircraft. Some I've built some I've yet to, don't really have a count going on that.

Well between the Smithsonian, the US Navy Aviation Museum at Fort Walton Florida, and the Fighter Factory at Virginia Beach Virginia I've seen most of the US aircraft I've modeled. 

And between the old George S. Patton Armor Museum that used to be at Knoxville Tennesee and the AAF Armor Museum at Danville Virginia I've seen most of the US armour I've modeled in the flesh as it were. 

Most of the Japanese and other non-US stuff I haven't seen in person. So it's probably close to 50/50 overall. 

To add on a few more:  The Charles W. Morgan when we visited Mystic.

T-28 U.S. Navy and Laos

Shinmawa patrol aircraft J.M.S.D.F.

P.T. boat J.M.S.D.F.

C-9 Nigthtengale

T-43 Nav trainer

M-113, M-706 (the A.F. version had no gun terret), M-151, CJ-5, M-715 weapons truck, along with various other base vehicles motor pool would dump on us to patrol with, up to a 1 1/2 ton steak bed truck.

F-89 Scorpion

You're right, the SR-71 Habu was quite something to watch take off, especially at night.

ikar01

To add on a few more:  The Charles W. Morgan when we visited Mystic.

T-28 U.S. Navy and Laos

Shinmawa patrol aircraft J.M.S.D.F.

P.T. boat J.M.S.D.F.

C-9 Nigthtengale

T-43 Nav trainer

M-113, M-706 (the A.F. version had no gun terret), M-151, CJ-5, M-715 weapons truck, along with various other base vehicles motor pool would dump on us to patrol with, up to a 1 1/2 ton steak bed truck.

F-89 Scorpion

You're right, the SR-71 Habu was quite something to watch take off, especially at night.

 

Have long wanted to build a Scorpion.  I really used to like that plane.  Saw one crash at an airshow in detroit- a real disaster.

Details still classified....

"Driver Carries Less Than 20 Quatloos"-that's priceless, Greg!  Great builds!

Love that, just can't remember at the moment where quatloos came from.

Greg! 

      I forgot to ask. How many Quatloos does it take to make a Frundleshoot? I heard a lot.

ikar01

Love that, just can't remember at the moment where quatloos came from.

Star Trek TOS episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion"

(Remember Angelique Pettyjohn in her tin-foil bikini?)

ikar01

 

You're right, the SR-71 Habu was quite something to watch take off, especially at night.

 

One of the best memories is of sitting on the ramp with my back up against the front main gear of a B52G, watching an SR leaving at night with that blue A/B flame and the concrete vibrating.

Thanks for the reminder.  I wonder what the exchange rate for Quatloos was today.

The most amazing Habu take off I ever saw was back in 1872 when one visited our base.  They had tried to hide it in a U-2 hanger which didn't work well.  Anyhow I was lucky enough to be walking from the armory to the barracks with a slight detour to the mailroom.  As I got close a single tanker took off, a little unusual since they normally left with some B-52Ds and I didn't pay it much attention.  Shortly after that I heard a roar comming down the runway behind me so I stopped to see what it was.  By the time the SR got close to me it already was running nose high.  Then it lifted its right wing and started to run on only its left tires, then its outside tire on the runway.  After a few seconde it pulled up and and cut over the bomb dump with its wing pointed verticle and went into a hard left tund, strainhtrn out and head over to the tanker that had just taken off.  Then they flew off together and disappeared.  Incredible sight.  That was also the last time I saw one until I was assigned to Kadena some years later.

I heard from a maint. guy a couple days later that there was also a performance bet between the U-2 and SR-71 guys, probably for steak and beer at the O'club.  They put a quarfter in a marked safe spot somewher on the flight line and each aircraft would take a shot at their altitude, the best picture wins.  No contesat.

Lol...SR pic at the time could probably tell weather George needed a shave or not.

Don Stauffer

Have long wanted to build a Scorpion. 

We actually have one here in one of our parks just up the road on stilts. Very elegant bird for sure.

BK

Well, since I was a tanker in the Army and model modern military equipment, there is little in this genre that I haven't had first hand experience on.

castelnuovo

And what was your impression when you saw it? I haven't seen many...

Mostly aircraft...P-51B and -D, P-40E, P-47D razorback and bubbletop, B-17G, B-24J, B-29, TBF, SBD, SB2C, P-61, F4F, F4U, B-25, C-47, are all subjects I've built, and which I've seen, albeit at re-enactments.  I've also built a model of the New Jersey, and have seen the ship.  And some armor subjects, such as a Sherman, an M3 halftrack, and a Jeep or two, again, which I've seen at re-enactments.

For those subjects, it's just impressive to see a machine that was built so long ago, restored to working condition, and to see the impact it has on people, especially younger ones.  So that they don't forget what those machines represent-the history, the people, and their sacrifices.