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HMSLion

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  1. HMSLion
    The only way I see the Deutsche Paiper Pipe-Dreams being plausible is the June 1944 von Stauffenberg plot succeeding. Hitler is killed, his regime deposed, the military junta which succeeds it makes peace with the Western Allies. Peace with the Soviet Union is not forthcoming...so the war continues on the Eastern Front. No B-36s. Still, I want an F-108 kit. An F8U-3. And a MQ-4C kit. And an RQ-4A kit with all the possible markings (DARPA ACTD, USAF operational deployment, USN BAMS-D, and NASA).
  2. HMSLion
    WRT postwar aircraft, there's a cult around the TSR-2, Avro Arrow, and B-70. Honorable mention for the F-108 Rapier...which I'd love to see done in styrene. I'll note that if you had told me ten years ago that I would be able to buy plastic kits of the MBT-70, T-95, and M-6 tanks, I'd have thought you daft. Today, they are in my stash. The real headache is getting the aircraft kitted.
  3. HMSLion
    Put a swastika on the tail. Even if it's spurious fictional markings for a captured example. More seriously, I think there are several factors at play: 1. Nazi paper pipe-dreams sell. Other countries' prototypes...less so, but they sell too. 2. The Chinese companies seem more willing to think outside the Spitfire/109/Mustang/190 box. We're seeing that from some of the Eastern European companies as well, but the Chinese lead the pack. 3. Nobody is going to rivet-count the pipe-dream kits.
  4. HMSLion
    I'd be up for a F4U-4.
  5. HMSLion
    The other thing to remember about any speculation is that the Tamiya design team have not had the chance to leave Japan in nine or ten months. I would therefore expect the next armor subject to be based on their big Saumur research trip (meaning probably French), or Japanese. WRT aircraft, my gut keeps telling me 1/32 Fw-190...but I'm not sure if it's an A or D.
  6. HMSLion
    Hmm....Given Tamiya's recent track record, I'd be thinking in terms of a 1/32 FW-190, possibly an Me-109 in that scale. There's something in the back of my head that says "watch for a 1/48 B-25", too. Armor? Who knows. They've done all the major Axis stuff, and recently, too. Most of the Allied stuff. A reworked Churchill? A Comet? A Crusader?
  7. HMSLion
    Well, the rules do mention baseless speculation... The USN has deployed MQ-4Cs to Guam. Which puts them within reasonable distance of the Japanese model manufacturers. I expect that once the COVID quarantines lift (around the middle of 2021), somebody will have a team out there to measure the aircraft. And no, you can't substitute a USAF RQ-4 Global Hawk...the Triton has substantial outer mold line changes. The Platz "RQ-4N" is a reasonable representation of the design...as of the Preliminary Design Review in 2009. The production aircraft is significantly different in the front end.
  8. HMSLion
    They may be silly, but at least they are different...as opposed to yet another Me-109. Frankly, I'm surprised nobody has tackled the might-have-beens of the aviation world. An F-108 Rapier...or an F8U-3 Super Crusader. They're even actual programs.
  9. HMSLion
    Hmph. While I can understand Airfix wanting to go after the UK market for F-35B kits, there are a bushel of other companies doing them...and the argument that gets trotted out about Company A's kit not making money for Company B ignores the fact that Company B's kit loses money unless it sells well.
  10. HMSLion
    If it's any comfort, I've rarely seen the 1/48 B-29 built in the USA, either. I'm a big proponent of the Rule of 250...that a model must fit onto a rectangle of 250 square inches or less. That's about 16 x 16 inches. It's why I get irked by the constant whining for coffee-table-sized models like a 1/48 Vulcan...where do you PUT the thing after you build it?
  11. HMSLion
    I’d prefer going to 1/350. Which solves the problem nicely.
  12. HMSLion
    I'd buy a 1/72 Javelin, but I've a fondness for the 1950s aircraft. WRT the discussion over scales, I'm convinced of the validity of what I call the Rule of 250 - that a model must fit onto a rectangle of 250 square inches. About 16" x 16". Smaller is a bit better. This means that 1/48 is good for Second World War single-engine airplanes and twins, and for first and second generation jet fighters. Once you get to the third generation jets (Phantoms and such), 1/48 is too big. There's no place to PUT the model.
  13. HMSLion
    I'll buy one, just because I'm a Zeppelin fan, but Mike Esposito is right. 1/350 scale would be in keeping with a standard large ship model scale. Especially since the p-type Zeppelins were the small ones. Mark I Models has released a series of kits in 1/720, the p-type is about 8 inches long...the r-type late-war Zeppelin in that scale is over a foot long. I worked in the LTA field for several years, and airships are truly large. The small advertising blimps are the size of a modern airliner.
  14. HMSLion
    OK...the Shuttle might be of interest. I'm seriously considering knocking together a set of models in 1/72 for the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. It's fascinating (and not a little frightening) to see just how tiny a Mercury or Gemini capsule really is.
  15. HMSLion
    Anything from the Great War is welcome.
  16. HMSLion
    I'm surprised they aren't doing 1/72 scale first. But I'm a firm believer that a model should fit onto a rectangle of 225 square inches (15 x 15).
  17. HMSLion
    I've got two in my hands, am working on one. It's clear that this would have gone back for one more revision to the molds under WNW. That being said, it clearly shows WNW engineering and detail. The wing warpage is there, but it's not extreme...and it's in the same direction on all three wings. And Meng included all the bits to do either a Dr.1 or an F.1, so you have some choices. The bad news is that the directions don't include rigging instructions. As for markings - well, whenever you talk Triplanes, you think of MvR's all-red machine. Then Voss. After that...allow me to suggest that the aftermarket decal companies will be doing markings for just about every Triplane built.
  18. HMSLion
    It's a good kit. Well-fitting, good set of external stores. And while not the massive beast that a Global Hawk is, a Reaper is still a surprisingly large aircraft.
  19. HMSLion
    The carrier I really don't care about....but that Invincible? I want two. First World War capital ships are a bit of an obsession with me.
  20. HMSLion
    My biggest headache is quality. WNW raised the bar. Copper State seems to have been able to keep pace in 1/32, Eduard is awfully close in 1/48. Roden's 1/32nd kits have a reputation (deserved) for being more than somewhat difficult to build. If Roden gets their act together, they can make money...WNW was being dragged down by the selection of subjects.
  21. HMSLion
    Well, if you want 1/48, I think both Dragon and Eduard have that in hand.
  22. HMSLion
    Hopefully they'll do a B-36D. It'll be interesting to see if they do defensive armament...or a bomb load.
  23. HMSLion
    I'm not going to argue, I'm just going to buy three or four of them. And build them. WRT the O/400 and Lancaster, we need to remember that those "Christmas present stash queen" kits were probably the death of WNW. The last WNW releases were the Felixstowe, AEG, Gotha G.1 - and the O/400, Dr.1, and Lancaster cued up right behind them. And those $350 monsters with 30-inch wingspans may sound appealing, but I'm a firm believer in the Rule of 225 (or 1600, in metric units). A model needs to fit onto a rectangle of roughly 15 x 15 inches (or 40 x 40 cm). Much larger than that, and you've got nowhere to put the blasted thing.
  24. HMSLion
    That being said, I'm surprised the Nieuports aren't selling better. It's a good kit, and the rigging is a lot easier than any British aircraft of the period.
  25. HMSLion
    Well, go buy some of their Nieuports! I did!
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