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tomcervo

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    Recommend me a book about the WWI war in the air!

    in Aircraft WWI

    Posted

    Denis Winter's The First of the Few is a study of RFC/RAF fighter pilots of the Great War. Heavily sourced from memoirs; the bibliography is full of good reading.

    Ian Sumner's Kings of the Air does a similar study of French airmen, the only one of its kind I've found readily available in English.

    Samuel Hynes' The Unsubstantial Air covers American airmen, in US, French and British service. A distinguished professor of Edwardian literature at Princeton, he was also a Midwestern farmboy turned Marine TBF pilot, and he brings all that insight into looking at young men losing their innocence in warflying.

     

    Then there's Oliver Stewart. His book The Clouds Remember is a memoir of the types of planes he flew as a scout pilot and a test pilot.

    He wrote The Strategy & Tactics of Air Fighting in 1925, to try and summarize the successful fighting tactics from the war. Reportedly one of the books looked up by RAF pilots in 1940 when they found that the prescribed tactics weren't working.

    https://www.scribd.com/document/125476120/The-Strategy-Tactics-of-Air-Fighting-by-Maj-Oliver-Stewart

    And then there's his novel--a thinly disguised autobiographical account of his war service. Published under a pseudonym, so he could tell the truth. More on that here:

    https://greatwarfiction.wordpress.com/2016/07/07/portrait-of-an-airman-byphilip-arnall/

    Triumph 1/700 HMS Glorious

    in Maritime WWII

    Posted

    spacer.png

    Showing up on Facebook and elsewhere. The links so far:

    https://twitter.com/SWS_FeiPengrui/status/1395323866587668484

    https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1062600750932554&id=200031687189469

     

    Scheduled for June release. No price mentioned.

     

     

     

    • Like 1

    Revell’s Big Camel

    in Work in Progress - Aircraft

    Posted

    That upper wing has zero dihedral. One way suggested to to fix it is to lay in a flat bottomed washbasin with a weight in the middle and pour in hot water. The lower wings do bend up. Not sure if they need more bending than they already have.

    The inner struts are also said to be 6mm too long. I've read builds which suggest simply cutting that much out.

    spacer.png

     

    If you decide to use the 28 Sqn kit decals, the nose color is wrong as instructed. All other references show the fuselage as PC10 overall, including the cowling.

    • Like 1

    Fairey Albacore, 1/48. 'Carry On Flying ....'

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    On 3/24/2019 at 3:15 PM, general melchett said:

    Great job, really looks the part and interesting back story regarding Peter Butterworth.

    Add to that Roald Dahl, (pilot, Gladiators and Hurricanes), Michael Rennie (fighter pilot/instructor), Patrick Moore, (navigator, Wellingtons) and Denholm Elliot, (radio operator/gunner on Halifaxes).

    And a little farther back, Mervyn Johns (R.E.8's)  Bob Cratchett was Biggles:

     

    • Like 2

    Starling Models 1/350 & 1/700 T class submarine.

    in Maritime WWII

    Posted

    Mine arrived two days ago. The one piece hull is one of the most complex sets of shapes ever, and the molding is beautiful. The finish as well. 

    I'd be afraid to try modding it to make a Group II. Maybe Pit Road will think of reissuing theirs--or someone else will copy it in injection.

    I'm so far planning on a Far East boat. Every pic I've found of  them out there shows a dark overall color--any clue if it's blue or grey?

    large_000000.jpg

    SPAD 13.C1 of the US 22nd Aero Sq. (Hobbycraft 1/32)

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    5 hours ago, thorfinn said:

    A real shame, too! It's nowhere near, say, WNW complexity...but little touches in the molding suggest to me that it was tooled by somebody who really gave a fig!

    Plus, it has the most petite, close-to-scale struts I've ever seen in a 1/32 kit. I've never been able to build one without wonking at least one of those half-bay 'H' struts! (But I guess that's what super-glue is for.... :whistle:)

    No, it's not WNW level of detail, but as originally marketed, it was a long way below the WNW price. Even today I think a new issue would sell for less than half the WNW lowest price. It's a kit that can be built right out of the box as a fine representation. And as we see here, in the hands of a master, a masterpiece.

    • Like 2

    Anyone know who Flight Sergeant W G Bennett was and his bio?

    in Aircraft WWI

    Posted

    On 2/24/2017 at 8:14 AM, Folkbox1 said:

    I suppose you've already done this but I looked up William Orpen on Wikipedia and found this (William Orpen was an Irish War Artist and painted about 138 pictures - many of which were donated to the nation).

     

    "Following the success of his Haig and Trenchard portraits, Orpen was asked to paint portraits of several pilots in the Royal Flying Corps. He spent part of September 1917 visiting airfields and during October 1917 he was based with No. 56 Squadron near Cassel. His portrait of Lieutenant Reginald Hoidge, MC and Bar, was painted a few hours after the young pilot had been in a dogfight and Orpen was greatly impressed by his calmness. Orpen's portrait of Arthur Rhys-Davids, DSO MC, is also crisply drawn with rich colours and lush shadows.[2] Rhys-Davids was killed in combat within a week of sitting for Orpen and Orpen's portrait of him was used as the cover illustration of the next edition of War Pictorial magazine and widely reproduced elsewhere after that"

     

    Darren

    That picture of Rhys Davids:

    Rhys Davids himself wrote, "Isn't it comic? He did me wearing my flying kit, a flying cap and burberry, sitting down in a chair and looking nowhere. I didn't think it was like me, but I'm no judge."

     

    Upon viewing it after her brother's death, Rhys Davids' sister Vivian wrote: "It certainly grows on you.Painting him like that with his cap on has made his face look so absurdly long, but I was more reconciled when I discovered that quarter smile; an expression in which he seems to be just sucking in his cheeks, so as not to laugh, and saying, 'Lord , what futile rot this all is.'"

    cover%20art_orpen%20Rhys-Davids_zpsnlzkb

    • Like 1

    Starling Models 1/350 & 1/700 T class submarine.

    in Maritime WWII

    Posted

    http:// https://airfixmodelworld.keypublishing.com/2018/05/21/royal-navy-delights-from-starling-models/

     

    Royal Navy submarine fans are in for a treat, as the second release is the T-class Group III vessel HMS Tabard, which will be available in 1/350 as a single kit, and 1/700, the latter supplying sufficient parts for one full-hull and one waterline model. These will also be accompanied by PE and turned brass accessories and are planned for the third quarter of 2018. 

    Starling-Models-Future-Releases-Tabard_r

    • Like 4
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