Richard Humm

I think I'll have to go for the Bearcat.

There was never an Alan Hall article on this conversion in Airfix Magazine (all of Alan's conversion articles were based on Airfix kits for obvious reasons...). I think it was done by Bill Matthews in Flying Review International, but I'd have to dig out my back issues of that title.

Oh go on then, I've got a few Arma Hurricanes that need building.

There's a link to both UK hit versions of the song in the eighth post in the thread...

Looking at the instruction sheet for your kit on the Revell website, it certainly looks like one of their 1950s designs. The flat, low draught bottom of the hull is a bit of a giveaway. As Scalemates is constructed by its users, information on it is not always complete or accurate.

Snoopy and his Sopwith Camel. Originally issued as Monogram 6779 (1970). Built from the Atlantis 2021 reissue.

And with a bit of paint added, and the motor working, I'm calling this done. More photos in the Gallery.

The Classic group builds tend to go for about five months. The official end date for this one is 13 November 2022.

In red?

Now that's a classic instruction sheet!

That's the kit where including the actual markings used would not be in keeping with the spirit of Democracy. Maybe Airfix should try that line on the people who complain there aren't any swastikas in their WWII German kits.

After a morning's session, I've got this far A bit of kit history - Bob Reder of Monogram was the one to come up with the idea of Snoopy as a model kit. He contacted Charles Schulz and flew out to California to meet hi. Schulz wasn't bothered about royalties, but wanted to have full approval over the preliminary sketches, prototypes and package design. The Snoopy figure was carved by Chrisendo "Scotty" Forte, a Scot from an Italian family. The kit was publicised with a national TV advertising campaign, a cross-country air race between a replica Fokker triplane and a Nieuport 28 (as there wasn't a Sopwith Camel available) which ended with the pilots appearing dressed in WWI gear and as a dog on the TV show To Tell The Truth (on which the panel couldn't guess what they had been doing) and print adverts, which appeared in the Marvel comics published in June 1970 (these ones, Enzo) and is reproduced below.

I see the kit still includes the trigger part to make the Hustler drop its weapon pod. Do the instructions still tell you how to make that work? The release button is the round part sticking up between the two front cockpits on the photo on the box.

The Russian Spy Ship was actually a reboxing of the North Sea Fishing Trawler (originally released as the Kandahar). As so often, Scalemates has this wrong. I don't think there were any major changes to the tooling in 1993, certainly less than there were to the Monogram 1/48 scale P-51B when it was reboxed as ProModeler, and we've already had a ruling that the ProModeler kits are accepted.

For September 1970 see here, for December 1970 see here. I actually took them from Rawhide Kid # 82 and Where Monsters Dwell # 8 as I had them handy.

The Snoopy vs the Red Baron saga is actually related to plastic modelling. In 1965, one of Charles Schulz's sons had started to make models of Great War aircraft (I don't know if they were 1/48 scale Aurora or 1/72 scale Revell and Airfix, which would have been the main ones available at the time), and Schulz decided to have the latest part of Snoopy's fantasy life become his being a World War I flying ace starting with the strip published on Sunday 10 October 1965 (below). The idea took off over the next few months, and even resulted in a novelty hit single by a Florida band called The Royal Guardsmen which got to number 2 in the Billboard Hot 100 ("I'm A Believer" by the Monkees kept the number 1 slot) and made the top 10 in the UK, and number 1 in Australia and Canada, though the Australian version was censored - apparently Aussies shouldn't be allowed to hear the word "bloody" on the radio! Schulz and United Feature Syndicate (who distributed the Peanuts comic strip took legal action against the band and the royalties were awarded to UFS. Howevre, Schulz did allow the band to make several follow-up singles about Snoopy. A ska remake of i"Snoopy vs The Red Baron" by The Hotshots made the UK top 10 in 1973, which is where I first heard it, having been too young to be following the charts in early 1967.

A couple of adverts now, with the first from Monogram having appeared on the inside front cover of Marvel comics published in September 1970: and for the opposition, a Revell one that appeared on the inside front cover of Marvel comics published in December 1970

A couple of Monogram catalogues - the first is a pocket catalogue from 1970 found in a 1/72 scale P-36A kit that may be getting built later in this group build: and the other is the contents listing from the 1989 Monogram catalogue, which is roughly where the build ends. I haven't done the whole catalogue as 32 pages would fill the thread up a bit too much. The flash has hidden a few of the assortment sets, but it would only have been retailers who were looking at those, I think.

I think the last time the Revell P-51D saw the light of day was as a Reno Racers double kit with the Monogram T-6. That was issued in 2000, so the tooling should be well rested by now 😀

I've got a Canberra PR.9 or two kicking around, which should qualify. Put me on the list.

Looking at the Thomas Graham book, the 1/144 scale series don't appear to have been distributed in the USA in the 1970s, just in Europe and Japan.

I'm seeing it as number, name, scale and dates, but I own the document. Does it have a download option?

I have now finished editing the Revell GB kit list and uploaded it to Google Drive. It should be accessible here.

According to the Thomas Graham book, the Monogram B-58 was originally issued in 1958. I remember reading somewhere that there is some doubt as to whether B-58s were actually given the SEA camouflage, though there was a camouflage diagram issued for it by the USAF.

There is a smaller B-36 that would qualify for this group build - Atlantis have reissued the 1/184 scale Revell Peacemaker from 1954.