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All: September 30 will mark the 71st anniversary of the last "Vittles" flight of the Berlin Airlift. Yes, it's a year late, but never too late to honor the folks who flew these heavily loaded aircraft under every imaginable weather condition, and in the face of some Soviet resistance, to keep West Berlin (and Western Germany as a whole) politically free and integrated into the larger world economy. My model represents one of the hundreds of anonymous, bare-metal C-54s that U.S. Air Force and Navy personnel flew during the airlift. This C-54G, flown by Capt. Perry Immel, Lts Charles M. Reece and James C. Powell, and TSgt Matthew M. Terrenzi, was polished up for a publicity event to officially wrap up Vittles, which had continued for about six months after the Soviets terminated their land and waterway blockade. I should mention that the UK probably airlifted a quarter of the tonnage to Berlin--an impressive figure considering that the British public was still undergoing wartime rationing. I built the Revell kit, using Scale Aircraft Conversions metal landing gear and a mix of Caracal, Superscale, and kit decals. For the finish I airbrushed AK Xtreme MetalI, Testors, and Alclad 2, overcoated with Alclad 2 clear gloss. staffed the cockpit with a full flight crew, including the flight engineer, who is perched on the jump seat between the pilots. The pilots were re-molds of the Monogram B-36 crew, and the FE was a combination of Preiser and Hasegawa figures. Below are some in-progress photos that show the scale of the model, which fought back hard due to over-engineering (like really? You needed to key the exhaust gas collector rings for right and left?) and overall bulk. Every time I pick it up with care, I need to take full inventory of the many breakables and shakables, such as water drain masts! Below are a couple in-progress photos, including scale comparison with an "Operation Knickers" (aka Berlin Airlift) C-47:

By John Van Herreweghe Member of Model Club Eeklo Belgium Directly after the end of WW2 in Europe, Berlin had been divided in two halves, one side occupied by Stalin and the other side occupied by the US, Great Britain and France. On the first of April 1948, the Russians decided to block the corridors completely off from the West to Berlin. This restriction was for military and civilian means. In Berlin, 2.1 million Germans tried to survive the hardship in a bombed-out city. Besides that, the garrisons from the US, Great Britain and the France would be cut off from supplies. These circumstances would set off the world’s largest ever air supply operation in the world. It would last from 26 June 1948, until midnight 12th May 1949. It took 266.600 flights, carrying 2,223.000 tons of food, fuel and supplies to keep the city going. At one minute after midnight on 12 May 1949, the blockade was lifted. The recent publication of the book “The Berlin Airlift” by John Grehan (Pen&Sword Books) made me change my diorama setting. It would be dedicated in honor of the Armed Forces that took part in this airlift. The Diorama: Starting point would be the C-54 Skymaster from Revell. Cargo door open, ready to load/unload. Airfix delivered the Autocar Refueller, decorated with Arctic Decals. IBG delivered the Diamond general purpose truck. On the website from Video graphics, I found the Coleman Tow Truck, not quite in the right time frame, but a very powerful model that had to do the job. The figurines came from CMK. The perfectly fitting boarding ladder came from Dan Models, with a Brengun Models toolbox. My base plate was constructed from MDF, sandpaper from the local hardware store made the runway/tarmac. The firm Noch from Germany supplied the grass, to give it some more color. Construction was straight forward. Airbrushing the C-54 was complicated, because of the curves and the large orange frame pieces on the nose, fuselage and tail. The Autocar refueler and the Diamond truck were both a perfect fit. I did not want to go into (dull) olive military colors, but spruced it up with red, yellow (Refueller) and extreme light blue for the USAF Diamond truck. I did not feel qualified enough to paint the figurines, but my fellow club member, from Model Club Eeklo Belgium, Marc De Graeve, was willing to do it for me. So dear readers, you see how important it is, to belong to a model club. You can share your ideas and help each other out. Diorama finished. On the contest table, the base plate is combined with the large engraved text plate “Berlin Air Lift” accompanied by the “Berlin Airlift “ book by the author John Greham. Tags: C-54 Skymaster Revell 04877 New Wave 162 Mask Diamond T968 IBG 72019 Autocar refueller Airfix A6304 Arctic Decals Shell Aviation ARC72-V08 Boarding Ladder Dan Models 72511 Toolbox Brengun BRL 72002 Coleman Tow Truck Video Aviation Coleman MB4 + Tow Bar Xtra Color/Revell enamel paints Onto the next one. I think the HC-130 Hercules from the United States Coast Guard. Also, BIG and colorful. Good health to all of you, Regards, from Belgium John