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Hi, Boeing 314 Clipper was constructed as luxury passenger airplane at late 1930s. Using this type Pan American company established first regular commmercial flights over northern Atlantic in May 1939. Twelve Clippers were constructed and they were impossed to military service during WWII as C-98. However, as I know, they never wore military insignias (I mean US white stars). Three of them were used in UK by BOAC during WWII. Each model 314 had individual name - the machine with registration NC 18605 had individual name "Dixie Clipper". Initial Pan-American silver painting on Clippers were replaced in 1942 with experimental 10-shades scheme of blue-grey colours. Leter some (or all?) US Clipers were painted to standard 3-shades Navy scheme, and at and of war, when returned to Pan Ameican they were stripped back to NMF. Clippers were used for overseas civil (for example to Lisbon) and military transport, including VIPs. US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt used "Dixie Clipper" to get in January 1943 for a meeting in Casablanca with Winston Churchill and Charles De Gaulle. Josef Stalin was invited to this summit but did not arrived bacause of the situation on eastern front. That is historical background of my build. The build thread is here: When I've learnt as a 10 years old boy about 1970 from Airfix catalogue on existance of Clipper I was unhappy that the model is only in 1/144. Some years passed I started to think on Clipper seriously when Anigrand resin kit appeared few years ago but a year ago a possibility of buying vacu kit of US company Combat Models from a colleugue from BM appeared. It was not so expensive as resin one so I was very happy that I've bought it and started gathering materials (photos, dravings) in aim to help in build. This is mine third construction finished this year, two previous were Consolidated Coronado and Martin Mariner, both from Mach 2. So it is a trio of big US flying boats, but Clipper is much bigger then those two others, the wingspan is bigger from that of Blohm Voss BV 222! Here she is: Details Scratch build trolley And finally - among other models on shelves Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Now following on, Time for an episode Tales from Shelf Crypt of Doom. Be warned this build is not for the faint of heart, weak willed , or knobby kneed. If I can finish this it will be a tale you can tell your Grandchildren,... and mightily bored they'll be. But anywho, I started this 7-8 years ago and stopped almost immediately realized I couldn't figure out how to do some of the aspects of the aircraft that I wanted. After many sleepless nights, quaffing a lot of legal beverages, some cypherin', and a little bit of practice building vacs, though probably not enough🤪 I've decided to take the plunge and get this plane built. I did actually get this from Combat models complete with detail set if it can be called that. That's not actually fair, it is a well produced resin set, just needs some work. Ok, it needs a LOT of work and I'm just whacked enough to try and bash this into some semblance of a Flying wing. So come on along as we travel down the march hares rabbit hole. Hard to tell what we'll find.Any comments suggestions, general mayhem from all, even the Naughty Corner and the Usual Subjects will be most welcome.

While awaiting bits to dry on the Great White Beast, here is a Vac I did awhile back. A very old Combat Models Xp-67 Moonbat. It was a multiple case Guinness project. I don't think there wasn't a piece that didn't get a correction or repair. I hope you will enjoy. url=https://flic.kr/p/2cfi2z5][/url]

Hello all.. As some people know I set up the IPMS Water Bomber SIG this year, which means I actually have to finish more models...I have a CL-215 in for paint, a Tracker in primer, a C-130 nearing primer, a Mach2 Savage that is causing me no-end of grief... so why not get started on a Combat Models vacform Martin Mars! Tom Probert raised his eyes when he saw it... so it's going to be quite fun to say the least. I do have a few vacs on the go but nothing finished due to losing interest in them (due to their subjects) so I've boxed them back up ready for another day.... this however I do have lots of interest in! Moulding is quite poor in a few areas on the mating edges, there are lumps from a damaged mould I guess, so they are going to need rebuilding.. if I was to sand them away the model won't fit together properly, so I'm trying to think of a way around it - along with very thin plastic, it's certainly going to test my lack of skills and patience. Just one photo for now - I've got a tonne of free plasticard off my dad so will start work on the bulkheads very soon! Combat Models Vacform 1/72nd Martin Mars by Radleigh Bushell, on Flickr Thanks for looking in....

Combat Models is to release in 2015 a 1/32nd Douglas C-47/DC-3 Skytrain/Dakota vacuform kit Source: http://combatmodels.us/ V.P.

After being thoroughly inspired by Rhino's Galaxy build, and in a moment of sheer madness over the weekend I dug this out of the stash and thought to myself 'it can't be that bad, can it?' Combat Models are notorious for being, well, hard combat to to build, but I don't get on with resin and I like a challenge so here goes... The 'kit' is rather basic and the plastic is just a little thicker than fag-paper. It's also covered in ripples, bumps, throughs and dips so the surface will need a lot of preparation. Panel detail is non-existent, but should be fairly straightforward to add. Here's the fuselage: The first problem I encountered (it didn't take long) was the fact that the left wing-root is further forward than the right: There also appears to be another major problem with the fuselage, as when I compared the scaled up measurements to the Revell 1/144th scale kit, the wings are an inch too far forward on the Combat kit, so the whole wing root area needs moving back. First job was to cut the wing root out completely: An inch was removed from the rear of this section: The fuselage was lined with card at the join, and the wing root reattached an inch further aft: The piece removed earlier was then reinstated to plug the gap, and now the wing sits in the correct position (see the unaltered fuselage half above): With the plastic being so thin, a vast amount of reinforcement is need for the interior so the kit can support itself and the weight of the wings etc. This has all been added with plastic card bulkheads: I now have something starting to resemble a C-17 fuselage... ...but there's going to be a long journey ahead. Tom

Combat Models is to release (soon?) a 1/32nd Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird vacuform kit Source: http://combatmodels.us/home V.P.

Combat Models has just released a 1/32nd Flettner Fl-265 vacuform kit. Source: http://combatmodels.us/ V.P.

Combat Models has just released a 1/32nd Savoia-Marchetti SM.55 vacuform kit. Source: http://combatmodels.us/ V.P.

Combat Models has just released a 1/32nd Martin B-57 Canberra vacuform kit. Source: http://combatmodels.us/ V.P.

Combat Models is to release in 2015 a 1/32nd Heinkel He-115 vacuform kit Source: http://combatmodels.us/ V.P.

Combat Models is to release in April 2015 a 1/32nd Lockheed U-2 vacuform kit Source: http://combatmodels.us/ V.P.

Combat Models is to release (soon?) a 1/32nd Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" vacuform kit Source: http://combatmodels.us/home V.P.