The Thousand Mile War - Amchitka, Spring 1943

[Bullardino]

I'm scrapping the Airacobra element of the diorama, and just going with the four aircraft already built.

The curse of the airacobras hit you too?

Well, as far as I remember you've plenty of space on the diorama to change your mind in future, if you want and resume the P-39s

[Bertie McBoatface]

In our struggle to realize (almost) perfect models we shouldn't forget why we are modelling - the foremost aim should still be having fun !

Rolf

I didn't notice the 'flaws' either.

I think the difficulty is accepting the minor flaws in a good or great overall model.

I have been influenced by a discussion that I started in the 'Shows' forum concerning judging in competitions. To cut a long story short, it seems that a competition entry which has a great storyline, an original approach, bags of humour and human interest will not even be considered 'worthy of consideration' if there are basic skills deficits such as seam lines, glue smears, misallignments and masking errors. My previous big dio (Lancaster) has been criticised for such faults in a couple of comp entries. Ironically, my recently redoubled drive for perfection has destroyed most of the fun and almost sent the whole lot into the spares box. To hell with competitiveness. I'm changing my way of thinking. I'll build for me, when I want to, how I want to.

The curse of the airacobras hit you too?

Yes Luigi, they are awkward little beggars! I'll finish them one day in a smaller maintenange dio set in New Guinea.

This dio will be better without them, the story will be clearer and the overall size will be more manageable.

[Bullardino]

I'm changing my way of thinking. I'll build for me, when I want to, how I want to.

I subscribe this. Isn't an hobby about having fun?

Yes Luigi, they are awkward little beggars! I'll finish them one day in a smaller maintenange dio set in New Guinea.

This dio will be better without them, the story will be clearer and the overall size will be more manageable.

And then you will have a perfecly painted mechanic waiting for them, don't you?

[keefr22]

To hell with competitiveness. I'm changing my way of thinking. I'll build for me, when I want to, how I want to.

Absolutely!! And that's why I said in your judging thread that although I do some judging at SMW, I will never actually enter the comp.!!

I still think you're making excellent progress on a very ambitious project (it would be way to ambitious for me to ever get anywhere near finishing it!)

Keef

[Parabat]

Don,

Loving your work, as always, sorry to hear the Airacobra's are getting scrapped! Whatever, this labour of love will still look incredible when you decide it's done( I've a sneaky feeling you'll always want add or take something away) . As far as interest goes, there are a heck of a lot of people who are tuned in to this build, it's compulsive viewing, your attention to detail and the delicious human part of your story is something many of us wish we had the guts to do. Never mind the competition or display judges, this is something greater than a gold medal.

Parabat.

[Dave A]

Blimey, I've been missing some action round here! I agree with what you're saying, Don, though of course there's always a line between constructive criticism and nitpicking, as the subject of judging always brings up. I'm back in modelling precisely because I want to have a challenge to my manual skills that I don't get in my day-job, so I am my own sternest critic about how something has been put together - often because 'finish it!' has won the daily battle with 'do it properly!' But at the same time, arguments about historical accuracy mostly pass me by - unless they're wrapped up, like yours here, in trying to do something that is a real story.

Over half my builds are 'what-ifs' to some degree or other, even if it's only that I have a bad habit of mix-and-matching decal schemes because they look nicer... And my next project is to convert a Hobbyboss TA-7C into my personal approximation of an EA-7L, for which I will rob out some decals that belong on a TA-4J, fudge up some ersatz EW pods that are nothing like the real thing, AND stick the A-7K spinal ridge on, just because it looks cool! Or is that a step too far, and I'm just mad? Since the 'purists' all say the kit looks like somebody sat on the front of it when it was warm from the mould, it can't really make any difference, can it?

Cheers!

[Raystorm]

I'll build for me, when I want to, how I want to.

I agree wholeheartly with you Don! I keep looking at stuff I build and how it compares to stuff I see in the mags and online and lose all heart, and then I figure it's my model, and I'll build it how I want to the best of my ability

[Kallisti]

I love doing my dioramas because it places the model in context and sets up a story that pulls the viewer in. Even something as simple as putting a plane in a field or on scrub land with a couple of fuel drums can give a model "place". I want to be a good craftsman as well and makes sure my seams are filled and my decals straight and even. I like a bit of dirt but not so much that it couldn't be realistic (I don't like to see the Spitfires which huge amounts of missing paint by the pilot door for example) but when all is said and done we are building to entertain ourselves. These forums do actually add a lot to the pleasure and the WIP postings can get quite addictive - although it can get a bit depressing when nobody seems interested in your Babylon 5 Starfury build

Still looking forward to the diorama part of this build Don, you are probably right to simplify it down and keep the Aircobras for a later date. They promise to be interesting builds in their own right!

[sean]

" I'm changing my way of thinking. I'll build for me, when I want to, how I want to."

Now your'e learning!

[Bertie McBoatface]

detail in merciless magnification

Rolf

I once examined a drybrushed inst panel under a microscope. Horrors!

That's a crackin example Don...and no, I didn't notice the 'flaws' either.

Well thanks Jim.

I think the difficulty is accepting the minor flaws.

Agreed.

I still think you're making excellent progress on a very ambitious project

Keef

I am now I've dropped the extraneous P-39s. They were my 'bridge too far' and it's taken me weeks to realise it. I'm much happier with my concept now.

Don,

sorry to hear the Airacobra's are getting scrapped! ... the delicious human part of your story.

Parabat.

Weep not for the Cobras for you may well see them again... Back to the story instead. See my next post for an update on that!

Blimey, I've been missing some action round here!

Cheers!

Well a lot of jaw action anyway. I've been talking the talk a bit, haven't I? Now I'm walking the walk again, and feeling better for it. My modelling really reflects my changing moods and, with hindsight, I have been a little down lately. Say lavvie!

I agree wholeheartly with you Don! I keep looking at stuff I build and how it compares to stuff I see in the mags and online and lose all heart, and then I figure it's my model, and I'll build it how I want to the best of my ability

Thanks for that Ray. Yeah, it's mine again now. Stuff competition thinking.

I love doing my dioramas because it places the model in context and sets up a story that pulls the viewer in. Don, you are probably right to simplify it down and keep the Aircobras for a later date. They promise to be interesting builds in their own right!

Yes, my story will be better without the P-39's which added detail without narrative. On the other hand they will be a sweet little jungle maintenance dio for later.

" I'm changing my way of thinking. I'll build for me, when I want to, how I want to."

Now your'e learning!

Always!

[Bertie McBoatface]

I made another li'l man tonight. He's the pilot from the 'new' Warhawk who has wandered over to the 'old' one for a chat

with his wingman.

He's sitting down on the wing keeping out of the wind and what IS that in his hand?

In this shot he is sitting on a lump of blutac. His resin bottom is a little skinny and flat and leaves him looking unbalanced on the

sloping wing. The solution was Milliput.

The bubble-butt is modelled on J'Lo. I will be doing a little work on it when it's set hard, of course.

The thing in his hand is a local paper from his home town of Gdawful, Texas, sent by Mom because there's an article in there

about her heroic pilot son!

And that brings me to the title of this little story. There's a P-38 taxiing out on a bombing raid; a P-40 being stripped for spares,

another undergoing painting, a third on QRA. Do these represent the main action? Not at all. The title of the diorama will be

'News From Home' after the really important event of every far flung serviceman's day. Many of the figures in the dio will have

letters or parcels in their hands or their toolboxes. There's going to be a jeep with a guy from the Army Postal Service actually

handing out more mail. Perhaps one or two guys will be excited by their news, perhaps someone will be reading a 'Dear John'?

Is that enough human interest for you?

[AnonymousDFB1]

Excellent Don, that's a really nice looking figure as well

[Alan P]

One of them MUST also have a letter that starts "Greetings from Nigeria, I am Dr Patrick and I need your help...."

Al

[Bertie McBoatface]

Excellent Don, that's a really nice looking figure as well

Yes, a nice piece of resin. I'm looking forward to painting him.

One of them MUST also have a letter that starts "Greetings from Nigeria, I am Dr Patrick and I need your help...."

Al

Fnah! Fnah! I like. Any more suggestions?

[jimbuna]

Looking good Don.

[Navy Bird]

Fantastic story line you've come up with! It draws your attention in a way that most military dioramas don't - to the human side of the equation. I love it, absolutely love it. I also like the fact the the story of the diorama developed over time, as you were building it.

As the story crystalized in your mind, the content of the diorama changed too. An excellent example of the creative process - courtesy of Don! Thank you for letting us look inside your mind - hope we don't find any skeletons!

Cheers,

Bill

[popeye]

.

Well, that s better - great ideas belong to those who make them come true

Rolf

[Dr.Jellyfingers]

Love the ideas Don, loads of character just posing a couple of figures on an airframe so the whole thing will be a feast for the eyes!

BTW how about one of the chaps wittling a model for his son back home? That should be nice and fiddly for you!!

Si.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Dr.Jellyfingers

[Bertie McBoatface]

Fantastic story line you've come up with! It draws your attention in a way that most military dioramas don't - to the human side of the equation. I love it, absolutely love it. I also like the fact the the story of the diorama developed over time, as you were building it.

As the story crystalized in your mind, the content of the diorama changed too. An excellent example of the creative process - courtesy of Don! Thank you for letting us look inside your mind - hope we don't find any skeletons!

Cheers,

Bill

It's been in my mind for a few months now but until tonight was titled 'Mailcall' But then I wrote that it is about getting "News from Home" and bingo, THAT became the title immediately.

great ideas belong to those who make them come true

Rolf

Thanks

BTW how about one of the chaps whittling a model for his son back home? That should be nice and fiddly for you!!

Si.

Oh you evil, evil man! A 1/48 scale model of a man making a 1/48 scale model. That comes

out at 1/2304 scale. Do you think I should paint and weather it or apply a woodgrain effect?

[Kallisti]

Oh you evil, evil man! A 1/48 scale model of a man making a 1/48 scale model. That comes

out at 1/2304 scale. Do you think I should paint and weather it or apply a woodgrain effect?

Haha you know you have to do it now Don, thats an utterly brilliant idea!

The whole story sounds fantastic, I love it!

[Forlornhope]

Bingo! I can now prove that all three aircraft types were on Adak at the same time - April '43.

The P-39 is hard to find and I missed it on the smaller magazine pictures that my friend Pierre sent to me earlier in this thread. I've taken the liberty of not resizing this picture so you may have to scroll around a bit.

I am now going to apply some artistic licence and base my story on the assumption that all three squadrons were operating detached flights from the forward base of Amchitka, which became operational from 7 March 1943.

I want Amchitka as a location for my dio because that allows me to have bombs on the P-38; Adak was 350 miles back from the action and Lightnings were used from their for flak suppression strafing only, having to carry drop tanks on their pylons. Amchitka also makes more sense for a pair of P-40s on cockpit readiness just in case of Japanese activity from Kiska only 40 miles away across the sea. Ghosts from Biggin Hill walked the taxiways of Amchitka. And the P-39 mission? They were used with the P-38 as attack aircraft in which role their 37mm cannons were very effective. Lend lease P-39s passed that way too, on the way to Russia for more ground attack duty.

I'm happy now.

p.s. 800 posts - whoo-hoo!

is that a hudson on the right side of the photo?

This is a great project you have going on will watch this post as it comes along

[Bertie McBoatface]

is that a hudson on the right side of the photo?

This is a great project you have going on will watch this post as it comes along

No. I'm not putting a Hudson in there. No. No No.

(A mailplane would be nice though...)

Edited January 31, 2012 by per ardua ad ostentationem

[Forlornhope]

Didn't Classic airframes do the hudson ? But on a serious note, I've had an airbrush and compressor sitting there never been used for nearly a year now because I want to change to acrylics but tried before and wasn't real successful readin this has made me want to give it a go now yay!!!!!!! Have finally finished readin the whole post now(took most of the day) still say good job on these and can't wait for the finished Dio.

Cheers Callum

[nimrod54]

I'll build for me, when I want to, how I want to.

Well Said Don. Because I suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis I accept I will never achieve the standard of some builders on here or in magazines, but I enjoy looking at other modellers work. My models aren't perfect but I know that they are done to the best of my abilities and as long as I can pick up tips on sites like this or from magazines that I can try on my next build if appropriate then I am more than satisfied.

So continue to tell your story the way that YOU want to tell it and I will take pleasure from watching it unfold. Like the idea of the pilots having a chat on the wing, but I think that the headclamp is a bit too much.

Enjoy

[Bertie McBoatface]

I want to change to acrylics but tried before and wasn't real successful readin this has made me want to give it a go now

I'm glad you are enjoying reading this, Callum. It's taken me a few attempts to go acrylic. What freaks me out is suddenly being (relatively) incompetent after years of knowing exactly how to use enamels. Once I really get the hang of it though, I'l be very proud of myself. I'd hate to turn into one of those old blokes (od any age) who are afraid to try new and different things.

Well Said Don. Because I suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis I accept I will never achieve the standard of some builders on here or in magazines, but I enjoy looking at other modellers work. My models aren't perfect but I know that they are done to the best of my abilities and as long as I can pick up tips on sites like this or from magazines that I can try on my next build if appropriate then I am more than satisfied.

So continue to tell your story the way that YOU want to tell it and I will take pleasure from watching it unfold. Like the idea of the pilots having a chat on the wing, but I think that the headclamp is a bit too much.

Enjoy

You make a very good point there. I am increasingly aware that my eyesight is deteriorating but have been reproaching myself because I can't paint as finely as some others. Perhaps I really should give myself a break and accept my own limitations (and get a better magnifier).