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May 2008 Newsletter |
The Minutes:
For the last meeting, a few of us headed up to Des Moines for the
Plastic Surgeons show at their new site. It was a bit harder to
find as Mapquest got it fairly wrong, but thanks to the staff at
the local MacDonald’s, we found it, turns out it was right across
the street. Not a bad show, a nice location and more vendor
tables, but entries and attendance seemed low, maybe because it
snowed all day. Gotta love Spring in Iowa. Ronbo and Sam stayed at
my house the night before the Surgeons show and we headed up
together the following morning. The cats had fun stalking Sam all
night, not sure he had as much fund as they did. Bob Horton was
kind enough to send me the notes for the folks who came to the
regular meeting. Thanks Bob. The Fartin’ Fleas show was held on
May 3rd at the new Hiawatha City Hall, a larger venue than the old
Community center, more vendor tables and the new Owner of
Lindbergh was there with their new line of kits, besides the old
stuff, they will be releasing two giant 1/72 Japanese subs in 1/72
scale. These things dwarf the Revell Gato class kit. They also
have some neat car kits and a model of the airship USS Shenandoah.
There were some good vendors and some good deals and the largest
number of entries ever, close to 200. The room almost always
seemed packed and the brats and the usual meat sandwiches that
they have were excellent. I think we had about 8 members there.
Most of us headed over to Box-Kar Hobbies to use the 20% off
coupon that they had for the show. It’s a nice hobby shop with a
good selection. All in all a good day. Those of you who attended
know that Christopher Broman was there; he arrived back from Iraq
on Wednesday and was at a model show Saturday. You gotta love
America. The big decision to make is “where do we have the club
barbecue this year?” Please call me if you are interested in
hosting. My wife is coming back from Kuwait shortly before the
show, so my house is not looking too good this year as a location.
Please call me or email me, and we will also discuss at the
meeting this Saturday.
Bob’s meeting notes from the Carriage House: I have to plead no
contest to this one….I wasn’t taking notes so this has to be a
really off the cuff critique of the meeting. We did have a
comfortable turnout of members. Somewhere in the neighborhood of
about ten galoots showed up for the festivities. We rounded up the
usual suspects as they said in “Casablanca.” There were a few
models on the show and tell table but I had to leave a bit early
so I didn’t get in on the builders reviews. I did have my
converted ’41 Chevy pickup there and this will be in the review
next month. It was nice to see Randy Kidd in attendance. Several
of the regulars along with club prexxie Glen Broman were attending
the contest and swap meet at Des Moines. From what I understand
from Glen, later, they had a very nice day of it. I think that
Glen mentioned that their Contest venue is at a different location
from that of the past few years. Other then the usual building and
chatting, I can’t really comment in depth on what all else was
going on with our crew. See you all at the meeting in May.
Thought for the day: Every cloud has a silver lining (except for
the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium &
Strontium 90).
The Dates:
May 10: chapter meeting. Club photo shoot
May 16-17: Omacon ’08 (2008 IPMS/ Region 5 Convention);
Mid-America Center, I-29 at I-80, Council Bluffs, IA; contact
ipmsftcrook@cox.net
June 14: chapter meeting. Club barbecue and annual club contest.
July 12: chapter meeting
August 9: chapter meeting
September 13: chapter meeting
October 11: chapter meeting
November 8: chapter meeting
December 13: chapter meeting. Christmas party, Annual “What if?”
contest and gift exchange
Regional Update:
Hello Region 5,
Ah Life….full of surprises. The tranny on my car decided it was
working too hard. About the same time my 80 yr old mother-in-law
was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. So things got a bit
crazy for the last 3-4 weeks or so. Not only that the recent rains
have caused a fair amount problems for some friends here in the
St. Louis area. I sincerely hope that your chapter and its members
are ok. If your chapter or one of its members is affected by the
“Acts of God” let me know. I’ll get the word out, you never know
what kind of help may arise. First, let me welcome Region 5’s
newest chapter, Billy Mitchell Chapter in the Milwaukee WI area.
Welcome guys! I may be a bit biased but I think Region 5 is the
best Region in IPMS USA and we are glad you are aboard. Make and
Takes. I know I recently sent out a message from IPMS USA about
them. Hey why not repeat it….. IPMS USA currently has several
thousand kits in stock to be used FOR FREE for our chapters having
make and takes. Hey it is a good way to plant the model building
seeds into our youth. It is also a great PR tool for your chapter
to get local exposure. Scout troops, school clubs, etc are all
good groups to approach. Best part you don’t even have to pay for
the kits or beg the manufacturers. If you want to do a Make and
Take contact Steve Dottavio at cdott2000@sssnet.com. IPMS Region 5
Regional. Our hosts from IPMS Ft. Crook have recently sent out, by
US Mail, a packet of information for your chapter. It has flyers,
registration and entry forms. You should have received it by now.
If you have not, shoot me an email or Scott Hackney (scott.hackney@cox.net)
and we’ll make sure they sent it to you. Speaking of the Regional,
don’t forget the dates, May 16-17th. Be there. Next year’s host
will be announced as well as Chapter, Newsletter, Website and
Person of the Year awards. IPMS USA National Convention. I have
forwarded several updates for the folks at Virginia Beach.
Hopefully you received them. I think that it is important to
support the Nationals, primarily with trophy sponsorships. The
Virginia Beach folks are planning a large display area for
chapters and members display only stuff. If interested please
contact them. It is looking like I won’t make the National this
year. I have only missed one since 1991, that one being the 1992
in Seattle. I guess missing 2 in about 17 years isn’t too bad.
General Observations about Region 5. Things have gotten really
quiet around here. For the first 6-8 months as an RC I seemed to
get a lot of communications from chapters. Some communications
were good, some bad, many with interesting comments and
suggestions. For the last 4 months or so, I have gotten almost
nothing. For a while I felt like a fireman, putting out fires.
Either the fires are all out or you guys have given up on the
fireman (me). Based on the stuff I read in the Journal and the
Discussion Forum, I know folks have opinions and ideas. Send them
to me. Scheduling your chapter’s shows. I think we have everything
in our Region up to date. Since a few shows (outside of R5) have
not been following the plan here is a summary of the show approval
process. Step 1. Send the necessary information to yours truly. I
will verify it is a good date (no conflicting dates) and send you
the OK. Step 2. Go to the IPMS USA website and go to the upcoming
events section. Fill out the Event Registration Form (link is at
the top of the page). For the record, sending the info directly to
the main office or the DLC does not make things happen any faster.
If anything it will slow the process down. When I send you the ok
on your show, I cc that to Dick Montgomery as well. That way as
soon as he receives the Event Registration request, he can post
it. If he has not received the ok from me, then he has to send
that info to me. I do my thing and send it back. You can see that
this slows the process down and even more so if it is sent to the
IPMS main office. Enough for now, upcoming events are listed
below.
Mike George
R5 RC
More on the B-49/B-35 History
By Harold Stockton
I enjoyed your comments about the history of the "what-if"
B-35/B-49 histories, but you left out the story of the RAF
versions which were not called the Viking, as this was a
transport, but rather the Vengeance. With the failure of the
Sperrin to meet the RAF's requirements, the Valiant being
withdrawn early from operational life because of wing-spar cracks
as did the early versions of the B-47, and the TSR.2 requirement
years in the future, the B-49B/D was adopted as their B.Mk.1 and 2
versions. These were all assigned to operate within the RAF 100
Group. The bomber squadrons of 100 Group utilized various
specialist electronic jamming devices to disrupt enemy
radio/radar/electronic communications. During 100 Group's
existence over 32 different devices were evaluated and used.
Specially equipped 100 Group aircraft would fly within the bomber
stream of both Vulcan and Victor squadrons/groups as pathfinders.
The squadrons of 100 Group were the old WW-II "heavy" pathfinder
squadrons of 157, 171, 199, 233, and the resurrected RAAF 462. One
special type of mission that 100 Group undertook for NATO was
GARDENING - RAF operations dropping mines in strategic sea lanes,
usually at the request of the CoS Naval Liaison Officer based at
High Wycombe. As a spin-off, Bletchley Park cryptanalysts used
East German reports of gardening activities to obtain decryption
information on Soviet naval transmissions. During GARDENING
missions, most Vengeance's carried Jostle, an extremely powerful
airborne jamming transmitter carried in sealed bomb bays of the
specific aircraft involved. These aircraft would also carry
Mandrel equipment in order to 'swamp' Soviet early warning
radar's. Also, these same aircraft would carry Meacon - Masking
bEACON - British long range jamming station equipment. In strike
pathfinder missions, these aircraft would be fitted with Paramatta
- target marking by blind dropped ground markers - prefixed with
'musical' when Oboe guided. And, Wanganui - target marking by
blind-dropped sky markers - prefixed with 'musical' when Oboe
guided. Also, the lead aircraft would carry Piperack - airborne
jamming transmitter carried by a lead aircraft that produced a
cone of jamming behind it within which the following bomber stream
could shelter. If load considerations allowed, these lead aircraft
would carry Razzles - air-dropped incendiaries for starting crop
and forest fires. During Operation Desert Storm and Operation
Tellic (RAF version of Enduring Freedom), the 100 Group
Vengeance's burned through Iraqi electronic defenses in front of
Strike Command's bombing and strike aircraft. In RAAF service, 462
Squadron used its special equipment to attempt to deceive the
Soviets and Chinese as to the location of the raids conducted by
SAC. Russian or Chinese speaking additional crew members, known as
Special Operators, using the secret wireless jamming equipment
code-named Airborne Cigar (ABC) would locate and jam Soviet and
Chinese flight control frequencies, occasionally broadcasting
misleading information. I thought that you might enjoy this
additional information.
Kit review: AMT Models, Peterbilt 359 Wrecker. Model kit # 31750
By Bob Horton, IPMS Quad Cities
I seem to be a little partial, even at this early stage in truck
model building, to Peterbilts in general and 359’s in particular.
I had been considering tackling a wrecker model, especially after
going to a truck model website and getting a bunch of reprints of
old model truck articles. In a collection of older articles on
super detailing various truck models, there is a two part article
on building up a Holmes 750 twin boom wrecker unit to replace the
single boom wrecker that comes on the above mentioned kit. After
obtaining the kit and seeing the rather bare bones representation
of this single boom wrecker, I was sold on doing the
conversion…after all, isn’t conversions my middle name. The
article does tend to leave a little bit to be desired in filling
in some blank spaces when it comes to some details. In the process
of researching trucks in the local area, I found a wrecker company
that had an old Holmes model 600 hanging around the back lot. I
took a bunch of pictures which did help in filling in some
details. (Unfortunately just about the time I had finished all of
the conversion assembly work, I did find a website that had really
good shots of a 750. Such is life amongst the model community.) I
began by building up the Peterbilt kit main chassis, cab and
engine pretty much just out of the box. This kit really impressed
me. I can’t say that I have had much experience with Peterbilt
models yet, but I really thought that the way AMT depicted the
chassis and especially the rear end dual wheel suspension was much
better then the Revell/Monogram issue. I would imagine that the
standard tractor version by AMT would be the same as for the
wrecker. I have in mind that should I want to do any other
Peterbilt 359’s I certainly will grab one of these wreckers as a
starter. As a bit of a plus, you will find in the kit for the
wrecker that there is a complete fifth wheel assembly and also a
sleeper cab unit that is not used in the wrecker version but would
certainly serve building an over the road hauler version. If you
intend to build the wrecker “as the single boom out-of-the-box
item,” continue on as the instructions lead you. If you decide to
do the Holmes 750 twin boom modification, it is time to begin some
surgery on the body of the wrecker. Following the article and
before mounting the rear body onto the chassis, the front of the
rear body is cut down and some surgery on the rear deck apron is
also required. Also the tow bar unit should be rebuilt and
repositioned on the rear deck. (See the end of this article for
the website location to get the article and the detailed layout
directions.) You will need a few pieces of Evergreen stock to
build the support tower and booms. I had to make just one major
deviation from the construction directions in the article. The
directions call for obtaining two sets of gears to represent the
two hoist drum drive units. I felt that since these directions
were better then 20 years old, those items were most likely not
still available. I represented the two gear sets by building up
some thick laminated slabs of styrene sheet stock and cutting them
out into a representation of tear drop shaped gear cases which
could enclose the gear sets. This made life a little simpler in
assembling those drum drive units. Before this boom tower/drive
drum unit is set onto the rear platform, you must cut two small
square holes in the area of the deck where the cables for the boom
outer support cables come back and travel down the tower tubes to
two drums that are located under the flooring, just ahead of the
front pair of rear dual wheels. This is one of the points that is
not covered in part one or two of the conversion instructions. I
used some rather heavy ship model cordage to represent the steel
hoist and boom support cables. One other cute little trick I
worked out is: across the top of the boom support cross tower,
there is, on the real life Holmes wreckers, a large plaque with
the words “ HOLMES and the wrecker model number, 600, 750 or
whatever. In this case it is of course 750. This plaque and the
wordage are all in raised lettering. This stumped me for a bit as
to how to make this look really right….decals weren’t going to do
it. It then occurred to me that I just recently acquired a bunch
of plastic strip stock and other plastic doo-dads from a guy that
was getting rid of all his plastic modeling supplies. Just as luck
would have it, he had three sizes of sets of letters and numbers
from Plastruct. One set of these was exactly the size I needed for
making up the Holmes sign….the stars were in alignment for that
one folks. I am very happy with the kit and the conversion is
coming along except for problems with my two main bug a boos with
truck model kits in general. One: attaching and fitting the clear
windshield parts. It appears that when a lot of these kits were
first produced years ago, the clear parts were separate pieces
that fitted up into the window openings. Nowadays with these
reissued reruns, the window casting was changed to consist of an
ill fitting one piece tub that is supposed to look like it really
fits inside the cab and does a poor job of it. Bug-a boo number
two: The chrome plated parts. I am tending to believe that the
engineering staff that lays out the parts on the sprues, manages
to add the casting joiner tabs at exactly the place that when you
remove the part from the sprue, after it has been plated…is going
to be in the place where the most ugly bare spot will show up. I
defy anyone to find something that can touch up those bare spots
and look like the original chrome plating. All in all I would
definitely recommend this kit either to build up as the wrecker or
to modify and use the other kit parts as a tractor.
Reference Notes:
1: The truck article reprints can be found at:
www.scalerealism.com Go to second topic on the list, “scale
realism truck detailing.” Click on the top line topic, Holmes
wrecker detailing. It will show about 17 pages from the original
two part issue. They do not reprint really well but very easy to
get the information to do the job.
2: Holmes Wrecker web site for general search under “Holmes
Wreckers.” A lot of picture galleries show up with detail shots of
many of the Holmes model variations.
Toilet Cleaning
This was sent in From Alex Broman, currently serving in Mosul.
Iraq:
1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo
to the water in the bowl.
2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the
bathroom.
3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close
both lids. You may need to stand on the lid.
4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the
noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying
this.
5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a
"power-wash" and rinse".
6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that
there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.
7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift
both lids.
8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the
bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.
9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean!
Sincerely,
The Dog
Kit Review: Ferrari 250 GTO
Mfg: Revell Germany
Kit #: 07395 Scale: 1/24
Review courtesy of the GTR Newsletter
The 250 GTO, that is still regarded as one of the finest of all
Ferraris, was designed with the primary aim of suitability for
private use, but at the same time for winning races in the three-litre
class. The Gran Turismo body shape was aerodynamically optimized
and resulted in a perfect combination of suitability for purpose
and beauty. The front of the 250 GTO was particularly attractive
due to the three cooling vents for the 2953 cc engine. The 250
stood for the capacity of one of the 12 engine cylinders, the O
for omologato (= type approved), the FIA approval for races in the
GT class. The GTO was shown for the first time in 1962. Thanks to
its 300 hp engine and good aerodynamics it achieved a speed of
about 280 km/h with acceleration from 0 to 100 in just 5.6
seconds. For three whole years (1962, 1963 and 1964) the GTO
dominated its racing class in inimitable style. This kit is a
reissue of a kit from I believe either Protar or Fujimi. It is a
full detail model, lots of parts. It is molded in white and black
plastic, with a chrome tree for small details and multi piece
chrome wire wheels that mount on rubber tires. The body features
separate movable bonnet, doors and boot lid. Molding looks nice
and clean considering the age of the tool, minimal mold lines and
flash. There is a detailed, multi-part 12- cylinder engine
featuring six Weber carbs. Separate exhaust assemblies (for road
and race versions) are included. Included are decals and detailed
painting instructions for one road and two racing versions.
Included are decals for the blue Mecom Team car #24 driven by
Roger Penske and a green #47 driven by David Piper.
Subject: More things I cant do
By Alex Broman, our Iraq correspondent
- I cannot fire a MPAT (Multi Purpose Antii Tank) round through
two buildings to hit the RPG gunner in an alley on the other side
- I cannot paint my kills, animal or otherrwise, on the side of my
HMMWV
Same goes for the tank
- As far as I am concerned the at-4 in thee back is for decoration
not for fun, I am quoting a CPT on that one
- I cannot hit on the gay Philipino barber for free haircuts
- “You rang?" is not the proper way tto respond to a 1st SGT
- I cannot suggest patrol routes that takee us by the college as
it gets out
- Once I clear the .50 mounted over the maain gun I must get back
in the turret, not hold onto the barrel as we come through the
gates yelling "High Ho Silver AWAY!!!"
- Burning poop builds character or so Plattoon sergeants will have
you think
- I cannot trade 9mm rounds to the IP for rides on their chai
boy's moped
Kit review, Revell “41” Chevvie Pickup Truck 2-n-1, Kit # 85-7207.
By Bob Horton, IPMS Quad Cities
This kit as produced can be built two different ways. It can be
built “stock” as it was produced or can be “tricked out” with some
extra chrome, low profile tires and chrome wheels into a street
rod. I acquired this kit as almost a “least worst” choice, at a
Quad Cities Club meeting a couple of months ago. There was a
makeup raffle of some left over kits and several of us that had
missed the earlier meeting were allowed to take a pick from the
left over pile hence, “my least worst choice.” The kit looked to
be very nice and I had been tending toward trucks lately. But
those projects have all been 18 wheeler types. So the kit came
home and languished for several weeks. During a brief lull in the
first of the year kit building frenzy, I looked on the shelf and
there sat that little pickup. My mind tended to wander a bit and
in a little episode of “what if”. I thought that it would make a
good little exercise in building a converted model of a
pickup-like truck I drove as a Power Company employee in the late
fifties. In the late fifties the local power company was still
using trucks from the early and late 40’s in the Customer Service
Department. Some were fitted as pipe trucks and some with trouble
truck “telephone style” rear bodies. The truck I usually drove was
actually an International but we also had Chevies and Fords. I
started construction on the Revell Chevie with the idea that early
in the project I would cut off the rear half of the chassis unit
that held the front fenders, the rear fenders and running board
unit. The frame of the chassis built up very nicely and the little
Chevie six cylinder engine is a jewel. Some modelers with
intentions of opening up the hood should certainly find a basis
for super detailing. In dry fitting the chopped down set of
fenders and partial running board, I found that the kit as-
furnished section of rear bed planking would fit onto the rear
chassis and work perfectly for the inside of the box body parts
side bins that was used as pipe truck bodies. The side bin
sections were cut out of sheet styrene stock and mocked up.
Luckily the first time around the pieces all looked to be about
what I remembered of the general shape of the old pipe trucks. The
“box” body set down onto the floor sections and we were
progressing fine. I cut out thin rectangles of styrene and applied
these to the outside surfaces of the box body. These represented
the side bin doors that were used to store pipe fittings, parts
and tools. There had to be a shallow box trough that set above the
left side bin and this was built up on short legs. Above this was
a pair of support racks that held the stock of pipe lengths that
we carried. Inside the bed of the body along both inner surfaces
of the side bins there were two parallel pieces of padded boards
that served as tie down anchor points for any load carried in the
bed of the truck. When it came time to install the bumpers and
front grill another recollection came to mind. In the truck fleet
we had at that time, along with the updated early to mid fifties
trucks, were a couple of ‘41’s, early 42’s and even a ’46 or two.
These trucks had a particular feature…the chrome parts on these
trucks were not chromed. At the very beginning of the war, through
to the first few models to come out post war, had literally no
chrome. So out came the oven cleaner and soak the parts to remove
the chrome plating. These parts were then painted a medium grey
color. The remainder of the truck was painted a utility truck
bright yellow. I wanted to try to duplicate the original Iowa
Illinois Gas and Electric Company round emblems that were on the
doors of all our trucks. I knew my old truck number was 127 and
the numbers came easy. To duplicate the old round emblem took a
bit of doing. First I searched the internet for any I.-I. G.& E.
websites where I could see an authentic emblem. Luckily I
eventually found one but only in black and white. I tried to
recall the color pattern and after some really tricky piecing
together of very small alphabets and color pieces I reconstructed
the emblem for both front doors. It took a total of 29 very small
pieces to make up each decal. Concluding: this kit is really a
very nice build. The directions are very easy to follow and for
any Pickup Truck fancier there is a lot that can be done with this
kit. My only criticism is in the process of installing the window
sections and here the fault largely is mine. These truck window
clear parts just don’t want to fit really snug. It would seem that
the kit manufacturers could somehow put a beveled or stepped edge
on the clear part that would key into a mating surface in the
vehicle body. All in all, this model should make a very good
addition to any car/truck model collection.
National Update:
RCs,
3.5 months to go! August 6-9 is looming large for the committee,
which hopes to bring you a first class event. Not much modeling
going on here...
A business trip recently completed delayed this report, but I did
have the pleasure of attending the IPMS San Diego meeting in March
and meeting Mark Knowlton. I appreciate their hospitality and am
pleased to report that they will have representation this summer.
The softening economy is a concern, but here are some positive
considerations
- A tax break is coming and the Administration and Congress wants
us to spend it - why not here?
- While gas prices are higher, a vacation by car/SUV/Minivan is
still the most affordable option.
- Make airline reservations sooner rather than later to take
advantage of lower prices
I have attached the latest on trophy package sponsorship. Our goal
is too sell the categories out, so that it truly is a national
contest. Sponsorship has picked up, but there are still plenty of
opportunities for clubs and individuals. I encourage them to get
their requests in now. I also encourage people to not wait on
registration. Here are some great reasons to pre-register now:
- People pre-registered will be allowed to check in at 12:00 on
Wednesday, 2 hours earlier than walk-in registrants! This means
they can be first in line when the vendor room opens
- Avoid the lines of walk-in registration. We are working hard to
keep these bearable, but pre-registering is a good way to avoid
them.
- Remember the rate goes up July 1st, so register now and spend
that $5 savings in the vendor room.
- Due to the need to plan food purchases, there will not be
on-site sales of banquet tickets or the Fighter Factory BBQ. If
you want to go, sign up now.
- Tours also required advance sign up, especially to the Navy
Bases.
Use your tax refund to register early!
There are hotel rooms still available in the new hotels that we
have brought on line. We recommend that people make reservations
soon as demands for hotel rooms in the region pick up as the
summer season approaches.
Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center
75 Suites - $179.00 a night – potential to add more rooms. 4 rooms
sold so far
Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront
30 Rooms - $169 a night. 12 Rooms sold and activity has increased.
Potential to add a modest number of additional rooms
Quality Inn Pavilion (The other hotel adjacent to the Convention
Center)
30 Rooms - $144.00 a night. Popular, 23 rooms sold so far.
Potential to add a small number of additional rooms
We look forward to seeing our fellow IPMSers in August and hope
that many if not all, take advantage of all that this part of
Virginia has to offer.
All the best,
Charles Landrum
Chairman
Kit: Porsche 550 Spyder
Mfg: Jimmy Flintstone
Scale: 1/25 Kit # nb169
By Chuck Herrmann, Courtesy IPMS GTR Newsletter
At the recent Rockford event, Jimmy Flintstone Studios had several
tables of resin bodies, figures and assorted pieces of his usual
hot rod theme products. The resin bodies are nicely done, but not
my usual subject. But as I was walking off something at the corner
of his table caught my eye, this Porsche 550 Spyder transkit. This
has been something I was on the lookout for, there have been some
slot car bodies and I believe there was a resin kit some time ago
but nothing at a reasonable price. I was even going to try to do a
curbside display piece from an old Russkit slot car body, but that
would have been a project that probably wouldn’t work out too
well. So I grabbed one of these transkits. As you can see it is
better than the old slot car. It consists of three pieces, the
body with molded in dash, a chassis plate with the seats and frame
molded in, and an interior bulkhead. The molding is pretty clean,
not much clean up is needed. This is not the James Dean car, my
reference so far shows it to be a 550 RS as raced in the 1957
Mille Miglia to a class win 5th place overall, by Umberto Magioli.
The suggested donor, to provide the wheels/tires, interior bits,
headlights and rear vents, is a Fujimi (or Testors) 356. You will
also need to add a windscreen and a gas cap. These Fujimi kits are
excellent, and are not as readily available as they used to be. An
alternative to using one of these may be the old 356 racing
version that Revell reissued a few years ago (and was previously
issued by Matchbox), I am trying this first but the pieces are not
as nice as the Fujimi. See www.jimmyflintstonestudios.com to
order.
A blast from the Past: The Royal Macedonian Air Force
By Glen Broman, Quad Cities Scale Modelers
While watching CNN, I noticed an old Piper Cub parked on the edge
of an abandoned airfield in Macedonia. The aircraft was painted in
the standard Russian green topside and light blue underside and
had a very unusual marking on the cowling. The marking consisted
of a royal blue circle with a white winged horse in the center,
around the circle in red were the letters RMAF (I have translated
from the original Cyrillic). I was interested in building a model
of this unusual aircraft and while researching it I found out that
it belonged to the Royal Macedonian Airforce. Apparently, this is
the only surviving aircraft. Originally used as fighters, they
were found to be unsuitable against the neighboring Albanian Air
Force Cessna 150's and were relegated to work over the years as
medium bombers, liaison, VIP transport, and finally in its current
configuration, as a chicken coop. After much research, I am able
to present the history of the original Royal Macedonian Airforce.
It is an oft held belief that Alexander the Great owed his
success to his superbly trained soldiers and his skills as an
administrator and field commander. What is not widely known is
that Alexander owed his success to his Air Force's ability to gain
and maintain local air superiority. Since Alexander had the only
Air Force in the world at the time, historians generally agree
that had Alexanders Air Force Commander, Prince Bubba, spent more
tine commanding and less time trying to invent sunglasses, he
probably could have achieved air supremacy. The history of the
Royal Macedonian Air Force (RMAF) is shadowy at best. Many
historians with nothing better to do have spent much time
researching this better‑off forgotten piece of history. With the
recent fall of the Iron Curtain, the efforts of certain former
Eastern BLOC historians have become available to researchers in
the west. The picture that is slowly starting to emerge is
fascinating, and slightly bizarre. The implications are enormous
and could cause a tremendous revision to our history books. Not
only did Alexander owe much of his military success to his Air
Force but Alexanders mysterious demise could have been the first
recorded instance of an Air Force led coup, a method of changing
governments that has reached the level of an art form in certain
South American countries. The RMAF traces its beginnings to one of
Alexanders early campaigns in Greece. A small Macedonian raiding
party happened across a small herd of Pegasii grazing in an upland
meadow. Seizing the opportunity, the small party of men captured
the winged horses and brought them back to their encampment.
Quickly realizing their potential, a young Prince Bubba
immediately began a training program to mount his soldiers on the
Pegasii to form a new and elite branch of the Army. These early
aviators were met initially with derision; in fact their early
name was pighlought, a crude Greek expression that refers to the
stuff that the man who follows the horses in modern parades scoops
up. Over time, the name was shortened to pilot, a term that
remains to this day. Prince Bubba initially equipped his force
only to operate in the ground support role. His early experiments
involved the air‑launched javelin, the Mark 1 brick, and a
particularly brutal weapon called the "Stuvlos Kalakos", this
roughly translates to "screaming tree of death". Over time it was
gradually shortened to "Stuka". The Stuka was a log suspended
between two Pegasii, the two pilots would enter a shallow dive and
release the log in the general direction of enemy troops from tree
top height. The wildly spinning and bouncing log would tear great
holes in the enemy ranks. Later Mark II and III versions of the
Stuka had holes cut in the log which created an unearthly
screaming noise during the dive which scattered troops who had
never been exposed to this weapon. It was during a demonstration
to Alexander himself that the most fearsome weapon of all was
discovered. During a mock demonstration of the early Stuka over
friendly troops, one of the Pegasii answered a particularly urgent
and violent call of nature. The effect was spectacular, the
bravest of Alexanders legions broke and ran at the onslaught,
although not particularly deadly, the effect was dramatic and thus
was born the dreaded OCM, or Organic Cluster Munition. Later
experiments with oats and various native wildflowers led to some
particularly nasty area denial weapons. It was not too long before
Prince Bubba discovered that each Pegasii could carry several
soldiers besides the pilot and thus was born the Airborne
Infantry. During early engagements the Pegasii landed and allowed
the soldiers to dismount. This led to an increase in casualties
among the Pegasii and a new technique was developed. The Pegasii
would swoop in low, spread their wings to slow down and the
soldiers would jump (or be pushed) off. After a period of time
Prince Bubba's recruit pool started to dry up so he started to
actively recruit men from the lower intelligence levels of the
army who had difficulty envisioning what was going to happen once
they jumped off the Pegasii. These early Airborne soldiers often
landed hard, and not only on their heads, which tended to give
them a short, ugly appearance, traits which are still exhibited in
Airborne Infantry to this day. About this time the distinctive
battle cry of "yo, Bubba" was adopted as a tribute to their
leader, the Prince. After helping Alexander achieve victory in
nearly all of his battles, the end of the fledgling Air Force was
particularly sad. During a fly by of his victorious pilots, one of
the Pegasii released an OCM at low level directly over Alexander
himself. Alexander unfortunately ingested a large amount of the
OCM while "oohing and aahing" the aerial demonstration. Alas,
within a few short hours he died. His Generals immediately
suspected a plot by the Air Force to take control and the rumor
began to spread that certain Air Force officers had spiked the
oats before the fly‑by. This was never conclusively proved but the
Air Force was disbanded, the officers executed (buried under
pighloughts, a particularly gruesome way to die) and the Pegasii
were all put to death. The effect of this purge has led to the
dearth of information we have on the Royal Macedonian Air Force to
this day. Historical Footnote: This article had its roots in an
article I read in the now defunct "AIRFIX" magazine about 10 or 15
years ago. I wish to credit the author for the basic idea but am
unable to do so. This also points out the danger of exposing
unoriginal and highly retentive minds to the scholarly work of
others.
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