Question about flattened tires on USN aircraft!

Richard Goldsberry wrote: : You know something-it's been bugging me for a long time: Flattened tires on : USN aircraft. : I assume you mean "modern" USN aircraft, but it applies to just about any modern combat aircraft, with the exception of the Jaguar and a few others. Modern high-pressure tires bulge very little.

I have the same problem with "rusted" tank tracks - sure, if you are doing a museum piece/memorial that has not moved in years. But, one in service? Not so much. : : If the tires were flattened it was so miniscule as to go unseen, certainly : not enough to be modeled in any scale except maybe full scale. : It started out as a good idea, and was subtle. Then "True Details" decided "the more the merrier" and started producing flat tires. No, not bulged, FLAT tires. : : If flattened tires exist will someone please provide photographic proof. : I believe flattened tires would made taxiing and launching harder, requiring : more aircraft and catapult power. : WWII aircraft were more likely to demonstrate a bulge, but as I say above, a good idea is now taken to silly extremes. You may as well comment about panel lines, etc. while you are at it. :-)

Bruce

WW2 airplanes did not show much rust because most of the exterior was painted or natural aluminum. However, in combat areas they DID get real grungy. Paints in that era oxidized and faded (UV effects) quite rapidly if not hangered. Exhaust stains were not cleaned off. Gunsmoke stains also showed. Paint chipped with the amount of servicing called for by heavy usage. Good photos show this.

Flexing of the panels caused chips around edges.

PaPaPeng wrote: : : My eyeball test is will the model look realistic when photographed? : Given some of the good photos of crap models I have seen, I can't agree with that approach.

I prefer the "throw the model in a cabinet/box/etc. for a month, THEN look at it anew. If you still like it, you are done. : : I find it jarring the overemphasized shading, wheathering, oxidation, : rust. : It is a school, and an artistic impression, not an absolute miniature. I worry more about whether the results are consistent, but if it seems "realistic" to me, it is better. :-) : : The war lasted five years. No equipment that begun with the war : lasted more than a year whatever the reason including instant : obsolence. : Be careful - there are photos of very early production Shermans in post-war vehicle parks in Italy. So, it is possible some equip- ment survived. I suspect you can find Grants that survived the war in Burma, etc., and were in pretty ratty shape after spending the war going from Australia to Bornea to who knows where to end in places like Burma. : : The "hung on" accessories that have no visible : means of securing them would have fallen off the moment the vehicle : moved. : What, you don't believe super glue, really, really powerful magnets, duct tape and velcro existed in WWII? :-)

But, more than that, pimp your models once they have been plopped on the table - make sure the tracks are straight, that they lay over the return rollers, that the road wheels are in/ over the guide teeth, and propeller is not mashed into the cowl, those finicky main gear wheels are on straight, etc. Oh - and a base is handy, too - judges can move the base, and not touch your model.

Bruce

willshak wrote in news:wOGdnfaw9aTY_5LVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@supernews.com:

I'm always put off my by over peeled paint on Japanese aircraft. Even if the paint sucked, did they really last long enough?

Frank

Early in the war I'd say they lasted longer because the parts supply was better and the mechanics were available. Many mechanics suffered because of the lousy living conditions and attrition wasn't sufficiently addressed.

The admittedly grainy pictures of Japanese aircraft that I've seen give one the impression that the paint was in that bad of a state.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.