Re: B-17 Wing Covering Thickness

I suspect our differences on Red China are just a matter of degree and/or tone. I don't take them nearly as lightly as you apparently think I do.

desperate

IIRC, back during the old "Evil Empire" days. apparently the KGB & TASS decided to show an ABC program that had been done showing how shabbily the poor in the US were treated. Well, supposedly it backfired. The Russian folks were somewhat amazed that poor people in the US had microwave ovens, most had cars, they had reliable electricity, telephones, color TV, cable TV and wonder of wonders - poor people in America were FAT!!! (not intended to offend anyone that just may be over the weight norms...) 8-p

Don McIntyre Clarksville, TN

i'm an old guy but no beer or pizza. not that i don't want them...i had a very misspent youth.

I haven't really done a lot of Bear research yet - been pouring buckets of liquid cement into just constructing the thing. It's the first kit I've built in a long time that has run me out of cement during the build. Trying to get most of the tedious fit and finish work done first

- I'm about ready to close up the wings, and I haven't even started the fuselage yet. Cleaning up those eight, four bladed props has been a...er...bear. Flexi-file came in VERY handy for that, and I'm still not completely done.

It is a neat kit...the museum folks want it built gear up, which is a shame because the landing gear are kits in themselves. If my metal finish experiment works out I may have to build one for myself later.

Yeah - that's about where I was coming from...doing it for the troops.

One of our guys (a Marine aviator) left us a big blow up shot of himself intercepting a Bear that hangs in the entryway to our building, as a parting presentation...guess that was part of my inspiration. In fact, I have a set of decals in 1/48 for the very F/A-18 he is flying in that shot - I brought them in and showed them to him one day and he flipped out...took a Xerox of the sheet. So now I gotta do an F/A-18A in 1/48.

That's good to hear. They really bother the heck out me.

I met one guy that was a Quaker and served almost 30 years in the Navy from just before WWII, he's been a tug crewman most of the time so I built him a little USS Hoga for pizza and beer. I also did a CV-1 USS Langley for a guy that had been a photographers mate on her in the

As one military friend replied when I asked him what he'd gotten done that morning:

"Well, I got up, took a run, came back - ate some breakfast - sat there and contemplated what new and interesting ways the Chinese were devising to kill me."

And suddenly, his world and how he looked upon it was clearly in focus for me.

WmB

that landing gear is a trip. why not build it seperatley and include it in the display? it's like the motors on the icm illya muromets kit, they are euck little gems they can stanf alone. your bear gear can do that, too. incorporate a little design comment and off you go. i restored the gear from the sterling airfix kit i got from billy b and it was impressive all by itself. it's worth some though. i bet you do build one for yourself....

I meet a lot of fighter jocks...becoming increasingly aware of some of the guy's names appearing on my decal sheets. If you've ever seen the litho for the F4 "Chico the Gunfighter", it turns out that Chico's last WSO (so the two of us gather) is an officemate of mine. Pretty cool guy, with lots of history to share. I've given some thought to building the jet for him.

For me it was participating in a Red Flag exercize as a civillian and having one of my guys scored KIA. Snaps your head around.

I think I'm gonna hang onto the parts and maybe use them in a bash-up project sometime. From what I gather they plan to display the model hanging, possibly in an intercept sort of display. Which means either I or someone else is going to get to build another period fighter or two for them.

do you want to do it? that would give you artistic control for a unified display.

We'll see...or not...the way my eyes are going I've vowed never to build anthing in 1/72 smaller than a Bear again.

yeah, i swear that everytime i start another one. but there is so much only in that scale...

I could say that about breasts...

It wasn't until after I left Fairchild that I realized who some of the old Germans were...........von Barun I knew who he was, just never ticked over that the other guys were his wartime associates.

i prefer 1 to 1, but am flexible. i've seen some 2 to 1's and half scales that were just fine.

I meet a lot of the contemporary guys - mostly recent vets, and some of the post Viet Nam notables, like Cunningham (briefly) and Venlett. And some guys that you'd never in your life think would have been fighter jocks - but seem to know a bit more than they let on...then you end up talking to them and find out different. I even know a couple of astronauts, and was once under some pressure to apply myself. Went to a recruitment briefing and decided it was a job I didn't want.