REVELL MONOGRAM 1/48 SWIFT BOAT MODEL

Perhaps she would have been provided with the opportunity to die "in a loud, proficient, military manner."

-- -- -- -- -- "We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." George Orwell

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snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Bill Woodier) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m10.aol.com:

A Wild Weasel for a treasonous weasel? To precious!

wheelhouse

I was on Swifts a number of times, and don't recall that they even had doors . . . which is not to say they didn't, but that they were apparently open most of the time, for the reason you mentioned.

I haven't seen the model you are all talking about, but one thing it should show to be accurate for how the Swifts were used in Vietnam -- there's a two foot square hole at the front of the boat which was called a "peak tank". Normally it would have been used to store the anchor chain. But they apparently didn't use anchors in Vietnam, so they found another use for it.

If you have any photos of Swifts in Vietnam, you might notice a guy there at the front of the boat, up to his chest in that peak tank hole, with an M-60 machine gun resting on the deck -- an good example of improvising, which was common in Vietnam. This was one example that worked well, as many Swifts adapted it.

On Kerry's boat, that's the guy (in the Silver Star incident) who wounded the VC in the leg before his M-60 jammed.

Anyway, for those of you who are sticklers for detail, take note of what should be at the front (I was Army, so excuse the incorrect terminology) of the boat.

Doug

Doug, that's normally known as the bow, but since you were Army, it's called "the pointy end."

Heh.

He's in trouble with treaty cruisers and most BB's before the North Carolina class then....both ends were pointy.........

Heh.

Frank Tauss cries out in the night thus:

"And as an aside, where is the GWB F-102 Texas ANG kit? "

Get any set of Texas ANG decals. They didn't assign guard people airplanes with their names on 'em, so you have a reasonable chance of getting an F-102 that Bush flew. Or not.

There IS a gate guard in Houston with his name on it NOW, however. I'm sure you could figure out decals for that Deuce-on-a-stick.

--Chris Bucholtz

O well; better late than never.

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Chris Bucholtz) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m22.aol.com:

It was really just an observation. Kedi makes markings for the 111 FIS in

1/72 and 1/48 and I have those. It just seemed a bit of a natural with the Mono 1/48 and the Hase F-102. Kennedy got "his" PT boat, Bush 41 got "his" TBM/TBF by Hase, Lindberg and now AM. Randy Cunningham has at least 2 F-4 kits that I know of, I think someone did McCain's A-4 markings.

It just seems a natural that when you have someone with a prominent name who is associated with (particularly an existing) kit that a kit with markings appropriate to that person would make sense. So what if the pilots rotated through different aircraft? Generic 111 FIS decals would be OK, and don't pilot's logs show what aircraft was flown by at least the buzz number if not the SN? Perhaps if Revell/Monogram or Hase had asked...

Don't think it is partisan or out of line to ask. Kerry lost the race and they release a boat with his markings despite the controversy. Bush is in his second term and nothing? Gee do you think maybe that the fact that RM is owned by a German corporation and the German's known hostility towards Bush and fawning over Kerry might have influenced this decision?

Just asking.

AFAIK Revell-Monogram in the US is affiliated with but not owned by Revell AG.

Don't think it is partisan or out of line to ask. Kerry lost the race and they release a boat with his markings despite the controversy. Bush is in his second term and nothing?

Kind of like his NG career. You didn't see an Independence modelled for the Ford years, did you? Or a 1/700 repair base for Nixon? Or a 1/35 guy in a dubbing booth for Reagan? The Swift, like PT 109, is dramatic and kitworthy, and the molds are there. As for Bush2, it's not hard to find S3 markings for his one and only sortie to the Pacific. And maybe we'll finally get a sheet for his Alabama NG service.