Scott retired from the commercial nuclear industry with over thirty years of experience in Maintenance, Engineering, and Training. Prior to that he served on two aircraft carriers during his time in the U.S. Navy. He has been building models for over 50 years with his first kit being purchased with money from his grandparents for his sixth birthday. With a stash that consists of more aircraft than anything else, Scott still enjoys building a little bit of everything (including but not limited to tanks, cars, show cars, military vehicles (aside from tanks), ships, figures, real space, and some science fiction), which keeps his stash growing. Scott and his wife Fern reside in southwest lower Michigan, not far from South Bend, Indiana, and have three adult children and currently three grandchildren as well as a small dog and a large cat.
The Parabellum LMG 14 was introduced in 1914 by the German company Deutche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, and was based on their MG 08 gun. Rather than using a belt feed system, the LMG 14 utilized an enclosed drum magazine to hold the same 7.92 mm ammunition as its predecessor. Other modifications for the LMG 14 included a lighter casing and the use of air instead of water for cooling the barrel. The gun had a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, and was used mostly on bombers, scout planes, and zeppelins. There were attempts to synchronize this particular gun with the propeller on initial Fokker E.1 planes, but this was later abandoned due to issues with the reliability of the LMG 14.
Not researching what I had requested to review for this particular item caught me… more
I typically start my reviews with a brief history of the item that I am reviewing, but in this instance, the item represented is a pilot for either an F-16 or an F/A-18. What I will tell you is that the latest 1/48 scale figure offering by PJ Production from Belgium is a nicely designed figure wearing an HGU-55 helmet along with a standard flight suit, G-suit, and Nomex gloves. The figure comes with a single left arm and two different right arms, as the controls are different for the Falcon and Hornet (the Falcon has its control stick located on the right console where the Hornet is centered in front of the pilot).
There are a mere five parts for this particular figure, consisting of the legs, torso, and head, and the aforementioned three arms. I appreciated the way that the… more
Lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth-class of dreadnaught battleships, the HMS Queen Elizabeth was named after Elizabeth I of England, and would see service in and survive both of the World Wars. Launched on 16 October 1913 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, this ship was commissioned in 1915 and was not decommissioned until 1948, when she was scrapped. The ship as built had a displacement of 33,020 tons, a length of 640 feet 10 ½ inches, a beam of 90 feet 6 inches, and a draft of 30 feet 6 inches. Propelled by a total of twenty-four boilers (using oil instead of coal), her four turbines could move the ship at twenty-four knots as a top speed, or for 8600 nautical miles at 12.5 knots, or for 3900 nautical miles at 21 knots. Her main armament consisted of eight fifteen-inch guns, as well as sixteen… more
Designed by Jack Northrop and built by his company, the YB-49 symbolized the culmination of his work with flying wing designs that began with the N-1M when he started his company in 1939. There were a total of three of these aircraft that actually took to the air, two YB-49s and a single YRB-49A. All were converted from XB-35 airframes, trading in the four Pratt and Whitney R-4360 engines and counter-rotating propellers for eight Allison J-35-A-15 jet engines on the YB-49, or in the case of the YRB-49A, six Allison J-35-A-19 jet engines. The aircraft was 172 feet across, 53 feet 1 inch in length, and stood 15 feet 3 inches tall.
The wing area for the aircraft was 4000 square feet, which supported a maximum takeoff weight of 193,938 pounds (the maximum bomb load was 32,000 pounds… more
The rotary engine (the engine itself rotates while the crankshaft remains stationary) was first developed by Felix Millett as a five-cylinder engine that was mounted in a bicycle wheel, and was displayed at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris (his design having been patented in 1888). In 1889, Lawrence Hargrave designed a rotary engine intended for use in an aircraft, and in the United States, Stephen Balzer worked on rotary engines in the 1890s. Back in Europe, De Dion-Bouton developed a rotary engine in 1899, but this was never fitted to an aircraft, and in the United States, Adams-Farwell developed a rotary engine for use in automobiles in 1901. Gnome, a French company run by brothers Louis, Laurent and Augustin Seguin, developed the world's first production rotary engine, the… more
Based on a design by Ensign Mitsuo Ohta with the assistance of students of the Aeronautical Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (Cherry blossom) was first conceived. Over 850 of these rocket-powered, anti-shipping, kamikaze planes that were dropped by Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers were constructed during 1944 and 45. The idea was to glide in on the attack, and then the pilot would ignite three rocket engines on the final approach, delivering a 1200 kg (2646 pound) payload to the target. The aircraft had a limited range (twenty-three miles), and with delivery being via a heavily laden bomber, there are no recorded successful attacks by the Ohka during World War II (although there was a near miss with the battleship USS West Virginia on 1 April 1945).… more
From the 1983 hit movie “Blue Thunder” comes a 1/48 rendition of the helicopter used in the film, which shared the same name. In the movie, the Blue Thunder was developed as part of project THOR (Tactical Helicopter Offensive Response), as the city of Los Angeles was preparing to host the Olympics in 1984. The main character was Frank Murphy, as portrayed by the late Roy Scheider, and his partner was Richard Lymangood (aka JAFO), played by Daniel Stern. One of the most famous scenes of the movie is when Frank puts the Blue Thunder in a 360 degree loop in order to dismiss his nemesis Col. F.E. Cochrane (played by Malcolm McDowell).
The helicopter that was actually used for the movie was a combination of a French Aerospatiale SA-341G Gazelle modified with parts to resemble an AH-… more
The October publication of Model Art Modeling Magazine focuses on 1/35 scale German World War II armored reconnaissance vehicles. The magazine also includes new kit reviews, modeling tips, and new kit and item releases. As is typical for Model Art, the magazine measures 182mm by 258mm (about 7 and 1/8 by 10 and 1/8 inches), and is printed on thick, glossy paper. The production quality is high with these magazines, and just over half of it is printed in color with black and white pages interspersed throughout of the issue. Just in case this is the first review of a Model Art magazine that you are reading, understand that the entire magazine is printed in Japanese with only an occasional English subtitle for those of us who are monolingual, or are just unable to read Japanese text.… more
The Sd.Kfz.2 Kleines Kettenkraftrad (ketten is German for tracked, kraftrad is German for motorcycle) was one of the more unique vehicles designed and used during World War II. Initially designed for use by the airborne troops, and able to be carried inside of a Junkers Ju-52, the vehicle was used to lay communication cables, pull loads, and could carry two soldiers on the rear bench seat (probably not comfortably though). Towards the end of the war, the Kettenkrad was also used for towing aircraft in order to help conserve their aviation fuel. When operating at higher speeds, steering was actually accomplished by applying the brakes to the tracks, as the front wheel was more useful at lower speeds. There are some photographs that exist of the vehicles in use with no front wheel… more
The AN/APG-66 radar system was developed by Westinghouse (now Northrop Grumman) in the 1970’s for use in the General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16 Fighting Falcon, and entered service in 1979. The radar was utilized in both the A and B versions of the F-16, and was later replaced by the AN/APG-68 system. The AN/APG-66 weighed in at 362 pounds and was a multi-role, x-band unit with a range of 160 nautical miles. In addition to the F-16 A and B, variants of the radar was also installed on the F-4EJ (Japanese export version of the Phantom II), British Hawk 200, US Navy T-39N, and New Zealand A-4 aircraft. The modes of operation were range-while-scan, track-while-scan, velocity search, and gun director.
Earlier this year, the Czechoslovakian company Eduard added resin to… more
