Magazine review: Scale Aircraft Modelling Vol.41 #5 (July 2019)

I’ve looked back and realized I haven’t done a SAM review in about 4 years.  I used to do them all the time.  Out of the habit I guess.  I still get the magazine and live through its ups and downs.  This issue is the last by its current editor.  A new editor took over for the August issue.  I’ll review that when I get the time.

In this issue, two subjects I am greatly interested are covered.  There is a long form build review of the Revell/ICM MiG-25 RB.  While the RB is a recon version is a recon version, the cover of the magazine features a nice drawing of one of the interceptor versions.  There is also a color article on pre-WWII RAF far east colors, centering around whether any Vildebeestes were wearing a blue/green far east scheme. (They probably weren’t)  A good issue.  I enjoyed it and it took me more than 30 minutes to read it, which is a good sign.

My one criticism would be that in man of the short build reviews, the models built for the review don’t look very good.  If I were a manufacturer, I’d be worried about the impression these photos left of my models.

 

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Not my cup of tea

but I know people who are eagerly anticipating the Dora Wings Lysander. (ahem, Jim Bates.)

Clearprop Ki-51

We now have images of the box top for the Clearprop Ki-51.  This is welcome, as the old Mania/Hasegawa kit is about 50 years old.

Done

Hey, you’re at the right blog.  Don’t go away.  I know you aren’t used to seeing actual models on this site, despite it being a blog about modeling.  Yes, I know.  Those posts have been thin on the ground lately.  However, I want that to change.  I finally finished my first kit for the year.  While I am not exactly happy with it, having one in the done column feels good.

This is the IBG kit of the Japanese built Chevy truck used in some version by most of the armies of WWII.  The kit is good.  Not perfect, but good.  All the flaws in the build are my fault.  Alan Hall many years ago speculated in an editorial in SAM that modeling skills atrophy if not regularly used.  I think that is true.  Also, my personal goals when building a model are to try a new technique with each one and that each model should be at least a bit better than my last.  By those measurements, this build was a failure.  While I did do some new things regarding weathering, the build was not better than my last one, or even the one before that.  Those failures were in some very basic building and painting steps.  They were my fault, not the kit’s fault.  My modeling skills have atrophied from disuse.  I hope to correct that.

(P.S. Don’t ask why a Japanese truck has a Gladiator engine in the bed and a British 5 gallon fuel can.  I have some fuel barrels, but I can’t find them because of the move.  Just roll with it.)

USS Marblehead

An amazing WWII story.

Words that 30 years ago I never thought I’d utter

Gee, I wonder which manufacturer makes the better PZL.37 Los kit.  We live in the best times for modelers.

Movie review: The Philadelphia Experiment (2012)

Do Not Watch This Movie.  It is an hour and a half of your life that you will never get back.  The acting is uniformly bad.  The script is bad. (The dialog makes George Lucas look like Shakespeare.)  The movie, of course, centers around the rumors/conspiracy theory of the WWII experiment on the USS Eldridge.  A degaussing experiment on the ship goes wrong, rendering the ship invisible and also transporting it thru space and time.  In this version, in the current day, a lab conducting similar experiments based off the original ones open a portal which brings the original ship back from when it disappeared in 1943.  The details of the rest of the plot don’t matter, because, have I mentioned, this movie is BAD.  Don’t watch it.  Go model.  (One interesting piece of trivia.  There have been two movie adaptions of the Philadelphia Experiment, his one and one from 1984.  One actor, Michael Pere is on both movies.)

Infuriating

Someone needs to be caught and hung from a yardarm.

Movie traditions

I have several movies that I watch every year, each tied to a specific date or time of year.

Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I will watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

On or about June 6th each year I’ll watch The Longest Day. (Occasionally, I’ll watch Saving Private Ryan, but The Longest Day is the superior movie)

Sometime on the July 4th weekend, I will watch the musical 1776. (Without a doubt, the best Broadway musical)

What are your movie traditions?

Modeling content

This blog, devoted to modeling, has had a shocking lack of modeling content lately.  My bad.  This has been due to a number of reasons, most of which can be summed up as…life happens.  A little modeling has gone on, but not much.  My Japanese WWII truck is moving forward.  I am in the weathering stage and it turns out that Jeff “Inch High” Groves was right. This is a nice little kit.  Here is where she stands as of today. (I apologize for the crappy cell phone photos)

Weathering stage

Another view