IPMS August 2001 - IPMS Seattle

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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USAJuly 2011

EDITOR-NOTES

In This Issue

Opinion: Time for Change 3Correction 3B-24 Liberator Units of the

CBI 3This Bus Stops at Official Stops

Only! 4Eduard Fw 190D-9 7Fw 190A-5 Debut 8Tamiya Aston Martin DBS 10Aces of the Condor Legion 11Upcoming Shows 11Hurricane Bookshelf: On-the- Spot Germanic Informant 12Eastern Express Vickers Vimy

14Terry’s Farewell Speech 16

The lack of a serving club President leadsme to fill in again. We’ll discuss the issueat the July meeting, and hopefully come upwith a few ideas to a way forward.

Paul Ludwig’s article on the FlyingHeritage Collection’s Fw 190 reminded meof how lucky we are in the Seattle area,especially if you are a modeler of WW2-eraaircraft. Between the Museum of Flightand the FHC, there are two excellentsources in the area for seeing WW2aircraft in the flesh, as it were. Add in theadditional other museums/collections/workshops at Paine Field, and you’ve gota veritable smorgasbord of real-lifereferences. Having multiple Spitfires andThunderbolts to study is great, but howmany places in the world give a modeler

the opportunity to see multiple NakajimaKi-43s?

See you at the meeting (where have I heardthat before?),

Robert

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:TBD Eric Christianson Spencer Tom Robert Allen

18215 NE 95th Way #103 318 N.E. 81st St. 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Redmond, WA 98052 Seattle, WA 98115 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-591-7385 Ph: 206-522-8414 Ph: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Norm Filer & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested modeler, regardless of interests.Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues. Dues are $25a year for regular mail delivery of the newsletter, and $15 for e-mail delivery, and may be paid to Spencer Tom, our Treasurer. (See addressabove). We also highly recommend our members join and support IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the memberslisted above will gladly assist you with further information about the Chapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word, WordPerfect, or text document for the PC would be suitable for publication.Articles can also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to thenext meeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2011 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

July 9 August 13September 10 October 8


Opinion: Time for Change

by Stephen Tontoni

The results from Ohio and Florida are in;there appears to be no clear winner for thenext president of IPMS Seattle. I'm actuallypleased with this result, or lack thereof.Why would I be pleased? I'll answer thatwith a question: Can you guess who thesole write-in vote for co-presidents was? Idon't mince my words....it's not in myDNA.

As the club is torn dead-even between twoqualified candidates, we've been presenteda great opportunity to try co-presidents forthe one-year term. Call it a great experimentrather than a permanent structure; we candiscard this after a one-year trial. In fact,this should be formally revisited prior tothe next election.

Both Andrew Birkbeck and Jon Fincherbring their own background/expertise andorganizational skills to the table. And bothhave multiple responsibilities and prioritiesthat take them away from meetings fromtime to time. They can employ theirabilities to complement each other, andprovide continuity of administration. Thepotential synergy (to throw out there a1980s buzz word) is impressive.

The essential question is how well theywould communicate/team with each other,always playing to each others' assets. It'snot that easy to do. I'd say that if theycouldn't coordinate their efforts, we'd be introuble!

That being said, I've known these charac-ters for years, and that will not be achallenge for either of them. I think they'llhave a lot of fun too.

Something that will be a subject fordiscussion later, entire co-president teamsdon't have to rotate in each election cycle.Maybe the best bet would be one of thepositions rotating out and the otherpresident stay on for a second term(however we want to design that) to passon the institutional memory to the next

president. There won't be a steep learningcurve for each president as they'll have ayear (or whatever) to learn the ropes froman out-going president.

I won't be able to present this idea at theJuly meeting as I have my own workcommitments. (I really enjoy living in myhouse rather than a cardboard boxunderneath the viaduct). I'm presenting ithere in the newsletter, and invite everyoneto keep their minds open to new ideas.Thanks!

Correction

In the May issue of Seattle Chapter News,the results of this year's IPMS SeattleSpring Show were given. The first placewinner of category 504, Automotive,Pickups, was incorrectly given. TerryDavis built the 1937 Ford Pickup, con-verted to a housecar, that won the cat-egory. My apologies for the error.

The book covers these Liberator units inthe usual Osprey manner, with a well-written text that is filled with interestinganecdotes that quickly puts the reader inthe CBI Theatre with the B-24s. Operationsin the CBI Theatre were tough, with longdistances and no navigation aids. The308th had the additional difficulty in that ithad to fly all the fuel and bombs from Indiafor each of their missions. Despite thechallenges, morale remained high, andmany of the aircraft as a result sportedsome impressive nose art.

As usual, complementing the text are thephotographs and color profile illustrations.The photos show many of the aircraft andtheir crews, as well as the environmentthey operated from. The color illustrationsreally highlight the artwork worn by theseplanes, and the last couple of pages ofcolor artwork are montages of nose art.

Overall, this is a great book on one of thelesser-known operational theatres of the B-24 Liberator. My thanks to OspreyPublishing for the review copy.

Publisher: Osprey PublishingISBN: 978-1-84908-341-6Binding: SoftcoverPages: 96

B-24 Liberator Units of theCBI, by Edward M. Young

reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

While the B-17 and B-29 tend to be themost well-known bombers of the USAAFduring World War Two, it was the B-24that was the real mainstay of the USstrategic forces, especially in the Asiantheatre. This latest book from Ospreyexamines the B-24 Liberator in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre, where therange and payload of the B-24 wasparticularly well suited. The Tenth andFourteenth Air Forces each had one B-24group, the 7th and the 308th respectively,with the 7th BG operating out of India andthe 308th BG flying out of China.


This Bus Stops at OfficialStops Only!

by John DeRosia

Please - don’t get in an uproar. 2001: ASpace Odyssey, to me, is still the best ofthe best of the best in science fictionmovies. After seeing it maybe 30+ times, Ifinally understand all the monkeys at thebeginning. Considering it was releasedWAY BACK (1968) before many of ourIPMS model friends were born, it showedthe way you would think future spacetravel and space vehicles should be.‘Simple’ flight decks and instrument panelscompared to what we see today in new sci-fi movies. They even had ‘HAL’ a mastercomputer to run everything even thoughhe had a ‘little glitch’ later on. I think wehave his relative living in our computer athome: a mind of its own.

The sci-fi movies today show more bells,whistles, and disco lights than you wouldthink the future vehicles should have.Even Boeing’s early 747 flight deck (1970sera) went from about 1,000 switches, lightsand gauges to about 350 for the newer747s today. The future - simpler...or?

Finally - after all my years drooling overwanting models of the 2001 movie- I justbought my first one a month ago. The re-released Aurora/Moebius Models 1/55thScale Moon Bus. The box it comes in is theheftiest model box I have ever seen. Kindof like our 25-year-old Monopoly gamebox. Strong to the hilt. I’ll probably use theempty model box to support our housewhen we jack it up to add a second story.The model, like its movie counterpart, wassimple and didn’t have 2001 parts likesome 1/350th models today. It does comewith a full interior and lots of figures. Ipainted the inside in simple colors and alsoadded the two pilots and the sevenpassengers that were included. Thankgoodness that you cannot really see theirfaces. I’m still about 3,345 figures plus orminus a dozen) behind in practicingpainting model figures.

After test fitting the roof on my model, Irealized I was not going to make it remov-able. It would have shown too much of an‘Abyss’ (another all time favorite sci-fimovie of mine by the way) – that is, realdeep panel-lines. Gluing the roof on for mewas much easier.

I’m getting so much better at multi-taskingon all model projects. I was able tocomplete this kit in about 15-20 hours orso. While waiting for some items to dryfrom painting - I would already start gluingother parts (like all the landing gear legs orrocket motors). Then, while the glue set onthese, I’d get back to painting differentparts and so on. I crank out many modelsfast because I can’t afford to spend 2001hours on each!

This model was nothing but fun and joy tobuild. The parts were 99.99% crisp withhardly any cleanup needed. Of course, thewhole time building it, I imagined myselfon the bus going out to be one of the firstto see the monolith on the moon. Yes - DrHaywood Floyd called me personally to bethe one to find out where it came from andwhat it was made of. Actually, he knew Iwas a paper pushing FAA/Boeing/Airplane Certification psycho. Therewould eventually be mountains of paper-work to write about the monolith. Nothingabout that has changed in the now ‘future’(paperwork-r-us)! Being that this was an‘official’ USAA (United States Astronau-tics Agency) moon bus trip, they also didnot stop at any other sight-seeing stops.You know - like the moon’s Micro-GravityDisney Park or Tranquility Base to showus where the first U.S. Astronauts landed.

Anyway…

I glued all nine figures together at once. Toadd to the simplicity of the figures, theyALL got silvery suits - none of thosemodern 101 designer colors and patcheslike Captain Kirk’s crew has! ALL also gotsilver boots and black hair. Forget opening12 different bottles of paint for their haircolor. You want to go to the moon in 2001?You get a silver suit and matching boots.Period. I did take liberty with the helmetdocking collars around their necks though.They got either green, red, or yellow. Ifigured red for project bean counters(gotta stay within budget!), green for LEPAofficials (Lunar Environmental ProtectionAgency people to see if the monolith isleaving contaminants in the soil), andyellow - the ones who have to do any


actual cleanup work-grunts like me…laughwill you?!

I remember the scene inside the Jupitermission Discovery space ship where thePODs were stored. There were three

different color suits hanging. Colors tomatch my docking collars. How conve-nient. That was supposed to be six monthslater in the movie, after the monolith wasfound on the moon. Quite possibly that’show long the paperwork took to read

through about the moon trip. Report 7-1-2001: Pages 1 thru 1267….”What is themonolith made from and how did it getthere?”...”Don’t know and haven’t got aclue” written in 1267 ways - just like tryingto understand the many government formsthat say a lot but make absolutely zerosense.

I decided to dirty the awesome landinggear - why? Come on! You’ve seenpictures of our NASA astronauts’ spacesuits when walking on the moon. Dust,dust and more dust. I’m sure the real LunarLander had a sign at the door that said,“Must Remove Shoes Before Entering!”Well, something like that. I also weatheredthe outside of the moon bus to simulatelunar use.

The moon bus is sort of plain looking, butcool nevertheless. Our minds are so usedto thinking sci-fi vehicles need 456 weirdthingies added on and 124 thrusters and87 different colors for panel lines. Not tomention 93 of the latest death ray/weaponadd-ons. Not the case in 2001. I did takethe liberty to add on lots of headlights, taillights etc. I did not have the back-drop ofthe movie to show my model against so Iwanted a few extra eye-catchers.

When my dad took me to see the moviewhen it first came out – over thirty yearsBEFORE the real year 2001, it showed uswhat the future would hold. It seemed soreal. Big screen movies were as real as wecould get back then. Our minds had beenshocked. We were literally speechless. Allof a sudden, we had monoliths to bescared of along with nuclear bombannihilation. Afterward, for some reason,all we could do was sing “Daisy” v-e-r-y-s-l-o-w-l-y to ourselves. Well, here we are in2011, life is kind of normal, the bills stillcome in monthly and I’m always fightingthe latest viruses with cousin ‘HAL’ athome. Also to my knowledge, we still havemade no ‘CONTACT” (yup, another one ofmy favorite sci-fi movies) with alien lifeforms – Microsoft upgrades sure comesclose though.


I built a simple landing base to set themoon bus on last night and this morningfound a miniature monolith on it. Where indad burn blazes did that come from? Thankgoodness the moon bus is full of silversuited guys with silver boots ready to findout.

I recommend this model to any of you sci-fi fans or any real artifact modelers whowant a fun change in pace. Sure, you canpaint the moon bus in Panzer gray or BlueAngels colors. Just remember: Keep ItSimple and enjoy. I had pure fun buildingthis Moon Bus. By the way, the next buswill come along in 2020 perhaps…haveyour tickets ready!


Thor-ough-bred

Eduard 1/48th Scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 Weekend

by Jacob Russell

The Plane

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 was a late-warconversion of the Fw 190 airframe. The Fw190D used the 12-cylinder, liquid-cooledJunkers Jumo 213A instead of the BMW801A air-cooled radial engine. Focke-Wulfadded a 50cm extension fuselage plug atthe rear of the plane to maintain theaircraft's center of gravity. The D-9 enteredservice with III/JG 54 in September of 1944.By the end of the War approximately 183were in service, and perhaps more than1,800 were built. The D-9 was built mainlyfor combat operations above 20,000 ft.(7,000m) where Allied bomber formationsoperated. The D-9 was a very good aircraftthat could hold its own against the best ofthe Allied fighters.

The Model

This is the new Weekend Edition of the D-9 kit, which means you get a single decaloption and no masks or photo-etch. Thekit (item number 84100) is packaged inEduard's customary stout cardboard box. Itconsists of 133 parts on six sprues. Eightof these parts are clear (and separatelybagged), and 10 more parts are unused.The kit is molded in Eduard's light brownplastic. The wings and fuselage featurevery fine engraved panel lines andconvincing rivet detail. The inner recessesof the wing gun bays are molded as part ofthe fuselage halves - nicely done! Theailerons and rudder are separately moldedand can posed in a displaced position.There are two pairs of main wheels (ribbedand smooth tires) and tailwheels (a singlepiece or multi-piece option).

The exhaust stacks are molded withaccurate raised weld seams. You mightspend some with a micro drill bit to openup the ends to enhance their detail. Theoleo scissors for the landing gear areindividual pieces. You can choose from

open or closed cowl flaps, and the "early"(flat) and "late" (bulged) canopies. I thinkthat the kit propeller is the VS 111 and itlooks pretty good. This kit is the only1/48th D-9 available with correct openwheel wells and visible lower engine.

Eduard provides the latter with a 12-pieceassembly which attaches to the lower frontof the upper cowling gun bay assembly.The wing and cowling gun bays are verydetailed and can be displayed with theirrespective access doors open and there isaccurate and convincing detail on thedoors’ inside faces. You get a separatewing spar for the rear of the wheel well andindividual cannon barrels that you canattach in the final assembly phase. Youalso get to choose from a drop tank or 500lb. bomb to fit on the lower fuselage rack.

The cockpit consists of 11 pieces and thiswill look quite convincing with detailpainting, some dry brushing on raisedareas - and a set of Eduard's photo-etchedseat belts.

The single decal option is "Black 1", Oblt.Hans Dortenmann, IV./JG 26, 1945. Theplane was painted RLM 82/83/76 withblack/white RVD (Reich Defense) band.The fin and rudder were painted RLM 04Yellow, and the spinner was painted black.The decals are in register, well printed, andinclude a complete set of stencils.

Accuracy

I laid the wings and fuselage on the 1/48thscale plans in Kagero Publications' FockeWulf Fw 190 Volume IV, and the kit is veryclose to the plan dimensions - it looksevery inch the late war Wurger (butcherbird).

Conclusion

This is a great kit! I would advise you totake your time with the multi-piece uppergun bays, wing gun bays, and wheel wellsfor the best results. The cockpit is verydetailed right out of the box. I would add aset of Eduard photo-etched seatbelts,some brake lines to the landing gear, andcall it done. I would like to thank Eduardfor providing the review sample.

References

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Volume IV, byKrzysztof Janowicz, Kagero Publications,2004


Fw 190A-5 Debut

article by Paul Ludwig

photos by Terry Moore

On Saturday, June 18, the Flying HeritageCollection at Paine Field, Everett, exhibitedtheir newly-restored Focke Wulf Fw 190A-5 to the general public for the first time. Itrained and the plane did not fly; but theengine was started and the 190A wastaxied. I've become more interested in theFw and Ta series of fighters designed byTank than any other fighter; and I, likemany people, drove north to the FHCdespite the rain just to see and hear the190A. Some people were leaving evenbefore the noon debut after they were toldthe 190A would not fly; still, the crowdwas huge and the event was not ruined bythe rain. The very crowded parking lot wasextended beyond the fence and well to thenorth; and the line to get into the FHC waslong, but members did not stand in line. I'ma member. There was another, short line atthe entrance to see the CollingsFoundation's P-51C and B-17G. Collings'people charged $6 to get in, and manypeople refused to pay twice and most didnot get close to the Mustang and Fortress.

I paid to get in, because there was room atthe barrier in the Collings area to see andhear the 190A better because the crowdinside the hangar was deep, and shortpeople were at a disadvantage. The hangardoors remained open after the 190A waspushed out, and people in the hangar werekept behind a barrier there, as well. It wasgood to see and talk with IPMS Seattlemembers John Frazier, John Alcorn, Bob

LaBouy, and Bill Johnson at the FHC; andwe discussed the idea that the hangar willneed to be extended or another, largerhangar will be bought, because PaulAllen's newest artifact - a B-25 - forcedmoving one of the original planes some-where else. At a previous event at theFHC, a truck built to bake pizzas was there,and pizza sold by the slice; the truck wasnot there for the debut, because of rain.Having a slice of pizza would have beengood.

What impressed me, besides seeing the190A again, was hearing the world's onlyrunning BMW 801. The sound was not alot different than the sound a 3350 makesin an AD-6. But what was really impressivewas to see the 190A shake like a wet dogthrowing off water as the engine startedand was run on a rich mix and it might havebeen running a little rough as the enginewas warmed up. The AD-6 did not shakelike a wet dog when the engine started butthe whole cowl shook because of shock-absorbing engine mounts taking the strainof the initial torque. Which means to methat the engine in the 190A was almost toobig for the airframe. I really do not know ofany airplane that shakes when the engineis running at idle on the ground, other thanthe 190A that I saw shake. The wingtips


sort of danced up and down as the oleoson the landing gear flexed from the enginetorque.

An external electric cart gave juice to startthe engine, then after a warm-up the pilottaxied in a 270 degree left turn, then heshut down the engine.

Books that I have show that the paintscheme used on the Russian front in thesummer is correct for the camouflage onthe FHC's 190A, but the same books showthat colors do not end abruptly whenadjacent to the next color. Some planeswere hand-painted at the front and hand-painting disregards making exact delinea-tions.


Tamiya 1/24th Scale AstonMartin DBS Sports Car

by Jon Fincher

I’ll admit – I’m addicted to Top Gear. Notthe cheesy American knock-off, but theoriginal British series about three ladscocking about in cars. It was on that showthat that I learned how difficult it is to putthe convertible roof on a LamborghiniMurcielago. It was on that show that Imarveled as Captain Slow pushed aBugatti Veyron Super Sport to over260mph. And it was on that show that I fellin love with the Aston Martin DBS.

The name DBS isn’t unique – AstonMartin used it once before on a late 60sgrand tourer coupe. This latest car to carrythe moniker is based on the DB9 platform,but with substantial tweaks. The DBSsports a 5.9L V12 engine producing510bhp and 420lb-ft of torque. It takes 4.3seconds to get from 0-60, and has a topspeed of 191mph. For a while in 2006, itwas the number #2 car around the TopGear test track. In fact, the only thing thetwo DBS cars have in common is thatJames Bond has driven both of them (theoriginal in On Her Majesty’s SecretService, and the newest one in CasinoRoyale).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aston_Martin_DBS_V12

Opening the Box

The box provides the prospective modelerwith a wealth of plastic and other materials.Five sprues in various shades of greymake up the bulk of the kit, with a sprue ofchrome, one of clear, and body shell alsopresent. The chrome is typical Tamiya –not too bright and very well done. A bagcontaining tires and some miscellaneoushardware is also provided. Everything isseparately wrapped to prevent damage. Aseparate bag with decals and othergoodies is held within the 12-pageinstruction sheet.

Inspection

First up was the body, because let’s face it:if the body isn’t right, the rest of the kitjust doesn’t matter. Tamiya got the bodyshape right – there are some minor moldparting lines in very easy to sand loca-tions. The gentle curve of the hood ismatched by the sprue in which it’scontained, which is a very nice touch.

The engine provided is extremely basic,comprising just two major parts so theengine bay isn’t bare when the bonnet isopened. In fact, there are more suspensionparts than there are engine parts – whileyou spend one step building the engine,you spend five pages building suspensionand undercarriage details. Detail paintingwill help make the engine appear moresubstantial.

The interior is well apportioned, as isexpected of a high end European sportscar. You have the option of building eithera manual or Touchtronic II style interior.All molding is well done, with ejector pinmarks in discrete and easily hiddenlocations.

Tires are rubber, and the wheels on theaforementioned chrome sprue are well cast

and appear to require very little, if any,attention in the clean-up or detail area. Thebrake discs provided aren’t round – theyhave cutouts for the calipers to fit ontothem. I have an idea why this shortcut wastaken, which I will explain later.

Instructions and Decals

The instruction provided are well writtenand complete, and very typical of Tamiya.Painting, decal, and other detailinginstructions are provided throughout, asare all options. Language choices includeEnglish, German, French, and Japanese –paint colors provided are for Tamiyapaints.

The decal sheet is typical Tamiya as well –exceedingly thin and well registered,providing interior detailing as well asEuropean style license plates and otherdetails. Also in the bag with decals are asheet of window masks, which allow youto quickly and accurately paint the windowseals on the windows. And that’s not allthat’s in that bag…

Two sheets of photo-etch, one adhesivebacked, and the other on a sprue, areprovided. The adhesive backed sheetcontains engine badging and mirrors, while


the photo-etch sprue contains grills andvent covers for the body, as well as anidentification plate to put on a displaybase.

Price

This kit was not inexpensive by any means– MSRP is US$71, and I paid well overUS$75 for mine in my local hobby shop.Prices on the Internet as of this writingranged from US$50 to US$60. Given thatthe last Tamiya kit I purchased, the FerrariFXX, was issued with photo-etch detailsfor around US$50, it seems a little exces-sive to issue this kit at the US$70 pricepoint, especially given the lack of enginedetail and shortcuts on engineering in thebrakes. I can only conjecture that the costsof licensing this subject from AstonMartin, coupled with the decline in theworld economy since the introduction ofthe FXX kit, are contributing to the cost.

Overall

A wise man once said that in order to getthat which we love, we will pay the pricebut will not count the cost. In this kit, Iagree whole-heartedly. The engineeringoverall is well-done and typical of Tamiyaquality. The addition of photo-etch andwindow masks in the box mean I don’tneed to look everywhere for aftermarketdetails. Reference materials on this kit areeverywhere on the Internet, and easy tofind. I have gladly paid the price for thiskit, and will not count the cost – I’ll onlycount the days until my bench is cleanenough to begin work on it.

[Thanks to Chris Banyai-Riepl andwww.internetmodeler.com for permissionto use his, Jon’s, and Jacob’s articles. -ED]

Osprey Aircraft of the Aces99: Aces of the Legion

Condor, by Robert Forsyth

reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

The Spanish Civil War is a fascinatingperiod in history, a precursor to theSecond World War. All the major partici-pants took part, if not actively at leastindirectly. The Luftwaffe had a more activerole, with the Legion Condor flying combatmissions for several years. This latestbook in the Osprey Aircraft of the Acesseries examines the Legion Condor andthose first German aces.

The book is very well written, and theauthor clearly knows the subject. RobertForsyth has researched the Spanish CivilWar and the Legion Condor for manyyears, and his knowledge and expertiseshine through in the text. The story of theGermans in Spain is an intriguing one, andthe combination of detailed research withpersonal anecdotes helps keep the readerriveted to the page.

While the text alone makes this book worththe price, it is an Osprey book, which

means there are quite a few photos spreadthroughout the pages. These includephotos of the major participants as well asthe aircraft. The latter cover both theLuftwaffe aircraft and some of theiropponents. Complementing the photo-graphs are the center section color profileillustrations. These show some of theinteresting personal markings carried bythese aircraft.

This is a very well done book on the acesof the Legion Condor, and one that shouldbe quite at home in any Second World Warreference library. My thanks to OspreyPublishing for the review copy.

Publisher: Osprey PublishingISBN: 978-1-84908-347-8Binding: SoftcoverPages: 112

Upcoming Shows

Here are the known shows and events for2011:

7/22-24 Puyallup Good Guys8/3-6 Omaha IPMS Nationals9/17 McMinnville OHMS9/24 Lynnwood Galaxy Sci-Fan9/25 Milpitas, CA Tri-City Classic VII???????? Silvana 5th Annual10/1 Moscow ID Bring out Good Stuff10/8 Burnaby IPMS Vancouver

Thanks to Chellie Lynn.


Hurricane Bookshelf: On-the-Spot Germanic

Informant

by Scott Kruize

Warplanes of the Second World War –Fighters by William Green, copyright 1960

Famous Fighters of Second World War byWilliam Green, copyright 1957

Warplanes of the Third Reich by WilliamGreen, copyright 1970

Wings of the Luftwaffe - Flying GermanAircraft of the Second World War by EricBrown, copyright 1977

The German Fighter Since 1915 byRudiger Kosin, copyright 1983. Firstpublished in German by Bernard andGraefe Verlag. Translated by KeithThomas; Putnam Aeronautical Books,London. English translation, 1988. 224pages.

I've been modeling The German Fighter fordecades. Some photographic evidence isshown here, such as my Albatros D.III,Fokker D.VII, and Dr.1. Recent buildsinclude Focke-Wulf 190s in German andTurkish liveries. My earliest were Aurora'Famous Fighters': a Messerschmitt 109and a Focke-Wulf 190. You might remember

the pics from my nostalgia build/essay'Messerschmitts Are Purple!'

You all must recognize the first three titles,by William Green. Shortly after I startedmodeling, I began to seek aviationreference books, more informative thanPaul Gallico's enchanting, but slightly silly,The Hurricane Story. In junior highschool, I discovered the local library had acouple of volumes of William Green’sFighters. Volume One had all the fightersof Germany, and reading it was satisfyingand a stimulant to my modeling. Thereafter,I acquired William Green's books however Icould, finally filling out my collection ofthe Fighter volumes when eBay came onthe scene. I still pull Mr. Green's booksdown first.

You may also recognize that fourth title, byEric Brown. Captain Brown of the BritishRoyal Navy's Fleet Air Arm is a genuineGreat British Hero-type, having flowneverything the FAA even consideredflying during WWII, and also testingGerman aircraft during the war, as theycame to be captured, and afterwards,following Germany's surrender. CaptainBrown liked the Hurricane but explains inhis book Wings of the Navy just why,although it was much better than any otherFAA fighter when it was rushed intoservice, had faults aboard ship. Whentrying to line it up on approach to a flightdeck, rudder motion would drop the nose.Even non-naval types realize that the pointof the exercise was to put the wheels onthe deck, not crash into the fantail. Also,the Hurricane could not be safely ditched.Its big ventral radiator would snag oncontact with the water and make themachine 'turn turtle'.

These source books are my mainstays, butI recently came across that fifth title. Myfriend Tom Richards loaned it to me. He's aformer Boeing Hawks R/C Club member,against whom I used to fly 1/12th ScaleCombat. With planes such as my FinnishMe 109, I scored some victories andsustained some losses, flying against Tom,the other Hawks, and the dreadedSnohomish Radio Aero Club warmongers.


This is the same Tom Richards who'sbuilding a 1/2 scale F-16 fighter plane withthe stated intention of flying it to theExperimental Aircraft Association’s meet inOshkosh, there selling it for a quarter of amillion dollars. The basic airframe is all laidup in fiberglass, so it's merely a matter ofinstalling a modest-power jet engine from amilitary-surplus target drone, which he hasalready, and fitting the fuel system,retractable landing gear mechanism, flightcontrols, and various instruments. I’m notquite sure when it will be ready, but Tomassures me it will be someday. I promise totell everybody when that happens.Not sure whether his unique modelingability is related to his reference-findingtalent, but I hadn't heard of Kosin's bookbefore. The German Fighter Since 1915 isinteresting, with a unique insider'sviewpoint of the country's aircraft indus-try, and its relationship to governmentministries and the military. Here's from hisIntroduction:

‘From the summer of 1933 the author tookan active part in the development ofaviation, following on from his initialtraining and gliders, and his years ofactivity in the University Flying Groupduring his period as a student. He had thegood fortune to work on interestingprojects during his industrial career as anaircraft construction manager, to be fullytrained as a pilot, and experience the earlyyears of the buildup at Rechlin testcenter…Rechlin at the time was in thehands the tightly knit group of individuals,which the author joined the just the righttime. By coming into close personalcontact with leaders from industry,research institutes and the future

Luftwaffe, he was party to information andopinions which would not otherwise havebeen accorded to a young man in his mid-20s.’

Kosin seems to have no particular axe togrind, and tells the story of the develop-ment of German fighters, some of which hepersonally worked on, with clarity andsimplicity, using terms non-engineers canunderstand. He reveals, in the process,things that I had not gotten from Englishwriters like William Green, or others. I'll citeone example here.

You've heard of the dreadful messMesserschmitt made in designing, testing,and trying to get into production thereplacement for their 110 twin-enginedfighter? The Me 210 prototypes wereunstable about all three axis, and it took along period of tinkering to get one to flyreasonably well. William Green writes as ifthe problem was a big mystery, resisting allattempts to fix it until:

“… development and testing of the aircraftcontinued unabated, and the solution tothe most serious problem suffered by Me210, its poor stability, had been found.Automatic slots were provided on thewing leading edges and, simultaneously,an entirely redesigned rear fuselage was

introduced. The depth of the fuselage wasmarkedly increased from a point immedi-ately after the cockpit, and its length wasextended by 3 ft. 1 1/2inches…Comparative handling trialsperformed with this aircraft and the Me 210V16 left no doubt as to the satisfactoryeffect of the modification…”

Doesn't that sound like the engineers werereally reaching for a solution? Not at all;not a bit of it. They must've been lookingfor a cheap 'band-aid' they could stick on,avoiding the real problem they all knewabout. Here's Kosin's description:

'On 2nd September 1939, one day after thestart of the war, Herman Wurster pilotedthis aircraft on its first flight. The firstthing he said after landing was: 'Theaircraft must be lengthened by at least ameter.' And [Willy] Messerschmitt'simmediate reply was: 'To do that I wouldhave to throw away jigs worth threemillion!'

Another example of an industrialist moreconcerned about his own 'bottom line' thanwhat was good for his 'customer', thecountry's air force. Of course, such thingsnever happen here…

This book was originally printed in Englishin 1988, and reprinted in 2003, but is now,like all of the Putnam books, out-of-print.(The thought occurs that the Jim SchubertLibrary may contain a copy, perhaps evenin the original German version…) In anycase, I thought it would be useful to tellfellow modelers about it. Whenever indoubt about this to that bit of historicalaviation-related information, theories, oreven conjectures, it’s best to go toknowledgeable sources; the closerassociated with the facts, the better. Theeffort makes our modeling more satisfying.Perhaps it even makes our buildingattempts better! Now, I know I've got moreGerman fighter kits in my stash…


Eastern Express 1/72ndScale Vickers Vimy - First

Nonstop TransatlanticFlight, 1919

by Andy Kirby, IPMS Avon, UK

The Commission

The lady who commissioned the build isthe granddaughter of Mr. Frank Wand,who was one of 11 men chosen to as-semble the Vimy in Newfoundland. Shepurchased the Eastern Express Vimy kit atBrooklands.

The Kit

There is only one place to start and that iswith the old Frog, or in this case EasternExpress, kit. The kit was first produced asthe Transatlantic Vimy in its originalboxing, in the Trail Blazers series in 1960something. The kit does not require muchmodification as it has the "humped backextra fuel shape" of the original and notthe flat deck of the bomber.

The Build

The first thing to do is to throw away allthe bombing clutter and fill the holes leftonce the gun stations are removed. As youcan see from a kit of this age, nothing fits.It was at this point I made my first mistake,a lot more time should have been takenlining up the engine supports to ensure asquare build, of which more later

At this stage there was some discussionon color and a text was produced provingthe Vimy was pale yellow. The buildprogressed with much filling and sandinguntil a pale yellow piece of plastic was dueto have the top wing fitted.

At this point the first disaster occurred;the top wing would not meet any of thestrut locations and the engine supportsvisibly twisted. This was the point whereAeroclub were called and a pack of plastic"STRUTZ" and a biplane jig was pur-chased. All the engine support struts werereplaced, a drawing (of a bomber withRussian text) was procured and a rebuildensued using the drawing dimensions, andhad reached the point of being riggedwhen disaster two happened.

The plane was out of the jig, which is inmy view essential for biplane modeling,and was being rigged when it decided tojump off the modeling table. I caught itbetween my knees (superb reactions) andthe sound was that of the original landingin Ireland. I knew I should not have toldmy wife "the customer can have this soon,as the rigging, which I hated, was goingwell". At this point the UK Nationals werehappening and I saw the completed itemon the Frog SIG stand which gave mehope.


All the rigging and struts were removed(again), I tried and failed to buy a new kit,so once again reverted to Strutz, thedrawing, and the jig. All went togetherwell; I had taken the opportunity of thesecond disaster to repaint in a moreappropriate yellow. I think only oneEastern Express strut is on the plane - allthe others were broken and replaced, and Ifound a new system of rigging which takesthe pain out of it as a result of disaster twowhich I will continue to develop. I decidedto put the plane on a base to reduce thechance of disaster three and to aidcustomer handling. This was sprayed withaerosol adhesive and railway scatterproducts were used to finish it off.

The Results

•One very satisfied customer. I turneddown the chance to build a 1/144th AirfixVC10, the excuse was "not my scale".

•A wish to build more biplanes. •A wish to develop the rigging system andto try a product called Bob's buckles. A

Sopwith One-and-a-Half Strutter will beused as the guinea pig for this and isunder way.


Meeting Reminder July 9

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East to the148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit (thesecond of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continue north on148th until you reach the Senior Center. The Senior Centerwill be on your left. The Center itself is not easily visiblefrom the road, but there is a signpost in the median.

Terry’s Farewell Speech

photo by Morgan Girling

Just in case you’ve forgotten what anIPMS Seattle Club President looks like,here’s a photo of outgoing Prez Terry

Moore making his farewell speech at theMay meeting.

IPMS August 2001 - IPMS Seattle

Documents

Transcript of IPMS August 2001 - IPMS Seattle