TheRealMrEd

Thanks everyone! It was so pretty I just had to try it... Ed

Just a heads up for those who may be interested. PJ Productions has released their Thunderstreak, this time with Euro markings, but who cares?!! I had one on back-order at Hannant's in GB, and they sent me one of the first ones. If you'd like one, get your back-order in now. They're expensive, but if you're a 1/72 guy, this is considered the best F-84F of this size... I have started a work in progress thread over on Britmodeler.com, which will also be kind of a kit review. Ed

Ain't it the sad truth, Nick! Thanks! Ed

Hi Gil, No the conversion kit came with only the nose, canopy, a new launch bridle attachment point and some decals. The wing, etc. rework was first done with the kit parts, as I was only going to do the flaps, etc. When I finally decided to do this aircraft, the wing tips looked so cool that I just had to raise them, and used the Wolfpack designs conversion kit for that. But, the Wolfpack kit didn't want you to raise the wings, so I had to modify them also. Everything is explained in the build thread, linked to in the first sentence above. Ed

For those who might be interested :BUILD THREAD Here are the finished pictures of my 1/72 scale Muroc Models F-8C conversion of the Academy F-8E kit, with raised wing and dropped flaps and slats: Had a few little glitches here and there, but I'm glad to have it in the collection! Thanks for looking in... Ed

Mike, your calculations are correct. I think my eyes were playing tricks on me when I read the scale ruler!! Thanks Nick, will do! Ed

I've been looking for WWII (although stocks were used until the 1960's) AMN66 2000 lb bombs in 1/72 scale. As far as I can find, no one makes any, nor do I know of a kit where any have been provided. I was wandering whether anyone out there might know of a near-sized smaller type bomb in 1/48 or 1/32 scale? As near as I can find, the bomb I'm looking for would have an L.O.A. of real 90.4", which in 1/72 works out to 1-7/16" or 34.5mm. The length of the bomb body only is 70.00" in real life, or 1-1/8" or 21.5mm. The diameter of the bomb body is 23.3 inches in real life or just a hair over 5/16" or 8.5mm or thereabouts. What I am trying to do is substitute on of the larger scales' smaller bombs for the 1/72 2000 pounder. It looks like this (not to scale): I'm wondering if anyone out there knows of a 1/48 or 1/32 scale smaller poundage bom that looks like this at is fairly close to the dimensions given above, that I could substitute for 1/72 2000 pounders. Appreciate any ideas or leads, as I need two of these... Ed

Members 2,217 627 posts Gender:Male Location:Marietta, Georgia USA Interests:1/72 US military aircraft and small scale r/c aircraft. Report post #1 Posted 10 minutes ago I am not really certain where to post this, as it is more of a collection than anything else, and all of the models have been seen before. It is however my desire than all the information gathered and posted about these aircraft should be in one place that all modelers who wish to duplicate any of these models, may find the necessary info and some pictures or mentioned references, and in some cases, original artwork that can be downloaded. I sort of stumbled across George Laven while researching builds of various colorful aircraft. I soon realized that this one guy was responsible for an awful lot of them, and wondered, "who WAS this guy"? There's not a lot out there, but I'll give a brief bit of what I've found. First, "Stars and Bars -- A Tribute To The American Fighter Ace 1920 - 1973", by Frank Olynyk, ISBN I-898697-17-5, copyright Grub Street London, 1995 states " George Laven joined the Army Reserves and served as a Flying Cadet beginning Dec 30, 1940....was commissioned a 2nd Lt. and rated a pilot Aug 15, 1941 at Luke Field, AZ... was promoted to 1st Lt. June17, 1942 and sent to the Aleutians, Alaska, assigned to the 55th FG, 54th FS.... (and more). Where he is first found in a P-38E, named "Itsy-Bitsy": Build Thread Here This aircraft has at least two known pictures, one on the flight line in Alaska, and one at the San Antonio, Tx airfield, where he flew the aircraft from Alaska for repairs, and a brief holiday. Interestingly, "Stars and Bars" (above) states that he had earlier flown this same aircraft on what they quote as the longest over-water attack mission to that date, 8 hrs 45 mins, or 600 miles from Umnak to Kiska, where he claimed his first kill, sharing a Kawanishi 97 flying boat, which was on the water -- later dis-allowed. Then he appears again, still in the Aleutians, flying his second P-38E, also named "Itsy-Bitsy": Build Thread Here While the blue color seems highly suspect, much discussion and analysis of Life Magazine photos of this aircraft (including color-correcting the photos) failed to yield any explanation. So, it is painted, as it appears. Next, Laven was promoted from Captain (Oct 8, 1942) to Major (July 19, 1944), and sent to HQ 49th FG in the Phillipines on March 3, 1945, where he flew a Lockheed P-38L-5-LO, "Itsy-Bitsy II". It should be noted that the girl he married had this for a nick name, while his familial nickname was "Butz". Anyway, his P-38L, names "Itsy-Bitsy II": Build Thread Here In this aircraft, he shot down the last kill of his unit, an Emily, on April 26, 1945, which would be his last. Nominally his 5th kill, but since the first would later be dis-allowed, turned out to be his fourth kill. Laven was promoted to Lt Col on Sept 7, 1945, and when next we see him, he is in Maine, flying a Republic F-84B, named "Itsy-Bitsy III": Build Thread Here He is next seen flying two or three F-84E aircraft, and on Aug 1, 1951, he was promoted to full Colonel. The most colorful of his three F-84E's is shown here: Finished Pics Here Next we find Laven in maybe the most colorful USAF aircraft ever, a North American F-100C: Build Thread Here This model is a heavily modified Trumpeter F-100C kit, and it was a boat-load of work! Later, he also had a Lockheed F-104C painted to order here: Finished Pics Here It should be noted that the Brass was very unhappy about this paint job, and was eventually ordered "de-tuned", so Laven can be seen in F-104's with at least three sets of markings. It should also be noted that his aircraft at the time were kept "squeaky clean" and highly polished, as he was known to attend an airshow or two... Next Laven was chosen to receive for the Air Force it's first Phantom, dubbed the "F-110A", which was in fact a standard Navy-type F-4B, which the Air Force flew around on public relations tours, until their own real version, the F-4C could be delivered. Here is the F-110A: Build Thread Here And we come to (chronologically) the last major aircraft type tied to Laven. As commander of Clark Field in the Philippines, he flew a flight to Vietnam, where at the last minute, and not planned to include him originally, he was placed in charge of the the first F-100 mission into Laos, to bomb a North Vietnamese ground-to-air missile defense site, which mission turned into such a snafu -- NOT LAVEN's FAULT -- that in the time honored military way, Laven got the blame and was axed from his job! Anyway, only one known photo of the takeoff on that last mission of his is currently known to exist, and this is my interpretation of the F-100D flown by Laven that day: Build Thread Here Again, another Trumpeter kit, with many mods! Anyway, Laven stayed on with the Air Force, finally retiring in June 1969. He was later hired by McDonnel Aircraft, and McDonnel-Dougles, as their representative to the Israeli Air Force. He died Feb 16, 1995 in San Antonio, TX. Oh, and one last thing -- he was known for fast cars (wrecked his DeLorean at high speed) and strange cars: Well, I am not claiming that George E. Laven Jr was the best airman, or the best pilot, or anything like that. But I am claiming that he may be the most flamboyant American flyer; not a Chuck Yeager, but my hero nevertheless, and we should all be thankful for his 30 years of service defending freedom -- as well as all the others sort of like him, fighting the unsung fight. Ed Ellickson

Hello, I won't repeat it all here, but here's a link Casting Canopies that I experimented with, a few months ago, which may be of interest to some. I'll reply to any questions here, however. Top are the original parts, bottom row are the resin copies. If you check it out, be sure to read all the way to the bottom, as the first product attempt was not successful! Ed

Hi, just tried again and got this Trojan warning. Might be that the Malwarebytes library hasn't caugh up with the change, so I'll wait a couple of days and try again: Ed

Ipmsusa2, Just tried to follow your link about the P-38 book, and got a Malware notice on my screen from Malwarebytes. Not sure if there's a problem, just giving you a heads up, as I did not continue to the site after that. Ed

Thanks for the kind remarks. Interestingly, the B-17 was the first model I made as an adult. As a kid, I had stopped around 1961. In 1969, I was watching "12 O'Clock High" on TV, and darned if I didn't have to run out an by and old Revell B-17 kit and started back modeling. I know all about gettin' the B-17 on... Ed

Hi Rob, After a discussion over on WWII Aircraft HERE It seemed that the darker paint was just touch-up here and there, mostly after mods, and NOT any attempt at camouflage. Thanks for your kind comment. Ed

Well, as noted in the build thread HERE: Here are the final pics of the B-17 that started to be converted to a YB-40, but ended up as the XB-40, something you may not have seen much of before! Thanks for looking. See you next time, Ed

Top of forever wish list: an ACCURATE 1/72 F-84F Thunderstreak -- with RATO! Ed

Message I get with Windows 10 is "attempting TLS handshake with IPMSUSA(XXX).org, depending upon which forum is being accessed... Ed

Thanks folks, Rusty IIRC, it was to allow access to the radio gear without having to dismount the main canopy from the aircraft... Ed

Inspired with a build started by fellow modeler Bill Dye a few years back, here is my rendition of the prototype RF-84F YRF-84F Build Thread And, here are the finished pics: Again, thanks to fellow modeler Bill Dye, who inspired this build. As usual, it's not perfect, but it's better than the one I had before... Ed

Thanks guys, I wanted one of these forever; finally forced to bite the bullet... Ed

Here are the final photos of my conversion of a Monogram F-105D kit into the prototype YF-105A, and here is the Build Thread And for a little comparison, the original Monogram F-105D alongside: If you check out the build thread, you will see that it was a long ride... Ed

I sold off my built and unbuilt models in 1973, during a divorce. I was wise enough to keeps all my documentation. paints and decals. I still have some tins of Humbrol paint and some decals from the 1971-1972 range, including some great old Stoppel silk-screened decals that I used a few of this week! Ed