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snelson

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Posts posted by snelson

  1. 2024 Nats Mission Brief 11/24/23

    in About the IPMS/USA National Convention

    Posted

    Thanks for the update!  Looks like hotels will be a piece of cake for those of us driving in next year.  It sounds like parking at the convention center shouldn't be much of a problem either. According to the brief, Manona Terrace has 400 parking spaces available on weekdays and 600 on Saturdays.  Does anybody know how many spaces the Nats typically uses?  I suppose it might be more this time since probably 90% of attendees will be staying off-site. 

    SN 

  3. 1/32 Hobbyboss B-24D Liberator

    in Aircraft

    Posted

    Nice work!  Another screw-up HB made was to give the top turret full framework a-la the Sperry turret on the B-17 (Monogram mad the same mistake on the old Monogram 1/48 kit.)  The B-24 used a Martin upper turret, which had no actual framework, just some clear reinforcing strips glued to the inside of the dome. 

    SN

     

     

    Martin 250 02.jpg

    • Like 1

  4. Correct colors for B-25B Doolittle planes

    in Aircraft

    Posted

    As others have mentioned, Olive Drab on top and Neutral Gray on the bottom.  These planes were fairly new, but they had bee worked hard, so they exhibited a lot of fading and touch-ups.  The fabric control surfaces were also faded to a lighter color than the rest of the plane.  Many, if not all, had the forward cowl rings painted in a darker, fresh Olive Drab to cover up the squadron colors.  The yellow prop blade tips were also overpainted with black (I'm assuming because the raid was originally planned to be a night attack.)

    As for the interior, as I understand it the cockpit and nose compartments were Bronze Green (a dark, blueish green.)  Bomb bay and wheel wells were unpainted aluminum or silver lacquer (including the insides of the gear and bomb bay doors.)  Everything aft of the bomb bay would be Tinted Zinc Chromate (US Interior Green would suffice for modeling purposes.)

     

    Cheers!

    Steve N  IPMS #30925

     

     

     

    • Like 1

  8. The Covid-19 Effect

    in General Modeling

    Posted

    Financially, it's had no negative effect on us.  If anything we're doing better than usual, since we're not spending money on things like our annual Nats trip.  I work at a TV station and my wife is a nurse, so we're both still employed.  Physically however...we both had Covid-19 back in June, when it tore through the nursing home where she works.  I had a mild case with just a nasty cough and fatigue for a couple weeks, but my wife spent a total of ten days in the hospital.  We both seem to have recovered now, although my wife's hair has been falling out like crazy (apparently that's a known after-effect of the virus..supposed to clear up after a few months.)  All-in-all, we've been very lucky.  One of our long-time club members passed away from the virus last week.

    Steve Nelson  IPMS #30925

     

  11. Timeframe for Pima Tour?

    in About the IPMS/USA National Convention

    Posted · Edited by snelson

    Hi!

    The wife and I are in the process of getting all our ducks in a row for Nats..looking forward to a fantastic week!  We've registered for the Pima tour, and would like to take the AMARG tour as well.  This of course has to be reserved in advance through Pima's website due to security considerations.  They offer two tours that day: one at 11:00 am and another at 2:00 pm.  Which would be better?  I'm afraid if we took the earlier tour we'd miss lunch at the museum (we've already bought the box lunches) but is the later tour too late?  What time does the bus head back to Phoenix, and if we take the 2:00 pm AMARG tour would we get back to the museum in time?  

    Thanks!

    Steve Nelson IPMS#30925

  12. Wings Pallet

    in Aircraft

    Posted

    The site has been around for quite awhile.  The biggest problem is that all the profiles come from various books and websites, and many are of rather dubious accuracy.  You can find some interesting stuff there, but I wouldn't use it as any kind of definitive reference.

     

    Steve N

    IPMS #30925

     

     

  13. 2017 Nats Hotel Reservations

    in About the IPMS/USA National Convention

    Posted

    We just switched our reservation from the Marriott to the Embassy. My wife was able to get a room at the Embassy for Wednesday through Saturday nights at the convention rate with not problem. BTW, they said tomorrow is the last day to make reservations at the convention rate. We haven't cancelled our reservation at the Marriott yet, in case someone wants it.

     

    Steve Nelson

    IPMS #30925

  14. 2017 Nats Hotel Reservations

    in About the IPMS/USA National Convention

    Posted

    During the initial rush last August we were able to get a reservation at the Marriott, but only for Thursday thru Saturday. My wife called them up this evening, and was able to add Wednesday night (at the convention rate) with no problem, so there may be some vacancies opening up due to cancellations. Really looking forward to the shindig..2011 was fantastic!

     

    Steve Nelson

    IPMS #30925

  15. 2017 Nats Hotel Reservations

    in About the IPMS/USA National Convention

    Posted · Edited by snelson

    Saturday night my wife tried to get reservations at Embassy Suites, and was told they "couldn't find the IPMS rate." I assume the convention rate rooms were gone by then..at least for all four nights. Fortunately last night we were able to snag a room at the Marriott next door at the convention rate, but only for Thu/Fri/Sat. Now that our foot is in the door, we may try to see if we can extend the reservation to include Wednesday night as well.

     

    Steve Nelson

    IPMS #30925

  17. B-32 Dominator

    in I wish there was a kit of...

    Posted

    I've seen the Anigrand resin B-32 built-up. I looks nice, but is basically a resin version of the Aviation Usk/Xotic vacuform kit. I have that kit, and it's the only vac I harbor any serious consideration of actually building (although I think I acquired it sometime in the late 90s.) Like the aforementioned Contrail kit, the injected parts are pretty terrible (the engine faces are copies of the Hasegawa B-17 engines.) I picked up an Academy B-29 "bagged kit" with no decals or instructions for less than ten bucks to pirate the engines, props, wheels and other details.

     

    The Anigrand and Usk kits both share a major shape error though: the nose turret is too big (it should be identical to the tail turret) and it's misshapen..it's wider than it is tall, when it should be spherical (and you only get the external half of the turrets.) This gives the model an even more "pug nose" look than it should..and would require major surgery to fix.

     

    I'd love to see a state-of-the-art injected B-32, but I can't imagine any mainstream company taking it on. It's just too esoteric to sell enough to be profitable. I suppose I could see on of the Czech outfits taking it on, but the price would be astronomical..I still haven't convinced myself to pay $50+ for the Special Hobby B-18.

     

     

    Steve Nelson

    IPMS#30925

  18. Greetings from the border of Ohio and Michigan

    in Welcome to the Forum!

    Posted

    Welcome! My wife and I (both members) attended the recent IPMS Toledo show in Port Clinton and had a great time (unfortunately I didn't enter anything..I haven't actually finished a kit in nearly two years!) We had hoped to go to the zoo on Sunday, but the weather was terrible so we went to the art museum instead..followed by dinner at Tony Packo's. A must if you're in Toledo!

     

    I live in Battle Creek, MI now, but grew up in a little town about two miles from Indiana and four miles from Ohio. We'll definitely be at Nats in Columbus..maybe we'll bump into you!

     

    Happy Modeling!

     

    Steve Nelson

    IPMS#30925

  19. Military Accuracy

    in Welcome to the Forum!

    Posted

    I'm more passionate about some subjects than others. I was chatting with a friend once and I mentioned how nice the Tamiya 1/72 Spitfire was, but he said the wing outline was so inaccurate he just couldn't build it. Then somehow the subject turned to the Minicraft B-24..he was just fine with it, but I'm a big fan of the Liberator and Minicraft kit's undersized and inaccurately shaped engine cowls were a deal-breaker for me. We both had a good laugh, realizing that all of us have our "sacred cows." Even then, I try not to get too nit-picky unless it's something that just jumps out at me.

     

    The bottom line is, we all build for our own reasons. Some builders love delving into the minutia of a particular subject and try to get every single detail right, others just build for fun and rarely stray from what comes in the box. Whatever floats your boat is fine..that's why it's called a hobby! B)

     

    Steve Nelson

    IPMS#30925

  20. P-47 Cockpit Color using an enamel

    in Aircraft

    Posted

    The only Thunderbolts that came from the factory with Interior Green cockpits were Curtiss-built P-47Gs, all of which were assigned to Stateside training units. The standard color for P-47 cockpits was Dull Dark Green..althought some have been incorrectly restored with Interior Green cockpits, confusing the issue. As mentioned above, Model Master "Euro 1 Dark Green" is about as close as you'll get straight from the bottle.

     

    Steve Nelson

    IPMS #30925

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