SPA Modeler

I took five models to two different airports today. I drove 20 miles to a neighboring small-town, Rockdale, Texas. The airport there once belonged to a local millionaire, H. H. Coffield. He had a bunch of WWII planes out there at one time including a couple B-25s and a few C-47s too. Supposedly he had hired an ex-Luftwaffe flyer to run a, ahem, "crop dusting" operation in South America...oookayy.

There are two hangars and a pilot's lounge there. One of the hangars is very old and makes a neat background. I met a couple really nice local pilots and had an enjoyable afternoon. One of the models was a tail-dragger and it had no ballast weight. It almost blew away a few times and the canopy did fly off several times. I put the plane away and came back to Cameron where it was a little less windy for more pics.

That model is the old Monogram Typhoon. It was built close to twenty years ago but had never been photographed. I did add some radiators underneath from an old '60s model car. The paint was Model Master and Humbrol enamel sprayed with my Paasche H. I used Parafilm for the masking. Other than that, it's just OOB Monogram goodness!

So, here's the first of several planes I'll be posting soon. Thanks for taking a look, comments welcomed!
Gary























And, here are some more pics if you're interested:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/Texgunne ... %20Typhoon

What is there not to like here? A Monogram Classic Tiffy... a day at the airport... sounds good to me!

Texgunner wrote:Supposedly he had hired an ex-Luftwaffe flyer to run a, ahem, "crop dusting" operation in South America...oookayy.

What ever millionaires did with such planes in SA at that time... Spooky!

That's a great looking hangar. 99% of all modellers are not living close to locations like that. Why not taking a high res picture of it and posting it as DD (downloadable diorama)?

I love it when people digging out there old modelling treasures. I like yours a lot!

mostrich wrote:...That's a great looking hangar. 99% of all modellers are not living close to locations like that. Why not taking a high res picture of it and posting it as DD (downloadable diorama)?

Fantastic idea! Man, I just imagine doing model shot in front of such a poster!

Yep, a terrific idea! Texgunner, those are great pics. I'll second what Stik said....I haven't been out to the GA airport in a while to just sit. It isn't like it used to be, that is for sure. Love the surroundings. That always makes for good pics.

Thanky Lyle! I was glad to get a warm welcome over there at the Rockdale airport, 'bout half-'fraid they'd run me off.

mostrich wrote:

Texgunner wrote:Supposedly he had hired an ex-Luftwaffe flyer to run a, ahem, "crop dusting" operation in South America...oookayy.

What ever millionaires did with such planes in SA at that time... Spooky!

That's a great looking hangar. 99% of all modellers are not living close to locations like that. Why not taking a high res picture of it and posting it as DD (downloadable diorama)?

I love it when people digging out there old modelling treasures. I like yours a lot!

Thanks for the nice comments! And, that is a great idea about the hangar pic too. I need to go back there soon, and I've also thought about another small-town airport about 30 miles away, and it has some cool WWII history behind it too. I gotta check that out as well.

Excellent build and great Idea for the pics.

steve scan wrote:Excellent build and great Idea for the pics.

Thank you very much!

Nice Monogram Tiffie, it really shows that, in the end, it is all about the quality of the modeller, not the model.