Kommander Adolf Galland III./JG 26 Battle Of France

[Stikpusher]

Hellcats are BIG airplanes. Comparable to the Thunderbolt in size. That Eduard kit is a nice one. I did one in a nightfighter conversion a while back. One of the few Allied planes that I've done.

Yup... of the single seat fighters that used that power plant, the Pratt & Whitney R-2800, three were big brutes: P-47, F6F, and F4U. The fourth, the F8F, went with the smallest possible airframe around that motor and became an incredible hot rod for a piston engined fighter, and was just a tad too late to see combat in the Pacific.

[speedgraflex]

F8Fs and Valley Forge... so good.

[Duke Maddog]

That’s true, Kari LOL And before we know it, each of us is sitting on an unassembled 1/32 and 1/48 miniature Air Force!

In my case, it's a 1/72 scale Air Force. Still have a number of them to go....

[KennyX]

My PE stuff for this build arrived today from Eduard!



That was a pleasant surprise!

Also, and I completely forgot about this, I sprung for the PE set Eduard made for my Tamiya G6 too!

[KennyX]

Neither will commence until after the Corsair and Stuka are finished, but that shouldn’t be too long.

[speedgraflex]

Whoa! Now that arrival should make you feel better!

[KennyX]

Boy oh boy it was a spirits-lifter indeed! And now I’m just waiting on that Hellcat. My Corsair is like the pre-game for that Hellcat. My test bed for War In the Pacific (which I’m becoming increasingly more fascinated with, by the way) is the Corsair. I’m hoping I can up my game with that one and the Stuka. Then do even better on my next Galland’s Emil and the Hellcat.

[speedgraflex]

P-51 Mustangs... Iwo Jima.



P.S. I know it's a sim, but what a bird Shawnee Princess was!

[KennyX]

God damn it I’m going to work on a model airplane on my lunch break some kind of way!

While I wait on the Mk.II IP for the Corsair, I decided to dust this off.

What happens was, I’d intended to work on my Corsair cockpit during my lunch break, being that my PE stuff came in, but after the IP disappointment, I was at a loss for what to do. I thought about breaking out my new Mustang, but I remember telling Bruce I wasn’t gonna do that just now. And I hadn’t intended to ever do two aircraft builds at the same time again... But I want to work on an airplane.

So I decided to readdress this project. Like my wife says “Why don’t you work on one of your NAZI planes? That always makes you feel better.”

And I had good success the last time. And this kit is easy to build. And working on it today helped me relax and feel better.

Here is the cockpit with photo etch enhancements installed. I washed those pieces in vinegar before hand, as I’ve found it helps them take primer and paint way better:



It feels good to be working on the next of my Galland’s Emils. This will help tide me over until TOJO EATS SHIT’s new-new IP arrives (and God only knows when that will be).

[speedgraflex]

Lol, bud—your wife’s a pistol! That was too funny. I know at least for me my grandfather’s service in the Argylle & Sutherland affects my choice of subjects to a great degree because everything made by an Axis country was boycotted in our house. To my grandfather’s credit he never openly spoke of his enemies and “indirectly enforced” an Allies only approach to my modeling—but this was enough for me to focus on science fiction. I did decide if I ever finish a Luftwaffe project, I am going to leave the swastikas off, in sympathy with German modelers who must erase the swastika from photographs of their military models. I do not think of this as any statement other than my own response to family history, which I respect, and my own approach to this issue. For many, this is not an issue. My Uncle would casually display German WWII battlefield souvenirs, but that was his way of showing off his machismo. He also has a gun collection with replica black powder weapons and two M-1s which I personally would want to own, so this is not a weapons issue for me, but I was raised by a couple of pacifist hippies.

The above information is not really necessary is it? However I do feel the need to address what makes choosing an Axis country’s kit difficult, at least for me.

Nice work so far, bud. All the best.