SPA Modeler

Thanks guys! I'm glad to see so many great comments.

Jim, the Italeri kits go together fairly well. One thing I like about them is that they allow you to just place the propellers into the engine hubs. Makes it so much easier to transport when I can take the props off and keep them in a jar or something and then put them on again in the venue I arrive at. Keeps me from breaking prop blades. There are very few if any gap issues. Only occasionally have I needed to fill any small gaps in the wing roots.

Thanks Owl. It is, as Carlos said, much larger than this.

Thanks Dmminiatures. I used to show pics of my armor and small aircraft works in progress posed on a factory floor photo booth surrounded by mechanics and other personnel when I was building them. I had the idea when someone saw one of my Threads and christened it. "Maddog Manufacturing". It was fun and made people check in often. I guess I stopped doing that after it got tough to set up the factory every time.

Thanks Lyle! I have more to come so stay tuned.

Carlos, you're right. I do have a lot more aircraft. I got more coming so stay tuned. And I agree; you cannot have too many Hercs! I just found three more in the stash. Time to get some projects finished so I can get started on them.

Thanks again for the great comments. More to come....

Okay, let's all board the bus again and head over to the next hanger. This one holds all my General Aviation aircraft. All of these, except three of them; are in my usual scale of 1/72. As we drive in, you can see most of them right away...



Included in the above pic are two extremely rare Aurora kits from the early 1970's.

Let's disembark now and take a closer look at some of these....

Arii 1/72 scale Beechcraft Bonanza V-35:



This was the plane my brother wanted to buy once he finished his schooling. This is the replacement I built a year after my original was stolen out of my boxes at the 2007 IPMS Nationals.

1/72 scale Cessna 172, manufacturer unknown:



This is the aircraft my brother learned to fly in.

1/72 scale Cherokee Arrow, manufacturer unknown:



1/72 scale Cessna Skymaster, possibly Airfix:



1/72 scale Cessna 172 floatplane, manufacturer unknown:



You can see where I messed up the registration numbers. They were dry transfers because the main decals had shattered beyond repair; so I painted this up and tried to add the numbers and letters from dry transfers. I obviously need more practice...

1/72 scale Aurora Piper Cherokee:



This is the replacement I built a year after my original was stolen out of my boxes at the 2007 IPMS Nationals.

1/72 scale Piper Aztec:



This is the replacement I built a year after my original was stolen out of my boxes at the 2007 IPMS Nationals.

1/72 scale Fujimi (?) Areo Subaru:



1/72 scale Testor's Ryan "Spirit of St. Louis":



1/77 scale Monogram Ford Trimotor:



1/56(?) scale Revell/Monogram Wright Flyer:



Back here in the corner are two more aircraft; one is fictitious, the other was an actual Snyder Cup winner back in the 1900's. I built these two as they were seen in the Miyazaki film "Porco Rosso":




Now if we go out through these doors in the back of the hanger, we'll see my one that doesn't fit in the hanger.

1/285 scale Hawk Graf Zeppelin:



In actuality, that model is almost four feet long. It looks good hanging from my Hobby Room ceiling.

Okay, let's all head back to the bus for our next stop.....

As we pass down the taxiway here, take a look out the port windows of the bus to see another of my larger aircraft that was not in the hanger earlier. Here she is, preparing to take off on a supply mission:

1/72 scale Heller C-160 Transall:



Our next destination will be the hanger where I have my US Air Force aircraft...

how tiny are those civies?? I've built a little 48 scale cherokee and I thought that was small!

Owl, they are about three to four inches in length with wingspans of about three-and-a-half to five inches. Yes, they are quite small!

Thanks for joining the tour. I have more coming soon.

The Transtall is awesome! Didn't know there was a kit of it. Nice!

Thanks Medic. It's a Heller kit and quite basic. Almost toy-like. I want to get another one to make it French but I'll need to find one with French transport decals. This kit came with ECM version decals and so I upped my plans to do one for my German Air Force instead.

The next stop on our tour of my air force base is these next couple of hangers. Now in these hangers you're going to see a bunch of very poorly built models; I'm warning you ahead of time! Almost all of these models were built while I was between seven and twelve years old, and they look it. However, I do still have all these models; which is why my total built collection numbers somewhere in the neighborhood of 1100+ finished models.

Okay, without further ado, let's disembark from the bus and enter. Don't mind the dust, it has been awhile since I had the chance to dust these. We have dust masks by the door for those who need them.

Many of these had enough dust on them to completely block the markings. I did my best to clean them up for the pics. You'll notice many of them with missing decals; this was way, way before I learned of re-coating with a clear to seal them in. Someday I want to go through my decal collection and re-apply the decals to many of these models after doing a bit more refurbishment.

As before, all of these models in this post are all in 1/72 scale.


Okay, in this first hanger are my Japanese aircraft. My bombers are the following:

Judy Bomber, manufacturer unknown, built when I was 8:



Mitsubishi G4M2 Betty Bomber, manufacturer unknown, built when I was 11:



Mitsubishi G4M5 Betty Bomber, manufacturer unknown, built when I was 11:



Rita Bomber, Manufacturer unknown, possibly Hasegawa, built when I was 12:




These next few are my Japanese Fighters; all of which were built at age 7, 8, and 9.

Japanese Oscar, manufacturer unknown, built when I was 7:



Japanese Raiden, manufacturer unknown, built when I was 11:



Japanese Tojo, manufacturer unknown, built when I was 7:



Japanese Zero, A6M2, manufacturer unknown, built when I was 9:



I also have the Japanese Zero A6M5 done up as Saburo Sakai's aircraft. I haven't got a pic of it yet; I think Lt Sakai has taken it out again for a spin. I'll try to get a pic of it when he returns.

But I do have this pic of two Japanese Rufe's that I built; the one of the left was built when I was 7, the other when I was 9. I think they may even be two different marks as well. Manufacturer is unknown here too:



This last one I built about 10 years ago during a one-hour speed-build contest at my local IPMS club's summer BBQ. We were all given Japanese Zero Egg Planes to build in one hour. The object of the contest was to see how much you could get finished on your model in that one hour. I actually did finish this to this stage in that one hour:



That was fun, and yes, I won the contest hands down.

These next Japanese aircraft are my jets, and all of these were built in my mid twenties to late thirties. You can see quite an improvement over my earlier childhood models.

This first one was built about a decade ago completely without instructions. when I bought it, there were none in the box! I tried to get a copy, but to no avail, so this sat on my stash fora almost a decade before I finally just said, "heck with this!" and just started to build it. This is the final result:

Japanese T-33 Trainer, possibly Airfix:



One of my earliest Japanese jets, the Mitsubishi F-1, manufacturer unknown:



Japanese F-104 Starfighter, Hasegawa:



Japanese F-15 Eagle, Hasegawa:



Japanese F-4EJ Phantom II, Hasegawa:




Okay I hope you enjoyed the tour of my Japanese air force hanger. There are some aircraft that I hadn't gotten pics of yet that still need to be included here, hopefully I'll get some pics of them soon.

Now on to the next hanger....

all pretty danged cool

Thanks Paul!


This next hanger hosts many of my German aircraft. The dust isn't as bad here as before, but we do still have dust masks by the door for those who need them.

Again, all these are in 1/72 scale. I'll try to post the manufacturer whenever I remember who made the kit.

Here are some of my German bombers.

German Junkers Ju-86, Italeri I believe, built when I was 14:



This is my first ever bomber I built when I was 7. German Dornier Do-17Z Flying Pencil:



German Dornier Do-217 bomber, built in my twenties:



German Junkers Ju-188, built in my late teens:



German Heinkel He-177 Grief, Airfix, built when in my middle teens. This was my second of these aircraft I built; the first was damaged in a move:



German Focke Wulf Fw-200 Condor, Revell. Built in my mid to late teens:




These next ones are my propeller aircraft, some fighters, others are liaison; light utility aircraft. This first one is the second model I ever completed after my MPC Focke Wulf Fw-190. I have a pic of the Focke Wulf; I need to find it.

Oh, here it is, my first ever model I ever completed right after turning 7. This is the MPC Profile Series Focke Wulf Fw-190D-9:



Yes, I do still have both those planes, as well as this one, my second ever finished model: Airfix German Messerschmitt Me-109E:



Now compare that to this German Messerschmitt Me-109 G, possibly Airfix as well; that I built in my late twenties:



The rest of these aircraft I also built in my late twenties, to early forties...

German Junkers Ju-52 "Tante Ju", MPC, using original decals:



German Feisler Storch, Airfix:



German Heinkel He-70, manufacturer unknown:



German Dornier Skyservant, Matchbox:



My newest German aircraft, German Henschel Hs- 126, USAirfix:



That's all my German propeller aircraft so far. behind the other door in this hanger are my German jets. If you would all please step through....