ChairmanMilo's Collection

[Stug45]

Very cool ChairmanMilo.

Whats up with that panzer commander? looks like he had to much to drink.

[ChairmanMilo]

His uniform helps him blend in too well with the camo on the tank Didn't even notice he fell over... I'll have to go straighten him up.

[AMERICAN_GRENADIER]

i never knew anyone who read al frankindorks book

[[CAT]CplSlade]

I'm surprised by the 9/11 Commission Report. I had to strip the covers and throw away several hundred copies of that book when I was a manager at Borders.

[AMERICAN_GRENADIER]

that aside, you have a great collection!

[ChairmanMilo]

^ two Franklin Mint Spitfires (Douglas Bader on the upper shelf, Robert Stanford Tuck on the bottom shelf) and two Hobby Master Spitfires (Jean-Marie Maridor on the upper shelf, and the new silver post-war release). I had some trouble with the newest HM Spitfire; there was quite a bit of glue on the underside that needed to be cleaned off. Quite a few fingerprints in the glue, too. I don't think I managed to get all of it off... does anyone have any hints on how to get the glue off without damaging the paint?



^ the latest Corgi Typhoon IB and two of the new Easy Model Typhoons. The u/c of the Easy Model releases leaves the plane sitting a bit higher than the Corgi version. I believe I read somewhere that the EM releases were inaccurate. However, they hold up fairly well against their far heavier and more expensive zinc brethren... in my humble opinion.



^ this has got to be one of the best Corgi releases from the recent flood of Corgi releases. I think the only releases I am more fond of is 'Friday the 13th' and the RCAF Catalina (which I haven't been able to display yet... same deal as with the Ju 52: no room!). The finish on this one was as near to perfect as I've seen on any Corgi release I've purchased so far.



^ Guy Gibson Mosquito... my third Corgi Mossie so far (the others being the black NF and most recent PRU Mossies).



^ an updated shot of the good ol' "bookshelf"... I re-arranged the two RAF shelves recently. The only other changes are the Elefant on the bottom shelf and U.S. Army deuce-and-a-half on the shelf above that (which I had made room for months before I actually received 'em). I'm thinking about swapping the Korean War F-51 for the 'Evelyn' Airacobra... I have no room to display the 'Alder Tag' trio (Ju 87, Ju 88 and He 111) so they're staying in storage for now, and the Luftwaffe shelf remains untouched. I probably won't rearrange that shelf until I get my paws on the two newest Bf 110Gs by Hobby Master.



^ thanks to Witty, I have no room to display any other IDF/AF aircraft! Here are three F-15s (with two stands I picked up from Monkey Depot... only one of the three actually came with a stand) and four F-16s. When Hobby Master releases the new IDF/AF F-4E I think I'll have to set up a separate IDF/AF display along with the new Texan and old A-4 Skyhawk.

[ChairmanMilo]

^ ten Hobby Master Harvard/Texans. I have all of them so far (twelve in total) with the two latest pre-ordered.



^ a set of Luftwaffe night fighters.

[ChairmanMilo]

My (seemingly) every-other month shipment of diecast came in yesterday courtesy of the intrepid Scott Merritt, who braved the busy streets and highways Toronto to bring me my latest treasures. Many thanks to Scott for taking the time to find specific items for me - he has so far helped me get the Faith, Hope & Charity Gladiator set, the Hindenburg He 111, the 'Bats Outa Hell' B-25J and countless other harder-to-find diecast. With this delivery he helped me complete my set of Corgi P-38s.

Now on to the photos!



^ I swapped my two SPADs for the first two Corgi Sopwith Pups. Aside from the improperly configured upper wing, they look great. I appreciate that they added a faux-wood finish to the props (the SE.5 and Albatros props look terrible). The paint has a mat finish and the details are quite nice (the pitot is actually painted this time, the pilot looks human, the rotary engine looks like a rotary engine). I do have one beef though. The Pup/DR.I set comes in the same-sized box as the Corgi Halifax! The exact same-sized box... why in blazes did they need to do that? No wonder the set is so expensive. They could easily have fit the two in the same box they're putting the He 111 in now. I have enough trouble fitting these boxes in the storage space I have available...



^ I swapped the Dutch warbirds for two MiG-15s and two F-86s. I'm impressed with the level of detail that HM managed to achieve with such tiny 1:72 planes. I knew that the MiG-15 is a small aircraft (even the 1:48 kit I built of one years ago was only a bit bigger than an F-86 in 1:72) but wow. Other than how great they look, the other positive thing about HM's new MiG-15 is that they come in the same tiny box as the P-39. No space issues there.



^ Yevgeyi Pepelyayev's MiG-15bis displayed with John Glenn's F-86F Sabre "MIG MAD MARINE".



^ the night-fighter MiG-15bis displayed with John Hagerstrom's F-86F "MIG POISON". The yellow theater band on the two F-86s don't match. Weird. I still have to get Bud Mahurin's F-86E "STUD", Joseph Fields' F-86A and Ralph Parr's F-86F "Barb". I rather like Corgi's F-86 and I hope to see more released in the future. A CANADIAN Canadair CL-13 in an operational scheme would be nice!



^ three supremely gorgeous Airacobras by Hobby Master - the Guadalcanal P-400, the P-39L 'EVELYN' and Bud Anderson's P-39Q "OLD CROW". I have William Shomo's "Snooks 2nd" pre-ordered - it should look great sitting next to some white-tailed Corgi P-40s.



^ Hobby Master's new MTO Harvard II. It looks good in RAF operational colours.



^ three Corgi Kittyhawks - Les Jackson in the back, Gibson in the middle & Gibbes at the front. I still have to find the Neville Duke Kittyhawk I and Clive Tolhurst Kittyhawk IV to complete my collection of Commonwealth P-40s. I don't think I'm going to pick up "Sneak Attack" though.



^ no more Luftwaffe (for now at least). Hurricanes and Kittyhawks on the top shelf (along with the rocket Typhoon), Spitfires in the middle (along with the Gibson Mossie) and USAAF on the bottom, which still includes Mustangs, Thunderbolts, Warhawks and Airacobras. I still have the three Lancasters & two Halifaxes on the top shelf.



^ I've had these for a while, but I haven't had a chance to display them yet. They're all Forces of Valor... there's the new tooling Panzer IV Ausf J, the US Army M3 Grant, the SdKfz 251D with PaK 40 7.5cm anti-tank gun and the 1:1000 battleship Bismarck. The ship is actually pretty well-detailed for that scale. I hope they release some more ships in the same scale. That's about the only way I'll get into collecting ships.



^ waited for these two Dragons for a while - here's the StuG III w/skirt armour and Challenger 2 w/slat armour. The photo-etched slat armour on the Challenger 2 looks great, but I'm afraid to take it out of its box out of fear of destroying it with my clumsy hands. I really like the Dragon Challenger 2. It blows away the Forces of Valor offering.



^ a whole lot of Hobby Master armour - three Centurion Mk 5s (Canadian Army, Dutch Army and British Army), three M10/Achilles tank destroyers, two M46 Pattons and an M24 Chaffee (all three of the latter are the Korean War releases). I'm looking forward to seeing some more Centurions in the future - some IDF releases would be great, especially some Sho't upgraded variants.



^ my first two Dragon Armor Tiger Is in 1:35 scale, 61001 and 61003. I am greatly impressed by them... they look quite a bit better than the two Forces of Valor Tiger Is that I have. I would buy more if they didn't cost so much. I would buy the latest Dragon Tiger I (the very early variant) but TFM is charging $79.99 for it, and that translates into about $100 CDN. Not worth it.

[ChairmanMilo]

I decided to switch my RAF Bomber Command display for some USAAF heavies.

This is the first time I've had a chance to get all four of my B-24s out on display at the same time.



^ B-24D 'Jerk's Natural', B-24J 'Sleepy Time Gal', B-25J 'Bats Outa' Hell', B-25D 'Crabb 2nd', B-24J 'Booby Trap' and B-24J 'Dragon and his Tail'. I've had all but 'Dragon' out on display over the last year or so, and I have to say - they look impressive sitting together. I tried to get my sole Flying Fortress displayed with them (B-17F 'The Zoot Suiters') but it just wouldn't fit. The B-24's wingspan is just too wide!

[ChairmanMilo]

Here are my first updates for almost a year!

With my new job in the heart of Toronto's financial district, not as a security guard this time but as an actual participant in the madness that is the financial industry, I haven't had a lot of time to take photos and post them. I have had time, however, to add a significant number of new aircraft to my collection, not to mention dramatically downsize my collection of 1:32 armour.



^ the equally long-awaited USAF A-7 "SLUF", which has since been put away to make room for HM Thuds.



^ my SEA collection after a bit of a reorg. That CW stand looks god-awful, but it wasn't on display like this for long.



^ my SEA collection after the most recent reorg to get all three F-105s and those three F-4s on display together. Note the Israeli F-4 and A-4 on the shelf below. Even with the wrong wing leading edge, that F-4E looks pretty slick. I wish the A-4 had different weapons options.



^ my "Shamrocks" F-8 by CW & F-4 by Hobby Master. My cunning plan worked - the wife loves the shamrocks.



^ the most recent Corgi Spitfire in my collection, an early release - the Malta-based Maurice Stephens Mk.VB/trop.



^ my most recent Corgi Hurricane, another early release - the Malta-based Robertson Mk.I/trop (see a pattern here?)



^ my John Landers set - the "Big Beautiful Doll" P-51D from Dragon & recent "Texas Longhorn" by Corgi.



^ my first Helldiver, as flown by the FAA. Even if it wasn't used in combat operations, it looks great in those colours.



^ the Galland & Schroer Bf 109Es by Carousel 1, since swapped on display with the two new Buffalos.



^ my first two Buffalos by Hobby Master, the Dutch & the long-awaited Finnish releases.



^ two lovely photo-recce Spitfires by HM. It is nice to finally have something Swedish in my collection.

[snake]

Very impressive Chairman.

It was fun going through this entire thread,and watch your collection grow,and mature.

Great stuff.

[ketelone]

WOW!

[456THBG]

I was pretty impressed with my own personal collection of 1/18th scale aircraft and the way I have them displayed, but your collection, especially the presentaion, is off the charts!
Displaying a collection is, to me, a form of art - It requires imagination, $$$ funds & available space, and is always a work in progress! It can be a never ending quest to achieve the unattainable "perfection", but, like so many things in life, it's the "journey" that makes it all worth it.
Congratulations on what you have accomplished on your "journey"!

[GI546]

are you trying to make me jealous?

[bigriver]

Just Wow!! Great collection.

[ChairmanMilo]

Thanks, guys

My wife believes me when I tell her that re-arranging my collection is my version of Feng shui... I started out with a haphazard display all over the place, but then I realized that getting displays to look just right (like the Thud/Phantom row) is a lot more aesthetically pleasing, and realistic to boot.

I can't wait to get my AJ210 F-14 & Gulf War RAF jets out once I clear a shelf of gigantic tanks. CW F-14s are huge

[ChairmanMilo]

I finally had a chance to display some newer additions to my collection.



^ three "Desert Storm" aircraft by Corgi, a Jaguar, Tornado & Buccaneer. I'm very happy to finally have these three.



^ three Falklands War Harriers by Corgi, with the GR.3 & FRS.1 from the HMS Hermes set, and the "Sharkie" Ward FRS.1 released last year.



^ my first Century Wings F-14, AJ210. A gigantic fast mover if there ever was one.



^ my night fighter collection, the most recent addition being the LX*A Hurricane IIB by Easy Model.



^ my 1:72 armour collection, with all of my WW2 German collection put away & replaced with a row of Centurion main battle tanks, Korean War armour and modern tanks (Leopard 2A4, Leopard 2A5, Leopard 2A6 and Challenger 2 with bar armour). It is nice to finally have the Centurions out. I have yet to add the first, third & sixth releases to my collection. Give me time.

[ChairmanMilo]

Here are some updates.



^ Hobby Master "Black Sheep" A-4M sitting next to the only other jet I have from that era in US carrier aviation, which is also my only Century Wings F-14. I figure they look pretty good displayed together.



^ Another shot of the same A-4.



^ new cheap Ikea shelf that has RAF night fighters on top, boxed 1:400 aircraft below that, my "to read" pile below that, and tons of boxed 1:72 armour below that. It's nice to be organized, and even more nice to have that many 1:400 aircraft (including three of the hard-to-find C-5 Galaxy heavies released by Dragon eons ago).



^ I shuffled my 1:72 armour display around a bit to fit in yet another Hobby Master Centurion. I managed to pick up the three I didn't already have (Australian, British and British Suez Crisis) from the Flying Tiger last month. It is nice that they don't have to worry about mandatory pricing over in the UK when it comes to HM products. I managed to squeeze the Suez Crisis Centurion in the second shelf.



^ Gemini's "Snoot's Sniper" at long last.



^ newly re-arranged RAF night fighter collection, with the new HM Guy Gibson Beaufighter in the back row.



^ even better than finally getting "Snoot's Sniper", a mint RAF Coastal Command Flying Fortress!

[ChairmanMilo]

Here are some quick updates.



^ the absolute pride of my collection, the Arrow from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's new line.



^ I moved & re-arranged my collection of Falklands War aircraft as well as my two Hobby Master Harriers.



^ two Hobby Master A-10s, including the most recent - "Killy Chick" as flown by Captain Kim Campbell during OIF.



^ I moved my Vietnam War collection to where there is more room. Out again is the Century Wings USAF A-7 and both Hobby Master US Army 174th AHC Huey "Frogs". On the shelf below that are my last 1:32 and 1:35 scale tanks. I sold off all of the rest recently - I couldn't sell the Forces of Valor Matilda II, though, or the two dragon Tigers.

[snake]

Great additions Chairman.

That Arrow is very impressive.I have one myself,and really like it.Hope CWHM continues to release excellent models.

Love seeing pictures of these outstanding collections.

[ChairmanMilo]

Here are some more updates, brought to you in part by Merritec! Scott Merritt was kind enough to send me a box of diecast earlier this month.



^ Dragon's most recent 1:35 Tiger I (left) sitting with two of the earlier Tiger I releases.



^ Corgi's most recent Swordfish, a Mark I as flown off of a MAC with 836 Sn FAA.



^ at long last, Corgi's most recent Hurricane, a Mark I flown by "Cobber" Kain during the Battle of France.



^ I managed to squeeze Corgi's first Do 17 on my Luftwaffe shelf. It looks great.



^ the Vietnam War shelf now.



^ the second A-1 Skyraider released by Hobby Master. I had a bit of "glue fog" inside the canopy, but I managed to wipe most of it away with some patience and a piece of tissue paper. No special work required - no Future.



^ Hobby Master's first F-22 Raptor. The nose gap is only really terrible if you hold it up to a light at a certain angle. The canopy fits perfectly and none of the ordnance was damaged, although it was surprising how it was all stuffed into a tiny little compartment in the vacu-form packaging.

[ChairmanMilo]

Here are some updates.



^ my ROCAF jet set, seven strong so far. I wish I could find the third Dragon F-16.



^ possibly the most intricately detailed 1:72 aircraft in my collection, the ROCAF F-84 by Skymax.



^ two recently reorganized shelves - USAAF aircraft swapped for RAAF aircraft, and Luftwaffe aircraft swapped for Korean War fighters below that.



^ some of the RAAF fighters - the Beaufighter XXI by Hobby Master, Clive Caldwell Spitfire V by Corgi, P-39F by Hobby Master and Robert Gibbes Spitfire IX by Witty. I popped the conformal fuel tank off of the Witty Spitfire with a box cutter and it looks quite a bit better. I might have to do that with the rest of my Witty Spitfires.



^ other half of the RAAF fighters - Robert Gibbes Spitfire VIII by Corgi, F-4 recce Lightning by Corgi, Stan Galton Spitfire V by Dragon and Desert Air Force P-51D Mustang by Dragon. This is the first time I've had the recce Lightning out, and I am very much hoping Corgi releases another at some point in the near future.



^ some Korean War jets, including a new addition to my collection, the first Skymax F-84.



^ more Korean War jets and a P-51D. The two F-86s to the front are recent Easy Model releases, one of which is a SAAF Sabre.



^ all four Korean War MiG-15s by Hobby Master released so far, including the recent Chinese volunteer releases to the front.



^ three Canadian Starfighters by Hobby Master, including the most recent release in the middle.



^ the aforementioned Canadian Starfighter.



^ RAF night fighters, including all three all-black Hobby Master Beaufighters.



^ the most recent addition, "Bambi".

[ChairmanMilo]

It's hard to believe I haven't updated this thread in almost half a year.

Work has been incredibly busy and while additions to my collection keep on coming, I've slowed down the tempo somewhat now that I have damn near every piece of diecast I set out to buy when I first started collecting. It goes without saying that I have very little space now and I have to slow down out of financial consideration as well. I may be moving this summer to an apartment of similar size, but we're purging some furniture we don't need and we'll have a storage unit in the building we're moving into. That will make things a lot easier for my Lauren & I, as the size of my collection seems to be adding some strain to our marriage

I can laugh because that's an understatement, and it isn't adding strain so much as increasing the amount of strain that already existed when I started collecting 1:32 tanks back in 2007 when we had only 450 square feet in our first apartment. 40 diecast tanks in that scale pushed her over the edge. 500 diecast aircraft and tanks of a much smaller scale seem to be less strain somehow Almost all of the large scale stuff is gone, except for my 1:32 Forces of Valor Matilda II, which I have kept because I'm fond of the type (have been ever since I read Colin Forbes' "Tramp in Armor"). I also kept my three 1:35 Dragon Tiger Is because they are pieces of art compared to the Forces of Valor tanks I sold off, and I would never be able to build a kit and make it look a fraction as good.



^ my three Dutch F-16s by Witty and Gemini Aces in front of the soccer flag I bought during the World Cup last year. Orange is great, what can I say.

The Hobby Master RAF Harrier GR.7 and GR.9 are still there on the shelf below. I think I'll be upset about the disbandment of the RAF Harrier fleet for a long time.



^ I rearranged the Vietnam War and Korean War shelves last month over a few beers. Took quite a while. I ran out of room on the SEA shelf after I got the F-111, so I decided to split the shelf between USAF and USN/USMC aircraft of that period. Less looks a lot better in my humble opinion. I finally had room to get out the first Hobby Master A-1, which is a peach (apart from the glue fogging on the canopy of course). The "Thor's Hammer" F-100 looks great, too. The first two much-sought Hobby Master F-4s take "center stage" over the F-111. In my opinion, all three of the aircraft in the center are show-stoppers.

The Korean War shelf now has the first two Falcon Models releases on it, the Panther & the T-33.



^ three USN and one USMC aircraft of the Vietnam War, including the first Hobby Master Skyraider.



^ five USAF aircraft of the Vietnam War, including the most recent F-100, "Thor's Hammer".



^ a shot showing the re-arranged Vietnam War and Korean War shelves that is more recent. The Korean War shelf had to be rearranged even more to fit the recently released HM Korean War Skyraider of VA-195 "The Dambusters". Looks great with the torpedo, don't you think? What you may also notice is that I switched the RAAF aircraft out for a full shelf of Hobby Master Texans & Harvards. What you see are all 18 of the releases out so far, including all four exclusive releases on the far right, and not including the most recent three releases (USMC, Swedish AF and Spanish AF) which will be here soon enough. These Harvards and Texans are about the easiest to set up out of all of the diecast I have in my collection. Once you set them up, they're steady on their undercarriage and stands and aren't going anywhere. There are no fiddly bits and there is no fuss. I think the two RCAF Harvards (far right) and the Luke Field Texan (second from the left in the front row) really steal the show.



^ the top two shelves showing a late-war set of RAF and RCAF aircraft and more noticeably, four heavy bombers and a B-25 on top. I haven't had the B-25 out since I first started collecting - it was one of the first 10 aircraft I bought, and it is still one of the best bargains I've gotten through dealing with fellow forum members. The Halifax ("Friday the 13th") and Lancaster ("Phantom of the Ruhr") dominate one side while the two most recent Corgi B-17s, "Memphis Belle" and "Hell's Angels" dominate the right. I really wish I had enough room to display all of my heavies at once.



^ the second Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Avro Arrow, RL 201, sitting next to where I am typing this out right now. I had to put RL 203 away because they won't both fit on the desk, and Lauren would murder me if I cluttered the desk more than I already do. We share this desk, so I have to be a tad considerate right?



^ two gorgeous photo-recce Spitfires by Hobby Master. "The Last" is probably the best out of the lot so far.



^ the first Hobby Master Spitfire I in 1:48 sitting next to one of the Franklin Mint Hurricanes in the same scale. I rather like HM's new Spitfire and plan on adding quite a few of them to my collection.



^ three Corgi SE.5s, including the most recent release, McCudden's specially modified mount.

[snake]

Thanks for the update, Chairman.

Great collection of Harvards there.

And with HM release of the Skyraider F-105, and F-111, the Vietnam era has some great representation now..

[ChairmanMilo]

Thanks for the update, Chairman.

Great collection of Harvards there.

And with HM release of the Skyraider F-105, and F-111, the Vietnam era has some great representation now..

Thank you. I'm glad that my desire to collect every Harvard and Texan doesn't cost me too much money, and doesn't take up too much of my limited space. I feel the same way about HM's P-39s - they're tiny and relatively inexpensive, too

To think that three years ago the Vietnam War didn't have much representation in diecast. HM has gone all-out to fix that, and I for one really appreciate it. Once they release an F-101 it'll be an even more complete and representative set.