Small Scale Military Headquarters

Sorry for the overly dramatic title.....couldn't resist.

This may sound kind of flakey but i have sort of stumbled upon something that i find very intriguing, which i can see as an interestng way of adding more '1/18' scale models to any collection.

You'll note i have 1/18 scale in quotation marks. This mostly pertains to aircraft but can be applied to anything. I have progressively been coming to the conclusion that i will have to add off scale models to my collection, if i want to continue to have decent variety. Even when 21c, AT and BBI were in full force this was the case because so many subjects were never going to be covered by them. RC planes have been a big help but event they are limited. Very large aircraft, i'm talking B-1's and B-52's etc are never going to be made near to 1/18 scale, in any commercial RC form, if for no other reason than the package size would need to be so big that they would not be commercially viable.

Realizing this, i still wanted to be able to get these larger types of planes into my collection; but the only choice was to go well under scale to do it. This all came to a head a few weeks ago when a nice RC B-2 bomber was released. It has a 63 inch wingspan, a nice size but only about 1/32 scale. After much deliberation i decided i'd probably go for it but the fact it was so underscale was not sitting well with me. I really, really like things being to scale and have been pretty stubborn about this over the years.

What to do? I was toying (no pun intended) with many different ideas, including taking forced perspective photos of my underscale planes to at least make them appear 1/18, to do flats instead (which are photocopies of high quality pictures enlarged to 1/18 scale) etc but i didn't really like these solutions.

Then one day recently i took my glasses off to rub my eyes and for some reason looked through them while they were far away from me. Low and behold the object i was looking at appeared huge and sharply in focus. I'd seen this effect before of course but its potential had never dawned on me.

So i went and dug out an old 1/32 model airplane i had...it's all bashed up but served the purpose. I moved my glasses back and forth in front of my eyes until the model appeared to be about twice its size. I then compared this image it to actual 1/18 planes in the room and it looked just as good as any of them.

So, to make a long story a bit longer, i think what i'm going to do is to go ahead now and get this B-2 and maybe other well off scale aircraft models that i desire. I can enjoy them on their own and now, if i want to view them in '1/18' scale, simply look at them through my glasses held several inches in front of my eyes and they will magically transform to 1/18 scale.

As i said, i know this sounds flakey but i find it to be quite powerful and a resourceful, for lack of a better word, way to add greater variety to my collection while preserving, at least to a degree, the scale purity of it.

Now i'm considering getting 1/24 mosquitos, hurricanes, harriers and even thinking about a 1/32 ju-88. These never really interested me before but now that i can so quickly view them in 1/18 scale, literally at a glance, i find them much more appealing.

I can even see applications for this to tanks (thinking 1/24 t-34 and su-100) star wars stuff (imperial shuttle, at-at bmf) and other neat stuff like a 1/35 schnellboot or Dora railway gun.

And no, i am neither drunk nor on crack as i write this.

Just be careful on sunny days!
You will either burn your eyes,or the model.

Welcome to my multi-scale world

To get the vehicle and aircraft variety I desire - and which are sorely lacking in 1:18 - I've collected multiple scales for years. My collection ranges from 1:6 scale pieces down to 1:144. Ideally, I like to get the same type of tank or plane in multiple scales. For example, a Sherman tank or P-51 in 1:144, 1:72, 1:48, 1:32 and 1:18th scales.

1:32 scale really is not a bad scale to collect and is my favorite next to 1:18. There is a lot of variety and the models are still large enough to include a lot of detail. Some of the latest 1:32 offereings by 21c, BBI, and FOV are as good of quality, if not better, than their 1:18th pieces. The 21c 1:32 Corsair has better detail than its 1:18th cousin; the BBI 1:32 F-4 Phantom has more detail and functionality than their 1:18 scale F-16; and the FOV 1:32 Bradley is much better than the 1:18 Bravo Team version.

Variety in one's collection is a good thing

Yep tryed this before, but just can't pull myself to go with it for long. For one I don't have the money to get everything on the market that I would love to have. 2 is I am married, and that just wont work when the garage allready looks like Wrightpatterson AFB Mueseum. And like I said before nothin comes close to 1:18. This hobby gets frustrating a lot, but its all worth the wait when something does come out.

actually 1/16 is a bit nicer.....and 1/12 better still. Don't even get me started about 1/6. In other words the bigger the better but usually the lesser the variety...

Maybe you could set up some kind of shadow box. With a lens type thing on it.

Interesting topic Aferg. The reason I haven't taken to 1/16 tanks is because of the size difference. The RC aircraft is new to me so I find hunting for an exact plane I want in 1/18 tedious.
I have given thought to making twin engine / large aircraft. The compromise being, they would be fuselages only. A Catalina Flying Boat for example would work ok, because the landing gear is part of the fuslage (Rolling fuselage, if you like).
Even a Dakota fuselage on a trailer / trolley would be cool. Plus, you wouldn't have to build engines / main landing gears.

I work in the optical field, so if you need a large lens to view your models, I may be able to help.

how large of a lense would be possible? I need it to be +1.5, reading glasses type (as opposed to a magnifying type lense) and as big as possible.

The biggest i've found is 2 inch by 2 1/2 inch. Something much larger would be preferred but i am unsure as to what the view through it would be like ie would the edges of the field of view be unmagnified, differently magnified or blurry.

i'd kind of abandoned this idea until the other day. I bought a magnifying glass at the dollar store (for $1) to use in an unrelated project and happened to look through it at one of my planes which was a few feet away. I expected it to be a big blur, like you would normally see through a magnifying glass that is not held very close to the object you're viewing.

To my surprise i saw a fairly clear and greatly magnified image of the plane. I guess the dollar store magnifying glass is of lousy quality and not a very strong lens, but is basically like a large reading glasses lens....but this is perfect for my purposes. The best part is its size. It's over 3 inches in diameter, so it provides a large field of view. Something lacking when i was experimenting with this idea using my reading glasses.

I tried looking at my big millennium falcon through it, doubling its size and it was not problem and i could see about 80% of the falcon in the lens' field of view. By comparing the image in the lens to regular 1/18 items around it in the room it gave a very good impression of how big a 1/18 falcon would actually be. The effect was very good. The only drawback is the focus is not sharp.....it's a bit fuzzy.

But for large aircraft i can see this being a pretty nifty technique. A 1/18 b-2 or b-52 is pretty much out of the question in this scale, but i know of large r/c kits that are about half to 2/3 the correct size. Still big impressive models but well underscale. But by viewing them through this magnifying glass i could blow them up in appearance to appear 1/18 whenever i felt like it.

Other applications would be a 1/35 schnellboot or dora railway gun...viewed through the lens they could appear 1/18 scale.

I was just like you, i was trying to stick to a scale ! It all started with a franklin mint F 18 in 1/100 scale (very nice) , I then discovered 1/48 with FM also ( one F 16 + one F 18 )

and then i discovered in 2004 the 1/18 marvels ( F 16 & F 18 also !)

I decided to stick to 1/18 but due to space and diversity consideration i also elected for 1/72 so i've got 20 models in 1/18 (planes and helis) and 50 in 1/72....

All was for the best when i discoverd the 1/32 BBI & 21st CTand the magnificent 1/48 hobby master SPitfire and blue angels PANTHER F9F !


So now i changed my mind and collect with a purpose :

- I ve got a collection of P 51 mustang ( i try to have one model per scale & per brand = 40 mustangs !)

- I am begining a collection of blue angels (the main one is my BBI 1/18 HORNET and i've got the 1/72 skyhawk + 1/48 panther and i am planning some 1/100 or 1/200 "fat albert" hercules )

- The same for the jolly rogers : I ve got 3 tomcat in 1/72 + F18F (from different brands) + 1/32 4D vision TOMCAT and 1/32 BBI phantom and of course my SKYWORKS custom JSI one

The point is that now i don't stick to a scale but a to a theme !

I think it's a nice display to have a lot of plane with often slightly different scheme & scale all together.

For exemple for the mustangs i've got a mix of B C & D models, i wish ALL GO toys would make an early D modail with the short tail for exemple !




But as far as possible i will try to collect mainly 1/72 (for space) and 1/18 (for fun)

I collect 1/18 and 1/32 scale planes. I can't afford to buy the more expensive die-cast planes that run in the triple digits or some models that aren't made, so what I started doing is use plans from balsa kits of models that I don't have in 1/18 and 1/32 scale and build them. I'm working on a B 25 Mitchell in 1/32 scale and have a Avro Lancaster bomber also in 1/32 scale (38" wing span) I'm trying different coverings other than the tissue normally used.

Please...just stop man.......if you can afford a 1/17th b-17.....then buy it. there's lots of us who cant. And if a 1/20th spitfire just wont do it for you....then Iguess I will have to wait till you are satisfied, cause the taliban wont stop sending their guys to kill me otherwise. I'm so sorry the world wont let you be Aferg but C'mon.

huh??

can you decode your last message for me, popeye?

popeye357 wrote:Please...just stop man.......if you can afford a 1/17th b-17.....then buy it. there's lots of us who cant. And if a 1/20th spitfire just wont do it for you....then Iguess I will have to wait till you are satisfied, cause the taliban wont stop sending their guys to kill me otherwise. I'm so sorry the world wont let you be Aferg but C'mon.

What the hec are you trying to say? This is probably the first post I've ever seen that I dont have a clue! LOL!!!!!

Hahaha, I was pretty drunk when I wrote that:)

lol.....i was going to ask you if you were drunk.

i think you were chastising me, for not stopping to smell the roses enough.