1:72 Collecting Question

[jlspec]

I did pickup a Dragon Wildcat and Hellcat and a couple Dragon Shermans from Great Models.

[Dauntless]

Did you pick up that last Wildcat? The one with the dark blue scheme?

Here's some pics I took of various planes and military vehicles:

FOV P-40B "Welch" with some Johnny Lightnings:

By sbdauntless at 2012-03-23

Corgi B-25 "Heavenly Body" :

By sbdauntless at 2012-03-23

Matchbox P-38 "General Olds":


By sbdauntless at 2012-03-23

[Dauntless]

I haven't really been able to to take out of the package much of the new stuff I bought lately till I can get my glass cabinets put together, but I have some stuff already loose gathering dust on the shelves, like this Matchbox Rabaul Zero (on the wrong stand ):


By sbdauntless at 2012-03-23

[snake]

See you got your Heavenly Body B-25, Dauntless.

Any sign of the Rhodesian Lanc, yet?

Interested in your thoughts on both.

But as you have your HB B-25 now, what are your impressions, and any criticisms.

[Dauntless]

I like it a lot. It's heavy. I didn't really check it out except to take a couple pics. (my camera sucks ) I was so afraid of breaking something and until I can get my cabinets put together I put it back in the box without really checking it out good and installing the landing gear too.

I got the Lanc a couple of days ago, but it's still in it's shipping box. I'm going to look it over this weekend. I can just imagine the weight of the thing even out of the box.

[jlspec]

Did you pick up that last Wildcat? The one with the dark blue scheme?

I got the USS Ranger VF-9 Wildcat with the Operation Torch insignia and the Minsi Hellcat (last one of these I think)

[cjg476]

Not sure if you guys care or not, but Aikens airplanes has a new website now that is better than the old one.

http://www.aikensairplanes.mybigcommerce.com/

[snake]

Just briefly checked out the new Aikens site.

It looks much newer, and flashier so that is a positive.

However, it seems that with this new format, they are only showing models that they have in stock. I used to use Aikens website as a bit of a reference site, as they would list, and have pictures of all the aircraft, that they had, whether in stock, or not. For example, they would have listed all the Corgi 1/72 B-24's that were produced, but only actually have 3 of 12 of them available for sale.

Tricatus used to have a brilliant Corgi website, but he took that down about a year ago. Aikens was a great reference site for Corgi, and most of the other manufacturers. Dragon, HM, Witty, etc.

So sad to see the old website format go, as it was very useful in that regard.

[cjg476]

I liked the old one for references to Snake, but I do like the new one. Its alot easier to find and buy things like at the mule. Before you had to open a new tab or it would take you back to the top of the screen if you went back to the page you were browsing and you would have to start over.

Sally told me it has been five years in the making and they are about to turn the reigns over to someone else because they are doing the order filling seven days a week now.

I told her I welcomed the new site and loved how easy it was to find what you were looking for. Im not sure if they old website will disappear or if it will still be around for reference.

Also I bought five more tanks today. All Dragon German and one russian T-34 from leningrad.

[Dauntless]

Finally unpacked my Lanc and took some quick pics with a Matchbox Spit.


By sbdauntless at 2012-03-28


By sbdauntless at 2012-03-28


By sbdauntless at 2012-03-28

[snake]

Nice looking Lanc, Dauntless.

Glad you held off and got the one you wanted, with the dorsal turret. One of Corgi's best models, IMO, with no real issues at all.

Pairs up nicely with your Spitfire.

[Dauntless]

Yeah it's nice, but it arrived with dust on it. Will have to get some compressed air on it to clean it up.
I want to display it on the ground with some support vehicles, maybe the Hobby Master RAF refueling truck and a jeep etc.

The bombay doors opening is a cool feature.

What's that pod under the rear fuselage, an observation bubble to see if the bombs hit? There's no guns there for a bottom attack, something I read the German night fighters did often as it was a vulnerable area of the Lanc.

I would like to get the "Night Reaper" Hurricane to go along with this theme, but I had read they forgot to put a scoop on the bottom, and you have to send off for it? I read it is the first Hurricane that is a new tooling though I do believe right? A low limited number made also.

[snake]

That bulge on the underside, is an H2S blister, containing ground mapping radar.

The night bombing campaign was basically a war of electronic measures, and countermeasures, and is pretty fascinating.

Some info about H2S.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H2S_radar

In regards to that Corgi Night Reaper Hurricane, it was indeed made without the oil cooler scoop , and no idea how that passed QC, as all their other Hurricanes were fine. Apparently you can ask Corgi for the missing scoop, and they will send you one. I guess that is one thing.

Not sure if the entire production run of Night Reaper has this problem, but I would think it would. A pretty bad mistake from Corgi, who usually get this sort of thing right.

[Dauntless]

That's an interesting read Snake, thanks.

I had read quite a while ago that the Brit night fighter pilots used to wear sunglasses at night when on leave to strengthen their night vision. I imagine these pilots didn't see much daylight working the night shift all the time.

You can get the Night Reaper pretty cheap these days on ebay, probably because of the scoop trouble.
Interesting couple of nodules on the side of the cowling up near the canopy. My guess some sort of radar?
http://www.flyingmule.com/products/CG-AA39701

I may just wait for the new tooling daylight Hurricane IIC by Corgi which comes out pretty soon. It looks cool in the grey and green scheme.
http://www.aikensairplanes.com/corgi/aa39702a.htm

Btw, you can still find the old Aikens site for reference if you type it in. I use it a lot along with the Flying Mule to look over sold out planes. It is invaluable. I hope they keep some sort of archive, that would be nice.

[snake]

I am glad to see the old Aikens site still up, as it is a great reference, and very helpful.

No surprise that the Night Reaper Hurricane is going for cheap, as it is a pretty serious oversight, and even though Corgi does supply the part, many probably figure it is not worth the hassle.

The "nodules" on the side of the cowling, are there to stop the pilot from seeing the glow coming from the opening of the exhaust stacks, which would adversely affect the pilots night vision. Basically a blind.

Some of the Lancs had shrouds covering the exhausts as well, probably for not disrupting night vision, and perhaps to make the plane less visible at night.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pcEBLPxu228/T ... ider-1.jpg

[Dauntless]

Just scored an IXO KI-43 Hyabusha "Oscar' for $28 shipped. Same seller had a KI-84 "Frank" version 1 green with the red stripes that went for $68. http://www.ebay.com/itm/IXO-MODEL-AIRCR ... _821wt_962
The first IXO "Frank" seems to be climbing in value, is hard to find and doesn't come up too often.

Got one from a Euro seller for less a while back (whew) Still working on getting all the 1:72 Japanese planes.

[snake]

Well done Dauntless.

It is somewhat surprising how much these "cheap" IXO models go for these days.

The quality is not bad, and they do make some great gap fillers in 1/72 that won't be done anytime soon. Got a few myself, but ETO.

[Dauntless]

Yeah there's only a few I want from IXO, that being the Japanese planes that aren't made anywhere else.
Though maybe a couple of obscure planes in the ETO like the HE-129.

Does anybody have any of the new tooling Corgi Spitfires?
I was thinking about getting the new one soon to be released. It's the same bird as the 21stC 1:32 Spitfire.
http://www.corgi.co.uk/_assets/images/c ... A39205.jpg

That along with the new tooling Hurricane so far only released as the "Night Reaper" both look to be improvements over the removable engine cover earlier versions. http://www.corgi.co.uk/_assets/images/c ... 2-main.jpg

[snake]

The only IXO I have Dauntless are the from the ETO, including the He 219. Also have the Arado 234, Do335, Hs 129, and the Blackburn Skua. Talk about an ugly aircraft.







I don't do 1/72 for the single engined fighters, but do have the 1/32 "Night Reaper" from Corgi. Very nice model, and pretty hard to get.

[Dauntless]

Wow! don't think I've ever seen that Night Reaper. Same pilot different Hurricane?

The Skua does look like a duck

[snake]

Same pilot, and the same Hurricane.

The all black version seems to be his earlier scheme, based on his kill tally, and a very sucessful Czech pilot for the RAF.

Some info on Karel Kuttelwascher. "Night Reaper"

http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/nighthawk.html

[Dauntless]

Got me three Hobby Master planes in the last few weeks. Two of them arrived today.

SBD-3 Dauntless "Battle of the Coral Sea"
TBF Avenger "Battle of the Philippine Sea"
JU-87G Stuka Tank Buster "Slovakia 1944" (Rudel)

[snake]

Some important aircraft you picked up there, Dauntless.

Particularly the Rudel Stuka.

[snake]

Got a 1/72 scale Corgi Mosquito today.

Have two of the very large 1/32 versions, and figured I should get one in 1/72.

And based out of Scotland, the land of my birth.












"RAF Banff was built for Coastal Command in 1942 in order to allow anti-shipping and anti-U boat operations over the north sea and around the coast of Norway. From October 1944 the Banff Strike Wing operated with mainly Mosquitoes. The Strike Wing crews often ran the gauntlet of heavy anti-aircraft fire as they penetrated deep into heavily defended Norwegian Fijords to attack shipping targets at anchor. The Wing achieved outstanding success but at a heavy loss with over 80 crews lost during the last months of the war 143 Sqn arrived at Banff in October 1944 operating Beaufighters but quickly converted to Mosquitoes. The 25lb AP rocket armed Mosquito FB MkVI HR405, NE-A was flown by by Squadron Leader David Pritchard DFC for a photo shoot in February 1945 and is therefore a well photographed aircraft. Its combat history is a little more sketchy but it is known to have been involved in the famous Banff Wing battle with FW190s of JG5 on 23rd March 1945 and it was unquestionably a real Banff veteran, serving with the Strike Wing from September 1944 until the end of the war when it transferred to 14 Squadron."

[cjg476]

Jack!!! Your scottish!!! Nice...good score. I dont have one of those yet, was thinking about getting one. I wanted one of the other versions can't remember which one but I think it had D-Day stripes. But I like the history of that one. Seems like this thread is pretty quiet lately.

I recently purchased an airbrush kit and compressor to do three 1/72 revell model kits I got from hayworth. I have an FW-200 an He-177 and a Ju 290 I cant wait to ge started on soon.

Besides that I havent purchased much.

I think I have told you guys before I have a large Star Wars collection, Im thinking about selling it all to start funding my diecast addiction. Star Wars isnt what it used to be for me anymore. I used to love to hunt for new stuff but the prices of stuff at walmart and at retail have pushed me and my brothers out of it and were thinking of moving on plus the fact you cant find any of the good stuff out at the store. I have a whole room that is nothing but star wars toys.

I think I have a a large collection of stuff that could fetch some good money. And the only thing I can think about it what diecast will I buy first.