I've got to check...

[Ruger]

I also posted this in the B/S/T forum, but I wanted to be sure.

I should begin with an apology.

I'm not that into WWII aircraft.

I'm sorry. I like them, I have a few personal favorites, and enjoy reading up on them, but I'm a tank guy. And even then, newer is better. I've got a few favorites of WWII vintage, but I'm well on my way to my second platoon of M1A1's. The only other tank that I have multiples of is the 21st Panther. That was mostly due to luck, but I chose to keep them, as the Panther is one of my favorite WWII tanks.

I only have one aircraft in my collection, and it's one that would make many of you turn up your noses in disgust. It's Sky Captain's P-40. I know, it's not an actual paint scheme. It's not even accurate for the movie version... But the P-40 has always been my favorite WWII plane, and a shark mouth makes it even better. When I first saw Sky Captain's... Well, I fell for it. I was even willing to jump scale for it before I knew it was produced in 1:32 as well. I only recently picked mine up from Ebay, and I'm still not willing to admit to myself, let alone anyone else, what I paid for it. I was so caught up in it, I kept bidding on a second one after winning the first, before coming to my senses and letting it go.

But this isn't about me. It revolves more about a friend of mine's son. He's roughly 10 years old, and is beginning to play with toy army men, and of course, is fascinated by my collection. I know that my new P-40 will be envied. And Christmas is coming. So I've got this plan forming. The basics of it are:

1) I'll purchase a 1:32 fighter plane of the WWII era

2) My girlfriend (the artistically skilled on of us) will paint it in a cool custom scheme, something that will look good with my black and sharkmouthed P-40

3) We'll give it to the boy for Christmas

4) Have dogfights in my parents backyard and/or join forces to strafe the dogs

It seems pretty simple. And step one is completed as of this morning. I bought a plane. But, since as I mentioned, I don't follow the WWII planes as well as I could, I wanted to run it by you guys and make sure I didn't inadvertantly pick up something anyone is looking for. I'd really hate to paint over something someone out there is looking everywhere for, all the more so since it will likely be a completely inappropriate scheme (tiger stripes, flames, or some such...).

So, before I open the box, is anyone interested in a FW 190A-8 Red 19 Kolle Alaaf, Oberfeldwebel Ernst Schroder 5./JG 300? It claims to be a S2 limited edition. All I'm looking for is a 1:32 plane, so if anyone is interested, I can trade this for just about anything. If no one wants it, this weekend it will get some sort of paint job. I just wanted to check. If you guys knew what I had done to one of the (apparently much loved) Stugs from Italy, you'd know why now I have to ask first...

MV