Howdy!
Is it really the end of January, 2022? That went quick…
As I write this, I have supper cooking in the air fryer and the 60th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona on the TV. This year, 61 cars across five classes took the green flag—a massive field! I was swapping Facebook messages with a few friends, and remembered that the last race we saw in person was in 2009. While I miss the sounds and smells of “being there”, I find that I’m much more comfortable on my couch that I was sitting and freezing in the stands…
With the IMSA/ACO cooperation agreements in place, things are looking different—and will be next year as well. I like the direction things are headed so far. The race so far has been close, with a few unfortunate incidents that have taken some cars out of the race, but hey, that’s how it goes. I just looked—it is right at the time where the sun has retreated to the west and there’s a neat purple-orange glow in the skies, the time when day turns to night. As the darkness settles in and the blackness envelops the Speedway, all sorts of things could happen. This is why I love sports car endurance racing.
On other fronts, the weather has been goofy here in the Greater Upper Midlands Co-Prosperity Sphere. Two weeks ago, we were hit with an ice storm. We only had about a tenth of an inch, but that tenth of an inch caused all sorts of issues. We were without power for 17 hours that Sunday—I went to bed at 10, couldn’t sleep (it was cold, and I don’t do well all bundled up), and sometime around 11 heard the chain saws as the electric cooperative attended to the problem. By 1:15 AM on Monday, we had power. We were some of the lucky ones--some folks didn't get power back until late Monday.
Last weekend, we had snow, about 2 inches’ worth. Fortunately, it was on a Saturday—as I’ve said before, 2 inches may as well be 20 feet in this neck of the woods. This morning, we had heavy frost, but as I ventured out to buy groceries I noticed that several areas received a dusting of snow. Yep. January in South Carolina…
We’re six months away from my 40th high school class reunion. It has been so much fun catching up with people, and even more fun when we see they have bought a ticket to attend. With that fun comes the sadness when we hear of yet another classmate who is no longer with us. As I told our reunion chair, it is sad knowing they are gone, but sadder still when we realize many of them passed years ago, and we’re just now finding out.
And, of course, it is sad when a classmate tells us they won’t attend. Some have valid reasons—a few have cited COVID-19, which I fully understand. Some will be traveling, some can’t get away from work, and others have kids who are entering college, so they need to be around for that. And, to be fair, there are some who can’t afford it—which I totally get, too. Unfortunately, stuff costs what it costs—we’re not making a profit off this, and it is happening in South Florida, on the beach (literally), in July.
Some are still on the fence, so the committee has started to directly contact them to see what’s going on. Hopefully, we can convince more than a few to come and join us.
On the plastic front, I had cleaned out the “Back Burner” projects except one—a Reheat 120mm figure of Neil Armstrong on the moon. In the meantime, I have brought the aforementioned 1/72nd scale A-7 and F-16’s out for completion. Being 1/72nd scale kits, I can get them finished in short order if I want to. And I do want to…
As they sit now, the A-7 has had paint applied, and will get a clear coat in a day or so. This kit was curious—the wings had been assembled, complete with the pylons, and at one time were attached to the fuselage. I guess when Rick needed to move, he carefully broke the wings back off so the kit would fit in the box. Also in the box were a bunch of Mk 82 Snakeyes, a few Shrikes, a couple of TER’s (the center wing pylons had already been fitted with MER’s), and a bunch of Sidewinders. He had also thrown the elements for a VA-147 A-7A in the box, and a initially considered using them. On close inspection, I was not sure they would work, so I went looking for different options. My wife handed me a Hannants’ Xtradecal sheet with an A-7B from VA-155 that she had in her decal cabinet, so that’s where I’m headed. I had an old Microscale sheet with a similar option, as well as another with a VA-215 “Barn Owls” scheme, but again I had doubts as to whether they would work or fall apart. I took the safe route…
The two F-16’s were more or less still in kit form. Rick had painted the cockpits and started to add a photoetch set to the C model. I decided to remove the PE parts and close the canopies on both—honestly, in 1/72nd scale, you can’t see much anyway and to me the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. At this moment, the fuselages are assembled and waiting to have the seams dressed.
The bigger challenge was to figure out what direction Rick was headed with them. There were no decals or notes, so I wasn’t sure. I dredged through the decal stash and found some options. For the F-16A, I settled on a Block 10 aircraft in South Carolina Air National Guard colors. That led to a decision—the kit is a Block 15 with the enlarged horizontal stabs. I could cut them down and re-contour them, but in the end I think I’ll avail myself of a set of Quickboost items instead.
Originally, I wanted to do the F-16C as the Aviano jet with the commemorative USAF 50th Anniversary scheme, and intended to do just that. However, a little voice in the back of my noggin kept saying “Block number! Check the Block number, dummy!” And, sure enough, the Aviano jet was a Block 40 (GE power, etc.), something the Hasegawa kit can’t do. So, I went back through the decals and found decals for a Shaw AFB-based Block 25 jet attached to the 363rd TFW. The decals are from the “not quite crap, but certainly not gems!” period for Microscale, which means I may try to find an alternate—but I figure I’ll make the pair a South Carolina themed mini-collection.
Last time, I told you how I all but emptied the Back Burner cabinet. Here’s some eye candy for you…
The Aeroclub 1/48th scale Gloster Gamecock. This was before I added the serials using decals--at this point, all the color you see on the model is paint. It is built as a machine from the RAF's No. 43 Squadron circa 1926.
Hasegawa's 1/72nd scale F-4N kit with Microscale decals to depict "Old Nick 200" from VF-111 circa 1974.
Another Hasegawa Phantom in 1/72nd scale, this time an F-4B dressed up as the CVW-15 CAG jet from VF-51, the airplane known as the Supersonic Can Opener
This is one of the busts that DML included in their 1/48th scale airplane kits--this is Ernst Udet.
Another 43 Squadron airplane--this is is Fujimi's 1/72nd scale Phantom FG.1.
AFV Club's 1/35th scale Wiesel 1 with TOW missile was built as a group build--the base was provided with the instructions to build a model and landscape the base.
This is a completed Bluejacket Shipcrafters 1/192nd scale kit of the USS Monitor.
Here is another project long in hibernation: Reheat Model's 120mm U-2/SR-71/Shuttle pilot figure.
Authentic Airliners' 1/144th scale Convair 440 and Vintage Flyer decals were used to build this model on N4826C in her Delta Air Lines delivery colors. An earlier post I wrote in 2011 has photos of her in 1990...
That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading. Be good to one other, and, as always, I bid you Peace.
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