Thursday, June 27, 2013

First CH-147F arrives in Canada


Canada is back in the Chinook business again, as the first CH-147F arrived in Canada yesterday. The first of 15 aircraft to arrive over the next year, they will be operated by 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, located at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa. The photos are of 147303 at theOttawa International Airport and 147304 before delivery in the US.  (Photos courtesy of the Canadian Department of National Defence.)

Modeler's Note: The CH-147F is based on the MH-47 with the beak nose and large sponsons which Italeri and Revell have issued. Both kits are the Italeri plastic and it appears that only the Italeri kit is currently available. While not the most modern Chinook kit on the market, it still holds up very well and is arguably the best Chinook in 1/72. Sadly, it suffers from Italeri's insane overpricing trend of the last few years.






Sunday, June 9, 2013

Airfix Typhoon

After finishing the two ID models, I decided to start the brand new Airfix Typhoon.  It looks really nice in the box and finally we have a real late model Typhoon Mk. IB.  I'm going out of the box on this one, using the kit decals to finish it as Hugh Frasier's "Me-262 killer" 439 Squadron RCAF Tiffie.

Cockpit is on the go.  Nice detail for 1/72.


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Visually Impaired Model Project


A few months ago I got the opportunity to participate in a project lead by the NorthWest Scale Modelers to provide models to the Museum of Flight for their sight impaired program.  This program has volunteer docents that give tours of the Museum's Collection to visually impaired individuals and it was thought that 1/72 scale examples of the collection would allow a hands on experience, wherein the individuals could hold and feel the shape of different aircraft.  I thought it sounded like fun and would be a rare opportunity to use my modeling for some societal good, so I volunteered to build a Sabre 5 and MiG-21 for the project.  Thinking about the requirements, I was inspired by the World War Two ID models and decided that my two aircraft would ape the simple black finish of those models.  The focus was on shape, rather than detail, so they should have been simple easy builds with no cockpit or landing gear.  Of course, I procrastinated and was working on them until the last minute.  The Zvezda MiG-21 went together really well, but the Fujimi Sabre had quite a few fit issues.  This past weekend, I finally spraying them with Tamiya NATO black, and yesterday I actually finished them.  First finished models in years!  Hopefully, they are on their way to Seattle by mail to be turned over to the Museum on Thursday night.  The lessons of these builds are that I can find a way to stretch out even a simple project for months and that I may have finally found an audience that appreciates my rather indifferent modeling skills...the blind...

The Zvezda MiG-21PFM:



 The Fujimi F-86F Sabre: