A Cold Day With My Models

 It looked like a cold day and when I checked the weather it said mid-20s with gusts of wind.  I probably could handle the mid-20s, but gusts of wind, not so much.  So I decided to stay home.

Days like this give me a chance to show of some of my recent builds though.  I suppose that's a good thing.

I've seen people online who do a much better job with their models and I admire their patience but I'm happy with good enough for me.  I don't ever plan to enter any models in contests.  If I did, I would have to spend alot more time building them.  I don't think it's a case of my skills, it's more a case of my patience.  Anyway, a frontal shot of this P-40 Warhawk.  The kit is a 1/72 Airfix kit.  And these kits have improved greatly from the kits of my youth.  This one was actually a pleasure to build and didn't require much finagling. 

The plane itself has a pretty interesting story:

I would weather this one but the actual one only served about 9 months. She was issued serial number 41-13297 and delivered to the Army Air Force in June 1941. During October 1941, this particular aircraft made a wheels up landing and was repaired. This plane was undamaged on December 7, 1941. On January 24, 1942, 1st Lt. Kenneth Sprankle took off for a patrol mission over Oahu. This plane spun out and crashed, killing the pilot. The aircraft only had 56 flying hours.

It remained where it was until 1985 when the plane was salvaged. It was restored by the Planes of Fame group and was shipped to the United Kingdom. In December of 2013, it was bought by an anonymous sponsor for the Collings Foundation. In 2014, it experienced another accident but was repaired. It is currently at the American Heritage Museum in Massachusetts.

Next up is the famous P-51 Mustang.  This one was a 1/72 Academy Kit.  I think it was a fairly newer kit and was also pretty fun to build.  The decals were a bit of a challenge though.  As I lost the ones that would have had the plane's name.

A frontal shot.

This was one that I tried my hand at doing some weathering to the plane.  I used a dry brush to simulate the power from the guns firing and the smoke and oil from the engine.  

I think it looks pretty nice.

HMS Prince of Wales.  This is a 1/700 scale Tamiya kit.  I think it was an older kit but Tamiya kits have always been pretty good, so this wasn't too bad to build.

HMS Prince of Wales was one of the ships that was involved in the hunt of the Bismarck.  She went out with the Hood but had a fairly inexperienced crew.  She was able to land a couple blows on the Bismarck which lead to the Captain of the Bismarck deciding to head back to port.  The Prince of Wales was damaged later in the engagement.  After her repairs, should would be used to host the Atlantic Conference between Churchill and Roosevelt.

In October 1941, she was transferred to the Far East Fleet.  On December 10th, she would be sunk by the Japanese.

A Sopwith Camel.  This was a 1/72 Academy kit.  The only tough spot was putting on the wing struts.  I also had to look up pictures online because there weren't good painting instructions.

The Sopwith Camel first flew in December of 1916.  It would become the best known fighter of World War I.  By its retirement in 1920, over 5,000 were built.  

I will say it was a pretty cool looking plane.