Photographs taken at the Air Zoo, Kalamazoo Michigan.
Photographs taken at the Air Zoo, Kalamazoo Michigan.
For more Women Warriors, click on the tag below:
Here is Revell’s FAMO offering from 2005, their kit number 03141. Tracks are link and length. I found this kit to be well molded and engineered and a pleasure to build. The canvas rolls on the fenders are from Black Dog resin, the cargo load in the bed is a mix of Value Gear resin bits.
This is Planet Model’s kit number MV 024, a multimedia kit released in 2002. Detail parts are provided on a small photoetch sheet and tracks are rubber. There is a low parts count as the chassis frame and running gear are simplified which is readily apparent when viewing the underside but not obvious from normal viewing angles. I used most of the Black Dog resin set on this one and tried my hand at blending with oils on the canvas parts.
Under a Blood Red Sun: The Remarkable Story of PT Boats in the Philippines and the Rescue of General MacArthur
By John J. Domagalski
Hardcover in dustjacket, 304 pages, appendices, notes, bibliography, and index
Published by Casemate, October 2016
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1612004075
ISBN-13: 978-1-61200-407-5
Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.1 inches
At the beginning of World War Two the U.S. Navy had three Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons (MTBRON) deployed in the Pacific. MTBRON One was assigned to Pearl Harbor, MTBRON Two was assigned to the Panama Canal Zone, and MTBRON Three was assigned to the Philippines. Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley was the Commanding Officer of Squadron 3’s six Elco 77’ torpedo boats. The Japanese attacked the Philippines on 08DEC41 local time, destroying much of the U.S. airpower. U.S. and Philippine forces never recovered from the initial Japanese strikes and fought on the back foot for the next six months until the end of organized resistance.
Under a Blood Red Sun is the story of Bulkeley’s MBTRON 3, told against the backdrop of the overall battle of the Philippines. In many ways the story of the PT boats parallels the stories of the aviation groups at the beginning of the Pacific War – lack of support, lack of supplies, worn out or defective equipment, and always fighting a delaying action against superior enemy forces. In many ways mechanical issues and uncharted coral reefs were more formidable opponents than the Japanese, more boats were sidelined for operational issues than battle damage. The determination and ingenuity required to repeatedly overcome these mechanical issues and put the boats back into service is every bit as interesting as the combat actions.
The best-known PT Boat exploit of the campaign was the evacuation of General MacArthur and his staff from Corregidor to Mindanao in March 1942. From there the General’s party was to fly out of Del Monte on B-17s for Australia. After the evacuation Bulkeley’s remaining boats were to continue the fight against the Japanese, a mission which was to proceed until attrition and lack of replacement parts had rendered the squadron ineffective. At that point the surviving personnel joined other commands until forced to surrender, a lucky few making their way out of the Philippines to Australia or continuing on as guerillas.
Bulkeley was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross for his actions during the campaign. A fictionalized account of MTBRON Three’s actions was dramatized in John Ford’s 1945 Hollywood film “They Were Expendable”. Under a Blood Red Sun is a more factual assessment of the PT boat’s actions, where unreliable torpedoes, contaminated fuel supplies, and accidental groundings are as great a foe as the Japanese. I found this book enlightening and an enjoyable read, and have no hesitation in recommending it to others.
Photographs taken at the Air Zoo, Kalamazoo Michigan.
For more Women Warriors, click on the tag below:
“May you live in interesting times.” – ancient Chinese curse
Oddly for a method of telling time, the positioning of our new year is arbitrary from a physical perspective and should have no actual bearing on earthly events, but here’s hoping for a better 2021 anyway!
I’ll look for the “win” here even if it is minor: We modelers are fortunate to have an inherently solitary hobby in these times. Overall modeling appears to have picked up, Hornsby (parent company of Airfix) is reporting profits for the first time in years. Modeling podcasts have come into their own and make bench time even more enjoyable.
The biggest void from a modeling perspective in my opinion is the cancellation of the shows. I usually attend half a dozen per year and they are always a fine day out, with friends, new kits, and getting to see the work of hundreds of fellow modelers. Also missing was the Half Price Books annual clearance sale where literally semi-truck loads of books are sold at ridiculously low prices at the state fairgrounds.
On a different note, perhaps the most interesting story of the year received very little attention – the U.S. government admitted that it was studying materials retrieved from vehicles of extraterrestrial origin. Another commentary on the year 2020.
Blog Statistics and News
2020 was the second complete year for the Inch High Guy blog. I am happy to report that I again managed to make a post each day, so 366 posts due to the leap year. The blog received 73,992 views and 26,731 visitors, up from 27,174 views and 7,303 visitors last year. The most popular post was “Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Interior Colors Part I” with 1,857 views, followed by “The B-17E and the Myth of the Bendix Ventral Turret” with 1,116 views. Forts appear to be popular around here!
Link: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/b-17-flying-fortress-interior-colors-part-i/
Link: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2018/11/18/the-b-17e-and-the-myth-of-the-bendix-ventral-turret/
I am still struggling with the counter-intuitive Word Press editor, and that was only made worse with the introduction of the Word Press “Block Editor” in September. This eliminated some useful functions while re-naming and moving others, with no apparent improvements on the user end. On a more positive note, I did finally locate the tagging function and busied myself adding tags to all posts old and new.
I have linked several posts on ScaleMates, where the walk-around posts of museum aircraft have proved to be the most popular. The Women Warriors posts have found a following with wargamers over on The Miniatures Page, among others. I had intended for these pictures to tell their own stories, but there have been a few requests for captions. Easier said than done with the modern-era photos as information ranges from obvious to impossible-to-determine, but there may be hope for the historical pictures.
Models Built in 2020
Forty-seven completions, twenty-nine aircraft and eighteen vehicles. In addition I painted fifteen figures (plus one dog) and constructed three diorama bases. Everything was built to 1/72 scale as is my preference. The mosaic has a picture of each build, if you want to see more finished pictures or the construction posts just follow the tags at the bottom of this post or enter the descriptions in the search bar in the upper right column.
Hasegawa Kawanishi Kyofu (Rex) x 2
Tamiya Kawanishi N1K1 Shiden (George)
Aoshima Kawanishi N1K1 Shiden (George)
MPM Kawanishi N1K1 Shiden (George)
Hasegawa Kawanishi Shiden Kai (George) x 2
Hasegawa Mitsubishi Raiden (Jack)
Fujimi Aichi B7A1 Ryusei (Grace)
LS Yokosuka K5Y Akatombo (Willow)
AZ Yokosuka K5Y Akatombo (Willow)
Special Hobby Curtiss P-40 Warhawk x 5
Tamiya Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
Airfix Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress conversion to B-17E x 2
RPM Hotchkiss H35 French Light Tank
RAF Bomber Supply Set x 2 (6 vehicles)
IBG Chevrolet C15A Personnel Lorry
Monogram Boeing F4B-4 x 2
Rare Bits Boeing F4B-1 Conversion
Monogram Curtiss F11C-2 Goshawk
Matchbox Boeing P-12E x 2
Czech Master Resin Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk
Plastic Soldier StuG III Ausf. G Assault Gun x 3
Trumpeter StuG III Ausf. G Assault Gun
Revell Heinkel He 177A-5 Greif
Revell Junkers Ju 88P-1 Conversion
Hasegawa Heinkel He 111H-20
Italeri 15 cm Field Howitzer sFH 18
Trumpeter Sd.Ah.116 Tank Transporter
Zvezda Panzer IV Ausf. H
Planet Models Resin Sd. Kfz. 9 FAMO Halftrack
Revell Sd. Kfz. 9 FAMO Halftrack
Trumpeter Sd. Kfz. 9 FAMO Halftrack
Forward
Arma hobby has just announced a P-51 B/C Mustang in 1/72. The computer renders look good and show areas such as the wing leading edge and wheel well openings which have given other manufacturers problems appear to have been rendered properly. Here’s hoping! Every previous B/C in 1/72 scale has had some major shape issue so an accurate new tool kit has been at the top of many modeler’s wish lists for many years now. The early Mustangs, if done well, are sure to be a hit and a license to print money for Arma so here’s wishing for a successful release!
In more local news Ms. Inch High put a Creality LD-002R 3-D resin printer under the Christmas tree this year. These are very useful if you know what you’re doing, which I don’t at this point. Hopefully I will soon though, and I look forward to printing something useful. It is an amazing technology to have sitting on the bench. For all the talk of “Death of the Hobby” in some circles, I have yet to see any hint of it from here.
I have enjoyed putting this together, and have enjoyed hearing from other modelers and discovering other blogs. A big thank you to all who have visited here, commented, followed, and especially those who have posted links.
May you all live long enough to build every model in your stash!
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