purchased two of these for £40 for the coming weekend.
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Got to be done David, got to be done(!)
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I was on track to get mine finished way before today, and then life happened. I decided to get my MA. Between that and a literary project I have going on, I’ve had little time to do much modeling lately,
At any rate, I met Gale Halverson when I was in Berlin. He had been a commander at Tempelhof in the 70’s - the very same airbase he flew into during the Berlin Airlift. He often visited Berlin after retirement to tell his story. I feel fortunate to have met him. So my as yet unfinished project is a tribute to him, I’ve alluded to this project a few times in the past few years. It’s to be a multi-scale forced perspective shadow box diorama, based loosely on these photos:
For the background on the left hand side I’ll use a two different demolished buildings offered in HO scale, such as this one:
They’re built, but languishing in my attic until I can move my bikes out of the way and lower the ladder.
For the foreground I have this from Custom Dioramics(?)
And/or this - the backside of an Alamo I did with my daughter when she was in grade school. Yeah, you bet dad helped.
I eliminated the backgrounds because I wanted to try and put together a montage of the whole scene, but I don’t think I’ll have time.
I may use these HO scale buildings as well - next to the demolished ones.
Then of course there’s the C-54 - I’ve already posted some in progress photos of it. I’ve just lowered the flaps on it and it’s ready for paint. I’m currently using the Academy 1/144 kit, which is a nice little kit, but I know that I’ll eventually upgrade to the 1/72 Revell kit.
And of course the scene needs people. I’m still collecting waving arms if anyone has any.
I won’t even have to paint their faces.
Some donor figures, and a dog I might use:
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I’ve only just finished this so I’m behind the curve too!
Not a build I will recall with much affection I assure you(!)
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Well, the day is here, and as I reported way back when, my model is Major John Glenn’s F-86F when he was flying as an exchange pilot with the 51st Figher Wing in 1953. Glenn needs little introduction, he was a Marine fighter pilot at the end of WWII and in Korea before he joined the 51st, when he shot down 3 MiG-15s towards the end of the war. After that he continued flying with the Marines, breaking speed and distance records, before signing on with NASA as one of the original Mercury 7 and becoming the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. He later turned to politics and served several terms as Senator from his native state of Ohio. In 1984 he decided to make a run for the Democratic nomination for President, and that’s where I met him and his wife, as I was a precinct captain for him in Des Moines, Iowa. Unfortunately his run didn’t last long, but I’ll always remember how friendly they were to me and everyone else at the post-caucuses party (also Mrs. Glenn’s birthday,) Glenn went on to return to space in the shuttle in 1998 and passed away in 2016. A true American hero who’s memory I will always cherish.
Anyway, you wanted a “brief” bio, so there it is. Here’s the model. It’s the Kinetic 1/32 kit with AMS resin upgrades to the cockpit, gun panels, and nose ring. My first crack at it was less than successful and I hangar queened it until this campaign came, I which point I thoght “what are you, a modeller or a mouse?” and went back at it. After a lot of elbow grease, and a couple of further frustrations, I don’t think it turned out half bad:
Throwing in a couple of pics of the Atomic City 1/12th Mercury spacecraft I completed as Glenn’s Friendship 7 some years ago as a “bonus”.
Thanks for the campaign! It’s good to remember the service and sacrifices of those who have helped keep us free.
Michael
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Very nice indeed Michael; it appears according to the campaign clock that I’ve still got 15 hours, so it’ll be down to the wire for me!
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Can I post photos now? 11 November is also an important day for me and for Poland. Today we celebrate Independence Day.
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Of course! Today is the day!
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Very nice, detailed work Piotr. Well done!
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Here is my tribute to the two Italian crews (13 men in total) who were killed in the Kindu’s massacre, occurred in Congo during a peaceful ONU mission. Two Italian C-119Gs (radiocalls “Lyra 5” and “Lupo 33”) landed on 11 November 1961, to deliver material to the local ONU’s unit. Their bodies were recovered and taken back to Italy on 11 March 1962. A Sacrarium were the crews’ bodies were buried, is “watched” by this aircraft, which is painted with both call signs on the opposite sides.
Background was made with Gemini.
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Here is my entry: a czech Mig-15. It is made for a friend of mine whose father flew migs in the Czech Air Force. The father later fled the eastern block to Denmark with his family as the nature of the communist regime became obvious.
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Lovely model and the story behind it all.
As an aside, I’ll be a bit late on parade with my contribution; hopefully, later this evening.
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Here then is my contribution to the Veteran’s Campaign. I’m afraid I’ve failed to complete it, in that the gun is still to be painted in a camouflage finish and have the details picked out; however, for what it’s worth:
My Uncle Heinz was born in the village of Birkensee, East Prussia, in 1925. He recalled, prior to being called-up, seeing the courier planes that flew overhead en route to Hitler’s war HQ at Rastenburg, not that he knew that was the destination at the time of course. In 1943 he was conscripted and found himself in 9th SS Panzer Division, Hohenstauffen. He was assigned to one of the divisional artillery regiments, and was a crew member on the le.FH 18/40.
He saw service in the Ukraine, and Normandy, as part of 2nd SS Panzer Corps. He was wounded in the heel by shellfire and later captured by the British in August 1944; he recalled that his position was simply overrun. He was shipped to the US as a POW, and kept in harsh conditions; two of his comrades were beaten to death by some apparently, over-zealous guards.
At the war’s end, he could clearly not return home as East Prussia no longer existed. As a former German soldier, he would, in any case have been incarcerated for 10 years, and as a member of the Waffen SS, probably worse. He was sent back to England.
For a while he worked on farms – a lot of German POWs undertook this - in the south of England, but eventually ended up working as a mechanic in Andover, Hampshire.
Somehow, and I have no insight into the social mores or activities of the times, in the 1950s he met my father’s twin sister, and they eventually married in the village church in Morgan’s Vale, in Wiltshire (which is also where I grew up).
They moved to Somerset and he became a farmer. Interestingly, he had to return to Germany in 1955 to officially demobilise(!) He died 10 years ago on 9th January 2015, aged 90.
And that folks, was my Uncle Heinz.
I have depicted him undergoing attendance at an Artillery School, which I’m sure must have happened; whether the Waffen SS had their own establishments in addition to the Army’s, I have no idea. However, I have depicted him as he may have posed, in 1943 for a photograph next to one of the school’s weapons. As it happens, frustratingly, his descendants, obviously my cousins, have some photos they found of him from this time, but despite my delicately couched requests, have not seen fit to release copies to me. As I say, hugely frustrating.
As mentioned earlier, the howitzer is from AFV Club, and was not an enjoyable build: poor instructions, poor fit and often soft moulding in that locating pins didn’t; the only game in town of course and eventually I wrestled it into submission. I’ve only managed to get a coat of dark yellow on, and really need to apply a wash to pop the details. I have attempted some of the green camouflage paint on the trail and I hope to complete that in due course; that will then be followed by some wine-red or similar.
The figure is from the Hasegawa set of German Infantry M43/44 Figures; I used the figure sans rifle. The base is a 12mm thick MDF 8” square, which I tend to use for models of this size. The cobblestones, are in an embossed plastic card, representing brickwork, but I feel they work well enough for the scene. This is the first time I’ve used decals for German insignia; don’t look too closely as the cuff title is for Deutschland – I simply could not locate a Hohenstaufen one in time! As this was a down-to-the-wire finish (and even then I failed) the paint on the boots is still wet so appears gloss; just so you know.
I will continue to work on the model and hopefully wind it up by the end of the week. So, despite my tardiness – or just bad planning and execution – a belated result for the campaign, which certainly got me thinking.
Over to you folks!
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That’s such an interesting story.
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I’ve only just caught up with this - given the rush required to finish my own project - but fantastic story and outstanding modelling Bert; well done.
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Well - thanks; but in fact all these stories about veterans are interesting I feel. I t was an excellent idea for a campaign as real deeds eclipse fiction just about every time - in my opinion of course!
Is there anybody else who hasn’t quite finished? I’m afraid I can’t be bothered to scroll back and confirm, but if so I’d strongly encourage you to show what you have, just, well, because the theme was so stimulating, and even rewarding. For instance, I only wish I’d bothered to depict my uncle in 1/35 when he was still alive, although that’s really a different matter.
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Hah!
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Coupled with my doubtless poor misinterpretation.
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