[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Yesterday, my son Thomas and I visited the world Model Expo 2022 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. About a 45 minute drive from where we live.

I used to be very much into model making, mostly aircraft when I was young. Thomas painting techniques and results are way better than I ever achieved. I will say this though. In my days there was only the standard Humbrol paints. Today’s amounts of different paints for model building is just phenomenal. Very different and easier to apply, to mix etc. Still, to get these results you will need to have an awful lot of experience, skill and patience.

Those are some breathtaking models, I think there were two "Foxbats"

When I started making plastic models in the early 1990s I was happy to just have the oil paints for the main colours. When I restarted in 2020 I learned about fading, weathering and paint chipping effects via YouTube videos. Only recently I learned you don't even have to make these yourself, instead you can use readymade paints, brushes, decals, sponges or sprays.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Only recently I learned you don't even have to make these yourself, instead you can use readymade paints, brushes, decals, sponges or sprays.

There is all sorts of this stuff. There are many kits to improve the cockpit of various models, all kinds of scales, different ordnance etc.

I was quite amazed to see how much is available these days!

I think one of the biggest difference are the paints. So much more easier to handle than the Humbrol paints we used 45 - 50 years ago!

Jeroen

[shankar.balan]

Little bit off topic but they Military models all the same.

Johnny Lightning US Army Staff Car 1:64
Johnny Lightning US Army Ambulance 1:64
Mini GT Camo LandRover Defender 1:64

Enjoy.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Little bit off topic but they Military models all the same.

Johnny Lightning US Army Staff Car 1:64
Johnny Lightning US Army Ambulance 1:64
Mini GT Camo LandRover Defender 1:64

Enjoy.

Welcome addition to the thread Variety is the Spice of life

I know some collectors keep the models sealed in the packaging, but do you put them display like this also ?

[shankar.balan]

Most of my collection is sealed in their blister packs. And/ or kept in the original boxes.
I just peer at them now and then and gloat over my collection.
They hold their value better when retained in their blister packs and boxes.
Its only the ones that I really want to play with that I buy duplicates of and remove from the blister packs and even then I preserve the removed blister packs too.
Im a little obsessive about my scale models.

Originally Posted by Foxbat

I know some collectors keep the models sealed in the packaging, but do you put them display like this also ?

[V.Narayan]

Coming soon:-

Sheer rugged strength is my middle name.
Gas guzzler is my first name.
My bomb load to engine power ratio was an embarrassment.
yet...yet...
I flew over half the sorties of the IAF in December 1971.
When I was acquired pilots brought up on British aircraft viewed me with derision.
Yet with a full bomb load I could lift my petticoat and clock Mach 1.0+ on the deck and the enemy rarely could catch me.
And though a whale of an aircraft, for that era, I could be swung around in the skies.
I even set one of the Soviet speed records by becoming the first Soviet squadron aircraft to exceed Mach 2.0.
???

[GForceEnjoyer]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I even set one of the Soviet speed records by becoming the first Soviet squadron aircraft to exceed Mach 2.0.
???

Hmm could you be talking about the MiG-21?

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Coming soon:-

Sheer rugged strength is my middle name.
Gas guzzler is my first name.
My bomb load to engine power ratio was an embarrassment.
yet...yet...
I flew over half the sorties of the IAF in December 1971.
When I was acquired pilots brought up on British aircraft viewed me with derision.
Yet with a full bomb load I could lift my petticoat and clock Mach 1.0+ on the deck and the enemy rarely could catch me.
And though a whale of an aircraft, for that era, I could be swung around in the skies.
I even set one of the Soviet speed records by becoming the first Soviet squadron aircraft to exceed Mach 2.0.
???

Sukhoi Su-7BMK "Fitter", Type S-22



Welcome back again Comrade to the dark side

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Sukhoi Su-7BMK "Fitter", Type S-22

Attachment 2333364

Welcome back again Comrade to the dark side

Foxbat strikes again. Indeed. And the one which came back with a gutted Sidewinder in its tail. !!!

GForceEnjoyer, welcome to this thread. This thread is our little fun den away from serious topics on cars, transmissions and desi traffic woes.

[skanchan95]

1:72 Sukhoi Su-25K Frogfoot S/N 25590, Iraqi Air Force, Jalibah Air Base, 1991 (Herpa)

The Iraqi Air Force was the first non-Eastern Bloc Air Arm to receive the Su-25. Russian and the Ukrainian reports claim that over 80 aircraft were delivered between 1985 and 1989. Iraqi Frogfoots saw extensive action during the later stages of the war against Iran, especially in 1988, and that a number of Iraqi Su-25-pilots were highly decorated by Saddam Hussein personally. But only one squadron is known to have been equipped with the type in 1986, and the other became operational only after the war with Iran. Just like the Iraqi MiG-29 order which was rumored to be 80+ but only a few MiG-29s were delivered, it is likely that Iraq eventually ordered over 80 Su-25s, or stated intention to do so, but it is unlikely that more than 30 Su-25s were indeed delivered to the Iraqi Air Force.

According to Iranian reports - some of which can be confirmed by pictorial evidence - the Su-25 was a rare appearance over the battlefield even in 1988: only two were ever encountered, one was shot down by an Iranian MIM-23 HAWK SAM (there are photographs of the wreckage) and two badly damaged by ground fire.

The Iraqi Air Force's Su-25 aircraft played little part in the Persian Gulf War as did most Iraqi aircraft. At least one Su-25 squadron saw action during the August 1990 Invasion of Kuwait. During the war, seven of the Iraqi AF's Su-25 aircraft were flown to neighboring Iran to shield them from air strikes. Two Su-25s were shot down by a USAF F-15C on 6 February 1991 using AIM-9s (F-15 Pilot: Lt. Robert W. "Gigs" Hehemann). The seven Su-25s that were flown out to Iran taken over by the IRGCAF, while in 2003 the US forces captured only a handful of Su-25s.

However, most of Iraq's Su-25 fleet was destroyed on the ground in precision strikes on hardened aircraft shelters during the war and they were not used for ground attack against coalition forces.

This Iraqi Su-25K S/N 25590 based at Jalibah Air Base in Iraq in 1991, probably did not survive the Gulf war as the base and the aircraft based there were destroyed on the ground during Operation Desert Storm. The model is minimally armed with 2 X B-8 rocket pods and two drop tanks,

The Seven ex-Iraqi Su-25s that flew to Iran during the Gulf War were donated back by the IRGCAF to Iraq and they arrived in Iraq in June 2014 to take part in operations against ISIL.

























Airborne:










Fighter Escort








Iraqi Air Force Su-25K S/N 25590 in better times - Seen at Baghdad Air Show 1989 only eighteen months before the beginning of the Gulf war


A destroyed Iraqi Su-25 aircraft at Jalibah on 3 March 1991

[skanchan95]

Masters of dedicated ground attack/CAS role...











War Veteran Frogfoots - VVS Su-25 based in Afghanistan in the 1980s and Iraqi Su-25

[V.Narayan]

Sopwith Camel:: World War I fighter:: Corgi, diecast, 1:48

Model is about 4.5 inches in length and has a wingspan of about 6 inches

The Sopwith Camel was the most successful British fighter in World War I being used to shoot down 1294 enemy aircraft. In 1917 when it was introduced to mid-2018 it dominated the skies over the Western front till it was overtaken by more modern German designs. In the First World War aircraft design moved with great speed and fighters got obsolete in a year as superior designs came in. As a fighter the Camel was highly manoeuvrable but difficult to master. So in the hands of a skilled pilot it was an lethal asset but in the hands of a novice it could be fatal to the pilot.

The Sopwith was a bi-plane with a wing span of 23 feet and a wing area of 231 sq feet. Compare this with the Mig-21’s wingspan of 23 feet 6 inches and wing area of 257 sq feet!. That’s how far wing design had moved between 1917 and 1957. The Sopwith was powered by a variety of engines generating ~130 shp giving it a top speed of 98 knots {182 kmph} and a stall speed of 42 knots. That gave it a flight envelope of only 56 knots within which to operate!. Armament was 2 Vickers .303 machine guns firing in between the whirling wooden propellor aided by a synchronization-interrupter gear. Interestingly fighter armament in most countries stagnated at 2 light machine guns for another decade and a half. This was mainly because wings were not strong enough to take the weight of guns, ammunition and the vibration. And a fighters weight carrying capacity after leaving margin for dog fighting ability was marginal.

This particular aircraft is the one which manned by Canadian Wilfred May was the last aircraft attacked (unsuccessfully in this case) by the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen on 21-4-1918 before the Red Baron was shot down a few minutes later. The Red Baron was shot down by causes shrouded in confusion. But it was a mix of an attack by Roy Brown (Wilfred’s boss) and an Australian anti-aircraft gun crew.

Wilfred himself was candid about his only encounter with the legendary Red Baron. He spoke about this incident years later, saying, "the first thing I knew I was being fired on from the rear ... [and] all I could do was try to dodge my attacker. I noticed it was a red tri-plane, but if I realized it was Richthofen, I would have probably passed out on the spot. I kept on dodging and spinning, I imagine from about 12,000 feet until I ran out of sky and had to hedge hop over the ground. Richthofen was firing at me continually, and the only thing that saved me was my poor flying. I didn't know what I was doing myself and I do not suppose that Richthofen could figure out what I was going to do".

Roy Brown, who was flying above, noticed the Red Baron chasing Wilfred May, dove steeply at very high speed to intervene and then had to climb steeply to avoid hitting the ground. Richthofen turned to avoid this attack, and then resumed his pursuit of May. However, the identity of the person who shot down the Red Baron remains a subject of much dispute.

May continued flying with 209 Squadron until the end of the war and was credited with downing 15 enemy aircraft and probably five others. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1918. He relinquished his RAF commission on May 8, 1919, with the rank of Captain. Photo of Capt Wilfred May below all of 21 years old at the time of this encounter with the Red Baron.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:72 Sukhoi Su-25K Frogfoot S/N 25590, Iraqi Air Force, Jalibah Air Base, 1991 (Herpa)
Iraqi Air Force Su-25K S/N 25590 in better times - Seen at Baghdad Air Show 1989 only eighteen months before the beginning of the Gulf war
A destroyed Iraqi Su-25 aircraft at Jalibah on 3 March 1991

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Masters of dedicated ground attack/CAS role...
War Veteran Frogfoots - VVS Su-25 based in Afghanistan in the 1980s and Iraqi Su-25

Excellent models from Hobby Master - the Su-25 and the MiG-23. How I wish we had undertaken license production of the Su-25. A much needed asset in our armoury. Most Air Forces, sadly neglect this end of the spectrum - the Shturmovík end - armoured battlefield support. Air Forces don't like this part of their duties because it makes them subordinate to the Army!

[V.Narayan]

I was one of the four-engined first generation airliners.
Some say of the early lot I was by far the most beautiful and certainly the quietest inside the cabin
My home airline dithered on orders and specs and that caused my downfall
I later had a second career as an air-to-air refueling tanker

Who am I?


I was on of the most durable of World War II's bomber aircraft.
I saw service in Europe and North Africa and of course over USSR from day one to the last day of the war.
I served in many variants - bomber, torpedo bomber, transport, glider tug.
I was finally retired from service in 1973{!!} by a non-belligerent user.

Who am I?

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I was one of the four-engined first generation airliners.
Some say of the early lot I was by far the most beautiful and certainly the quietest inside the cabin

C-97?

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I was on of the most durable of World War II's bomber aircraft.

B-24 or B-25?