My G-10 Erla Has Landed!
It’s rather cold, wet and miserable in Canberra at present, but the day was brightened considerably for me when the postman arrived with my Revell 1/32 Bf109G-10 Erla, this being my prize for fooling all you guys with my Roland D.VIb in the May awards 😉 Got to be the nicest surprise I’ve had in years.
My sincere thanks to Martin and his colleagues for this recognition, and to all the iModelers who were kind enough to comment on the Roland. Greatly encouraged by all this, I have returned to the workbench with renewed enthusiasm.
This is a great community to be in, incidentally. I can’t figure out why it took me so long to discover the existence of imodeller.com,
AL HOFFMAN said on June 24, 2014
Well deserved & earned. Enjoy it.
Rob Pollock said on June 24, 2014
Of course, now for the difficult bit: how to add a top wing and rigging to the Erla…
Simon Whitney said on June 24, 2014
Enjoy it, we enjoyed your Roland.
Ramon R. Lomeli said on June 24, 2014
Congratulations – I am looking forward to seeing you turn that into a masterpiece!
Craig Abrahamson said on June 24, 2014
Congrats on the prize…you fooled us fair and square. No mystery as to what took you so “long” to find iModeler…it isn’t that old. I see you also have a couple of 1:1 scale (resin?) control sticks – what are they?
Craig Abrahamson said on June 24, 2014
Just now read your bio blurb…now I may assume that your control stick replicas are from the two aircraft you flew the most?
K. J. Bricknell said on June 24, 2014
Hello Craig. Yes they are, and they never leave my desk. It’s the nostalgia thing, you understand. In fact, on my birthday, I have been known to sit outside in the barbecue area with one of those things clutched in my right hand and a glass of Fosters Lager in the other, all the while with a faraway look in my eyes 😉
The one on the left is my Avon Sabre grip. It was sold as a resin reproduction an F-104 grip by a guy in Rome years ago. But the exact same grip was used on other Century-series fighters and the F-86F, the Australian Avon Sabre having been developed from the latter. (The Avon Sabre had a 70% re-designed fuselage to accommodate the more powerful Rolls Royce Avon engine and two 30mm Aden cannons in lieu of the six 50-cals.)
The taller one is from a resin kit for the Mirage IIIO produced by an absolutely brilliant modeller down here by the name of Eric Galliers. (Eric is a skipper with Qantas.) The yellow marks on the top correspond to similar marks on the left and right cockpit walls. Spin recovery procedure in the delta-winged Mirage was not at all conventional, and its spinning characteristics were absolutely vicious. All you could do was hold the stick grip marks in line with the marks on the appropriate wall, be patient, and hope for the best 😉
Craig Abrahamson said on June 24, 2014
“….be patient and hope for the best…” ? Is THAT what the flight manual said…? LOL
Seems that the manufacturer would have SOME sort of spin recovery procedure in place. Hopefully, one wouldn’t have to find a different “yellow-striped” thingie to activate!
I remember that F-104 grip model, but I didn’t realize it was so universally applicable (nor do I recall ever seeing an F-86 armed with 30mm cannon). Thanks for the eye-opening first-hand information. Happy modeling, sir.
K. J. Bricknell said on June 25, 2014
Craig, you say you’ve never seen and F-86 armed with two 30mm cannons? This is unthinkable! 😉
There’s an Avon Sabre still flying over at the Temora Aviation Museum, about two hours drive from my place, and my log book shows about 25 hours on that particular airframe in the then Malaya in the 60s. See here: http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/aircraft_colection/sabre/index.html
Seamus Boughe said on June 24, 2014
Good on you, mate! I would say that the right model has found the right modeler. I look forward to seeing you finish this one. Cheers.
Rapid27 said on June 24, 2014
Great present, congratulations for this prize.
I think that it is a good kit.
Best regards, Eric from France
bob mack said on June 24, 2014
nice place there
Gregor d said on June 24, 2014
Oh you lucky man 🙂 that’s a nice kit , I’m sure you’ll enjoy it – well done.
bob mack said on June 24, 2014
congradulations
Rick Wilkes said on June 24, 2014
Prefect thing for a dreay winter’s day, Congratulations your Roland was superb
James Robert Feuilherade said on June 24, 2014
Very nice from what is a cold Tamworth, with Severe Turb forecasts for the area so not much action out at the airport today! I’m sure the 109 will turn out as well as the Roland!
Mark Housley said on June 25, 2014
Well Deserved mate!! now build build build and i look forward to seeing it on the site in the hopefully not to distant future
well done pal 🙂
George Williams said on June 25, 2014
Congratulations, K.J., looking forward to seeing it posted on the site when you’ve completed it.
K. J. Bricknell said on June 25, 2014
Thank you George. But, I have to tell you, nothing strikes fear into the very marrow of my bones like the prospect of having to do mottled camouflage 😉
Paul van Acker said on June 28, 2014
Congrats. I agree. I didn’t know about imodeler till recently. 🙂