A couple Monogram “Classics” at the airport
Last week's trip to the Cameron Airport involved five models and none had been photographed out there before. Although it was really hot, I managed to get a few pics of each plane. Both of these are ancient 1/48 Monogram kits, and both were built around 20 years ago now. The Spitfire Mk IX has an entirely scratch-built cockpit, resin wheels/tires and a vac-formed canopy from Squadron. The camo was sprayed with my venerable Paasche H.
The Dauntless is pretty much OOB. I remember being a bit "daunted" myself by all that greenhouse canopy masking. For sure, there were no EZ Masks back then! Again, all enamels, and applied with the Model H. I hope you enjoy a look at "scale modeling's past" with these two old warbirds!
Gary
Both examples have definitely stood the test of time. Nicely photographed as usual. Good job all around.
Good stuff ! There's nothin' like a new shoot.
Enjoyed them. Nice clean builds. Amazing how heavy the rivet detail is on some of these older kits!
Thanks guys! Greg, wonder what those rivets would "scale out" to? Maybe one inch each? But, they did look "dramatic" though! 🙂
Thank for these Gary, its nice to see these old Monogram kits built and photographed so well. They look great !
magnificent work on those great classics...much appreciated
Thanks so much bob! As you are a fellow whom I know appreciates some of Kentucky's finest, I'll raise this glass of Wild Turkey 101 in your honor sir! 🙂
I appreciate your encouragement and support bob
Awesome and perfect work! Thanks for sharing, I really enjoy them.
Gary, great photography, as usual. As far as rivets go, on the Dauntless they aren't wrong! There are some aircraft that have rivets, lots of them. Shackleton, DC-3/C-47, B-17- They supposedly said that the Shack was "thousands of rivets, flying in close formation". Craig Abrahamson has some photos of an SBD in his builds he took as a walkaround, and there are rivets.
Now, as to the Spit, not so much, IMHO.
That said, I had both back in the day, and they are favorites.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, great idea using the airport as a backdrop.
I thank you all! I am humbled by your kind comments; I'm just so glad these old models got such a warm reception. I know they're crude old kits by today's (or, ahem, even yesterday's?) standards but they don't look too bad on the shelf. Or at the airport, so it seems! Thank you all my friends!
Gary, thank you!
It's a way to connect with the past, and see how far the hobby has come in the 60 some years since OLIN/Varney/Lindberg did its Fleet sub and Stearman in the late 40s. We can also see how our modeling skills have improved (?) and the amount and quality of paints and decals now just taken for granted. I came up in the jurassic plastic age, it seems, and nowadays the amount, quality, and variety available is nothing short of amazing.
Gary those really held up well. Very nice models. When I saw the rivets on the Spitfire it really brought me back. I remember the feel of them on my fingers while I flew mine in the epic Great Battle of Glendale CA. We won!
As a youth we use to stage some major conflicts in the huge back yard we had. Huge mud puddle for the Navy, Tanks, army men, and firecrackers. And some very good air support.
Thanks for posting.
California Steve
Thank you Steve! It sounds like epic fun, and quite a large-scale operation too, lol. Isn't it amazing how we remember things even at the tactile level? I've experienced that too. I think it's similar to how smells evoke memories.
FYI---1 inch in 1/48 scale is .0208", a # 76 drill. 1 inch in 1/72 is .0138", close to a # 80 drill, which is .0135". A #80 hole(probably what was used to make the rivet depressions) would produce a rivet slightly under 3/4 on an inch in 1/48.
Good info to know, thanks Phil!
It's interesting to see that that raised rivet detail is actually pretty accurate for the scale, and in the case of the Dauntless is entirely correct (not the raised panel lines though. And the rear fuselage of the Spitfire would be right, too. Too bad model companies don't do that - in 1/32, that would look good on the SBD kits, the B-25 kits and the B-17 kits. Of course, all the "experts" (who mostly have never been within shouting distance of an actual airplane, if that close) would declare it "wrong."
It's surprising to note the outline accuracy of both those kits. Thanks Bill Koster, who designed them.
Interesting Tom and new info to me...but, how do you think they "look"? lol!
Come on man, I can take it. Thanks for your comments Tom. 🙂
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Nice models, and a very honest THANK YOU!
These pictures took me to MEMORY LANE, those MONOGRAMS made the day for most if not all of us.
Thank you and a big THANK YOU to MONOGRAM !
Thanks, and you're quite welcome DE! These old kits do bring back lots of memories for many of us. I sort of thought some folks might enjoy a "trip" like that!
Very well done Gary, gotta love those old Monogram kits. After a 40 year absence from the hobby I started building them again just to develop some skills.Mine didn't turn out as well as yours.
Thank you Tom! I think the natural setting and light make mine look better than they really are, lol. "Trick the eye" 🙂
Thanks again for you great compliments!
The first model plane I ever built was the Monogram Spitfire. My dad surprised my brother and me with three Monogram kits one day, the Zero, the Me-109 and the Spitfire. Each of us built one as we sat at the kitchen table that night. I stopped building monster kits and focused on aircraft after that.
Great memories right? 🙂
Nice presentation here. Usually for 'exterior shots' people are satisfied with a few photos on the picnic table behind the house. Not really familiar with these particular kits, but everyone seems to vouch for their accuracy. Well done.
Thanks Rob! I appreciate that.
Gary, Nice work on both models, they look great. Your pics add a nice touch.
Thank you Terry. I'm glad you like 'em!
Monogram always look great straight out of the box, your models illustrates that nicely. I like the Spitfire in particular. Well done Gary, great pics too!
Thanks so much! That's very kind of you to say!
Wicked good models and fine photography!
Thanks Mike! Sometimes even a blind hog finds an acorn,:)
Great modelling show with this lovely builds, Gary.
Good modellers don t need new tool wonderkits to get great results.
Thank you Bernd! That is so kind of you to say, and coming from a great builder such as yourself, I take great pride in your comments.
🙂
Never build Monograms Spitfire but the Dauntless. It was a nice build and my first steps to get it more "right"
Thanks for sharing this beauties !