Vought Chesapeake
One of the first SB2U-1 kits, with the godawful short-shot fuselages. I wanted to go "Yellow Wings" here but needed to take the viewer's eye away from the filling of the fuselage "canyons", so decided to do a [...]
According to my mother, the first word I said was "airplane" ("oh-pane") at around 11 months of age when a P-38 flew over the park we were in. I've had a love affair with airplanes and the people who are involved with airplanes ever since, which has become my career as an aviation historian and author.
I built my first model, a Strombecker all-wood P-80 (that dates me!) at age 6, after watching my father build other wood models for me. I quickly graduated to plastic models when I found Mr. Twist's Fix-It Shop on South Gaylord Street in Denver, with its corner shelves full of wondrous kit boxes. I built my first biplane (a Hawk Models Nieuport 17 - still available from Testors) before I was old enough to know that "biplanes are hard." With time out in the 1960s after graduating from high school for the Navy and college and "The Sixties" I returned to the hobby in 1970 and haven't left since.
I became a screenwriter in Hollywood in the 1980s, after first getting published as an aviation author in the 1970s in Air Enthusiast Quarterly. I love the fact that William Green, who wrote the first "serious aviation book" (All The World's Aircraft 1954) that I got my father to buy for me was the first person to publish me. I've flown the back seat of an F-4E Phantom for an article on the Wild Weasels in Air Force Magazine, and had 20 minutes stick time in Jim Nissen's 1918 Curtiss JN-4D Jenny back in 1979 for an article in Plane and Pilot, and been in everything in between over the past 47 years. When I worked in politics in Sacramento during the 1970s, I was a member of a club that flew Stearman N747JR (we called ourselves in as "Boeing 747 Junior") and got around 100 hours in that fun machine.
I'm one of the original members here of iModeler, and consider it the best model club on the planet.
Author of "Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Odyssey of Carrier Air Group 15", "Pacific Thunder: the Pacific War from Wake island to Leyte Gulf," "Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay," "The Frozen Chosen: The First Marine Division and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir," "Holding The Line: the Naval Air Campaign in Korea," and "MiG Alley: The US Air Force in Korea - 1950-53" which will be released on November 26.
My most recent book, "Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command Against the Luftwaffe 1942-45" will be published by Osprey on May 23.
My wife of 27 years finally escaped Parkinson's on February 20 and sailed west to the unknown land beyond the sunset where she once again paints seascapes with her friends, her cats.
You can order all of them here: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Thomas+McKelvey+Cleaver&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
WNW 1/32 Sopwith Triplane
Here is the Wingnut Wings 1/32 Sopwith Triplane, done as "BLYMP," flown by Flight sub-Lieutenant Robert H. "Bob" Little of Naval 8, the Australian Ace of Aces in all wars with 47 victories. With 22 victories, N5493 was [...]
Peashooters of the 17th Pursuit Group
Three Hasegawa 1/32 P-26As, using the Yellow Wings Decals sheets for the 17th Pursuit Group when based at March Field in summer of 1935 shortly after their delivery from the factory. Modelers should note that these P-26As all had the OD [...]
Helldivers! SB2C-1, two SB2C-4s, SB2C-5
All from the Monogram kit.
The SB2C-1 is the Accurate Miniatures release, corrected to be an SB2C-1 (what they provided was kinda/sorta an SB2C-1C), with 4 50s in the wings, the rear glass in the pilot's canopy, correct 3 blade prop, [...]
A-M 1/48 SBD-5 Dauntless
Another OOB build of one of the best OOB kits ever released, the Accurate Miniatures SBD-5 Dauntless in the markings of VMSB-232 during the Central Pacific Campaign. Following the successful taking of Kwajalein in the Marshalls, the other [...]
A-M 1/48 SBD-4 Dauntless
One of the last releases by "real" Accurate Miniatures was the SBD-4, which differs from the SBD-3 primarily by having the same prop as the SBD-5, and was also provided with these decals to do a VS-41 Dauntless from the Ranger [...]
Accurate Miniatures 1/48 SB2U-3 Vindicator
SB2U-3 of VMSB-231, flown by 2nd Lt Sumner Whitten with gunner Sgt Frank Zelnis, who survived the squadron's attack against the Japanese fleet on 4 June 1942. The next day 2nd Lt. Robert Vaupell flew Whitten's airplane for the attack on [...]
Accurate Miniatures 1/48 SB2U-1 ‘Vindicator”
This and the SB2U-3 are the last ones for 2012.
Done back in 2005, using the Yellow Wings Decals "Dive Bomber" set to do the airplane from VB-3 that was used when LCDR Joe Blake (Fred MacMurray) took LT Doug Lee (Erroll Flynn) [...]
Raymond Collishaw’s “Black Maria” – Roden 1/32 Sopwith Triplane
Having trashed Billy Bishop, here's a model flown by the Canadian (and Empire/Commonwealth) Ace of Aces, Raymond Collishaw, whose 60 victories in the Triplane and Camel were fully documented by his squadron mates with whom he flew, and are [...]
Roden 1/32 Nieuport 24
The Roden Nieuport 24 kit done as the airplane flown by Charles Nungesser. This airplane is hard to track down because the superstitious Nungesser kept the rudder (with serial "1895") from his Nie. 17 and put it on all his [...]
