There must be a "Catch"....

Started by Jaime Carreon · 15 · 5 years ago
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    Jaime Carreon said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    Ok David, you got my interest piqued and since there appears to be a little time to accommodate my glacial building pace, I'll throw my hat in the ring with a 1/48 B-25 from the movie "Catch-22", which will probably also satisfy my need for girlie nose art in the Nose Art build as well! Kit is in the stash and I think I saw decals just for this somewhere, so barring total apathy on my part, I think I'll give it a go...

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    David Mills said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    Nice choice Jaime@jetmex

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    david leigh-smith said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    Great choice. Had a long discussion about this the other week on iModeler. The scene with McWatt chopping Sampson in half on the beach traumatised me and fascinated me in equal measures as a 10 year old. Set up a lifelong love of (very) black comedy and the apparent randomness of tragedy.

    Interestingly (I really need to get out more) a European release of the book looked like this...

    @jetmex

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    Stephen W Towle said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    I was once Ten years old ...rumored to be at one time and saw the movie at a drive in. If you haven't read the book you really are at a loss for what the plot was/is all about. Then again war can have no plot or meaning. The real star of the movie are the B-25's. Good subject and you can still see them at air shows for inspiration.

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    gary sausmikat said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    Yeah, Gotta love it! more B-25's to go along with my Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. All those B-25's taking off in the beginning of Catch-22 is worth watching alone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At88Fcdgv0g
    Good luck with the build.

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    Jaime Carreon said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    To be honest, it's been a very long time since I saw the movie last and about all I remember of it was being in lust with Paula Prentiss, Yossarian jumping into a yellow life raft and paddling out to sea at the end, and a review that described the mass B-25 takeoff as "nostalgic wobble". It occurred to me that a takeoff like that would probably not be done in combat, what with a bunch of nervous pilots hurling bomb and fuel laden airplanes around in close proximity to one another. A crash would have been more than spectacular. Thus, Yossarian's one finger salute was totally appropriate...

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    david leigh-smith said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    Jaime, here’s a ‘three for one’ - B-25’s, Catch 22, AND Nose Art. All of these aircraft were in Catch 22 - apologies for offended sensibilities...

    Booby Trap.

    Heavenly Body.

    Laden Maiden.

    Free, Fast, and Readt.

    Vestal Virgin.

    Hot Pants.

    Luscious Lulu.

    @jetmex

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    gary sausmikat said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    Great shots. Not to get away from the group theme but in my humble opinion...When a man or woman puts there life on the line for others. they can paint whatever they want on their craft. Just Sayin...

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    david leigh-smith said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    100%, Gary. Different times, huge pressures, low life expectancy. These men earned the right to paint whatever they wanted on those aircraft.

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    Jeff Bailey said 5 years, 7 months ago:

    I'm with you and Gary. "Paint it how ya want to see it!"

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 6 months ago:

    Here's a photo of one of the actual B-25 planes used in the movie...


    and I agree... paint your plane (or tank) as you like. Your neck is on the line, and on occasion you need to be reminded of what you're fighting for... so damn the torpedoes man ! Full speed ahead.

    or in this case "Bomb's Away" (or "Bombs Gone" for our friends across the pond...).

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    Colin Latta said 5 years, 3 months ago:

    Kits World has "Catch 22" decals in 1/48 ...
    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/CI4AAOSwElhb0Gu-/s-l1600.jpg
    I have a set, and its on my "to do" list ...

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Tom Bebout said 5 years, 3 months ago:

    Jamie the decals you may want to look at are at the below link. I've used them and they are outstanding! No issues at all and are in register. Several different A/C are depicted in their sets of 340th A/C

    http://www.bombshelldecals.com/

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    Jaime Carreon said 5 years, 3 months ago:

    Thanks Colin and Tom for the decal info. I'll check them both out!

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    Tom Cleaver said 5 years, 3 months ago:

    The bombshell decals are for real aircraft of the real 340th BG. Kits World also has decals for real B-25s of the 57th Bomb Wing (340th, 310th and 321st Bomb Groups). If you can find a copy of my book The Bridgebusters (I think Amazon still has a few) you can learn the real story and discover that the novel was more a "roman a clef" based on reality than the complete work of fiction Joe Heller always claimed it was.

    Here's a photo of Heller with a "crew" from when he took the deal Yossarian turned down and got off missions by participating in the making of a documentary "Training For Combat." He's second from the right, standing in the rear row. My theory of why he wrote the book is because he disliked himself for doing this, and a writer can "change reality," which he did with the book.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.