A Quick Apology and a Correction, a Couple More of Old Shakey, and a New 1/48th Tamiya Zero!

We Try Our Best But Sometimes It Doesn't Quite Work Out

Which is another way of saying that a few weeks ago I ran a photo that might not have been runnable. Back on the 22nd of March I put up a shot of a pair of C-124s in flight with a credit line to USAF via Mark Morgan. Mark e-mailed me this morning to tell me he'd discovered that the photo wasn't from his collection after all but had come off of Airliner's.Net. Like a lot of us, Mark's collection comprises thousands of images and it's pretty tough to keep track of everything just due to sheer volume; it's something that happens to us all from time to time. The point is that the mistake was caught and, even though the folks over at AN may be perfectly cool with it, I've taken down both the photo and its caption. If you already saved it for your files please go back and re-do the credit line; if not then it just doesn't matter, does it?

Shakey's Return; Let's Make Up For That Image We Removed

Mark sent another pile of photos of Heavy Iron this morning, a couple of which were C-74s and C-124s. It's going to have to be a really short day, so these will be The Whole Deal for a Wednesday:

Here's C-74A 42-65404 being loaded. We don't really have any other information on the photo but it shows us how darned big the airplane was, and how useful. (They flew a number of missions to Korea during that unpleasantness.) USAF via Mark Morgan

C-124A-DL 51-0101 in flight. This airframe was subsequently altered to C-124C standard and was stricken from the inventory during 1969. Once again, I don't know the unit and neither did Mark, but it's a pretty neat photo (do you think it could've been shot from a C-121?).  Anybody have anything on the unit? USAF via Mark Morgan

What a neat photo! Here's C-124A, AF53-0052, at what appears to be some sort of low-key ceremony. Of interest are the conspicuity markings on the nose and aft fuselage. I grew up around these things and never gave them a second glance back then; nowadays I think they're really cool and am beginning to wish somebody was brave (or foolish!) enough to issue a 1/48th scale kit of the beast. You can always add another room to the house!  USAF via Morgan

Ain't It Always the Way...

With absolutely no photos, and in keeping with their somewhat secretive approach to things (which I personally enjoy, truth be told), Tamiya have just announced the release of an A6M3/3a kit in 1/48th scale. You may recall that only a day or two ago I was ranting that the Hasegawa kits of the Zero-Sen would continue to be my kits of choice of this important Japanese fighter, based primarily on availability of variants (just one until this morning!) and price. The price thing is still there---those Tamiya Zekes are just too darned expensive for what's in the box---but they finally seem to have begun whittling away at the variants part of the equation. Maybe if I start whining about it again they'll give us a Type 21 sooner rather than later, and then drop the price too...

Until The Next Time

And that's it for today---I'm off for an as-yet undefined adventure with an equally undefined cast of characters. See you again when I can but until then, be good to your neighbor!
phil