A Nifty Mitchell and a Handful of 'Saders

A Thought; Just a Thought

I was thinking the other day, which is something I haven't done in a while, and I've reached a conclusion that may be of interest to you regarding the big wonderful world of The Latest and Greatest New Kit, to wit: It's the latest and greatest right now, but it won't always be in that category so let's play nice with the older stuff.

Huh, you might well say to yourself. That makes no sense because I wanted a new state of the art kit of the Fill in the Blank Here and now I've finally got it, and my wonderful new kit has actually managed to successfully escape and evade the best efforts of that nefarious collection of self-appointed experts colloquially known as The Red Line Police so I'm going to jump right in and build it just as soon as the aftermarket guys get on the stick and produce a whole bunch of stuff to fix problems that may or may not actually exist and may not even require fixing even when they do. Exist, that is. 

OK then, it's the same old story you so often hear on these pages and on and on and blah blah blah, right? Right, but today let's sing a different verse to the song. Let's try this lyric set for a minute, and let's ignore things like scale or any of that other model review stuff---do you or anyone else really care what color the plastic is, for example---and jump right into what matters.

Way back when, about a gazillion years ago, a company called Varney released a kit of the Stearman PT-17 in a sort-of plastic as opposed to the then-current balsa and basswood that the non-flying scale models of its era (1946) were made from. It was a highly innovative kit and substantially better as a replica than the wooden kits that preceded it were, but it didn't sell all that well so the molds got themselves sold to another company called O-Lin, and then to on to  Lindberg. It was a pretty good kit for what it was and you can still find one for sale pretty easily, but it's been decades, a great many of them, since it was the best kit of the PT-17. It most assuredly held that title at one time but times and technology change and companies such as Revell and ICM have released kits of that same subject that have long since passed it by.

You can hold that thought as the recurring lyric to our song because times do indeed change, whether we want them to or not, and that whiz-bang wonderful new superkit that everyone is either raving about or busily covering up with a plethora of red lines will soon become yesterday's papers, a relic that nobody builds any more because something new, even more whiz-bang and wonderful, just came out and is so much better than any and every single thing that came before it. Except that it isn't that at all.

Here's your takeaway then; your lesson for today: Every single kit out there, even the old and crummy ones, were new once and were often the best thing available to the polystyrene modeling hobby. Don't believe me? Then ask that grizzled old-timer, the one that won his class in the national IPMS contest way back in the 60s, which kit he used to build his award-winner from and how he managed to do it. It's true that contemporary kits are generally, but not necessarily always, better than those that came before, but many outstanding models have been built from kits that most of our current generation of scale modelers wouldn't take a second look at simply because of their age. To go back to our musical metaphor, it's the singer and not the song, folks. Learn how to actually become a modeler rather than an assembler of parts, and make each and every kit you build a growth experience for yourself. Use aftermarket when you actually have to and not because The Kool Kids all use it. Challenge yourself!

Never forget that your brand spanking new styrene and photoetch and resin and 3d-printed wunderkit will be somebody else's Varney PT-17 some day. Forget about red lines and learn to take other people's opinions for what they are and nothing more. Learn how to do your own research. Become a scale modeler to the best extent you can, and be amazed at how much more fun you have with the hobby. 

Whiners, moaners and groaners need not apply!

A Filthy Slide But My Oh My!

Sometimes you just have to take what you can get, even when you know there's something better out there. Take this image, for example:

This shot could have been, and at one time probably was, an image worthy of a frame and a place of prominence on someone's wall, and in all likelihood there's a far better version of it out there that I'm not aware of, but for now it will have to do. It came to me via Doug Barbier, an old and valued friend who's been actively engaged in rescuing the remains of Marty Isham's files for posterity. The subject matter for today is a B-25J (44-30476) operated by the long-defunct Military Air Transport Service (MATS) in 1957, and that's pretty much all I know about it; no unit, no location; nothing. Still, as a fan of The Silver Air Force I'm delighted to have it and grateful to Doug for sharing it with me. 

That said, it's still a filthy negative that time has been far less than kind with. I've color balanced it and done a few basic things to aid in its presentation but spot-repairing every single anomaly is something I simply don't have the time for anymore (see my last thrilling installment of this project for a less than satisfactory explanation of that little situation) so what you see is what you get. Speaking for myself, I'm extremely happy to have the image and, thanks to Doug's kindness, to be able to share it with you.   Isham Collection via Barbier

It Wasn't Really a Gunfighter, You Know

But the Chance Vought Corporation's F8U nee F-8 Crusader family of carrier based jet fighters was a revelation in its day. It was everything that conventional wisdom said it couldn't be as a shipborne fighter; fast, maneuverable, well armed with 20mm guns as well as missiles and, most importantly, designed from the outset to operate from the deck of an aircraft carrier. It was a cutting edge design with a lengthy service life, one that included honorable service in what many have deemed a less than honorable conflict. It was the Real Deal, one that survived Robert McNamara's mass change of American military aircraft designations during 1962 and with a major war thrown in to boot,  and more than worthy of our consideration today, so let's take a look at a few F-8Js from the late Jim Sullivan's collection.

January of 1969 was a good month to be on the ramp at Miramar, as demonstrated by this F-8J (150882) from VF-194, photographed there on the 28th of that month. She didn't last much past the date this image was taken and was written off in an accident in 1971, but she was a beauty when she was in her prime. The J-model Crusaders were reworked F-8Es and closely resembled that variant in many ways. Modelers take note: 407 is sitting nose-high due to lack of ammunition and fuel, in an attitude that is not the norm for an F-8 on the ground.   Clay Jansson via Sullivan Collection

150888 was sharing the ramp with 150882 on that 28th of January, 1969, and was manned up and ready for flight when Clay Jansson took this photo. She was assigned to Fighting Fifty-One at the time and was a gorgeous example of the type. She survived service with the Navy to be sent to MASDC in 1975.   Clay Jansson via Sullivan Collection

150302 was another F-8J from VF-94 and showing a variation of the squadron's markings as photographed at Miramar on 05 October, 1974. Her career was more varied than most; besides her time with VF-194 (among other fighter squadrons) she also served with the PMTC during 1976 and with VFP-63 before her last trip to MASDC in 1980, and there were earlier assignments to the Fleet as well. You could say the old girl got around!   Steve Miller via Sullivan Collection

Here's another Clay Jansson shot, taken once again at Miramar but this time of an F-8J (149210) during her time with VF-211 in 1975. She had a lengthy and varied career with the Navy prior to her ultimate retirement in 1976, although with all that behind her she wasn't done yet; she ended up with the French Navy in 1990 as a source of spares for their navy's Crusader force. Not a bad life span for the old girl, eh?   Clay Jansson via Sullivan Collection

A 'Sader in her element, 149210 from VF-94 traps aboard the Oriskany during that squadron's deployment on the carrier during the mid-70s. The F-8 earned a couple of nicknames while she was in the fleet. One, "The Last of the Gunfighters", was true in that she was the deemed to be the last naval fighter to be built with guns prior to the Navy's discovery that it was a bad idea to leave them off; the  Navy's F-4 Phantom family were all built and operated sans gun but the next fleet fighter in line, the Grumman F-14, had a gun reinstated as have all subsequent American naval fighters to this point, so the nickname wasn't entirely appropriate. Her other nickname, however, most assuredly was: "The Ensign Eliminator" was earned because of her handling around the boat and deservedly so. From the F-8A and to include every Crusader variant that followed, the type was a handful during carrier operations. This is a textbook approach and landing, but they didn't all go that way!   Navy via Sullivan Collection

150846 from VF-13 sits placidly on the ramp early in her career. Built as an F8U-2NE and re-designated F-8J, she had a relatively brief career, all of which was spent with Fighting 13, prior to ditching off Puerto Rico on 11 March 1966.   Nobody ever said military aviation was safe!   Navy via Sullivan Collection

Let's end today with a bolter! 150904, from VF-191, is on the throttle to go around in this dramatic shot taken aboard the Bon Homme Richard by Bob Lawson in 1974, possibly during her Vietnam cruise that year. It's a dramatic shot and provides us with a fitting way to end this essay.   Bob Lawson via Sullivan Collection

Those of our readers with a good memory will know that this isn't the first time we've visited the F-8 family, and we can guarantee it won't be the last. Meanwhile, here's hoping you've enjoyed this jaunt into the past!

The Relief Tube

Nope, not this time! If you recall it was only yesterday that I last published and in that highly abbreviated issue told everyone, among other things, that our old Replica in Scale email address was temporarily tango uniform, which means that you probably wouldn't be able to get through right now unless you already had some other way to do that. That was a run-on sentence, by the way. 

Happy Snaps

How about I look for one for next time? It works for me!

Under the Radar 

And under the radar is where the book reviews that normally live under that heading will have to stay for a while, because everything I've read of late, squeezed into those brief moments where I've had the time to do it, have been about topics other than aviation. I know that's wrong but that's what I've been doing

And there you have it, a record pair of blogs issued just a couple of days apart. Let's see, now; I tell everyone that things are getting back on a schedule of sorts just a few short months ago and don't do it, and now I say there's going to be a long dry spell between publications and then I pop another issue out almost immediately afterwards. I guess it makes sense, sortof.

Anyway, be good to your neighbor and with any luck at all we'll meet again soon!

phil