WWII Fighters

IT IS HARD TO THINK OF A MACHINE OF ANY KIND that evokes such universal feelings of power, heroism and lethal grace as the WW II fighter. Sadly, many existed for a pitifully short period of time before disappearing entirely as soon as the war was over. Only the later fighters, the Mustangs, Hellcats, etc., had any postwar life at all. Still, here we are, several generations removed from their time on center stage and we are more captivated by them today then at any time in history. The allure of the machines and the young men who flew them is captivating and, it seems, is eternal.

Because of the foregoing, putting together a magazine devoted to WW II Fighters is difficult because it's so hard to decide what to leave out. The amount of ground to be covered (so to speak) is enormous. Stories of men and machines are so numerous and far reaching that we'd need a magazine the size of the Manhattan phone book to even put a dent in the subject. But, we did our best. That's why we need two special issues a year: in doing one, we always have enough left over for another.

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Military Modelling 2006-01

The Cruiser Tank A9 Mark I was a lightweight development of the Medium Tank Mark III. Several features made this tank unique; the A9 had its engine located in the rear with a central, powered turret, the armour was almost entirely vertical and an auxiliary engine was used to start the main engine. The driving and fighting compartments were located together and each of the hull machine gunners was located on either side of the driver. The Vickers 'slow motion' suspension design was later used on the Valentine series with some minor modifications. The A9 had a crew of six, weighed 12 tons, with a performance speed of 25 mph and approximately 125 were produced. Armament was a two-pounder gun and a co-axial .303in Vickers water-cooled machine gun in the mail turret, and one .303in Vickers water-cooled machine gun in each of the two smaller turrets at the front of the hull. The close support version (CS) of the tank was armed with a 3.7in gun firing high explosive shells, and in line with British doctrine of the time, deployed in headquarters' squadrons. The Mark I was in service from 1938 to 1941 and was used in some regiments of the 1st Armoured Division in France and armoured divisions in North Africa until 1941. Evidence suggests that captured examples of the Close Support (CS) version of the tank were used against their former owners by Axis forces in 1942 in the Western Desert.

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miniReplika 59

W swoim "modelarskim życiu" od pewnego momentu zacząłem unikać modeli małoseryjnych tzw. short run. Odstraszała mnie dość skutecznie wizja ogromnego rozrzutu pomiędzy perfekcją a niedokładnością wykonania danego zestawu. Kilkukrotne starcia z tego typu modelami pozostawiały mi zawsze pewien niedosyt, rezultaty niejednokrotnie nie rekompensowały poświęconego czasu i nakładów. Wszystko byłoby nadal takie czarno-białe gdyby nie sławetne „ale". Tym „ale" jest fakt, że niektóre repliki - szczególnie mniej znane lub mało popularne - wykonywane są tylko w takiej technologii. Wówczas przestają się liczyć uprzedzenia i modelarz skłonny jest do poświęceń i wyrzeczeń w imię chęci wykonania modelu (w innej sferze życia śp. Freud pewnie to odpowiednio zaszufladkował). I w ten sposób dotarłem do bohatera niniejszego artykułu - latającej łodzi Grumman JRF-5 Goose, francuskiej firmy Signifer.

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Modelling The T-55 Main Battle Tank

The Russian T-55 is one of the most prolific main battle tanks ever produced. A direct descendent of the infamous and prevalent Russian T-34, the T-55 was first introduced in the 'cold war' era of the 1950s. By the time production ended in the early 1980s, an estimated 50.000 examples had been built under license by Russian allies such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and China. Many versions and modifications were developed, both by the original Russian manufacturer and by licensed producers throughout the world. Many different camouflage and paint schemes have been displayed on the T-55 through the years, such as during the Balkan wars and the two Iraq wars, making the T-55 a consistently interesting modelling subject. Given the T-55's simplicity, reliability, and its powerful 100mm gun, it is not surprising that many T-55s are still in service today, as seen in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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