1952

October 19, 2021

P51 Lou IV

by Scott Sclafani

This is a model of Lou IV, a fighter from the 361 st Fighter Group of the 8^th Air Force flying out of Bottisham, England.

There’s a famous color photo of this plane that shows a blue camo scheme, which has been hotly debated. It was, in fact, a field applied camo Army olive drab and RAF Dark Green.

I built this model straight out of the box, using Testors model master paint throughout and artist oil for panel line definition. Lou IV was piloted by Tom Christian Jr, who had no aerial vicoties and was killed shortly after the famed color photo was shot.

October 7, 2021

Guison Gundam

By Michael Bogle

The first thing you notice about this 1/100 Guison Gundam is its resemblance to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Although all the Bandai Gundam kits come pre-colored, I airbrush the ones I assemble to give them a unique identity.

And then I weather them – a bullet hole in its shoulder, a hammer that looks like its seen a lot of action – to point out a few. To show wear marks, I used the Molotow chrome pen.

Also interesting is the base, which is re-purposed foam packing for a computer monitor. The crumbling effect was created by nibbling at the edges of the foam. Short lengths of metal rod simulate rebar. The base was coated with a sand-laced acrylic medium.

Photos by Michael Bogle

Rosebud

Last October Hub Hobby’s old building on Broad St was demolished. Word of it being torn down spread like wildfire.

One of our customers, Jim Letten, was emailed by his friend Martin about the demolition of their childhood hang-out.

The subject line was: ROSEBUD

“Rosebud” was the dying word spoken by Orsen Welles in the movie Citizen Kane: a reference to his childhood sled – the symbol of memories of youthful innocence.

I’ve known Jim for at least 40 years and he has given us permission to publish his reply to his friends email.

Read it here