TROTSKIY is up

[Don Boose]

Deleted. Replaced by the next posting.

[Don Boose]

Thanks, Orazio and Charlie.

The caption doesn’t help much because the only Japanese Kanji character in the caption is nen (year) following the "1942." There are some instructions, such as "mountain fold" and "valley fold" for the canopy, but no info on the unit.

However, if you click on the picture of the airplane, you go to Trotskiy’s Fi156 page. The caption of the photo of CE+GX reads Dai 54 Sentōdaitai, which means literally "54th Fighter (or Combat) Battalion." This would be consistent with Charlie’s identification of KG54.

Don

[member_3]

Stuka ju87d_an_v15 is available.

[Don Boose]

Thanks, Ron.

The caption to ju87d_an_v15 reads:

First line: “Junkers Ju87D Stuka”

Second line: “Dai-ni Kyūkōkabakugeki Hikodan [2d Dive-bomber Air Division] Dai-ni Hikotai [2d Air Unit] Dai-go Hikochutai [5th Flying Company] 1942-nen Haru [Spring 1942] Roshia [Russia].”

I take this to mean 5th Staffel, II Gruppe, Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (5.II/StG2).

Do the Luftwaffe experts agree?

Incidentally, I couldn’t resist trying my hand at the Fieseler Fi156 with all those struts and unusual canopy geometry. I should be able to post photos within the hour – it’s all done but the undercarriage.

Don

[Don Boose]

I did a quick build of the little Fieseler Storch. It comes out to about 1/82 scale -- just a tad over HO.

Pretty much from the box except that I added a spar to give some dimensionality to the wing and glued a 0.15-inch (~0.3mm) wire inside the main undercarriage strut (the shukaku as Mr Trotskiy would say) and punched out the wheel disks.

It's a simple model, but nicely designed. In spite of the complex geometry of the canopy, after I folded it up, it fit the fuselage perfectly.

Don

[dboose3]

Dad,

Ah, so this is what I caught you in the middle of when I called to wish you a happy Father's day. Excellent dimensionality in the wing. And Wow! The prop is spinning so fast you can't even see it...

Don (the lesser)

[dansls1]

Very nice Don, and welcome Don

[cjwalas]

Great to see that Storch completed. I've had mine printed out and waiting for...a year or more!?! Nice job, Don!
Chris

[Don Boose]

Thanks for the kind words, Dan, Don3, and Chris. I’d love to see what you would do with the Storch, Chris – remembering the way you transmuted the Maly Lysander into a real airplane. And I bet you would have fun with this one, too, Dan – especially if you printed it out in a larger size and turned it into a glider.

Meanwhile, I will be out of the net for a few days, participating in an exercise in the D.C. area. I will pick up on any models Mr. Trotskiy issues in my absence upon my return.

They will probably be Grumman F4Fs, in which case, the captions should be nearly self-explanatory.

For example, the caption to f4f4_20_v16 was: “Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat VF-6 (Enta-puraizu [Enterprise] Dai-roku Sentōhikotai [6th Fighter Air Unit] 1942-nen 8-gatsu [August 1942]).”

The caption to f4f4_50_v17 was: “Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat VMF-121 (Dai-hyaku-nijyu-ichi Haihei Sentōhikotai [121st Marine Fighter Air Unit] 1942-nen 11-gatsu [November 1942] Gadarukanaru [Guadalcanal].”

More later, when I return.

Don

[Jimr]

Don
Nice Storch! Don III is right; you're turning too many rpms. Lately I do more research than modeling. I came across Air Enthusiast fourteen (1980) while checking the Lockheed L 1049. There's a very nice article there on Hampden
operations.
Jim