re: Vader’s Model Desk: F2A2 Brewster Buffalo

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That was literally the only aircraft ever made by the company. They were an incompetent group of politically connected people with little to no aviation experience outside the founder, who was not trained as an engineer, yet made VP a Lockheed somehow prior to founding Brewster. And there were illegal aliens involved as well......

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That’s an interesting piece of history I didn’t know.

I’ve been familiar with the buffalo since a young age. Always viewed it as American complacency post ww1. It’s amazing how quickly we evolved to other inferior ww2 fighters like the P-40 and P-39 which were vastly superior to the buffalo, but were light years behind the P-47 and P-51. The P-38 is odd and somewhere in the middle. It’s just amazing to me how much fighter aircraft advanced in a couple of years. I’m not super familiar with naval aircraft from that period.

I enjoyed glueing models together when I was a kid, it seemed to always give me a buzz for some reason. It’s a great hobby.

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Like they said, there were over 400 aircraft from the escort carriers alone…it wasn’t like the Japanese had some great advantage as history was told. There was a sizable air component that any navel officer would believe they are facing the main fleet.

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That is true. But keep in mind the escort carriers were loaded out to support the landing forces and not engage in a fleet action. So while they could throw up a good sized air group, they were having to drop high explosive bombs instead of armor piercing bombs. And they were caught totally off guard. They had to send some of their aircraft up without even having time to arm them.

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Random question. What's your favorite decal softener? I use Micro Sol, but I usually build race car kits and on larger decals I get some wrinkling or what I can only describe as too much melt. It's not bad, but I was wondering if there's something better in your opinion.

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If there’s something better than Micro Sol, I haven’t found it yet. That’s what I always use.

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Thanks! I figured it was all user error on my end, but it never hurts to ask of there's something else out there.

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Are you having trouble with it?

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Are you having trouble with it?

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Only with very large decals. For example the last kit I did was a Subaru Rally car with a decal that covered almost the entire side of the car. I think it mostly comes from not being patient enough and possibly working the decal too much rather than letting the micro sol do its job.

I'm currently in my office, or I'd share a photo as an example. It looks like I get a few areas where I get some whiteish discoloration and the decal deforms just a little. Nothing that you would see without close inspection, but you know how that type of thing is. Others see a pretty clean finished product, we see the mistakes

Gotcha. Thankfully, it’s rare I have to contend with very large decals like that. One thing I do when dealing with placement of larger decals is to use a dropper to put a little extra water on the area to I can move the decal to where I want it. Then, when I get the decal where i want it, I touch the corner of a paper towel to the area to instantly soak up the water and set the decal as desired. After that I’ll brush on some Micro Sol over the decal and let that set for a min or two before using a q-tip to finish setting the decal.

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I’ve been familiar with the buffalo since a young age. Always viewed it as American complacency post ww1. It’s amazing how quickly we evolved to other inferior ww2 fighters like the P-40 and P-39 which were vastly superior to the buffalo, but were light years behind the P-47 and P-51. The P-38 is odd and somewhere in the middle. It’s just amazing to me how much fighter aircraft advanced in a couple of years. I’m not super familiar with naval aircraft from that period.

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The P-40 was a better engine away from being a much better airplane. As it was, the Brits used them for ground attack throughout the war.

The P-39, especially later versions, was very competitive and the Soviets loved it. At least one of their leading aces flew a P-39, maybe more, but not something Soviet propaganda would admit to. For multiple reasons, at least some of which were military internal and external politics rather than performance or technical in basis, the USAAF did not like the P-39.

The Germans had considerable respect for the P-38, in post-war interviews some of their top aces felt it was the most difficult Allied opponent. The K model would probably have been superior to anything else in the air with a propeller, but cost about 2x what a Mustang or Thunderbolt cost and the war was coming to an end, so it never saw production. It was arguably the only truly successful WWII twin engine fighter produced in any volume. German twins were seen as easy meat for the RAF and USAAF.

great work as always !!! Odd not so oft modeled subject. Dig the obscurity of it.

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Favorite fighter? That’s a tough one. I’d have to say the P-47 Thunderbolt. I just like its lines

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Chino planes of fame just put one back in the air after a major overhaul. Doin' laps over my house the other day. Razor back version G model. They are incredibly large in person. Dwarfs many of the fighters.

Razor Back fly over

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The P-39, especially later versions, was very competitive and the Soviets loved it. At least one of their leading aces flew a P-39, maybe more, but not something Soviet propaganda would admit to.

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I knew the Soviets were fans of the P-39, but I didn’t know that. That’s interesting history. I know that the USAAF hated it. Chuck Yeager bailed out of one and talked about how hated it was. In his book he talks about how they had a song about the P-39.

Something like:
Don’t give me a P-39
With an engine that’s mounted behind
She’ll tumble and roll and dig a big hole
Don’t give me a P-39