OBAMA D-DAY TRIBUTE

President Barack Obama led a tribute yesterday to the Allied soldiers who stormed the beaches 65 years ago, to start the invasion of Europe and the end of World War 2.

"Friends and veterans, what we cannot forget – what we must not forget – is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century," Obama said.

One of the machines that helped win the war was the humble Jeep - more than 600,000 of them were built during the war. And here's a nice YouTube video build of an Airfix Jeep, made to 1:72 scale, so suitable for display in a million-and-one aviation dioramas.

Video: Thanks to 'Basic Modelling'

TAMIYA BRITISH LIGHT UTILITY VEHICLE

This is a neat addition to Tamiya’s range of 1:48 military vehicles, and will make a useful addition to any diorama featuring British military subjects of the World War 2 era.

The vehicle is pre-assembled (a trend that’s becoming stronger with every passing month) and is presented to Tamiya’s usual high production values. And, as ever, it’s a pleasure to see the Tamiya box has such thoughtful design and illustration, as well as the actual model.

A British Army version is already available, and the RAF version should be out soon, from model shops and online retailers, such as Hannants.

FAB FIVE: RARE REVELL CLASSICS

Revell kits have waxed and waned over the years, and today the range is probably stronger than ever, with regular new kits coming from Europe and the US. Snap-together models are now established in popularity, with the Star Wars range leading the way. But will today’s kits (and their boxes) ever achieve the status earlier beauties have earned in my hall of fame? Only time will tell, but here we go with Mr J’s five rare Revells from the vaults:

1 USS Nautilus nuclear submarine
This was the world’s first nuclear submarine when ‘atomic’ was the big buzz-word, so a 1950s boy just had to have it. Revell’s Nautilus had a large pod behind the sail (or conning tower) and a Loon cruise missile, which was an upgraded US version of the World War 2 German V-1 ‘doodlebug’. This was a bit odd, as the real sub never had this feature at all. No matter, at the time it looked suitably aggressive.
2 Lincoln Futura
The concept alone sold this to me - a car with double-bubble canopies, just like the Anastasia personal spacecraft flown by my comic-book hero, Dan Dare. The real thing was hand-built by Ghia in Italy and did the show-car circuit; later it was the genesis for the Batman TV series.
3 Cutty Sark
Ah, the days of sail! Revell’s beauty was a stunner, and the beautifully detailed hull really set it off. Sad to say, it would NOT stay upright in water, ending its days capsized on a pond, being pounded by pebbles and stones thrown by... yes, you guessed it, me and my pals.
4 Boeing Bomarc
To my eyes the Boeing Bomarc interceptor missile looked more like a sci-fi rocket, and I built it as such, finished in gleaming silver, sitting on an alien landscape with a bunch of astronauts (‘spacemen’) around the base, ready to explore a strange new world. In reality, the Bomarc’s job was to knock out Russian intruders with its nuclear warhead, before they had a chance to drop their A- and H-bombs on US cities.
5 Martin Seamaster
Wow, a jet flying boat! Sleek, but ultimately doomed, the Martin Seamaster was another must-have for this tech-obsessed model builder. It did mark a watershed though, as around this time I got fed up with Revell’s weird-scale (‘fit the box’) policy - the Seamaster was made to a bizarre 1:136 scale - and decided to stick with 1:72 for most aircraft models. Which of course opened the door to the likes of Airfix....

OK, that’s my Rare Revell Fab Five - what are your own choices?

More Luftwaffe 1946

Woah! Re the previous Revell post, this video shows just about every uber-aviation project dreamt up in the dying days of the Third Reich.

There's even rousing march music as background – well done Green Cacktus, who put the whole thing together.

Luftwaffe 1946: super-advanced aircraft that might have changed the course of World War 2

Secret projects that never went into widespread use, or that stayed as ‘blue sky’ sketches are a continual source of fascination. We’ll be looking at amazing designs from the UK and USA soon, but today it’s ‘Luftwaffe 1946’ that’s the focus.

By 1944, the Allies were achieving near-total air domination over Europe, but the Axis powers were not ready to give up, and dozens of super-science projects were underway. Of course, Hitler kicked his own forces in the rear by insisting that early Messerschmitt Me262s were equipped as light bombers instead of being flown as high-speed interceptor fighters. But other designs being cooked up in secret laboratories could have caused the Allies some real damage, at least to the vast bomber streams that were slowly destroying the Reich’s ability to wage war.

Today, Revell in particular produces a wide range of Luftwaffe 1946 kits, ranging from the Arado 234 shown here, to rocket interceptors and flying wing bombers. These are among my favourite kits, as they look great, and are so different to anything that’s flown before or since.

We'll have a look at more of these kits over the next few days.

Avro Lancaster: the video

And here's a short clip of the real thing though not an ASR version, via YouTube.

There's no sound on this Lancaster clip, but it's still good stuff.

Video: World War 2 aircraft collection

Here's a fun vid from YouTube, especially if you like glamrock. When Mat Irvine joins the SMN team, we'll have some of our own to add!