[WWI] Comics

[Tom Mason]

MessageStephen,

You may be feeling like me that as you get or you get nastalgic. i have been buying DVD's of old serials like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and such. As for the XF5F-1 your probably right. Did you know the XF5F-1 was for the navy and the XF5F-2 with the nose of the fuselage ectending past the leading edge of the wing was for the army. This reminds that The Blackhawks also flew a Lockheed F-90. I have been trying to get a kit of for a few years but the Aurora, forgot who else made it, go to high a price. I want to build not collect it. These were in 1/48 but now Anigrand has a resin one in 1/72. I want to do as historical and one as the Blackhawk plane.
I used to collect comics, but quite a few years ago when i was married and raising to kids we needed money and I sold the lot. I am sorry I did.

T.O.M.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stephen Auslender 
  To: World War I Modeling Mailing List 
  Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 1:41 PM
  Subject: Re: [WWI] Comics


  T.O.M.
  Could be, but it also could be that since Grumman was in Long Island and that is just a short commuter train trip from New York City where the artists were located, perhaps he saw the prototype flying around, or word got out somehow from guys who work there? A lot of people live in Long Island and commute to work in the city. 
  You cannot keep little boys and inquisitive photographers from seeing a prototype plane flying around on its test trips. Which is why Lockheed had the Skunk Works hidden away out west where no one lived.
  The fact that it was secret may also be the reason that the first issue of Blackhawk had the engines wrong. The first Blackhawk F5F's had in-line engines that looked like they were the low powered power plants of the English, French and others of the late 1930's, 300 to 500 horsepower engines. They look like the engine nacelles of the Caudron 714, or the Fokker D XXIII. Also the comic engine nacelles were situated atop the wing,  It wasn't until the fourth or fifth issue that someone saw a real F5F and put the radial engines on it mid-wing mounted.
  I doubt  very much that the cartoonist developed that design all by himself. The most distinguishing characteristic of the F5F was the fuselage nose that started part way down the chord of the wing. Thus the title, "the plane that was eating its own wing". 
  "A secret is not a secret if more than one person knows it."
  The fact that the government flat foots were chasing around trying to find where he got the design for the plane does not surprise me. Those government agents are never known for their imaginative thinking abilities. 
  It like the Norden bombsight, which we tried so hard to keep from falling into the hands of the Germans in WW2. The fact is the Germans had the plans of this highly secret device well before the USA got into the war! One of their agents was a draftsman who worked on it!
  Try to get a copy of this Blackhawk anthology, or wait for the paperback to come out and pay less for it. For me it is a remarkable nostalgia trip. 
  Especially when I realize how childish the comic books really were!
  The problem with growing up is that one grows up and no longer sees reality through the eyes of a child. No more wonderment - just hard reality.
  I tried putting off growing up for at 60-plus years but this last year I am. unfortunately, getting an adult outlook on life. It sucks.
  Stephen, the demented old curmudgeon.


    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Tom Mason 
    To: World War I Modeling Mailing List 
    Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 12:15 PM
    Subject: Re: [WWI] Comics


    Stephen,

    From the history I read of the Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket  the plane flown in the Blackhawk comic wasn't a XF5F-1. The design was secret at the time and Grumman went to DC comics and asked them how they got this airplane design for there comic. There answer the artist came up with it on his own.

    T.O.M.
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Stephen Auslender 
      To: World War I Modeling Mailing List 
      Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 8:28 AM
      Subject: Re: [WWI] Comics


      Thanks to you guys I have purchased a copy of the old comic Aces High on ebay.
      Now I'll see what these WW1 comic characters are all about. 

      While I was at it I got the new book anthology of the early Blackhawk comics. This is ot (sorry) but it was set in WW2 and Blackhawk and his crew flew the Grumman F5F twin engine fighters. 
      http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563897008/104-9841325-2283127
      I got my copy from Amazon. It brought back so many memories! I was building models in WW2 and reading comic books then. Come to think of it, I still do both. But the comics today are limited to Mad. Amazon also has the 1970's anthologies of Blackhawk but I had stopped reading comics like Blackhawk by the late 1950's. I was in college and I had discovered that girls were not just soft boys, and....
      Here is a good site for Blackhawk and the models made from it.
      http://ourworlds.topcities.com/blackhawk/history/blk_hist.html#goldenage
      Any of you guys remember Smilin' Jack?
      http://www.toonopedia.com/smilin_j.htm
      I know you guys are familiar with Porco Rosso.
      I picked up three of the planes from this animated movie in 1/72 a year or two ago. 
      Yes, I know its the wrong scale for me but I couldn't resist. Like I have the F5F in both radial and inline versions in 1/48 (by MDC I think).
      OK enuf digression from this ot but you started it with getting me interested in comics again with Aces High.
      So its all your fault!
      So there!
      Nyah nyah nyah!
      Adultfully yours,
      Stephen

      ----- Original Message ----- 
        From: Andy Bannister 
        To: 'World War I Modeling Mailing List' 
        Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 7:00 AM
        Subject: Re: [WWI] DML Wings Fokker Dr.1 and Spad XIII


        They don't look that difficult to me. Skin them over with scribed .005" sheet ala Mssr. Woodman. Or give 'em a few coats of Mr. Surfacer. Better yet - ignore them! It's really not that big an issue.
        Andy 

        CEO, Editor in Chief, Choreographer, Teaboy
        www.warpedplastic.co.uk 
          -----Original Message-----
          From: wwi-bounces at wwi-models.org [mailto:wwi-bounces at wwi-models.org] On Behalf Of Nan Krull
          Sent: 02 June 2007 04:36
          To: wwi at wwi-models.org
          Subject: [WWI] DML Wings Fokker Dr.1 and Spad XIII


          All,

          The other day I picked up the DML 1/48th Fokker Dr.1 kit I've had languishing on my shelf  for years, opened the box, looked inside and put it back on the shelf. Those wings!  The saggy undersides seem impossible to fix. Are there any replacements for them? Same for the DML Spad XIII? 

          Thanks,

          Art
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.wwi-models.org/pipermail/wwi/attachments/20070602/395cfc5a/attachment.html