Working on New Sig - Identify the Planes

[TimoN]

Because I don't have a neat signature, I have been working with it lately. I started building few model planes so I could take some photos and use them in my sig. Two are almost ready, but I need lot of fine tuning before they are ready for the final shooting. One is still in a packet and I haven't started it yet. The third would be too easy to identify, because it's a twin engine fighter. However the two other ones are little bit harder.

Can you identify these two planes in the picture? I blurred them to make the identification harder.

[Terminus]

That's interesting... I'd say a Tojo and a Thunderbolt.

[saj42]

P-40 and a Tojo (I won't even try to guess the exact model number/letter).

[TimoN]

ORIGINAL: Tallyho!

P-40 and a Tojo (I won't even try to guess the exact model number/letter).

Both wrong.
Terminus had it also wrong.

[Terminus]

Well, the Jap isn't a Zero or an Oscar, since it's got 4 wing guns. A George, maybe? Still going with the T-Bolt for the chaser.

[pionkki]

A6M5 Zeke and Brewster Buffalo?

[wdolson]

The wing bulges on the chaser are a bit odd, but the canopy looks more like a Buffalo.  The P-35 had a long canopy like that, but it wasn't straight, it had more of a slope in the back.  The plane in front looks a bit like an A6M5 Zero with the 4 wing guns.

Bill

[TimoN]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Well, the Jap isn't a Zero or an Oscar, since it's got 4 wing guns. A George, maybe? Still going with the T-Bolt for the chaser.

N1K2-J ShidenKai it is. The wing guns would have been my next tip. Good catch Terminus.

Pionkki got the Brewster right. I think he got it because he recognized the camo, which is not from the Pacific.

Here's a shot from same models in color:

[TimoN]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

The wing bulges on the chaser are a bit odd, but the canopy looks more like a Buffalo. The P-35 had a long canopy like that, but it wasn't straight, it had more of a slope in the back. The plane in front looks a bit like an A6M5 Zero with the 4 wing guns.

Bill

The Brewster Buffalo model kit is from Revell and the quality of the kit was poor. I am not sure about the wing bulges in the Finnish F2A, but this F2A-3 seems to have small bulges in its wings: F2A-3

[m10bob]

FWIW Revell quality went downhill in the 70's after the acquisiton/merger with Testors paints. The original Buffalo they released in approx 1965-66 was "dead-on" except they were still making rivets the size of scale cantaloupes.

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: m10bob

FWIW Revell quality went downhill in the 70's after the acquisiton/merger with Testors paints. The original Buffalo they released in approx 1965-66 was "dead-on" except they were still making rivets the size of scale cantaloupes.

Revell and Testors are separate companies and always were. Testors is a division of RPM, which makes a lot of chemicals for the painting industry. Revell was a stand alone company until the early 80s when they were briefly owned by CEJI. They became independent again, then merged with Monogram in 1985. The management of the new company was mostly Revell's, but the facilities were mostly Monogram's. Revell was sitting on some very valuable real estate in Venice, CA and Monogram owned a lot of acreage in semi-rural Illinois. The Monogram plant was also much newer.

Since the Revell-Monogram merger, the company has had a lot of owners. Some owners have put effort into developing new kits, while others have let the company languish. Hallmark owned the company from the mid-90s up until a year or two ago and they were probably the worst owners. In the early to mid 90s RM did come out with some very nice kits. In aircraft they came out with several all new 1/48 scale kits: a Ju-52, an A-26, a PBY, a new SB2C, a Do-217, and a few others. The Do-217 came out after Hallmark took them over, but I believe it was well along when they bought the company. The company has new owners again and there are rumors that some of the old kits will be retooled to bring them up to modern standards.

Revell's quality from the 50s through the 70s was fairly consistent. In the 50s and most of the 60s, it was quite good compared to the competition. In the 70s, they began to look old and tired because the competition had improved. The Japanese started producting much better kits in the 70s and Monogram started releasing super detailed 1/48 scale kits. As time went on, the Japanese kept improving their kits and Revell didn't.

Today, Revell Germany (which is a separate company) is a major player with many new, modern kits mixed in with re-releases of old kits from Monogram, Revell US, and even Matchbox. Revell-Monogram hasn't produced many new kits in a while, but what they have produced have been in the same league with the other better brands.

Bill

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

The wing bulges on the chaser are a bit odd, but the canopy looks more like a Buffalo. The P-35 had a long canopy like that, but it wasn't straight, it had more of a slope in the back. The plane in front looks a bit like an A6M5 Zero with the 4 wing guns.

ORIGINAL: TimoN
The Brewster Buffalo model kit is from Revell and the quality of the kit was poor. I am not sure about the wing bulges in the Finnish F2A, but this F2A-3 seems to have small bulges in its wings: F2A-3

I looked at some other pictures online and the F2A-3 did have those bulges. Weird place for them. It looks like they were over the flap actuators or something at the rear of the wing.

Bill

[Feinder]

Dang-it.  This is making me want to drag out some of the kits I have, or buy a new one.  But between my 18-month old and my 3 year old, something would get eaten (I'm thinking glue or paint), and that would be bad.
 
A pox on you for tempting me.
 
[:-]
 
-F-

[TimoN]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

Dang-it. This is making me want to drag out some of the kits I have, or buy a new one. But between my 18-month old and my 3 year old, something would get eaten (I'm thinking glue or paint), and that would be bad.

A pox on you for tempting me.

[:-]

-F-

Sorry for starting the fever.

For me it's sort of a dream from the childhood. It's twenty years since I last time made some kits and this is the first time I ever paint them! When I was twelve years old, I couldn't afford to buy any paints. Now that I can afford to buy the paints and my daughter is already 8 years, I could start the hobby again (for atleast to do the three kits I bought for making a cool WITP sig [:D]).