Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Omega Starfury Composite


Here is my composite image of Revell's 1/72 scale Starfury Omega from Babylon 5 crossing the Earth's terminator. Images of the model can be seen here.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Xizor's Virago Composite


Here is my composite image of AMT's Xizor's Virago from Star Wars Shadows of the Empire flying towards Saturn's moon Titan. Images of the model can be seen here.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Spitfire MK VI Composite


Here is my composite image of Hasegawa's 1/32 Supermarine Spitfire MK VI flying high above the clouds.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Stuka Composite


Here is my composite of Revell's/Hasegawa's 1/32 scale Junkers JU 87 d "Stuka" Dive Bomber against an evening grey sky.

Despite its technological obsolescence by early on in the war to me nothing defines symbolically more the evil that was Nazi Germany than the Stuka. That horrifying scream they made when going into a dive. The ungainly shape of the Stuka caused
the screaming noise when in a dive. To create an even louder scream, a
siren, powered by a small propeller was place under each landing strut. It was referred to as the horn of Jerico. Its main purpose was to terrorize.

I have heard that the Russians hated this aircraft so much that whenever a Stuka, its pilot and gunner were captured they were immediately executed and the aircraft destroyed.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Seafire Composite


Here is my composite image of Revell's 1/32 scale Supermarine Seafire MK 1B flying over dark water at twilight.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Grief Composite


Here is my composite of MPM models 1/48 scale Heinkel HE 177 A5 Grief against a misty blue grey sky.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Veltro Composite


Here is my composite image of 21'st Century Toys 1/32 scale Macci C 205 Veltro against a blue sky.
This aircraft flew with the free Italians for the Allies following Italy's defeat under Mussolini.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sea Fury Composite





Here is my composite image of Fisher Models 1/32 scale Hawker Sea Fury FB 11 against a grey sky.
Fisher models in my not so humble opinion make the most accurate Sea Fury on the market today. However they can cost a kings ransom and they are an all resin kit. Around $220 CDN.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Mosquito Composite




Here is my composite image of Monograms old 1/48 scale De Havilland Mosquito FB VI flying against a thunder cloud sky.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Vor'cha Composite


Here is a composite image of AMTs Vor'cha class Klingon attack cruiser from Star Trek the next Generation flying past Saturn.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Kazon Raider Composite


Here is my composite image of Monograms Kazon Raider from Star Trek Voyager flying past the dark side of the moon (There is no dark side of the moon really as a matter of fact it's all dark).

Images of the model can be seen here.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Romulan Bird Of Prey Composite


Here is my composite image of AMT/Round 2"s 1/537 scale Romulan Bird of Prey from Star Trek TOS just coming out of cloak while flying across a star field (NASA).

Images of the model can be viewed here.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Vulcan Shuttle Composite




Here is my composite image of AMT/Round 2's 1/187 scale Vulcan Shuttle Surak from Star Trek the Motion Picture doing a fly past of Vulcan.
Images of the model can be viewed here.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Lancaster Grand Slam Bomber Composite


Here is my composite image of Tamiya's 1/48 scale Avro Lancaster Grand Slam Bomber B1 Special flying over Downsview Airport in Toronto 1946.

Images of the model can be viewed here.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Klingon Bird Of Prey Composite


Here is my composite image of AMT's 1/350 scale Klingon Bird of Prey against a red sky.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Monday, May 16, 2011

AT-AT Composite


Here is my composite image of MPC's AT-AT Imperial Walkers from Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back walking across an Antarctic ice field.
I decided to use Photoshop's water paper application to give this image an artistic flare.

Images of the AT-AT can be seen here.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Heinkel HE 51 B-2 Floatplane






Here are some images of Silver Wings 1/32 scale Heinkel HE 51 B-2 Floatplane.
From Wikipedia" The Heinkel He 51 was a German single-seat biplane which was produced in a number of different versions. It was initially developed as a fighter, and a seaplane variant and a ground-attack version were also developed. It was a development of the earlier He 49.
In 1931, Heinkel recruited the talented aircraft designers, Walter and Siegfried Günter, and their first major design for Heinkel was the Heinkel He 49. While this was officially an advanced trainer, in fact it was a fighter. The first prototype, the He 49a, flew in November 1932, and was followed by two further prototypes, the He 49b, with a longer fuselage, and the He 49c, with a revised engine.

The type was ordered into production for the still secret Luftwaffe as the He 51, the first pre-production aircraft flying in May 1933. Deliveries started in July of the next year.

The He 51 was a conventional single-bay biplane, with all-metal construction and fabric covering. It was powered by a glycol-cooled BMW VI engine, with an armament of two 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine guns mounted above the engine.

The He 51 was intended to replace the earlier Arado Ar 65, but served side-by-side with the slightly later Ar 68. The He 51 was outdated the day it entered service, and after an initial run of 150 production fighters, the design was switched into the modified He 51B, with approximately 450 built, including about 46 He 51B-2 floatplanes, and then finally a further 100 He 51C light ground-attack plane.
On 6 August 1936, six of the He 51s were delivered to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War along with the fraction of the army in revolt. Initial operations were successful, with the Heinkels meeting and defeating a number of older biplane of the Spanish Republican Air Force, with two Nieuport Ni-52 fighters, a Breguet 19 and a Potez 54 destroyed on 18 August 1936, the first day of operations by Spanish-flown He 51s. Deliveries continued as the hostilities increased, with two Nationalist squadrons equipped by November, and the Legion Kondor forming three squadrons of 12 aircraft each manned by German "volunteers".

This time of superiority was short lived, with the arrival of large numbers of modern aircraft from the Soviet Union, including the Polikarpov I-15 biplane and new Polikarpov I-16 monoplane, together with the Tupolev SB bomber, which was 110 km/h (70 mph) faster. The He 51 proved unable to protect the Legion Kondor's bombers, forcing it to switch to night operations, while also unable to intercept the much faster SB. The He 51 was therefore withdrawn from fighter duty and relegated to the ground-attack role by both the Legion Kondor and the Spanish rebels, It was replaced in the fighter role by the Fiat CR.32 in the rebel Nationalist Air Force, with the Legion Kondor receiving Messerschmitt Bf 109s from April 1937 to allow it to operate successfully in fighter operations.

While a failure as a fighter, the Heinkel proved successful as a ground-attack aircraft, being used by Wolfram von Richthofen to develop the close support tactics which were used by the Luftwaffe in World War II. It continued in use as a ground attack aircraft for the remainder of the Civil War, although losses were heavy. After the war the 46 surviving aircraft would be joined by another 15 new builds, and serve in the utility role in Spain until 1952.

The experiences in Spain would prove once and for all that the days of the biplane fighter were over. Although the later model Fiat biplanes were superior to the He 51 and continued to soldier on in Nationalist service, the I-16s were basically untouchable because of their speed. If the conditions were right, they could use their heavy armament in a quick pass and then leave; if things weren't so favorable, they simply flew away. The lesson learned by all of the participants was that speed was far more important in combat than maneuverability.
The He 51 continued in front-line service with the Luftwaffe until 1938, with it remaining in service as an advanced trainer for the first few years of World War II.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

F 16 Fighting Falcon







Here are some images of Hasegawa's 1/32 scale General Dynamics F-16 C Fighting Falcon.

From Wikipedia"

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as a lightweight day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976. Though no longer being purchased by the U.S. Air Force, improved versions are still being built for export customers. In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation, which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta.

The Fighting Falcon is a dogfighter with numerous innovations including a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while maneuvering, a seat reclined 30 degrees to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire flight control system that makes it a highly nimble aircraft. The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and has 11 hardpoints for mounting weapons, and other mission equipment. Although the F-16's official name is "Fighting Falcon", it is known to its pilots as the "Viper", due to it resembling a viper snake and after the Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper starfighter.

In addition to USAF active, reserve, and air national guard units, the aircraft is used by the USAF aerial demonstration team, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, and as an adversary/aggressor aircraft by the United States Navy. The F-16 has also been procured to serve in the air forces of 25 other nations.

The U.S. Air Force initially ordered 15 "Full-Scale Development" (FSD) aircraft (11 single-seat and four two-seat models) for its flight test program, but this was reduced to eight (six F-16A single-seaters and two F-16B two-seaters). The YF-16 design was altered for the production F-16. The fuselage was lengthened by 10.6 in (0.269 m), a larger nose radome was fitted to house the AN/APG-66 radar, wing area was increased from 280 sq ft (26 m2) to 300 sq ft (28 m2), the tailfin height was decreased slightly, the ventral fins were enlarged, two more stores stations were added, and a single side-hinged nosewheel door replaced the original double doors. These modifications increased the F-16's weight approximately 25% over that of the YF-16 prototypes.

Manufacture of the FSD F-16s got underway at General Dynamics' Fort Worth, Texas plant in late 1975, with the first example, an F-16A, being rolled out on 20 October 1976, followed by its first flight on 8 December. The initial two-seat model achieved its first flight on 8 August 1977. The initial production-standard F-16A flew for the first time on 7 August 1978 and its delivery was accepted by the USAF on 6 January 1979. The F-16 was given its formal nickname of “Fighting Falcon” on 21 July 1980, entering USAF operational service with the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB on 1 October 1980.

On 7 June 1975, the four European partners, now known as the European Participation Group, signed up for 348 aircraft at the Paris Air Show. This was split among the European Participation Air Forces (EPAF) as 116 for Belgium, 58 for Denmark, 102 for the Netherlands, and 72 for Norway. These would be produced on two European production lines, one in the Netherlands at Fokker's Schiphol-Oost facility and the other at SABCA's Gossellies plant in Belgium; production would be divided among them as 184 and 164 units, respectively. Norway's Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk and Denmark's Terma A/S also manufactured parts and subassemblies for the EPAF aircraft. European co-production was officially launched on 1 July 1977 at the Fokker factory. Beginning in mid-November 1977, Fokker-produced components were shipped to Fort Worth for assembly of fuselages, which were in turn shipped back to Europe (initially to Gossellies starting in January 1978); final assembly of EPAF-bound aircraft began at the Belgian plant on 15 February 1978, with deliveries to the Belgian Air Force beginning in January 1979. The Dutch line started up in April 1978 and delivered its first aircraft to the Royal Netherlands Air Force in June 1979. In 1980 the first aircraft were delivered to the Royal Norwegian Air Force by SABCA and to the Royal Danish Air Force by Fokker.

Since then, a further production line has been established at Ankara, Turkey, where Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has produced 232 Block 30/40/50 F-16s under license for the Turkish Air Force during the late 1980s and 1990s, and has 30 Block 50 Advanced underway for delivery from 2010; TAI also built 46 Block 40s for Egypt in the mid-1990s. Korean Aerospace Industries opened another production line for the KF-16 program, producing 140 Block 52s from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s. If India selects the F-16IN for its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft procurement, a sixth F-16 production line will be established in that nation to produce at least 108 fighters.

F-16C/D
The F-16C (single seat) and F-16D (two seat) variants entered production in 1984. The first C/D version was the Block 25 with improved cockpit avionics and radar which added all-weather capability with beyond-visual-range (BVR) AIM-7 and AIM-120 air-air missiles. Block 30/32, 40/42, and 50/52 were later C/D versions. The F-16C/D had a unit cost of US$18.8 million (1998).

Friday, May 13, 2011

Belliger Class Composite.




Here is a composite image of my kit bash 1/1000 scale Belliger Class Starship the U.S.S. Cyclops flying past Saturn's moon Enceladus.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Fishing For X Wings


Here is a composite image of a fisherman looking down through the water at a downed X Wing Fighter from Star Wars.
An image of the Fisherman can be viewed here.
Images of the abandoned parts queen X Wing can be viewed here.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Cylon Basestar Composite


Here is a composite image Revell's Cylon Basestar from the 70's TV series Battlestar Galactica parked over the Saturn moon Rhea.
This is the original 70's kit.

From Wikipedia"

The Basestar is the Cylon counterpart of the Colonial Battlestar. The Basestar has also been called a Baseship and a Cylon Battlestar in one episode but "Basestar" conforms to the Colonial ship naming system.

The Cylon Basestar is a superior warship to a Colonial Battlestar in a technological respect as it carries stronger weapons in greater quantity and carries a greater fighter complement as well. (Basestars can hold up to 300 Cylon Raiders.) Because of this, the Galactica and her crew prefer to avoid combat with them as much as possible. They are propelled by a reactionless drive that appears to make the ship spin slowly on its axis while engaged.

Basestars are considerably larger than Battlestars.

Configuration

A basestar's shape is that of two saucers joined to each other at their axis. The saucers are externally identical and some of the functions that they house are redundant of each other. Each saucer contains a hangar deck at its center, accessible from several large hatches distributed across the top of the cone. Unlike a battlestar, a basestar's hangar is closed with a hatch when not in use. All decks are connected by the Core, which allows access to any deck via a ladder. The Control Center or bridge is at the bottom of the core; the Control Center suite also includes the ship's sensor control computers.

Armament
Mega-Pulsars
In the episode "The Hand of God", the Basestar is revealed to have two of these weapons on the upper saucer. Pulsars are a beam weapon more powerful than the average laser turret and intended to engage other capital ships. They are capable of destroying a Battlestar-sized craft in only a few hits. Battlestars usually attempt to approach Basestars from the lower saucer to avoid these weapons.
Laser Turrets
Like a Battlestar, Basestars have laser turrets that resemble the weapons of their fighters but on a larger scale. The laser turrets on Basestars are located at the tips of the "spokes" on both saucers and are considerably more powerful than the Colonial design.
Missile Turrets
These turrets were seen in the episode "The Living Legend, Part 2" and they are on the inner surfaces of both saucers. They are meant for close range defense, since a Battlestar's point defense weapons could easily shoot them down at a longer range.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Jasper Class Composite


Here is a composite image of my kitbash 1/1000 scale Jasper Class Starship "Sakar" flying past Jupiter's Galilean moon Callisto.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Gilgamesh And Enkidu Composites




Here are a couple of images of my concept scratch n bash composites I have done of my creations Enkidu and Gilgamesh. Don't ask me the meaning behind them because I couldn't even begin to tell you.

Images of the Enkidu model can be viewed here.

Images of the Gilgamesh model can be viewed here.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Eagle over Clavius Composite


Here is a composite image of AMT's 1/72 scale Eagle Transporter from the 70's TV series Space 1999 flying over my scratch built model of Clavius Base from 2001 a space odyssey.
I feel Clavius Base was the obvious inspiration for Moon base Alpha from Space 1999.

Images of the Eagle model can be seen here.

Images of the Clavius Base model can be seen here.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Cardassian Galor Class Starship Composite.


Here is my composite image of a Cardassian Galor Class Starship from Star Trek the next Generation and Deep Space Nine parked over the planet Venus.
Images of the model can be viewed here.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Speeder Bike Composite


Here is my composite image of MPC's 1/11 scale Speeder Bike from Star Wars parked on a curb next to a World War II British courier.
Images of the Speeder Bike model can be viewed here.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A Tribute To Robert T McCall


Here is my composite image based off of Robert T McCall's famous movie poster painting for the movie 2001: a space odyssey.
The models used for this composite were my scratch built Space Station 5. Images of the model can be viewed here. Plus Lunar Models Orion III Space Clipper. Images of the model can be viewed here.

From Wikipedia:


Robert McCall (December 23, 1919 – February 26, 2010) was a conceptual artist, known for his work on the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. He worked as an illustrator for LIFE magazine in the 1960s before working as an artist for NASA, documenting the history of the Space Race. In addition, he was a production illustrator on Star Trek: The Motion Picture. His work can be found on U.S. postage stamps, NASA mission patches, and his murals grace the walls of the National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, The Pentagon, EPCOT Center, and Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

Robert McCall died on February 26, 2010 of heart failure in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was survived by his wife Louise, their two daughters, Linda and Catherine, and four grandchildren.

Here is Robert T McCall's web site.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Pilgrim Observer Composite.


Here is a composite image of MPC/Round 2 Models 1/100 scale Pilgrim Observer in a fly past of the Planet Mercury (Mariner image). You can view images of the model here.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Moon Bus Composite.


Here is my composite image of Moebius Models 1/55 scale Moon Bus from 2001 a space odyssey sitting at Hadley Rill (Apollo 15). Images of the Moon Bus can be viewed here.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

K7 Composite


Here is a composite image of AMT's K7 Space Station from Star Trek TOS hovering over Saturns moon Iapetus. Pictures of the K7 model can be viewed here. Note my kit bash of the U.S.S. Gambit in the lower right corner.