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Friday, December 30, 2011

The Mercury 9 Rocket





Here are some images of Pegasus Model's 1/350 scale Mercury 9 Rocket.
This kit really lends itself well to dioramas.
The launch pad is from the Revell Saturn V 1/144 scale kit.

From the box:
"Bringing together some of the most talented artist's and designers in the industry, this series offers some of the coolest designs ever available in a model kit! (Well I wouldn't go that far).

This first featured artist is Scott Willis. A life long artist, Scott has an extensive art and design background which includes over 20 years of work in the aerospace industry, as well as consumer products and movie concept art design.

An award winning designer and long time science fiction fan, Scott brings an excitement and passion to designing every project he creates. Inspired by the classic TV and movie rockets of the 60's and 70's, the "Mercury 9" rocket is a modern take on the classic rocket designs he grew up with as a kid. Time for blast off!" 10! 9! 8!...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Next Generation Asteroid Probe Future Creation Model



Here are some images of Aoshima's Next Generation Asteroid Probe Future Creation Model.
The only additions I put to this model was some foiling and a bit of self interpretation on the top section of the model.

From Modeling Madness"

Hayabusa ( literally "Peregrine Falcon") was an unmanned spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis.

Hayabusa, formerly known as MUSES-C for Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft C, was launched on 9 May 2003 and rendezvoused with Itokawa in mid-September 2005. After arriving at Itokawa, Hayabusa studied the asteroid's shape, spin, topography, colour, composition, density, and history. In November 2005, it landed on the asteroid and collected samples in the form of tiny grains of asteroidal material, which were returned to Earth aboard the spacecraft on 13 June 2010.

The spacecraft also carried a detachable mini lander, MINERVA, but this failed to reach the surface.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

1914 Mercedes Racer






Here are some images of Lindberg's 1/16 scale 1914 Mercedes Benz Grand Prix Racer.
At such a cheap price this was a fun model to build however my one major complaint is that the actual 1914 racer had wire spoked wheels not the wooden spoked wheels we see here. It is obvious that these wheels are from the 1914 Stutz racer kit.

Extra things I added to this kit were leather belts, wooden floor panellings, fuel lines and of coarse plenty of mud.

From Peachparts:

Fitted with a Daimler aero-engine, these cars were notorious for producing unusually high RPM's and therefore placing strenuous demands on both car and driver. Typical of MB even to this day, the 1914 era cars dominated the venues in which they competed. The Daimler team won first, second and third place in the French Grand Prix of 1914 in Lyon. Christian Launtenschlager, Louis Wagner and Otto Salzer swept the field with an average speed of 105.15 km/h (65.34 mph).

Ralph DePalma piloted a similar car to win the fifth Indianapolis 500 in 1915. He qualified 2nd on the grid with a speed of 158.65 km/h (98.580 mph) and held off Dario Resta in a Peugeot and Gil Anderson in a Stutz to lead 132 of the 200 laps.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Merry Christmas!

In celebration of this years Christmas festivities I bring to you two cartoons that I watched around Christmas when I was a small presumptuous child. You won't see these type of cartoons aired on TV again. They certainly stick with you though throughout ones life.
So without further ado I present to you "The Happy Prince" and "The Selfish Giant" for your viewing pleasure.
See you after Christmas!











Mosquito Fighter Bomber Composite




Here is my composite image ofAirfix's 1/24 scale DeHavilland Mosquito Mk VI Fighter Bomber made to look like an old black and white photograph.
As well as the images I used to make the composite.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4 Composite


Here is my composite image ofRevell's 1/32 scale Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4 made to look like an old photograph.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Airacobra Composite


Here is my composite image of Special Hobbies 1/32 scale Bell P 39 D Airacobra against a twilight sky.

Images of the model can be seen here.



Thursday, December 15, 2011

Johnnie Johnson's Mk 9 Spifire Composite


Here is my composite image of Tamiya's 1/32 scale Supermarine Spitfire MK IX C. This is the aircraft that was flown by wing commander J.E."Johnnie" Johnson for Kenley Wing "The Canadians" at RAF Kenley 1943.
And yes that is an image of Johnnie Johnson in the cockpit.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

MiG 15 Bis Composite


Here is my composite image of Trumpeter Model's 1/32 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 Bis cruising over a mountainous terrain in winter.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Spitfire Mk 22 Composite


Here is my composite image of Revell's (Matchbox molds) 1/32 scale Supermarine Mk 22 Spitfire against a clear blue sky.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Monday, December 12, 2011

F 104 G Starfighter Composite


Here is my composite image of Revell's 1/32 scale Lockeheed F 104 G Starfighter against a cloudy grey sky.
This particular aircraft belonged to No. 336Squadron, Royal Hellenic Air Force (Greece). They painted this F 104 G with a special colour scheme as a farewell to the F 104.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Halien Class Starship Composite


Here is my composite image of my kitbash 1/1400 scale Halien Class Starship of the U.S.S. Paul Bunyan passing the terminator into the night side of the Earth.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Flying Wings Composite


Here is my composite image of AMT's 1/72 scale Northrop XB35 Flying Wing and Testors 1/72 scale Northrop B2 Spirit flying in formation.
I figured no one will ever see these two craft flying together in real life so I just had to make a composite of it.
Images of the XB35 model can be seen here. Images of the B2 Spirit model can be seen here.

Friday, December 9, 2011

XB 35 Flying Wing Composite


Here is my composite image of AMT's 1/72 scale Northrop XB 35 Flying Wing prototype being pursued by a 1950's style Flying Saucer.

Images of the XB 35 model can be seen here.

Images of the Flying Saucer model can be seen here.


From Wikipedia"

The Northrop XB-35 and YB-35 were experimental heavy bomber aircraft developed for the United States Army Air Forces during and shortly after World War II by the Northrop Corporation. It used the radical and potentially very efficient flying wing design, in which the tail section and fuselage are eliminated and all payload is carried in a thick wing. Only prototype and pre-production aircraft were built, although interest remained strong enough to warrant further development of the aircraft as a jet bomber, under the designation YB-49.

On 22 November 1941, the Army Air Corps signed the development contract for an XB-35; the contract included an option for a second aircraft, which was exercised on 2 January 1942. The first was to be delivered in November 1943, the second in April of the next year.

Detailed engineering began in early 1942. A fuselage-like crew cabin was to be embedded inside the wing; it included a tail cone protruding from the trailing edge. This tail cone would contain the remote sighting stations for the gunners in the production model. In the rear of the cabin, there were folding bunks for off-duty crew on long missions. The aircraft's bombload was to be carried in six small bomb bays, three in each wing. This design precluded the carrying of large bombs, including early atomic bombs. Production aircraft would have defensive armament of 20 .5 in (12.7 mm) machine guns or 20 mm cannon, carried in seven turrets, three on the aircraft's centreline and four above and below the outer wings. The B-35 would take advantage of a new aluminium alloy devised by Alcoa; it was considerably stronger than any alloy used previously.

In June 1946, the XB-35 made her first flight, a 45-minute trip from Hawthorne, California to Muroc Dry Lake, with no problems. The XB-35's engines and propellers were Army Air Force property, and had not been tested for engine-propeller compatibility by either Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Standard, or by the AAF which bought them at Wright Field without testing them or assuring reliability, and then shipped them to Northrop. Microfilmed records of reports and correspondence of the XB-35 program relate that after three or four flights powerplant-propeller vibrations increased, and the very efficient contra-rotating propellers began failing with frustrating frequency. Meetings were called by Northrop, of the AAF, Pratt & Whitney and Hamilton Standard where no one would take responsibility for correcting the AAF's engines and propellers. In addition the AAF failed to supply the AC electrical alternator, insisting on Northrop using an automotive engine powered unit which limited the high-altitude, high-speed XB-35 to test flights below 15,000 feet. The AAF also refused to allow Northrop proposed modification of the bomb bays to carry the standard Mk 3 atomic bomb, while at the same time declaring the AF would not buy the bomber unless it could carry the A-bomb. Northrop reluctantly agreed to try a single-rotation propeller which slightly increased takeoff distance and reduced rate of climb and maximum speed.

Problems with the driveline continued until finally Jack Northrop himself grounded the XB-35s until the government would fix their propulsion system. Concurrently, the AAF ordered Northrop to modify two of the YB-35 airframes into YB-49s, essentially just substituting eight jet engines in place of four reciprocating engines, and the airframe promptly flew to more than 40,000 feet and topped 520 mph in flight tests, verifying the XB-35 airframe's aerodynamics, but at the price of range. The prop-version had a design range capable of reaching targets 4,000-miles away, but the jet-engine version's range was cut in half. The new version disqualified it for the Air Force's top priority mission as a strategic bomber, which at that time meant striking at the USSR's industrial and military complexes in the Ural Mountains. The Air Force, itself involved in a confusion of rank and job changes, eventually cancelled the XB-35 project, while continuing testing the B-35 airframe in the YB-49, even ordering 30 of the jet-powered airframes after the first YB -49 crashed. The first and second XB-35s were scrapped on 23 and 19 August 1949, respectively.

Flying Saucer"

A flying saucer (also referred to as a flying disc) is a type of unidentified flying object (UFO) sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either alone or in tight formations with other similar craft, and exhibiting high maneuverability.

Disc-shaped flying objects have been interpreted as recorded occasionally since the Middle Ages, the first highly publicized sighting by Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947, resulted in the creation of the term by U.S. newspapers. Although Arnold never specifically used the term "flying saucer", he was quoted at the time saying the shape of the objects he saw was like a "saucer", "disc", or "pie-plate", and several years later added he had also said "the objects moved like saucers skipping across the water." (The Arnold article has a selection of newspaper quotes.) Both the terms flying saucer and flying disc were used commonly and interchangeably in the media until the early 1950s.

Arnold's sighting was followed by thousands of similar sightings across the world. Such sightings were once very common, to such an extent that "flying saucer" was a synonym for UFO through the 1960s before it began to fall out of favor. The term is still often used generically for any UFO.

More recently, the flying saucer has been largely supplanted by other alleged UFO-related vehicles, such as the black triangle. The term UFO was, in fact, invented in 1952, to try to reflect the wider diversity of shapes being seen. However, unknown saucer-like objects are still reported, such as in the widely-publicized 2006 sighting over Chicago-O'Hare airport.

Many of the alleged flying saucer photographs of the era are now believed to be hoaxes. The flying saucer is now considered largely an icon of the 1950s and of B-movies in particular, and is a popular subject in comic science fiction.



Two Years


Well it has now been 2 years since I've started this blog and what a wonderful ride it has been.
Thanks to all for your support. I couldn't have done it without you and I hope you've enjoyed it.

At 2 years one graduates from slobbering baby to whining screaming toddler.
Welcome to the terrible two's!! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ah !! ;o)

Here's to more to come!!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Messerschmitt BF 110 C Instrument Panel




Here are some images of Eduard's 1/4 scale Messerschmitt BF 110 C instrument panel.
Every once in a while a model kit comes along that all model builders must build. This is one of them.
The model's detail is incredible and when placed in a shadow box makes a wonderful display piece worthy of any wall.
The instructions call for the instrument base to be painted an RLM 66 grey but I decided to paint mine an RLM o2 grey as I felt that it would bring out the contrast of the instrument dials and switches more. Besides I think some instrument panels may have been RLM 02 grey anyway. But I wouldn't attest to it.
I also felt that my addition of a photo of a WWII babe to the panel would be a nice touch.

Enterprize Over Edmonton


A bit"O" fun.
This is where I live. Smack in the middle of suburbia.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

"A Date Which Will Live In Infamy"










To observe the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor here are some images of models I've built along with real images of 3 of the craft, (the USS Arizona, Mitsubishi type 21 Zero, Curtiss P 40 B) that were involved in the conflict.

From Wikipedia"

The attack on Pearl Harbor (called Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters (Operation Z in planning) and the Battle of Pearl Harbor) was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States.

The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. All but two of the eight were raised, repaired and returned to service later in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. One hundred eighty-eight U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed[12] and 1,282 wounded. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded. One Japanese sailor was captured.

The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day (December 8) the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for isolationism, which had been strong, disappeared. Clandestine support of Britain (for example the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.

There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy".

The attack on Pearl Harbor was intended to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and hence protect Japan's advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, where she sought access to natural resources such as oil and rubber. War between Japan and the United States had been a possibility each nation had been aware of (and developed contingency plans for) since the 1920s, though tensions did not begin to grow seriously until Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria. Over the next decade, Japan continued to expand into China, leading to all-out war in 1937. Japan spent considerable effort trying to isolate China and achieve sufficient resource independence to attain victory on the mainland; the "Southern Operation" was designed to assist these efforts.

From December 1937 events such as the Japanese attack on the USS Panay and the Nanking Massacre (more than 200,000 killed in indiscriminate massacres) swung public opinion in the West sharply against Japan and increased their fear of Japanese expansion, which prompted the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to provide loan assistance for war supply contracts to the Republic of China.

In 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina in an effort to control supplies reaching China. The United States halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline, which was perceived by Japan as an unfriendly act. The U.S. did not stop oil exports to Japan at that time in part because prevailing sentiment in Washington was that such an action would be an extreme step, given Japanese dependence on U.S. oil, and likely to be considered a provocation by Japan.

Early in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii from its previous base in San Diego and ordered a military buildup in the Philippines in the hope of discouraging Japanese aggression in the Far East. Because the Japanese high command was (mistakenly) certain any attack on the British Southeast Asian colonies would bring the U.S. into the war, a devastating preventive strike appeared to be the only way to avoid U.S. naval interference. An invasion of the Philippines was also considered to be necessary by Japanese war planners. The U.S. War Plan Orange had envisioned defending the Philippines with a 40,000 man elite force. This was opposed by Douglas MacArthur, who felt that he would need a force ten times that size, and was never implemented By 1941, U.S. planners anticipated abandonment of the Philippines at the outbreak of war and orders to that effect were given in late 1941 to Admiral Thomas Hart, commander of the Asiatic Fleet.[20]


The U.S. ceased oil exports to Japan in July 1941, following Japanese expansion into French Indochina after the fall of France, in part because of new American restrictions on domestic oil consumption. This in turn caused the Japanese to proceed with plans to take the Dutch East Indies, an oil-rich territory. The Japanese were faced with the option of either withdrawing from China and losing face or seizing and securing new sources of raw materials in the resource-rich, European-controlled colonies of South East Asia.

Preliminary planning for an attack on Pearl Harbor to protect the move into the "Southern Resource Area" (the Japanese term for the Dutch East Indies and Southeast Asia generally) had begun very early in 1941 under the auspices of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, then commanding Japan's Combined Fleet. He won assent to formal planning and training for an attack from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff only after much contention with Naval Headquarters, including a threat to resign his command. Full-scale planning was underway by early spring 1941, primarily by Captain Minoru Genda. Japanese planning staff studied the 1940 British air attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto intensively. It was of great use to them when planning their attack on U.S. naval forces in Pearl Harbor.

Over the next several months, pilots trained, equipment was adapted, and intelligence collected. Despite these preparations, the attack plan was not approved by Emperor Hirohito until November 5, after the third of four Imperial Conferences called to consider the matter. Final authorization was not given by the emperor until December 1, after a majority of Japanese leaders advised him the "Hull Note" would "destroy the fruits of the China incident, endanger Manchukuo and undermine Japanese control of Korea."

By late 1941, many observers believed that hostilities between the U.S. and Japan were imminent. A Gallup poll just before the attack on Pearl Harbor found that 52% of Americans expected war with Japan "some time in the near future", while 27% did not. While U.S. Pacific bases and facilities had been placed on alert on multiple occasions, U.S. officials doubted Pearl Harbor would be the first target. They expected the Philippines to be attacked first. This presumption was due to the threat that the air bases throughout the country and the naval base at Manila posed to sea lanes, as well as the shipment of supplies to Japan from territory to the south. They also incorrectly believed that Japan was not capable of mounting more than one major naval operation at a time.

The attack had several major aims. First, it intended to destroy important American fleet units, thereby preventing the Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies and Malaya. Second, it was hoped to buy time for Japan to consolidate its position and increase its naval strength before shipbuilding authorized by the 1940 Vinson-Walsh Act erased any chance of victory. Finally, it was meant to deliver a severe blow to American morale, one which would discourage Americans from committing to a war extending into the western Pacific Ocean and Dutch East Indies. To maximize the effect on morale, battleships were chosen as the main targets, since they were the prestige ships of any navy at the time. The overall intention was to enable Japan to conquer Southeast Asia without interference.

Striking the Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor carried two distinct disadvantages: the targeted ships would be in very shallow water, so it would be relatively easy to salvage and possibly repair them; and most of the crews would survive the attack, since many would be on shore leave or would be rescued from the harbor. A further important disadvantage—this of timing, and known to the Japanese—was the absence from Pearl Harbor of all three of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers (Enterprise, Lexington, and Saratoga). Ironically, the IJN top command was so imbued with Admiral Mahan's "decisive battle" doctrine—especially that of destroying the maximum number of battleships—that, despite these concerns, Yamamoto decided to press ahead.

Japanese confidence in their ability to achieve a short, victorious war also meant other targets in the harbor, especially the navy yard, oil tank farms, and submarine base, could safely be ignored, since—by their thinking—the war would be over before the influence of these facilities would be felt.


To read more please click on the Wikipedia link above.



Monday, December 5, 2011

Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar Composite


Here is my composite image of Hasegawa's 1/32 scale Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar with Manchukuo air corps markings against a thunder cloud sky.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Lothar Von Richthofen's Fokker Dr. 1 Composite


Here is my composite image of Hobbycraft's 1/32 scale Fokker Dr. 1 Triplane. Flown by World War One fighter ace Lothar-Siegfried Freiherr Von Richthofen. Younger brother of Manfred Von Richthofen.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Aerial Hunter Killer Composite


Here is my composite image of Horizon Model's 1/35 scale Aerial Hunter Killer from the movie Terminator against a dark blue cloudy sky.
How would you like to wake up one night and find this thing hovering over your house?

Images of the model can be seen here.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Manchu Torchship






Here are some images plus a composite of my scratch built model of Robert A Heinlein's Torchship based off of the art work (seen below) and design of Philippe Bouchet AKA "Manchu".

Philippe Bouchet is a well known artist amongst the science fiction community and in my opinion one of the best artists I have seen and a very fine model builder as well. His creativity and imagination beyond compare.
So on that note why not visit his web site at http://manchu-sf.blogspot.com/ and be prepared to be amazed.

Here is the Wikipedia article of Philippe. This is a French to English translation using Google Translate so the conversion is not the best but you'll get the general jist of it.
"Philippe Bouchet, born March 19, 1956 in Cholet (Maine-et-Loire), better known under the pseudonym of Manchu is an illustrator of science fiction.
12 years old at the film by Stanley Kubrick, 2001, A Space Odyssey, and 13 years during the first steps of Neil Armstrong on the moon, it would first be an astronaut.
Returned to more moderate ambitions in the years following, he began drawing animation after a CAP in advertising design resulting from its formation three years at the School Brassart. He participated in the realization of cartoons Once upon a time ... Space and Ulysses 31.
He comes to illustrating science fiction in 1984, when he met with Gerard Klein, who offered to illustrate the volumes of the Anthology of Great science fiction for The Pocket Book, which will make the half of the cover illustrations. This collaboration will last fifteen years, during which he illustrated more than two hundred books.
His influences are varied: Robert McCall, Chris Foss and Chesley Bonestell

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Space Ark from "When Worlds Collide"





Here are some images of Pegasus Hobbie's 1/350 scale Space Ark from the 1951 movie "When Worlds Collide".

From Wikipedia"

When Worlds Collide is a 1951 science fiction film based on the 1933 novel co-written by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer. The film was shot in Technicolor, directed by Rudolph Maté and was the winner of the 1951 Academy Award for special effects.[1]

Producer George Pal considered making a sequel based on the novel After Worlds Collide, but the box office failure of his 1955 Conquest of Space made it impossible.

Pilot David Randall (Richard Derr) is paid to fly top-secret photographs from South African astronomer Dr. Emery Bronson (Hayden Rorke) to Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating) in America. Hendron, with the assistance of his daughter Joyce (Barbara Rush), confirms their worst fears— Bronson has discovered a star named Bellus and it's on a collision course with Earth.

Hendron warns the delegates of the United Nations that the end of the world is little more than eight months away. He pleads for the construction of spaceships to transport a lucky few to Zyra, a planet in orbit around Bellus that will pass very close to the Earth, in the faint hope that it can sustain life and save the human race from extinction. However, other, equally-distinguished scientists scoff at his claims, and he is not believed. With no help from the United Nations or the United States government, Hendron receives help from wealthy humanitarian friends, who arrange a lease on a former proving ground to construct a spaceship. To finance the construction, Hendron's group is forced to turn to self-centered, wheelchair-bound industrialist Sidney Stanton (John Hoyt). Stanton demands the right to select the passengers, but Hendron insists that he is not qualfied to make those choices and that all his money can buy is a single seat on the ark.

Joyce becomes attracted to Randall and prods her father into finding reasons to keep him around, much to the annoyance of her boyfriend, medical doctor Tony Drake (Peter Hansen). The ship's construction is a race against time. Groups in other nations also begin building ships. Formerly-skeptical scientists admit that Hendron is right and governments prepare for the inevitable. Martial law is declared and residents in coastal regions are moved to inland cities.

Zyra first makes a close approach, its gravitational attraction causing massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tidal waves that wreak havoc. Several people are killed at the construction camp, including Dr. Bronson. In the aftermath, Drake and Randall travel by helicopter to provide assistance to survivors. When Randall alights to rescue a little boy, Drake has to resist a strong temptation to strand him.

As the day of doom approaches, the ship is loaded with food, medicine, microfiche copies of books, equipment, and animals. Finally, most of the passengers are selected by lottery, though Hendron reserves seats for a handful of people: himself, Stanton, Joyce, Drake, pilot Dr. George Fry (Alden Chase), the young boy who was rescued, and Randall, for his daughter's sake. When a young man turns in his winning ticket because his girl was not selected, Hendron arranges for both to go. Randall refuses his seat and only pretends to participate in the lottery, believing that he has no useful skills. For Joyce's sake, Drake fabricates a "heart condition" for Fry, making a backup pilot necessary. Randall is the obvious choice.

The cynical Stanton becomes increasingly anxious as time passes. Knowing human nature, he fears what the desperate lottery losers might do. As a precaution, he has stockpiled weapons. Stanton's suspicions prove to be well-founded. His much-abused assistant, Ferris (Frank Cady), tries to get himself included in the crew at gunpoint, only to be shot dead by Stanton. During the final night, the selected passengers and animals are quietly moved to the launch pad to protect them from any more violence.

Shortly before takeoff, many of the lottery losers riot, taking up Stanton's weapons to try to force their way aboard. Hendron stays behind at the last moment, forcibly keeping the crippled Stanton and his wheelchair from boarding, in order to lighten the spaceship. With an effort born of desperation, Stanton stands up and starts walking in a futile attempt to board the ship before it takes off.

From space, the ship's television monitor shows Earth's collision with Bellus. Hendron's sacrifice proves to be crucial, as the fuel runs out too soon and Randall glides the ship to an unpowered rough landing on Zyra. The passengers debark and find the planet to be habitable. Remains of an alien civilization are visible in the distance. David Randall and Joyce Hendron walk hand-in-hand to explore their new home.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Canadair F 86 F Sabre Composite


Here is my composite image of Kinetics 1/32 scale Canadair F 86 F Sabre with the Canadian Golden Hawks Aerobatic team markings flying over the Rockies in winter.

Images of the model can be seen here.

Focke Wulf TA 154 Composite


Here is my composite image of Revell's 1/48 scale Focke Wulf TA 154 (Moskito).

Images of the model can be seen here.