The Minimalist Approach...For England, James.

Ok, yeah I'm a bit off my rocker with the posters lately. I just feel like I need to get them up while the inspiration is fresh.

Skyfall last night. It gave me some ideas...

First off, the most simplistic and stylized of the bunch. Very straight forward. I really like the deer.



My favorite. The Tennyson quote used by M in the movie sums up the whole movie perfectly. Couple that with one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie and blammo!



Similar to the Jim Gordon poster from the other day, I loved this exchange between Bond and the new Q. Very funny!

The Minimalist Approach...Rise

So I watched The Dark Knight Rises again last night for the first time since seeing it in the theater. Such a great film. I came up with two quickie posters that include two of my favorite quotes from the movie. Enjoy.

Book Review - The Struggle for Guadalcanal by Samuel Eliot Morison...

This is something I've been meaning to do for a long time. Whenever I come across a good read, I want to try and put up a few words along with the cover and author just in case some of you out there are also looking for some of the same subjects. I just finished the above title and it is one of the best accounts of naval operations that I've ever read. This book was published in the late 1940s so the information was still new at the time. It is part of a larger 15 (?) volume set about the total naval operations of the entire Second World War. I chose this volume since I have a particular interest in the Guadalcanal Campaign and I wanted a good introduction to that battle. Everything from the men and machines to the tactics and results are discussed with emphasis on the air and sea battles in supreme detail. Most of the land battles are mentioned as well but the focus here are the men on the ships and planes fighting each other in and around Ironbottom Sound. Several key facets are explored - The Tokyo Express, Battles of Savo Island, Cape Esperance, Tassafaronga, the gallantry of fire crews on the burning american destroyers, the submarine influence, Henderson Field and the differences and advantages/disadvantages of American and Japanese torpedo attack doctrine.

Look how close those Bettys are to the water...wow...



Yes, that's the front of that ship that is missing. It made it back to port for repairs!



Also mentioned are the exploits of the US Navy Seabees who would go in and root out enemy remnants and pave/repair new airfields and bases where burned out enemy encampments once stood. And in the early months of 1943, several paragraphs talk about the PT boat crews and their constant harassment of Japanese convoys attempting to resupply their ragged troops on the island. Wonderful stuff!

I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an introduction to a better understanding of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Everything is here, and it is written not unlike a great war novel - easy to access and a joy to digest.

Also on the docket this week is the current issue of Sports Illustrated with a monster on the cover...

Moving on...with some thoughts...

So this past weekend I decided to do something I don't think I've ever done. I quit on a model. The Revell 1/72 Pak Fa has been a burden since I cracked open the box - partly because of the kit's shortcomings and partly because of mistakes that I have made. Either way, I decided to stop on it and put it away, at least for now.

I've also come to the conclusion that buying cheaper kits just to get a model of a specific plane is not the way to go for me. Case in point, the Revell kits. They certainly have their place - for beginner modelers and those with little skill or need for more complex projects. But, I would rather pay the extra money and get a precise and well engineered kit from Hasegawa or Tamiya rather than save money and get a crappy, simplistic kit. It has become a personal preference.

Oh well live and learn I guess. At least the Pak Fa gave me a little more practice with pilot figures and the airbrush that will only help with future planes.

Speaking of future planes, I'm already scouting 1/72 Hasegawa Japanese bombers...in fact, this 'Peggy' Torpedo Bomber looks really nice...

I am better.

Benedict Cumberbatch is about to blow up in 2013. May 17 is barely 2 months away!

1/72 Pak Fa...cockpits and bag clips...

Doesn't look like much but I did get the cockpit and pilot finished off and ready for painting of the overall aircraft. Looks like I went a little glue crazy but most if not all of that "extra" will be covered once I painted the edges of the canopy glass.

My favorite show below.



Here you can kind of see the teeny HUD display glass and front panel decal down in front of the pilot.





Bag clips are the best!

1/72 Pak Fa...some minor progress...

In between neverending bouts of sickness throughout the weekend, I got some things done on the Sukhoi.

Clamped and waiting on the glue to dry.



Engine parts constructed and added to the fuselage...



Pilots pretty much done with a bit of weathering added in to certain areas.





The overall detail on the Pak Fa is not bad but one thing I noticed was there are NO weapons bay doors at all on the belly. I had an idea of cutting some styrene strips and making them into weapons doors that I will then glue on the fuselage. TO get the width right I had to glue two strips together side by side and then angle the tips. What do you think?





Bench shot with stabilizers and tail fins attached.