I work in 1/144 scale, because my goal in model building is to populate an airfield layout I am building of a specific place and time, the same way model railroaders build a layout and populate it with trains to represent a specific place and time. More on that elsewhere perhaps, later. My project requires dozens of aircraft models.

Ive seen a few folks here in various campaigns do "double builds", and Ive now embraced that approach.

Today, I opened a whole lot of project boxes to see the current state of affairs.
completed-



currently in the queue -


in gray, ready for paint-




under construction -

Jonathan,
Holy Smokes!! You've got quite a stable of works in progress. I particularly like the two early PBY's. Are they 2, 3, or 4 variants?

Joel

Judging by the fact that they're amphibians, It's more likely that they're -5As with the blisters removed. That was a very common conversion post war.

that's right . The Minicraft kit claims to be a -5A, and I have converted them to look like these Transocean Airline planes

They are my entry in the Seaplane campaign.

Nice collection Jonathan!
One day they will name an airfield after you ( maybe just on Aeroscale! )

Time for an update on this project

Orions -done


Catalinas - done


707s - built, painted, in need of engines, LG and decals


C-54s - painted, in need of LG and decals


DC-6s - partially painted

I have finished the pair of Army C-54s. Minicraft 1/144 kits, I designed and printed all the decals.





Three of these were stationed on Kwajalein in the Pacific Missile Range from 1966 to 1977. They flew daily commuter traffic between Kwajalein and Roi-Naumur, up to 10 turns each day. They are a key element of my Aircraft of Kwajalein project.

"228" went on to work for a fire fighting service. "650" was written off after overrunning the runway on RoiNamur.


here is a photo in my collection of "650" being refurbished at AEMCO in Oakland


All three are visible in this photo of the ramp on Kwajalein.

Jonathan,
Impressive doesn't do your buddy builds justice. The two Cats and two Albatrosses are my favorites. But the C-54s are right up there for the number 3 spot.
Joel

Hey Joel, thanks for looking in, and for your kind comments.
I lack the skill level of execution that you and others here demonstrate - two foot rule on everything - but I like to think I make up for that in other ways.

The Cats are my favorite so far as well, because I was able to study many photos of post war conversions, and I'm confident that the bashing Ive done on these kits has produced a good representation of the prototypes. Not to go too far in that direction though, the names I chose, TALOA GUAM, and TALOA MAJURO, are not supported by photographic evidence, and the several extant records disagree, but they suit my interests.

I made the Albatrosses as faithful to photographic evidence as I could make them , but already, more recent discoveries have revealed some errors, though I have no intention of going back. Also, I have enough information now of two more versions I will need to make, so another pair of Albatrosses is in the queue already.

The C-54s are very well documented, and I am very pleased with the decal set. Nonetheless, I can see errors in the finished models, modifications that is, that should have been done to the Minicraft kit before decorating. so it goes.

Finished the 707s

Jonathan! Loads of fun things presented here ! I've just decided AGAINST twin-builds for myself in the future but you seem to really have gotten the production line going!



Magnus

Jonathan,
As I posted in the campaign thread, your twin build 707s really came out quite well.

Joel

Thanks Joel. I must say the Two Six decals were wonderful to work with and fit the model perfectly.

Hi Magnus, thanks for stopping by. This is a big project with a plan, and I am pleased with the progress. Also it really is putting a dent in the stash, because for some reason when I decide to buy a kit, I almost always end up with two or three!

For my next round of campaign entries, I am going to advance to pairs of twins.

The most recent twins at Bucholz Army Aifield

This pair of DC-6's brings me up to date.
The Air Micronesia decal is from TwoSix and the World Airways is from F-DCAL. both very nice products to work with.







My entries in several campaigns in the coming months will be more pairs of twins. Ill have a line up ready to show soon.

Jonathan,
A most impressive pair of DC-6's.
Joel

Sometimes they are fraternal twins -

Jonathan,
Very nicely done.
Joel

Is that a Welsh Dak slumming with your DC-8?

no, it's a humble Minicraft DC-3 kit.


The DC-8 is sort of interesting, it's a vintage 1975 Lodela/Revell kit.

Decals from TwoSix.

I did build a Welsh C-47 a while ago, Im pleased to pose these together. Army - Welsh models vacuform, Navy - Minicraft

also, two DC-4 airliners nearing completion.

here they are finished. Transocean Airlines DC-4s as seen in the western Pacific region, 1953-1959

Just finished, a pair of Minicraft B377s. one a KC-97L as seen at Westover AFB in the early 60s; and a Northwest Stratocruiser with out of the box decals.

my entry in the Lockheed campaign, a pair of twin C-121s