been reading and posting for quite a while now, but never came round to take some decent shots of my collection. I started a couple of years ago when I ran into the "Really George" F-104 and a Dutch Meteor at my local modelshop here in Rotterdam (Van den Nieuwenhuizen, sadly closed now), where as a kid I bought lots of plastic models. Due to lack of time I never came round to make any models anymore, never mind never being able to achieve the same quality as the die-cast models I discovered. That must have been back in 2008 I guess. Last model I made myself was a Fujimi F-4E (box of the 30 Years of Phabulous Phantoms), that I made with a set of special decals into a '76 Bi-centennial Bitburg Phantom. And I did that one in 1995 or so, quite a while back obviously.
Anyway, my collection started with the Hobby Master Really George Zipper and the Corgi Meteor "Ruiten Vier" (Diamond Four). As the Lawn Dart, Erdnagel or just Starfighter is one of my all-time favourite designs, I fixed the idea to collect these, together with any fixed wing aircraft in Netherlands Air Force guise, old and new, but only in 1/72 (later added 1/48).
My quest for Dutch jets ended quite soon as there aren't many around and the F-16s for instance that have been coming out from different brands have never tickled my fancy, because of poor quality, design issues (nose) or actual faults (F-16C's in special colours whereas Holland only has the A and B models).
So... next idea was adding some European cold war jets of NATO that I have actually seen flying myself, hence the Ben****ers A-10 and 74sq Phantom. Next on my list are some Lakenheath and Upper Heyford F-111s.
Later on I found some good deals on Century Wings Tomcats, units I have both seen flying albeit not in these exact colour schemes, but two of these actual airframes I have seen either on a carrier or at Oceana NAS.
The F-102 is of the only US Royal squadron, the world-famous Wolfhounds of the 32nd FIS, then based at Soesterberg in Holland. The obvious Dutch connection reason of adding it to the collection. I am hoping for an F-4E in their colours, as well as an F-100 and F-15A/B/C/D. I was very lucky in scooping up the Dutch AF F-104G on eBay recently for a very decent price too.
After shooting a documentary about a private Dutch Hawker Hunter taking part in an airshow in Switzerland, and obviously running into a few Swiss Hunters in the process, I decided to have a look for a Swiss Hunter. Hence the Corgi example. Switzerland is one of the best countries in the world for aviation photography and I have been there lots of times. This made me decide to start collection Swiss airforce aircraft as well. Next up the F-5 and Mirage 3, which is actually quite a nice addition from Falcon Models (I bought it last week). I am trying to find Swiss 2-seater Hunters, at the above mentioned airshow (at St. Stephan) I saw some prototypes of dual-hunters, both in standard came and in a tiger stripe-version. My searches online haven't worked out yet...
Last year November I made a trip to Japan, with the main purpose to photograph the country's aviation. Hence the two F-4s, which units I have seen flying at Hyakuri AB, what a magnificent place. The Japanese Starfighter reminded me of exhibits at different museums there and at different airbases they have Zippers preserved.
Odd ones out are the silver Spitfire, which I have seen at Duxford, UK and the South African Texan/Harvard, examples of which I have seen a couple of in South Africa (Swartkop AB, very nice museum) and on the European airshow circuit (I believe German ones).
In general I am not too fond of special markings on my models, the more "operational" they look, the better. So special commemorative markings are not really my thing. In my collection there are basically two exceptions on the rule: the German Team Vikings Zipper and the Italian Ducati F-104. Both I have seen live-in-action.
As for the future: I am hoping to see more Dutch and Italian F-104s in normal camo schemes, can't wait for Hobby Master's F-16s in Dutch colours and NF-5A/Bs in all 4 camp schemes would be well appreciated!
Also, a Netherlands Air Force Spitfire in silver markings would be a good addition if Hobby Master decide to make one in 1/48.
But first let's wait for the Dutch TF-104G which is due end of the month...
Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed my little story and most of all the models...
Great collection Richard. I love the narrative of what influenced you to buy each model. I'm more like: "ooo, I want that one, that one over there too..." :P
I was riding my motorcycle yesterday and two AH-64 Apaches flew low and slow over my town. I had to pull over to watch. Simply amazing. We used to have S-3 Vikings training in the area at just over 500 ft. I miss them since they were retired. Now we're pretty much limited to the choppers flying between Ft Benning and Ft Stewart.
Of course we have the A-10s from Moody AFB, but they've stopped doing live-fire exercises at the range just south of me, or they changed the schedule.
Anyway... thank you for sharing, and I hope to see more of your collection and your participation in the forum.
Great collection Richard. I love the narrative of what influenced you to buy each model. I'm more like: "ooo, I want that one, that one over there too..." :P
I was riding my motorcycle yesterday and two AH-64 Apaches flew low and slow over my town. I had to pull over to watch. Simply amazing. We used to have S-3 Vikings training in the area at just over 500 ft. I miss them since they were retired. Now we're pretty much limited to the choppers flying between Ft Benning and Ft Stewart.
Of course we have the A-10s from Moody AFB, but they've stopped doing live-fire exercises at the range just south of me, or they changed the schedule.
Anyway... thank you for sharing, and I hope to see more of your collection and your participation in the forum.
I envy you somewhere,scott...all i see daily are just B747,777,md11 and A330 at my work....i prefer seeing military jets......
I envy you somewhere,scott...all i see daily are just B747,777,md11 and A330 at my work....i prefer seeing military jets......
The coolest thing I saw was the space shuttle piggybacking a 747 en route from CA to FL. It would circle cities at about 1000 feet along the way so school children could go outside and see it. That was in the late 80's. People just stopped in the streets and watched.
This also means that the nearest hobby shops are 2-3 hours away. I envy those who can check out models IRL. This may be a blessing, however, and save me hundreds of dollars.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Richard... I'm notorious for going off-topic.
The coolest thing I saw was the space shuttle piggybacking a 747 en route from CA to FL. It would circle cities at about 1000 feet along the way so school children could go outside and see it. That was in the late 80's. People just stopped in the streets and watched.
This also means that the nearest hobby shops are 2-3 hours away. I envy those who can check out models IRL. This may be a blessing, however, and save me hundreds of dollars.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Richard... I'm notorious for going off-topic.
my hobbyshop is just 10 min drive from where i work.....can drop in anytime during breaks.........hey, cheers
Great collection Richard. I love the narrative of what influenced you to buy each model. I'm more like: "ooo, I want that one, that one over there too..." :P
I was riding my motorcycle yesterday and two AH-64 Apaches flew low and slow over my town. I had to pull over to watch. Simply amazing. We used to have S-3 Vikings training in the area at just over 500 ft. I miss them since they were retired. Now we're pretty much limited to the choppers flying between Ft Benning and Ft Stewart.
Of course we have the A-10s from Moody AFB, but they've stopped doing live-fire exercises at the range just south of me, or they changed the schedule.
Anyway... thank you for sharing, and I hope to see more of your collection and your participation in the forum.
I try to collect as much as possible types and units that I have actually seen myself, with a few exceptions in the F-104 department. Basically at 38 I am too young to have seen many of them in action...
And I also have the feeling now and again to go out and buy a lot of models just because I like them, but first of all there is the space restraint - and the budget restraint obviously.
In the Phantom department for instance there are some HM models that I still fancy (Spanish RF-4C, Alabama ANG RF-4C), which I have seen flying, but I am not sure yet if I want to go down that route as well.
On the other hand, if a Oregon ANG F-4C would be released, I would buy it because I like the markings a lot. So there will always be some exceptions to the rules...
I have been to Georgia in the mid-Nineties, to Robins AFB for the museum and to Savannah. Reason to go there was the Gulfstream factory and to see some F-16s on deployment. This was the only place in the US where I had trouble with the (military) police for taking pictures of aircraft. And that was pre 9/11 obviously. But I heard that it was and still is quite common in Georgia and other southern states to hassle aviation photographers?
hi,Richard...its nice to see your collection specially those Dutch aircrafts which i wish i could have...the combination of WW2 and modern jets look great...I have a couple of Dutch F-16s and plan to get an upcoming dutch TF-104 from HM if ever available...thanks for sharing your beautul pics....
...I have been to Georgia in the mid-Nineties, to Robins AFB for the museum and to Savannah. Reason to go there was the Gulfstream factory and to see some F-16s on deployment. This was the only place in the US where I had trouble with the (military) police for taking pictures of aircraft. And that was pre 9/11 obviously. But I heard that it was and still is quite common in Georgia and other southern states to hassle aviation photographers?
The Robins AFB Museum is wonderful. They remodeled and added several new hangars, moved many aircraft inside, and were able to get them properly restored. The Georgia sun was very hard on visitors and the planes. They also roped off several displays. I can no longer climb inside the bomb bay of their B-52 or walk under the SR-71.
Regarding MPs, if you had a rental car, that would throw up a red flag to them. Also, many native residents are still sadly unfriendly toward outsiders and may have called the autorities. I've sat on my hood at the end of the runway at Moody AFB and never been approached. Do you typically call the base public relations department and ask for permission? They will usually bend over backwards to accomodate you, but each base is different.
Have you visited the museums at Wright-Patterson and NAS Pensacola? If you ever decide to visit Pensacola, I recommend driving over to the USS Alabama Museum at Mobile Bay. It's worth a day or two. One of my favorites is the USS Yorktown in Charleston. It has a some Navy aircraft displayed on the flight deck and in the hangar.
I've been to both W-P and Pensacola, and both are brilliant. We pondered going to the USS Alabama, since we drove through Mobile on our way to NAS Meridian, but we unfortunately didn't have enough time. I haven't been over to the States since 2000, but the Yorktown is still on my wish list. I'll see if I can make some scans of the slides I took back in those days.
Tonight or on the weekend I will try get a good shot of my newest Die-cast addition: the HM F-111F Miss Liberty 2. Will have to go through some old photos to also find a pic of this Aardvark back in the day at Lakenheath.
But, to answer the requests for some live-action photos I have uploaded some shots of my trip to Japan last november. I have only started using a DSLR 3 years ago and my collection of digital aviation pictures is still small. I need a good slide scanner to sort out my collection of slides taken since the late 80s...
But here goes:
Hyakuri AB: one of the best places to shoot fast jets, especially when they look like this:
My skills with photoshop are not too great yet, so will have to try the watermarking some other time. For now I am happy to show these around.
But anyway, since this is a Diecast aircraft forum, back to the 1/72 hardware:
My newest addition: Miss Liberty II, a very nice F-111F by Hobby Master. This boss-bird of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing brings back lots of memories of vacations in my late teens. Spending most of the Summerholiday on a small campsite just outside RAF Mildenhall we used to venture out on our bicycles to nearby Lakenheath. The yellow plumes behind the Aardvarks while they were doing the last checks before take-off are things I will never forget. During a visit to the airshow/open house at RAF Alconbury (back then home to a U-2 squadron, the A-10s had already left), we ran into an F-111F crew. After talking to them for about 20 minutes they invited us to visit the 493rd TFS squadron at Lakenheath. As we did everything on our bikes and they didn't have proper parking at the gate for our bikes, we were just told to follow the Public Affairs Officer. What a sight: two guys on city bikes, crossing live taxi-ways... Anyway we got up and close with the Aardvarks and the then newly arrived F-15Es, the first two had just been delivered. The end of the Aardvark was near...
That Swiss Mirage does look pretty sweet, I've been tempted to buy it many times but it wouldn't fit into my collection. I think FM do a good job with their silver finish models and those red drop tanks really do it for me, I wish the mule would have it on sale, that way I have no excuse to pass it up again.
It is a really nice model, the Swiss Mirage 3C. Even though it has only been used as a testbed, first for proving the Falcon missile on the Mirage 3, later for other test and evaluation programmes, and for target towing.
With the current output of Mirages by Falcon, I am hopeful to see Mirage 3S and 3RS (recce version) to be released as well. Especially the RS is one of my favourite jets.
just a quick snap taken with my iPhone of my two newest additions: the two CVW-8 SLUFF's, the AJ-300 of VA-82 Marauders and AJ-401 of VA-96 Sidewinders. I am still undecided of keeping them in this setup, putting them both on the stand (which is a bit high in my opinion) or both on their wheels.
They make a nice pairing with my Black Aces Tomcat, and could have jumped stright out of the "Final Countdown"
Those look very nice together. I have the VA-96 and prefer it on the stand, but I think these look good in either position. CW has a fine A-7 mold and has done a great job on these. Congrats on a couple great additions.
I would have actually preferred the stands to be a little bit lower, more like the Hobby Master stands. I will keep one on wheels and the other on the stand for now.
Since space is a premium in my little den, my setup usually consist of
Century Wings Models on their stands
(highest height),
then Hobby Master Models on their stands below the century wings
(medium height)
then witty/dragon/gaincorp or models with no stands, or low stance to sit on their landing gears
(lowest height)
Some of my heavier Hobby Master Models, I also have sit on their gears as I don't always trust their weak stands. Some of them I actually epoxy the stands together for added insurance.
just a quick addition to my photos, my newest addition.
The HM Swiss AF F/A-18C HA3532 is a limited edition made for a Swiss reseller, who also commissioned a two-seater. It comes with decals so you can make one of in total 15 different C-models (depending on how you puzzle the digits).
Luckily the Aviation Megastore near Amsterdam airport got their hands on quite a large cache of these (I counted another 15 boxes each in the store), so I got it as soon as I could.
Just put it up quickly, without the decals on it yet (still have to decide which one to make, hopefully one I have a very nice picture of) and shot these pics with my iPhone, so not the best. When I get the chance I will shoot some more pics of my recent additions.
It looks really nice, do like all the details and especially that with this stand you can actually still attach the centreline tank which I think should be possible on all models. There's more weaponry included in the box (6 AIM-120s), but you hardly ever see Swiss Hornets with full load of missiles. So I don't think I'll include them.
One small detail that might have been included is a squadron emblem. Even though The Swiss Hornets don't really stick with a single squadron, now and again they do carry squadron insignia and it might have added to the model as is it very clean otherwise.
All in all a good catch I think, especially because I like the pure operational editions much more than the fancy special paint jobs.
Hey Mar_ji, it depends on wanting a pure operational one, or something with bold markings (actually the US Navy ones have pretty bold operational markings), but collecting wise these Swiss Cs and Ds are definitely worth getting. As far as I understand it, they have had a very limited production run of only 800 pieces each. So they are quite rare. The Aviation Megastore had a surprisingly large stack but my guess is that they will be sold very quickly.
Don't know if it was a bargain, but pretty hard to find KA-6D of the VA-35 "Panthers" I managed to pick up eBay for less than 70 euros. Attachment 89295
This one I picked up at perfect-hobby.de in Germany. Wanted the Kai 302 Hikotai pretty badly, but missed out on it at my normal supplier (they never published it in their webshop, weird). Luckily Perfect Hobby still had a couple. Attachment 89296
The F-5E of my favourite demo team (HA3316, with the decals) came in the same shipment at the Japanese Spook. Due to the fairly steep cost of shipping I thought it better to buy another model (shipping rate would be the same), even though I normally do not collect special colours.
Patrouille Suisse are in my view one of the best teams in the world, after the more spectacular Frecce Tricolori and Red Arrows. Attachment 89297
Slowly my "Final Countdown" fleet is getting shape. Now just need to get my hands on a high viz Jolly Roger, so if you have one for sale for less than 100 euros, get in touch!! Please do!! Otherwise I'll have to wait for CW to make another one... Attachment 89298
Hi Mar_ji, I am pretty much done for now... Waiting for the Dutch 1/48 scale silver Spitfire to arrive, maybe get my hands on the Alconbury Agressor F-5E and that's about it for now. As long as HM doesn't release a Dutch F-16 my wallet will be safe over the coming year...
I am very happy with the KA-6D, not just because of the relation to the Final Countdown movie, but also because I saw this very jet (albeit in markings of VA-34 Blue Blasters) on board the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back in 1988...
The latest addition to my "Cold War" collection arrived today: Corgi AA 34102, the Blackburn Buccaneer S.2B in the colours of no. 12 Squadron RAF. Bought it on eBay for a fairly reasonable price.
The Buccaneer has always been one of my favourite types of fighter aircraft. Beautiful lines etc and it was always an amazing sight in the air.
This particular jet XW530, was one of the first that I have seen, probably on an airshow.
Even though I am not too fond of the Corgi models in general, I do think this is one of the best models I have in my collection, if you look at it with a bit of distance to the model it is very impressive.
Nice acquisition Richard. It's my favourite Buccaneer along with AA34109. Classic scheme and a nice refined look and finish.
I don't think I ever got to see the SAAF's Buccaneers at airshows sadly, at least I have no recollection of them. But one is flying again locally, it's flown over my place a few times in the last couple of weeks. Really impressive site and sound.
I'm glad that Corgi is resurrecting the tooling after a nearly 4 year gap. I know it's unlikely but I still hope one day we'll see a later subdued-scheme SAAF version. Maybe as the only foreign operator there is a small chance. An anti-flash white S.1 would be an interesting prospect too.
Hi Nico, this one is my favorite, actually in these colors I got acquainted with Buccs. I must say second best would be the SAAF ones, awesome colors on them. I have seen a few at the SAAF museum at Swartkop and one in the military museum in Jo'burg.
It's been a nice Wednesday today with the arrivals of the latest additions to my collection. Hobby Master HA3319, the F-5E Tiger of the 527th Agressor Squadron, RAF Bentw@ters UK.
I really like the mould of their Tiger, with the Swiss AF my first. This one goes together with my Cold War section. Unfortunately I have never seen this particular Tiger fly, but I have seen it while being stored at RAF Kemble. It was soon after delivered to the Morrocan Air Force.
The second addition is HM's HA8308. Royal Netherlands Air Force Spitfire LF mk.IX. This HM's first true Dutch spitfire, with post war national markings. I already have their first RAF Dutch Spit (code VL-P) but am still in doubt over the other one VL-F. I hope to see a camouflaged Dutch Spit as well at some point.
Attachment 93463
I think the Spit is a really nice model. Two things though. The antenna behind the cockpit actually needs some glue to stay in. And the elliptical wing tips are made of plastic and do not form one whole with the rest of the wing. You can actually see a small gap (shown in close up).
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