PSC - M4A3 (late)

I wandered around the PSC site, but they didn't have any previews of the sprue, nor this picture apparently.

TMP states: "15mm Sherman M4A3 (Late): Five tanks in a box for £17.50 GBP; each sprue gives options to build either 75mm, 76mm or 105mm versions, and comes with a commander figure"

BG&G was released at the LGS today. I wasn't able to make it out there, but my copy is reserved along with the 10% discount. Thanks, John!

PSC - Ups Release of Yanks

PSC's latest update for 4/10/12.

Four x tripod MG42s, four x 82mm mortar teams, four x 120mm mortar teams, eight x panzerschrecks, eight x panzerfausts; 60 figures and twelve models for £16.50.

What's more interesting is this blurb from the PSC website.

May/June/July will also see a change in the release schedule. Due to popular demand the Stars and Stripes will be fluttering above PSC HQ - the Yanks have been bumped up the list! 15mm Sherman M4A3 (late), 15mm US Infantry, 15mm Sherman M4A3E8 Easy Eight and 15mm US heavy weapons will all be appearing. 15mm M3 halftracks, tank destroyers and Priests will not be far behind.

Odd timing. BG&G hits the stores this Friday (according to two LGS I called today). BF's new Shermans come out in May. Look, PSC is coming out with the same American tanks at the same time! Interesting....

All I can say it's a great time to be a 15mm wargammer. There are multiple rulesets to try, several miniature manufacturers, paint suppliers, books, Google, etc, etc.

Leninade - A Taste to Stand in Line for

Today I needed caffeine and went to buy a diet soda. I made my purchase and then saw the bottle above.

How cool is this! Next time my Emchas hit the table, I'll be drinking it.

The Internets says Leninade is a pink lemonade. I wouldn't know because I haven't opened the bottle and it's still sitting on my desk at work.






Whomever came up with this idea better have received a huge bonus. I love the Hammer and Sickle tagline. I was laughing all afternoon, which earned me several curious looks from co-workers.

Sorry for the tilted photos. I'm not sure why photobucket is being weird.

Greatest Tank Battles II

New episodes began airing this month. Nobody told me!

Keep in mind that "new" means shows produced in 2011 are finally being shown on The Military Channel. I already missed the Battle of Stalingrad that aired a couple of weeks ago and another episode on the Six Day War.

This Wednesday the Battle of Tunisia is up, with Tank Battles of Korea and the Battle of France scheduled for Saturday (1/28).

Check your local listings if you're a fan of the show.

It Returns....

In case you didn't know or haven't heard, tomorrow marks the return of The Walking Dead, Season 2.

The Dog Days of Summer

The sweltering heat wave which baked the East Coast finally returned to where it belongs in August and it brought along the humidity. Ouch. It's been brutal. Air conditioners are working over time and the power company is pleading with everyone to run appliances at night. Oh and let's add a stomach bug to the equation, leaving me with little motivation to paint, model or even thrown down dice over the past few weeks.

There's another reason. There's a new girl in my life. She 4 mos old and weighs in at a stout 29 pounds. It's Saucy, the Labradoodle!

Now Saucy wasn't my choice of a name for her. I knew we'd be getting a dog before the end of the year. I had several naming ideas. The conversations went along like this:

Me: "I know a great name for the dog."
She Who Must Be Obeyed: "What?"
Me: "Rommel?"
SWMBO: "What's a Rommel?"
Me: (surprised that she doesn't know who Rommel is): "Rommel is a World War 2 German General. He commanded the Ghost Division during the Battle of France. He commanded the Africa Korps and was given the nickname "Desert Fox" and was well respected by the Allies."
SWMBO: "No. Not another German general. You know what happened last time with Panzer."
Me: "Panzer wasn't a german general, it means tank or armor."
SWMBO: (Gives the Look)
Me: "Okay. Okay. How about Cromwell?"
SWMBO: "No German generals."
Me: "Nope, not a German. He's British."
SWMBO: "No."
Me: "Churchill?"
SWMBO: "No."
Me: "Bradley."
SWMBO: "That's good, but what if we get a girl."
Me: "What about Emcha?"
SWMBO: "That's cute. Where's it mean?"
Me: "It's Russian."
SWMBO: "Is it a tank or used in tanks."
Me: (long pause) "Maybe..."

Now the above is all tongue-in-cheek. My wife is very supportive (yes, tolerant as well) of my obsession (er, hobby). Perhaps I did throw good FOW names at her over the months leading up to finding a dog. I think Steve of WWPD has a dog named Scout or Recon or both. My friend (Armored Cav veteran) named his cat Sabot, as is Armored Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot (APFSDS).

In the end, once we got her, her personality made the name choice easy. We love her and couldn't be happier.

A view from above

Spending quality time with the Misses. At 600+ feet in the air, it's very serene and quiet. Santa Catalina Island providing a picturesque background.

The Tank Protection Corps

In the center of a group of serious looking fellows is an Old Glory M4A2. The Sherman is a test piece for dry brushing Russian Uniform before I try it on the Battlefront Lend Lease counterparts.

My daughter has unwittingly deployed her Terminators in a unique version of the 'Star Wars defense'; the Star Wars defense being the tried and true tactic of letting your wingman hang back to get blown away while you go after a high value target.

The wife thinks I've corrupted my daughter. I say no! She's into 40K right now and though she thinks the tanks are very cute, she hasn't tried Flames of War - - - yet.

At the very least, I have a painting buddy. Also, you've seen her work here on a Panzer IV E platoon.

Feb 2011 - A Month in Review

Sorry for the long delay. A family medical emergency and a transfer at the job has curtailed the posting frequency and hobby time. Here's the month of February in review, that I mean't to post over a week and a half ago.



Another month has come and gone, let's see what transpired in the FOW world and with my hobby time...

New Releases--


EW picked up steam in February. Rommel in his Pz 38(t) finally arrived. The Czech panzer kompanie players have been waiting on him. The French scored in LW with FFI (French Forces Interior aka partisans) company box and rifle platoon blister. For EW, the French got the AMR-35, HMG, Mortar, and Horse Drawn Artillery blisters. The US got some token sets, the M2 .50 cal AA and an SMG platoon.

The big release for the month was the Normandy compilation book for the Axis - Earth & Steel. I glanced at the book and it is SWEET! Biggest change is the points reduction for German R/MG and HT's. In terms of what armies we'll be seeing at tourneys, the book is a game changer, just like Turning Tide was for the Allies. Panzer Lehr, long dormant because of the extreme cost of their mech platoons are making a comeback. Steve at WWPD ran a Lehr Grenadier list at a tourney and the WWPD guys mentioned seeing 2 or 3 other Lehr lists over the past 2 tourneys.

The new line of bunkers is breathing new life into lists forgotten such as Steadfast Grenadiers, the 326. Grenadiers, and the 21st Panzer Division. There is also odd/unique lists such as the Beutepanzers (captured tanks) Kompanie and the big heavy list the 503 Schwere Panzerkompanie with the option of fielding Tigger I's and II's together. Drool.

I saw that the 654th gets the option of Nebels (including the new 21cm version), along with another support slot that didn't really grab my attention since I forgot what it was.

I'm an Ostfront guy, but the Normandy lists here are oh so tempting. I only resist b/c Battle of the Bulge is expected to be out later this year and those lists might be more my fancy because I'm also a winter-paint scheme kinda guy. Plus, I want to build a force of Panther G (late) with the chin mantlet and pair it up with Panzer IVJ's. The models will be non-zimmerit too. Oh, and I'll get to play with the Panzer IV/70 (V). I'm sure they'll be around and not limited to a Stalin's Europe Feldenhalle list.

Note: I wrote the above paragraph in the middle the month, 2 weeks prior to Jean-Paul's State of FOW article on Feb 24. The first bulge book is confirmed for winter 2011. A compilation book will also be released in December in a similar vein as TT/E&S. My money is on Bagration. Otherwise the Soviets are shut out in 2011. I do hope Stalin's Europe is included or there's new lists where with M4A2(76) Emchas is a support option. Rota Razvedki comes to mind.

BF released a box of 3 Jagdpanthers. The sculpts are similar to the special order Jagdpanthers. Main difference from what I can tell is the new commander (elbows resting on hatch and roof) and spare tracks mounted on rear sides. Special Order Jagdpanthers didn't have spare tracks anywhere. Cool looking, but not enough to shell out $$ since I have 5 Jagdpanthers already. Maybe non-zimmerit Jagdkitties for Bulge and I'll think about changing them.


Games--

Proxied the 3rd Gv Mech Corps as the 47th Gv Tank Brigade. Paul put together a Feldenhalle Grenadier list at Brookhurst and away we went to rumble.

AAR is forthcoming.


Hobby--

Built 6 Old Glory Panzer IIIF's. No tank commanders provided by OG. My plan is to use 2 of them as CiC and 2iC. Will need to think of ways to differentiate them on tabletop to make them quickly indentifiable.

Simple Greened 2 OG M4A2's. Sat in the potent mixture for 4 days. One gun barrel fell off, as well as a right side track, victims of the Simple Green. Yet, they are easily super-glued back in place.

Bought, 2x BF M4A2 (76) Lend Lease Shermans. I'll paint one up using Model Master Olive Drab and the other in Model Master Forest Green. I also purchased Vallejo weathering pigments to experiment with. Finally, I bought Vallejo Brown Violet and Khaki Sand to use as highlights after Paul's suggestions.

All models are primered with Krylon black and await their basecoats. The weather didn't cooperate for the last half of the month. It's been either raining or too cold to paint.


Tourneys--

Northridge Tourney announced on Feb 23 and gave only a few days notice of it being run on Feb 26. I can't make it and the idea of playing 1-hour Free For All games didn't appeal to me or many others it seems.

Dudes, great idea to host a tourney at the store. In the future, give more heads-up warning next time. Plus, talk to FOW folks or use the Forum before coming up with the 1-hour FFA plan. And don't refer to people who you want to come to play at the tourney as Dicedorks.


Personal--

Transferred to a new division after several years in my current position. I imagine my limited hobby time will be even more limited, at least in the first few weeks or months. The position is a great opportunity and will open several new doors previously closed to me. It'll be exciting.

Greatest Tank Battles

Greetings fellow Treadheads. In case you are unaware, the Military Channel is running a series called The Greatest Tank Battles. According to the website, there are supposed to do 20-episodes, but the Episdode Guide lists only 10 so far. It's also my understanding that the series has been around since 2008 or 2009. I've only just found it and happily recording it to the DVR.

The CGI is comparable to the Dogfights series - sighs, I miss that show. Curse you History Channel for cancelling it after 2 seasons!!

What's really cool about each episode are the veteran interviews where they tell their stories and then we see the action unfold. Instead of focusing on the grand battle, the episode narrows down the view to that of the common tanker (the interviewed veteran) as they relate their actions.

Battle of 73 Easting clip


"Jagdtigers" at Bastogne clip

Erm, those Jagdtigers look suspisciously like Panzer IV/70(V)'s to me.

So, if you can get the Military Channel, look for the show on Wednesday night (that's when it's played on the West Coast).

Postcasts

logo copyright WWPD Poscast

I'm glad to see that Battlefront jumped into the realm of podcast with its debut of Radio Free Battlefront. The first episode is rather...dull. I'm sure Mike and Wayne, if they become the regular crew of the Radio Free BF podcast, will grow into their rolls. It isn't easy talking in front of a microphones.

Radio Free Battlefront's first episode really shows how spoiled and lucky we are to have Steve, Joe, Luke and the guys of the WWPD Podcast. I think the relaxed atmosphere is conveyed beautifully in their podcast. The reason they capture the feel of gamers sitting around discussing FOW and other games and having a good time and enjoying adult beverages is because THEY ARE a bunch of gamers sitting around and having a good time and enjoying adult beverages. My buddies and I do the same at our favorite watering hole. The only difference is that we don't have microphones recording us.

WWPD is the right mix of FOW, AAR's, reviews, movies, TV shows, other games, adult beverages and good natured BS sessions. I hope more FOW podcasts will be created because it can only grow the hobby. But right now WWPD is the standard.

Their latest effort can be found here.

The other podcast I listen to regularly and look forward to the next episode, just as I do for WWPD, is The Independent Characters.

It's all WH40K. I stumbled across the podcast because I was looking for a podcast that was 2+ hours. Well, each of their episodes is 2+ hours and I'm presently surprised to say that the IC is right there with WWPD as a joy to listen to.

The hosts Carl and Geoff have GREAT chemistry. Before knowing what they looked like, I only heard their voices and immediately an image of the Myth Busters hosts came to mind. Their chemistry is that good. You can hear's Carl's passion for 40K in his voice. Geoff is the anchor and has a very dry and understated sense of humor.

The gems of the podcast is their review of the Imperial Armour books. Their reviews of Vol 9 and Vol 10, the Badab War Pts 1 and 2, nearly had me plunking down $90 on each book and I don't play the game! I still might buy them except I have FOW needs that come first.

So if you're a 40K player and even if you're not a 40K player, visit their site. I recommend grabbbing their reviews of Badab War Pts 1 and 2. Who knows, if you're a closet 40K player like me, it might inspire you to jump into the game again.

Finally, I've heard rumors about the D6 Generation (3+ hours) being really good and may download an episode.

Any podcast I listen to is uploaded to my phone so I can listen to the episodes on the drive to and from work. Traffic gets ugly and a 1.5 hour commute home goes quickly as I listen to a WWPD or IC podcast. It also helps me unwind after a long day.

Well, how about you folks out there. What podcasts to you enjoy listening to?

Jan 2011 - A Month in Review

T-90 tanks in review...


Instead of a 2011 Year In Review, I've decided to chronicle my FOW/Hobby progress as the calendar turns. I've found that I forget to mention many things in the Year in Review post in December simply due to the passage of time. Let's see if I can make a Month in Review a regular post.


New Releases--

The month of January saw BF releasing blisters to fill out their Early War Blitzkrieg line for Germans, BEF and France. The Polish Armored Train is still nowhere in sight. Blitzkrieg was released in August and I think any exictement was tempered by BF trickling out the blisters necessary to complete a Battle of Poland / France army. Looking around other blogs, I see players went to other 15mm manufacturers to finish up their EW armies.

Compare the Blitzkrieg release schedule to that of Stalin's Europe. In January, the Sherman 76 Tankovy and Panzer IV/70(V) boxes, indivdual Sherman 76, Panther G, Hungarian Assault Pioneer Platoon and the Zrinyi II. These releases added to those in November and December allow a person to make basically any force they want out of the book.

So in 3 months, Stalin's Europe is basically done. Blitzkrieg still has blisters coming out in February, which is 6+ months after the book hit the shelves.

In defense of BF, the Blitzkrieg book required a huge amount of new sculpts to be produced. Any LW and MW book have the standard grenaiders, strelkovy, riflemen, Panther, Tiger, Panzer IV, T-34, etc to form the backbone of any lists. EW needed new tanks, new infantryman, new AT guns and so on and so forth. If BF had waited and released everything at once, there's only a handful of LGS who'd can order that much stuff. My own LGS now orders FOW by request. FOW is just very small piece of its business and its BF distributor raised the minimum order amount too.

If you're an Eastern Front fan, like myself, it was a good month for minis.


Games--

The month and new year started with several misfires, while I attempted to get a game in. It was looking rather bleak until the Indefatigable Paul braved our continuous game of phone tag and maneuvered a rendevous at Brookhurst Hobbies this past Sunday.

The 654th Schwere Jagdpanzer Abteilung faced off against a Guard's Heavy Armor Regiment. A good time was had by all and shall be chronicled in a forthcoming AAR.


Hobby--

I weathered, decaled and sealed 2x Old Glory M4A2 Soviet Shermans, 3x Old Glory BA-10's and 4x Old Glory BA-64's. (need to take pics for blog)

White-washed 3x BF Pz IIIE's for the Barbarossa 2012 project. (to be posted in upcoming entry)

WI279 issue is late....again. It arrived the day after I sent an e-mail to WI asking what happened to the mag. Weather problems on the East Coast and in Europe delayed the issue. At least WI communicates by responding to e-mail inquiries. WI280 is following the trend of being late that WI278 and WI279 started.


Tourneys--

No SoCal tourneys scheduled for 2011 yet. The LoCal (San Diego) group put on a 3-game LW in Jan, and have scheduled a 2-day event for April. NoCal (Bay Area/Sacramento) group has a big schedlue of tourneys throughout the year.

I saw Tim K at Brookhurst. He left open the possibility of a SoCal (non-convention) tourney for May, but plans are up in the there.


Well, there it is. A good month for putting the final touches on vehicles, some exciting new releases from BF and a FOW game with Paul.

Thanks for visiting and see you next time.

So long buddy....

It's been a rough few days at the household.

Monday, Big J, my dog was put down by the local vet. While pets are animals, they inevitably become part of the family and to lose one is just as painful. The loss is tempered that J isn't suffering any longer. Hip dysplasia took a toll on him and the last few weeks it was apparent he was in great pain. It'd be irresponsible and selfish on my part to extend his suffering because of my own emotions.

Big J was my first dog. I suffered with animal allergies all my life. Cat dander can do a real number on me. Somehow dog allergens bothered me less and less and my wife bought Big J as a birthday present for me.

What a dog he was. He loved football...



He was a fantastic guard dog. Our house is in an area infested with coyotes. Several smaller dogs have been snatched and taken by coyotes over the years. My neighbor told me to watch out for them. I laughed and pointed at Big J. I had no fear of walking Big J in the early mornings. We saw several coyotes and they all went the opposite direction when they saw him.

One evening he was up late. A coyote got too close to the fence and Big J took off after him. Lucky for the coyote I got to Big J before Big J got to the coyote.

After that the coyotes gave our end of the block a wide berth. That X-mas, Big J received several stocking stuffers from the neighbors.



Fed Ex Guy came by unannounced....

.....actually, the butcher loved Big J too and saved bones for him.

Big J was big and loud, but a very loving animal. He enjoyed leaning against a family member or just as content to climb onto a bed and falling asleep.

We had good times together.

So long, buddy and thanks for the memories.

Thanks readers for your patience. Regular posts about tanks, armored warfare, military history and modelling will return next time.

In case anybody asks, his breed was Komondor.

Looking back to 2010 and forward to 2011

Whew! The heavy rains have come and gone. Unfortunately, the rains saturated the phone lines, wiping out my DSL. Service says it may be a few weeks before everything is back to normal. Ugh.

In other news, another year has come and gone. It's that time of year to pause and reflect on the year that was 2010.

Here are the FOW goals I set for myself at the end of 2009:

For 2010, I hereby resolve to the following:

1) Do at least 1 FOW-related activity a month
2) Complete MW Panzer, LW Jagdpanther and LW Lend Lease Tankovy
3) Start and complete at least one army before the end of the year
4) Have fun


Resolution 1: I think I did very good and met it. I went to The Realm several times on Weds and made many of the Game Day's on Sat. I didn't always get a game in, but I did get to talk shop with other FOW'ers. I played in my first FOW Tourney in April (Lion's Den I) and did well for a noob.

Resolution 2: They are all complete. I received the mortars and Sturmoviks to finish the 654th Heavy Tank Hunter Battalion and the Lend Lease (Sherman 75's) from Hammer & Sickle from Carlos T. Great work, Carlos, thanks! RJM you still javascript:void(0)owe me a Kfz 70 truck and 2 stands of pioneers.

Resolution 3: Epic fail. I started a Panzer Kompanie for the upcoming Barbarossa book. I complete 4 Pz IV E's, and need to weather 3 Pz III E's. I have to build 6 Pz III F's (Old Glory). I also traded and received 2 platoons of Grenadiers to give the Barbarossa force some infantry. I didn't bother with any other force for the whole year, instead focusing on Lend Lease Tankovy for LW and MW.

Resolution 4: Yep, had plenty of fun this year and met some very fun people.

On the side, I created more Excel Army files (hosted by Hien) for MW Mittlerepanzerkompanie, HG Panzerpioneer and SE Lend Lease Tankovy.

I made several trades through Bartertown. I've decided I'm an Eastern Front kind of guy and traded away Dogs & Devils sourcebook and equipment for more Soviet-type tanks and infantry.

Bruce O created two pieces of art that I use for objective markers (July 2010 post).

Took the plunge and got not one but two FOW Bags from Battlefoam and love them!

Carlos T built and painted King Tiger 214 for my nephew in 2 days. Thanks Carlos!

Battlefront released Eastern Front, Dogs & Devils, Blitzkrieg, Stalin's Europe and the D-Day compilation. That's 5 books (6 actually since D-Day is 2 volumes) to feed the hungry FOW-player. 2011 we'll probably see EW North Africa, a Monte Cassino book for Italy and something for MW. I don't see 5 books being pumped out in 1 year again. That's a big hit to anyone's budget.

A great year!!!

For 2011 resolutions, I'm going to weenie out and not make a specific resolution (well, except for 76mm Sherman Lend Lease cough cough) and just do as much FOW as I can and have fun. Hopefully the DSL will be back and running soon.

Lastly, I want to thank all of you. Thank you for visiting this blog. Thank you for any and all comments. I appreciate the support and feedback.

Quick photos of Rapid Fire game

I'm compiling the 30+ photos of an AAR against Michael's MW panzer kompanie. Or was it his pioneer kompanie? It was that type of game for both of us.

While Michael and I were flaying fruitlessly at one another, Frank the Building Maker was playing Rapid Fire. I own two Rapid Fire supplements. They are both PDF's and cover the German and Russian forces from Barbarossa to Kursk. I find them to be good research resources when designing FOW army lists.

I've never played the game before, but the 28mm models look great!


At this point in the fight, the Russians are wondering what happened to all the area terrain.



The only thing missing for this PaK 40 crew is hot dogs.



Soviet infantry hide behind burning T-34's. Not a good idea in a real battle as T-34 tended to suffer internal explosions and send shrapnel in all directions.



Holiday time is coming up and hopefully I'll get a couple of games in. AAR report to follow next time.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Walking Dead TV Series Premier

Last night was Halloween. While I was handling out 1,000 pieces of candy to the swarms of kids coming to the door, the DVR was busy taping AMC's new show, The Walking Dead. I haven't read the comic books series nor the graphic novel compilations. While I wait for people to show on FOW Day at the Realm, I have skimmed the Walking Dead graphic novel and thought it was a good read.

Well now the story is on TV for all Zombie-philes to enjoy. Jawballs @ The Blood Angels sums up the thoughts of many zombie movie/tv/book fans.

Hollywood has noticed that there is a large market craving (brains any one?) zombie flicks. In recent years, zombie fans have been treated with a plethora of zombie films. A small sample of the one's I've seen recently.

Resident Evil series (3 out of 5 brains) - Mila Jovovich and lots of firepower! The zombies take a distant supporting role to Mila. Not many people, dead or alive, can distract me from Mila.

Zombieland (4 out of 5 brains) - A great, fun, comedic film. You get Woody Harrelson (e'nuff said), the talented Jesse Eisenberg and Bill Murray. I'd give the flick 5 stars if it focused solely on Eisenberg and Harrelson's and their dynamic relationship.

Dead Snow (4 brains) - Nazis Zombies! Fun, bloody and buckets of gore.

World War Z is reportedly in script finalization phase and Brad Pitt is cast for the lead role.

Now we have AMC's The Walking Dead. I watched it last night and was captivated from the start. AMC didn't skimp on production. It looks like the folks behind the show really want to make a good zombie show. We're introduced to the characters and get to watch them deal with a world gone over to the zombies. The show starts like 28 Days, but apparently the Walking Dead comic and 28 Days movie came out at the same time, so the two writers had the same opening sequence in mind. It's not a case of the Walking Dead writer borrowing from 28 Days.

The show will be about the characters. Sure, there are very cool zombie effects, but the emphasis will be on the people left to pick up their lives while coming to the reality that if they make a wrong turn or open the wrong door, there's a dead person who thinks you're their Value Meal!

I've identified with the lead character and the father and son. I guess it's good I didn't read the comic or graphics novel because I don't know their fates. It'll be that much more of a shock when the zombies get them.

One thing that strikes me is the long moments of silence. I mean it makes sense. In a dead world and civilization crumbled, all the noise of cars, jets, voices, radios, iPods, TV, newcasts, the rush rush rush of people coming and going is Gone. Simply Gone. We, as a society, never realize how much noise there is until we get away to the mountains, the countryside, an empty beach, a hillside and hear nothing but the wind.

I can't recommend this TV series highly enough. If zombies are your "thing", find a way to watch it or borrow a DVD copy from a friend.

Daniel and I played Roadblock last week. I have 28 pictures to sort through for the AAR, or maybe I'll just post all 28 of them. =) I'll have the AAR up in a few days as well as comments about the Roadblock mission.

Pilgrimage to the Chino Air Museum

Every year the nephew and I head to the Chino Air Museum, located in San Bernardino County. It's out in the middle of cow country, but most of the cow farms have picked up stakes and moved out because housing developers want the land for more houses (meaning, more money). The smell isn't as bad as it used to be a few years ago.

Most of the planes on display are flyable. They have pans underneath the planes because of oil leaks. Panels are removed on planes undergoing repairs or engine refits. All the work is done by volunteers; some of the volunteers are the men who flew the actual planes. It's a nice treat to meet and talk with them if you're lucky enough to be there on a day when they are working on the aircraft.

The museum also has tanks!



I think this is a Type 95 Ha-Go Japanese tank.


Stuart!




Sherman!




The Yak-3 is scheduled for a demonstration flight on the first weekend of September.


This Bf109 is scheduled for restoration, which will take several years and $$$.




If you are ever in the area, visit the Planes of Fame museum in Chino, CA. It's great.

Donovan saves USA from World Cup disaster

Everyone has seen the goal. Here's the reaction across the country.

Day of Days

In Memorium...

A book for Luftwaffe enthusiasts

I received an e-mail from a close friend whom I hadn't heard from in several years.

Claes Sundin is a world renown researcher and graphic artist, who's been published in several books, mostly detailing the history of the Luftwaffe and the bitter air battles on the Eastern Front.

I've been lucky to come into contact with Claes and consider him a friend. He helped me out on several projects and tolerated my naive questions. He also created several unique profiles for me at no cost to myself.

Claes' e-mail announced the first book he will publish on his own. This is quite a feat considering the publishing landscape.



If you ever had any interest in the Luftwaffe, I highly recommend Claes' work and this book. You can't find Claes' work in earlier books because they are out of print.

Visit his website and you can find many aircraft profiles.

Congrats Claes!