On the English-speaking modeling forums there are often found some interesting articles, and quite often we tempted to meet with their authors live, to friendly talk, to share modeling experiences.
Most recently, I was able to get to meet a remarkable man and modeler, whose name is not gone from the pages of scale modeling websites and magazines.
Colleagues, let me represent — Carmel Attard, who lives in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, on the island of Malta, has kindly agreed to answer a few questions and take photos of his collection.




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Epoxy plane

Caudron G.IV, a French bomber/reconnaissance plane, was a twin engine version of the earlier G.III model. It was put into service in 1915, becoming the first mass produced twin engine aircraft in allied service. For several years G.IV served faithfully in several air forces, until becoming completely obsolete and incapable to match newer enemy fighters. In total, more than 1400 planes of the type were built in France, Italy and UK.

This unusual, odd looking plane had always looked to me like a very interesting subject for a model, and since no kit of a twin engine Caudron was available (except for an ancient, hard to find vacuform), I decided to try myself at scratchbuilding – a decision based mostly on an underestimation of complexity of the task ahead.

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I present you an interview with a man, who does not need an introduction. For those of you, who does not know, Steve Zaloga is a well known around the world historian and a modeler. He received his BA in history from Union College and his MA from Columbia University. He wrote numerous books on military technology and military history, especially on the US Army in World War II as well as Russia and the former Soviet Union. He has worked as a military analyst in for over two decades, covering missile systems and the international arms trade. He is a member of the AMPS (Armor Modeling and Preservation Society) and a moderator at Missing-Lynx.com. And that was just to name a few… Steve agreed to spare a little time out of his busy schedule and answer some questions for ScaleModels.ru.I really appreciate this chance to talk to you, and ask you some questions. Would you like to tell a little bit about yourself and your background? And who was first: Steve Zaloga — historian, or Steve Zaloga — scale modeler?

Modeler — first. I started building models when I was 4 years old (1956) with a Lindbergh “Spirit of St. Louis” airplane. I built mainly airplanes until about 1965 when I became interested in tank models from the new American magazine “Scale Modeler”. By the time I went to college in 1968, I was mainly building 1/76 scale tank models. I didn’t build much in the 1980s because I had a long commute on the train to my job in New York city. I started building a lot again around 1990 when my job changed and I had more time. I have been interested in military history since I was child. My grandfather was in a US Army combat engineer battalion that landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day in June 1944; my dad was also a US Army engineer and landed in Normandy after D-Day. Most of my older relatives were in the war, also, many of the older men in my neighborhood. So I have been interested in World War II history for many years.

Why such an interest in Soviet/Russian armor?

I developed an interest in Soviet tanks in the 1960s after getting John Milsom’s classic book. I always thought that Soviet tanks were a greater research challenge than US or German tanks, especially in the 1960s and 1970s when there was very little information about this in the USA. For me, the research is as much fun as the model building. Also, when I went to university, my field was eastern European history (20th Century) and I studied Russian and Polish language at university.

I have to agree that research is just as much fun. Sometimes I even forget that I was going to build a model after all. But research on the Soviet armor of 20-30 years ago was very challenging. Even for Soviet historians, it was hard to find information back then. What were your sources for World War II Soviet armor? Did your knowledge of the Russian language help a lot?

Actually, in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s there was practically nothing worthwhile in Russian on tank history that was published. The material in Polish and Czech was much better (for example, the writing by Janusz Magnuski). Now of course, it is completely different with the best material being in Russian. Aside from the Polish and Czech material, back in the 1960s-80s there was a lot of material on Soviet WWII tanks in the German intelligence (Fremde Heer Ost) records at the US National Archives.

As times change and more information becomes available, do you ever think about going back and rewriting some of your older books?

Since I’ve written over a hundred books, this is difficult to answer. Some subjects continue to interest me, and I will continue to write in those subject areas. I do not plan to do much new writing on Russian/Soviet subjects as the new Russian writing on this subject is better than what I could do. I may do occasional books on Russian subjects based on the requests from my publishers such as Osprey.

Are you working on any books right now?
I am always writing new books, and I have contracts extending out over two years into the future. My next Osprey New Vanguards are on “Tanks of the Spanish Civil War” and “French Tanks of World War I”. My next Osprey Duels are “M26 Pershing vs. T-34-85: Korea 1950” and Char B1 bis vs. PzKpfw IV”. My Osprey Campaign on Operation Nordwind just appeared, and my next is on Operation Pointblank. After my “Armored Thunderbolt” for Stackpole, I am doing a few more hard-covers for them which will be out in 2011-2012.

It is somewhat popular on Russian language modeling sites to publish one's own articles on different research topics. Sometimes after reading reference books, a young modeler will combine information and write his own little research paper only to be «critiqued to death» by older visitors who have read more books than he has. It is obviously very discouraging for them. Do you have any advice for self-taught historians like that?

I do not follow Russian internet modeling sites, so I am not aware of the articles you are describing. (I do subscribe to M-Khobbi magazine). There is so much stuff on Internet, it is very difficult to keep track of it all. I think there is a general problem on the Internet of a lot of cheap criticism and sarcasm by self-appointed experts who do not publish or write anything worthwhile themselves, but who spend all their time complaining about the work of others. This is not limited to Russian hobby sites, but is common on English language sites also.

You have been building models for a very long time. Back in 1960-80s one had to put a lot of scratch-building into each model to make it historically accurate. Nowadays we have kits with over 500-600 parts in each + after-market of every possible kind. Do you think our hobby is losing some creativity because of that?

I think the focus has changed. I think there is much more emphasis now on painting, figures and diorama bases. The painting quality now is many times better than 10-15 years ago. But I do agree that we see much fewer scratch-built models, or models involving extensive corrections by the modeler (and not just after-market parts). Generally, the painting is now better, construction less ambitious.

German WWII armor has been the most popular subject with AFV modelers and, obviously, manufacturers for a very long time. In the last few years Dragon came up with several versions of T-34, Trumpeter — with KV tanks and B-4, Tamiya introduced IS-2 and ISU-152, and now — BT-7. Do you think the situation is changing and might we see more Soviet armor soon?

Actually, I think that WWII Soviet armor is very well covered. I just finished building the Tamiya BT-7 (as a Finnish BT-42) but I was happy with the older Eastern Express kit. We could use a better T-26. I think that modern Soviet/Russian stuff is more necessary such as a good T-64 and T-80. And there are some big gaps in other Allied WW2 armor (British Universal Carrier/Bren Carrier; French SOMUA S-35, Renault R-35, etc.) World War I tanks would also be nice.

What are your likes and dislikes in finished models (built by you or other modelers)? Do you pay much attention to historical accuracy?

I do pay attention to historical accuracy due to my historical interests. There are certainly some styles of painting and modeling I prefer over others. I generally like the “Nordic” style of painting that is more subtle and (in my opinion) more realistic. I don’t like the “Spanish” school as much as I think the colors tend to be a bit too vivid and a the weathering a bit too extreme. I think it may due to perception of light; the northern Europeans grow up under grey skies, the Mediterranean under bright sun.

Is there a model (or models) you wish to build some day? I always have projects on the shelf, but these days, my projects are often influenced by new kits. Most of my models appear in hobby magazines such as Military Modelling from the UK, and of course, the editors like coverage of new kits.

Did you ever have a chance to travel to the countries of the former USSR? If yes, what did you find most interesting?

I’ve been to Russia quite often. Most often to Moscow, but to Ekaterinburg, Omsk, Vladimir. I finally visited St. Petersburg two years ago. One of Europe’s most beautiful cities, and of course the Artillery & Engineer Museum is spectacular! Of course, I love the museums. Aircraft museums like Monino, and other military museums. I also found the hobby shops in Moscow to be very good when I was there last year. Hobby stores are dying in the US because of Internet shopping, and the shops I visited in Moscow were better than any of the shops near me.

Steve, thank you very much for this opportunity to interview you!

* Russian language version published at ScaleModels.ru
**The photo was taken from www.historicon.org.

 

NV-1, a sport plane developed by the Soviet designer V. Nikitin in 1933, was one of the tiniest aircraft built in the USSR and also the fastest plane with Shvetsov M-11 engine. Only one prototype was built. This nice, yet almost forgotten aircraft became a subject of a wonderful resin kit in 1/72 scale released by Russian company Prop&Jet. The model is beautifully done, with subtle, realistic fabric representation, delicate panel lines and razor sharp trailing edges. The fuselage is cast in one part, which spares the modeler some filling and sanding, but also makes painting of an interior a little trickier. Engine cylinders are molded separately, so are the wheels. The instruction suggests making thin struts using stretched sprue, which probably is the only way these tiny parts can be made.


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TsKB-3, a biplane fighter powered by Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine, was developed in 1933 by Nikolai Polikarpov as a successor to his earlier design I-5. It was put in production in 1934 under the name I-15 and became famous in combat in Spain where it proved to be one of the best biplane fighters of its time.

If I was going to build a 1/72 I-15 today, I would probably start with a new ICM model. However, a few years ago, long before it was released one had to choose from three limited-run offerings from Aviation Usk, Pavla and Special Hobby (the last one was also sold under Azur label). After reading the (somewhat misleading) reviews and arriving at a conclusion that none of these models is perfect, I decided to go with Special Hobby.


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Additional pictures:



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Some of my older models of land vehicles in 1/72.


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I found this research article done by Bandai. It mentions that model making trains the brain. Looks like I should build more models from this moment ;-)

Resin, wire, monothread…

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Continuing from scaleclub.org/interview-with-michael-fichtenmayer-part-i.html

Your latest project is the Fish-Shaped Submarine. It is really great!
Thanks! Glad you like it. There has been a lot more interest than I have anticipated and it looks like I'll have to do a second run before too long as the First Edition has all been reserved and then some.



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Most of you reading this like to build models. Some of you build them out of the box adding more or less different after-market parts. Some of you are building from scratch, using blueprints and photographs of original machines. But not too many people do scale modeling as a visual art and build things that have never existed in the first place, using their imagination instead of historically accurate references.
 
I do not think many of you have heard of the name Michael Fichtenmayer. Somehow we do not pay attention to one’s name, but do notice their work. Michael’s work cannot go unnoticed. Some of us know his models from different postings on the internet or directly from his site www.fichtenfoo.comand some of us are familiar with his creations thanks to MIG Productions.
 
But who can tell us about the artist (or the modeler) better than he can himself?   So here is the interview with Michael Fichtenmayer:
 
Michael, would you please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Well, I'm a 36 year old web and graphic designer from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in the United States. I've always been artistically inclined with an interest in all things science fiction. As a child I wanted to be an astronaut, but later realized that art was my real passion. I would spend hours alone reading comic books and drawing. I also was very into cartoons. After high school I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with the desire to be an illustrator or comic book artist, but soon realized that if I wanted to eat and not be homeless I should find a job in graphic design. My first design job in 1994 started off quite boring with little pay working for an industrial news magazine which soon after decided to jump on the internet. I taught myself web design and have been doing that ever since either full-time or on a freelance basis. 
 

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The model was built out of box, as a gift for my friends 30th birthday. I usually don't do WW2 aviation, but since he's a big fan of it and VVS as well, and since I got this kit for just 4EUR, I had to build it for him.



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Recently I had a chance to visit the world famous Davis-Monthan air base in Tuscon, Arizona.  This is the place where the United States stows the aircraft that are currently not needed by the services. At the moment the base contains approximately 4400 aircraft.  part of the base is used to store flyable aircraft — i.e. aircraft that under deep conservation and will fly again, while the other part is full of aircraft being broken up for spare parts.  This air base is the only military base that actually bring the profit to the us government — over $600 million per year (if one is to believe a tour guide).  The planes on the base are kept as long as there are users for them anywhere in the world and there is demand for the spare parts.  As soon as the last of the type is retied by the last military the planes are quickly scrapped or sent to the museums.  Many long-lived aircraft like B-52 and B-1 are periodically cycled through the storage base in order to keep flying hour on all airframes more or less even and in case of a big war they can all be used

The tour is bus based and you are not allowed out of the bus.


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Site's search was fixed and normally works now. Example 

Also add a WYSIWYG editor to writing form 

While searching the internet for some lend-lease info I found this issue of LIFE Magazine (March 29, 1943). It was very interesting. Big difference from writings of the Cold War...
books.google.com/books?id=A1AEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA13&dq=life%20magazine%20lend-lease&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Have you seen reviews of a new Japanese model kit, the Zoukei-Mura 1/32 Kyushu J7W1 Shinden?

This is a truly marvelous model kit, with incredible detail.  But perhaps its most unique feature, is how it is built.

You build this model like a real airplane, parts are installed onto a skeleton like frame!

Also, there are many optional features available in photo-etch, white metal, and resin, as well as figures to complete the model.

If you are interested in seeing completed pictures, email me.

David Cooper

Looks like email from our server (registration confirmation, passwords, notifications, e.t.c) often lost as spam at .ru email servers.

I just activate all users, whos do not recieve emails from server manually — please check your accounts

Please, use emails with .com domains for registration at ScaleClub (as gmail.com, hotmail.com and other).

If any problem exists — feel free to contact us by scalemodelsrussia at gmail dot com or by submitting this form

Best wishes

 

I-3 made its first flight in 1928 and entered service the next year, becoming a primary fighter of the Red Army Air Force with about 400 built. Although I-3 flight performance was on par with the Western fighters of the time and it had a certain potential for further development, the type was phased out relatively quickly and replaced with I-7 (a license-built Heinkel HD-37).



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