F-84, Thunderstreak, Revell

 Among my old models, I found my old Revell Lodela F-84, the FS-366; I must have assembled it in the seventies, it is one of the oldest models in my collection, and you can tell that time has passed by, it had used decals and they were already peeling, the Pactra paint with which I had originally painted it It is already very worn and opaque, in itself it was not very bright and many years of having it exposed I finished with what little it had, the model required a tune-up.

And since I am using the Art of Painting to recover from my grief, stress and exhaustion, it was a great idea to repaint this old model, and taking advantage of the fact that its cabin was loose, I gave it a comprehensive review, fresh acrylic paint, natural aluminum from Last generation, repaint the badges, this is one of the S series models, which had their codes and badges highlighted, so you just have to follow the guides.

I liked the result, the interior of the cabin is already much more realistic, the metallic shine is very adequate, although it still does not convince me, I think that in metallic, oil paints are still much superior to acrylic paints, although Unfortunately, no one makes them in Mexico anymore and they cannot be imported legally; The mirror-like feeling that the metal of those times had and that only one painting represented well is missing, the old oil based Lodela paint.

AT-6G, Luftwaffe

The revival of the Luftwaffe occurred in a modest ceremony, on September 24, 1956, when it was born, the new air weapon did so after many years of not having a single aircraft, there were pilots, some very experienced, but one of the conditions of the surrender of the last war, was the total military demobilization, the design, manufacture or possession of any type of airplane by the German government would not be allowed, so the military personnel had to dedicate themselves to other activities.

The growing threat of the Soviet Union led to a rethinking of the situation, the new enemies made the Germans see as the new friends, in a series of meetings, it was decided to recreate the German armed forces, under a new formation and without inheriting any of the traditions of old Nazi or imperial Germany, that day a T-6G (AA-601), a T-33 (AB + 101) and a Piper L-18 (AS-501) were delivered, to train the pilots Germans in the technologies emerged in the last 10 years.

This model represents the first Harvard Mk IV of the Bundesluftwaffe, painted in trainer yellow, no real photos of the device have survived, but it is the equivalent of the North American T-6G, with nose cone, new train, new engine, new instruments and different antenna arrangement.

Lodela model, El Viejo Marino paint, national insignia decals, from a Lodela Alpha Jet, codes and national flag with brush, model assembled in Cuautla city, during a rest trip.

P-38. Yamamoto's death

This is the model of Lt. Barber's P-38, the pilot who shot down Admiral Yamamoto, in a morally questionable operation, but which was a strategic success, it simply was not possible to replace this brilliant mind.

The model is the old Revell Lodela mold, published in the eighties or nineties of the last century, the painting is El Viejo Marino, the national stars are decals, the brush codes, this model I must have assembled in the nineties.

Stress and Modelism

The Stress, according to the main researcher on the subject, Dr. Sapolski, is due to a lack of control over a person's life, either because they are in a subordinate position, or because they lack control over what happens in their life From having to do things you don't like, from not having power over your actions, the key word is Control.

That is why Modeling is so useful to combat Stress, because it is an activity in which we control everything, and it is done for pleasure, there is no responsibility towards others, what happens with our model only concerns us, from The same choice that we are going to buy until the last details of painting, we have everything under control, that is why it is such a relaxing therapy, when you take your brushes, each stroke on the plastic gives us a relaxing tranquility.

And so, no matter what happens day by day, in the office, traffic, work, family, we can always have a part of our lives under control, and that activity causes a discharge of beneficial endorphins in the body, which can keep the toxic cortisol under control and keep our health in balance.

Because Stress is a physical disease, it is now known that Cortisol causes damage to different parts of the body, depending on the sensitivity and genetics of each person, which is why everyone responds differently to it, some of them it affects the heart, others the nervous system, others the gastrointestinal, etc .; That chaotic reaction was what kept medicine so confused for decades, so much so, that there are still doctors who think that Stress is a mental illness or that it does not exist.

P-38M Lightning, Airfix

Night fighters were a specialization that existed until the eighties, it is an exciting story, from open-cabin biplane fighters with no instruments other than the pilot's eyes, to specialized gadgets with the best technology of their time.

The P-38M was the night fighter version of the Lightning, with two crew members in piggyback, the radar operator sat in that tiny cabin behind the pilot, to operate the radar that was on a pod in the nose of the aircraft.

The model is the Airfix P-38F, modified to represent an M, with a thermoformed cabin and radar left over from a Revell model. The painting is old Marino, almost everything by brush, the only decal is the one on the Boom.

P-38, F-4B, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Reconnaissance Squadron 33 (33e Escadre de Reconnaissance) has flown practically every plane dedicated to that specialty for the last 75 years, one of its bravest mounts was the extraordinary P-38, in its F-5B reconnaissance version, received from the United States after the invasion of North Africa, these were the first French planes to return to the Homeland, flying photography missions from great heights before the invasion.

The Squadron's most famous pilot was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a writer and pilot who is now world famous for his extraordinary works, of which the best known is "The Little Prince," popular with children of this generation. He had formed his life of adventures, he was a pilot in the most difficult time, when the planes were nothing but glued wood and covered with cloth, he looked for new aeronautical routes, risking life on each flight, the marks of serious accidents had left his body wounded and broken, when the Luftwaffe launched over France in 1940, its place was in GC II / 33, flying Bloch MB 170, its missions were suicide flights, the Luftwaffe was superior in everything to the French, even so, it returned of each mission, until the end of France, the homeland had fallen, the invader owned Paris, after the war he traveled to the United States and Canada, where he wrote or finished 10 books, including The Little Prince.

His soul was not at peace, he re-enlisted in the Aviation of Free France, at 42 years of age his heart and his will were firm, but his body was not, he returned to combat, only thanks to the personal intervention of General Eisenhower, flew again in reconnaissance missions, the most demanding flight of the physical fortress that could be at that time, the planes flew to enormous heights, to avoid being seen or intercepted, in places where the cold is frightful, oxygen scarce and travel very long, but he could fly over his prisoner homeland and help in his future liberation, each flight was torture, his old fractures forked by the cold of the heights, his slow hands would not be defense against a fast hunt, and in any case, his The plane had no other weapons than the cameras.

And the end came, at dusk on July 31, 1944, his Lightning took off from Corsica, flying towards his beloved France, he was never seen again, he died in the sky that he had conquered by the Tricoleur, he died doing what else He loved to do, when his country needed him most, he left us a literary work that would last until our civilization is extinguished ...

The object of this entry is the F-5B Lightning that was flying the day of its disappearance, the model is by Lodela Revell, the painting is PRU Blue by Pinturas El Viejo Marino, the technique is flat brush, French national insignia by brush, codes by brush, this is a plane that had to be represented in my collection.

Author: Sergio Tellez

USS New Jersey, Revell Lodela

In my last divorce, my collection of ships suffered enormously, it was my ex's last negotiating trick, and they were only released after a long negotiation, as emotional hostages, they suffered a lot, stored by people who did not have the least respect for them, They lost masts and delicate pieces, little by little I have been rebuilding them, this is one of the first, the battleship USS New Jersey of Lodela, I still have to rebuild the masts, I had asked for some photo-cut, but they never came, now I am thinking of making them wire, plastic and thermoformed, one weekend that I have time I will, after all I have to rebuild the masts of four Revell Lodela models of the Iowa class, one from Monogram and another from Lee that cover the entire class, including the ones that didn't was launched.

The models of Lodela are ancient, although I bought them in the eighties, except the USS Winsconsin that is from Revell, all of them are modeling technology from the fifties, in fact it was the first ship modeled by Revell, hence its H-301 number , for many years only the USS Missouri was produced, which by some rare coincidence was also the first model of a ship in my collection, it was manufactured in different editions, from the classic S series to the Picture Fleet, in the sixties it was decided that A good way to take advantage of the molds would be to modify them slightly and produce a very similar ship, so the seaplane rails were eliminated, and two helicopters were added creating the USS New Jersey, and with a change of decals in USS Iowa, while the USS Missouri would retain the hydros and a new ramp that would no longer rotate, and all this required only sealing the ramp hole and making the helicopter branches, four models could be marketed for a single mold.

In this era of huge scales, detailed in photo-cut and extras of all kinds, the spartan simplicity of the model may surprise, but they were designed for another type of audience, they were children's models, which one could finish in a weekend, or on a school vacation, they were easy to assemble, what we would now consider a Level 2, and provided a lot of entertainment.

The model is Lodela brand, originally Lodela paint, repaired and repainted using Revell and El Viejo Marino paint, all the decoration by brush, including the numbers of the hull and turret A, almost all the model retains its original parts, except for some anti-aircraft guns that They were made with Epoxy Plasticine, wire and stretched plastic.

Author: Sergio Tellez Morales