Classic kits vol.7: Thor missile at white sands

Subject:	IRBM Thor Missile in White Sands
Scale:	1/87
Manufacturer:	Glencoe modelss
Price	US$24,00 plus shipping
Description	Injected plastic model with  waterslide decals.
Comments	This is a new release from Glencoe models that did not receive much attention from the modelling community. It is the Thor missile with a launch pad. The original molds are from Adams Models and were released in 1958. Considering the age, they look nice inside the box. The scale is 1/87 (HO scale for the train modelers) witch is probably why most people did not get interested in the kit. A launch pad is provided and it is basically the same you will see on the Vanguard kit. The box art is the same as the Adams original release. New decals were added with more detail then modelers got in 1958. My sample came with injection problems on the fins and on one side of the fuselage (pictures). These problems were not too hard to solve and i will give a go to this one very soon.

incompletely injected fin

missile half with damage;missing portion

Weapons walkaround vol.9: IRBM PGM-17 Thor

Subject: PGM-17 Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile

Location: USAF Museum, Dayton, Ohio, USA, 2014

Comments: Thor was the first operational ballistic missile deployed by the U.S. Air Force (USAF). Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was 65 feet (20 m) in height and 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter. It was later augmented in the U.S. IRBM arsenal by the Jupiter. A large family of space launch vehicles—the Thor and Delta rockets—were derived from the Thor design. The Delta II is still in active service as of 2014 and with the retirement of Atlas and Titan in the mid-2000s is the last surviving "heritage" launch vehicle in the US fleet, being derived from a Cold War-era missile system. Fearful that the Soviet Union would deploy a long-range ballistic missile before the U.S., in January 1956 the USAF began developing the Thor, a 1,500 miles (2,400 km) intermediate-range ballistic missile. The program proceeded quickly, and within three years of inception the first of 20 Royal Air Force Thor squadrons became operational in the UK. The UK deployment carried the codename 'Project Emily'. One of the advantages of the design was that, unlike the Jupiter IRBM, the Thor could be carried by the USAF's cargo aircraft of the time, which made its deployment more rapid. The launch facilities were not transportable, and had to be built on site. The Thor was a stop-gap measure, and once the first generation of ICBMs based in the US became operational, Thor missiles were quickly retired. The last of the missiles was withdrawn from operational alert in 1963.A small number of Thors, converted to "Thrust Augmented Delta" launchers, remained operational in the anti-satellite missile role as Program 437 until April 1975. These missiles were based on Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean and had the ability to destroy satellites in low Earth orbit. With prior warning of an impending launch, they could destroy a Soviet spy satellite soon after orbital insertion. These missiles remain in storage, and could be reactivated, though the W-49 Mod 6 warheads were all dismantled by June 1976

Thor-Agena A Rocket

Thor-Agena A Rocket

Engine walkaround vol.21: Allison V1710 engine for the Bell P39Q Airacobra

Subject: Allison V1710 for the P39Q Airacobra

Location: USAF Museum, Dayton, Ohio, USA, 2014
Comments: The P-39 was an all-metal, low-wing, single-engine fighter, with a tricycle undercarriage and an Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V-12 engine mounted in the central fuselage, directly behind the cockpit.The Airacobra was one of the first production fighters to be conceived as a "weapons system"; in this case the aircraft (known originally as the Bell Model 4) was designed around the 37 mm T9 cannon. This weapon, which was designed in 1934 by the American Armament Corporation, a division of Oldsmobile, fired a 1.3 lb (610 g) projectile capable of piercing .8 in (2 cm) of armor at 500 yd (450 m) with armor-piercing rounds. The 200 lb, 90-inch-long weapon had to be rigidly mounted and fire parallel to and close to the centerline of the new fighter. It would be impossible to mount the weapon in the fuselage, firing through the cylinder banks of the Vee-configured engine and the propeller hub as could be done with smaller 20mm cannon. Weight, balance and visibility problems meant that the cockpit could not be placed farther back in the fuselage, behind the engine and cannon. The solution adopted was to mount the cannon in the forward fuselage and the engine in the center fuselage, directly behind the pilot's seat. The tractor propeller was driven via a 10-foot-long (3.0 m) drive shaft which was made in two sections, incorporating a self-aligning bearing to accommodate fuselage deflection during violent maneuvers. This shaft ran through a tunnel in the cockpit floor and was connected to a gearbox in the nose of the fuselage which, in turn, drove the three- or (later) four-bladed propeller via a short central shaft. The gearbox was provided with its own lubrication system, separate from the engine; in later versions of the Airacobra the gearbox was provided with some armor protection. The glycol-cooled radiator was fitted in the wing center section, immediately beneath the engine; this was flanked on either side by a single drum shaped oil cooler. Air for the radiator and oil coolers was drawn in through intakes in both wing-root leading edges and was directed via four ducts to the radiator faces. The air was then exhausted through three controllable hinged flaps near the trailing edge of the center section. Air for the carburetor was drawn in via a raised oval intake immediately aft of the rear canopy.

Ref: Wikipedia( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_P-39_Airacobra#/media/File:Bell_P-39_Airacobra_center_fuselage_detail.jpg )

Kit review vol.26: AAI RQ-7B Shadow

Subject:	AAI RQ-7B Shadow UAV
Scale:	1/35
Manufacturer:	Academy
Price	US$ 20,00
Description	Injected plastic model with  waterslide decals.
Comments	I bought this kit a few months ago at a local hobby shop. It was released by Academy without much anticipation  by the modelling community. The RQ-7B is a UAV used by the U.S Army and Marines as well as some other countries, for surveillance, target acquisition and battle damage assessment. The kit is very simple but also really nice. You got the UAV plus two figures and a display base. For the operating crew, Academy added a decal sheet with the camouflage pattern of the uniform. The decals look nice and are printed by Cartograf. This does not looks like a complex model and will certainly show up in any collection of military figures or in a small diorama.

Walkaround vol.22: M26 Pershing

Subject: M26 Pershing

Location: Location: Musée des Blindés, Saumur, France

Comments: The Pershing was a medium tank of the United States Army. It was designated a heavy tank when it was first designed in World War II due to its 90 mm gun and its armor. The tank is named after General of the Armies John J. Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary Force in Europe in World War I. It was briefly used both in World War II and the Korean War. Intended as an improvement of the M4 Sherman, the prolonged time of development meant that only a small number saw combat in the European theater, most notably in the 9th Armored Division's dramatic dash to take the Ludendorff Bridge during the Battle of Remagen. Based on the criteria of firepower, mobility, and protection, R. P. Hunnicutt ranked the Pershing second, behind the German Panther medium tank, but ahead of the Tiger I heavy tank. In service during the Korean War, the M26 overmatched the T-34-85 in terms of firepower and protection, but was challenged by the hilly and muddy terrain, and as a result was withdrawn in 1951 in favor of its improved derivative, the M46 Patton, which had a considerably more powerful and reliable engine as well as an advanced and improved suspension to better meet the demands of the specific terrain it operated in. The lineage of the M26 continued with the M47 Patton, and was reflected in the new designs of the later M48 Patton and M60 Patton.

Kit review vol.25: Embraer 195

Subject:	Embraer 195
Scale:	1/144
Manufacturer:	Italeri
Price	US$ 20,00
Description	Injected plastic model with  waterslide decals.
Comments	This is a great time to be a Brazilian modeler. After the releases of the T29 Super Tucano and the AMX by Hobbyboss and Kinetic, now we have another great kit of a Brazilian aircraft from a major manufacturer: Embraer 195 commercial jet. The level of detail is very good and assembly seems to be quite straight forward. My sample is on the workbench and soon i will start the construction. I just hope that aftermarket companies will now release decals from some Brazilian operators.

Military aircraft vol.79: Bell X-1D

Subject:	Bell X-1D
Scale:	1/72
Manufacturer:	Project-X
Price:	Unknown
Construction:	Out-of-the box construction.
Extras:	None
Comments	This is a resin kit of the second generation Bell X-1. I am quite sure the manufacturer is "Project X", but this kit was given to me without box and decals. It was stored in a box at my workbench for several years, unfinished. I even got the much better Special Hobby X-1 injected model in 1;72 scale. However, i decided to finish it instead of trowing away the kit. Markings are very simple as the X-1D was lost very early during the X-1 project. The kit was finished with Alclad II. It is a nice kit, but can not be compered to a injected model, specially the Special Hobby offering.