Roys Rants

Barracuda Studios December Update!

2011-12-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

We now carry the new ADH book on building the Tamiya 1/32nd Mustang!

Hi there, fellow modelers.

I am back from the UK Nationals and working hard to get some stalled projects finished up so you guys can have some new stuff to tempt you. A lot is happening, and all at the same time, but it's all good news after some frustrating delays.

To start with, we have decided to carry the new ADH on building the Tamiya 32nd Mustang, as I am one of the contributing authors to the title. While you are browsing 32nd Mustang accessories, you might want to add the book to your pile. I can even deface it for you! By that, of course, I mean I can personalize it if you wish. Just note in the comments section when you place your order that you would like it signed, and how you would like your name written. There is no charge for this, as I'm not sure if anyone would be silly enough to pay for it!

This book is up on the site and to ship right now. Look under the books tab.

Speaking of Mustangs, the question that seems to be on everybody's mind is: What happened to Kim Kardashian's marriage? How on earth did it manage to last as long as it did? OK, the OTHER question that seems to be on everybody's mind is: Where the heck are the Mustang resin detail sets?

The answer is that they are coming pretty soon. They have been delayed by what I can only explain as a Gypsy curse. I don't recall incurring the wrath of any Gypsies recently, but I must have. Aside from the large amount of work necessary in the last few weeks to get the final details of the Hellhawks book finished, and the trip across the pond for the IPMS UK national Convention at Telford back a few weeks ago (and you would not believe how much crap I have to do to prepare for a show like this!), there was also the week or so it took me to get back on my feet after coming home. Was not feeling all that well for about 6 days.

The curse part has to do with some inexplicably long delays with the photoetched parts that are included in two of the new sets. I have worked with the etchers many times before in the old Cooper Details days. The guy who designed my etched parts is the same guy who designed them before. Yet, somehow, this time, a perfect storm of technical and communication problems turned this somewhat straightforward job into a morass of frustrating delays that seem to have been no ones fault that I can find.... hence my theory about the curse.

Telford 2011: the aftermath.

2011-11-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

I am sitting in my cousin Juliet's living room, near Banbury and not too far from Telford, recovering from the show. I slept nearly eleven and a half hours last night! I never sleep that long!

I have been a little technologically challenged the past few days, as my cellphone is on the Verizon network, which is CDMA, and therefor useless outside of the USA. Frustrating! The Internet works, but finding an open wifi network has been a challenge.

It was a great show and it was good to catch up with many old friends and make some new ones. I will post more soon, but it is a little slow going on my phone, and it's dinner soon.

Happy modelling! Roy

Leavin on a Jet Plane...

2011-11-10T02:58:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

It has been business as usual here at Barracuda Studios since my last post. Read: busy as heck.

Just have a few minutes to bang out a quick post on the old blogaroonie (being that I am writing this at 3AM, forgive the weirdness, if you can!) before I hit the hay for a very few short hours before I get picked up for my trip to the airport.

I'm off across the Atlantic Ocean for the IPMS/UK national Convention in Telford, England. Its a smallish town just Northwest of Birmingham. Its a long trip with 3 flights, so I will catch up on my sleep on the planes.

Just a quick note to my faithful and patient customers that Barracuda Studios will be closed for the next week, and no orders received will be shipped until later next week.

The good news is that the new book " Thunderbolts of the Hellhawks" is in its very last stages and should be sent to the printer before the week is out. Its been a crazy few weeks wrapping up all the loose ends.

If you will be attending the Telford show, please stop by and say hello, and buy lots of BarracudaStuff!

OK, off to bed now. If I can find time and a wi-fi connection, I will try to post quick reports from the show.

Happy modelling! Roy

365th Fighter Group book progress report.

2011-10-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

A sneak peak of the final cover art of the book. The Red, Yellow and Blue segments represent the colors of the 3 squadrons that make up the 365th FG.

Its been a while since I have updated you on the progress of this book, and some of you may have thought the project had died on the vine. Far from it. In fact, VERY far from it!

First off, the book now has a title. The previous working title lacked a little in the sexiness department. Thunderbolts of the Hell Hawks has a lot more punch to it, don't you think?

Don Barnes, the man who's baby this project is, has dug deeply over the last 2 years, and has come up with a vast treasure trove of never before seen photos and personal stories. He has tracked down over 20 pilots that are still with us, and has become good friends with almost all of them. He has collected a staggering 800 unpublished photos from the personal photo albums of the pilots and crew members.

The book contains about 600 photos, of which about 20 have been published in other books. The rest have languished unseen in photo albums for the past 66 years. Many of the images will be printed full page. The range of subjects is quite varied, showing life in the Hell Hawks in great detail, with many images of the Thunderbolt's they flew, the pilots and ground crews, quarters, airfields and support equipment, even a selection of captured aircraft and destroyed targets. The vast majority of men in the photographs are identified by name.

To make this even more impressive, Don has fully documented and illustrated ninety two P-47s that were attached to the unit in detailed color profiles. Before this, the only documented aircraft from the unit was "Coffey's Pot".

John Crump has spent hundreds of hours researching and writing the history of the unit. I wrote the first few chapters, but I had to back out, as I did not have enough time to devote to the project. John stepped in and did a terrific job of bringing the story to life. I am very proud to be a part of this project, but my contribution is small compared to what Don and John have done.

This book is in the very final stages of layout. Some last minute photos and stories have slightly delayed the process, but it will result in a better and more comprehensive book. We expect it to go off to the printers in the next week.

What started life as a book with about 140-150 pages has grown with each passing month into an impressive 320 pages. If you have read Jones' and Dorr's book Hell Hawks, you will find that Thunderbolts of the Hell Hawks has very little overlap, and it will add a lot of depth and background to what is a fascinating book and a great read. They are complimentary. Reading both will give you a very detailed and rich understanding of what life was like for these brave men. Its a story that has been largely overlooked up til now.

More news on the book will be coming in the next few days.

Happy modelling! Roy

Mustang Madness 2: The gathering storm!

2011-10-01T22:06:00.001-07:00

Here's an image showing the port sidewall of the new Tamiya P-51D, tricked out with our new Mustang cockpit stencils. Click on the above image to see it in more detail.

I know I promised to post a new blog entry a few days ago, but a family situation took me away from my blogging duties. Its been an extremely weird year for me; its certainly had its ups and downs. I'm back and here to make good on my promise.

Again, most of you may already be aware of this, but BarracudaCals has released a new decal sheet for the Tamiya Mustang;

BC32010 P-51D Mustang Cockpit Stencils and Placards in 1/32 Scale.

http://barracudacals.com/proddetail.php?prod=BC32010&cat=23

This sheet is comprised of over 100 separate decals that replicate nearly every stencil or placard in the cockpit of the P-51D. Yes, this will take a bit of time and care to install, but the results, as you can see in the image above, will be well worth it.

As with the P-51D Part 1 decals announced in the previous entry, these stencils are well researched, fit to the actual kit parts, and beautifully printed by Cartograf. Clear carrier film is kept to a bare minimum, and they really suck down over detail very well, as they are commendably thin.

Once you see a 1/32 Mustang cockpit with these little babies installed, you will find it hard to build yours without! All part of my little plan. World domination? Noooo! Don't be silly! Not at first... Now, I've been asked more than once if these cockpit stencils will be made available in 1/48th scale. To which, I reply "Hey! No fair peeking!"

Now, I promised you an announcement about the forthcoming resin sets for the Mustang in 32nd scale. Here is a breakdown of the sets to be released. They are still in the works, but they should be released in about two weeks. Once they are finished , I will post images of the parts and the sets will become available for preorder.

BR32012 P-51D Mustang Cockpit Sidewalls

Super detailed, accurate cockpit sidewalls directly replace the Tamiya

kit parts. Much extra detail such as wiring, refined switches, and separate parts add to the realism. Resin castings supplimented with photoetched parts, including perforated canopy rails and uplocks for the gearbays.

BR32013 P-51D Mustang Instrument Panel

A super detailed resin instrument panel, with high quality etched parts and super crisp and petite film dials, directly replaces the Tamiya kit panel. This will yield a much more authentic look. May be adapted to fit other 1/32 Mustang kits.

BR32014 P-51D Mustang Cockpit Upgrade

Super detailed resin cast radio, battery, stick, gunsight and throttle quadrant for the Tamiya P-51D. All parts are highly visible in the finished model, and will add that extra touch of realism to your masterpiece. May be adapted to fit other 1/32 Mustang kits.

BR32015 P-51D Mustang Mainwheel Tires

Resin cast tires directly replace the soft rubber Tamiya kit tires. The advantage being that the mold parting seam on the kit tires is very difficult to remove and the tires are dust and dirt magnets. While they can be painted, the paint adhesion is not good. Resin tires have none of these drawbacks. Clean, seamless castings need little work to be ready to install.

BR32016 P-51D Mustang Paper Droptanks

Resin cast nose and tailcones for the 108 gallon paper tanks replace the kit parts, which are smooth and scribed. The real tanks were made of paper mache, and the nose and tailcones were scalloped and slightly irregular. Just saw off the front and rear of the kit tanks and attach these new resin parts. The saves on weight, as well as allowing plastic cement to be used to hang the tanks.

Now, please read this part carefully! These sets ARE NOT available yet. They are coming soon. I have not added them to the website, and will not be accepting pre-orders yet. I just want to be sure that everyone understands this to avoid disappointment. I will post pictures later this week. I will also be sure to get the press release about the release dates to all the major sites as soon as I am convinced they will be ready to ship on time. They will also be announced here and on the Barracuda Studios website as well.

The second half of 2011 is certainly a great time to be a Mustang mad modeller!

Off to bed now, its super late again.

Roy

Mustang Madness!

2011-09-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

The much anticipated Tamiya P-51D Mustang kit in 1/32nd scale has been released, and the jury is in!

And the verdict is: Tamiya found Guilty! Guilty of making a kit so superb, it may have edged out their recent Spitfire series as possibly the best plastic model airplane ever made.

I have also been found guilty. Guilty of not blogging in months, but, to be fair, its partly YOUR fault! You guys have been keeping me working long hours, trying to keep pace with demand.

While this might be old news to most of you, some might just be returning from an around-the-world cruise or stranded on a desert island for the last 3 months. Barracuda Studios has responded to this release with 2 new products. The first of which is a new decal sheet featuring 5 schemes for this new kit.

http://barracudacals.com/proddetail.php?prod=BC32009

Rest assured that these sheets were designed to fit the actual kit parts, so there should not be any ugly surprises when going to actually use them! They are, like all but our earliest decal sheets, printed by the masters at Cartograf in Italy. The sheet features a full suite of stencils, and the stencils are accurate for the D model Mustang. Most previously released sheets feature stencils that are not really accurate for a P-51D. If the stencils on a decal sheet have the fuel filler caps on the upper wing surrounded with a ring of text, the stencils aren't really right for the D.

A LOT of research has gone into this sheet. The correct green color (a dark green, probably British Dark Green) has been printed for the checkers on the "Millie G" of the 55th FG. They have always been shown before as a bright green color. The name is also given in the correct red with a green drop shadow. "Alabama Rammer Jammer" and "Double Trouble Two" are both new schemes never available before in decal form. Lou IV is represented accurately for the first time, complete with full, correct pilot and crew names forward of the canopy, as well as properly sized codes (The Tamiya decals in 48th and 72nd give you these codes, but they are much too small) The name Athelene on the Starboard cowl is also provided.

The last scheme on the sheet is Chuck Reager's "Amorous Len III". This is a fictional scheme, but intrepid modelers can modify the markings to recreate a different aircraft with what is included on the sheet. A sad state of affairs that this is necessary, but its not a perfect world.

This sheet has also been released in both 1/72nd and 1/48th scale, and all three are available now on the website. I hope you find something to your liking on this new sheet.

http://barracudacals.com/proddetail.php?prod=BC72010

I also have scaled down and released the new F4U-1 Corsair Part I sheet to 1/72nd. Those modellers tired of the same old Corsairs will have 5 never before available schemes to play with. My good friend Johnathan Strickland has been researching Corsairs for years, and this sheet is a product of his fine work. Note the inscription on the nose of the well worn Birdcage from this sheet. How this one got past the wartime censors is anyone's guess.

Lieutenant Colonel Donald K. Yost's Corsair, a very colorful and striking aircraft, from the USS Cape Gloucester is featured on this sheet, as is 2nd Lieutenant Kenneth Walsh's Birdcage named "Viva!". 1/72nd scale modelers are not getting a lot of new decals these days. I continue to bring you new releases in this scale, but please note they are printed in very limited numbers. Once they are gone, they are GONE!

One thing I forgot to mention about the two new 1/72nd scale sheets. They are an even greater value, because they both contain 2 complete sets of stencilling! As with the 32nd and 48th scale Mustang sheets, the 72nd sheet includes the first ever accurate P-51D stencil suites in decal form. Note that the decal set comes with two half sheets taped together. This is not a packaging error. You need two sheets to have enough national markings and other major markings, such as codes and serials. Its a little confusing, but trust me, that's how its supposed to be!

Look for another blog installment tomorrow. Lots of news, and I will list the 5 new resin sets coming for the new Tamiya Mustang in 1/32nd scale. Glad to be back here on the blog, and I will really try to keep a more regular schedule. I enjoy doing it, and hope you find it a worthwhile way to spend a few minutes.

Happy modelling! Roy

New Gallery Section is Launched!

2011-05-04T22:22:00.001-07:00

Finescale Modeler bigwig Paul Boyer built all three P-47s in 1/72nd scale from BarracudaCals BC72002. We love this kind of submission. It's just too cool!

We are pleased to announce that the long promised Gallery section of the BarracudaCals website is now up on the Barracuda Studios website. Follow the link at the end of this post to take you there.

The Gallery section has been up for almost a week now, and there are already 11 features on it. I have at least another 5, and they will be rolled out every few days, so stop by once in a while and check it out.

I am actively looking for submissions. The rules are pretty simple for inclusion. Your model needs to have utilized a Barracuda Studios product. Models featuring Cooper Details products are also more than welcome. You do not have to be a modelling god for inclusion. Just get the decals on the right side up, and a nice clean build, and you are in!

Jens Haakon Brandl has done a great job converting and accurizing the Hasegawa Spitfire IX into a FR. IX in the special pink scheme. Bet those pilots never got razzed for flying pink airplanes!

The most important aspect of your submission is decent photography. A solid color background is helpful, but not absolutely necessary. Good lighting and in-focus images are the only thing I insist on. You can get some pretty decent images with a large sheet of colored paper or cardstock, a pair of swing arm lamps, and a point and shoot digital camera with a macro function are all you really need.

Remember to adjust the camera settings to match the light source you are shooting. If you are shooting indoors with tungsten light, set the camera to tungsten lighting, and you will avoid the red cast that is common to pictures taken without changing this setting. Shooting out doors will give you tons of light usually, but be careful not to shoot on windy days. We don't need action shots! Again, remember to set the color balance for where you are shooting.

All that said, the images do not have to be award winning! In-focus is about the only real criterion that must be met. If you are not Ansel Adams, don't sweat it. We can crop and color correct and stuff like that. Most important is that we want to see your models!

Gallery images do not have to be of finished models. See the existing galleries that show cockpits in progress. Modelers love to see how its done. And you can certainly send an update later on, with shots of the completed model. We will be happy to add them to your Gallery.

Closeup shots are great, especially when it reveals hard to see details. Jereon Veen's nicely built and painted Spit IX cockpit in 1/32nd scale.

So, shuffle on over to BarracudaTown (not an actual website) and check out the new feature. I hope you will find it inspirational. Send your submissions to :

barracudacomments@gmail.com

Please send a few sample images first, so I can check out the quality of the photos first. No need to send a lot of pictures if they might need to be reshot. Along with the photos, I will need a least a paragraph describing the subject and any notes about building the model. If you want to rave about how great our products are, we may be a little embarrassed, but will not stop you! We also need the scale, kit used, your name and city, state, and country where you currently reside.

In particular right now, I am looking for a gallery on a 1/48th scale Airfix BAC Lightning built using our stencil sheet, more P-47s, and any P-40 variants, either USAAC or British, in any scale.

Hope you enjoy this new feature. You can click on the link below to take you there right now. Please fasten your seat belts and return your tray tables and seat backs to the upright position. Thank you for flying BarracudaAir...

http://barracudacals.com/gallery/

Happy modelling! Roy

1/32nd Spitfire Cockpit Upgrade Status Report

2011-05-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Just a quick blog entry in response to a number of questions I have gotten recently regarding the status of BarracudaCast set number BR32003, the Spitfire Cockpit Upgrade set.

It has been out of stock for a few weeks now. The reason behind this is that the decal sheet that is included in the set that supplies you with all the stencils and placards for the cockpit is out of stock. I somehow overlooked the fact that they were running low. I went to get more in order to package up a new batch of sets, and discovered that they had indeed sold out. The problem is that they need to be printed on a sheet with another project, so there has been some delay in getting everything done. The sheet is just about finished, and should go out to the printers very soon.

The good news is that I took the opportunity to revise the sheet somewhat, to include a number of stencils not found on the original sheet. The cockpit door stencils have been added, as have stencils for the oxygen cylinder, the radio selector box, the remote contactor (found in the new Starboard Sidewall Set), the morse key, and the windshield de-icer tank. A number of generic small white text stencils are also included as a bonus.

I will let you know when the sheets have arrived and shipment of the upgrade sets can resume. It will be worth the wait. I will also be announcing another cool little product at the same time. It's something that has been strangely missing for a very popular kit for a long time!

Above, you can see an image of the revised decal sheet. I think you will find it have been worth the wait.

Happy modelling! Roy

Still alive and well!

2011-04-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

"Every now and then I know its kinda hard to tell, but I'm still alive and well" is a line from a classic Johnny Winter song from his 1973 album "Still alive and Well".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdB3msFJWyM

Johnny, a master of rock blues guitar and one of the best slide guitar players ever, was one of my major influences as a guitar player growing up in the 70s.

It applies here because for the last 5 months or so, its been pretty quiet on the Barracuda Studios front. More on what has been keeping me busy in a future post, but tonight, a quick update on what is going on here these days.

New stuff has arrived! Five new resin detail sets were released on April 18th, and it has been very busy here since then, packaging product and filling orders. We are back, baby! Three additional sets in 1/32nd scale for Tamiya's superlative Spitfire VIII, IX, and XVI kits. These first of these is a new resin starboard cockpit sidewall with all of the plumbing and wiring molded in (see image at the top of the page). Also new are both 4 and 5 slot mainwheels fitted with Z-Block treaded tyres. These tyres were fitted to many Australian Spitfires, and impart a very different and mean look to any aircraft so fitted. A wash of dried dirt or mud will pop out the very detailed and authentic tread pattern on these bad boys.

1/48th scale is back in the mix with two new products designed for the later mark Gloster Meteors as kitted by Classic Airframes. This is admittedly a reasonably esoteric product, as these kits have been out of production for a number of years now, but they are pretty cool nonetheless! The small and large bore seamless Meteor intakes are a quick and easy way to make a big improvement to your CA Meteor kits that are lying patiently in your stash, waiting for you to get to them (hellllllooooo? remember me?). The kit nacelle fronts are reasonably accurate, but are completely hollow. The lack any kind of intake throat, and leave you with a big nasty internal seam to try to address. These parts are designed as a drop fit replacement and have an accurate intake throat molded seamlessly inside them. They should install very quickly, without any grinding, scraping, or thinning. Just align them, attach them with CA, and with some reasonably minor sanding, should have you moving on to other tasks very quickly.

Anyway, just a quick hello to let you know we are back. much more to come! Go to the website:

http://www.barracudacals.com/

to see great closeup shots and read detailed descriptions of the new sets. More new stuff is in the works right now, and you can expect new releases to be announced in the next 2 weeks or so!

Happy Modelling! Roy

Faces of Telford. Part 1

2010-12-04T11:39:00.000-08:00

My good friend Mike Grzebien and I preparing for the clock to strike "Beer Thirty" in the lobby of the Holiday Inn in Telford. We have been friends for coming up on twenty years now.

Hi Guys.

One of the more under appreciated aspects of joining an organization such as the IPMS is the people you get to meet. IPMS takes a lot of flak over the contest and judging system. So much so, that the real benefits are often glossed over.

I joined IPMS/USA back in 1983. Since then, I have made many lifelong friends, not only locally, but around the world. Some modellers consider the hobby a solitary pursuit, but they are missing out, if you ask me.

I started Cooper Details back in late 1989, and the number of great people I have met has grown exponentially since then. I started attending the IPMS/UK National Convention sometime in the early 90s, when it was being held at the Stoneleigh Agricultural Centre. It was a very spartan facility, and I spent a couple of very cold nights sleeping in what amounted to a hostel (more hostile than hostel) designed by someone who had probably designed detention facilities in his past. Cinder block walls with a tin roof on beams with a one foot airgap all around. A narrow, flimsy vinyl mattress with one ratty little blanket woven from burlap castoffs, metal shavings and twine, it was not one of the more comfortable nights I had ever experienced. November in England can be a little brisk.

Almost too much talent for one image. The amazing Spencer Pollard is is arguably one of the best painters in the hobby. Daniel Zimarbide does some incredibly intricately detailed models. Both regularly display their work on the Plastic Pics Forum at Hyperscale.com.

It was at Stoneleigh that I met Mike Grzebien, who started Avia Imports to bring Cooper Details into the UK. Mike and I have been mates ever since. I have stayed with him and met his family. We have been on Pub crawls in Peterborough that I kind of remember! LOL. We spent a miserable, cold afternoon at the Newark Air Museum crawling all over their Sea Vixen, talking photos and detailed measurements. Avia went on to become a much bigger company, and they carried a huge range of products. Mike was very busy with his career in the USAF, and eventually handed the reins of the company to his sister in North Carolina.

Many of you may remember Christina from Avia Imports USA. It was my great pleasure to get to know her and work with her. Cooper Details eventually shut down in the late 90s due to a number of factors, chief amongst those was my mother's declining health. Those were some dark days for me. Hard times rarely last forever, and I worked though them. Things have improved a lot since then. But I digress.

Mike Grzebien of Avia Imports fame. Barry Numerick, respected Bf-109 guru and master modeler. Kevin Baxter, former dictator of IPMS Ipswich and well known hen teaser. Me. Again.

I've been back many times to attend the UK Nats. Donnington was a step up , and the Telford Exhibition Centre is a huge improvement over both of these venues. Huge, well lit and heated, it is also supported by some very good hotels and great food and drinks is within a few minutes cab ride. Over the years I have met many modelers as well as fellow vendors.

One problem with being a vendor is that you meet so many nice people, but you only get to talk to them for a few minutes once a year or sometimes even less often. Remembering all the names is very tough. I try hard to remember, but the real problem is that I'm usually jetlagged and exhausted from working very long days leading up to the show, making recalling much more than my name and room number (which I forgot back in November and ended up pounding on some poor sods door to let me in) I'm surprised they didn't call security! So, if you see me at a show and you are not wearing a name tag, don't be hesitant to remind me of your name. Or don't be surprised if I call you guy, or chief or dude!

Too many Roys. Too many Norwegians. Mark Atrill, who can't find Norway on a map. Me, who is half Norwegian, but is not sure which half. Jens Haakon Brandal, exiled from Norway for unspecified acts. Roy Noraas, who wishes he would be exiled from Norway!

Annnnnnyway...I thought it might be interesting to share a few photos of some of the people I've befriended over the years. Some will be familiar names of people in the industry, or well known modelers, or even guys you may recognize from the various modelling website forums. I think its fun to put faces to these names. Hope you enjoy it.

This post was started over 3 weeks ago, but work and the holidays intervened. More on that later. I told myself that I'd post it before the end of the year. It's not under the wire, but its pretty dang close. Happy New Year to everyone.

Happy modelling! Roy

Tales of Telford 2010. Part 2.

2010-11-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

The new Airfix Sea Vixen in 1/48th scale Built up on the Airfix trade stand. A very impressive model, and it shows the care in planning and design lavished on it.

Hi Guys.

The problem with a two day show is that there is so much to see and so many people to talk to, there just isn't enough time. It's worse... much worse when you are a vendor. You are torn between the desire to represent your company and talk to all of your customers face to face, and the need to get out and see the competition area, the many amazing club displays, and the other vendors and manufacturers booths.

As I said before, the Spitfire stuff was very popular and sold out early. The new decals garnered a lot of interest, especially the new Mosquito Stencil sheets in 1/72nd and 1/48th. The Sea Vixen book was also popular, especially with the imminent release of the new 1/48 Sea Vixen from Airfix. I am particularly excited about the new Airfix kit, as I had a small part in helping make the kit as accurate as it is. I gave Airfix a copy of my book last year, and they referred to it extensively during the development of the kit, which is all very thrilling to me, in a nerdy kind of way.

I was very impressed with this new kit. It was displayed in sprue form, as an unpainted build up, as well as a fully painted and assembled model at the Airfix stand. Having studied the Sea Vixen for over 20 years, I can tell you it is a very accurate looking kit. I look forward to building one.

The hall was packed with modelers and drop in visitors. There was little sign of the crappy economy at the show. Attendees were there to spend money, and spend they did! Lots of good feedback and suggestions for future products from customers were gratefully accepted and notes taken.

Also helping man the booth is my buddy Ken Kindler from Indianapolis. There were a number of modelers from the US over for the show. Make plans to attend next year. You will not regret it!

Day one of the show started winding down around 5PM. We closed down up the stand and headed back to the hotel to have a couple of beers with some friends. Later, we took a taxi to Beefeaters, a local Steakhouse in Telford. Dinner was good. We had some nice steaks, followed by desert of treacle sponge pudding. A traditional classic, it is sponge cake topped with treacle; a warm brown sweet syrup. Mighty fine. Brought back fond memories of growing up, as my dad was English.

Back to the hotel for more beers, then off to bed to try and combat the jetlag. A very busy and enjoyable day.

Happy modelling! Roy

Tales of Telford 2010. Part1

2010-11-18T08:03:00.000-08:00

A general view of the hall we were in. While you can't see the whole thing, it gives an impression of the size. This room was one of 3. The third hall housed the cafeteria and its many tables, as well as a full scale replica of a Spitfire IX. It was actually a 1:1 scale model of sorts, complete with wonky landing gear attached at a goofy angle.

Hi Guys.

Well, I am home and recovering from the jetlag earned from crossing 8 time zones. It's a long way from Northern California to Telford, England. As you know, my plans for blogging during the show were scuttled by the amazing lack of Wi-Fi during the entire stay. How this can happen in 2010 is hard to fathom. The hotel is next to a gigantic convention center, where businessmen are constantly attending various and sundry trade shows. If this were to happen in the States, there would have been a crapstorm of angry complaints, and it would have been fixed in a matter of hours, no matter the cost. The inability to blog was a minor inconvenience for me, but for others I talked to who had business to conduct, it was a real pain in the ass. I digress.

I arrived on Friday afternoon and met up with my good friend Lee Coll, who often meets me for shows and helps me run the booth. Lee also has done some superb pattern work for Barracuda Studios. He did the lion's share of the work on the Meteor Intakes, the Sea Vixen Intakes, the Bear Props and a number of other products to be released in the near future. If you stopped by the booth at Phoenix or at Telford this year, you have met him. We met around 20 years ago through the now defunct Fleet Air Arm Special Interest Group (USA). We both have a abiding interest in RAN aircraft, especially the postwar stuff, from Sea Furies and Fireflies through Buccaneers and Phantoms, even extending to the Sea Harriers.

We headed over to the hall after checking in to see if the decals from Cartograf had arrived. They were not at the table. Not a good sign. I was told to see Paul Regan of IPMS/UK, who was very helpful (Thanks, Paul!), and gave me the good news that they had pulled them aside and locked them away for safe keeping. The package was collected and we headed back to the room. After a really good dinner with some IPMS Pittsburgh friends at a Chinese restaurant in the nearby town of Shifnal, we came back to the room, and packaged hundreds of decals until about 1:30 in the morning.

Lee Coll, of Baton Rouge helped me run the table for the show, as he has on many occasions in the past. Olga, from Russia, was running the MasterClub Models table next door. She was very nice and shared her special "tea" with us!

Up early Saturday morning for a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant, then over to the Hall to get set up and ready for the assembled masses. Did not have time to shoot photos of the hall, but I'm sure you can find a good selection online. It's a very large building; well lit and climate controlled, with plenty of space for even this huge show. The doors opened at 9AM for IPMS members, and to the rest of the public at 10PM. Sales were brisk, and the 1/32 Spitfire cockpit sets sold out by early afternoon. I thought I had brought enough product, but obviously not.

Olga's beautiful Samovar. Instead of tea, its contents was a very nice Russian Vodka that had a name I could not pronounce, nor spell with a English Standard keyboard without the use of special keystrokes!

The new decals were well received, and are all available for sale now on the website. See earlier blog posts and the website for more information. Also new (and not yet up on the site, as production packaging has not yet been finished) are 1/48th scale small and large bore Meteor intakes for the Classic Airframe family of Meteor kits. There were released a number of years ago under the Cooper Details brand, but they were not available for long before Cooper Details went into hibernation. They're back! More on these later.

Also debuting at Telford is a new line: BarracudaMasks. The first two releases are both in 1/48th scale.

The first is a set of masks for the Airfix Canberra PR 9, including the canopy and the rest of the transparencies. There are even a couple small masks to be added to the airframe to simulate raised panels missing from the kit.

The second is a set of masks to paint the small, oddly shaped dialectric panel on the spine of the BAC Lightnings. 2 masks are included in the set. A quick and cheap time saver for your next Lightning build.

Enough for now. Part 2 to follow shortly.

Happy modelling! Roy

Post Show Report

2010-11-15T11:56:00.001-08:00

Telford 2010. The very talented modeler and fellow cottage industry owner Radu Brinzan stops by the booth to say hello. The social aspect of model shows is one of the most enjoyable parts for me.

Hi guys.

I had the best of intentions regarding blogging every day of the show. The Holiday Inn in Telford, where we stayed,however, had other ideas. The wireless network was down for most of my stay. As a result, it was virtually impossible to post updates.

I am now visiting with my cousin Juliet, who runs a bed and breakfast in Banbury, in Oxfordshire. It is a beautiful part of the country, surrounded by sheep farms. I do not want to tie up her computer for long, so this will be a quick update. I will blog more when I get home.

The good news is that the new decals did arrive at the Convention Center on Friday. Guess what we were doing on Friday night til 1:30? If you guessed packaging decals like crazy, you are correct. The show was huge. Despite the tough economic times, the convention attendees seemed to be spending money, which is a welcome sign to us in the business.

Time to get back to spending time with the family. There is a lot to report on the show. In depth reports will follow later this week.

Happy modelling! Roy

A small taste of the organized chaos seen this year (and most every year to date) at Scale Model World 2010. This was the view from my trade stand, looking out over a sea of happy, slightly inebriated modelers!

I've gotta run. Jet lag has played havoc with my sleep schedule, and I've not slept more that 4.5 hours a day for the last 2 evenings. More soon.

Happy modelling! Roy

Live from the UK!

2010-11-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

Hi guys.

I am blogging from Birmingham bus station, waiting for the bus to Telford.

I am here with my good friend Lee Coll, and am using his laptop to post this. The weather is about 50 degrees F and lightly raining. Typical November weather in England at this time of year.

Just a quick posting to say that we have arrived and will be heading over to the Exhibition Centre to start setting up. I will know soon if the news is good regarding the new decals. Cartograf has shipped them to the booth at the hall. If they are there, guess what we will be doing tonight? Yes.... packaging decals! We know how to party.

If you are attending the show. Please be sure to stop by and say hello.

More later.

Happy modelling! Roy

Last Two New Decal Sheets!

2010-11-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

Details, details! This closeup shot shows a number of interesting details. Note lower nose demarcation which most profiles show incorrectly for HL-K. Note high degree of wear and exhaust staining, the tight but soft edges to the uppersurface camo, and the very matt finish usually only seen on weathered desert equipment and dried salt spray covered naval aircraft.

OK, fellow Spit lovers.

A very quick posting to let you know the 1/32nd and 1/48th Spitfire VIII decal sheets are at the printers. They should be done now and hopefully winging their way to me. The delay in printing this sheet, as discussed here in the blog before, has resulted in a more accurate sheet.

I really like this sheet, and can't wait to see it. There are two, possibly three schemes that I will have to build from it. With all my free time....

Anyway, not much new to report on these two sheets, just a heads up that they are coming very soon. Now it's back to work. So much to do before the show.

Next up on the blog: New resin releases.

Happy modelling!

Roy

Note the big changes to A58-517 "Hava Go Jo". New information, which usually surfaces when it's too late, resulted in a reworking of this subject. Previously depicted in Dark Green and Light Green camo (interesting, but complete fiction) and more recently in desert colors, but with the Middle Stone overpainted in Foliage Green (also cool looking), new research has shown that this batch of Spitfire VIIIs were delivered in standard Grey/Green camo. Thanks to Peter Malone for sharing his knowledge!

Mosquito Bytes!

2010-11-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

The DH Mosquito NF Mk XIII on a daylight low level test hop over the English countryside. Actually a composite that I created in Photoshop featuring my 1/72 Tamiya FB VI converted to the AI MK VIII equipped night fighter

Hi Guys,

Mosquito bytes... get it? Another devastatingly clever title...as in electronic memory assigned to hold information on the wooden wonder. Ok, it is lame, but there is a payoff for suffering through it. Here is the next announcement of new product to be debuted at the Scale Modelworld 2010 on November 13th and 14th.

Mosquito stencils in 1/72nd and 1/48th scales.

Big deal, right? Well, the truth is, the kit stencils are pretty thick. No aftermarket decal sheet for the Mosquito I know of includes a full stencil suite on it. Not only that, but our sheet features an all new decal for the instrument panel that is more detailed and accurate. Placards and stencils for the TR1154 and 1155 radios, as well as the cockpit sidewalls are also included, a first in these scales. As a final touch, there is a selection of very small white stencils for use on various boxes and panels in the cockpit. Cockpit stencils are designed to fit the Tamiya Mossies, but will most likely work with any reasonably accurate kit as well.

Some external stencils are provided in both black and a proper dull red, which color used depending on the scheme carried on the aircraft to be modelled. Printed by Cartograf in Italy, the decals are thin, sharply reproduced with good color density, and features a bare minimum of clear carrier film.

Not the most thrilling decal sheet ever produced, but one that every Mosquito builder should have at least a couple examples of in his stash!

Finally, a really good set of stencils for all Mosquito variants in both 72nd and 48th scales.

As stated in other recent blog posts, these new decal sheets are NOT available yet. This is a pre-release announcement. They will be available for sale on the 13th in Telford, and on the website shortly afterward. I will post here to let you know when the sheets are available for pre-order on the website.

Happy modelling, and hope to see you at SMW 2010!

Roy

Tired of the same old Corsairs?

2010-10-31T02:08:00.002-07:00

An early preview image of the forthcoming F4U Corsair sheet, featuring five new, never before seen F4U Corsairs.

Hi Guys.

Sorry, I know I promised a new blog post a day last week, but I have been working feverishly to get some orders filled as well as attending to the myriad details involved in getting new products to market. Even working very long days, this is the first chance I've had to sit down and post.

I am very pleased to bring you this new sheet. It's our first Corsair sheet, and features some aircraft never before represented in decal form before. Heck, most of these aircraft have never been seen before by all but the most serious F4U Corsair researchers. A nice selection of markings, with interesting noseart and one of the wildest inscriptions ever seen on an aircraft in WWII! Available in 1/48th scale only this time, it will follow shortly in the other popular scales.

Now, I must point out that these new sheets are not available yet! They are coming from the printers in a week or so, and will be available for sale for the first time at the UK Nationals on November 13 and 14. They will be up for pre-sale on the website around the same time. Go to: www.barracudacals.com

White 126 is an extremely weatherbeaten Birdcage with an inscription that took four of us many hours trying to figure out what it said. We showed it to some fresh eyes, and he saw it immediately. When he told us, it instantly became readable. Let's just say it's not very politically correct!

Two more brand new decals sheets will be announced tomorrow. OK, consider yourself blogged. It's 2:30AM and I'm off to catch some shuteye... maybe I'll ever shut them both this time.

Happy modelling!

Roy

New Product Announcements for Scale Modelworld 2010 - Part 1

2010-10-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Cover art for the New Dragon 1/72nd scale Meteor Mk. III. This is a beautiful kit, but the decals... well, lets just say they need a little help!

Guys,

Dragon has kicked off their new Dragon Wings 72 product line with a kit that I have been not-so-secretly hoping Tamiya would shrink down from their 1/48 scale kit; the Gloster Meteor Mk III. Why Tamiya did not scale down some of their 1/48 scale kits to fill out their 1/72 scale line will have to remain speculation, but Dragon has now plugged the gap with a kit that might even be better than what Tamiya would have brought us.

Accurate in shape and nicely detailed, this kit also features separate flying surfaces, flaps and even gives you photoetched dive brakes that can be assembled in either closed or open positions.

While some of the scribing, such as on the rear fuselage, is a tad heavy, this should build up into a very impressive model.

The decals are even printed by Cartograf. A full suite of stencils are provided, as well as markings for seven aircraft. The decals are great; thin, cleanly printed with almost no excess carrier film and in perfect register. There is a glaring problem with the sheet, however. The colors on the roundels are awful. Neon lemon yellow and cherry red were not the real colors carried by RAF aircraft during WWII.

To correct this situation, BarracudaCals is proud to announce the next decal sheet in our growing 1/72 scale range. Printed by Cartograf, the acknowledged leader in decal printing, these are top quality decals printed in the correct dull red and dull blue shades, with proper identity yellow surrounds on the fuselage roundels. I have also thrown in the Sky codes and rear fuselage band for good measure. This sheet is priced to sell at $5.95

A quick and cheap upgrade to your Dragon Meteor, these will also upgrade the decals for your old Airfix kit. Printed in very limited numbers. Get your set before they sell out!

Watch this space. There will be a new product announcement every day for the next week or so. Got to run. I have lots of work to do before I leave for the UK in just over two weeks!

Happy modeling!

Roy

Spitfire Mk IX Cockpits - Part 1

2010-10-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Today, I have a real treat for you. We have a guest blogger. Jeroen Veen, a talented modeler who's work can be regularly seen on Hyperscale, has agreed to share some images of his work on the fabulous Tamiya Spit IX. So far, he has used two of the three of the Barra upgrade sets for the cockpit (the door with separate crowbar is installed much later), and has written a short piece on his experiences building the cockpit and installing the sets.

Jeroen writes:

Earlier this year I finished my Tamiya 1:32 Spitfire Mk IX and I was so impressed with that kit that I ordered the Mk VIII as soon as it was released. Straight from the box this really is a beautiful kit, and the longer you talk about it, the longer the list of superlatives will become. But... does this mean there is no room for improvement? As soon as I saw Roy's upgrade sets for the cockpit I knew I wanted to use them, because they really add that extra touch.

Jeroen's excellent paint work on the Tamiya Spitfire Mk. IX cockpit really makes it shine. He utilized all 3 of the BarracudaCast upgrade sets.

Set BR32003 gives you extra's and replacements. It is a bit strange that Tamiya missed the very present oxygen hose on the right hand side but BR32003 gives you a pretty and very subtle hose that is easy to attach. The set also has the gear retract quadrant which is a direct replacement for the kit one, but carries more refined detail. The four hydraulic lines that go to the front of the cockpit can easliy be fixed in the predrilled holes. The throttle on the left hand side is also a direct replacement for the kit part, but again more detailed. Most impressive is the stick. On the front of the stick are three wires that are to be fet through predrilled holes. How Roy managed to do this I don't know, but the wires -that come with the set - can be put in place without extra drilling. Great! I was thoroughly impressed with the detail on the stick.

Clicking on the images will bring up larger versions. Note the cockpit stencilling included in set 32002.

Now, is this all? It's getting better. The instructions (you don't really need them because this set is very easy to use) are enriched with a couple of color pictures which makes it very easy to see how everything should be painted. You can also see how Roy applied extra cabling on the sidewalls, which comes in very handy if you feel like spicing up you Spitty even more. Then there are the decals. Tamiya managed to miss the placards in the cockpit but this set has them all: for fuse boxes, landing gear retractor, instrument panel, throttle and so on. Thanks to the instructions it's not hard to see where they should go, and with some Micro Sol and Set they performed superb.

A closeup shot of the starboard sidewall shows the stencils applied to the resin throttle quadrant and other details in the cockpit.

I also used set BR32001, a direct replacement for the seat: it has the leather backpad which the kits seat lacks. Detail again is just wonderful, with a clear painting guide in the instructions. The seat comes with a big casting plug which is easily removed. When you have no experience with this, Roy's instructions will talk you through the process and you can't go wrong if you are careful.

Painting all these goodies is a real pleasure and puts the beautiful kit cockpit in a new dimension. I hope the enclosed pics show what I mean. These parts are delicately casted, very easy to use and I would advise them to everybody.

Happy modelling as always.

– Jeroen

Jeroen's cockpit, painted and ready for assembly. Hopefully, he will share more as his build progresses.

I'd like to thank Mr. Veen for allowing me to publish his work. There will be other guest posters soon. Takes the pressure off of me, and gives you a chance to see Barracuda Studios parts being used by actual customers. Much more to come in the next two weeks.

Happy modeling!

Roy

Upgrade Your Tamiya Spitfire IX for Less!

2010-10-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!

Barracuda Studios has been working long hours to keep the flow of product coming to feed the demand. Seems the resin sets have been a welcome addition to the range. More are coming soon.

In the meantime, we have a special sale for you 1/32 devotees of the Spitfire. It comes to an end on Sunday at 11:59 and 59.99 seconds, so time is short to get your order in!

You get all of the new Spitfire Mk IX resin detail sets for the early production Spitfire Mk IX (with the resin 5 slot wheels and the early style wide blister corrected gun covers, plus the three cockpit upgrade sets) PLUS the BarracudaCals Spitfire Mk IX decal sheet with its 4 different and interesting schemes. Even if you don't want to model one of the schemes on the sheet, the roundels and stencils are a huge improvement over the kit decals. The roundel colors are much more accurate. Tamiya's roundel red is much too red. The kit decals are also quite thick, and some have reported the kit roundels splitting and cracking after application.

The package deal will save you almost 14% over normal retail prices, and Like I said, it's coming to an end soon!

Click HERE to go to the Early Production Spitfire Mk. IX Bundle

Next week, you can expect a slew of Blog postings showing forthcoming new decals that are at the printers as we speak. You know about the new Spitfire MK VIII sheet, but there are 3 other subjects yet to be debuted! More announcements will follow regarding new resin sets that will all be available for sale later next month.

Check back often. New posts will be coming at a greatly increased rate over the next 3-4 weeks.

Happy modelling!
Roy

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Spitfire! The Second Wave. Coming in October!

2010-09-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

You say you can't get enough Spitfire stuff? Well, you are in luck. We never get tired of them either.

The Spitfire VIII sheet was originally scheduled to be released in late August, but the release of the P-40 sheets took longer than expected due to the race to catch up on orders and the US National Convention last month in Phoenix. In order for the sheets to not overlap too much, they have been re-scheduled to be released in October.

It was a fortuitous turn of events, as the original announcement prompted two very helpful and knowledgeable individuals to email me with information that showed the profiles published back in July for the Spitfire VIII sheet to contain some errors. In the case of the 152 Squadron Spitfire , it was a simple transposition of the serial number, and a very easy quick fix.

For the second subject, the rework was extensive, based on 7 new very clear photos of the subject I had never seen before. A58-517, the Australian Spitfire VIII coded UP-F is an interesting aircraft. Originally described by Geoffrey Pentland in 1971 as being painted in a intriguing light and dark green camouflage scheme. While very colorful and different, this scheme has since been shown to have no basis in fact.

More recently, it was thought that the aircraft arrived in Australia painted in desert colors of Dark Earth and Middle Stone over Azure Blue. The thinking was that the Middle Stone was then painted over in Foliage Green. Most recently, it was discovered that this batch of Mk VIIIs were delivered in European Temperate scheme of Dark Green and Ocean Grey over Medium Sea Grey. A surviving wreck from this serial batch survives, and carries these colors. That's pretty much case closed, and is borne out in the contrast between the colors and the look of the paint application.

Closer photos also revealed the true look of the Elephant, which was, according to the pilot himself, painted grey, not pink. A number of other fine details have been reworked and refined, including the wrap around camo under the nose; the end result being a much more accurate representation of Hava Go Jo.

In answer to the many requests from Australian modellers for Australian style treaded tires (tyres) worn by many of the Mk VIIIs operational down under during WWII, we got you covered. The treaded tires are quite different than the postwar style or the modern style seen today. They are being developed in both 48th and 32nd scales, and should be released at the same time as the new decals. More resin for this epic kit is also being developed.

Also in development are some new resin upgrade sets for 1/72nd scale builders, and some interesting new resin sets in 1/48th scale that are not aircraft related.

On top of that, I am gearing up for the IPMS/UK show in November. As big and impressive as the IPMS/USA National Convention is, Scale Modelworld in Telford is considerably bigger. Easily 10,000 built models in one very large building is an impressive site. The Vendor room is bigger by a factor, with many major manufacturers and cottage industries displaying their wares. While the US Nats is dominated by new and used kits for sale, the Telford show is dominated by the aftermarket guys, small manufacturers, and model club displays, which are arguably the highlight of the show.

A number of new products will be targeted for the European market for the show. This will be something like my 10th UK nationals since I first attended in the late 1980s. It has grown considerably since I first stated showing up. highly recommended. Get there one day if you can swing it. You will not be disappointed.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. More soon on my very interesting road trip to Phoenix. Interesting as in "What else could possibly go wrong?", rather than "I'd be happy to give you a ride to Phoenix, Ms. Beckinsale... sorry about your Jaguar XKR breaking down in the middle of the desert". It was a great show. Getting there was NOT half the fun this time. Neither was getting home...

Happy modeling!

Roy

New P-40 Decals now up on the Website.

2010-08-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

A photo of AK772 GA-Y, clearly showing the very dark blue undersurfaces. This undersurface color is even darker than the Dark Earth uppersurface color. Azure blue is many shades lighter than dark Earth.

Hi Guys,

Its been a really busy time for Barracuda Studios. More on this later.

The good news is that the 6 new P-40 decals are now ready for purchase on the BarracudaCals website.

www.barracudacals.com

The new decals represent all 3 popular scales. 1/72 scale modelers take note; I have not forsaken you, despite the fact that sales of 1/72 decals are a fraction of what 48th and 32nd decals are. If you guys want to keep the decals coming, you have to actually BUY some once in a while!!! I'm teasing... but not really. :-)

Here's what's new and available:

1/72nd scale (with 1/144th scale markings included)

BC72005 P-40s of 112 Squadron RAF Part 1
BC72006 P-40E Warhawks Part 1

1/48th scale

BC48005 P-40s of 112 Squadron RAF Part 1
BC48006 P-40E Warhawks Part 1
BC48007 P-40K Warhawks Part 1

1/32nd scale

BC48007 P-40K Warhawks Part 1

A few interesting facts about these new sheets. The 1/32 P-40K sheet is the ONLY aftermarket decals available for the Hasegawa kit! The P-40K white 13 flown by Jay Overcash has been done before, but the markings were not very accurate and incomplete.The other Ks on this sheet have never been done before in any scale (maybe Patsy Ruth, but I'm not sure about that) making this a must have sheet for P-40 aficionados.

The P-40s of 112 squadron sheet has been shrunk down to 72nd and 48th scale with 2 new schemes added from the very early days of 112 Squadron in North Africa, before they were repainted into desert colors. Most of the schemes on this sheet have never been done before in decal form.

The P-40E sheet features 3 extremely well known pilots, including Scott's Old Exterminator, with accurately reproduced markings for the first time. Lander's P-40 is included, and while not as colorful as his P-51 Big Beautiful Doll, is nonetheless interesting. The Aleutian Tiger is a new scheme, with colorful red surrounded star and bar national marking.

Just a heads up for those of you who have been waiting for these sheets to be released!

Happy modelling. Roy

Down to the Wire... 2 More Sheets for Phoenix!

2010-08-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

The first and only aftermarket sheet ever made (so far) for the beautiful Hasegawa 1/32nd P-40K . Three interesting and different schemes are featured.

Hi Guys,

No time to be long winded today. I am racing to get out the door. I am already late for leaving. The drive to Phoenix is about 12 hours from here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I won't be arriving until around midnight tonight. Then its up early to get set up for the onslaught of customers in the vendor room! Looking forward to it. If you are going to be there, be prepared. I may look like death warmed over, as I have been surviving on about 4-5 hours of sleep for then last week or so.

Anyway, above is the new 1/32 P-40K sheet. White 13 is an interesting aircraft. While it has been done in decal form before in 1/48th scale, it has never been done even close to correctly. The Scorpion on the nose was not correct, and the markings on the rudder were missing altogether.

The 1/48 sheet has an additional scheme never done in decal form before.

OK, campers, thats it for me today. Sorry I couldn't go into more detail. The images will have to speak fro themselves for now. More information when I get back.

These sheets will go up on the website available for sale next week. I'll let you know when they are loaded!

Happy modelling!

Roy

New Decals to Debut This Thursday in Phoenix!

2010-08-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

The cover of the new P-40E decal sheet in 1/48th scale. Col. Scott's "White 7" has never been done correctly before in 1/48th and 1/72 scales!

Tomahawks and Kittyhawks and Warhawks... Oh My!

Barracuda Studios is proud and excited to announce the first new decals since last year! The very popular P-40 sheets that were released in 1/32nd scale have been reworked, reformatted and released in both 1/72 and 1/48th scales.

The sheets have been expanded and feature additional subjects that there was not room to include on the 1/32nd scale sheets. The new sheets are as follows

BC48005 1/48 P-40s of 112 Squadron RAF Part 1

This sheet has been expanded to include 2 new P-40B Tomahawks from the early days of 112 Squadron in North Africa. These 2 airplanes still carry the European camouflage with Medium Sea Grey codes, but sport the new sharkmouth motif that was first applied in Egypt. The other 3 schemes are carryovers from the 1/32nd sheet and feature the famous ace pilots Neville Duke and Clive R. Caldwell. GA-Y carries the very unusual and decidedly non-standard dark blue undersides.

BC48006 1/48 P-40E Warhawks Part 1

The Aleutian Tiger faced P-40 on this sheet is not the same one from the 1/32nd sheet. This one has never been done in decal form before, and is more colorful. It sports the red surrounded stars and bars as well as the white cross on the rudder and a nickname under the windscreen. Col. Bob Scott's Old Exterminator has never been done correctly in decal form, and Preddy's Tarheel, the aircraft he almost bought the farm in when a student pilot collided with him are also featured on the 1/32nd sheet, while John Lander's Skeeter is a new scheme.

BC72005 1/72 P-40s of 112 Squadron RAF Part 1

Dispair not, oh builders of the one true scale! This sheet has been shrunk down to 1/72nd scale and expanded to include 2 new P-40B Tomahawks from the early days of 112 Squadron in North Africa. These 2 airplanes still carry the European camouflage with Medium Sea Grey codes, but sport the new sharkmouth motif that was first applied in Egypt. The other 3 schemes are carryovers from the 1/32nd sheet and feature the famous ace pilots Neville Duke and Clive R. Caldwell. GA-Y carries the very unusual and decidedly non-standard dark blue undersides.

BC72006 1/72 P-40E Warhawks Part 1

Here's another new sheet for the guys who can still see the really small stuff. The Aleutian Tiger faced P-40 on this sheet is not the same one from the 1/32nd sheet. This one has never been done in decal form before, and is more colorful. It sports the red surrounded stars and bars as well as the white cross on the rudder and a nickname under the windscreen. Col. Bob Scott's Old Exterminator has never been done correctly in decal form, and Preddy's Tarheel, the aircraft he almost bought the farm in when a student pilot collided with him are also featured on the 1/32nd sheet, while John Lander's Skeeter is a new scheme.

The cover of the new P-40s of 112 Squadron Sheet. Two new schemes have been added to the 1/48 and 1/72nd sheets, giving a better cross section of schemes worn by 112 Squadron in the early days of the North African Campaign.

These 4 sheets are printed and in-house. The instructions arrived today, and a mad dash of packaging will ensue. These 4 new sheets will be debuted at the IPMS/USA national Convention in Phoenix, AZ (110 degrees plus Fahrenheit!!) starting this Thursday morning, August 5th. If you are attending the show, please stop by and say hello!

I get home early next week, and after a few days to get caught up with shipping and packaging, these new sheets will be ready to start shipping.

Even MORE News!

Watch this space tomorrow for an announcement of two MORE new decal sheets. These are also printed and in the process of being packaged. They will also be available for sale at our tables on Thursday.

The 365th Fighter group book continues to progress. I flew out to Carson City, Nevada last Friday with Don Barnes, the man behind the book. We went to visit 378th FG pilot Allen Mundt. I interviewed him and we scanned his extensive personal photo albums. He is a great guy; very sharp and active. He pulled out his flight jacket (replete with Hell Hawks Squadron Badge), and his crush cap. I will post about this trip soon with images, but right now, I am in a huge rush to get ready to leave on Wednesday morning... early!

I have about 2 weeks of work to somehow smash into the next 36 hours. If anybody out there has made a breakthrough in time displacement between now and then, drop me a line. I'd like to figure a way to get a bit of sleep before I go!

Happy modelling! Roy

The Countdown begins!

2010-07-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

This closeup of the Grand Phoenix Firefly Mk. I as built by the very talented Jean Barby showcases the BarracudaCast resin upgrades for this otherwise very nice kit. Shown are the Early Mainwheels, the Prop and Spinner, and the Cannon Barrels, as well as the vac canopy .

The IPMS USA National Convention is bearing down on me like a freight train with the throttle stuck wide open. I'm sure many other cottage industry guys and modelers trying to finish models in time know exactly what I am talking about. As the show approaches, plans are constantly redrawn and some projects I was sure would be done in time have had to be shelved.

We have tables booked at the show and will be there with all the new resin, plus six NEW decal sheets to be announced tomorrow. These sheets are done, printed and on site. I am awaiting instructions from the printers to get them packaged and ready for sale.

For those of you that have known me and seen me at the Nationals for many years, this will be an interesting show, as Cooper (my son), will be making his first appearance at an IPMS show since he was 3 or 4 years old. He is now 16, so you just might not recognize him! He will be working the tables with me, so stop by and say hello.

Just a quick word about the new resin. Those of you that have ordered some of the new sets know that there have been a few production problems that have delayed shipping. The second biggest was the card labels, which took forever to arrive. The printer claimed one day turnaround on their website. That may be true, but what they failed to mention that once they turned it around in one day, it would then take them an additional 5 days to ship! Then they found the cheapest possible mailing service that takes about 7 business days to get from the East Coast to the West Coast! The Pony Express would have been faster.

But the bigger problem was that my printer, who has been excellent for the last two years, royally screwed up my header cards. After much discussion, we agreed that I would have to find another printer for this job, as it was beyond their capabilities. I am expecting the reprinted header cards (the card shown in my earlier post showing the Firefly and Sea Fury packaging) on Wednesday. Once they arrive, the orders will again start shipping. My sincere apologies for the delays.

The good news is that all orders will be shipped before I leave next week, and that all new resin sets will be available for sale at the show.

The new 365th FG book will also be showcased in Phoenix. This is such a cool project. The weekend before last, I attended a Hell Hawks symposium in Vacaville, CA and got to meet nine surviving pilots. They were all very interesting and nice guys, and I enjoyed meeting them. They are very excited about the new book, but are all a little bemused by the attention they have received in the last two years, after almost 60 years of near anonymity!

Anyway, I better get back to casting and packaging. There are a lot of orders to fill, and I don't want to keep anyone waiting any longer that I have to.

Happy modelling! Roy

A major announcement from BarracudaGraphs!

2010-07-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

BarracudaGraphs is extremely proud to announce a new book in development, due to be released in September of 2010.

365th Fighter Bomber Group - The Hell Hawk Thunderbolts in Profile by Don Barnes, John Crump, and Roy Sutherland will shine a bright light on a Group that, until recently, has been almost completely overlooked. This new work was inspired by the excellent book "Hell Hawks!" by Robert Dorr and Thomas Jones, which recounts the history of the 365th FG during the last 2 years of the war.

The Hell Hawks were a ground attack unit flying P-47 Thunderbolts with the 9th Air Force. They provided critical tactical air support to the Allied ground forces from the Normandy breakout until the last day of the war in Europe. Their stories are incredible; as fascinating and heroic as anything you'll hear from any other unit in World War II. Ranging from anti-Diver missions, to whirling aerial combats with the best the Luftwaffe had to offer, to amazing close air support missions against the Wehrmacht armies, the 365th FG brought the war home to the German armed forces in a brutal and relentless assault. The Hell Hawks flew some of the most dangerous missions of the war, and paid a heavy price.

Spurred on by his growing interest in the 365th, professional graphic artist and friend Don Barnes started looking into this unit, and found almost nothing had been done to document the men and airplanes of this unit. He undertook many months of in-depth research, and in the process befriended a number of the surviving pilots and their families, many of whom provided much of the information that will feature prominently in the book.

Don's relentless digging has uncovered a wealth of new information never seen before. He has spent many hours piecing together the complex jigsaw of photos, and has amassed a collection of 48 fully documented profiles, an astounding feat or research. Before this book, I have only ever seen one profile of an aircraft from the 365th, and even that contained errors. Don's profiles are complete down to mission markings and crew names. These beautifully rendered profiles will be printed one per page, supported with closeups of the artwork and scrap views of starboard side markings where applicable. Each aircraft will be supported by an in-depth description of the aircraft and it's pilot.

With captions and sidebars by John Crump and a detailed unit history by Roy Sutherland, this book just might set some new standards for unit histories. The book will be full color from cover to cover, and will be supported by hundreds of original, mostly unpublished period photos, printed in a large size on high quality paper. The final count on photos is still to be determined, but there will also be a number of unique and interesting features that will add life and interest to this new book.

The question that I have heard from many of those who have been aware of what we have been working on is "Will there be decals to support this new book?" My answer is a quizzical one-eyebrow-raised look and a "Now why didn't I think of that?" response. It's sarcasm, needless to say.

Of course decals will be released at the same time as the book, and I think that everyone will be surprised at just how colorful and interesting some of these aircraft are.

In the meantime, I highly recommend you buy and read "Hell Hawks!". The two books are complimentary. The Dorr/Jones book will give you the more in-depth and personal stories, where as our book will provide the chronological history and document the airplanes and pilots of the unit.

Its about time, long overdue in fact, that the men and the machines of the Ninth Air Force have finally started getting the exposure and notoriety they so richly deserve. We plan to address this disparity again in the future.

More news on this exciting new book as the publication date approaches.

Happy modelling! Roy

The Quest for Perfection

2010-07-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

To quote George Fisher "When you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target". This holds true for all areas of life, and decals are certainly no exception to this.

Producing decals is a tricky business. Th problem is, you can't possibly be an expert in all subjects. When planning a new sheet, I do all I can to research the subject. I talk to my network of guys who know way more than me on certain subjects... OK, more like MOST subjects! They often have other contacts that can flesh out the subject even more. Occasionally, a research impasse is reached, and a call for help goes out. As can be expected with anything that happened more than 60 years ago, not a lot of images and information have survived to the current day. So, you have to make due with what you have, sometimes making best guesses based on the surviving data.

The frustrating part is that once in a while, once a sheet has been released, someone comes forward with exactly what you had been looking for. Of course, the new information seldom shows that your informed interpretations were accurate! Thankfully, this has not happened a lot.

In this case, regarding the forthcoming Spitfire VIII sheet shown above, 2 guys came forward with corrections at the very last minute, spurred on by the announcement of the Spit VIII sheet as seen on the leading modelling websites.

The printers had not started burning the screens yet, so the job was put on hold to address the corrections. One correction is minor; a transposed serial, which is a quick and easy fix. The other involves a complete rework of some of the artwork based on much better photos, and a correction to the inaccurate interpretation of the color scheme based on research that has been superseded by new discoveries.

I am very grateful to these gentlemen for coming to the rescue at the last minute. A more accurate sheet will result.

The only downside to this is that the sheet will be delayed. Due to summer vacations from both my artist and my printer, the sheets (in both 1:32 and 1:48 scales) will be released later in August.

I mentioned in the original press release that there will be a bonus 6th scheme on the 1/48th scale sheet. The above image is the profile for this bonus scheme. While at first blush, a rather plain aircraft, it was flown by the beloved Kiwi pilot F/O Vic Bargh of 67 Squadron. It also has the great fortune to have my initials as its codes, thereby assuring itself a place on this sheet! Its good to be King...

So, the sheet will be delayed a little, but will be a better and more accurate sheet. A perfect sheet? Doubtful. But it is as accurate as it can be given the many hours of research that has gone into it.

As a final note, if you have any ideas for new decal sheets, especially if you have good documentation and photos of the subjects at hand, please contact me. I can't promise that every idea will wind up on a sheet, or that it may jump to the top of the cue, but if it is really interesting, it has a good shot! Email me at: barracudacomments@gmail.com

Happy modelling! Roy

BarracudaCast is open for business!

2010-07-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys. The last few months have been a really busy time here at Barracuda Studios. Yes, the blog has been pretty quiet, but it sometimes comes down to a choice between working on new stuff and talking about working on new stuff.

The result of all this work is a bonanza of new resin sets in 1/48th and 1/32nd scale. 14 new products in all; seven in 1/48th scale and seven in 1/32nd scale.

The 1/48th scale products are designed for the Grand Phoenix or AZ Models Fairey Firefly Mk I and the Trumpeter Hawker Sea Fury FB. 11:

BR48001 Firefly Mk. I Prop and Spinner
BR48002 Firefly Mk. I Cannon Barrels
BR48003 Firefly Mk. I Early Wheels
BR48004 Firefly Mk. I Late Wheels
BR48005 Firefly Mk. I Vacform Canopy
BR48006 Sea Fury Mainwheels and Tailwheel
BR48007 Sea Fury 90 Gallon Droptanks

The 1/32nd scale parts are designed for the spectacular Tamiya Spitfire Mk IX and their newly released Spitfire Mk VIII kits. These parts will also significantly upgrade the PCM Spitfire IX kits. Most of these parts can be used with the Mk I and V Spitfires in 1/32nd scale. they consist of:

BR32001 Spitfire Seat with Leather Backpad
BR32002 Spitfire Cockpit Door with Separate Crowbar
BR32003 Spitfire Cockpit Upgrade Set
BR32004 Spitfire IX Rocker Covers with Logos
BR32005 Spitfire 5-Slot Mainwheels
BR32006 Spitfire 4-Slot Mainwheels
BR32007 Spitfire Gun Covers with Wide Blister

Shipping on all products will begin on Tuesday. There is a bit of a backlog due to some delays in packaging and decals, but I hope to have everyone's order shipped by the end of the week.

Starting up a whole new product line is a big job, and there are often a number of logistical issues to be resolved, and this time was not much different. That's about all for tonight, but I have a whole number of new projects and products all coming together over the next few weeks and months, so you can count on a good number of blog entries , especially leading up to the IPMS/USA nationals in Phoenix next month.

I will post again in the next day or two with more new product announcements. Between now and August 8th, you can expect at least 8 new decal sheets. All will be available for sale (if all goes to plan) at the show.

Hope you are enjoying your summer.

Happy modelling! Roy

BarracudaCals is having a 30% off sale? THUD!!

2010-04-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

That *thud* you heard was not customers passing out from excitement! It was the sound of P-47s going on sale!

BarracudaCals has 6 new sheets on the way, and we need to make room!

For a limited time, all P-47 Thunderbolt decals sheets in all scales are marked down 30%. We're moving em out, folks. Our prices are IN-SANE!!! Crazy Roy has lost his mind this time. Better snap up these little gems before he comes to his senses...

Go to the website and click on the p-47 sheets. You will see a red "discounts apply" next to the title of each sheet. The price shown is the regular price, but fear not! When you add them to your shopping cart, then go to checkout, you will see the discount applied, even before you have to start filling out ordering info.

Remember, BarracudaCals has free shipping on decals for orders over a certain amount. This offer still applies even to sale merchandise, but to get the free shipping, your actual order total must exceed the stated amounts. See website for details.

A selection of some of the interesting and colorful schemes we have available.

The six new sheets will be announced in the next week or so.

And the long overdue answer to the big question everyone is asking; Yes, the Spitfire parts in 1/32 are coming. I am finishing them up as we speak, and there will be announcements next week regarding the launch of Barracuda Cast and what you can expect to see released first.

Thanks, and happy modelling! Roy

Spitfire HF VII in 1/72. Part 6 of 6

2010-04-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

This view shows well the high altitude wingtips and the dramatic look of the Starkey stripes applied to them. Clicking on these images will give you much larger views, which is not necessarily a good thing with such a tiny model!

After the decals had dried overnight, the model was wiped down with a wet paper towel to remove excess decal adhesive that could later turn brown and stain the finished model. The airbrush was loaded with Future, and the decals were overcoated to blend them in with the rest of the models finish. This is an important step, as applying flat or satin coats over dissimilar finishes will not always lead to a uniform finish.

The panel lines were given a wash consisting of a dark grey mixed from Testors enamel and thinned with mineral spirits. This is left to dry for 20 minutes, then carefully removed with a tightly folded cotton cloth lightly moistened with thinner. This will take off the excess dried wash without harming the Future glosscoat or paint underneath. Undersurfaces were treated with a wash of medium grey, so as not to be too stark of a contrast.

Once the panel lines were completed, light exhaust and gunblast staining was airbrushed on with a thinned brownish black enamel paint. Enamel is used because it can be easily removed it it does not turn out well. Keep the exhaust staining on Spits to a minimum, unless you are depicting an aircraft just returned from a long mission. Real Spitfire cowlings seemed to have been wiped down after most ops.

The 1/72 Hasegawa Spit IX is not a perfect kit, but makes a pretty decent looking 2 stage Merlin Spitfire with minimum effort.

Fuel, oil and grease stains were added to logical points such as fuel fillers, access panels, hinge points, etc. at this point with a fine brush. After a few quick touchups, the model was given a light satin coat using Testors Dullcoat with some Glosscoat mixed in to give it a slight sheen. More subtle staining was added using pastel chalks, and sealed with another coat of Satin.

The cockpit was unmasked and final assembly begun. The prepainted seat, stick and gunsight were now installed. Adding them at this point prevents having them damaged during the building and finishing stages. The sliding canopy came from a Falcon Vac canopy set and was carefully cut out and sanded to shape.The frames were masked off and painted. It fit beautifully on my scratchbuilt canopy rails. I... uh, planned it that way. Yeah. It wasn't just dumb luck or anything.

The underside, showing the Starkey Stripes that cover the underwing roundels. Stripes were only applied for a day or two.

The gearlegs were added and the angles carefully checked with side and frontview photos of the real deal. They were also aligned with each other. The importance of getting the gearlegs on correctly cannot be overstated. I have seen many a beautiful model with the gearlegs installed with too little forward rake, especially on Fw-190s and P-51 Mustangs. The result is a model with the nose too high in the air. It ruins an otherwise nice build.

Wheels were then added and the angles carefully set. Geardoors and tailwheel came next. The exhausts were painted a very dark grey and stippled with a rust color. Earlier, the prop and spinner had been painted and assembled. The blade roots were drilled out and a .014" diameter wire was superglued into the drilled hole. the blade mounting holes in the spinner were drilled out to accept these wire pins. Pinning prop blades is a great way to add strength and ease assembly. When ready to add the blades, glue is placed on the wires, which are then slid into place. You have time to bend the mounting pin to set the correct blade pitch and alignment. Once the glue sets, it is unlikely that the props will be broken off in the future. Unless you have kids, cats, or other human beings that can get within pawing distance your models.

Resist the temptation to weather the stripes, as they were not carried long enough to get dirty and faded.

Pitot tube, antenna mast, and other small parts were added , and the project was pretty much completed. Minor touchups here and there addressed some minor finish flaws and she was done!

In reviewing the photos for this article, I realized two problems. First, the rearview mirror has gone missing, and second, that the belts stop at the top of the seat. I have to make a Y-strap that disappears through the slot in the head armor and is attached to the top of the shoulder harness straps. Oops! Gotta go back and fix those issues.

All in all, an enjoyable project. I was not feeling the Starkey stripes after unmasking. Even with the decals on, it looked a little strange to my eye. When I applied the panel wash and the weathering, suddenly it looked like part of the aircraft, and I have come to like the look quite a bit. It is certainly quite different looking from the average Spitfire, as the stripes really accentuate the long span wings.

Note the tightly sprayed freehand camouflage applied with a Paasche H airbrush. With practice, this is not beyond the skills of a moderately experienced modeler.

That completes this series on building the Spitfire HF VII in 1/72nd scale. I hope you enjoyed it, because with how much work it was to put together, you wont be seeing another build article here anytime soon! Who knows. Once I've forgotten what a pain it is, I will probably do another... then kick myself for doing it.

Next posts on this Blog will be more business related, with some announcements of new stuff. Yes, new stuff IS coming soon.

Happy modelling! Roy

Spitfire HF VII in 1/72. Part 5 of 6

2010-04-17T22:00:00.001-07:00

Subtle post shading and a breakup pass makes the scheme a little less "flat" looking.

Adding new painting and finishing tricks to your repertoire helps keep your skills sharp and your modelling from stagnating and projects from getting dated looking. Back in the 80s and 90s, washes and drybrushing ruled, especially in armor. When you look at photos of some of the models from the more extreme drybrush and wash days, they look a little odd... OK, some of them look positively freaky. Drybrushing and washes are excellent tools when used sparingly, but like all fads, some tend to think that more is better, and even more is even more better-er.

Subtle panel washes, to my way of thinking, add depth to the shadows cast by full scale panel lines. There is no way that a small scale model's panel lines can reproduce that look without a little help. Taken to extremes, it looks harsh and forced. Done subtly, it adds realism, IMHO.

Drybrushing does the opposite. it helps small detail stand out from the surrounding area by carefully painting the edges and high points a lighter color. This simulates the reflection of light caused by full scale details. Taken to extreme, it looks like an artificial Christmas tree (or non-denominational celebration shrub) that has been flocked with artificial snow.

Pre and post shading are relatively new to the hobby, having become popular in the last decade or maybe longer (didn't look at my watch when the fad was born). The idea is to spray a darkened shade of the camouflage paint along some panel lines to add visual interest and depth. In the hands of a good painter such as Chris Wauchop, it can look very authentic. Overdone, it can start to look more like Kabuki makeup. It is not a good idea to shade ALL of the kits panel lines. You can end up with a weird patchwork quilt look. I try to his some of the more major panel lines, and again not all of them, and not to the same extent. It is a battle for me to find a good balance of post shading, where it is dark enough to be seen, but not so dark that it looks overdone. Subtlety is the key to weathering aircraft models.

Walkway stripes are included on the sheet, but I prefer to paint mine on. Masking in progress.

Finally, the breakup pass. I learned about this when I was working in movie modelmaking at ILM . I did a lot of painting on Star Wars Episode II. I worked with some great painters, and learned a lot. The idea behind the breakup pass (this is what they called it) is to add subtle color variation and visual texture to large single color areas.

If you really look at any real painted outdoor surface that is not freshly applied, you will find that it is not one color. Weathering and age plays havoc on painted surfaces. Notice the fine dust coat that has been speckled and streaked by morning dew and rain. Notice the slight variations in color. This is what the breakup pass seeks to simulate. Artists and movie special effects guys have been using these tricks for many, many years. We have not discovered anything new. We are just finally getting around to making it our own. And the line between model making and art blurs...

As this model is 1/72nd scale, there is not a lot of canvas available to get too involved in the more artistic aspects of weathering. To postshade a color, I simply add a drop of black to the base camouflage color (lets say ocean grey in this case) and go back and spray carefully along selected panel lines to darken them somewhat. This should be kept fairly tight, in that you do not want the shadow straying too far into the surrounding panel, but not so tight that it looks like a hard line. Vary the intensity. I may also add some fairly light and narrow lines between panel lines in larger scales to simulate rows of rivets, but this should be VERY subtle. Just hinted at, really.

Wheels were sprayed with Tamiya rattlecan silver. A black wash pops out the detail.

Finally, the breakup pass is done by loading the base color into the airbrush and adding a drop or two of white. I start by spraying a random pattern of spots, shapes and squiggles over the base color. The key word here is random, not a series of similarly sized spots evenly distributed over the surface. Some areas with larger spots, some areas with light coverage and some with a mix. Be careful of a subconscious repeating of random patterns. Make sure you are not making it symmetrical. Again, keep it subtle. It should be hinted at. You can also go back with the base color and darken it a hair, or add a drop of yellow or green, and do some very light breakup.

Be aware that a panel wash, gloss coat and decals will tone down the look. If it is TOO subtle, you may with up with a breakup that is hardly noticeable. There is no magic formula. Look at models you like. Study what they did and strive to repeat it. Practice. Build and paint some models. Do some quickie builds to get practiced at it.

Now that the camo painting is done, I sprayed a coat of Future thinned with a drop or two of water to help my older bottle flow a little better. Future is wonderful stuff. Makes the fragile Tamiya paints tough and sandable. It was left overnight to dry, then it was time to make with the decals, baby.

Resin prop blades are drilled and pinned with stiff wire for strength. This also helps in aligning them while the glue sets.

Decals come, of course, from Barracudacals, sheet number 72004 to be specific. Shameless plugs ARE my bag, baby! As nice as the model would look with the upperwing roundels in place, it is very unlikely that they were not overpainted for the Starkey missions, so were left off on this model. The underwing roundels and trestle markings were also not used as the stripes covered them over. The markings are confined to the fuselage on this build with the exception of some stencils on the wing, tailplanes and prop blades.

With all the decals on now, it is starting to look like the finish line is within sight.

Some have expressed concern with BarracudaCals' rendition of British Roundel Red. They worry that it is too rust brown or terra cotta colored. Surely, the red should be more... well... RED! Most kit decals print them as such, but this is not correct. I have carefully matched the roundel red color to the paint chips in the RAF Museum Guide book on British camouflage in WWII, as well as color chips found in the old Aircraft of the Fighting Powers books publish during the war. Our roundel red is a good match.

I'd gush on about how wonderful the decals were; how well researched they are and how well they go down on the model, but that would be crass. You'll not find me saying that they are thin, beautifully printed, and very thoroughly injured. Huh? Injured??? Wow, I just typed that as I was fading off into a short episode of microsleep. Guess I'm more tired than I thought. LOL. Researched... very thoroughly researched. Yes, you won't catch me saying anything self-serving about my own products like that. At least not until I go take a quick nap to wake myself up a bit.

OK, I'm back again. The decals worked extremely well (they almost applied themselves, and thats not hyperbole. OK, it is.), and the model was left to dry overnight. Coincidentally, at this point, the article on building this model will also be left to dry overnight. This is a good place to stop. Maybe not for you, but I have some other things that need my attention tonight.

The final installment will follow shortly. It will cover the final push to completion, and will feature a number of photos of the finished build. See you back here soon for more fun with plastic.

Happy modelling! Roy

Spitfire HF VII in 1/72. Part 4 of 6

2010-04-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

The white painted wingtips are now masked in preparation for the black stripes to be painted.

Here again, with part 4 of what is now a 6 part article. I have revised the installment numbers as I forgot to include the first installment written and posted last year. I have also expanded the series to include a 6th installment, as there are a lot of in-progress photos to share. There was a little delay in getting this blog posting finished and online. There was a model contest yesterday in lovely Stockton, California this past Sunday. I had a few things to get done before the contest, including repairs on a 1/48th scale Fw-190A-6 that has been fighting me for the last 8 months, so the blog was put on hold for a few days.

I am back in the saddle again now, and blogging like there is no tomorrow. Of course there IS a tomorrow, but not after December 21st, 2012. That is the day that the Mayans have determined that the world will come to an end. As my son, Cooper, who is 16, said to a friend of his on this subject "If the Mayans were so smart and prescient, where the hell are they now?"

I believe that by the end of the second installment, the airframe was about ready for paint. So, after the usual masking off of the cockpit, tailwheel bay, and canopy, the airframe was wiped down with rubbing alcohol in preparation for painting.

The outer wing panels were sprayed with Tamiya Flat White thinned with Gunze Mr. Color thinner. This is the thinner made for thinning the Gunze lacquer line. It works very well with Tamiya paints. It gives the it some bite into the plastic that thinning with alcohol does not. The white areas were masked off and scale black was applied with my Paasche H.

This view shows the scale black applied over the masked off white stripes.

Once the paint had dried (it dries really fast, and you could probably mask over it after 10-15 minutes, but I wait half an hour to be safe), The masking was removed, revealing the Starkey stripes. I was pleased with how they came out, although a small amount of touchup was required for a few spots. The stripes were now carefully masked over in preparation for the camouflage to be applied.

Before that could happen, two more colors had to be applied. The rear fuselage band and spinner on late war British aircraft were painted Sky Type S, S being for smooth finishes. Smooth was another word for satin or not matt. I like to paint my fuselage bands, so I sprayed the area with my custom mix using Tamiya. Mix 1 part Tamiya Flat Sky (which is miles too dark to be British Sky) with 1.5 parts Tamiya Flat White. This will be a good match to the Sky code letters on the decal sheet. The band was then masked off using Tamiya tape. Finally, the yellow wing leading edge was sprayed Yellow. British Yellow has a slight orange cast to it. When dry, this was also masked off.

Operation Starkey stripes revealed. Leading edge yellow stripe has also been applied.

Note the rear fuselage has been sprayed with Sky Type S. The rear fuselage band will be masked off before camo painting begins.

The undersides were painted with a custom mixed Medium Sea Grey color from Tamiya paints. I tend to use Tamiya for almost all my exterior painting. I added a drop of black to the MSG mix and post shaded the undersurfaces. I then went back with a slightly lightened version of the MSG and added some spotty breakup to the basic color. This adds a certain visual interest, but keep it subtle. Taking it to extremes results in cartoony looking paintjobs. The undersurfaces were then masked off, and the upper surfaces were sprayed with a custom mix of Ocean Grey. Tamiya now makes all three British late war RAF camo colors. These are numbered XF-81, 82, and 83. They look good, but the Dark Green may be a little light to my eye.

Upper surface colors have been applied. Post shading and breakup pass will add visual interest to the model.

Using my trusty Paasche H airbrush, I applied the dark green disruptive pattern freehand, using drawings and photos as a guide. Sometimes I lightly draw the basic pattern on the model with pencil. The color is once again custom mixed from Tamiya paints. Once the basic pattern is applied, I go back with Ocean Grey and tighten up any overspray. The secret is to lower the paint volume and get in really close. You have to keep the brush moving to keep paint from pooling, but with practice, it is not terribly difficult to get a realistic tight hand sprayed demarcation between colors with a single action airbrush, even in 1/72nd scale. I go back one final time with Dark Green and touch it up a bit more. It takes a bit longer, but I'd rather be painting than spending time cutting tedious masks and spacing them out with Blu-tac or rolled up tape or whatever.

In the 5th installment, I will finish up the post shading and breakup of the uppersurfaces. Gloss coat, decals, and final assembly will also be covered. The 6th installment will feature shots of the finished model.

Hope you are enjoying the build as much as I did.

Happy modelling! Roy

Spitfire HF VII in 1/72. Part 3 of 6

2010-04-05T18:15:00.001-07:00

A useful diagram showing the corrections for the wing scribing for the HF VII.

As promised, here is part 2 of the build article. On time and under budget.... If I had a budget.

As we last left our intrepid modeler, he had heroically fought his way through building and painting the cockpit, and had triumphed over evil by gluing the fuselage halves together, making the world a safer place to build models , or something.

With the fuselage seams filled and sanded out, work could now commence on converting the Hasegawa Spitfire Mk. IXc into a proper HF VII. I had mentioned in part 1 that the wings on the Hasegawa kit, while very nicely molded and detailed, contained a number of errors in the panel lines. I filled the rear spar line with medium viscosity super glue (CA) applied with a sharpened rectangular section toothpick. The CA was set with a drop of accelerator, followed 10 minutes later with a 4 grit sanding stick. I use CA exclusively for filling as it will hold a razor edge, and can be cleanly scribed, unlike most putties. It also does not shrink and can be applied very precisely. I do not even own any putty anymore.

The trick to using CA as a filler is to make sure you sand it within an hour or so of applying it. After that, it starts to harden to a point where it is harder than the surrounding plastic. It can still be sanded, but requires a lot more work. I only filled the upper rear spar scribe line. Call me lazy, but it crosses a lot of panel lines on the undersurfaces. Seemed too much like work. The uppersurfaces are also missing some panel lines, so these were added with a pointed steel scriber and a straight edge. See the photo above for details of this work.

The wing together in one piece now, awaiting sanding and touchup.

The ailerons on the Mk VII (and the Mk VIII, which the Mk VII shared many features) were shortened by removing the outer 8 inches of span. This was accomplished on the model by filling the panel lines as shown in the first photograph above. Hasegawa has kindly scribed both the long and short span ailerons. You are left to fill the appropriate panel lines. Sharp eyed viewers will note that I did not scribe the inner wing tanks as shown in the panel line diagram. It escaped my attention until it was too late in the paint process to fix it.

As accuracy cannot be considered when judging in an IPMS USA rules contest for the obvious reason that it is impossible to be equally expert on all aircraft, this oversight should not affect my little Spit in competition. Judging one model (say for example a... um.... Spitfire, a subject the judge may be very well versed on) on a accuracy point is patently unfair, as the Morko Morane or the Ki-61 or the La-5FN sitting next to it may contain many more accuracy errors said judge knows nothing about. Unless you are as intimately familiar with every single type of aircraft on the table, it just is patently unfair. It is also highly reliant on judges memories being 100% accurate, and they would also have to be up on every new discovery. So, wing tanks or not, my Spit VII must be judged on its merits as a model. Suck it, judges! :-) Now, I have been an IPMS judge at the national level for over 10 years, and I am just having some fun. The point , however, about not judging based on accuracy, is very serious.

With the mods to the wings done, I assembled the upper and lower wing parts. The wingtips were added a bit later, and great care was taken to assure that they were aligned properly when viewed from the front. The wing was set aside to dry overnight. All seams were filled and sanded out, and panel lines were restored across the leading edges. Don't forget to do this. Disappearing panel line WILL hurt you in IPMS judging.

Note the pressurization intake, fuel filler cap, and canopy rails visible in this photo.

I turned my attention once again to the fuselage. I added the cockpit pressurization intake to the starboard nose, under the exhausts. I also added the external canopy rails that were a hallmark of the HF VII. These rails were spring loaded and when shut, clamped around the outside of the sliding hood rails, holding the canopy on when pressurized. To jettison the canopy, the rails were released. They snapped open allowing the air stream to strip off the hood so a bail out could be achieved.

The fuel filler cap on top of the nose was drilled out and plugged with styrene rod that was recessed a bit. Wings and tail-planes on next, followed by a number of dreary hours sanding out the wingroots and tailplane roots. Care was taken when attaching the wings to get the proper amount of dihedral (6 degrees I believe) and to make sure the tailplanes align with the wings and are perpendicular to the fin. With this the basic airframe is done, as is this installment for tonight.

Now don't "Awwwwwww, c'mon, just a bit more" me! Off to bed with the lot of you. I'm beginning to think this story may wind up as four installments. Now I know how J.K. Rowling must have felt when writing the Harry Potter stories! As an aside, does J.K. in her name stand for just kidding? Just kidding. See you back here soon for the next installment.

Happy modelling. Roy

Spitfire HF VII in 1/72. Part 2 of 6

2010-04-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Resin floor, instrument bulkhead, stick and seat bracket are shown prepped and ready for paint.

The lower resin sidewalls installed in the fuselage halves. Note also the small parts added to the upper sidewalls.

Sidewalls painted and ready for assembly.

Note how careful painting and use of color adds visual interest to this very small area.

OK, guys, here it is. The long promised part 1 of 3 of the build article for the HF VII.

I have always liked the special HF versions of the Spitfire. They were produced to counter the perceived threat of German high altitude bombing attacks that were never to materialize. The real problem with high altitude bombing at that point in history the fact that you were lucky to get your bombs to land in the same county as your intended target! While there were some spotty very high altitude attacks by specially modified Ju-86Ps, it was soon dropped as a waste of resources and time.

The HF VI and HF VII were fitted with specially modified Merlin engines rated for high altitude, long span wingtips, and pressurized cockpits. After it became clear the threats would never materialize, the HF VIIs had their long span wingtips replaced with standard ones, and the attractive high altitude scheme was overpainted with standard camouflage and markings. They were eventually reassigned to the regular fighter role, and continued to serve until replaced or destroyed.

Modelling the HF VII in 1/72 scale

Modelling the HF VII in 1/72nd scale requires some conversion work, but using the Hasegawa 1/72nd scale Spitfire Mk. IX kit, it is not beyond the reach of modelers with some experience outside of building OOB. The biggest problem for building this particular aircraft will be finding a Hasegawa kit that has the pointed high altitude wingtips. The kit I started with was Hasegawa kit number 00692 Spitfire Mk VIII "Pointed Wing". If you can't find this, Ventura did a number of kits that had the necessary wingtips. Another option might be finding some aftermarket resin tips in 1/72nd scale. Failing that, they could be scratchbuilt from some plastic card and filler.

I have wanted to build this Spitfire HF VII in Operation Starkey markings since I first saw an illustration of it in the Ian Allen Publication Spitfire Special. Operation Starkey was the feigned invasion of Europe on September 9th, 1943. The plan was to convince the German High Command that a Normandy-style invasion force was going to land at Pas-de-Calais. The ruse was ignored by the Germans, who saw through it easily. For more information on this operation go to: http://www.ipmsgreatplains.org/OperationStarkey.aspx

While a minor footnote in History, Starkey presents the modeller with some interesting markings. D-Day type markings (but reversed) were carried on the wings only for the day of the Operation. Recently unearthed documents detail the correct application of the Stripes. Note that the profiles in the attached article were done before the documents came to light.

Stripes were applied as follows: Black from the tip to the point where the wing chord is 5 feet. Then alternating 18"bands of white, black, white and black. Underwing national markings were overpainted. Speculation about upperwing markings is that they were also overpainted, being that the stripes were only going to be carried for a day or two. It would be a waste of time to carefully paint around the upperwing markings for such a short time. These markings look even more dramatic on a long span Spitfire. On the day of the operation, MB820 of 123 Squadron and flown by F/O Barritt shared a victory with another Spit VII, shooting down an Fw-190 at 31,000 feet, making this an interesting subject for a build.

The Hasegawa Spitfire Mk IX is a very nice kit. It has very finely scribed panel lines and some beautful detail parts. The canopy is superb in thinness, clarity, and shape. The wing is very good in shape in detail, and the landing gear is beautiful. Finally, we have a good 4 slot Spitfire wheel in 1/72nd scale. Hasegawa gives you alternate rudders, standard and clipped wingtips, carb intakes, exhausts, retractable and fixed tailwheels, and a conformal belly tank. The rear fixed portion of the canopy is molded clear down to the canopy rail, allowing Mk VIIs to be easily modelled. I wish Tamiya would have done this as well on their new Spit IX in 1/32nd scale

Now the downside. The fuselage is a little short and tapers too much to the rear in planview. This leaves it with a very thin fin and rudder, but this only shows in plan view. The prop and spinner are a little disappointing. The spinner is split in an odd place, instead of at the natural panel line at the backplate. Speaking of panel lines, Hasegawa has annoyingly scribed the wing rear spar into both the upper and lower wing surfaces. These need to be filled, and a couple of other missed wing panel lines added. The blades are thin and anemic looking. Finally, the cockpit is very spartan.

As with most models I build, work began on the cockpit. I dug out one of my old Cooper Details cockpit sets and began by cutting out the parts and cleaning them up. The instrument panel and seat mounting bulkhead were test fitted into the taped together fuselage halves, and adjusted to fit. The sidewalls were attached as shown below the main fuselage longeron. The upper sidewalls were detailed with boxes and fittings from the resin cockpit set. The seat, stick, gunsight, floor and bulkheads were mounted in preparation for painting.

All cockpit parts were airbrushed with custom mixed Interior Grey Green. The instrument panel was painted scale black, and the seat was painted Model Master Rust. A wash of scale black was applied to pop out the detail, followed by some careful drybrushing with light gray. Details were brush painted with black, white, red, yellow and silver. A clear satin coat ties it all together. I followed this by applying small drops of Future to the instrument dials.

The fuselage halves were then mated, and the cockpit bulkheads and floor were installed. This was then set aside to dry.

In the next installment, I will detail the corrections and conversions I did to bring this Mk IX up to HF VII standard. Decals for this aircraft are available in all 4 scales from BarracudaCals on the Spitfire Mk IX Series, Part 1 sheet. Hope you enjoy this build article.

Happy modelling! Roy

How I Spent My Winter

2010-03-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

First off, I must address the very long absence from the blog. December 1st until the end of March... where the heck did the time go?

Life has been very interesting and extremely busy for me over the last few months. A number of things transpired to keep me away from the blog. I trust that you all found other things to do in the meantime, but I do miss posting, and am glad to be back to it.

Late November of 2009, Brett Green, creator of Hyperscale, and prolific author of modelling books called me up and asked me if I would be interested in contributing to his new book on building the new Tamiya 1/32nd scale Spitfire Mk. IX kit. It had not even been released yet. Being a rabid Spitfire fan, I could not turn down this opportunity. He sent me a pre-release Tamiya Spit IX sans box and finished instructions, and I was off.

I built the model at night and on the weekends. As the deadline approached, I worked on it with every spare second. The complexity of the model really surprised me. It is quite a labor intensive build. Not to say that it is poorly designed. It just takes many hours to do it justice.

The book, How To Build Tamiya's 1:32 Spitfire Mk. IXc, by Brett Green was released in February by ADH publishing. From all accounts it is selling very well. My contribution to this book is the final chapter, which details the work I did to transform the Mk IX kit into a Spitfire HF Mk. VII. Master modeller Marcus Nichols also contributed a chapter on his desert Spit IXc . I received a copy of the book a few weeks ago, and it is a worthwhile reference book, IMHO.

I followed that up with another model and chapter for another book to be released later this year. Its surprisingly time consuming to write a chapter for a book. There are also photos to be taken, image processing to be done, and captions to be written.

On top of those assignments, I was called back a number of times to work on a movie in development for Image Movers Digital, based at the Old Hamilton Field AFB hanger number 7 in Novato, California. This is a famous Northern California air base that was operational from 1933 through 1973. The navy finally vacated the last of buildings on the base in 1996. The empty Hangar 7 building was used for filming of a number of Mythbusters episodes. It was then extensively renovated, along with the other 8 hangars, and became office buildings and shops. The Hamilton runways have now been reclaimed as marshlands.

Sadly, the Disney Corporation, who owns Image Movers Digital, decided to shut down IMD after the completion of the current movie project "Mars Needs Moms". A lot of very talented people will be out of work in the next year. IMD was one of those amazing companies that had a real sense of camaraderie and esprit de corps. The workload was intensive at times, as is almost always the case in the movie industry, but always interesting and challenging, and never overly stressful. My thanks to Bob Zemeckis and Doug Chiang for creating such an amazing work environment, and to Fon Davis and John Duncan for running a great model shop. I consider myself very lucky to have worked there.

A number of other contract jobs have kept me busy and kept the lights on during a slow time in the hobby business. I am back now and focused on getting the new resin line launched, as well as releasing a new batch of decals. I thank you for your patience over the last few months.

The next post will be the long promised installment on the 1/72nd scale Spitfire HF VII build article. The model is now finished, and photos have been taken, so it will not be long now.

Happy modelling! Roy

Tamiya's new 1/32nd Spitfire

2009-12-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Spitfire HF VII, MD111 of 131 Squadron, based at Culmhead and seen a few weeks after D-Day. The high altitude wingtips have been replaced with standard tips. This aircraft is one of 4 subjects available in all 3 scales from BarracudaCals.

Hi Guys,

Those who know me even a little bit know I am a rabid Spitfire fanatic. I have studied the Spitfire for 30 years now, and combined with my eye for detail and shape, feel that I am reasonably qualified to comment on this new Mark IX from Tamiya.

There are plenty of reviews online that will give you a detailed breakdown of the kit and supply you with many nice images of the sprues, etched parts, hardware, instructions and decals. All will tell you what a terrific kit this is and how it has set a new standard for plastic model kits and on and on. Yada yada yada... The thing is, they are absolutely right. It is a remarkable piece of model engineering. Possibly the finest plastic airplane model ever produced. I haven't seen every kit ever made, but having been in the business for so many years, you tend to hear about the great ones, and eventually check them out for yourself.

For me, shape is everything. All the fancy engineering and amazing detail in the world means nothing if it doesn't capture the essence of the real thing. Witness the Trumpeter line. Beautifully detailed and terrific molding quality, but many of their kits are so fraught with errors that I have maybe five Trumpeter kits in my entire collection. The new 1/32 Swordfish would be a must have for me, but the fabric on the wings looks awful and overdone to my eye. Pass.

Now, I was as surprised as everyone else to hear that Tamiya had announced a 1/32 Spit IX. I also had some doubts as to whether or not this was going to be something I'd be buying, given the somewhat disappointing (in regards to accuracy) Spitfire Mk I and Vb in 1/48th scale. Those kits suffer from a short and somewhat fat fuselage, and a overly elliptic wing planform. The wing can be relatively easily fixed with some sanding, but the fuselage is much more difficult to address, so you either live with it, or find another route to getting an accurate looking single stage Spitfire in 1/48th.

Early reports from guys who's opinions regarding the Spitfire I respect seemed to be pointing to a thoroughly researched, and completely new, tool. I received my Spit IX a few weeks ago. I have gone over it with a fine tooth comb now (yes, I DO have a comb, I just haven't need to use it for the last 10 years!), and am happy to report that this kit, with a few very minor exceptions, is a superbly accurate and detailed kit. They have obviously worked from all new drawings, and have studied real Spits extensively.

The two stage Merlin engine is a kit unto itself, with over 50 parts going into the engine alone. This does not include firewall and its accessories, bearers, oil and header tanks, carb intakes and the like. The only thing missing is ROLLS ROYCE cast into the rocker covers, but then not all Merlins had this feature. Would have been cool if these were included, though!

The cockpit is very detailed, but there is room for a lot of extra detailing to be added. The wiring and hydraulic lines have thankfully not been molded in to the sidewalls. I hate this look in larger scale. You can add it yourself with a couple of hours of work. The leather backpad to the seat has been left off, the one somewhat glaring omission from the kit. I've never seen a Spit of any mark without the seat backpad. The spade grip is also missing the textured cover on the grip portion, but this is a small detail . The artificial horizon on the kit decal sheet, with its blue background, is a decidedly modern instrument, so this instrument decal should be replaced with something more period.

The only remaining small point is that the wide cannon blisters are a bit misshapen, being too square at the leading edge. Other than that, I am hard pressed to find other faults with this kit. Even the propeller blades, which are one of the most commonly badly represented parts on many kits of prop driven types, are superbly shaped and accurate looking.

I cannot say enough good about this kit. Is it perfect? No, but its damn close. Can it be improved upon? Sure!

That being the case, and despite the flurry of comments from those who will say I am gilding the Lilly, I am working away on a couple of resin sets for this model. Don't forget that I also have a set of interesting decals for the two stage Merlin Spitfire in 1/32nd. The roundels alone are an improvement over the kit decals, as the red Tamiya uses for the roundels is not "brick" colored enough .

More information to follow. There are at least 4 sets in development, and announcements will follow in the next week or so.

Happy modelling! Roy

Barracuda Studios at IPMS UK Nationals - part 2

2009-11-29T21:27:00.000-08:00

A rare restored Bristol Beaufort in Coastal Command colors.

Sopwith triplane on display at the RAF Museum Hendon.

Hi Guys,

Hey, at least its still the same month as the last posting... Back to my trip to the the other side of the pond for the IPMS/UK Nationals. I arrived at Heathrow Airport around 7AM, went through Customs and picked up my luggage. I was met by Robin Powell, who had, as previously mentioned, taken the week off. We loaded my stuff into his beloved Land Rover Discovery, and headed off to the RAF Museum at Hendon. My first plan, to visit the Mosquito Air Museum, had gone down in flames as they rolled up the sidewalks for the winter not 3 days earlier. I had been to Hendon twice before, more than 12 years ago. I was not all that excited to see it again, as I assumed that it would be much the same. I was wrong.

Arriving at Hendon at about 10:30, we soon discovered that the museum wasn't open until noon. OK, we'll go and sit down and have some breakfast in the cafeteria next door. Nope. No hot food until 11:30. OK... adapt, adopt, and improve. The guard told us that the WWI exhibit was open, and closes at noon! Right... So, off we went to see the bipes. A superb collection, focusing on British types mostly, and nicely displayed. We then grabbed a traditional English breakfast at the cafe.

By then, the main museum was open, so we entered the brand new Milestones of Flight Hall. While it is very new and modern looking, we were dismayed at how the aircraft were displayed. The only complete Hawker Tempest V on display anywhere, and not only is it hanging 30 feet in the air, but it is painted in Target Tug markings! WTH?? One of the RAFs best fighters of WWII, and its painted up in non-combat markings! At least they could have put it in Beamont's markings and had it chasing a V-1 or something! In fact, the only aircraft that were displayed on the ground were Luftwaffe and Japanese aircraft. If the whole Museum was like this, we were going to leave.

We moseyed over to the next hall (can you mosey in the UK? I guess you can!), and were greatly relieved. The hall was well laid out and reasonably well lit. While the aircraft were roped off, you could get pretty close to them and most aircraft were displayed so that you could see them from every angle. There are 3 main halls, filled with an outstanding collection of important and beautifully restored aircraft, just over 100 in all! Go to Wikipedia and type in RAF Museum Hendon to see a complete list. My favorite exhibits were the Bristol Beaufort (first one I've seen!), the Tempest II, the Lightning F6, and of course the Lanc and Spit 24. They also have a truly excellent display of weapons and engines. Many billions of pixels gave their all as I went on a mad photographic spree. I am very glad we stopped by.

An excellent museum, and I'd like the guys from Udvar-Hazy to see how a museum SHOULD be laid out. I'm not knocking all the hard work the Smithsonian guys put in, but the way the aircraft are displayed is useless to the serious historian or model builder. Many aircraft are only viewable from one angle, and you can't get within 30 feet of many of them. They are also militant about tripods and even balancing cameras on benches and the like.

Ok, rant over... for now. It was getting late, and we had a 2 hour drive (or more, I didn't keep time) to get to Poole where Robin and Linda live. The next morning (Friday), we started packing up and getting ready for the drive up to Telford for the IPMS show. Robin has run the Magna Models stand for the last few years, as the owner now lives in Spain, and does not make it out for the shows anymore. Jamming all the Magna and Barracuda Studios stuff into the Disco took some doing, but eventually it all fit, and by the early afternoon we were heading north.

The faint smell of plastic in the air driving us on...

Happy modelling! Roy

Barracuda Studios at IPMS UK Nationals - part 1

2009-11-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

The Station Inn in Horsehay, not far from Telford. A terrific pub.

L to R: Me, Mike Belcher, Robin Powell, Jan Belcher at the Station

Inn. Not seen is Linda, who is taking the picture. Great food here.

Note the extensive options on the board for the bangers and mash.

Hi Guys,

I'm back from my trip to the UK. I returned on Thursday and am finally getting back to PST time. It's interesting that jetlag is a lot more ferocious when travelling eastbound. Westbound, you seem to adjust a lot more quickly. I didn't have any trouble adjusting to the time change either direction this time, especially regarding sleep patterns, but the fatigue is another matter. It is hard to understand how sitting down for 11 hours is so exhausting, but I hear it is a combination of the altitude and constant jet noise that wears you out. Whatever it is, its a small price to pay to be able to travel 5,371 miles to attend the biggest plastic model convention in the world.

Telford, a small town just Northwest of Birmingham, England, has been the home of the IPMS UK National Convention for the last 11 years. Before that, it was held for a number of years at the Donnington Exhibition Centre. Prior to that, it was held at Stoneleigh Agricultural Centre. As the show has grown, the venue has become bigger (and more civilized). The Telford Exhibition Centre is a modern building purpos designed for conventions. It is well lit and properly heated, with plenty of space for the show to continue to grow. There are hotels very nearby, although there seems to be a local ordinance preventing restaurants from operating! To get to any decent restaurants, you need to travel to nearby Shifnal.

A word about English food. There is a widely held perception that English food is bland and awful. That has not been my experience, especially in recent years. I had some really great food on this last trip. I had a terrific burger in a pub in Horsehay called the Station Inn.

It was a beef and grain mustard burger with melted cheese and onion chutney on a tomato focaccia bread. Sound bland to you? It was amazing. Had bangers and mash another night. A choice of 8 different savory sausages to choose from, 6 different flavored and spiced mashed potatoes, with a choice of 6 different sauces, all in a Yorkshire pudding. Damn good. England has some of the best Indian food anywhere. Also had a Donner kebab (the Turkish equivalent of a Greek Gyro) that was excellent, and the old standard of cod and chips.

The beer is also worth the trip. Again, the myth of warm beer needs busting. Beer is served cool, not ice cold. The Natives will tell you that the only reason you need to chill a beer to near freezing is to kill the taste! In fact, getting ice in drinks is very uncommon, and they look at you funny if you ask. The beer I drank was mostly from local breweries. Bitters and Ales mostly. Ranging from good to excellent, the best being a local brew made for the fall season called Scream. Sorry, couldn't tell you the name of the Brewery.

Anyway, while I was in England, I was the guests of my good Friends Robin and Linda Powell. I met Robin more than 12 years ago at Silicon Valley Scale modelers meeting in Milpitas, CA. Robin is a native of the UK, but was living in California for a number of years, and working in Silicon Valley. He is an avid and fearless builder, tackling the most complex vacform and resin kits, as well as the occasional scratchbuild or major conversion. We have been friends ever since. About 5-6 years ago, he moved back to the UK. He was kind enough to invite me to stay during my trip, and even took off a week from work to squire me around to museums. They are good friends and I really enjoyed my stay. On Saturday and Sunday night, we met up with my old friends Mike and Jan Belcher, of Belcher Bits fame for dinner. On Saturday night, we were also joined by another long time modelling friend Adrian Constable.

Some say that modelling is a solitary hobby. I disagree. The friendships I have made over the years from attending shows and meetings are one of the highlights of this hobby for me.

Thats enough for now. Part 2 will follow soon and i'll get down to discussing the show. Part 3 will cover some of my museum trips, where I took more than 1600 photos!

Happy modelling! Roy

It's alive! Alive, I tell you!!

2009-10-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. Well, I'm back after more than a month's absence. A lot has happened since my last post back in September. The secret project that I was alluding to suddenly had to get kicked into high gear. Everything else kind of fell to the wayside. The good news is that the project is finished and I think you will find that the wait will have been worth it.

The big news, if you haven't already guessed from the large image at the top of this post is... Barracuda Studios is expecting. A bouncing baby product line will be born on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 in Telford, England , at the Scale Modelworld, the IPMS/UK National Convention. Its name is BarracudaGraphs.

OK, enough baby metaphors... This new company is a division of Barracuda Studios, and will be publishing books and monographs on modelling related subjects... and possibly some other subjects, too! The first title has been completed and will be in hand and ready for sale at the Telford show in less than 3 weeks.

Here are the stats:

Flightline 1. de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW 1 and 2. Written by Roy Sutherland.

Containing 118 full color pages printed on high quality gloss stock, it features over 250 photos and illustrations, and measures 11.25" by 8.5" in a landscape format, so it will stay open on your model desk. The format is a close up photographic study of the Sea Vixen FAW 1 and 2, showing the entire airframe in great detail. There is a short history section written by noted Osprey author Chris Bucholtz, and supported by period photos of Sea Vixens in service. The in-depth captions reveal many little known details of the structure and systems.

I learned a lot about the beast writing the captions for this book. I had to do many hours of reading and study to be able to write reasonably intelligent captions. They reveal some interesting facts about the Sea Vixen. The rest of the interesting stuff I just made up.

OK, to clear the record: The Sea Vixen, in reality, is not a transforming robot named Migsmasher. Despite its unique design, it was not built using alien technology at Locale 86 of MISHMASH. This would be the British analog of Area 51, if such a thing existed, but it doesn't. So don't start nosing around, OK? The acronym stands for "Military Intelligence Special Handling - Most Awfully Secret, Hopefully". The radar system was also not based on the guts of a Kenmore kitchen microwave. Finally, the Observer was not placed next to the pilot (instead of behind him) so that he could serve him tea at 4 o clock. No truth to that one at all. That stuff did NOT make it into the book. Just the facts, ma'am.

By now you have come to know that I digress off into weird tangents from time to time, right? You still with me? Hello?

A number of these books will be for sale at the Telford show. The balance of the books will be available for sale a little later on, as rush shipping costs a LOT! I will let you know when they become available. Latest by early December, I would wager.

The BarracudaCals website is due for some minor changes. The main splash page will be changed from BarracudaCals to Barracuda Studios. From there you will be able to go to BarracudaCals to spend yourself into the poorhouse on decals, or to BarracudaGraphs to buy the new book. As far as seaching for the site, you can type in either BarracudaCals.com, BarracudaCast.com or BarracudaGraphs.com. It will take you to the same site. They are linked.

Well, that enough for now. I have a hungry teen that wants me to make dinner.

Can't promise that I'll be blogging regularly for the next few weeks. I have a lot to do to get ready for Telford, but I'll make an effort to post a few announcements about some new resin products that will be available for sale at Scale Modelworld before I leave.

Lots of exciting things to come.

Happy modelling! Roy

A Busy Week

2009-09-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Just a quick blog tonight. It's been a busy week for me. My son Cooper, now 15, started school on Monday. Turns out that this first week was testing for many of the classes. Cooper only has one class, and it is over by 11AM. So, between chauffeur and dad duties (OK, so I like to spend time with him!), the days have gone quickly. Next week returns to normal.

This week, I have been chasing the many details that need to happen now in order to get the new project up and running, so that "Product X" can debut on time in November at Scale Modelworld in the UK. This project has turned out to be more involved and complex than I originally thought. The good news is that after a lot of scrambling this week, I think I have gotten most everything rolling that needs to be rolling at this point.

Being a new venture, there is much to learn. So far so good. I am feeling confident that everything will go as planned, and that the deadlines will all be met.

On top of that, I am hoping to get the next batch of decals off to the printer shortly. For those who have been asking, yes, the P-40 sheets will be reduced to 1/48th and 1/72nd scales. New sheets will also be run, but I'm not ready to divulge them just yet. I would like to give you a hint about one of the subjects, but the thought of it makes the coarse hair on the back of my neck stand up. No hints.... nope. Not gonna do it!

Tonight, I am off to the Greasy Gourmet, to have a late dinner with some of my local modeling friends. I have not forgotten about the promised build article on the Spitfire HF VII. I will post the second installment by Saturday. "Sure you are! This is me holding my breath!" I can hear you all saying. Not that I blame you.

Back to work.

Happy modelling. Roy

Barracuda Studios moving in new directions!

2009-09-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Time for an update from Barracuda Studios. "Barracuda Studios?" you ask in an unnaturally high, slightly incredulous voice. You clear your throat, and then add, in a more natural tone (actually deeper than usual, to make up for the first somewhat squeaky utterance) "What's that?"

BarracudaCals is a product line of the company properly referred to as Barracuda Studios. This line of decals was launched back on December of 2008. Not content to let sleeping dogs lie (who are they lying to anyway, what are they lying about, and who would even hear them when they are sleeping?), we are expanding out horizons.

We are proud to announce a new line of resin detail sets, to be called BarracudaCast. They are not ready for sale yet, but will be soon.

Now, some will say "Why not stick with Cooper Details?" There are a number of reasons. Some are personal, some logistical, but the most important is to unify the product lines. I have spent many years establishing Cooper Details as a line synonymous with quality. I am proud of the line, but the time has come for a change. A new start. A new hope. Help me Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only...

Cooper Details is now BarracudaCast. BarracudaCast - Cooper Details. Hope that isn't too confusing. I will make sure that fact is covered in reviews until the new line is established. The line will launch in October some time, and will feature some of the old Cooper Details line, renumbered and in new packaging, as well as new sets. Watch the major modelling websites and our own website for announcements.

Pretty exciting, huh? No? Old news to you? OK, Mr. jaded modeler... well, here's something that you didn't know. Barracuda Studios will be launching yet another line at the UK Nationals in Telford. Get your tastebuds ready for BarracudaCandy! Yes, tender morsels of Blackfin Barracuda fillets covered in the finest Swiss dark chocolate and topped with coconut. Mmmmm... fish and chocolate. OK, that's not true. Or even the slightest bit appetizing.

The first release in this new line will be announced sometime in October, once I am sure it will be ready for the show. I am sure it will be an exciting addition to the growing world of BarracudaCrap for you to buy. I must be in a good mood. This entry is considerably more odd and sarcastic than most.

The UK show will feature the debut of a number of new resin sets from BarracudaCast, new decals from BarracudaCals, and the surprise launch of the new line. I'm looking forward to this show. Its always a lot of fun.

I now return you you to your regularly scheduled life, already in progress.

Happy modelling! Roy

PS. With a few simple clicks down in the Followers area in the right margin, you can become a follower . This only means that you will receive email notifications of new posts, and not that you have joined a strange cult where we chant strange incantations while wearing optivisors and drink decal setting solutions (don't try this at home... or at work or anywhere, really. It tastes really bad, and is probably not at all good for you).

Missing in Action

2009-08-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Its been awhile. Is there anyboy left out there?

The Nationals, for us in the cottage industry, are kind of like the Christmas rush for retailers. Its a time to hunker down and do everything you can to be ready for the onslaught of modelers with money burning a hole in their pockets.

The IPMS USA National Convention was held in in Columbus, Ohio this year from August 19th through the 23rd. With the current state of the economy, I was not expecting much from this show. Posts on various discussion groups about modellers cancelling at the last minute seemed to point to a quiet venue.

Nothing could be further from the truth. That's a strange statement. LOTS of things could be further from the truth. Politicians always have your best interests in mind. Hot chicks are turned on by guys who build models. You get my point. The show was jumping. Maybe jumping is not a good word for it. Some of these guys look like they haven't jumped since the Carter administration! Seriously, a great turnout, which was a very pleasant surprise. Despite some cancellations, all vendors tables were filled. Attendance was high, and guys were spending money, despite the tough times.

All in all, a great show. While there were a few hiccups, nothing ever goes perfectly, and the IPMS Columbus guys deserve a big thank you for hosting a great event. The model turnout, while not record breaking, was pretty impressive, with 2,525 model in the competition. Those kinds of numbers are what make the IPMS Nats the largest model contest in the world. While Scale Modelworld in the UK (BarracudaCals will be in attendance as a vendor again this year) is a considerably larger show, owing to the vast number of vendors and club display tables, their competition area is much smaller. They are both amazing shows, and you owe it to yourself to attend both at least once in your lifetime.

The above photo of the model room, taken by my good friend Lee Coll, illustrates two things: First, the vast quantity of models on display, and second, the somewhat... ahhh.. romantic lighting in the hall. It was one of the few disappointing aspects of the show. The lighting in the model room was poor. I mean bad. How could a convention center have such crappy lighting for a main room? It made judging very challenging, to put it tactfully.

More later. I am back. I have recovered from my trip at last. It took me almost 5 days to feel human again. It was a fun show, and I will post more images and recount some fascinating tales later today.

Happy modelling! Roy

Website Update and Big News!

2009-07-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

It's been awhile since my last post, but I have a very good excuse. OK. I have a good excuse. Well, it's an excuse, anyway.

I mentioned back on the 18th in a post entitled "Two for the price of one" that I was going to attend the EAA Airventure show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I just got back last night. Now, I did promise that I'd post from the show with some updates. That didn't happen, obviously... I was not able to work out the logistics of getting my phone linked to this Blog. I am not the most tech savvy guy in the world. Not to say I am some sort of Luddite. I have learned a lot. That said, my 15 year old son, Cooper, can do many more things with a computer and a phone than I can. He rolls his eyes when I ask him how to do this and that, but I pay attention when he shows me. Problem was that he has been in Italy, so I had to try and figure it out on my own. No luck.

I will report on EAA Airventure 2009 starting this weekend. It was a great show. More on this later.

Tonight, I want to update you on changes to the BarracudaCals website. John Heck, my webmaster of ceremonies, was sick with Pneumonia for a number of weeks and wound up in the Hospital for a full week with a collapsed lung. He was released last weekend, and has been home regaining his strength after a tough fight with a tough, yet very teeny, adversary. Tonight, he has spent some time updating and generally cleaning up the site.

Some of the changes:

1) New slogan. OK, its the old slogan from Cooper Details, but John wouldn't let me go with my first choice: "BarracudaCals: Decals That Suck*" then a disclaimer in small type down in the corner that reads: "* down over every detail". I think he thought it was a little too goofy. He's probably right, but it appeals to my strange Canadian sense of humor.

2) 3 New decals sheets. P-47 Thunderbolt Part 3 in 4 major scales. See the website for details. Note that while the 1/72 (includes 1/144 marking as well) and 1/48th sheets cover the same airplanes, the 1/32nd sheet features 1 common and 2 different aircraft. Details and images of all three sheets are now properly formatted. Thanks again to Chapman, who stepped in and helped me get the new sheets loaded to the website while John was ill. These are some great P-47s. The funny thing is, I found images of Schmaltzie from the 57th FG, and thought it was a nice looking airplane. It is a pretty much unknown subject, so I did not think it would be much of a draw. I was wrong. I have gotten a number of compliments on this subject. Its hard to say what makes one scheme a hit and others a miss. In most cases, you have a pretty good idea of what will sell. The rest of the time, it's a mystery, doncha know. Sorry, still on Midwestern time.

3) New resin detail sets coming soon. With the IPMS USA Nationals on the 20th of August in Dayton, Ohio racing up, I am finding myself more and more strapped for time. Not sure how many new sets will be available for sale, but I'll do my best. They will be available for sale on the website starting ASAP in September .

4) Big News! We here at BarracudaCals understand that these are tough times for just about everyone. Even Donald Trump has had to cut back. He now lights his cigars with 50 dollar bills. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has felt the pinch as well. Recently it was divulged that the positions of Sock Drawer Supervisor and Assistant Underwear Wrangler have been consolidated. Talk about having to make tough choices to keep the lights on. Anywaaaaaay...

We have analyzed our shipping costs and have made some changes to make ordering more attractive. We have reduced our shipping prices to all locations, and have added the option of free shipping as follows:

Orders from the USA: Free shipping for orders over $30 US dollars *
Orders from Canada and Mexico: Free shipping for orders over $35 US dollars *
Orders from Overseas: Free shipping for orders over $40 US dollars *

*Please note: Total reflects merchandise only. Shipping and tax do not count towards total cost to get free shipping.

The Shopping Cart will automatically calculate your shipping charges, (once you have added your products to the shopping cart and filled in your name and mailing address) including free shipping as listed above.

BTW, That is Ian Robertson's beautiful P-47D at the top of this post. It features BarracudaCals markings for 1st Lieutenant Frank Oiler's "Eileen" from the 84th FS. Note that this is his Razorback. We are the only decal company to have ever produced the markings for this airplane. These markings are now available in all 3 scales.

It is now 5AM here, and I am up working on this blog, and have been for awhile. I guess I have not adjusted back to left coast time yet. That's enough for now.

Happy modelling! Roy

New decals as promised.

2009-07-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

The big news is that there are new decals up on the BarracudaCals site and available for sale.

The new sheets are as follows:

BC72003 P-47 Thunderbolts Part 3
BC48003 P-47 Thunderbolts Part 3
BC32003 P-47 Thunderbolts Part 3

If you have not already figured it out, the prefix in the product number denotes the scale. 72003 being 1/72nd scale. 48003 being... say it with me... 1/48th scale. And so on.

A new feature started on the Spitfire sheet in 1/72 is the inclusion of markings in 1/144th scale at no extra cost. 72003 continues this newly established tradition, with markings for two of the Thunderbolts in 1/144th scale. These will go beautifully with the new Razorback and Bubbletop P-47s from Platz. Don't want the 1/144th scale markings? Sell them on Ebay for a million dollars... maybe more. Hey, it could happen.

I'm sorry about the image sizes on the website. My regular webmaster John is still quite ill, and needs all his strength to get better. In the meantime, My good friend Chapman has stepped into the breach and got the sheets up there and ready to sell. The image sizes will be adjusted later, once life returns somewhat to normal.

I love this batch of P-47 sheets, as it features one of my all time favorite P-47s, "Sleepy Jean III" from the 395th Fighter Squadron, 9th Air Force. That bold red nose flash and the spectacular pinup noseart, its a showstopper to my eye. There are two excellent color photos of this aircraft in Freeman's superb book "9th Air Force in Color".

The very popular Razorback scheme we did only in 1/32nd scale previously, Frank Oiler's "Eileen" in OD/NG, has now made it to 1/48th and 1/72nd scales. This aircraft has never been the subject of a decal sheet before in these scales. The Wasp artwork is beautifully drawn and printed, and the artwork on "Sleepy Jean III" "Boise Bee" and "Kansas Tornado" have been rendered as fully shaded, not printed in block colors. The quality of the noseart is very high, even in tiny 1/72nd scale.

The third option is a lesser known, but very colorful P-47 from the 57th FG. "Schmaltzie/ Mercedes" has also never been done in decal form before. The blue fuselage numbers and the 57th's red Fighting Cock badge, with yellow wing and tail bands make this stand out from the crowd.

In 1/32nd scale, "Sleepy Jean the Third" is joined by these much sought after Razorbacks - Howard Curran's"Kansas Tornado" and Duane Beeson's "Boise Bee".

You'd have to be crazy not to buy all three... in multiples. They make great Birthday, Labor Day, Halloween, and Christmas presents for relatives you don't much care for. "Here Uncle Dave... some model airplane decals for you" you'll say. Imagine their confusion when they don't even understand what the heck they are, or what they are for. Hilarity ensues as they try to pretend to be excited about this inappropriate gift. Just look at them and say "I was pretty sure you, more than anyone else I know, would appreciate these. Being that they were so expensive and non-refundable, I was crossing my fingers that you would not ask to return these to exchange them for something else, or some other selfish, jerky, cheapskate maneuver " Gotta love the holidays.

More decals are in the works. As a hint: our first US Navy sheets! New and cool subjects will be featured.

Gotta run.

Happy modelling! Roy

1/72nd Spitfire HF VII Build - Part 1

2009-07-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys.

Time for the first installment of the Spitfire HF VII build in 1/72nd scale.

The subject is MB820, coded ON-E. This aircraft was attached to 124 Squadron, and was flown by Flying Officer Barrit. On September 9th, 1943, Barrit was flying MB820 when he intercepted and shot down an FW-190A at 31,000 feet. How they got an FW-190 to fly at that altitude, I can't imagine. The Wurger had notoriously poor performance at higher altitudes, and was already losing performance at 25,000 feet, the altitude at which the US Daylight bomber formations usually flew.

September 9th was the day of Operation Starkey, the feigned invasion of Europe by the allied forces. It was, in reality, little more than an exercise. The plan was to make the Germans think the invasion, which was inevitable, had started, and that the landing was to be at Pas de Calais. Long story short; The Germans did not buy it, and barely reacted. In the long view, however, the operation did succeed on one important level. It convinced the German High Command that the Invasion, when it did come, would be at Pas de Calais... which of course was not the case. Even days into the Normandy Invasion, the Germans were still waiting for the main thrust of the forces to land at Pas de Calais. In your face, Nazi intelligence dudes!

Operation Starkey markings have always been a bit of a mystery . A number of attempts to represent them in artwork and model form have been made in the past, but until we came out with the Barracudacals Spitfire Mk IX Series Part 1 sheets in all 4 major scales, they have never been accurately represented, due to a lack of good information.

Apparently, we took a break from the slipshod and half baked research we usually do, as was alluded to (not specifically) in a pair of rambling, self congratulatory, online by-invitation-only (huh?) videos from a certain seemingly pantless manufacturer of vastly superior decals. All I can say is that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. People who who live in stone houses, shouldn't throw glass. People who live in concrete and steel houses can pretty much throw what they want, within reason, as long as they don't mind cleaning it up later. But seriously, building yourself up by running down the competition, while certainly not illegal, is just lacking in any kind of class. Our hobby is a very small world, and most of us aftermarket guys are friends, or at least treat each other with respect. Most of the time. Except that Obscureco guy... don't get me started about THAT necktie wearing weasel! :-)

Back to the topic at hand. Starkey markings. The key to unravelling the mystery was found in Chris Shores impressive 2nd Tactical Air Force volumes. That, and the 1.1 million dollar time machine I invented and patented... In volume 2 (IIRC) there is a official Ministry description of the application guidelines for the wing bands carried for this operation. As you will see, the black extends from the tips to a position on the wing where the chord is equal to 5 feet. Then, alternating 18" bands of white, black, white, and black. Ebony and Ivory...Living in perfect harmony. Unfortunately for us modelers, who love colorful and complex schemes, both the upper and lower roundels were to be overpainted when the bands were applied. You can leave yours uncovered, if you like. There is no proof that they were overpainted, but this one is going to be modeled compliant to the painting orders. The above diagram shows the upperwing roundels in place for those who want to show them unpainted-over.

Part 2 will follow shortly, and will deal with building, correcting, and converting the 1/72 Hasegawa Spit IX kit into an HF VII.

Happy modelling. Roy

Two for the price of one.

2009-07-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

I'm back, as promised.

This will just be a short blog... a bloguette, if you will.

The exciting news (for me anyway) is that I will be attending the EAA Airventure 2009 show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin from the 27th through the 30th of this month. My friend Gerald Voigt (of Hawkye Hobbies and Aeospace Modeller Magazine fame) has kindly agreed to let me sleep under his back porch during my stay. He will even allow me to use the hose! What a guy. Seriously, I will be staying with him and his family for the three days I will be there. I will have two full days at the show.

"Why should I care? What's in it for me?" you may be asking yourself. I thought you'd be happy for me. Well, OK, tell you what, if you are going to be that way about it, I'll post daily updates from the show, complete with pictures. Do you feel better now?

If I can make it work from my phone (and I will have to confer with Blogmaster Chapman about this), I should be able to post a few entries during the show. My cell has a 3.2 MP camera, so the images should not be the usual muddy, vague images people show you (Hey, your dog is cute! Oh, that's your wife?) on their phone.

That's it for now. If I start blogging twice a day, you guys will come to expect it. What gives? It's been 2 hours with no new blog from Roys Rants! What a rip!!

I have more news, but that will have to wait until next time.

Until then, happy modelling.

Roy

Kidnapped by aliens?

2009-07-18T11:39:00.001-07:00

OK, I had no intention of taking this long of a break from Roy's Rants. There are a number of things happening that have kept me otherwise occupied since my last fascinating installment.

There are lots of news and announcements to be made, so I will be blogging much more frequently over the next few weeks. Blogging... sounds like something I used to do after a party in which my consumption of spirits may have been a little... how shall we say... overzealous? Blog. Its whats for breakfast! Blog. Another stupid made up word to add to a dictionary already stuffed with ridiculous words like "jiggy" "fo schizzle" "Twitter" and "Octomom". Blog...

There has been an unforeseen delay in getting the new decal sheets up on the website. John, my webmaster extraordinaire, came down with Pneumonia more than a week and a half ago, and he is pretty sick. It looks unlikely that he will be able to work on the site in the near future. His health is far more important. He is a good friend, and I would ask you all to keep him in your thoughts while he recovers.

I will be looking into other avenues to get the decals up on the site. My knowledge of all things webby is limited to clicking on links and cursing the gods when they do not work properly.

I will be posting again later on today, with some exciting bloggy type news. Hopefully, I will also be able to resolve the issue of uploading the new sheets as well.

Happy modelling. Roy

Switching Gears

2009-07-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

The older you get, the faster time seems to pass. Hard to believe that its been 4 days since my last entry. At this moment, my son is on the airplane, and they are probably pulling back from the gate on their way to Italy. He will be gone for over 3 weeks, so the last few days have involved a lot of running around in order to get all the last minute details taken care of.

With all this now behind me, the push to get ready for the IPMS Nationals in Columbus will be the focus of my attention. There is a lot to be done, and as always, probably not enough time to do it all. The US and UK Nationals are like the Christmas season for us cottage industry types. We all run around madly, trying to have a bunch of new product ready for sale at the show. The last few weeks usually involve a bunch of overnight marathon sessions. Pale, haggard, and slightly stupefied. That's how I usually am the first day of the show. And the second...

Along with some new decals, the Columbus show will see the return of Cooper Details. For those of you who have never heard of Cooper Details, here's a quick overview to bring you up to speed.

Cooper Details is a brand I created and launched back in 1989 (20 years ago!). CD is a line of resin aftermarket detail sets for aircraft models. The focus was, still is, and will most likely remain, WWII aircraft, with an emphasis on British and German fighters. That is not to say that other eras and genres do not show up from time to time. CD and Medallion Models were pretty much the first ones to release complete resin cockpit upgrade sets. We both officially launched at the 1990 IPMS USA National Convention.

My first cockpit set was for the Spitfire in 1/72nd scale. It has actually started life as a product in 1988, but was not generally available until the company was officially launched at the show. As with most cottage industries, it started out because I wanted it for myself. My plan was to build a complete collection of production Spitfire variants in 1/72nd. Scratchbuilding a new cockpit each time did not make much sense. Making copies was the natural next step, but back in those day, casting in Urethane resin was still new to the hobby. It took months of experimentation to learn how to get decent copies. I the intervening years, resins have greatly improved, and much information is readily available on casting.

More on the history of Cooper Details in the next episode. I will also be featuring a progress report with images on my 1/72 Hasegawa Spitfire HF VII.

If you wish to be informed of new postings to this blog, please click on the follow button in the right hand column, and add your name to the list. Its quick and painless. Until then...

Happy modelling. Roy

2009-06-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone had a great weekend. It's Sunday night here, and I'm finally getting back to the computer after a few days away. This has turned out to be a very busy couple of weeks for me. The end of school for my son, Cooper, combined with his impending trip to Europe with a cultural exchange program, has had me running constantly, trying to get everything taken care of in time. On top of that, this is high season for his swim team.

Those of you who have teenage kids are most likely nodding knowingly right now. Those of you that don't have teenagers, I have one word of advice... vasectomy. I'm kidding of course. Really, I am. The rest of my time in the last few days has been taken up with filling orders, and getting new products ready to go.

This crush will be over on Thursday, as Cooper is off to the airport at oh-dark-thirty, as the saying goes, to comply with the new regulations that require you to be at the airport 17 hours before your flight leaves. This gives the security staff time to complete the CAT scans, DNA testing, and prefessional luggage ransacking required by the National Security Division of Unnecessary and Ridiculously Paranoid Travel Regulations. And that's just to park in the short term parking. If you want to FLY on an actual airplane, the testing gets much more rigorous and personal.

Being that the flight to Italy will be over 12 hours long, TWO bags of complimentary peanuts will be served as well as a complimentary beverage. No movies will be shown, but I understand that there are 6 viewmasters available per flight, and disks on How to Prepare for Y2K and The Wonders of BetaMax are free for the viewing. This is the Golden Age of flying my friends.

The only modelling related news today is that there is now a tab on the BarracudaCals website that takes you straight to this blog. That should help new readers to easily find it. Thanks to John for getting the link up and running.

I will be announcing the next three sheets at the end of this week. They should be available for sale by the middle of next week. I will be interested to see what you think.

More soon. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy modelling. Roy

More new decals coming soon.

2009-06-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

And by guys, I mean both men, women, and assorted other genders. All are welcome here. We have a "don't ask, don't tell, don't care as long as you buy something" policy here at BarracudaCals. Enough nonsense... for now.

BarracudaCals will be releasing 3 new decal sheets later next week. More new sheets are ready to go to the printer, and a backlog of new sheets is growing by the week. When I started working on ideas for BarracudaCals about a year ago, my primary concern was that I would run out of schemes to do. In the meantime, I have come across so many subjects that are crying out to be done, that I still find it hard to believe.

BarracudaCals will be in attendance at the IPMS USA National Convention this August in Columbus, Ohio. There will be some new decals launched at the show. I have some other surprises in store as well. This is a great show, and if you have never attended, I highly recommend that you give it a shot. It is an impressive spectacle. Over 2,000 built models in one room. Hundreds of Vendor tables, with a huge variety of goods to drain your bank account, are begging to be perused.

Best of all are the attendees. The hall will be overrun with people from all over who share the same passion as you. I look forward to attending each year, as I get to see many friends I have known for years. I also enjoy talking with customers new and old. I am always interested to hear what people have to say about BarracudaCals or even the hobby in general.

Now, I will be signing off. I am going to finish masking the wing stripes off on my 1/72 Hasegawa Spit HF VII. It will be finished in the Operation Starkey markings from the BarracudaCals Spitfire IX Series Part 1 sheet. I have decided (as painful as it may be) to show it with the upper wing roundels overpainted by the temporary wing bands. While not as pretty this way, it seems to me that for this very short lived Operation, they would have not bothered to carefully paint around the upperwing roundels. Of course, whatever I decide; after the model is finished, a photo will surface showing that what I had chosen was wrong. Isn't that what usually happens?

I will post pictures up of this project tomorrow. I hope to have it in the decalling stages by the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy modelling.

Roy

Welcome to Roys Rants!

2009-06-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys!

Until this afternoon, my only experience with blogging was in reading the occasional update by Chris Bucholtz from Obscureco. Thanks to my good friend Chapman, I have now been plunged into the world of blogging. Blame him! He sat me down on the phone this afternoon and walked me through the process of getting Roy's Rants set up.

I woke up this morning sick as a dog with some sort of nasty stomach virus. My son was sick on Sunday and 48 hours later, I came down with the same thing. My head was splitting the whole time Chapman was helping me get it set up. I just wanted to go and bury my face in my pillow, but he persisted. I'll be grateful later... My cell phone finally died, and I collapsed into a fitful sleep.

Now, it's the next morning, and I am feeling a lot better, but my headache still persists. Luckily, headaches are a rare occurence for me, but it does help me to grasp a small part of what my friend Mike Braun goes through with his severe migraines. I can't even imagine...

The upshot of all this is that, now, I have a blog. "There will eventually be some discussion of the hobby on this blog?" you may well be asking. Yes. It will deal with a number of various subjects. Plastic modelling, my company Barracuda Studios and the decal line BarracudaCals, Cooper Details, RAF and FAA aircraft, updates on my personal projects, and even 21st Century Toys and my 5 plus years with that company.

Welcome to my blog. You can count on updates every few days, as well as full daily coverage of the IPMS US National Convention from the show with pictures.

Happy modelling!

Roy