Homepage Text - January 2005

Monday,  Jan 31  2005    

I'm baaaaack!!!  Things are getting back to normal and today is the beginning of regular daily updates.   I'd like to thank everyone for your support during this difficult time.  I'm doing well.


Steve Bridges joins us for the first time today.  This is the first installment of his excellent On line build of the new 1/32 Tamiya F-16CJ Fighting Falcon Part.1.  Twobobs has some new sheets available for this big Viper.  Welcome to ARC Steve!!!  


Gary Crocker joins us for the first time today.  These are Gary's 1/32 Williams Bros. Racers with a perfect high gloss bush painted finish.  I wish I knew how Gary does this.  Beautiful stuff!!!  Welcome to ARC Gary!!! 


Ercument Sarikaya joins us for the first time today.  I'm pleased to present his 1/68 Cardboard model Airbus 320-200.  I was impressed when I read his article and looked closer at his photos.  There is a fair amount of skill and effort that went into this Airbus model.  Welcome to ARC Ercument!!! 


Tomas Juriga joins us with his first article on ARC.  This is his highly detailed 1/48 Tamiya P-51D Mustang.  Tomas put a pile of effort into his mustang and I'm sure you'll enjoy seeing it.  Welcome to ARC Thomas!!! 


I have a review of the new 1/48 B-24 Liberated Chics Part 2 decal sheet from PYN-UP Decals This sheet features two B-24's with noseart.


I have a review of the 1/48 F-5B Royal Thai Air Force decal sheet from Siam Scale DecalsThis sheet features markings for 3 different Royal Thai Air Force F-5's including 2 in special anniversary schemes. 


Mark Kubes has sent in some S.P.A.D. XIII  walkaround photos.

Thursday,  Jan 27  2005      Russia  End of Leningrad blockade 

Wednesday,  Jan 26  2005         Australia Day         India Republic Day     

Murli Rajan begins today's special update with his 1/72 Italeri Mil Mi 35 Hind.  His Hind is finished in a colourful camo pattern, which I much prefer over the North American camo colours.   


Rupesh Santoshi is here with his first of 2 articles in honour of India.  First up is his 1/72 Eastern Express Mig 21-93.  He built this brightly coloured MiG for his wife.  In his article you'll find plenty of info about Indian MiG-21's.  Colour birds always look good.


David Thompson joins us from downunder to represent and honour Australia on it's special Day.  This is David's 1/72 Academy Korean Mustang done up in a bare metal finish with some gun powder weathering.


Murli Rajan is here with his second article today.  This is his 1/72 Academy Mig 23 which is the second kit he built.  Once again it sports one of those attractive Indian camo patterns.   


Rupesh Santoshi is here with his second article today.  This is his 1/72 Heller Dassault M.D. 450 "Ouragan" with a bare metal finish and some unique noseart.  Very nice indeed.  


Murli Rajan also has a prop article in Indian markings.  This is his  1/72 Italeri Douglas Dakota C-47 which is heavily weathered dirty old plane.  Well done Murli.  


Murli Rajan is also here with his 1/72 Tamiya Sepecat Jaguar.  Murli has provided a very enjoyable selection of some of the aircraft used by the Indian Air Force.  It's good to see some of the more modern jets used by the IAF.  


Murli Rajan ends today's update with his 1/72 T-72.  Although this is an armour model.....it is a T-72 with the Indian Armed Forces. 

Monday,  Jan 24  2005         

I arrived home late Sunday night after many hours of travel.  My Dad's funeral on Wednesday in the UK was a very warm, close service and my presence and Eulogy was of great comfort to my Mom.  I think I'll need one more week to sort through the many weeks of e-mails and begin putting content together for ARC and recover from Jet lag and most importantly....spend time with my wife and daughters.  I'm doing very well and look forward to getting ARC back on track. I will do a small update for Australia Day this Wednesday and will get the TPC back to normal starting today.   Thanks for all your support and patience everyone!!!  Steve B


Monday,  Jan 10  2005         

My Dad passed away peacefully on early Sunday morning with my Mom and myself by his side holding his hands, while I gave him constant verbal reassurance in his final moments that "everyone will be OK and he doesn't have to worry".  I will be flying home on Tuesday to the west coast of Canada from the UK to spend time with my wife and daughters....another family member from Europe will be taking my place by my Mom's side in the UK.  I will return to England on this Saturday after a few days of rest to assist and participate in the services for my Dad.  I will then return his ashes to Canada a few days later for a service at a later date in Canada among his children where he will finally be laid to rest.  I would like to thank everyone for your prayers and warm thoughts for my Dad......because of you, he was spared the majority of the cancer pain that we feared he would have had and his passing was peaceful and among his family.  I could not have asked for a more merciful and loving passing.  He will be missed by many people.  

Updates will continue, but first I need to take some time off to get my emotional balance and care for grieving members of my extended family and tend to affairs in the UK and Canada.  

On a more positive note.....I did catch up on the back-log of gallery archiving during quiet times during my stay in the UK and will upload all that work from my laptop to ARC once I get home to my high speed connection.


Nguyen Trong Duc joins us from Vietnam with his 1/32 Academy F-18.  Duc did his big Hornet as a US Navy bird with all the grimy weathering you'd see on the full sized plane.  Outstanding.


Evgeny Dedigurov is here with his 1/72 Zvezda Kamov KA-27 PS.  If this was a 1/48 scale model the detail would be very impressive....but this is 1/72 and the detail is amazingly well done.  Being Canadian......I enjoyed seeing the polar bear artwork on the side of the fuselage.


J.C. Bahr finishes today's update with his 1/72 AMT F-100F Wild Weasel.  J.C. has included some very interesting text in his article about the history of this type of aircraft.

Saturday,  Jan 8  2005

Dan's Mon-Key has left the building....Haz Mat crews have been called.


Friday,  Jan 7  2005       

Bamford has been wandering around London.....in search of pubs.  Today's weather forecast in England is "Cold and Damp and Windy".  Dan's Mon-Key


Alvis 3.1 has been busy with his Saulino Frapit Earwig.  This aircraft has quite the amusing future history in a war against the US. 


Jean is here with a selection of Egg Planes.  All of the egg planes in this article are quite amusing......including a WW1 Tri-plane.   


Wild Bill tells the tale of when he scammed a  1/32 scale F-18 from his girlfriend.  Read about his tiny 1/350 Trumpeter Wildcat and maybe you can use his trick to acquire an expensive kit from your girlfriend.  Bill's girlfriend eventually got a expensive ring from Bill.


John Green has his 1/72 Matchbox Starfighter F1 done up in an RAF scheme.  Rumour has it these planes didn't actually exist......but who can say. 

Thursday,  Jan 6  2005         

Today's weather forecast in England is "Damp and more cold".  Dan's Mon-Key


Jon Baniak begins today with his US Marine X-mas theme vehicle.  It is unknown at this time how successful this a new camo idea has been. 


Phil Peterson is here with some little known history of the IDAF Me-262 program.  Phil enhances his historical article with some photos of his 1/72 Israeli S-92.  IDAF officials have been unavailable for comment.


Todd 'Toad' Pomerleau is here with his Bluebird and the Pink lady made from the 1/72 Monogram SR-71s.  Yet another example of pink RAF recon aircraft. 


Alvis 3.1 finishes things off today with his Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate In French Service.  I have been unable to confirm the historical accuracy of this article.....but Alvis 3.1 assures me his research is accurate. 

Wednesday,  Jan 5  2005      

Bamford has discovered yet another pub.....  Today's weather forecast in England is "Cold and Damp".  Dan's Mon-Key


Wild Bill begins today with top secret photos of the latest designs from Boeing.   Some people would call this the Hasegawa ANA Eggplane, but I know better.....I can spot prototype design models when I see them.  Rumour has it that Airbus leaked this design to Boeing. 


John Green is very active building his amour.  Today he presents his 1/72 Hasegawa Wirbelwind.....yup....try to say Wirbelwind ten times quickly. 


Zdenko has let he creative side free and created his 1/35 Still Art.  Look carefully and you'll see a crashed plane on this south sea Isle. 


Andy Gudbergsson has an obsession with winter....he really should move north to Canada.  This is his German soldiers at the Russian front diorama.

Tuesday,  Jan 4  2005         Union of Myanmar Independence Day 

Today's weather forecast in England is "Cold and Damp".  Dan's Mon-Key


Joe Norris is here with his Elbonian Airforce Westland Wensleydale in 1/72 ESIW.  This model was built OOB and accurately show this very attractive aircraft.  Alvis 3.1 will be green with envy.


Andy Gudbergsson is here with his Germans on the move diorama.  If you're doing a winter diorama.....make sure the shadows are long.....very nice attention to detail


Mark Charlton is here with his alternate view of future events.  This is his Gulf War III - Saddam's Return The Director's Cut.....hummm....seems France and the US are buddies again. 


John Green has been busy building a tiny 1/43 K&R Replicas Escort RS2000.  Yikes....John installed the steering wheel on the wrong side!!!....oh....wait a minute...maybe not...... 

Monday,  Jan 3  2005     

Bamford has been seen doing his torch juggling act outside pubs for spare change in an effort to afford the prices of beer in England.   Today's weather forecast in England is "Cold and Damp".  Scotland got snow.....considering their weather....they may as well move to Canada.  Dan's Mon-Key


Alvis 3.1 begins today with a historical story about future events.  This is his ATARI: Saving Earth One Asteroid at a Time article, which details the value of video games. 


Mark Jahsan is here with his Nice Pair of 38's.  This particular aircraft design was used extensively in the European theatre and the Luftwaffe pilot's so feared it that they called it the "Triple Tailed Devil"


John Green is here with today's armour entry.  This is his 1/72 Revell King Tiger done up out of the box.   


Todd Pomerleau has been busy with his 1/48 Monogram F-14D and F-18....I'm not sure how you say "Tomcat" in German......but you can bet if is something long such as "stray male alley cat air superiority fighter jet". 

Sunday,  Jan 2  2005         

In an attempt to cut costs on Bamford's ARC Visa card..........I've held a few parties in the ARC corporate offices.....but Bamford's VISA card is now maxed out.  According to sources in England.....Bamford has been getting drunk each night and sleeping things off in the drunk tank at the local police station to save money on hotels.  Today's weather forecast in England is "Cold and Damp".  Dan's Mon-Key


Brady is here with his top secret story about the The Ilyushin IL-53V VikingskiAlvis 3.1 has been researching this story for over a year, including many interviews with exotic dancers in Moscow in attempts to collect top secret government information.  There's an Iranian connection.


Andy Gudbergsson was feeling too lazy to properly detail his Chevy truck diorama......so he built it without half the parts.  He also dropped the model more than once resulting in a dented roof.  His attempts to win a trophy in the out-of-the-box category have been unseccessful. 


John Green finishes things off today with his 1/72 Airfix Northrop Tiger IIThere will no doubt be a huge debate about the accuracy of this model  on the Hyperscale forums........but John sticks by his Beer enhanced research techniques at his local pub.

Saturday,  Jan 1  200   Cuba Anniversary of the Revolution 

 Haiti Independence Day                   Sudan Independence Day 

Operation Bodenplott  --  Luftwaffe attack against Allied Airfields (1945)

Bamford's away drinking himself silly in the land of endless rain......let the mayhem begin!!!  Today's weather forecast in England is "Cold and Damp".   Dan's Mon-Key


Alvis 3.1 kicks off silly Week with his Operation Kute Kitty: Progress Report.  Ever wonder what happens when I (Dan's Mon-key) design a Space shuttle?  Be afraid....be very afraid!!! 


Iwan Winarta is here with his The Black Dragon.  Quite a few of you will think this is a figure of your Mother-inlaw.  If you were superior like me you wouldn't have a mother-inlaw.....just chimp babes. 


Joe Norris has been busy with this conversion.  This is his 1/72 Blackburn Billingsgate FAA Night Dive Bomber RNAS Dynglebury in the fall of 1943.  My Stupid cousin Larry beleives everything Joe wrote in this article.