I had an idea for a GB for a long tme, but was hesitant to post it. What do you think? It would consist of building a fleet of 99 aircraft from 1980 to 1989. This was inspired by an article in a European modeling magazine (Scale Avaition Modeling International, June 2007 vol 13, issue 6). It linked a couple of models (Luftwaffe Tornados in 1/144th) with the song, “99 red ballons” which had the world plunged into world war 3 by 99 mysterious blips, the ballons of the title. One of the lines had, “ninety-nine knights of the air, ride super-high-tech jet fighters.” which is where my title origionates. This wouldn’t be a WWIII GB, more along the lines of a late Cold War. I’ve added the song here for those not familiar with it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14IRDDnEPR4
The GB would consist of getting everyone to sign up, and build aircraft in any scale from 1/48th to 1/144th. (No 1/350th carrier planes, sorry, unless I get desperate) Everyone should post how many they could build at max. Then, we’d split up the amount of builds per person so we can get 99 knights of the air. Crossovers are accepted and encouraged. I have to hammer out some more rules (and thanks to Gregers, Stikpusher, and Arki 30 for help in that regard), but would anyone be interested? To make this cost-friendly, 50 would be an ideal number, at 2 kits apiece. Please tell me if you are interested. Thanks.
Personally I love it, but I think it would best be expanded to any 80s NATO aircraft in theater to perhaps broaden the appeal. This also crosses over to another GB forming right now for a WWIII GB.
Alright. If anyone doesn’t know ths song, clicky. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14IRDDnEPR4 The reason for the German theme is Nena (the band) is German. I guess 80’s NATO would be fine. I’ll try to clarify my rules. I typed them late at night too… My bad.
May be a better idea would be for entrants to state how many they could build for this one?. I know I want to do two that would fit this one. If warsaw pact countries were included this would rise though (they were RED balloons ) A free air guitar delivered by the invisible woman to the first person to name the B side to the first release single of 99 red balloons ( I still have the original vinyl of this one. And boy did the female singer look hot in those leather jeans [:P] )
Probably a good Idea. I’ll see how many are interested, and if enough are, I’d live to start this one. I think I’ll open it to anything flown in the 80’s, as long as they are marked as such. Also, would braile scale be better (1/144th)? or divine (1/72nd)?
I’d say open choice re-scale. many modelers here only do 1/48th and it would be nice to have them aboard. I only do 1/72 and I know others prefer 1/144th, The Revell Hunters in this scale are superb. With the 80’s theme we have the last of the century series fighters, The obligatory F4 Phantom (One I have currently on the bench) Airfix are releasing their rather nice series of Canberra’s in 72 and 48th. The mighty Vulcan was still in service, The B52 of course was still guarding the peace. Loads to choose from. I’ll definitly go for one of the Super Mystere B2’s that were used as surface decoys at RAF Lakenheath in USAF marks. and something RAF too. Maybe a Hunter or a Phantom.
Thanks for your input, Gregers. Ok, I’ll open it to 1/48th and smaller. I don’t want to have 1/32nd stuff because it’s just so large and takes up so much time. Depending if I get more interest, this looks like a viable GB. Anyone, if you could do just 1 plane, it would help much. Crossovers should be fine too, because it gets even more planes in the mix.
I’m game… it will be something 1/48th… I have lots to choose from in the stash… and I am very much an old (but not very) Cold Warrior in my heart…[:-,]
Gregers, I really disliked the song after the first 5,000,000 times it was played. I still have nightmares about it. It was hot on the play list when it came out though. The 12" I still have is 99 Red Balloons A side and 99 Luft Balloons B side. “A” side in english and “B” side in German. As far as the 45 goes (man am I dating myself) I’m really not sure as I don’t have it. Even tried the web and couldn’t find it.[%-)] It’s been a while since I was stumpped on my 80’s music knowledge.[bow]
Sounds like we’re children of the same generation mate. Here’s a small clue, the Bside was in German but wasn’t 99 red balloons. I’ll post the answer later on. I like the sound of this G/B. Mig 21 v Starfighters time. I have a 21 to do on the build pile but it’s going to be the Israeli 007. I do have an ancient Airfix Starfighter someplace with Luftwaffe decals. I may dig that out for this build as it seems apropriate. Oh and iirc the range used to film the video may have been Sennelager.
I guess many of us are dating ourselves…whats next, seaplanes to the tune of Flock of Seagulls? I thought the german version of 99 was on the B side, all my 45s are long gone.
Anyways, back on track here… couple suggestions: lenght should be on the long side, to allow multiple builds… open scale… and maybe allow crossovers. Say, I can build one bird for the WW3 GB and another one exclusively for this one, end up with two? Also, maybe be more specific as to what birds are allowed…cold war, full span of years? problem maybe, some GBs already overlap this theme. A/c based on movies or books depicting WW3-type confrontations, a-la Red Storm Rising?
I am interested, depending on start date as my GB plate is currently full.
EDIT - here is another idea, after re-reading the excellent suggestions above. Dupes has a 251 halftrack GB in which all the variants are listed and members chose which one to build. What if you come up with a list of potential a/c and have people pick? Not sure if it would work, but the end product could be awesome… 99 different craft…
Allright it got awful quiet in here… I am narrowing down my choices to several Luftwaffe/USAFE/RAF subjects. I am curious for ordinance loads, particulary on LW F-104G/ F-4F aircraft… Does anyonehere have any good sites to steer me towrds. Web searches for pics of those a/c in general is turning them all up w/o weapons loadouts. It’s just not right to have unarmed knights…
Well, I would really love to host this thing, but I don’t think that there will be enough interest to get all 99 done. I’ll let this thread die out, but I will re-visit this one at a later time, hopefully with better results. HAve a great day, all!
) A free air guitar delivered by the invisible woman to the first person to name the B side to the first release single of 99 red balloons ( I still have the original vinyl of this one. And boy did the female singer look hot in those leather jeans [:P] )