I did it! I’ve completed my most ambitious modeling project ever!
I started in October 2025, and was delayed 3 months by my wife’s elbow, but finished her off yesterday. As promised, here is a collection of photos from the completed dio. I’m a modeler, not a photographer, and my lack of photographic talent (some would say my modeling skills as well) is on full display. I did what I could.
The theme is set on a muddy Hollandia airfield, the day Bong last flew “Marge,” one mission before he broke Rickenbacker’s WW1 aerial victory record. Bong is about to fire up the engines to go strafe Japanese airfields. He is just waiting for the ground crew to finish buttoning up.
I couldn’t pin down an exact date for this flight, as the records are very fuzzy. We do know that Marge was lost April 24, 1944 while being piloted by Lt. Tom Malone due to mechanical failure, March 24, 1944. The kit victory decals are incorrect, necessitating me to trim it down to 24, which is what Bong had before breaking the record with 3 victories in a plane called “Down Beat” April 12, 1944.
All this is to say I made every effort to reflect the correct plane and circumstances depicted in the diorama. Any errors are my own, and it is what it is.
Thank you to all of you on the forum who have provided tips, encouragement, information, and kudos to me during this diorama build. You’re the best!
HAPPY MODELING!
Well done Mr B, well done! I am glad that you got to this finish!
I hope that your wifes elbow is doing beter?
My uncle Jim was stationed on New Guinea and did some time at Hollandia airfield as he was with the 865th engineer aviation battalion.
Thank you for sharing!
Happy Modeling,
Mike
Very nicely done mrb865, a truly worthy commemoration of such a flight.
It is indeed very rare to find the appropriate decals for a specific aircraft, especially speaking of WWII.
I must know since I did a similar diorama for my former father-in-law who was based in the Pacific as well and was a reconnaissance photographer aboard of a North American B-25 Mitchell.
I was seeking a 1/72 scale aircraft but at that time there were only 1/48 scale models of it. Now I do not remember to which group or squadron that particular aircraft was assigned, since so many years have passed since then, but I remember that in the end I had found some decals of a an aircraft that my father-in-law said were just some paces away from where he operated and therefore he was overjoyed to receive it as a birthday present anyway.
Of course I did do my research thoroughly and even found out how the Olive Drab color appeared under such weather conditions and even knew how much weathering through saline influx, sand and weather itself had on the plane.
What he remarked at first was how precise my depiction of that aircraft was and despite the “wrong” decals he told me that my model actually faithfully duplicated the one he flew in.
A better compliment I could never have received.
And indeed, I too had build a small diorama around it depicting some sand dunes and a couple of palm trees to the rear of the airfield, as well as a cracked concrete surface filled with subtle oil and fuel leaks on it.
He placed it at the center of the living room of his house and left it there for all to see. Of course under a plexiglass display case.
Unfortunately he died shortly afterwards, but I remember clearly his teary eyes filled with joy and gratitude when I handed him that tiny diorama.
My ex-wife, his daughter then just gave it away to a local model store as a display model for free since, as she said, she didn’t know what to do with it.
A real smack on the face and on the memory of her own father.
I will never forgive her for that.
But as I said, yours is worth keeping and display with pride and don’t let anyone handle it as a worthless object, because this tells a story, a story of so many men who sacrificed their lives for us to live in freedom.
No matter their names, no matter in which unit they served, fact is they served for a noble cause and no one has the right to diminish their memories, even if just represented in scale.
Patrick,
Thank you. Your story hit me right in the feels. I too have the utmost respect for all who served and endeavor to faithfully reproduce those moments in history that no one should ever forget. Your kind words have validated my effort, and my humblest thank you to you.
Mike
I get it! Cheers back at ya sir!