All this discussion about starting a group build has me thinking about taking the plunge myself.
I’ve been kicking around an idea called “Unarmed & Unafraid.” The theme would be military aircraft whose primary mission wasn’t dropping bombs or shooting at somebody—reconnaissance, observation, electronic warfare, airborne early warning, rescue, trainers, tankers, liaison aircraft, and anything else that fits the spirit of the idea. Any era, any country, any scale.
I even went so far as to make a badge, so I guess I may be getting serious about this!
If there’s enough interest, I’m thinking we could start in the fall or even Jan 2027 and run a full year.
I’m in - I have a collection of trainers I’ve been slowly building out that fits. How long would this run? And just and FYI 9/1 is a bit early. Maybe push out til next year - most folks have a plate full of builds lined up
I’m afraid all my kits in my stash shoot bullets or drop bombs.
I was toying with the idea of getting a JU 52 to replicate the plane from Where Eagle’s dare but got far too much to get finished.
Pity
Although this won’t widen the scope enough to cover my current stash, would you consider opening it up to other fields beyond aviation?
Artillery wins battles but logistics wins wars, and I suspect there is a massive untapped potential for your group build to include other unarmed contributors to battlefield success such as military trucks or merchant mariners… Unless you just want to stick to aviation, which is your absolute right to as the GB Master
Although this would give me an excuse to buy another model, I don’t trust myself to stick with it. I tend to bounce around to different projects way too much leaving some unfinished.
Great idea and subject matter, Samphoto! I have the Tamiya P-38F/G with the CMK set to convert the kit into a F-5A lined up for next year - so yes, I would participate …
That’s a great suggestion, Darren, and honestly one I hadn’t considered. I started with aircraft simply because that’s where my modeling interests tend to be, but there’s really no reason the idea needs to stop there.
I think anything whose primary military role fits the spirit of “Unarmed & Unafraid” should qualify—trucks, transports, merchant ships, reconnaissance vehicles, support equipment, rescue vehicles, and whatever else people can come up with. In fact, seeing what everyone interprets as fitting the theme might be half the fun.
So yes, let’s open it up. I think you just made the group build better.
I would be interested in this GB! I have a plane in the queue that would fit the theme. I also have a bunch of other recon and ELINT aircraft lurking in the stash, most of them weird.
Is that spherical radome thing in your revised GB badge the floating early warning platform that practically lives in Pearl Harbor? I see it here quite often, as if it gets homesick while stationed off Alaska. Too bad nobody does a kit of it, as it would make an interesting model.
Starting on 1/27 and running for one year sounds like the ideal time frame.
Good eye! I wish I could claim that was intentional. When I created the badge, that was simply meant to be a generic radar/early-warning installation and wasn’t based on any particular system.
Apparently I came up with something close enough to the real thing to get your attention!
Now you’ve got me curious about the one you’re seeing around Pearl Harbor. I’d love to hear more about it.
This looks cool, I may be interested but no guarantee. I don’t currently have any models in my stash fitting the criteria, but might end up buying a military truck or something… we’ll see.
Well there’s always more to be bought for your stash, so if it appeals to you at some point in the future, this will be running for a year I’m happy to have you.
