I am building a B25 J for a WWII vet (wish i had a better kit than Revell) in 1/48th. I need ideas for a landing strip. Thinking corrugated tin, but open for other thoughts. I would not have any idea how to build such a thing and fine with buying some pre made strip. Any ideas?
Like so many other WW II vets he has never spoken of his combat experience, but a distinguished flying cross hangs in his living room.
I think the time frame will depict what type of strip youll be needing. If youre talking about China, around the time the AVG was there, youll need a dirt airstrip. Ithink alot of airstrips in Burma were PSP (perforated steel planking) during the monsoon,the strips would turn into mud puddles without it. I guess youll have to figure out the time and place you want to depict. I think you can still purchase PSP PE parts from Eduard and I think Accurate Miniatures has a card stock representation of PSP. Hope this helped.
Len
You may want to check in over at the “Dioramas” forum and ask your construction questions, if you haven`t already. Lots of “sharpies” over there! Good luck…Len
A B-25J would be late war, way past the time period of the AVG. I suppose a web search for images of the CBI and B-25 keywords would help.
Yep…didnt catch the "J"...time to see the eye Doctor[8-|] Guess thatll narrow down the timeframe a little.
There’s a series of interesting questions here.
The first and by far most valuable is why it’s CBI? What did he tell you that led to that?
On the west end of the theater, places like Chabua in India were big established air force bases.
On the east end, places like Kunming in China were dirt airfields. But those were built by large forces of workers, of compacted dirt and rock and were not primitive.
Those fields in China didn’t have mats, because it was not effective to fly those in; rather use the local population to build good earthen runways.
About the B-25J; if you can get his unit we can find out the history. maybe they were ferried in in 1945 to strike from the west.
Last, just my two bits. I suggest you approach this from a sideways perspective, and be prepared to give it some time. Ask him what he liked most about his service, because usually what you want to know is what he liked least, and it’s what has given him bad dreams for 60 years. Who he remembers, who he helped. You’ll end up with a friend.
I’m sorry, I should have been clearer with my post.
Is one of my favorite online shops and they sell alot of basic base stuff, including metal looking groundwork for aircraft
Here was my solution to custom-sized PSP (Marston Matting) bases… In this case, a simple hardstand…
/forums/p/104507/1029674.aspx#1029674
Thanks to all that responded ! Really appreciate the help.
Thanks to who have responded. I am continually amazed by all of the great advice provided…