The Pylon - Western Reserve Modeler

The Pylon
May 2016
Vol 40, Issue 5
The newsletter of the Western Reserve Chapter of the
International Plastic Modelers Society
From the President
Next Meeting:
Sunday, May 15th
Euclid Public Library
631 E.222nd St.
1:15PM
To All Western Reserve members and friends,
Hope you all find the return of nice weather to your liking and hopefully you
can still find time to pursue your modeling projects. Let us know how you
liked our last "Build and BS" style meeting and if you have any suggestions
about future meetings like that.
I was reminded by one of our members that this year is the 40th
anniversary of our Western Reserve chapter. We are trying to come up
with some ways to celebrate our 40 years in being. Let us know any
suggestions you might have in this area.
What’s Inside:
Meeting Minutes
2
What the Heck?
3
Great Deal on
Modelling Books
4
What’s in a Name Germany
4
Family Hobby has closed in Medina and Dean Kohler has purchased all /
part of the the stock and fixtures of this store so we can expect to see an
opening / future activity on the west side. I will not be at our May meeting
as I will be attending a college graduation of one of my wife's grand
daughters in Virginia. Bring in any new or old builds and any new kits to
show.
Other Upcoming
Events
8
Hope you all have a good time at the meeting and I will see you when I get
back. The meeting is in the smaller Erie/Babbitt room this month.
Upcoming Events
9
Don Nehez
The Return of the Demo
It’s been quite a while since we’ve held a
seminar or demonstration but this month we
are starting what we hope will be a reoccuring
feature at the meetings. This month I will be
giving a demo on creating simple groundwork
for displaying your models. Be it purchased or
home built, a base with groundwork natural to
the subject can really improve the presentation
of the model. We’ll learn how to make them on
Sunday.
Kirk
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Meeting Minutes
Sunday the 17th marked the date for the April Western Reserve meeting.
This was our first build-and-bull type of meeting this year. We had 10
members show up including Jim Wentzel who I believe came to the
previous meeting. Jim is into larger scale aircraft models like 1:32nd scale
ones. It was good to see him again. After a long hiatus he told us that he
is slowly easing his way back into the hobby. Ted Bamber, our trusty
treasurer was on vacation but we'll see him again in May. Another face that
showed up last month was Gene Parker. A nice, friendly guy and good
modeler, it was good to see Gene! Hopefully we'll be seeing more of him at
our meetings.
Hugo fondly
remembers flying many
of the aircraft from
John’s “What’s in a
Name” article.
We skipped the usual old and new business. Nearly everyone who showed
up brought a kit or two to work on. Some members even enjoyed the
modeling atmosphere whether they worked on a model or not. This gave
them an opportunity to talk and hang out. I felt this meeting was successful
in two ways. For one thing it let everyone come in and work on their current
project and get some precious time in on it. The second thing was that by
not having to adhere to a usual schedule / regimen it gave people more
time to be able to socialize with each other.
That in itself to me was just as much fun as getting to work on
a kit. It's a time to find out that you may have a couple of
more things in common with each other. Other things
besides our usual passions of making models, military history,
aircraft and armor and cool cars. Since it was a build-and-bull
type of meeting we refrained from having our regular kit raffle.
But rest assured we will have the raffle again at the May
meeting.
We didn't have a lot of models on the table that day but Don
Nehez had a trifecta of armor kits that he brought in. All three
of them were in 1:48th scale and all of them were the classic,
vintage Bandai kits. One was a British Valentine tank, the
other was a German Elephant tank and the last one was a
Maultier halftrack.
For Modelers,
By Modelers
And that is a wrap! We'll
be seeing each other soon
enough on Sunda,y May
15th. While this upcoming
meeting is not a build-andbull type you can always
feel free to bring something
to work on. See you then!
Jon Hudak, Club Secretary
IPMS/Western Reserve Chapter
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The Pylon
What the Heck is That?
Last month the What the Heck? was the AMX-13 French Light Tank.
The AMX-13 was a light tank developed immediately after WWII. It
was designed to be an air-transportable paratrooper support vehicle
and was in production from 1952 to 1987. Because the chassis was
such a rugged and reliable design the AMX had over 100 different
variants and served more than 25 countries, a dozen of which still use
some version of the tank.
Light weight and compact design were high
priorities for the AMX and the use of an autoloading gun helped achieve these goals. The crew
was reduced to three and the size of the turret
decreased, which in turn lowered the weight and
profile of both the turret and the tank. Another
weight savings was in armor. The front was 40mm
(1.57”) thick and the sides only 20mm (.78”) thick.
While the gun was enough to compete with bigger
tanks a single shot from anything larger than small
arms fire could penetrate the hull.
The AMX-13 started off with a 75mm gun, but later
versions were armed with 90mm and 105mm guns.
One of the most interesting features of the AMX is
the oscillating turret and auto-loading gun. The
gun is fixed into the upper portion of the turret.
Changes in the gun’s elevation are done by rocking
the top part of the turret while the rotation of the gun is handled by the whole turret moving side to side.
The gun is an auto-loading design with two revolver-type feeders in the bustle at the back of the turret.
Each cylinder contains six shells and just like a revolver handgun the cylinders are rotated, a shell falls
into the breech, is fired and then the shell casing is ejected out the back of the turret and the opposite
cylinder loads the next shell. The advantage is a rapid firing of a dozen shots. The disadvantage to the
AMX’s small turret was that the reloading of the cylinders had to be done from outside the tank.
Generally working in pairs one would fire its load and then pull back to reload. The second would move
forward and provide cover as the gunner would get out of the turret and load the cylinders with shells
handed up through the crew hatch by the tank commander. Seems like a real unwieldy method to me
and exposes the crew to small arms fire, but judging by the 30 years of production and 50 years of use it
must be acceptable to the users.
During my research I found that two Dominican Republic AMXs were destroyed by US M-50 Ontos during
our invasion of the country in 1965. I bet that was an interesting battle.
Takom has recently released a series of this tank in 1/35 scale featuring at least three different versions,
and at around $40 they are quite reasonably priced.
This month we are heading to the skies.
IPMS/Western Reserve Chapter
The Pylon
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A Great Deal on Armor Modeling Books
Member Gene Parker came across a great deal on Adam
Wilder’s Adam’s Armour Modeling Guide, Vols 1 and 2, and
he’s passing those saving onto the club. Vol 1 features
Construction and Vol 2 is on Finishing and Weathering. Adam
spent five years working with Mig Jimenez and helped develop
many of the products and methods now sweeping the armor
scene. Amazon has the books for $49 each but Gene is selling
them for $40 a set. I’ve already got mine – highly
recommended. Contact Gene for a set of your own at
mmmgene@sbcglobal.net.
What’s in a Name?
Naming Aircraft of the WWII Era
By John Vitkus
Germany
This is the third installment of a multi-part series that looks into the names given to aircraft of the WWIIera. This time we look at the German approach to aircraft naming. As before, if you have any questions,
comments, corrections, or additions, let me know.
RLM Designations for German WWII Aircraft
1. Manufacturer Codes.
According to the Versailles Treaty, Germany was not allowed
to manufacture or operate military aircraft. Whatever
airplanes were designed and built in Germany were
ostensibly civilian in nature, and naming followed internal
company designations. Three examples are the Dornier Do J
Wal (Whale), the Udet U-12 Flamingo primary trainer and the
Junkers F.13 transport. Without a nationally coordinated
system, this could become confusing. For example, at one
time there were six separate “33” designs.
In 1933, the new Reichsluftfahrtministerium, or RLM
(Reichs = imperial, Luftfahrt = air travel, Ministerium =
ministry) laid out just such a system to cover all military
and civil aircraft designs. This system used a two-letter
code to denote the aircraft manufacturer (like Dornier’s
use of “Do”) followed by a unique number assigned to
each project. The codes used a capital letter and small
case letter, regardless of whether it stood for a single
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word (e.g., Do- for Dornier, He- for Heinkel) or multiple names/words (e.g., Fw- for Focke-Wulf and Bf- for
BFW [Bayerische Flugzeugwerke or Bavarian Airplane Works]). Exceptions to this rule were later made,
such as the Blohm & Voss BV-138 flying boat. Occasionally a designation would change to reflect a
change in leadership at a firm. The most famous such change was at BFW, which became
Messerschmitt AG in July, 1938 when Willy Messerschmitt took control. Officially, Messerschmitt designs
accepted while he worked for BFW are designated Bf- (Bf-108, Bf-109, Bf-110), whereas those accepted
later are designated Me- (Me-163, Me-210/410, Me-262, etc.), although in practice both Germans and
Allies would often refer to the earlier designs as Me-109s and Me-110s. Either is acceptable.
The following is a list of RLM Aircraft Manufacturer Codes:
Al- Albatros
Ao- AGO
Ar- Arado
As- Argus
Ba- Bachem
Bf- BFW (later Me- Messerschmitt)
Bü- Bücker
BV- Blohm & Voss
DFS- DFS
Do- Dornier
Fa- Focke-Achgelis
Fg- Flugtechnische Fertigungsgemeinschaft
Prag
(Prague Technical Aviation Manufacturing
Company)
Fh- Flugzeugwerke Halle (later Si- Siebel)
Fi- Fieseler
Fl- Flettner
Fw- Focke-Wulf
Go- Gotha
Ha- Hamburger (later BV- Blohm & Voss)
He- Heinkel
HM- Hirth Motoren
Ho- Horten
Hs- Henschel
Ju- Junkers
Kl- Klemm
Me- Messerschmitt
NR- Nagler-Rolz
Si- Siebel
Sk- Skoda-Kauba
So- Sombold
Ta- Focke-Wulf (to honor chief designer
Kurt Tank)
We- Weser
ZMe- Zeppelin/Messerschmitt
ZSo- Zeppelin/SNCASO
2. Design Numbers.
Sequential numbers followed these manufacturer codes.
Every project, no matter the manufacturer, was given its own
unique number. Numbers were typically assigned in blocks,
for example BFW received 108-110, Heinkel 111-119,
Henschel 121-130, and so on. Initially there was some effort
to coordinate the assigned numbers to the manufacturers’
own internal codes (e.g., Albatros L 101 to L 103 were
assigned the codes Al-101 to Al-103), respectively, and
occasionally designations overlapped (e.g., both Dornier and
Klemm had a model 20 project; Dornier was assigned Do-20
and the Klemm design allocated Kl-25), but overall it was a
very efficient system.
Sometimes a new design would take the code assigned to an
earlier, abandoned project, such as the Fi-103 (V-1) flying
bomb taking the previously abandoned Albatros Al-103. Often this was for security purposes, the
Germans believing (probably rightly) that an older, lower RLM number would generate less Allied interest
than a newer, higher number. Three famous examples are the Focke-Wulf Ta-152 (replacing a Klemm
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Kl-152 light fighter project), the Heinkel He-162
Volksjäger (People’s Fighter) replacing the
Messerschmitt Me-162 Jaguar light bomber
development of the Bf-110, and the Me-163 Komet
(Comet) rocket interceptor replacing Messerschmitt’s
original Me-163 STOL reconnaissance plane.
Finally, the RLM tried to assign major redesigns of
successful types a code with the same identifiable last
two digits of the original, but with new numbers in the
hundreds place, such as the Ju-88, -188, -288, -388 and
the Dornier Do-17, -217, -317 (Henschel was assigned
Hs-117 for their Smetterling [butterfly] surface-to-air missile.)
3. Variant Letters and Sub-variant Numbers.
Like the USAAF, the RLM coded major changes to an airframe, most often an engine change or major
airframe modifications, with a suffix letter. Smaller but still important changes were designated by a
number. As our example, we’ll look at Germany’s most produced aircraft, the BFW/Messerschmitt Bf109, which went through numerous design changes during its Luftwaffe career, from the Bf-109V1
prototype to the late war Bf-109K-4. (Postwar Czech and Spanish planes are beyond the scope of this
already overlong article.) Here are a few of the more important 109 variants:
Bf-109V1: Prototype (Versuchs) with Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine
Bf-109A: change to Jumo 210B engine
Bf-109C: delete engine-mounted MG and add two in wings
Bf-109E-1: change to DB 601 engine
Bf-109E-3: wing MGs replaced with 20mm cannon
Bf-109E-4: adopted squared-off canopy with pilot armor
Bf-109E-7: provision for drop tank installed
Bf-109F: major redesign -- changes in nose, wings, tail, armament
Bf-109G: upgrade to DB 605 engine
Bf-109G-6: cowl 7.92mm MG replaced with 13mm
Bf-109H: hi-altitude variant with increased wingspan
Bf-109K: mass standardization and further streamlining
Bf-109T: modified for Träger ([aircraft] carrier) use
Bf-109X: change to radial engine (P&W Twin Wasp, BMW 801)
Bf-109Z: Zwilling (twin): two airframes joined, like the later F-82 Twin Mustang
Less formally, aircraft were often called by the reporting alphabet name associated with their variant letter
code. This was most commonly seen on the Bf-109 “Emil” during the Battle of Britain and late-war Fw190D “Dora” variants. Here are the reporting names associated with some of the more popular WWII
aircraft:
Fw-190A “Anton”
Ju-87B “Berta”
Bf-110C “Cäsar”
Fw-190D “Dora”
Bf-109E “Emil”
Bf-109F “Friedrich”
Bf-109G “Gustav”
He-111H “Heinrich”
Do-217J “Julius”
Bf-109K “Kurfürst”
Do-17M “Marie”
Do-217N “Nikolas”
He-111P “Paula”
Ju-87R “Richard”
Ju-88S “Siegfried”
Ju-88T “Toni”
Do-17Z “Zeppelin”
IPMS/Western Reserve Chapter
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The Pylon
Popular Names.
Many German aircraft were given popular names, but this seemed to happen — very un-German-like —
in a random, haphazard way. The only regular systems I could recognize were those of Bücker and
Focke-Wulf.
Bücker named their trainers by level of pilot accomplishment:
Bü-131 Jungmann (Young Man [novice]) primary trainer
Bü-133 Jungmeister (Young Master) acrobatic trainer
Bü-180 Student ([university] Student) fighter trainer
Bü-181 Bestmann (Champion) advanced trainer
Bü-182 Kornett (Standard Bearer) fighter trainer
Focke-Wulf named their products after birds related to the
aircraft’s intended function.
A 17/21/29/38 series Möwe (Gull) passenger transport
Fw-44 Stieglitz (Goldfinch) primary trainer
Fw-56 Stösser (Bird of Prey) fighter
Fw-58 Weihe (Kite—a type of hawk) light bomber
Fw-187 Falke (Falcon) heavy fighter
Fw-189 Uhu (Eagle Owl) reconnaissance
Fw-190 Würger (Butcher Bird—a red-backed shrike)
fighter
Fw-200 Condor (Condor) long-distance transport
Between the wars, some aircraft received informal nicknames based on some design feature or intended
role.
Do-17 Fliegender Bleistift (Flying Pencil)
Ju-87 Stuka (Sturz = dive + Kampfflugzeug = bomber)
Ju-88 Schnellbomber (Fast Bomber)
Bf-110 Zerstörer (Destroyer)
He-111 Pik (Spade), referring to the shovel-like shape of
the wings
BV-138 Fliegende Holzschuh (Flying Clog) referring to
bulky hull
As in Japan, as the war progressed more patriotic names began to appear as an appeal to morale, much
in the spirit of renaming the Fi-103 and the Dornberger-Thiel A-4 as the V-1 and V-2, respectively, “V”
standing for Vergeltungswaffe (reprisal weapon):
He-162 Volksjäger (People’s Fighter), also Salamander
Ta-183 Huckebein (after Hans Huckebein, a troublemaking raven)
Ju-188 Rächer (Avenger)
Hs-217 Föhn (Spring Storm)
BV-246 Hagelkorn (Hailstone)
Me-262 Sturmvogel (Stormbird), also Schwalbe (Swallow)
Me-264 Amerika Bomber
Ba-349 Natter (Adder)
IPMS/Western Reserve Chapter
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Otherwise, the naming of German aircraft seems to have been based on some aircraft feature or
function:
Do-12 Libelle (Dragonfly)
Ju-52 Tante Ju (Auntie Ju—pronounced
“TAHN-tuh YOO”)
He-70 Blitz (Lightning)
He-72 Kadett (Cadet)
Fi-99 Jungtiger (Young Tiger)
Fi-103 (V-1) Kirschkern (Cherry Stone) or
Maikäfer (May Beetle)
Fh-104 Hallore (Citizens of Halle)
Bf-108 Taifun (Typhoon)
Hs-117 Schmetterling (Butterfly)
Ta-154 Moskito (Mosquito, built to combat
the RAF Mosquito)
Fi-156 Storch (Stork)
Bf-162 Jaguar (Jaguar)
Me-163 Komet (Comet)
He-177 Greif (Griffon)
Ao-192 Kurier (Courier)
Si-202 Hummel (Bumblebee)
He-219 Uhu (Eagle Owl)
BV-222 Wiking (Viking)
Fa-223 Drache (Dragon)
Ar-234 Blitz (Lightning)
Fi-253 Spatz (Sparrow)
Fa-266 Hornisse (Hornet)
Fl-282 Kolibri (Hummingbird)
Ju-290 Seeadler (Sea Eagle)
Ju-322 Mammut (Mammoth)
Me-323 Gigant (Giant)
Fa-330 Bachstelze (Wagtail, a European
thrush)
Do-335 Pfeil (Arrow)
Ju-352 Herkules (Hercules)
Me-410 Hornisse (Hornet)
References:




Betteridge, Harold T. and Breul, Karl (Eds.), Cassell’s German Dictionary. MacMillan Publishing Co.,
New York, 1958/1977.
Griehl, Manfred. Focke-Wulf seit 1925. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, 2009.
Wood, Tony and Gunston, Bill. Hitler’s Luftwaffe. Salamander Books/Crescent Books, New York, 1977.
Wikipedia
More Upcoming Events
Below is a list of auto and military themed events coming up in the area and Ohio. You can find more
info through the links included or by searching online. Thanks to Dave Virant for the list.
May 20 - 22, 2016: Findlay, OH -- 29th Armed Forces Day Celebration at Hancock Co. Fairgrounds.
Military Vehicle show and Swap Meet. For more info: www.findlaymilitaryshow.org,
June 6, 2016: Mount Vernon, OH -- Knox County Airport D-Day Event, 10am to 4pm.
www.facebook.com/knoxcountyddayevent
June 9 - 13, 2016: Urbana, OH -- Vietnam Wall @ Grimes Field. OMP members invited to participate.
For more info. http://www.themovingwall.org
June 10 - 11, 2016: Wilmington, OH -- OVMS 400 Table Militaria Show. Roberts Centre, Hosted by
Ohio Valley Military Society, Inc., P.O. Box 30436, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230-0436. Contact: 513.245.9540
or ovms@fuse.net or see www.sosovms.com.
June 18 – 19, 2016: Dayton, OH – Annual Airshow
IPMS/Western Reserve Chapter
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The Pylon
July 16 - 17, 2016: Toledo, OH – Annual Airshow
August 20 – 21, 2016: Ypsilanti, MI -- Thunder Over Michigan Airshow.
http://www.yankeeairmuseum.org/airshow/performers/
August 27 – 28, 2016: Port Clinton, OH -- Port Clinton Airshow. http://www.rcwarbirdsopc.com/
September 3 thru 5, 2106: Cleveland, OH -- Cleveland Airshow at Burke Lakefront Airport
Keep in mind that if you learn of an event that might be of interest to the rest of the club such as an
airshow, car show, military display or the like please let me know and I’ll get it into the newsletter.
IPMS/Western Reserve Chapter
Upcoming Events
Western Reserve
Officers
Western Reserve Meetings and Events
May 15, 2016
General meeting at Euclid Library – Seminar on
groundwork
Jun 18, 2016
General meeting at Euclid Library – Quarterly contest:
theme of “Battle of Midway”
Jul 16, 2016*
General meeting at Euclid Library – Build and BS
meeting – bring a kit to work on
Aug 20, 2016*
General meeting at Euclid Library – Seminar on
something interesting
President
Don Nehez
(440) 255-6456
don_nehez@hotmail.com
Vice President
John Camper
(440) 375-0007
Campers3@roadrunner.com
Secretary
Jon Hudak
(216) 351-6086
F4U2636@sbcglobal.net
*Note: Dates dependent upon library approval
IPMS and Regional Events
For any show listed go to the IPMS/USA Upcoming Events page for more
information, or if you don’t have web access contact Kirk Ballash
Treasurer
May 21, 2016
MMCL Annual Invitational – Louisville, KY
Ted Bamber
(440) 946-5881
Belfast1947@yahoo.com
Jun 4-5, 2016
Wonderfest – Louisville, KY
Jun 11, 2016
Mayfield Village Classic Car Cruise-In – Wilson Mills Rd
closed with several hundred cars; 6:00PM to 10:00PM
Jun 18, 2016
Willoughby Classic Car Cruise-In – Downtown streets
closed with a couple hundred cars; 4:00PM to 11:00PM
Aug 3-6, 2016
IPMS/USA National Convention – Columbia, SC
Sep 17, 2016
Dayton Area Plastic Modelers – Dayton, OH
Sep 17, 2016
SVASMCON 32 – Sharon, PA
Oct 1, 2016
Livonia Can-Am International Challenge – Livonia, MI
Oct 8, 2016
Cincinnati Scale Modelers – Cincinnati, OH
Oct 9, 2016
Lorain County Swap and Bull – Westlake, OH
Nov 6, 2016
Cleveland Model Show 20 – Kirtland, OH
Chapter Contact
Newsletter Editor
Kirk Ballash
(440) 946-8074
Kapitan219@aol.com
Visit us on the Web!
See us at:
www.westernreservemodeleripms.org
and at
www.ipmsusa.org
2016
The International Plastic
Modelers Society is
dedicated to promoting the
hobby of plastic modeling
through meetings, demos,
seminars, conventions,
contests and most
importantly through
friendship and enjoyment of
the hobby.
Visit us on the web at
www.ipmsusa.org or join,
either online or with the form
at right and enjoy the full
color magazine, discussion
forums and vast knowledge
and experience to help you
enjoy the hobby to the
fullest.
Jan xx, 2016
Wright Field Scale Modelers Retreat – Dayton, OH
Jan xx, 2016
Shenango Valley free Swap Meet - Sharon, PA
Feb 6, 2016
Mid-Michigan Modelers 31st Annual Show – Bay City, MI
Feb xx, 2016
Blizzcon Annual Show – Columbus, OH
Mar xx, 2016
Roscoe Turner Annual Show – Indianapolis, IN
Mar xx, 2016
Three Rivers TriCon Annual Show – Pittsburgh, PA
Apr 8-9, 2016
Region IV Convention hosted by Wright Field Scale
Modelers – Dayton, OH
Apr xx, 2016
BuffCon 32 – Cheektowaga (Buffalo), NY
Apr xx, 2016
Lorain County Show – Westlake, OH
Apr 30, 2016
Toledo Annual Show – Toledo, OH
May xx, 2016
SEMMEX Annual Show – Detroit, MI
May 21, 2016
MMCL Annual Invitational – Louisville, KY
May xx, 2016
Wonderfest – Louisville, KY