Many of us in the scale modeling world are familiar with the movie "Always", which stars Richard Dreyfuss, John Goodman, and Holly Hunter. "Always" is a remake of the 1943 movie "A Guy Named Joe".
In the movie, Dreyfuss and Goodman play hotshot firebomber pilots. Dreyfuss ("Pete" in the movie) flies a modified B-26C "Invader", and Goodman ("Al" in the movie) flies a modified PBY-5A "Catalina".
I won't go into a synopsis of the plot here...there are plenty of sites on the Internet for that purpose. Suffice it to say, that while the plot is typical Hollywood, the flying scenes are great, right from the opening scene. From the time that I first saw this movie, and saw that radically cool "Fire Eaters" nose art on the B-26 and the PBY, I have wanted to build a scale model of these aircraft.
I am a firefighter by profession, and have been a scale modeler since about 1986. One thing that I have always felt was lacking in scale modeling was dedicated kits of firebombers, especially the scale that I build in which is 1/48. There exists a number of aftermarket accessories and conversions, and those will be listed elsewhere in this website.
Back in March of 2003, I asked a question on the scale modeling forum "Hyperscale", regarding who owned the "Fire Eaters" planes that I had seen in the movie. I got several responses which pointed me to 'Lynch Tankers of Montana', located in Billings. Further responses gave me the name of the owner, Denny Lynch. Armed with this information, I began making some phone calls to Billings, Montana. 'Lynch Tankers of Montana' has been re-named 'Edwards Jet Center'. However, in talking with the receptionist who answered the phone, I was able to obtain the home phone number of Denny Lynch.
In my initial conversation with Denny, I quickly picked up on the fact that he's a really great guy! He was also more than willing to help me in my research by providing pictures of one of his "Always" planes, a B-26 designated 'Tanker 59'. To make a long story short, in June I sent Denny a 36-exposure roll of 35mm film for him to take the pictures, along with a priority postage-paid return box for the film cartridge. I recieved that film cartridge back in mid-July. A trip to the 1-Hour Photo Lab at the local Wal-Mart here in College Place, Washington, produced the prints, as well as the images burned to a CD-ROM.
When I posted my initial note on Hyperscale, regarding my intentions to research these planes, I counted a total of 51 responses, both via the discussion board and via direct email, expressing interest in pictures and decals of the B-26.
Talk about getting stoked...now I was on a mission!
During one of my progress updates, I asked the half-joking, half-pleading question of who was going to tackle the research on the PBY from the movie. And it got better from there- shortly afterward, Terry Moore emailed me to say that he could get pictures of the "Always" PBY firebomber, and wanted to know if I was interested.
Hey, is a lawn green? I shot an email back to Terry, and he said that he would get some pictures and send them my way. Then an idea began to form in my mind. I emailed him back with a proposal, and out of that came the beginnings of this website. Terry and I were going to do the "Always" aircraft as a joint project, with Terry handling the PBY and me handling the B-26. I figured that it would pretty much stop there...just a small website dedicated to the two "Always" planes.
Yeeaahhh....RIGHT!!!
Mike Idacavage emailed me right about then, saying that he had some pictures of a B-17 firebomber "Lady Yucca". He wanted to know if I was interested in posting pictures of this aircraft as well. I thought "Sure, why not?" Then an idea began to form in my mind. I started to think of expanding the original concept, and creating a website dedicated to the scale modeling of all different types of firefighting aircraft. So, I posted a note on Hyperscale to that effect, asking what people thought. I wanted to know if it was a viable idea, and if people would be interested in a website like this.
VIABLE??? INTERESTED??? You should have seen it!! All of a sudden, the lid totally blew off on the project! I was getting literally deluged with emails from many different people, offering pictures, information, ideas, and all other manner of support including cheering me on in the endeavor. At one point, I was getting about 40 emails per day regarding firebombers and the website. It got to the point where I was cowering and whimpering in the corner, afraid to go near the computer, let alone my email! Well, okay, I wasn't REALLY wimpering or cowering...LOL! But it was great! I sensed that I had hit on a nerve in the scale modeling community, that there were many others out there who are interested in modeling scale firebombers, and wanted a website like this too.
Then I got to the point of trying to figure out what to name the website. Then I got another idea...why not hold a name contest for the site within the scale modeling community? So in August 2003, that is exactly what I did. I went on Hyperscale again, and announced the contest. In short, I received 30+ submissions for names. After taking submissions for two weeks, I then announced that it was time to vote on the names. Jim Rice ended up being the winner of the contest, and his submission, "scalefirebombers.com" became the name of the website. As a prize for winning the contest, I sent Jim a factory-sealed 1/48 scale Pro-Modeler A-26B "Invader".
So, there you have it. From a small website started by Terry, Mike, and I, this has grown beyond anything that I envisioned this to be at the outset of the project. Oh, and besides the aircraft, I will also be adding in pictures of ground equipment like the retardant mixing tanks (for those among us who like to do dioramas). To say I'm having fun with this, would be as much of an understatement as saying "kids like to eat candy".
So browse the site, and if any of you who visit here have any suggestions, additional information, or general comments, feel free to email me direct. I mean, I could keep on writing about how much fun I've had in all this, but you came here to see pictures- I don't want you to fall asleep before you see what you came here to see! :)
Regards,
Dan Farnham
webmaster@scalefirebombers.com