What's New!

October 13th and 14th, 2007
Hi all!
I have the belated "Nats Update" for you today. First up, here's pictures of the four models that were entered at the IPMS/USA 2007 Nationals, held back in August in Orange County, California- (Click on each picture for a larger view)

Many thanks to Tom for taking these pictures and sending them to me- he was in effect our "Scale Firebombers.com correspondent" for the event...LOL! :)
The winner of the award for "Best Firefighting Aircraft" went to Tim Bradley of Seattle, Washington, for his OV-10 'Bronco' spotter plane. Congratulations Tim! Of the other three models, the B-17 and TBM were both built by Terry Moore, also of Seattle, Washington. As for the PBY, I haven't yet found out who built this one- if anyone has any information on how I can contact the builder of this model, please let me know, as I'd like to add it to the Model gallery here on the website!
I'd also like to extend a VERY heartfelt "THANKS!!" to the staff of the Nationals event, for working with me so kindly and helping me with the judging for this category. Once I explained to them that I live out here on Kwajalein, and was not able to make it to the show, they practically fell all over themselves to help me out, and get a judge lined up for me, so I'd have no worries. THANKS GUYS!!!
I have one additional item for today, and that is additional pictures of Terry Moore's B-17 entry! Prior to heading south for the show, Terry emailed me a full description of his project, as well as six images of his stunning model. You can see all his images, and his project description, on page 4 of the Model gallery.
Also, a correction- on my last update, I posted pics of an S-70 that I credited to "Jim Ruehle"...it's actually JON Ruehle. Sorry about that, Jon, and thanks for the email pointing that out so I could get it corrected! :)
Finally, a few comments regarding updates to this website- I know that many of you wish that updates were more frequent, than they have been over the past two years. Rest assured, I am working on a solution to that. One of the members of the SIG Chat board has stepped forward with an offer to help out with updates to the site. Currently, I'm working on coordinating that with him. I won't mention his name for now, so as not to accidentally put any pressure on him. Once he's up to speed on HTML basics, he'll begin to post updates to the site as well. I have a tremendous amount going on out here at Kwajalein, and his help in updating the site will be most welcomed! More to come on that as it develops.
That's all for now. More to come when I get a chance.
Cheers all! :)
Dan
July 17th and 18th, 2007

Hi all! First off, in case you don't know it yet, I am sponsoring the "Best Firefighting Aircraft" special award at the upcoming IPMS/USA 2007 Nationals, in Orange County, California. For more information, visit the show website.
Today's update includes an addition to one of the pages in the Aircraft section, a new model for the Gallery, and some new links. So, here it is-
Jon Ruehle has sent in a complete walk-around of a S-70A 'Firehawk' that was on layover in Houston, Texas in November of 2006. Jon sent us 50 pictures, and they are posted to the S-70 page in the Aircraft section.
Jim Court has sent in three pictures of another PBY-5A 'Catalina' firebomber model that he built. This one is definitely unusual, so be sure to check it out! It's on Page 4 of the Model Gallery.
I've created a new section on the Links page called "Aerial Firefighting Galleries". Three new links to sites with aerial firefighting pictures are posted there. The new sites include Aerial Fire Fighting, Wild Fire.com, and Fire Pirates.com.
And finally, I've created a new section on the chat board, called the "Crew Lounge". Check it out, and be sure to read the rules before posting there.
That's it for now. As always, more to come!
Cheers all! :)
Dan

June 1st and 2nd, 2007

Hi all!
I have a short, but great update today. I've added pictures of four new models to page 4 of the Model Gallery, and they are-
an OV-10 lead plane, sent in by Tony Horton.
a XP-67 'Moonbat' lead plane, sent in by Terry Moore.
and Brian Creager has sent in pictures of a P-3 and C-119.
As always, more to come!
Cheers all! :)
Dan
February 26th and 27th, 2007
Hi all!
Today's update is a sizeable one...it's been a while since I've updated the site, so I've been working on a big one for this update. Much of that has to do with the fact that on Kwajalein, the internet access is dial-up, and not very reliable at times. That makes it difficult to get any new updates done to the site, plus the fact of my work schedule and other factors.
I'm actually doing this update from my hotel room in Honolulu- it's the evening of the 25th, and I'm on my way back to Kwajalein in the morning. I've been on vacation in the U.S. for the past three weeks, and tonight I'm "celebrating" my last use of a high-speed internet connection for at least a year, by doing a large update to this website. :) But enough of my blabbering...let's get to what you all REALLY want to see!
First up, I've got two new models for the Gallery-
Aaron Woods has sent in a picture of his TBF 'Avenger' in the markings of Sis-Q Flying Service. His model is on Page 3 of the Model Gallery.
Michel Leonardi has sent in three pictures of his Be-12P-200, and it's the first entry on Page 4 of the Model Gallery.
I've created two brand-new aircraft pages in the Aircraft section, and they are-
Beriev Be-12- kit information, two color profiles, and one picture start off this new page. The picture was sent in by Andrew Salnikov, as was one of the color profiles. The other color profile was sent in by Mark Rolfe.
Bell 47- this page has kit information, and four pictures sent in by John Grybna.
The following pages have new pictures and/or information added to them-
C-119 page- 38 new pictures, sent in by Jay Sherlock
TBM/TBF page- 6 new pictures, sent in by Bruno Vanclee
F7F page- 1 new picture, sent in by Bruno Vanclee
PV2 page- 1 new picture, sent in by Bruno Vanclee
F-15 page- 1 new picture, sent in by Bruno Vanclee
AF-2 page- 21 new pictures, sent in by Jerry Wells
PBY page- 13 new pictures, sent in by Michel Lozares
PB4Y page- 35 new pictures, sent in by Richard Stoker
CL-215 page- 8 new pictures, sent in by Richard Stoker
P2V page- 19 new pictures, sent in by Pat Murphy
C-97 page- 13 new pictures, sent in by Richard Stoker
UH-1 page- 6 new pictures, sent in by Mike Evans
DC-10 page- 2 new pictures, sent in by Mike Evans
PT-17 page- 1 new picture, sent in by Mike Walsh
DHC-6 page- 3 new pictures, sent in by Ben Hinkle
A/B-26 page- updated kit information, sent in by Tarja Tuomainen. Also 3 new pictures, sent in by Richard Stoker
And last, but definitely not least, Bob Rogers sent me articles for the CL-215 and the DC-6. These articles were originally published in the IPMS-Canada and the IPMS-USA newsletters. Both have graciously given Bob permission to send the articles in for publication on this website, and many, many thanks to IPMS Canada and USA for allowing those articles to be published here! And many thanks to Bob for both getting the permission, and sending me the articles!
The article on the CL-215 is broken down into four parts, to make it a little easier for dial-up users (thanks again to Bob!)...you'll be able to download the entire article in segments. The DC-6 article is intact, as it's not a very big file by comparison to the CL-215 article.
The articles are in .pdf format, so the best thing to do is right-click the links, and select "Save As", and save them to your computer. I've listed the size of the articles in megabytes next to the links, so you'll know about how long it will take to download them.
And that's it for today's update. No, it's not going to be a year before I update the site again, nor will it be another three months...LOL! :) I'll update it again as soon as I can. I want to get on a schedule where I'm updating the site on a weekly basis- we'll see how it goes. As always, more to come!
Cheers all! :)
Dan

November 21st and 22nd, 2006
Hi all!
Today's update is one new entry in the Model Gallery. Travis Chalmers has sent in several pictures of his A-26C 'Invader', which is done up in Airspray colors. Travis included a full write-up of his project, as well as several in-progress photos. They are all posted on Page 3 of the Model Gallery.
As always, more to come!
Cheers all! :)
Dan

November 17th and 18th, 2006
Hi all!
Today's update is a short one. I have posted four new models for the Model Gallery, and they are all on Page 3. Here they are-
Ken Miller has sent in a picture of his A-10 'Firehog'. His model represents a proposal by "Firehogs" to convert surplus military A-10's to civilian firebombers.
Rod Churchill has sent in pictures of his CL-215 and CL-415 models. The 215 is in the colors of Tanker 39, from France's Securite Civile. The 415 is in the Newfoundland "peas and carrots" scheme.
And last but not least, Stephen Lucianetti has sent in pictures of his A-26 'Invader'. His model is in the colors of Airspray, with custom nose art that Stephen did on his computer.
And that's it for today's update. I'm still working on some of the issues I mentioned in the last update, as I can get the time. As always, more to come!
Cheers! :)
Dan

September 27, 2006
Hi all!
I have new pictures for three aircraft pages, and one of the ground equipment pages. Plus, a new model for the Models section. The new items are as follows-
Mike Walsh has sent in four pictures of his recently-completed DC-6B model, and I've posted those pictures on Page 3 of the Model Gallery.
Richard Stoker has sent in 11 new pictures for the CL-215 page, and 16 new pictures for the PBY page. Both of these aircraft are in the Newfoundland "peas and carrots" scheme.
Louis Hoeniger has sent in four new pictures for the PBY page. The pictures are of one of Airborne Fire Attack's all-red planes.
Phil Peterson has sent in 11 pictures of the U.S. Forest Service's BT-13 'Turbo Dak'.
And last but not least, John Gryba has sent in nine pictures of the ground equipment at the Whitehorse, Yukon, air tanker base.
Also, Justin sent in some comments on the 1/72 scale Airfix O-1 kit, and I've posted his comments on the O-1 page. I've also added a link to the homepage for Buffalo Airways on the DC-4 page.
On a couple of different notes, I'm working on restoring the hit counters for all the aircraft pages. A few weeks ago, they disappeared for some reason. This is rather unfortunate, as I have no idea what the various hit counts were up to. I've been using the numbers in a couple of letters to kit manufacturers, asking them to develop dedicated kits of air tankers, and pointing to the hit counters to help build the case for interest in the planes. So, losing the hit counts was a bit of a setback. :(
Finally, I'm exploring other options for hosting of the SIG Chat section. Currently, I'm using PhPbb, which is free. However, I'm exploring other options (such as Network 54) to host the SIG Chat. If the SIG Chat section moves, rest assured that NONE of the posts will be lost!
And that's all for this update. As always, more to come! :)
Cheers all!
Dan
July 6, 2006
Hi all!
I hope all of you in the United States, and those Americans abroad, had a great Fourth of July holiday! Out here on Kwajalein, we had a good holiday, with a great fireworks show.
Today's update is another short one. Julian Schungel has sent in nine pictures of his recently completed EH-1H 'Super Huey' in CDF markings. They are posted on page 3 of the Models gallery.
I'm working on getting more aircraft pictures ready for posting in the 'Aircraft' section. I'll have more of those up as soon as I can. There will be some new aircraft pages coming too.
Cheers all! :)
Dan

June 23 and 24, 2006
Hi all!
Today's update is a short one. Jerry Wells sent me two pictures of his 1/72 scale S-64 'Skycrane', and I've posted the pictures on page 3 of the Models section.
Also, Pat Murphy has sent me a picture of his almost-finished DC-6B. He's working with the 1/72 scale Heller kit, and the finished model will depict Tanker 68. Here's the picture he sent me- and this model is shaping up to be a stunner!

When Pat gets his model finished, I'll post pictures of it in the Model gallery.
That's it for now. I'll have another update up as soon as I can.
Cheers all! :)
Dan
May 13 & 14, 2006
Hi all!
I've got another update...seems the Internet connection wants to cooperate today. :)
For starters, Mike Walsh has been a busy guy lately- he's sent in pictures of three models that he completed recently. He's built a TBM, a Huey in CDF colors, and a S-2F 'Tracker' also in CDF colors. Both the S-2 and the Huey were done in the earlier 'lime green' livery of the CDF. Mike did a fantastic job on all three, and they're posted on Page 3 of the Model Gallery, so stop in and check them out!
I've got some information updates for various pages in the 'Aircraft' section, and the pages updated were for the P-3, DC-4/C-54, C-130, Dash 8, PBY, and C-123. Here's a summary-
Dash-8 page- Bruno said that a company called Nazca Decals is currently preparing a decal sheet for a 'Dash 8-400' airtanker. This sheet will be in 1/144 scale. Bruno also sent in kit availability information for the DC-4, C-130, and P-3 pages.
PBY page- Red Roo Models, in Austrailia, has released a conversion set in 1/72 scale for the Academy PBY-5 kit. The conversion set includes the tall tail, larger tail planes, and nose conversion. This information was sent in by Richard, and he says the set is very nice and should help anyone building a 1/72 scale Fire Cat or Super Cat.
C-123 page- Cyril sent in information on a new, short-run 1/144 scale C-123 kit, made by a company called A-Model.
That's the update for today. As always, more to come!
Cheers all! :)
Dan
April 3 and 4, 2006
Hi all!
I've got new pictures today for four pages in the 'Aircraft' section, and they are as follows-
Four new pictures on the DC-4 page, posted by permission of Buffalo Airways from their website. The Buffalo plane is a C-54, which as we all know is the military version of the DC-4. Many thanks to Buffalo Airways for permission to post those pictures!
There is one new picture on the B-17 page, sent in by Louis Hoeniger.
There are six new pictures of Airspray A/B-26's, also sent in by Louis Hoeniger.
And last but not least, the SP-2H page has 27 new pictures, sent in by Jay Sherlock.
Cyril emailed me to tell me of a 1/144 scale kit for the P-3C, and said that it should make into a nice P-3A. I've added the kit information to the P-3 page.
And last but not least, John Gryba emailed me a picture of a Bell 47 doing a water drop, and asked if I'd like to add a page to the site for the Bell 47. I said "yes", and John will be doing research on kits and pictures to make a new page. If anyone else has any pictures of Bell 47's in the firefighting role too, please let me know.
As always, more to come!
Cheers all! :)
Dan
March 26 & 27, 2006
Hi all!
I've got one update today, and it's for the Model gallery. G�rard Caillol has sent in two pictures of his CL-215 model, built from the 1/72 scale Heller kit. Well done G�rard!
Station duties have me really busy lately, but once that slows down a bit, I'll get some more updates posted.
Cheers all! :)
Dan
March 14 & 15, 2006
Hi all!
Today's update includes some new pictures for the 'Aircraft' section, and they are-
Nine new pictures sent in by Aaron Woods. Six of those are on the Bell 205 page, two on the JRM page, and the last one is on the SP-2H page.
Two new pictures for the AF-2 page, sent in by Jay Sherlock.
Also, Sean Adel sent in some more information on his A-26 'Always Tanker 59' build, which was posted to the Model gallery four days ago.
I won't bother with my usual closing line today...you guys know it anyway!
Cheers all! :)
Dan
March 13, 2006
Hi all!
Today's update is a short one- I've added four new pictures to the PT-17 page in the 'Aircraft' section, sent in by Swede Ware. Swede's pictures profile 'Tanker 1', a Stearman that was not only the first actual firebomber, but also the first firebomber developed for the U.S. Forest Service. This plane was the father of all firebombers that came later. Swede has also included some information and links on the restoration of 'Tanker 1', and I've also posted those on the page too.
As always...Okay, do I really need to say it? :)
Cheers all!
Dan
March 11 & 12, 2006
Hi all!
Today's update includes a new model for the Model gallery, two new aircraft pages in the 'Aircraft' section, and some updated kit information.
For the Model gallery, I've posted 3 pictures of Sean Adel's A-26 'Invader', which he built to represent Tanker 59 from the movie "Always". It's great each time to see model pictures coming in, and they are without exception always well done.
The two new pages in the 'Aircraft' section are as follows-
A new page for the AN-2 'Colt', with kit information and 1 picture sent in by Don Felton.
A new page for the J2F-6 "Duck", with kit information and 1 picture sent in by John Kerr.
Bruce Robers has sent in some information on kit availability for the JRM "Mars"...he emailed me on Dec. 7th, and I've overlooked his information on my last couple of updates. My apologies Bruce! The JRM 'Mars' has been kitted in 1/72 scale, and Bruce sent me this link with the information- swiftsite.com/rosemonthobby/combat.htm. I've also included this information on the JRM page.
Also, the IPMS Seattle Spring Show is coming up in April. There will be a special award category at the show for "Best Firefighting Aircraft". I've got a judge lined up (thanks to Charlie Sorenson from IPMS Seattle!), and he'll be taking pictures of the winning entry, the winner, and the trophy. Those will be posted here as soon as I get them in. For more information on this, visit the IPMS Seattle website at www.ipms-seattle.org.
Speaking of model shows and contests, if you know of one that I should be aware of, please email me to let me know. That way, I can contact the contest/show coordinators, and make arrangements for the special category and a judge. I still want to sponsor "Best Firefighting Aircraft" categories, even though I'm way out here in the South Pacific and can't make the shows myself. :)
That's it for today. As always, more to come!
Cheers all!
Dan
February 28 / March 1, 2006
Hi all!
Today's update includes four new models for the Model Gallery, and some updated kit information for the O-2 and PBY pages in the Aircraft section. The kit information was sent in by Aaron Woods, and many thanks to him for updating me on that.
For the Model Gallery submissions, we have-
3 pictures from David Knott, of his A-26 'Invader' in Airspray markings. This is the first of three submissions from David today.
David's next submission is 3 pictures of his PBY 'Catalina', wearing a very cool overall red paint scheme, and markings for Airborne Fire Attack.
And David's final submission today is 3 pictures of his CL-415, wearing Securite' Civile markings.
Stephen Bathy is here with his A-26 'Invader' in Conair markings...a very cool overall silver job, and Stephen made the decals himself!
David and Stephen, great work on those models!
More to come...cheers all! :)
Dan