Welcome to the first Fine Art of Decals Newsletter. There are several items I want to make sure you know about, NONE of which I sell (but you can get from other sellers if you wish). This edition includes interesting airplane, tank, and ground-pounder notes. Yes, it’s quite long, and I hope you find it worthwhile.
Our hobby has a whole mountain range of talent, and not only of creating super cool scale models. Some of our fellow modelers are also talented authors, and I want to make sure you know about their latest publications (again, I’m not selling these books, but links are included with each notation. I do not make any money off these links). I hope it uplifts you as much as it does me to be around such talented guys!
Full disclosure: the authors of the books included below are close friends of mine. That said, I’m a rough-as-a-cob ol’ curmudgeon, and am not going to say or write anything I don’t know to be accurate. When I’m blown away by somebody else’s work, friend or not, I’m honored to let you know about it.
Like many of you, I work 14-18 hour days and need to decompress when I finally do get ready for bed. I’m almost always too tired to work on actual modeling (dammit), but I do watch quite a few Youtube vids, the best of which I’ll pass along to you at the end of these newsletters (provided I actually produce more than just this one!!).
Long At Last, Operation Eldorado Canyon (Libya Raid) Book is REAL!
Major Jim Rotramel, USAF, Ret.’s, riveting and expansive account of the USAF & USN attack on Khadafi’s infrastructure in April 1986 is finally AT THE PRINTERS, with European release in late February and North American release in late March (yes, 2024).
I’ve read it, and this is the DEFINITIVE history of this attack, with both narrative and tech details galore. In fact, the US Air Force Museum* is going to add a KC-10 tanker to their collection and somebody there had the bright idea they should get one of the Eldorado Canyon ships. Good idea!
Slight problem.
Nobody in the United States Air Force had any idea which tail numbers participated in the mission! Eventually somebody figured out Jim has written a book about it, so they called him and….LO AND BEHOLD, Jim has the tail numbers/BuNos of every single aircraft that participated. The AFM now plans to acquire the actual Extender that refueled the REMIT flight F-111 that dropped the bombs on Khadaffi’s quarters (That Vark is already in the AFM collection).
All this is thanks to Jim’s scholarship and doggedness.
Preorder at:
www.casematepublishers.com/9781950394128/operation-eldorado-canyon
www.amazon.com/Operation-Eldorado-Canyon-Bombing-Libya/dp/1950394123
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/operation-eldorado-canyon-jim-rotramel/1142034136
* Regardless of its idiotic current politically-correct name, it will forever be the “Air Force Museum” to me!
Dana Bell Scores AGAIN With His TBD Devastator in action Book
He caught me by surprise on this one—he’d mentioned it quite a while ago but I’d lost track of its publication date. H/T to our fellow modeler Bill Andrea, who notified me it’s actually on the street. Bill pointed out it’s MUCH thicker than the normal Squadron in action series books, and boy is he right!
Got my copy, and, well…
Dana is the most thorough aviation technical researcher working today, and probably of all time—and that’s no hyperbole. Prove it to yourself by glancing at his F4U Rivet Counter series books*, his Marking the Fleet book, and the long chain of aviation titles he’s written since the ‘80s.
His Devastator book is, IMPO**, his best yet. Although I’ve always thought the TBD was an interesting plane (albeit with an abysmal operational record), it’s never been one of my favorites. I may have to change that opinion after seeing all the major and minor technical gems Dana found at the National Archives and elsewhere. This book is even more detailed and exhaustively researched than his F4U Rivet Counter series!
On the other hand, if you’re interested in the TBD or “Tween-Wars & WW II US Navy aircraft, you MUST have a copy of this book in your library. It is the only TBD reference you’ll ever need, bar none.
Best of all: you can get it direct from Dana AT A 27% DISCOUNT by following either of the following links:
* You can currently get some of his earlier titles direct from Dana at:
F4U-1 Pictorial Vol 1 (Birdcage): www.amazon.com/Aircraft-Pictorial-No-Corsair-2014-05-03/dp/B01FIY7O74 NOTE: Only 18 copies of this book remain, then it’s completely out of print.
F4U-1 Pictorial Vol 2: www.amazon.com/Aircraft-Pictorial-No-F4U-1-Corsair/dp/0985714999
Corsair Cockpits, F4U-1 Family, Rivet Counter #1: www.amazon.com/Rivet-Counter-Guide-Corsair-Cockpits/dp/0578376423
SPECIAL DEAL (all three F4U books, Vol 1, Vol 2, and the cockpits book): NOTE: Only 14 sets are available due to nearly sold out Vol 1: https://www.ebay.com/itm/385502132966
And since Dana has written a bunch of other books, here’s the link to his Amazon page where you can pick them up for a song (if you can figure out how to enter your song on the checkout page, good for you; otherwise you’ll have to use bucks like the rest of us…): www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADana+Bell&s=relevancerank&text=Dana+Bell&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
(Note that Amazon is not smart enough to show “our” Dana Bell’s books all by themselves so you’ll have to scroll ‘way down to find them all; their system includes on this page harlequin romance titles by “Dana Marie Bell,” who, I assure you, is not the same person as our Dana Bell…or is she??? Our Dana claims that although he didn’t write these steamy harlequin romances, he did pose for the cover art. Surely he’s not telling a tale…?]
** In My Professional Opinion
*** This really long URL is not an affiliate link, but rather the only direct connection to Dana’s deeply discounted TBD book on Amazon, which is otherwise difficult to find. Nobody else comes within a country mile of his price.
Now, For The BEST “I-Was-There” Vietnam Grunt Account I’ve Ever Read
I read 3-5 books a week, and in the last year have read 18 “I-was-there” accounts by Vietnam combat veterans, quality ranging from really good to not horrible.
When this book arrived I had 17 others on many topics ahead of it in my reading queue, but decided to skim through it.
Didn’t put it down until I’d read the whole thing (THAT was a really long night!).
Fellow modeler and former USMC enlisted grunt (now a retired USMC colonel) Forrest (Skip) Lindsey’s book In Country is, HANDS DOWN, the best written and most interesting account of Vietnam ground warfare I’ve ever read (and I’ve read many hundreds of these accounts since I was in middle school in the late ’60s).
First, Skip is a superb wordsmith—his prose is smooth, readable, and interesting–let me say this again: literally the best-written war memoire I’ve ever read. I’m nowhere near as good a writer, but golly, I’m trying!
Second, he has an eye for the ridiculous but fascinating little things that made up the day-to-day life of an infantryman in Vietnam, particularly the early days (1966).
This is a down-in-the-mud/dirt account, because as he says, at his level the “big picture” of the war was as opaque as it was irrelevant. His concerns were with doing the best job he could and staying interested enough to keep doing a superior job. Which he did.
You won’t find the McNamara or Westmoreland-level discussions or descriptions, but you’ll come away with a good idea of what it was to be like, first as a Marine artilleryman, and later an artillery spotter/infantryman in direct contact with the bad guys.
Learn:
- How he lost his USMC 5-ton truck driver’s license
- Why he renamed and baptized an “alligator” (the animal, not the vehicle)
- How his senior NCOs and junior officers behaved
- Why and how he carried his “chrome” M-14 rifle even after M-16s were issued
- Why he was assigned to a .50 MG team without the slightest idea how to shoot it
- What eating 1942-manufactured C-Rations was like in 1966, and how to “Rat F^&k” them
- How high school French lessons proved useful in 1965
- … and 183 more pages of stories big and small, humorous and poignant
Order at:
www.amazon.com/Country-My-Memories-Vietnam-After/dp/1639371664
(Note the price has dropped 20% from when I bought it in December!)
Now One I DON’T Recommend
Picked up a copy of Ghosts of Honolulu, supposedly written by actor Mark Harmon and retired NCIS agent Leon Carroll, on a Costco sale table. It claims to tell the story of Japanese intelligence agents and American counter-intelligence agents in Hawaii around the time of the Pearl Harbor attack and after.
The prose is reasonably good, but it’s actually one of those manipulative tracts that sucks you in by teasing one subject but is in reality a polemic using the purported subject matter to frame its political diatribe. If you’ve ever watched a single episode of the NCIS TV show, you’ll know which on side of the aisle this one lands.
Save your money and use the time to build a model!
I mentioned that I watch a lot of Youtube vids to help transition from full-charge to blissful slumber. Several are particularly interesting and well done, and here are random samples across a range of subjects:
Direct hit by flak! B-17G sn 42-31333 Wee Willie
The Korean War: The First Year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oTKKzrkkxQ
SOGCast 024 Pat Watkins, Part 2: Earns DSC During Sapper Attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_owwPqO2v8
David Niven – WW2 Military Service (his link to the Zulu War)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJzfP93nm3U
Weird WW2 German Rocket Gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7eOr2rKnnM
(Consider subscribing to Mark Felton’s Youtube channel; he’s the most talented historian regularly posting there and he covers a wide variety of military subjects—some of which you’ve probably never heard about but will find fascinating)
Explosion of USS Mount Hood, November 10, 1944
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMGog4QJsIs
(Much more than a “navy” or “ship” account, this one is worth watching to learn the idiotic decisions made at all levels that directly led to the catastrophe)
The Terrifying Physics of WWII Dive Bombing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsZWPELYtAI
USAAF “Fighter Kills Over Europe” Gun Camera Films, 1944 (1500- Restored)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3cpkQT4Njw
Action sequences from Kampfgeschwader Lützow depicting Heinkel He 111s attacking British shipping
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHQagr32sLA
(This one has stunning imagery; if you know where to find the full film please let me know!)
Spitfire vs Heinkel 111 over England – Must See RARE Actual 1940 Footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU8n03GXDZg
And finally, a plug for my TIDAL WAVE/Ploesti “Correcting The Record” Presentation On The Commemorative Confederate Air Force Youtube Warbird Tube Channel:
This is for those who want to know what really happened on 1 Aug 43, as opposed to the slick and mostly incorrect YT vids that essentially just retell the story from the famous 1962 book Ploesti-The Great Air-Ground Battle of 1 August 1943. Note that book is extremely good, but the authors did not have access to crucial evidence of what really happened on that date, and the actual results of the attack. None of the YT vids rise to the competence of the book, although several are very slickly produced.
I tell the true story of this attack on the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, in words and pictures that illustrate what really happened on that famous attack: background, preparation, execution, and aftermath. Obviously every detail cannot be covered in about an hour, but this “bird’s eye view” presentation give you a much clearer and more accurate understanding of the mission.
In the short time available on a podcast I was able to hit only the top-of-the-tops of the waves on this complicated subject, but hope it’s an understandable and engaging story.
The links are:
Youtube: https://youtu.be/KYYFLijFmIQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CommemorativeAF*
* I’m not on FB, so you may have to scroll through their posts to find my presentation (sorry about that!).
Feedback so far has been glowing, but I’m not perfect and definitely solicit your feedback and critical analyses to my email at support@Low-Level-Ploesti.org. Please note this is NOT my upcoming (eventually) documentary on the TIDAL WAVE operation, but rather a short story I put together at the CAF’s request.
OK, this is quite enough for one newsletter. I don’t know when (or if!) there will be more of these because it’s a ton of work to produce. Anyway, hope you found this note interesting!
Good luck and good modeling,