Nice Gary! You CAN read that!

Michael

That looks perfect Gazz, thanks!

What are the parameters for a badge image?

My Army National Guard unit is in Milan, IL right next to the Quad Cities. We are a Field Artillery Battalion and we used the M198 155mm towed howitzer which was built by the Rock Island Arsenal. We just recently turned in the M198s for the newest M777A2 Light Weight 155mm towed howitzer. Even though the QC is not my hometown, would I be eligible for this campaign due to the fact my NG unit is like 4 miles from the Rock Island Arsenal where our old howitzers were built?

Sure thing Art, the more involved and convoluted your connection to your subject the better I'd say.

For example if you are in Milan, so you COULD do a dio of an 80's British Army Anti Tank team on the Falklands, with a Milan missile.

So what ever you are thinking, bring it on !

50 pixels wide by 20 pixels high. File must be in GIF format.

I had to jump on this. I live about three miles from what was in 1943-1945 Walker Army Air Field. A B-29 training base that trained the 462nd, 330th, and 500th Bomb Groups. This location became part of my life for three years as my graduate work. So, I will be building a 1/72nd scale B-29.
Steve

Excellent stuff Steve, I love the B29 and it'll be great to see what you come up with.

I see too that the 330th staged through Kwajalein so how cool would it be to find a link between you and what Jonathan is doing ?

most of the planes Im building in the other campaigns are planes I remember seeing on Kwajalein. for this campaign, I think Id like to build a diorama of the ramp and terminal building at Bucholz field to display them all on.

This is a screen snap from Google Earth. the area enclosed by the terminal buildings is about 850 feet on a side, so with a little engineering a 4'x6' area would be adequate to represent it.

So far I haven`t managed to complete a single campaign I entered, but this one I could make personal (and thus much more motivating in the face of trivial stuff like higher education). Vlissingen was part of Operation Infatuate in November 1944 and was the staging area for the coup de main on Middelburg (6km away). If we could allow the rest of the area (say 20 km ) I could take into accout the landings at Westkapelle. That would make a nice list to choose from.

LVT-4
M4A4
M4A4 Crab
Churchill MK IV AVRE
Weasel
Caterpillar D7

then the germans had ample 50mm guns in the area and there is also an old photo of a LandWasserSchlepper used around Vlissingen.

Heck, if I could include my father`s place of birth I could even do Cuckoo .

I will be building a B-29 that was assigned to crew 806 at WAAF and was part of the 300thBG. I have a special place in my heart for this crew because one of the surviving members was the first (among many B-29 crews) who took me under their wing to insure I met all the right people while doing my research. I had to the opportunity to meet people I never in my wildest dreams would have believed I would meet.

This was a tough decision, I thought about doing Bob Layher's P-40. He was flight leader of the Rangoon squadron of the AVG. I had the opportunity to spend a great deal time of time with him and he is from here as well.

Anyway, I lost a lot of sleep last night thinking about how I would present this. I think you may enjoy what I have decided upon. It drips with history.

Best wishes
Steve

Oh wow Steve that sounds great, March can't come soon enough !

This campaign is clearly going to generate some very interesting and worthwhile reading, as well as top shelf model building.

I hope more folks sign up, surely everyone has something they can get nostalgic about building.

What a great idea for a campaign. Though not my current hometown, I did live in Edmonton for 6 years. This one is going to be an Edmonton Police Service Grizzly:

Good idea, Graeme-- make sure you don't weather it, ha ha. Keep it nicely shined-up as the real one probably is.
I was thinking along similar lines. The UW Med-Flight helicopters that I often see flying overhead to and from the UW Medical Center downtown upgraded in 2007 from Dauphins to EC-135's. Like yours, the kits are available, I'd just have to work up some graphics into decals (including Bucky Badger on the tail). Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I don't have a personal connection, except that I see them almost daily.

-Sean H.

Great ideas lads, I must say I am very much looking forward to the story as to why the Canadian police have heavy armour, Graeme !

Flying over you head is a good enough personal connection I'd reckon, Sean, easy enough to find out a bit of background on the medic flights and the story behind the logo on the tail is a good start.

Santa was very generous to the family this year:



Among a new Video card and bigger PC screen there was a nice LVT-4 by AFV Club and even a bottle of Stoli to keep me going during the building process...

So for this campaign it will be a LVT-4 from 11 RTR, 79th Armd. Div. during Operation Infatuate

I was toying with the showboat (uss north carolina) or a gun battery from fort fisher (southern)

A Shore battery would be a very interesting subject -

Well I've learned something already.

When you said "Showboat" I was thinking a paddle steamer!

That shore battery would be fantastic, lots of scratching I am guessing? The "then and now" story and pics would be awesome I'd reckon.

BTW does anyone have a good reference for US para's in the Pacific and has anyone seen a good figure? I've seen a few but they are surprisingly hard to find.

Hmm, my hometown has lots of "non history". It is old (almost 900 years) but it is best known for being by-passed by almost everything including the 30 years war. Heck, even Varus marched around it rather than through it - ancestors had to walk three days in rain to get to the little tussle in the Teuto Forrest.

Can we substitute "current place of work" or "current region of living"? In that case I have a lot from "Operation Varsity" (25km from here) to Cologne and the Hürtgen Forrest...

Oh and Romans. Can't dig a hole here without finding some romans.

That sounds intriguing MBR,lots of stories round about. I think region or "the big event that NEARLY happened here" is fine.

Campaign starts today ! ( which is tomorrow for you usaers )

I've got Gary sorting us a sticky thread and we can get things rolling.

First order of business will be to give a brief overview of what we will be doing for the campaign.

More to follow once the official thread is up and running.

Here is a link to the campaign photo gallery. This is where you post pictures of your final build to qualify for your ribbon.

My Hometown Campaign Gallery

Ok so to start the ball rolling.

Here is my run down on the build for the campaign.

On the 25th of June 1943 a young American Paratrooper who was a member of the 503rd PIR fell to his death while performing a display jump for General MacArthur.

This event took place approximately 500m from the hospital in which I was born.

I'll be scouting about locally to see what information I can find out about all this and I'll be building this:

That looks good, Magpie. Sad story about the paratrooper, but looks like you've chosen a good subject.
I picked up my kit from the LHS last week, but I'll only be lurking around this campaign thread until the end of summer, when my other campaign commitments fall away and I have a start on the Hangar Queen 2 campaign that I'm running! Then I'll hit my Medflight helicopter wholeheartedly. Besides, I'll have to work up my decals first anyway.
Cheers.
-Sean H.