Gunnie! Sacralidge!
Shep Paines dio inserts are what got me so hooked on the hobby when I was a kid. There is a web page that has reprinted one (most likely illegal).

http://www.pacifichistory.net/MODELEERFILE/DIORAMAFILE/B17DIO.HTML

Now for early 70's, that is a diorama! And in 1/48 scale too! This guy was so great. It's a shame he is no longer active in the hobby. I see his name listed as a speaker at conventions though.

Lol..You handled it better than me. I would have contacted the Smithsonian immediately and demanded my model by enshrined! It would have gone something like this....

"...But you don't understant....my model....Shep Paine said it's the best....What? You don't know who he is??? What are your credentials!?!?! Let me talk to your supervisor!....Do you think hanging it next to the Spirit of St. Louis is out of the question??? "

Good thing it wasn't me.

Humble thanks for the compliment Sir! :-) Seriously Bryan - if you look and aren't able to find a Chaffee (as these kits are near-legal tender in some parts) let me know. I'll venture down into the dark recesses of my model vault and get my spare kit off to you.

Gunnie

"BOP" and you say you build spaceships? That's Bird of Prey. I still have my K-7 Space Station from "Trouble with the Tribbles" with mini USS Enterprise kit.

I have almost every Enterprise except the very first TOS lighted version. Most of the movie versions, including the ST: TMP "Smoothie". Will finish it someday. Even My Star Trek Millenium Falcon is the original lighted version, unbuilt in box still.

Oh my God! (really drooling here - STOP IT) you've got the Smoothie!?! Does it have the funky rainbow effect decals in your kit?

Gunnie--may I add, sir, that you did a magnificent job on the vehicle. How did you construct the driver's windscreen? The addition of this to the vehicle truly enhances the appearance.
DJ :-)

DJ - Naw, I'm not a mini-man kinda guy. I do build them, my favorite I nicknamed "Sarge" - he's a standing Tamiya Figure from the M8 kit I believe, but I only use him to help me maintain a sense of scale when adding additional parts and gear to the model.

I really love the mechanical engineering of the vehicles, and build the model to try and represent the beauty that I see in it to its best advantage. Kinda like "gee what does a Chaffee look like?" I'd like one day for someone to point back at one of my miniatures and say - "that's what it looked like". I know, a little kooky, but that's what's foremost in my mind when building a model. It seems like American AFV's get lost in all the "rage" over German WW II stuff. I try to compensate for that with building US subjects.

The figure(s) just don't (yet) knock me over the same way drawing and trying to execute a scratchbuilt M56 Scorpion SPAT does. I really admire the modelers who do build the figures - as they go all out like I do for the vehicles - but admit it kinda spoils the illusion for me. Maybe because it's that I haven't encountered a really nice set of American GI's to put in my models for the time periods that I like to build in. I dunno...

Gunnie

At any rate, when they were rushed to Korea, they were a disaster. The 75mm low recoil gun just did not have the range and penetrating power to go up against the standard Soviet T-34/85. Despite their failure in combat, they remained a staple of the cavalry reconnaissance force until the advent of the much loved M-41 Walker Bulldog.