Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'Allied, German Tanks', 'Warbirds', 'WWII Battleships', 'WW2 Reenactors', 'Jeeps of WWII'.

Germania: Minature scale model of Hitler's vision of a super-city for the Reich
Adolf Hitler called it Germania, his vision of Berlin as a city full of marble architecture, capital of the Nazi-ruled world. "Berlin will only be comparable with the Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians or Romans. What is London, what is Paris by comparison?" the Nazi leader said. For decades Hitler's plans were considered as so crazed that they were limited to specialist books. The taboo was broken as Peer Steinbrück, the German Finance Minister, revealed a scale model of Germania. Centrepiece of the display was the domed Great Hall, designed by architect Albert Speer to hold a crowd of 150,000.     [ timesonline :: 2008-03-11 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Model builder gives away collection of 330 World War II scale models
WWII historian Tom Malthaner spent 63 years building his collection of 330 scale models, but now he wants to give them away. He has a photo of himself with that first model, a Grumman F4-F Wildcat. All are built to the same scale, 1/72, or 1 inch to 6 feet. And all are miniature replicas of the genuine vehicles. The smallest, a German Bucker BU-133 Jungmeister (3½-inch wingspan). The largest, a German Messerschmitt ME-321 Gigant heavy glider transport (30 inches). Collection include: 3 German Stuka dive bombers, in campaign colors. A German Tiger tank. Adolf Hitler riding in his Mercedes Benz, giving the Nazi salute.     [ azcentral :: 2008-02-28 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Auctioned: Model of ship that did not sink after torpedoed by German U-boat 111
A model of one of the shortest-lived ships in Whitby's marine history may get £7,000 when it is auctioned. The 4 feet 5 inches long model is of the ill-starred steam ship Barnby, launched in 1940 - only to be torpedoed 18 months later by German U-boat 111 on May 22,1942, in one of the most unusual nautical incidents of the World War 2. This was because the Barnby did NOT sink! She was complately filled with flour, which swelled up and kept her afloat, so no one quite knows where she lies. "Builder's models of this period are particularly sought-after... Early models have fine metal fittings, often silver or silver gilt and gunmetal or brass."     [ scarborougheveningnews :: 2008-02-19 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Scale model show - Model kits have come a long way
We went to a scale model show, Hobby Expo 2008, in Petaluma. It was put on by the Santa Rosa plastic modeler's club, a member of the International Plastic Modeler's Society, USA. There were over 100 entrants in the model contest with 400 models. Vendors were selling model kits, and we were amazed by how much stuff they had, even kits that are out of production. We did make couple of purchases: a World War II German ME-262 airplane and a sheet of decals. Models have come a long way: when we were young, a small kit could be bought for 50c and set up in a half an hour. These days, the paint colors and markings are well researched and details are reliably rendered.     [ redbluffdailynews :: 2008-02-16 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Scale Models tell World War II history of Pacific region
Manila: The exhibit "Vintage Warcraft" features 70 replicas of fighter planes, submarines, artillery, battleships and carriers that saw action during World War II. The miniatures tell the story of the arms race from the pre-war to the post-war period, split in various periods. "March to War (1930-1941)" tells of how the major powers began a rearmament program, and how China had to rely on France for its weapons. "Aside from narrating history, the exhibit also shows the development of weapons. The tanks became larger while aircraft became more sophisticated." Aside from giving a history lesson, organisers hope to stir up their interest in assembling scale models.     [ inquirer :: 2008-02-10 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

World War II veteran recalls service with naval model collection
Going down into World War II veteran John Brawdy's South Park basement is like boarding a submarine. The small room is filled floor-to-ceiling with a collection of all things nautical. He started his collection over 40 years ago, and now it contains 2,000 items. It serves as a shrine to his naval service, he manned the torpedoes on two destroyers. "I started putting together World War II models. I focused on fighting ships prominent during the time that I served." The 3-foot-long model of a Fletcher class destroyer is a favorite. "It's an exact replica of the USS Hart that I served on."     [ post-gazette :: 2008-01-11 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

20,000 photographs of a WWII Japanese Kaiten submarine model
Last autumn, Katsushige Nakahashi took 20,000 photographs of a single object: a model of a World War II Japanese Kaiten sub, equipped to man a single Kamikaze pilot. The model was 1:32 scale of the real thing, meaning he got in tight with his macro lens. Now, as part of "The Depth of Memory" -show he is resizing the torpedo back to full size, setting up a 50-foot, 3-dimensional simulacrum of the machine using those photos - and a little help from you (go to the Web site to volunteer). Last year he pulled off a similar achievement with 25,000 photos of a model of a Japanese Zero fighter - and at the close of the exhibit he set it ablaze. The Kaiten will be burned too.     [ sfweekly :: 2008-01-02 ]

World War II P-38 model plane takes flight, crash-lands
Greg Zola drove 36 hours to fly a model replica WWII plane he spent 3 years building, only to see it crash-land during its inaugural California flight. "It was pilot error," said Zola, who painstakingly built a one-fifth scale replica of the San Joaquin Siren, a WWII-era P-38 once piloted by Bill Behrns. Zola is an avid model-airplane builder and began the effort to recreate Behrns' plane from archival photos and eyewitness accounts. He contacted Behrns and asked permission to construct the radio-controlled plane and said when he finished he would show it off. "I didn't think he needed my permission, but it sure was an honor," Behrns said.     [ recordnet :: 2007-11-06 ]

Neville Smith, wargames with radio controlled WWII battle tank models
Neville Smith has spent $11,000 on 11 radio-controlled tanks to use in scaled-down World War II themed battles. His tanks range from the famous German Tiger 1 to the American Sherman. Each 1/16 scale model costs $1000-$2000 and takes weeks to assemble. "I guess the fact you can shoot one another and play games with the tanks won me over." When he isn't assembling tanks Smith spends hours fashioning toy soldiers and artificial trees to use on the battlefield. Those come in handy at gatherings of radio-control tank lovers. The group was formed by Smith and has 20 members throughout New Zealand. Auckland enthusiasts meet regularly to battle their tanks in wargames.     [ stuff :: 2007-10-06 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

$15,000 German FW-190A fighter model won Top Gun competition
Dino Di Giorgio spent 7 months and $15,000 building his radio-controlled model airplane, and it paid off when he won the International Top Gun competition for the 4th time. He is one of more than 100 pilots participating in the Warbirds Over the Rockies 3-day fly-in east of Fort Collins. The planes are modeled to scale after World War I biplanes, World War II fighters and bombers and other military aircraft. Di Giorgio's plane is a replica of a Focke-Wulf 190A, a WWII German fighter. "What we have is an assembly of 200 of the finest radio-controlled airplanes in the world," said Brian O'Meara.     [ timescall :: 2007-09-24 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Toy soldiers are big sellers for Eyota woman - Military miniatures
Eager to stay home with her son, Shannon Reuss launched home business 8 years ago selling collectibles. But there was one type she had never considered: toy soldiers. Then she got a catalogue with discounts on toy soldiers and decided to sell some. And that changed everything: She is now one of the largest toy soldier retailers in the US. Toy soldiers have come a long way from the days of green plastic Army men. The latest collecting craze revolves around "military miniatures" - realistic, historically-accurate metal models. Collectors can not only buy infantry soldiers or generals, they can also collect replicas of tanks, jeeps and military tents.     [ postbulletin :: 2007-09-01 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Radio-controlled game of miniature war machines gaining popularity
Singapore: A radio-controlled game of miniature war machines is gaining popularity. They may seem like the latest war machines, but there is one difference: the replicas belong to the Radio Control Armoured Battalion of Singapore. "The replica is very, very realistic, based on sound, the recorded sound from the real tank, the details, everything ... When we drive the tank, we can really feel how this tank would have really done battle in world war two," says Jumat Bin Atan. It is usually a face-off between two groups: the German-made tanks and the American ones. To survive, it takes a mix of team work, strategy and skill.     [ channelnewsasia :: 2007-07-17 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Models of vintage warplanes at museum - 300 miniature war planes
More than 300 miniature war planes were on display at the Mansfield Memorial Museum. The planes represent just half of a collection of 1/72-inch-scale models of warplanes, mostly from the World War II era. "The collection was stored away at the 179th Airlift Wing at Mansfield Lahm Airport and there were close to 600 models." To date, 300 of them have been salvaged and are being shown. They range in age from a Wright Flyer No. 1 to heavy German and American bombers. The planes, set up in display cases are on the museum's second floor, representing all the combatants in WWII, particularly the US, Japan and Nazi Germany.     [ mansfieldnewsjournal :: 2007-06-18 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Hundreds of WWII 'recognition models' on auction
A large collection of World War Two "recognition models" is on display in Tallahassee and will be on auction. Recognition models are small handmade models of aircraft, ships, submarines and battle tanks that were used to train military personnel during the Second World War. Knowing the difference between enemy craft and own was essential training.     [ tallahassee :: 2007-05-18 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Model builders - Crafters of scale replicas gather
Chris Merlo and his father Jerry like to pass the cold winters building scale models in the basement. Saturday they attended the U.P. Scale Modelers annual spring model contest and show to get new ideas and see other people's models. It can take several months to put together a model airplane, depending on how many pieces the kit includes. "You might have 30 pieces in the cockpit." Jerry has been hand-painting his models, mostly World War II military airplanes in 1/48 or 1/32 scale, for the last 44 years. In his teens he built wooden ones before plastic kits were available. Many people who build scale models are interested in history.     [ miningjournal :: 2007-04-17 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Building scale model of Japanese battleship Yamato
For 3 years in the Marine Corps, Nicholas Cognito spent every day trying to destroy the Japanese. Now, he is spending 3 years of his life building a tribute to them. He is crafting a 52-inch, one-two hundredth scale model of the Japanese battleship Yamato, which was 900 feet long, had 18-inch guns and could throw a shell 25 miles. The Yamato and her sister ship, the Musashi, the largest battleships ever built, terrorized ships in the Pacific Ocean during WW2. Allied forces sunk the Yamato near Okinawa on April 7, 1945. He has built other models, including the German railway cannon Leopold.     [ pittsburghlive :: 2007-03-27 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Model show keeps history alive: military aircraft, warships, vehicles
You can take the man out of the airplane, but you can't take the airplane out of the man. For veteran military pilots like David Lee "Tex" Hill, Model Fiesta 26, by the Alamo Squadron of the Int. Plastic Modelers Society, was one more chance to pass on U.S. history to younger generations. On May 7, 1942, Hill, a member of the American Volunteer Group, Flying Tigers, led 4 P-40s in an attack on Burma's Salween River Gorge. Saturday's all-day model show brought hundreds to view a multitude of model military aircraft, warships and combat vehicles. "When these young guys build models of these war birds, they're keeping history alive, and that's important."     [ mysanantonio :: 2007-02-19 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

A quarter-scale, faithfully duplicated German Panzer
The Panzer may no longer be the master of the battlefield, but it sure can rule a Fayetteville parking lot. Even if the tank is only about the size of a gas grill. Glen Blanton has come up with the ultimate big-boy toy: a quarter-scale duplicated German Panzer. "It gets attention everywhere it goes. All I have to do is take it off the trailer and people gather to watch." The tank, a painstaking reproduction of the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger, is 100 inches long and weighs about 460 pounds. Like many guys, Blanton grew up making models. World War II models were his favorite.     [ fayobserver :: 2006-11-18 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Ken Gardiner has become one of the top scale model makers
It had taken 10 years and 3,000 hours to build a giant rendering of the HMS Victory, a famed British warship. All that was left was to polish the gem. Model maker Ken Gardiner raised a high-pressure air hose, pulled the trigger and let out a blast. Big mistake: 5,000 pieces of hand-glued copper were blown to smithereens. --- "Customers order, they wait a couple years, and then they get their model. And they yell the whole time." The customers may be loud, but they're also loyal. What keeps them coming back? His models are no $19.95 toys. These are scaled replicas for which full models can run $15,000. "There's only about 4 of us that do it in the whole world."     [ ocregister :: 2006-07-28 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

The older he gets, the smaller are the model airplanes he builds
Article no longer available from the original source.
"It became a challenge to see how small I could go," says Dick Palmer. "I built one that was so small I could not build it with my fingers. I had to pick everything up with tweezers." That one was much smaller than the 1/72-scale models that occupy much of his time these days. For some, he uses plastic kits as prototypes for the vintage planes he replicates out of balsa wood. He identifies planes by the movies that made them famous. Remember "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo?" He built a Mitchell B-25. "Tuskegee Airmen?" They trained on a Stearman PT-17, which he also rendered in micro-miniature.     [ pressconnects :: 2006-07-28 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Modelers in WWII military vehicle display
Article no longer available from the original source.
For Jeff Selesky, seeing an M-113 armored personnel carrier was a model opportunity. As a builder of scale models of various vehicles, including war tanks and planes, Selesky was able to see first-hand and up-close the real-life war machinery. "Whenever we get to see the real equipment, we like to come out and get a bunch of pictures." The photos help model builders enhance basic models to recreate the most realistic models possible. He saw the military vehicles as part of a World War II living history campsite and military vehicle display featured at the iron industry museum called "Shield of Steel: Iron Ore and the Arsenal of Democracy."     [ mj :: 2006-07-10 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Thieves strike war relics site -- life-size models of fighter planes
Thieves have stolen life-size models of fighter planes that formed part of a unique Territory war memorial. They formed part of a memorial commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Strauss airstrip was used by American and British aircraft during the war. The aluminium cut-outs are of a P40 Kittyhawk, Spitfire Mark VC and Spitfire Mark VIII. It is one of the last surviving WW II fighter installations in northern Australia. The Strauss airstrip was built in 1942 in response to the threat of a Japanese invasion.     [ news-au :: 2006-05-14 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Building model airplanes for 70 years, including Hitler's yacht Griselle
John Muro's tiny workshop is filled with model airplanes. There are squadrons of P-51 Mustangs, along with a number of B-25 Mitchell bombers, a couple of B-26 Martin Marauders, Corsair F4Us and P-47 Thunderbolts. He has built many German ME-109 fighters and a number of Folk-Wolf 190 fighters. In his living room is the creme de la creme of his models: Adolf Hitler's yacht, "Griselle," which he made from the original plans. It was built in 1934 at the Blohm & Voss shipyard, and used as a training ship for German naval cadets before it became Hitler's yacht. After the war it was sold to a Lebanese businessman George Arida. Eventually the vessel was sold for scrap.     [ sun-herald :: 2006-04-06 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Passion for toy soldiers built repository of military history
By the time Anne Seddon Kinsolving Brown died in 1985 at age 79, she had amassed 5,000 miniature lead soldiers with the colorful uniforms and bequeathed to Brown University one of the largest military collections in the country. She also collected 14,000 books, 16,000 prints, drawings, paintings and watercolors and thousands of scrapbooks, sketchbooks, albums, and other documents.     [ ap :: 2006-03-26 ]

Military museum in Germany seeks model U.S. aircraft for exhibits
Wanted: well-crafted model U.S. military aircraft - especially a B-17 bomber - for display at the Grafenwöhr Museum. The museum opened a display of 150 model military aircraft in January. However, German aircraft dominate the display. And with U.S. visitors making up more than 30% of the museum's business, curator Meiler said he would like to see more US airplanes. Not that the German aircraft are not worthy of attention. The exhibit includes several variations of Messerschmitt fighters and the Heinkel bombers from the Battle of Britain as well as the deadly Stuka dive bombers that tormented Allied troops at Dunkirk.     [ Stars and Stripes :: 2006-02-11 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

See also

'Allied, German Tanks'

'Warbirds'

'WWII Battleships'

'WW2 Reenactors'

'Jeeps of WWII'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2008. All rights reserved.