GB 66 and Beyond Theme Polling

[Crimea_River]

Hi all. As most of you know, I've bowed out of seeking input and compiling the next group build schedule. However, Alan PlasticHero has been in contact and has agreed to be the cat herder for this effort and I have forwarded him my spreadsheet from the last go-round. Thank-you Alan for taking this on and I'm sure that you guys will support him in this effort.

Let's consider this the "official" thread for Alan to gather and co-ordinate your ideas.

Over to you Alan.

 

[PlasticHero]

Reserved for intro but I have to start dinner so I will complete this later. Cya soon!

Welcome to a new round of GB discussion. Thank you Crimea_River for entrusting me with your "cats". I have to admit that this is one of my favorite threads to post on. I have been thinking about what I want to build next since the last GB series was announced and many of these ideas have been written down for over a year. I will say that there have been many similar ideas posted in the Finalized Schedule and for any of these I don't claim any ownership on. In fact, it means they have a good chance to make the cut.

I have listed all the past GBs and have been able to divide them into four major kinds.
Era is a specific time frame anywhere in the world like Cold War.
Theater is a specific time frame in a specific location such as Battle of Britain or Pacific.
Type is a specific aircraft specification that is inherent in the plane itself. Think Maritime or Night Fighter.
Category is an aircraft characteristic that is not part of the aircraft itself like Aces or Captured.

I will start with the serious ideas and at the end there will be a few humorous ones.

Me 109 A to Z We have had Spitfire and Mustang, now it's time for 109A to Z. Hurricane was mentioned but I want to eventually have a representative from each of the major WWII aircraft building countries. Later Zeros for Heroes and something Russian, French and Italian. Me109E from BOB.

Blitzkrieg This is aircraft in Europe involved since Sept 1 1939 with the invasion of Poland to July 9 1940 when Battle of Britain started. Stuka.

Biplane I raised this one last time and I want to raise it again. This gives a few WWII choices and a bunch for all the frustrated sailing ship modelers. Spad XIII.

Canard This is the opposite of biplanes in the sense it is two wing pairs but inline. Again there are a few WWII choices and lots of jets for the members who should have joined Britmodeller. Tornado (the jet) or Ascender.

Korea Any aircraft from the active Korean War Conflict; 1950 to 1953. This has been mentioned already in the current thread. Mig-15 and F-86

Russian Adventures This is Soviet/Russian aircraft of all types that were active in combat since WWII. Includes Korea, Vietnam, Middle East, India, Afghanistan to Ukraine. This also has been mentioned in several different forms. Mig-21.

National Pride This is your choice of an aircraft of your home county that you believe represents an iconic image of a plane that is significant in your countries history. I recognize that not all countries have their own aircraft industry and a foreign built aircraft is acceptable. A-10 or F-117.

Nordic Lightning paired with Thunder Down Under These are aircraft built or marked from Nordic countries (bonus if it's a SAAB) or Australia or New Zealand. Viggen

Not a Plane This is anything that doesn't fly because I see a LOT of candidates in Recent Purchases. HMS Rodney/Nelson or M-60

Now for the silly stuff

Cocktail Napkins Designs/prototypes that didn't go into production. This can be anything from proposals that were never built to flying test aircraft. Think Luftwaffe 46 to YF-23.

Cats In honor of Crimea_River and his herding cats and the Gruman interlude, Cats from Grumman; Wildcat to Tomcat. Check the GB58 to 65 at page 7.

GB66 is scheduled to start 5/1 which is only 5 weeks away. To help speed things up, I will go through the previous thread and combine all those suggestions and will post those results, I hope by Sunday 3/30. My goal is to have a poll by 4/20 and results by 4/27 so you can have stuff overnighted for the start. Or I could make an executive decision and declare GB66 is Zombie/Favorite Aircraft in Your Stash.

OK Cats, let's see your ideas. I would love to see what you would build when you suggest a topic.

 

[Mainly28s]

How about "planes in/from the movies". That would open things like the frankenplane from "Flight of the Phoenix" (either version), "The Flying Tigers", the Buchons from "The Battle of Britain", and many more.
My entry would be Cutter's Goose from "Tales of the Gold Monkey".

 

[rochie]

Firstly, thank Alan you for stepping in to fill the gap left by Andy.

thank you Andy for your hard work getting us this far.

my thoughts for now but may return with more ideas

Bf 109 (or maybe even Messerschmitt designs, 110 , 210, 410, 262 etc)
Fw 190, all variants inc Ta 152
60's jets
Foreign users, could be time specific or any era
SEAC WW2
WW2 Twin engined
NMF, birds with little or no paint
Foreign pilots (Yanks, Poles, Czechs or empire pilots in RAF, Brits in the USAAF, French in the VVS etc)
Hawk build, all versions of P-36 - P-40 line

 

[PlasticHero]

I went through and sorted all the previous suggestions into 5 groups to have an idea of what people were thinking about.

Specific Build: F-4; Mig-21; P-80; T-33; Vampire; Meteor; F-86; Hurricane; P-38; Mosquito; P-40; A-4; Bf109 Me190
I really enjoyed the Spitfire and Mustang builds because it is so concentrated in that everyone is working on the same plane, while at the same time providing lots of contrast in how different the "same" plane can be. I would like to suggest two things; since we are WW2aircraft that these specific builds be WW2 aircraft and rotate the choice through the 5 major combatants. So far it was England and US, leaving Germany, Japan, Russia; Italy; and France.

Theater: Korea; Prop Vietnam; Nordic; Russian/Finland; Spanish Civil; Russian/Japan; (Suez; Mid East); (Cuban Migs and Latin America)
I'm going to combine some into Mid East and Latin America

Era: 1914-1945; WWII aircraft in post-war service; Russian 1937 to 1952; !st Generation Jet
The 1st gen are classified as jet powered; gun armed; sub-sonic from 1943 to 1950. This would be interesting to add the subsequent gen to the next set of Group Builds going forward. After the next decade, there will be 6th gen in production.

Type: Recon; Transport; Trainer; Twin Engine; Maritime; vehicle; Helicopter
I feel that the first 3 could be combined, but I will let them stand as three separate choices. As my build history will show I already did a Land Rover for my Spitfire so I am definitely voting for vehicle.

Category: Movie; Kit Bash; Foreign Pilot in foreign aircraft; Mid-life Crisis(big change); non-combat; Home Country; zombie
I like the mid-life crisis because I try to fill in early/late models as I do a GB. So far I have Spitfires; Zeros; and Mustangs of different life stages. Not sure exactly how this would work yet.

 

[rochie]

i am also up for a vehicle build as i am enjoying building Tanks at the minute .

 

[A4K]

So many good ideas.
I like your exec idea of Zombie/ favourite to kick off Alan.
Also like the specific build ideas - same type in all their variations (would have joined the Mustang build had I not been busy with other things)

 

[Jock Tamson]

A lot of good ideas floated already. I can't think of anything fresh to add to whatever has been suggested. Preference wise I'd vote for a Messerschmitt GB - any type or variant that flew during the war. Vehicles - again WW2 participants. Helicopters - any era. Single type builds are also appealing - any era.

Cheers Greg

 

[Donivanp]

Alan, SUPER THANKS for taking this on. I like what you have in your opening. I think it's a great set for up coming. I try to remember that this is WW2aircraft and stirring towards that end but I just have to get out of that mold. Having more open like life after: any WWII design after the war civilian or military. Or the Cats. Love it!!!!!

Oh and I'm super into the biplane build (or multi wing aircraft (Fokker Dr1, Sopwith Tri wing). I've been wanting a WWI some think WWII was really just an extension of WWI,

 

[A4K]

Forgot the cats idea...will continue with my Catalina for that one.

 

[Donivanp]

Forgot the cats idea...will continue with my Catalina for that one.

Didn't even think of that, I guess Jags and and others.

 

[tango35]

As a beginner in group builds, I would like to say that we are in an aircraft group and should therefore choose an aviation-related topic for the next group build.

 

[T Bolt]

Here are a few Ideas

-Zombie Build
-The Early Jet Age 1939 to 1054
-Poat Korian War Aircraft 1954 to Present
-Postwar Warbirds -WW11 designs used after 1945
-Prototype or Unbuilt Concept Aircraft and X-Planes – All Eras
-Transport, Training, and Recon Aircraft – All Eras
-Pacific Theater

 

[A4K]

Glenn's list sounds good to me.

 

[Donivanp]

Add recon to the transport

 

[tango35]

Prototype or Unbuilt Concept Aircraft – All Eras sounds good

 

[rochie]

Just a thought from me.

If we make the themes too niche, then we risk having fewer entries.

I am all for different themes rather than just Spitfires and Messerschmitts but if we want plenty of entries for each build they do need to be as broad and as inclusive as possible.

 

[Mainly28s]

Here are a few Ideas

-Zombie Build
-The Early Jet Age 1939 to 1054
-Poat Korian War Aircraft 1954 to Present
-Postwar Warbirds -WW11 designs used after 1945
-Prototype or Unbuilt Concept Aircraft – All Eras
-Transport, Training, and Recon Aircraft – All Eras
-Pacific Theater

Would it be reasonable to assume that "-Prototype or Unbuilt Concept Aircraft – All Eras" could include aircraft flown at and in the markings of well-known test establishments, such as Royal Aircraft Establishment or Rechlin?

 

[Airframes]

I would say yes.

 

[T Bolt]

Add recon to the transport

Agreed and revised

Would it be reasonable to assume that "-Prototype or Unbuilt Concept Aircraft – All Eras" could include aircraft flown at and in the markings of well-known test establishments, such as Royal Aircraft Establishment or Rechlin?

I don't see why not.

Also X-Planes could be added to this