An Aircraft Carrier Made of Ice

 
I thought I'd do something a little different today and present one of my scratch-built ship model projects. I have made lots of ship models out of bass wood (harder than balsa), spare ship parts and bits and pieces from the parts box in 1:2400 scale (1" equals 200'). I had, for a long time, been fascinated with a project the British came up with during World War II for an aircraft carrier made of ice - or more specifically a substance called Pykrete, which was made of sawdust and ice. Named for British inventor Goeffrey Pyke who proposed the project, it was designed to fill the gap in air coverage south of Iceland and in the Norwegian Sea to provide air support to convoys to England and Soviet Russia. Pykrete was actually very impressive - a story has British Admiral Mountbatten taking two blocks of material into a conference being held in Quebec in 1943. One of these was just ice, into which he fired his revolver and the ice shattered. But when he fired into the Pykrete the bullet ricocheted, and was variously reported as narrowly missing the British chief of the air staff or actually clipping U.S. Admiral King in the leg. It was decided to build a mock up in Canada, which lasted into the next year with minimal maintenance, so technically it was probably a feasible design since it was designed to operate in Arctic waters. However, the resources required for construction would have been prohibitive and besides, the U.S. began building Escort or jeep carriers from converted merchant hulls, which were used to fill the air gaps at a more modest cost. The Pykrete carrier was named Habbakuk by Winston Churchill (although a clerk misspelled it from the original Habakkuk), and would have displaced 2,000,000 tons, would have been 2,000 feet long and 300 feet wide and would have carried 150 twin engine bombers and fighters. It wouldn't have gone very fast (maybe up to 10 knots), but would have served as a moderately mobile landing platform more than a traditional aircraft carrier. I've shot the model alongside some of the largest ships of the period - British liner Queen Mary, which was 1,018 feet long (foreground), HMS Illustrious at 753 feet long (on the left) and USS Essex at 888 feet long (on the right) for comparison of size - all 1:2400 scale.

Friday's Child is Loving and Giving

Julie Benz was a regular on Buffy the Vampire Slayer the series and the spin-off Angel series. I met her in May 2004 and found her to be a very sweet and charming lady. We talked about some of her charity work and that we had both sponsored American Indian children through Save the Children. She had been asked to be a spokesperson for the charity but didn't think she could represent them if she didn't also sponsor a child. She went on to a major role on the series Dexter, about a serial killer who killed serial killers. She played Dexter's wife and one of the few good influences in his life. Of course her character got killed off - couldn't have that kind of influence in a series about a serial killer, now could they??!! At any rate I was very impressed with Julie and wish her all the best in her life and career.

Golden Age Action Figures - Sword & Lancer

 
The Sword appeared in Ace Periodicals Captain Courageous Comics, Lightning Comics and Super Mystery Comics from 1942 until 1945 so he had a pretty good run for a Golden Age hero. The Sword was in reality Arthur Lake who, on a trip to England, discovers the sword Excalibur in its stone and removes it, instantly being transformed into the heroic Sword. Some coincidence, eh?? A guy named Arthur Lake finds the sword of ancient Arthur who was given Excalibur by the Lady in the Lake. See how these things all fit magically together?? Anyway, the Sword eventually gets a couple of side-kicks/partners: whenever Arthur removes Excalibur from its stone the young Lance Larter transforms into the lance-wielding Lancer and a worker at his father's aircraft plant named Moe Lynn becomes Merlin. That could have proved a little embarrassing if, say, young Lance was in the local drug store buying candy when suddenly he is transformed into a lance-wielding guy in tights!! If I was standing next to him that would sure scare the crap out of me!! The trio mostly battled espionage and sabotage in America. As for the action figures, the Sword was made using a Bruce Wayne figure (George Clooney head) and the arms from a Batman figure. The sword was out of my spare swords and knives box. As for Lancer, he was made from a Mattel Secret Wars Magneto and the head from a Star Gate Danny figure. The lance I made from some pieces from the parts box.

Linda Blair Times Two

 
If you've missed me I've been out of town and not blogging for a few days. Aside from visiting family I also attended the Motor City Comic Con in Novi, Michigan (burb of Detroit). As I mentioned in my second post I had met Linda Blair before and was expecting to see her again - which I did. She was appearing at the show representing her Worldheart Foundation which rescues homeless/abandoned dogs. If you'd like to participate in this effort you can visit the website at www.lindablairworldheart.org. I may have more to say about the show over the next few days or so.

Thursday's child has far to go

I had a bit of a problem with this one because who am I to say who has far to go, but finally I decided to give it a shot. For Thursday's child I picked Michonne Bourriague (pronounced mi-SHAWN bore-ee-AY I am told), who's one appearance on the silver screen was in Star Wars Episode 1, the Phantom Menace. The inset upper left shows her in costume and makeup for the role of the bounty hunter Aurra Sing, who has an on-screen presence of about two seconds as she looks down on the pod-race. Not since the period between Star Wars Episode 4, A New Hope and Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back when Boba Fett created a great deal of buzz, has a very minor character generated as much interest. Dark Horse Comics, who has the rights to the Star Wars franchise in comic book form, has featured her bounty hunter character in a couple of series. As far as her acting career goes since Episode 1 she has done basically nothing. She wasn't even in Episode 2. As far as I can tell she got married in 2005 (which is certainly doing something) and she has been active with teens in self esteem workshops. If she does decide to get back into the acting biz in a big way I wish her luck, but feel she really does have far to go.

Iron Man II - A Humble Review

I went to see Iron Man II yesterday and thought I would post my own little review. I loved the first movie and found Robert Downey, Jr. to be a terrific casting choice for Tony Stark. Unlike the comic book, wherein Stark kept his identity as Iron Man a secret for decades, at the end of the first movie he admits to being Iron Man and at the beginning of this one about six months have elapsed and he's single-handedly ended wars around the world. Tony's looking and sounding incredibly cocky that he has brought peace to the world and promises to keep the world safe even though the device in his chest is more and more quickly poisoning him and will eventually kill him. The U.S. government wants Tony to share the Iron Man technology with them and a rival arms manufacturer named Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) is secretly trying to steal or duplicate it. There is also a Russian scientist named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who I think is supposed to represent the super villain Constrictor with his power whips, who shows up with the technology Stark (and Vanko's father) perfected and Hammer wants. Samuel L. Jackson returns in a little meatier role as Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to help Tony out, as does Don Cheadle as LCOL James "Rhodey" Rhodes, who puts on the War Machine armor. Gwyneth Paltrow also returns as Pepper Potts, Tony's long-suffering secretary, who gets herself appointed CEO of Stark Enterprises, and proves herself to be one of the strongest characters in the movie. Scarlett Johansson, who plays Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (although I don't remember them actually calling her that in the movie), does a very nice job as Pepper/Tony's assistant and superheroine on the side. I didn't used to like Scarlett, but she's been growing on me in some of her more recent roles. I'm not going to give away too much of the plot for those of you who haven't seen it but if you like big superhero movies this is (once again) one you don't want to miss. On top of having crackerjack special effects it has A-List actors and an interesting plot with obligatory twists and turns and a good sense of humor. I highly recommend it.

Golden Age Action Figures - Raven

 
The Raven was another law enforcement officer who was dissatisfied with the state of justice in American and decided to mete out a little of his own vigilante brand with his fists and a gun. He is, in reality, Detective Sergeant Danny Dartin who, with an assistant named Mike Collins, is pursued by the police as vigorously as he is by the criminal element. He is engaged to police Captain Lash's daughter Lola, who is sympathetic to the Raven but doesn't realize that Danny and the Raven are one and the same person. He has a bit of the Robin Hood about him in that he captures the ill-gotten loot from the criminals and gives it to the needy and down-trodden. The Ace periodicals character appeared in every issue of Sure-Fire Comics, which became Lightning Comics, and Four Favorites 1-4. The action figure was made using a Captain Kirk (Piece of the Action) figure from Playmates and a plastic cape.