Fortress (2012)

"No B-17s were harmed during the making of this movie."

R2B: Return to Base

Aigu! I gotta see this!

RIP, Tony Scott

h/t Scott's friend

Memorial Day Gunnyness

This Memorial Day Weekend, my buddy Frank is coming down for some drinking, BSing, and computer war-gaming... and maybe a tour of the DM Boneyard.

Frank and I have been war-gaming since we were both instructors at the Goodfellow AFB School of Applied Cryptological Sciences, playing Panzer Strike, Typhoon of Steel, and Overrun! on his alien Apple IIGS. Our game experience gave us a little something-something on the podium; him more so, being a Marine and all. I think my Army compatriots were surprised enough that I could tell my FROGs, Towed's, and amphibians apart.

After his last visit, when we'd rolled the D&D polyhedral dice and come up with late-year PLO versus an unnamed Western army, we discovered some new game mechanics dealing with IEDs, suicide bombers, suicide tanker trucks, etc. Frank wasn't too happy when he discovered my next game featured a modern Islamist sub-cult against his beloved US Marine Corps. So this Memorial Day Weekend, we'll play our beloved Steel Panthers MBT and we will NOT endanger even the digital lives of our closest Allies. Time to remind Frank about some of the fun game vehicles like the EE-9 (pictured) while ignoring other stuff.

Men of War 2.0

Working on pre-production for my next movie, Men of War 2.0, an action-fantasy short that will feature a guest appearance by some North Korean combat aircraft, as well as this F-14 Tomcat. My shooting buddy Big Bob did wonders producing two identical aircraft, one with the landing gear down (pictured), the other, gear up. I took delivery of both this weekend. Thanks, Bob!

The bad guys will be two pairs of MiGs (FLOGGERs and FULCRUMs); the kits are in the mail. Getting NKAF decals was another problem. I didn't mind shelling out over ten bucks (including shipping) for a set of 1/48 scale NKAF roundels, but for the 1/72 scale MiG-23, I had to settle for Yugoslavian roundels and hope no one looks too closely. Y'all won't, right? I'll have Bob paint each without identifying bort numbers so one plane can double as his own wing man (so I only needed to buy one of each type).

As far as paint schemes go, the NKAF doesn't show up at western air shows, so I had to resort to Google and Bing Maps to do a little aerial recon for me. Looks like they're still using the bare aluminum scheme they used during the Korean War, which simplifies things greatly.

Now to set up my spare room as a green-screen studio and start experimenting.

Update: Aw, crap, I got outbid on the Yugo decals anyway! It was actually just as easy to buy a 1/72 scale MiG-15 and hoark the decals from the kit.

Make Ya Wanna Enlist All Over Again

h/t Lex

I'm no Chris Muir

But I do have a web comic! Or web graphic novelette. Or six pics and a story that busted my ass for a few weeks.

Gives me a greater appreciation for folks like Mr. Muir who can meet a daily deadline providing such great content.

Don't bother picking technical nits; I know nothing about IAF operations, computer virii, or Iran that the average Tom Clancy reader doesn't know. I actually wrote this wondering what kind of graphic novel would Clancy write? (So, it's long on exposition and short on action... at least I didn't model it after a W.E.B. Griffin novel.)

Who'd'athunk it?

Astronauts have a sense of humor!

Illustrator: Graphic Novel

The final for Adobe Illustrator CS5 class requires us to illustrate a graphic novel. I didn't know we didn't have to write one ourselves, but why waste the opportunity?

H01y 5h1t!

Here's something you don't see every day. Bob is a WWII re-enactor, model builder, and weapons buff. We knew he couldn't blame us for shifting our attention from his match performance to a low-flying B-25 "Mitchell" medium bomber.

We did a double-take at his choice of T-Shirt for today's match. Un-frikkin'-believable.

Don't Ask

Click to Embiggen.

Happy Birthday, Big Blue!

Now get back to work!

RC Falcon

h/t Hank B.

Are You Not Entertained?

The fragile vocals aside, have you ever seen a more kick-ass commercial (that didn't involve US Marines, tanks, fighter-bombers, capital warships, or the Swedish Bikini IPSC Team?"

So Olde, It's Robin Olds

Those Wacky DM Pilots

h/t to Teresita

A Long Walk Home

So the story now is that ObL and several of the people greased by the SEALs were unarmed when they raided bin Laden's Pakistan compound. I wasn't there, so I can only guess what happened, but I'll put myself in the boots of the on-scene commander, as unqualified to do that as I am.

• People are shooting at us
• We just lost a helicopter and barely have enough room to extract our people
• Sucks to be you, al Qaeda people!

What are you going to do? Tell a few SEALs to walk down the the road and turn themselves over to the Pakistani Military Academy so that Terrorist Scum #1 and his squeeze can take their seats on the chopper? I don't think so, Muchacho! Although it might have been fun to hang ObL by the ankles from a rappelling rope for a ride out to the carrier, weight, overloading, and fuel consumption are big considerations in long-distance helicopter flight. Whether the decision was made by the Mission Commander or the first SEAL to get his sights on ObL, I'm really okay with it. Good thing they had enough capacity to take his whole body along; I would have been okay with just his head, but imagine the stink that would cause with the Arab World.

Airman's Creed

If this doesn't make you want to Go Into the Blue....

hat tip to MattS

Lest We Forget

On this day in 1969, North Korean MiGs shot down a US Navy EC-121 flying a BEGGAR SHADOW recon mission over the Sea of Japan, killing 31 Americans. Tail Number PR-21 crashed 90 nautical miles from the Korean coast. The shoot-down was ostensibly a birthday gift to NK's "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung.

(The plane's sister, PR-22, pictured left with an F-4 escort.)








My USAF Propwash Gang brothers of the era flew in a similarly configured Lockheed "Warning Star." Here's to all Silent Warriors, especially those who paid the highest price for "freedom through vigilance."

Anime Air Pr0n

from a Master.

This is Rich

What the Arab League Said: "Please, stop the madness and impose a No-Fly Zone over Libya!"

What They Meant: "Hey, here's how we can get the West into impale itself onto the Libyan spear and kill off some of them!"

What We Heard: "Hey, it's okay this time... for reals!"

What the West Said: "Okay, No-Fly Zone, that means we first kill all the air- and ground-based Air Defense, including the decision-makers!"

What We Said, "[Something French here]," and some Washington wishy-washiness.

What Moammar said: "*Sob!* That was my favorite goat! KILL the Crusaders!"