The Capelis XC-12 - Flying Tigers Movie Mystery Bomber!

Recently, I was thinking about John Wayne's Republic Picture movie The Flying Tigers and that mystery bomber that was shown at the end of the picture that was used to bomb that bridge.

The other thing I was thinking about was the fake P-40s used in the film for the taxi shots. Wikipedia had that answer here: Movie models were used to portray the Curtiss P-40 aircraft the Tigers actually flew, although they were only mock-ups which did no more than taxi. The covers protruding over the cylinder heads of the V-8 automobile engines that propelled the mock-ups are noticeable. I might add, that those covers were not the only things that showed these were fake airplanes. The slab used for the horizontal stabilizers had no actual elevators on them, no visible flaps or ailerons on the wings. I until Ted Turner colorized that movie, I never realized that fact until the first time I saw this film in color.

Why was I thinking about that old picture? Because Nitroplanes.com has this Ready To Fly electric P-40 that I want to get. Fifty-Five inch wingspan, all radio gear installed, rotating retracts, and a 6 channel 2.4 Ghz radio all for the fly away price of $239.00. The model is by AirField RC. Right now, they are waiting on a re-stock of the AVG Flying Tiger paint scheme version of this P-40. They have the other US Army Air Corps version and both come with the famous Tiger Mouth on the fuselage. Outrunner brusheless motor and ESC(Speed Control) plus a 14.8 volt Li-Po battery for power. Charger included. (Nitroplanes.com item# 93A40-P40-FlyingTiger-RTF-24G).

But, getting back to the bomber now...

On Wikipedia webpage dealing with this movie, under the heading of History vs. Hollywood, I found this bullet point: John Wayne's character arrives at the base on the one-off Capelis XC-12, a failed design that found a new life as a non-flying movie prop. It also was used in the film Five Came Back. end quote.

I followed that link to a French webpage and after translating it, discovered that airplane that has alluded me all these decades. A single prototype known as the Capelis XC-12. The XC-12 registered as NX12762, made its first flight at the Oakland Airport in 1933, with quite decent performance. Powered by two Wright Cyclone engines producing 525 hp and the aircraft could carry 12 passengers.

Originally, the aircraft had a large sloping inverted frame to improve visibility such as on the first Boeing 247 or the 3-engine Stinson. XC-12 could be equipped with drop tanks. The landing gear was retractable into the engine nacelles. They extended out again when the engine throttles were reduced.

The designed had a lot more bolts instead of rivets. In fact, it got to the point that ALL nuts and bolts have to be tighten before every flight. Capelis start up company went bankrupt. When it was damaged in a belly landing on a flight from Oakland to Glendale, that ended its flying career.

Aircraft was sold to RKO in 1938 for the film Five Came Back. By this time, the cockpit has been modified to a more conventional look. While repairable, insurance companies refused to cover it. But it was hauled around to other studios that needed a aircraft in it. Finally, it was scrapped in 1943.

The special effects model that was built to represent this aircraft flew a lot more than the real one by the end of it's life. In fact, it would appear in other films long after the orignal was scrapped. Check out the filmography at the end of Christian Santoir's article.

So now I know.

UPDATE (May 3, 2010): Corrected some grammar mistakes.

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Ref.

Flying Tigers(film-1942) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers_(film)).

Warbird Information Exchange (http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=30998). screen captures from this forum.

Capelis XC-12 unique prototype. article by Christian Santoir. (http://www.cocardes.org/tvcine/articles.php?pg=273&lng=fr). images from same website.

Nitroplanes.com (http://www.nitroplanes.com/93a40-p40-flyingtiger-rtf-24g.html).

More Space Cruiser Yamato CGI Video Clips

OMG! I almost wet my pants seeing some of these videos!

And one of them I think is an actual combination of cgi stuff from the actual Space Cruiser Yamato live-action film! At least that was what I thought I was seeing on viewing it the first time. Watched a few times now, I realize that this is someone very good with their CGI craft. This video is by someone calling themselves Tentenro. Its of the fighterjets and Earth Defense Force ships from the second season of Starblazers fighting the Comet Empire.

I can only imaged if there is a live-action sequel to this first movie, that the special effects will as good or slightly better than what Tentenro has shown in this clip.

Two of these videos are from someone going by the name of Honeykisaragi2010. I don't read Japanese, so I don't know the titles. But HK2010 (as I'm going to refer to him/her/it for the rest of this article has two BEAUTIFUL CGI clips of their own. And aside from the Yamato blasting off from the sea, we get to see the Andromeda and the Earth Defense Force in action as well.

1. From Tentenro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BhvLvQ08RM).

2. From HK2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BhvLvQ08RM).

3. From HK2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx0-_ioZzmI).

I'll keep playing the Texas Lotto and hope to win big time. Enough to take care of all the bills, get a new house and pickup truck. But most important of all, to be able to travel to Japan to see this movie in person when it comes out! I would really love to be able to do that.

Today marks 999 days and counting

If you have noticed over there on the righthand of the screen, that countdown widget that I have put on both of my blogspot blogs. Counting down the number of days until President Obama becomes a one term President (keeping my fingers crossed!). Today marks 999 days and counting.

Just wanted to mark the day is all.

YouTube Removes (or Tries to remove) All Hitler Parodies

Found this beauty on The Jawa Report. Seems like one parody manage to escape the YouTube purge (for now!). Its a shame that parody - for whatever reason - is now being taken down by copyright infringement rules which are really trying to stifle expression of Free Speech.

And of course, trying to embed the video here on my blog means that you have to click on the stupid thing and view it on YouTube directly. Oh well....

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Ref. The Jawa Report. April 21, 2010. "Hitler Reacts To The Removal of Hitler Parodies From JihadTube" (http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/202117.php).

Real Hope and Change-TEA Party Picture

I found this picture over on the blog American Power. That is where the credit is due. But this woman's poster - I just fell in love with it and wanted to spread it around.

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Ref. (http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/thousands-turn-out-for-irvine-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+AmericanPower+(American+Power)).

e RC Spitfire

This is so cool. And so affordable, that I have actually made a down payment with my LHS (Local Hobby Shop) for the Spitfire. e RC also makes a P-51D Mustang in the same scale. They also have a B-25 and a Electric Duct Fan (German markings) Typhoon jet model. All can be purchased from Hobby-Lobby.

Just watch the video. This may well be my first baby steps BACK into the hobby. This part of the hobby is known as Micro RTF (Ready-to-Fly).

Edit: Ok, the stupid size of the video frame issue again! Ok, just click on the stupid thing and watch it on YouTube directly.

UPDATE 1 (June 2, 2010): Finally received my eRC Spitfire yesterday. Had a thunderstorm in the evening so unable to make any test flights then. Did charge up the two batteries that were included in the package.

This morning, braced with the warnings of my friend Henry, I quote: Be careful – with the elliptical wing, it will snap roll pretty easily. Take-offs are cute – it will roll about 8ft. and then jump into the air. Landings are not so easy – you’ll need to keep a little power on or else it will fall out of the sky. My problem is that the speed control doesn’t seem to be very linear, and intermediate throttle positions with the inherent flight characteristics (read snap roll tendencies) are difficult to maintain. end quote.

I can confirm the need for a little speed for landing. I made my test hops without the landing gear. By the way, there is no mention in the instruction manual on how to stick them onto the model. I didn't have any foam safe CA glue at hand and I didn't want to risk regular CA (i.e. Super Glue for you non-modelers out there). First three flights lasted about 3-4 minutes while trying to trim the little Spitfire out. It still behaves like it is tail heavy. Before the sixth test hop, I took an X-Acto knife and trim the battery compartment a little to allow the battery to sit slightly forward than what the model allows. It flew a little better. It might fly better once the landing gear is glued onto the wing-this is one of those have to wait and see experiments. If you try to do the same thing yourself, don't take too big a piece of foam out-that will get you into the drop down gearbox for the prop. I got a part of it-but not too bad. No more than 2-3 mm at the most.

The Sixth flight started off ok, it was beginning to fly more level and not pogo on me too much, but then it seem to lose radio signal strength, so I throttle back and tried to glide it back to my position. It landed in my neighbor's back pasture. No problem since we don't have a fence there. This may be due to the fact of charging the batteries the night before and the earlier test hops plus one other battery charging cycle. Those (4) AA batteries are just standard ones from what I can see that come with the model. I will have to buy another package of Double A batteries for this weekend to see if that is the real cause or not. I also think that since I was using the indoor prop and not the outdoor prop-another reason why my particular bird might be tail heavy-that might be another factor in the tail heaviness of my Spitfire that I witness today.

Knowing these things now, I still like this little beauty. Had a beautiful morning, light winds so I could do my testing before 9am. Then I had to get ready for work. But I can keep the model in its original box and store it in the rear cab of my pickup truck for fun whenever.

Proto Civilization Discovery in South Africa

Last night on Coast to Coast AM with George Nory, I heard Michael Tellinger talked about his research of megalithic ruins of a vanished civilization that supposely was in a partnership with the Annunaki 75,000 to 200,000 years ago.

Below are both links to this broadcast. South Africian Michael Tellinger is the author of the book Slave Species of god. Graduate from the University of Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg in 1993 with a Pharmaceutics degree. Going by his bio, he is interested in such topics as the cosmos, genetics, and human history.

His first book Slave Species of god was a hit. This lead him to meet with Johan Heine and together, they worked together on additional research and wrote two more books, Temples Of The African Gods and Adam's Calendar. The later is the discovery of the Oldest Man-Made structure on the planet. The Calendar is older than the Giza Pyramids and older than Stonehenge. It was part of a large circular structure similar to, but older than Stonehenge by thousands of years. It is built along the same logitudinal line as Great Zimbabwe and follow the track to the Great Pyramid at Giza. It is aligned with the rise of Orion's belt when it rose horizontally on the horizon about 75,000 years ago.

The following comes from the blurb dealing with the book Temples of the African gods: Scholars have told us that the first civilisation on Earth emerged in a land called Sumer some 6000 years ago. New archaeological and scientific discoveries made by Michael Tellinger, Johan Heine and a team of leading scientists, show that the Sumerians and even the Egyptians inherited all their knowledge from an earlier civilization that lived at the southern tip of Africa more than 200,000 years ago… mining gold. end quote.

Then this from the book Slave Species of god - ...information that has been emerging from the Sumerian Tablets is so compelling and historically accurate, that it forces us to reconsider all we have embraced about our species. The amazing thing is that, the more we discover in the areas of science, genetics and astronomy, the more it corroborates the content of these ancient tablets that pre-date the Bible by as much as 3000 years. end quote.

Image comes from Tellinger's website of Adam's Calendar.

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REf. MaKomati Foundation website (http://www.makomati.org/pages/index.php).

Slavespecies.com-Human Origins (http://www.slavespecies.com/).

YouTube video of Michael Tellinger about Adam's Calendar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fD-hYETYmI&feature=related).

More UFO-The Movie Updates

What got me thinking about the UFO-The Movie again was a little post on a forum dealing with action figures. Basically, it said the following - Hot Toys Acquires License to Eon Production's NEW "UFO" The FILM. They'll be producing the line of 1/6 Action Figures based on Gerry Anderson's classic sci-fi series. But the original poster didn't include a link to that news. I'm waiting on them to respond and when they do, I'll update this posting with the actual news link.

Here are some links relating (sort of) to the new UFO movie that is set to come out next year. Basically rehashing what everybody else has been saying. I particularly like the MWC Toys posting about the Gay Ellis action figure. Especially the last picture at the bottom with her being in an embrace with an Alien!

Forbidden Planet seems to be saying that this movie will be the start of a trilogy! Cool!

Shadowlocked.com shows off the new UFO logo and more pictures of Lt. Ellis!

Astra-incognita.com runs info and updates on this movie and other projects.

Of course, there is the official UFO movie webpage.

1. Captain Toy-Michael's Review of the Week. Product Enterprise Lt. Gay Ellis. (http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_121106b.htm).

2. Forbidden Planet.com. Matthew Gratzner discusses the new 'UFO' movie Trilogy (http://forbiddenplanet.com/pages/matthew-gratzner-new-ufo-trilogy/).

3. Shadowlocked.com. New site up for Matthew Gratzner's UFO. (http://shadowlocked.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=175:new-site-up-for-matthew-gratzners-ufo&catid=44:misc&Itemid=1).

4. Astra-incognita.com(http://astra-incognita.com/x-topic-ufo_movie.html).

5. UFO-the movie.com (http://ufo-themovie.com/UFO/Home.html).

6. Flash 255 Bunker. February 8, 2010. Just a link back to my original posting on this subject.(http://flash255bunker.blogspot.com/2010/02/ufo-to-reboot-in-2011.html).

UPDATE: April 10, 2010: False alarm, April Fools Joke on me regarding the Hot Toys announcement.

Robotech Overload

Well, for the past month, I have been going through Robotech/Macross overload. It is almost over with with the arrival of my latest purchase from Amazon.com. The Art of Robotech. The Shadow Chronicles by Tommy Yune and a forward by Carl Macek. $19.95 for the soft cover edition. BEAUTIFUL color artwork throughout the book.

Beginning at the end of February, I was watching the original Robotech series online thru YouTube. Eventually, I wised up to go out to the garage and dig around in the storage boxes for my original DVDs and began watching the final epsiodes of Robotech Macross, skipped the Southern Cross, and jump to Robotech The New Generation and re-re-re-watching the DVD that this art book references. I have also view copies of Macross Frontier and like that very much even though there was no English translation.

In this book, I finally know what the SDF-3 really looks like under the fake Robotech Masters concoon shell that people know about from the aborted Robotech Sentinels series. Robotech Sentinels was converted into a movie using the first few epsiodes of that series. We do get to see the wedding of Rick Hunter to Lisa Hayes.

As an aside, I would like to take a few moments to wish upon a star for a real life, flesh and blood Lisa Hayes/Hunter to come into my life. A real woman who's character is so much like the anime one. And thats something that will come out in comic book form currently entitled the Prequel to the Shadow Chronicles. Admiral (now-before, he was a general) Rick Hunter has a facial scar from some incident in the last 20 years of story time. And his hair has gone grey. In fact, the way the characters keep referring to him, he is pretty much the President of Humanity in exile from Earth. His wife Lisa stepped down from her post and is now a diplomat. Being an emissary to the other races once subjugated by the Robotech Masters from the planet Tirol.

My love for Lisa however is offset by my lust for the robot Janice M2 (Junctioned Artificial Neuro-Integrated Cybernetic Entity). Then again, Janice's voice is none other than that of actress Chase Masterson of Star Trek Deep Space Nine fame - so that can explain the attraction right there. You see Janice's eyes above the title of the artbook.

I am hyper over the idea that there might be another Robotech Shadow Chronicles series movie in the works. And whenever enough funding comes in, they may actually produce it and fans like me can be happy once again.