RAF_Louvert

Well BH, we didn't make baseball bats with it, we made block sets for schools, which might be even more sacrilegious when it comes to a gorgeous plank of 10/4 curly, tiger stripe, or birdseye maple. Which was why I pulled every such figured board I found that had slipped past the graders and set it aside before it made its way to the saws to be summarily sliced and diced, (we went through 10,000 board feet of #1 Select a week). I bought about four to six prized planks a month from the company and toted them home for not only my own special projects but those of my friends as well. I carved one amazing super curly chunk into a stock for a .32 caliber Tennessee long squirrel gun I built way back then. It was a beaut too. And I carved up countless jewelry boxes and knick-knack shelves out of all the little leftovers I had from the bigger projects. I still have a plank left in the barn, despite the fact that its been 25 years since I worked at the place. I have yet to find THE project to build with it as it is one of the most amazing chunks of maple I have ever seen. It has a figure to it that looks like tens of thousands of little globe-shaped puffs of smoke, and the pattern runs through the entire plank. Cheers! Lou .

. Oh the sweet anticipation of it all. .

. Ooo, Ooo, me too Olham, me too! I wanna join Jasta 34b too. Your planes and grub look much nicer than what I'm familiar with at RFC 29. Cheers! Lou .

. Thank you everyone for your insights and personal responses. As I've searched about for old medals I've come across a variety of viewpoints on the subject, some of which weren't nearly as thoughtfully put forth as those here. Even though I handle harsh opinions in stride, I much prefer the tactful replies and may tend to consider them more carefully than the former, though to be fair I imagine both are equally honest and heartfelt in their own way. Now then, there is one aspect as concerns collecting military medals that I do find particularly distressing. Value. It is an unchangeable fact of the marketplace that price is dictated by supply and demand, and more importantly, what buyers perceive as worth. While that's all well and good when looking for the best deal on new socks, it is quite another thing in terms of what a medal's real value should be. Truth be told any citation for bravery, heroism, and service above and beyond should be considered priceless, IMHO. But of course such is not the case, and unfortunately as soon as an old military medal hits the trading floor it all boils down to "what the market will bear". For instance: recently an original Victoria Cross sold at auction for $340,000, and not but a few months before that an original Orden Pour l'Merite went for $180,000. Yes, these are Britain's and Germany's highest Great War honors respectively, and very scarce items to come available, (and both were well-documented). But why should their "value" be so much higher than the foremost citations of other countries, or more to the point why should the others be worth so much less? I was just fortunate enough to purchase an original, early style, military class example of Belgium's premier award, the Order of Leopold I. This is the same order of knighthood as that presented to the famed Belgian ace Willy Coppens, and was in fact the highest honor his country could bestow on him. Here is that highly revered and beautiful medal: So what is the market value of such an item? About $150 to $450 on average. I purchased the one shown for $115. And how many of these were presented to WWI flyers you might wonder? Five, and that is for all Allied flying services combined. Compare that to the 162 presentations of the Blue Max to the flyers of the Central Powers and it seems even more skewed when you look at what each sells for in the marketplace. How can this kind of discrepancy exist for such similarly paramount awards? Seems outrageous to me...and sad. .

Here is the current link gordohk: Blackadder Explains How The War Started Cheers! Lou

. Could well be, Stiffy. MvR received that nasty head wound on July 6, 1917 and was kept out of active duty until October, right about the time of that article. Cheers! Lou .

The mention of provenience requires that I elaborate on the medals I am collecting. I’ve been stopping by estate sales and second-hand stores, and watching various online listings and auctions for the last year or so for the medals and citations I would like to showcase in the display I am working at. In this search I have specifically chosen original, genuine, issued awards that are not named and have no provenience what so ever, and here is why. First, they are less expensive, and while this is a factor, it is not the primary motivation. The main reason is that due to their very lack of documentation these items are much more likely to end up in exactly the situations that should be avoided, (i.e. used as costume jewelry, melted down for gold or silver value, or just plain forgotten). I hope that original medals which are named and/or carry the papers to prove who the recipients were would either stay with the families, or eventually end up in a public museum display somewhere, (but I am not so naive to believe such will be the case with most). It's just that, for me, there seems more poignancy in holding let’s say an original WWI Croix de Guerre that was obviously sewn to a brave soldier’s tunic at some point in the dim past, and to NOT know exactly who the man was, but rather to understand he was one of many such heroes, now all but forgotten. Cheers! Lou

Greetings All, Here’s a topic I am curious to get your thoughts on. I began building a very small collection of original military medals some time ago, and in so doing have had to contend with a few questions and concerns from people as to why. Now for me personally, the primary reason I have these objects is the direct connection it provides to the gallant men who gave above and beyond and were recognized for their selfless actions in the presentation of such honors. Many emotions well over as I hold one of these awards and make that immediate physical link to the past: gratitude, awe, exhilaration, humbleness, and sadness. The reason for the last, sadness, is twofold. First is the obvious fact that the individual who earned such an honour no doubt suffered in doing so, perhaps even to the point of giving his own life in the process. Second is the idea that there is no one of this brave hero’s family or friends to keep his honor, and I prefer to think that’s because they are simply all gone, and not that they still exist and simply don’t care anymore, (though I know the latter can also be the case). Being former active military myself, I take the meaning of the honors and citations of all countries very seriously. I believe it is a crime when someone claims military service and/or awards that are false. That being said, I do not have an issue with those who collect such medals and awards as a way to preserve and cherish the acts and individuals they represent, and while I would never wear one of the medals I’ve collected, (not even as part of a costume on Halloween as suggested by my granddaughter the other day), I don’t see having them as disrespectful to the world’s heroes. Better these medals are owned, cared for, and displayed by people who feel they still have the worth originally invested them than they should sit forgotten in a shoebox, or locked away in a safe as an “investment”. So how do you folks feel on the subject? And because this can be an animated discussion in some circles I ask that we all please remain respectful and thoughtful. Also, I would ask that this not turn into a discussion on the whole validity argument of an awards system in the first place. That's an entirely separate topic for another time. Cheers! Lou .

. itifonhom, if you want the light/dark effect and you have the cash, go with walnut and spruce. If money is a bit tight consider standard grade mahogany and some relatively clear, wide growth ring pine, (what we call Southern Pine around here). The tight growth ring pine is harder and more expensive and in this case wouldn't give you as nice a final result as the softer, less-expensive choice. Just be sure to pick solid, flat, straight-grained boards with minimal knots, (or no knots at all if possible). Even though it is only going to hang on the wall it will still turn out nicer if you hand pick the lumber. Cheers! Lou .

. And where is your aerodrome exactly, and when is snack time? A new pilot, Oberleutnant Louschmidt, will be stopping by I think. Beauty of a plane BTW Olham. Prost! Olt Louschmidt ...err...umm...I mean... Cheers! Lou .

. MvR could have used Mark Twain's line in response to that article: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." I add every one of these articles to a WI folder I created just so I'll have 'em for future reference. Thanks Stiffy! Cheers! Lou .

. These folks have 'em Stiffy, at least for that DFC of yours. RMR Cheers! Lou .

itifonhom, a fun project to take on Sir, and you might want to start here: Wooden Propeller website I have been a woodworker for 40 years, (grew up with a father who ran his own cabinet shop until he decided to become a TV/radio repairman in 1960), and I have done numerous stacked template projects over the years, with props being on that list. I will advise you against maple as your wood choice unless you have some top notch equipment. I ran a wooden toy production line many years ago and we worked strictly with hard maple and believe me, "hard" is the operative word there. Yes, it machines and polishes beautifully, but at a cost in time and material. You would be well advised to consider the woods used by the WWI prop builders, with mahogany, walnut, and spruce being the first three on the list. These are all stable woods and very easy to machine and carve. I have a WWI prop project waiting in the wings myself for my favorite kite, the Camel. Cheers! Lou

. Very cool OvS. What a job to have! Date marked, recorder set just in case. Cheers! Lou

. Excellent report Gromit! Ashame about poor Hans' early demise, but he's in good company. "Here's a toast to the dead already. Hurrah for the next man to die!" Lou .

. Some of these are beginning to sound like an advert in the personals column of the Times: "I enjoy: Long walks along the edge of the aerodrome at sunset; A bottle of fine French wine and the company of good friends; The smell of castor oil and petrol in the early morning; The sound of twin Vickers chattering away at the Albatros in my sights; The satisfaction of seeing my enemies fall from the sky like leaves in a gale; And a good bonking every so often." .

. jaa, side-slipping the DR1 with right rudder will help at landing as well as it bleeds off air speed and allows you to see where you are going. Just be sure to straighten out as your wheels find terra firma. Cheers! Lou .

. OK, for those of you who were thinking to yourselves recently, "Man! You know what I really need is an original Nieuport 17 propeller for my WWI flying room." Well you're in luck. All you need is a very large check book and this baby is yours: N17 Prop I don't think I'll be rushing to buy this one, despite how nice it is. I may however laminate and carve my own one day for the office, and I do have dimensioned plans for an original Sopwith Camel prop. Cheers! Lou .

. Thanks Stiffy. The latter two I am already familiar with, but I was not aware of the first one you posted. 21stlancer's MC is very nice indeed and is the source I am leaning towards on that one. I was not so impressed with ije2103's DSO offering, however the VC he shows is one of the better ones I've run across. Service Commemoratives at http://www.servicecomm.co.uk/ also offers a good quality VC, and their DSO is beyond compare, but then it should be at 175 quid. Cheers! Lou .

. Thanks everyone, it was a very nice find. Stiffy, it will be my pleasure to post some photos of my display, and office, when I have them both to my liking. My dear wife has moved her computer and desk to the spare bedroom we now have, (since our youngest went away to college this fall), and she told me to go ahead and make the "computer room" my own! Oh the plans I am hatching. I am currently measuring to see if I can do a built-in book shelf to move all my Great War books to my new office. But I will need a bit of shelf space as the majority are currently occupying the upper half of the large book case in our dining room: Needless to say this is one house project I am really looking forward to. Cheers! Lou .

. Stiffy, that DFC you purchased looks to be of very nice quality. Might I ask which online store you procured it from? I am looking for good quality replicas of the Victoria Cross, DSO, and Military Cross, and any leads you could offer would be much appreciated. Also, more pictures of your office if you would be so kind. I'm considering redoing mine and I'd like to have a word with your interior decorator. Cheers! Lou

. Congrats Stiffy on receiving your DFC. Now then, what I want to see is the rest of this office of yours Sir. All those teasers in your pics have me very curious: goggles, tunic, old phone, and newspapers spread about. C'mon, show us the whole affair. Check Six, beautiful original wings there Sir. Rickitycrate, nice PLM. Looks a lot like the one Olham just won. BTW, I posted this in another thread this morning. Here is the original Médaille Militaire I just purchased this AM, (which when it arrives it will reside next to the original and nearly perfect French and Belgian examples of the Croix de Guerre With Palm already in my collection): Cheers! Lou

War is Hell itifonhom. I raise a glass to your fallen hero. Olham, I agree. It's interesting how you can feel quite differently about each virtual pilot. You can get very closely connected to one and not give a rodent's behind about the next. Odd, but it's human nature I suppose. Cheers! Lou

The IL2 controls take some serious time to sort out as there are so many of them. However, it has some nice features, and perhaps the best is it's water animation. Amazingly life-like. As to DM's Canvas Knights project, it is his baby all the way and really is a one-man show, which makes it even more impressive given how much he has built in such a short time. Do keep in mind though that he is focusing on this as a massive-multi-player venue and not so much SP campaign. That being said, there are a lot of us old RB3D flyers who are looking at this as the way back into the MMP wars with 50 to 100 planes in the air at once. I hope DM can get all the kinks worked out and wish him only the best with this very large project. Cheers! Lou

. Well now that is one magnanimous gesture on your part Tom. Good on you Sir. Happy karma coming your way. Cheers! Lou