Dolf

A knew one in my collection, the Military Order of St. Benedict of Avis, apparently Knight grade. Obverse: Dolf

Mike, Now that it's done, it's done. The only thing that can be done for correcting the mistake is what Rick already did on this thread, which is delete the info. I don't know if it was also deleted on the other thread where you originally posted it, please check it. And if by any chance you have posted this info on other Forums, please delete it. My advice: Please just use some common sense when posting some info. There are things that might remain confidential. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, apologies accepted. Incident forgotten. Best wishes, Dolf

Emery, I know you weren't the 1st one to post our researcher's name openly here and that it was first posted by another member on another thread on the Forum, I also saw that post you mention. As mentioned by Rick and other members some info should remain confidential, it's a question of common sense! I feel responsible as I'm the one who in the 1st place gave this info to that member who posted it openly on another thread. But I did it privately, by PM, on another Forum, and it wasn't supposed to be openly revealed. Anyway, that will teach me not to provide such info again when someone else will ask for it. Dolf

Ed, Email sent. Dolf

Dave, Thanks for the clarification. Dolf

Ed, Does your question concern the fact that someone not being a member could have access to the Forum and read the posts? Well, if that is what your question, I believe that unfortunatelly the Forum is not closed and anyone not being a member can have access to any post here and read whatever is said Not like the SA Forum, where guests can not enter the Forum and only have access to the Home page. And I say unfortunatelly because I agree 100% with Dave, that some information should be kept confidential or eventually only shared by email or PM, between trustworthy members. Sadly some people have a tendency to talk too much... Maybe the KGB isn't out there anymore but there are others... Rick, I couldn't agree more, "tact and discretion, comrades!" indeed Anyway, back to the subject. Dave, is the OoOR considered a military or a civilian award? As it can be awarded to both military and civilian, I guess it's more a kind of civilian award, right? Dolf

And a pic of both my J 04 and J 04b, obverse, side by side. Dolf

Ok, here is a better pic of J 04, only the obverse as the reverse is not really relevant because no S/N. Anyway, the reverse of this one is just like the other one of J 04b I posted before. One thing I just noticed, Jan, is that both my screwnuts are like the one of J 04b posted before, therefore in both cases different from the screwnuts of those you posted! Dolf

Bryan, Yes indeed As far as I know all except one, but then again the topic being Soviet awards/stuff no big surprise after all Dolf

Dave, The Mongolian box is also at least partially made of cardboard. Now I regret I didn't take more pics of the inside (under the cardboard to which the Medal is secured thanks to a hole that allows to put the screw into it and the screwnut below the cardboard) before selling it Yes, the boxes posted by Bryan, for the OoG and the ORB look to me like Yugo boxes too, as mentioned on Post #23 above. Or maybe some other Eastern bloc country. Cheers, Dolf

Dave, Here is an example of what I was talking about. A case containing a Mongolian Golden Soyombo. Doesn't it look like the one you posted on that thread for the Soviet OGPW awarded to a foreigner? Dolf

Dave, Thanks a lot. I remember now I saw that thread when you posted the pics but had completely forgot about that one Anyway, the case for the OGPW looks very much like some Mongolian cases I've seen! But it doesn't look like this case posted by Bryan for the Glory 2nd Class, right? Dolf

Thanks Rick Dolf

Bryan, If you asked for pics of the boxes/cases (external views I guess) and you got none, I guess that answers it all Never saw that kind of boxes for Soviet awards before! As another member mentioned before, they do look like Yugo boxes, unless as it was also mentioned above this type of cases are used for awards given to foreigners, but I never saw one of these either. Could someone please post pics of such cases? Dolf

Mark, No problem, not in a rush anyway How was the SOS show by the way? You guys are really lucky to have all those shows in the US, we have nothing of the kind here I guess Heroic Fantasy would be the right name for those figures. This one reminds me of some of the orcs or so in an old real time stategy PC game, Warcraft. Great job! I have the AH Diplomacy game but never played it But I played Civilization/Advanced Civilization quite a lot. Played a lot of B 17, Patton's Best, Raid on St. Nazaire (solitaire games), Turning Point:Stalingrad, Breakout:Normandy, Thunder at Cassino and a bit of Storm over Arnhem (all these area-impulse system games), then a lot of Hitler's War (my 1st boardgame) and some Air Force, Afrika Korps, Anzio, The Russian Campaign, Russian Front, Flat Top (among the classics), some History of the World, Battle of the Bulge, Mustangs... Played quite a lot of PC games too, but these rather from every type, from footbal to car racing, to startegy games, but mostly FPS, some of the last ones I played were quite attractive as the action takes place on WWII, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty Keep up the good work, these figures are indeed amazing and very well done! Dolf

Jan, He recently had another one (can't remember the S/N as I didn't copy the pics) for $990.00 I believe!!! Not listed anymore! Sold?!!!... Probably!... Dolf

Excellent idea! Would love to see that. Dolf

Jim, I can perfectly understand you I feel the same myself Dolf

Rusty, Nice to talk to you on this Forum for the 1st time, buddy Actually this seller doesn't drive a truck but a very modern Toyota jeep (could post a pic but rather not) And he doesn't drive all over Mongolia's little villages buying stuff from the vets or their families, he has people doing that for him He prefers to go fishing on the freezing rivers of Mongolia instead. A large amount of his eBay stuff comes from the local Ulaanbaatar open market (bazar) that he visits in a very regular basis and from other local small dealers. Dolf

Mike, You know what? This week I had the chance to spend a few hours on the house that manufactures most of the Portuguese awards these days (well they exist for centuries, you probably know the house Frederico da Costa) and I had the chance, among other things to have one of those Order of St. Michael of the Wing on my hands!... They still make it and I was told that D. Duarte still awards it as well as the other Dynastic Orders! I will return one of these days and will try to make pictures. Cheers, Dolf

Latest addition to the collection. Ilyushin II-10 (USSR) The pilot of this aircraft was Captain V.A.Alekseyenko, of the 15th Aerial Attack Guards Regiment (not sure if the translation is 100% accurate!), March 1945. The Guards Badge can be seen painted on both sides of the plane. Captain Alekseyenko was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and as can be seen he had the Gold Star painted twice on both sides of his aircraft too. Dolf

Dave, Wow! Very nice one! I didn't know Corgi had Hatmann's aircraft, the Ace of the Aces! Being 1:32 scale I bet the cockpit must be pretty well detailed, right? I have a 1:32 plastic kit of a BF 109E from Hasegawa, that I never completed, but for which I worked quite a lot some years ago in detailing the cockpit, rebuilding the seat and adding a lot more of details to the entire cockpit, with the help of a few pictures of a real thing, the whole thing is now stored for when I'll have the time and most of all the patience to finish it. On that scale the details can be amazing indeed! The idea was to have it painted as the BF 109E-7/Trop "black 8" of the 2/JG 27, (pilot Werner Schroer), with the typical North Africa camouflage, RLM 78/79/80, as it can be seen on a famous picture flying over the Libyan desert. Notice that I never managed to find any decals for this scale so if any of you guys know who makes them or where they can be available please don't hesitate to let me know Another couple of funny things is that this particular aircraft is usually presented as a 109E-7/Trop, but on a Janes book I have he is presented as a 109F-4/N Trop ! Unless Schroer used to fly both with exactly the same painting and number "8" ! Another thing is that I'm not 100% sure of the spinner, as at least on a draw I have it with the typical "cutted" spinner used on fighter planes, painted half red half white, on that Janes draw it appears with the "pointed" spinner used on observation planes, entirely painted dark yellow, and on the real picture the spinner is too dark to be sure. So any help here would be most appreciated either Cheers, Dolf

Jan, Thanks for posting these. So after all they do exist! Cheers, Dolf

Same, reverse. Dolf

J 04b, obverse. Dolf