48 articles · 2.8K karma · 11 friends · active 1 day, 15 hours ago
I’ve been building models since 2021. I'm currently interested in military aircraft, space, ships and missiles.
When I’m not at the bench, I’m jogging, reading, doing science, or hanging with my family.
My iModeler posts can be found, usually with a bit more detail, at my blog.
NASA's Mariner program had the goal of studying the inner planets: Mercury, Venus, and Mars, through a series of robotic space probes. Between 1962 and 1973, ten Mariner missions were attempted: though three failed, the others performed [...]
To satisfy a US Navy requirement for an anti-submarine warfare helicopter, Bell’s Model 61 first flew in March 1953. It was a tandem rotor design, and the first helicopter specifically designed for this role. The name XHSL indicated the [...]
The MIM-14 Nike Hercules was a United States surface-to-air missile (SAM) serving in the anti-aircraft and (ostensibly) anti-ballistic missile (ABM) role from 1958 until it was phased out in the 1980's in favor of the Patriot missile [...]
The Atlas V is the last of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, produced by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing collaboration United Launch Alliance (ULA). After 99 successful launches out of 99 attempts, it is slated for replacement by ULA's [...]
This is the 1/72-scale Hasegawa TBF/TBM 1-C Avenger from 1995. It's a quality kit: good surface detail and nice fit. My son built the Academy kit alongside me, and my impressions are that the Hasegawa has more detail in places, like [...]
The Mitsubishi J2M Raiden was a local interceptor that served in the defense of the Japanese homeland against high-altitude Allied bombers. It was therefore a good, quick climber without frills. The earlier J2M2 and J2M3 (both designated [...]
Conceived in the 1940s as a speedy, rocket-powered fighter aircraft, the XP-79 was one of Jack Northrop's early flying wing prototypes. The aircraft was constructed from welded magnesium to be sturdy but light; the pilot flew the craft [...]
The NASA Apollo Program led to the successful landing of a human being on the surface of the Moon. Early missions in the series developed tactics and techniques and rehearsed the operational segments that would culminate in 1969 with the [...]
The Northrop F-5 is a twin-engine, supersonic light fighter introduced in 1962. The F-5A, named the Freedom Fighter, was reliable, maneuverable, relatively cheap to produce and maintain, and was popular with foreign militaries looking for [...]
The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a ground attack version of the C-130 Hercules. It was developed in the 1960’s during the Vietnam War to perform close air support operations: due to its low operating altitude of around 7000 feet (owing in [...]
