46 articles · 2.6K karma · 11 friends · active 14 hours, 5 minutes 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.
The Convair XF-92A “Dart” was America’s first delta wing. As such, it was fairly terrible and widely regarded by test pilots as a flop: “It was a miserable flying beast,” observed NACA pilot Scott Crossfield. In reference to the [...]
The McDonnell-Douglas Delta II was a multi-stage, medium lift, expendable launch vehicle used from 1989 until 2018. It was used to send payloads to low Earth, geosynchronous, and heliocentric orbits, including the Kepler space telescope, [...]
The Ariane 4 was a three-stage, medium-lift expendable launch vehicle used by the European Space Agency. Designed by the French space agency CNES, it had a successful career spanning 15 years, from 1988 to 2003, during which it became a [...]
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was introduced in 1938 and saw extensive use in both theaters during WWII. It was a popular aircraft with allied militaries during the war, forming the backbone of the Desert Air Force (DAF) in North Africa. Its [...]
The Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak was the first of three planned transonic research aircraft built for the U.S. Navy and NACA. First flown in 1947 at Muroc, it was turbojet-powered with a nose inlet and short, unswept wings. The fuselage was [...]
The Aerospatiale Gazelle is a French light transport, light attack scout helicopter. It is licensed for manufacture by Westland for the British military. The two companies shared development and production work, introducing the Gazelle in [...]
Sometimes all it takes is a little international incident to remind you of what’s in your stash. On March 14, 2023, two Russian SU-27 aircraft intercepted a USAF MQ-9 patrolling in international airspace; they dumped fuel on it and [...]
The Kamov Ka-50 “Black Shark”, better known in the West by its NATO reporting name “Hokum”, is a Russian attack helicopter distinguished by its coaxial dual rotors. Compared to single rotor designs, the Hokum exhibits improved [...]
The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka was a human-guided bomb used by Japan in the latter days of WWII. Translating to “cherry blossom”, its official name of “Navy Suicide Attacker” hardly evokes thoughts of delicate pink petals lazily drifting [...]
In 1939, the US Army issued Proposal R-40C seeking unconventional aircraft designs that would achieve superior performance, armament, and pilot visibility over existing models. Specifically, the aircraft would need to operate from a [...]
