46 articles · 2.6K karma · 11 friends · active 13 hours, 36 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 Douglas X-3 Stiletto has the perhaps singular distinction among airplanes as not being nearly as cool as it looks. I mean, it screams FAST. Instead, it was stubbornly subsonic and exhibited potentially catastrophic roll [...]
I know, it's hard to get too excited about a teen series. And yet, it must be done: what respectable modeler worth his Tamiya tape doesn’t have at least a couple teen series models collecting dust on a shelf?
I don’t recall why I [...]
NASA’s Pioneer 10 was the first space probe to study the outer planets. Launched in 1972, it traversed the asteroid belt and made its closest approach to Jupiter nearly two years later, at a distance of 82K miles. It beamed back this [...]
A lifting body is a craft whose body, rather than its wings, generates lift. NASA and the US Air Force researched lifting bodies in the 1960s and 1970s as potential spacecraft designs that could glide to a landing after leaving orbit. A [...]
The OH-58 Kiowa is a single-engine, four-blade helicopter designed for the US Army primarily as a scout aircraft. In addition to its observation role, the OH-58D is capable of carrying munitions on two hard-points and performing direct [...]
The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine utility helicopter originally developed for the US Army in the mid-70’s. It serves primarily as a troop carrier (fitting 11 combat-ready soldiers) and logistic support aircraft. [...]
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a primary fighter-bomber and ground attack aircraft during WWII. Produced between 1941 and 1945, it made use of the newly-developed turbosupercharger engine which gave it good high-altitude performance. [...]
The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drone is a medium-altitude, long-range remotely piloted aircraft used by the United States Air Force and CIA from 1995 to 2018. Widely deployed, the Predator saw extensive use in Afghanistan hunting [...]
In May of 1960, Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union by an S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile. This incident starkly revealed the vulnerability of U.S. aerial reconnaissance to Soviet air defenses, and [...]
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II was introduced in 1962 as a high-speed, long-range interceptor for defense against Soviet bombers. Thankfully, this role never needed filling and instead the twin-engine F-4 went to Vietnam as a [...]
