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I’ve been building models since a wee boy, minus a long gap between 18 and 40, thanks to my late uncle Paul who worked for Revell in Venice, CA in the 50's - 60’s and, later, AMT models. In those days, the family Christmas tree was always loaded with kits underneath much to my delight, but it drove my mother nuts who viewed them as dust collectors, sadly enough.
I used to be a self-employed graphic artist/writer who has always been a fan of aviation art. I’ve designed logos and images for air museums all over the U.S. as well as illustrated a line of WWII warbird t-shirts that made the rounds in air museum gift shops and aviation catalogs. Many of my built models provided the inspiration for those designs.
I laid myself off a couple of years ago and decided to call it a day and enjoy life and build models for fun. My wife and I are proud parents of two adult daughters, both married to Costa Ricans (!) so we spend a fair amount of time there. Our home headquarters are in Santa Cruz, California.
DISCLAIMER: I’ve never piloted a plane but I have sat in a P-51.
For the recent F-86 Sabre and FJ Fury group build, I chose markings of one of the top U.S. aces of the Korean War: Maj. James Jabara. I used Warbird Decals 48027 Korean War F-86s, Part 2 and 48027 F-86F Common. You need both sheets.
Major [...]
I built Eduard’s Zero strictly OOB, nothing added except for brake lines, because this ProfiPak edition doesn’t need a thing more. It’s all here in the box to build a near perfect looking A6M2 Type 21 with no rough spots or [...]
All the accolades for Arma Hobby’s Hurricane Mk IIC - their first venture into 1/48th scale - are totally justified as it’s one heck of a fine kit. Sure, there are a couple of blips but the incredibly detailed molding and well thought [...]
(Click on the photos)
On January 19, 2024, the USAF museum at Wright-Patterson handed over their restored B-17G “Shoo Shoo Shoo BABY” to the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center, swapping the G for a B-17D “The Swoose”, the oldest [...]
The Cavalier Turbo Mustang III (Enforcer) prototype was a piston driven aircraft based on a Cavalier modified P-51D platform specifically re-designed for ground attack against guerrilla insurgencies and similar COIN operations. In 1968 [...]
My wife and I enjoyed three delightful weeks in Argentina, December 2023. While in Buenos Aires, I made a point of visiting the Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica, dedicated to the history of the Argentine Air Force aka: Fuerza Aérea [...]
In 1941 construction began on the new Santa Barbara Municipal Airport on California’s southern coastline 7 miles west of the city in the town of Goleta. The airport is almost smack dab on the beach facing the Pacific Ocean and the [...]
Jim Sullivan’s “F6F Hellcat in Action” Squadron book features a Don Greer profile of Hellcat F6F-3 “white 13” of VF-16 that flew from the USS Lexington CV-16 in December of 1943. I chose to model this particular aircraft for the [...]
I’ve had this 1/48 DML/Trimaster Ta 154 H-0 in my stash since the early 90’s. The Jerry Crandall GB finally got me off my keister to get going on this because I also had EagleCal’s Ta 152 H #133 sheet already in the decal dungeon [...]
All I can say is “wow”! What a superb air museum this place has evolved into. I’d venture to say this is the best collection west of the US Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson in Dayton, Ohio. Not surprisingly there are many [...]
