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I’ve been building models since a wee boy, minus a long gap between 16 and 40, thanks to my late uncle Paul who worked for the original Revell in Venice, CA in the 50's - 60’s. In those days, the family Christmas tree was always loaded with kits underneath much to my delight but not so much my Mom who viewed them as more clutter.
I used to be 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 to 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.
I built this 1/48 Hobby Boss Brazilian EMB-314 Super Tucano about 4 years ago or so. I think this plane is a strong candidate for one of the most attractive aircraft currently in production and deserves a little attention.
The Super [...]
The internet is awash with Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Frank) kits in all scales and brands. Judging by the multitude of completed Hayate photos out there, it seems to me this well designed fighter is just as popular as the Zero, the only other [...]
I may as well jump in on this bandwagon honoring the 75th anniversary of VJ Day that marked the end of fighting in the PTO. Here's my tribute to Ike Kepford who was the Navy's highest scoring WWII F4U ace with 16 victories. I built this [...]
The P-51H was the last and a completely different version of the Mustang, redesigned in an effort to reduce weight and increase speed. Tom Cleaver built this Modelsvit kit back in January and has the P-51H’s history down plus some good [...]
For my second shelter in place build, I decided to go with George Welch’s P-40B Warhawk.
I presume most of you iModeler flyguys have already built squadrons of early Warhawks or Tomahawks by now and/or are familiar with the history of [...]
Here’s my first shelter-in-place build:
This P-51D (Eduard’s “Frenesi” boxing) represents the very first marking of “Big Beautiful Doll”. There were six different “Doll” schemes painted on the two Mustangs flown by Col. [...]
The Battle of Britain proved that the Hawker Hurricane Mk.I’s days as a front line fighter were numbered. Along came the improved Hurricane Mk IIA series in 1942 with the ability to use newly developed interchangeable wings. The [...]
A lot of us styrene addicts have purchased models with the intention of building them right away that end up sitting on the stash shelf for years - even decades. That’s been my relationship with AMtech’s Ta-183 Huckebein, the one and [...]
This sortie worn Spitfire FR. Mk. XIVe is modeled after one assigned to the 28th RAF Squadron in Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya mid1946. I used Hannants Xtradecals, sheet X48127 for the markings.
Much has been written about this latest [...]
This past March I was browsing around a LHS in Hong Kong and this kit leaped off the shelf at me. The Hondajet is Ebbro’s first venture producing a plastic airplane kit and first time I had seen it. Until that moment, I had never heard [...]
