I have been building models since I was six. I stopped for a period of time while in the USMC and then when I got married. I have been married for 62 years and have two grown daughters with their own families. I returned to modeling in 1968 and had as my mentor, Stan Staples. I am retired from the CHP and enjoy my time modeling and spending time with my family.
Col. Stirm is another member of our little "Military Mafia" lunch group that meets each week to solve the worlds problems. It is indeed my privilege and honor to know him and call him my friend. Our lunch group has an interesting [...]
This was built from the Tamiya kit using AeroMaster decals. Aside from the decals I built this out of the box. I have no idea of who the pilot was or any further history of the airplane. I just liked the scheme. I left it rather clean as I [...]
This aircraft was flown by LtCol Donald K.Yost USMC. Commanding officer of MCVG-4 in the Okinawa area aboard USS Cape Gloucester CVE-109, Yost is credited with 8 victories. He retired from USMC in 1959 as a BGen.
This model was made out of [...]
The gentleman that wanted this model built had served on it as an enlisted seaman. He served just prior to it being decommissioned. Salem had a 10 year career from 1949-59. It served in the Atlantic and never fired a shot in anger. It was [...]
This is another vehicle I built on commission for the same gentleman. He provided the complete kit which was the Entex 1/16th scale kit from 1960. Let me first say that the true color of the model is that which is shown in last photo,the [...]
I built this on commission from the very old Monogram 1/24th kit. Surprisingly for it's age it went together rather well. He had the kit and when he gave it to me to build it was missing quite a few parts. I had to search around and I [...]
Through another friend I found out that Philip Graham lives in San Francisco so I gave him a call. We agreed to meet for lunch and chat about his service. Prior to the lunch I made this model of his airplane so that I could present it to [...]
I built this model and presented it to retired Captain Marland Townsand. He flew it when he was CO of VF-143. He went on to be the CO of Kitty Hawk prior to his retirement. He is one of the members of our little "Military Mafia" [...]
On the above date I was almost 5 years old. At a little after 4 pm the word went out that an airplane had crashed into a house. Ignoring our parents, all of us kids ran to where the plane had crashed. When I got there the pilot was gone [...]
This is my first submission to I-Modeler. This is an OOB build. This Bearcat is the Air Group Commander's aircraft of VF-19 during 1947 I enjoyed doing this kit as it is one of my favorite airplanes. Painted it with Model Master enamels [...]