77 articles · 38.8K karma · 49 friends · active 1 hour, 14 minutes ago
I am twice-retired. I retired as an Air Force pilot (C-141) & instructor pilot (T-37, C-141) in 1993. I spent the next 20 years teaching high school social studies & also as an adjunct instructor at a local junior college. I retired from high school teaching in 2015 & taught my last college class in the spring 2016 semester. I currently teach two adult education classes each semester for a local school district. I began modelling when I was a kid and continued until the 1980s when my flying began to make my modelling time nonexistent. This trend actually got worse when I became a teacher. Now that I have time to model again, I find myself trying to sort through the many new techniques & tools available now. Over the years I kept buying kits, but not building them because they were easier to move while still unbuilt in the box. So now I have a two-car garage completely filled with unbuilt airplanes, armor, ships, space ships, and a few cars. I am now building my way through this cache of thousands while still selectively buying new kits. I am also two-thirds complete on an HO Scale train layout and I just started a small N Scale layout. :o)
I found some really interesting decals for a Romanian Me-109E-3 that led to this build. These planes were former Luftwaffe planes that were handed over to the Romanians. They repainted the planes in their own colors and markings. I used [...]
I built this kit for the Empire of Japan Group. I had discovered some diagrams of a Shoki with an all-black paint job. Although the prospect of an all-black plane was daunting, I decided I would give it a try. There are no photos of [...]
This was a really fun build of one of the most detailed Revell kits I have seen. As I was researching info on F-86D's in the Hellenic Air Force, I discovered that F-86D's sold to foreign air forces were equipped with Sidewinders. So I [...]
This kit called to me from its shelf in the garage, and I wanted to build something different. I sometimes build a kit in a paint scheme that never actually existed, and this is what happened here. To make it more plausible in my mind, I [...]
The Lorna was an anti-submarine aircraft used by the Japanese in WW2. Obviously a close copy of the Ju-88, the Lorna could be equipped with both radar and MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detection). This is a great kit that was a dream to build. [...]
Well, there I was, 6 weeks into a really bad case of cabin fever. I was waiting for some add-ons for a Lorna that I wanted to build for the WW2 Japanese group, and I was reading a book on the Skyraider in Vietnam. Of course, I decided to [...]
This was a quick build that I wanted to use to fill the time while waiting for some masks and paint for a Japanese plane I wanted to build for Works in Progress. Of course, I always seem to pick things that have some challenges. This is [...]
Before you read any further, I have to admit that this tale of woe really has very little to do with the Life-Like Naval Cannon. It has more to do with proverbs like: "Measure twice, cut once.", "Look before you [...]
If you have read any of my previous articles you know that I have reached the age where I appreciate a relaxing, casual build. I build a lot of old Revell and Monogram kits that I have been hauling around forever. Along comes Atlantis [...]
My wife and I were in Austin, Texas visiting my daughter and her husband today and I had some free time while the ladies were off shopping. I decided I wanted to visit the Texas National Guard Museum which is located at Camp Mabry, the [...]
