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Retired military, ship model buff, former train nut.

Back It up Mack, Atomic Annie's In Town

Considered obsolete as a strategic weapon during it's time in the Army's inventory, the "Atomic Cannon" was impressive in size and a cause for concern by it's enemies. Able to hurl an atomic shell some ten miles, the guns were a [...]

Down At The Station, Early In The Morning....

What would prompt a person to build a model of his home town railway station? Perhaps the nostalgia of train trips to Boston to attend a Red Sox base ball game as a child. Or maybe reliving the days when a lot of folk took a train rather [...]

USS Andrew Jackson, SSBN-619

Model building should be fun, and putting this kit together was exactly that, FUN! This 19" model is a repop of the old 1:200 Renwal kit from the early 1960's offered by Revell in 2004. I had built the Renwal kit and the smaller 1:250 [...]

U.S.Coast Guard HU-16E 1963

Well today is the US Coast Guard's 225th birthday, so I had to post something the "wing maggots" (we-who-did-not-fly's endearing term for our CG aviator brothers) would recognize. It's the last of my Monogram 1:72 scale HU-16's [...]

Dozer in Decline-An Experiment in Weathering

I scratch built this crawler tractor a few years ago for display on my outdoor train layout. For some reason I wasn't pleased with it's "look" and it sat on a shelf with all my jars of nails and screws. As time went on the model [...]

Martin PBM-5 Mariner "FRISCO D is for Dog" 1944

In keeping with my modelers eye for the usual plane with an unusual paint scheme, I present the Mariner flying boat Air-Sea Rescue version. While as never popular or built in the same numbers as the PBY "Catalina", the Mariner [...]

Stinson RQ-1 XR3Q-1 RELIANT

Only one Stinson Reliant served with the US Coast Guard, being commissioned during 1935, serving until 1941. The Service used the aircraft as a flying "Radio Test" bed for long distance aerial radio communications, a novel idea [...]

Grumman HU-16 ALBATROSS, “The Goat”

The HU-16 first flew in 1947, designed as a replacement for the PBY "Catalina" amphibian. The US Air Force puchased it's first example in 1949 with the US Navy taking delivery of the amphibian in 1949. The US Coast Guard [...]

Fairchild C-123B "Provider" aka "The Naples Clipper", 1959

The C123 "Provider" was based on a cargo glider the XG-20. It's development had the aircraft as a powered assault transport powered by two P&W R-2800-83 and then powered by four J47 turbojets. The first contractor was the [...]

V-2, American Style

The Nazis poured a substantial sum of money and committed a large amount of personnel in the V-2 (also known as the A-4) program. Over 2,600 rockets were launched at London and Antwerp and the loss of life was high. As a weapon of war it [...]