53 articles · 7.1K karma · 28 friends · active 1 month ago
Retired military, ship model buff, former train nut.
I'm not really a truck or car modeler, but once in a while I like to build something different. I've always been a fan of construction equipment, especially older, cable operated excavators. There's not much in the way of steam shovel kits [...]
In retirement I've been catching up with building models of units I served on while on active duty. My latest build is a 1:16th scale model of a typical USCG 41' utility boat. Found at every Coast Guard station, the 41' UTB was state of [...]
At least they were to a young modeler in 1958. The Lindberg "Flying Saucer" was a big deal to me and was my first model I was allowed to build all by myself. Like many kids of the 1950's, I was a big fan of space [...]
As you work on your current plastic kit consider this; there was a time when these prototypical miniatures didn't exist. At least not in plastic form. How interested would you be in a hobby that offered little in the way of boxed kits, a [...]
I apologise the quality of the photos; the planes are in a museum and I can't re-photograph them easily. One of my shortcomings as a modeler is my rush to build a model and the failure to take photos as I progress. And when complete, a [...]
The XF-90, a experimental aircraft, was an example of Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works. Designed as a long range escort fighter that could accompany the B-36 intercontinental bomber, changing technology had the jet redesigned as an interceptor. [...]
The American Highway Safety Administration defines a dromedary ("drom") as a "box, deck, or plate mounted behind the cab and forward of the fifth wheel on the chassis of the power unit of a tractor/semi trailer [...]
The Dahlgren Cannon was chosen by ship designer John Ericsson to arm his breakthrough design of the ironclad USS MONITOR. The MONITOR's 29' revolving turret carried two of these huge rifled guns that were capable of firing a variety of [...]
Known for many years by the US Coast Guard aviators as FLBs-Flying Life Boats-the five flying-boats manufactured specifically for the service marked the swan song of the American Fokker company(absorbed into the General Aviation company). [...]
[Associated Press EST 1200] Today it was learned that a US Air Force jet, scrambled to intercept an object of unknown origin, crashed into the object in the skies over Maryland and forcing it down. Early reports are unclear but sources say [...]
