53 articles · 7.1K karma · 28 friends · active 2 weeks, 2 days ago

Retired military, ship model buff, former train nut.

GI Joe's Toys Into Art

First off, I had nothing to do with these exceptional figures. The workmanship is so good I want to share it with our group. Since I can't model a decent figure, in any scale, these G I Joe upgrades blew me away. Someone emailed me these [...]

Imperial Chinese Turret Ship "DING YUEN"

The "DING YUEN" (or Tingyuan) had a curious place in naval history. Built in Germany and equipped with state of the art Krupp guns, it served as the Imperial fleet's flagship. It's design was part of the warship evolution of the [...]

Douglas RD-2 "DOLPHIN" USCG 1932

Back in the days of yore, modelers had but two recourses for getting the aircraft model of their choice: plastic kit or scratch built (usually wood construction). Then behold, VACUFORM burst upon the scene, kits of aircraft that no [...]

When the US Air Force had a Navy!

This is my rendition of the old (and I do mean OLD) Lindberg Models 1950's era USAF air/sea rescue boat. I built a similar model as a youngster and couldn't figure why it didn't include torpedo tubes like my Revell PT boat. It was a [...]

Area 51--Secret files revealed from the 1950's!

After you view these photos erase them from your computer...and, if questioned, swear you've never seen them before...I'll see if I can locate the flying disc pictures, if so I'll post them..but you didn't hear this from me.

U.S. Coast Guard 36' Motor Lifeboat

It's Coast Guard Day, August 4, 2013! I almost forget to honor the founding of my Service's birthday, August 4, 1790. As one might imagine I do build a lot of Coast Guard subjects (most are kitbashed or scratchbuilt) there are very few CG [...]

US Coast Guard MH-65C

This model represents the USCG H-65 "Dolphin" short range helicopter. Dating back to the 1980's, this twin engined aircraft is the Services' standard shipboard aircraft, certified for all weather and night time operations. My [...]

A Pleasant Surprise!

Received this in the mail last week, what can be better than a package with a model in it? Many thanks again to the iModeler staff for this nice gift and to all the folks that offered kind words about the Seamaster. I'm not sure what [...]

War of the Worlds Classic Illustrated Edition

"Across the gulf of space...intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely they drew their plans against us"... From H.G.Wells "War of the Worlds" novel I read [...]

PBY-5A US Coast Guard 1952

This is a version of Monogram's 1:48 scale PBY- 5A. Most builders construct this kit in typical WWII fashion but I wanted my plane to present a different appearence. The USCG started flying Catalinas in the 1930's, (the flying boat [...]