176 articles · 66.9K karma · 201 friends · active 2 days, 8 hours ago

I'm a retired Lieutenant Fire Fighter / EMT. Prior to working as a Firefighter, I also served in Law Enforcement for several years.

In following with our long line of family military service, dating all the way back to 1776, I'm a US Army veteran (tanker). I served mostly in the M-60A1 and eventually the M1-A1 series tanks. I was a crew member in the Abrams only for a short while.

My Dad was kind of like "Lt. Dan" from the movie Forrest Gump. Fortunately dear old Dad broke our "family curse" of having members killed in every major conflict that the United States has ever had. My Dad was wounded in the Korean War, and thankfully he was not killed. Otherwise I wouldn't be here if he was. I accidentally happened some years later...

My other hobbies include restoring old "Mopar" muscle cars from the late 1960's and early '70s. I also enjoy building aircraft in 1/48 & 1/32 scale, along with 1/35 Armor. I especially like the WW2 stuff. Lately I have been gravitating towards the First World War 1/32 scale aviation kits though...

I built my first model (Revell 1/32 P-40 "Flying Tigers" version) when I was 8 years old. I currently have about 700 kits ( of which about 1/4 are built).

Christmas Day, 1944 ETO. Major George Preddy "Cripes-A-Mighty III" Revell 1/32 P-51D-5

Hello everyone. This build was done to pay respects to a man who gave his life on Christmas Day, 1944, in the name of freedom. His name was George Preddy, who was a Major in the US Army Air Corps. Tragically he was killed on this day [...]

1/48 Hasegawa Bf-109G10, Werke Number 130 369 of 5 / NJG 11, Fassberg, May 1945 a gift from Tom Bebout

This model was sent to me as a wonderful gift from Tom Bebout. One day he contacted me and asked if I had a Hasegawa Bf-109G-10 in 1/48 scale. My answer was "No, I don't." The very next thing Tom said was, "Well now you [...]

Review: 1/32 Aviattic decals review for a Wingnut Wings Fokker D-VII "Seven Swabians"

The Fokker D-VII just happens to be my favorite German aircraft from the First World War. As a little 8 year old kid I can remember building the "ancient" (by today's standards) Aurora 1/48 scale model and the strange green [...]

Flight 19 Pearl Harbor 80th Anniversary Group Build A pair of Airfix 1/48 P-40’s and a 1/48 Hasegawa A6M-2

I have been extremely busy with all sorts of full scale life lately, and I have not had much free time available at the work bench. Because of this, I was not able to fully complete these models before the December 7th deadline. Sorry. [...]

70 years ago today. 1st LT Michael Rebo, shot down over North Korea. MIA for many years, and a childhood friend of my Dad

This is one of those things that you want to do... no, scratch that. This is something that I just HAD to do once I heard about the events that unfolded on this day over North Korea. I owe a sincere thank you to Jim Burke, who operates [...]

Upcoming Group Build “Imperial German Air Force and Luftwaffe” Starting on May 1st

Here is the official announcement ! I have leaked it out to some of you and I have received a tremendous response. So without any further delay, I will officially start the new "Luftwaffe" group build on May 1st. Some of you [...]

Empire of Japan Group Build has been extended !

I have been corresponding with some who have projects underway where there was a concern about not making the April 3rd deadline. So I have decided to just remove the deadline altogether. This will remain open for us to use as we have [...]

1991 Desert Storm Air War. 30 Years ago today. Monogram 1/48 F-117 “High Tech” kit Toxic Avenger

Hard to believe this event happened 30 years ago... but it did. Time sure flies, and it flies by even quicker the older you get. 30 years ago today I was in the US Army recruiter’s office filling out paperwork trying to get back [...]

How to make a convincing looking fabric covered interior using tissue paper

Most of you know that I have a soft spot in my heart for any aircraft that has two wings, and is mostly covered with fabric. Last night I had a good idea (at least I thought it was), and I wanted to share this with you all. A while ago [...]

Empire of Japan Group Build, 1/32 Hasegawa Ki-44-II Hei, Shoki “Tojo” of the 246th “Flight Regiment”

This is a plane that I recently finished up. It was built as part of our "Empire of Japan" group build. This build was started after a small cleaning accident occurred. I keep most of my stash model kits stored on wire rack [...]