169 articles · 64.7K karma · 197 friends · active 6 days, 9 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 600 kits ( of which about 1/4 are built).

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 [...]

“Flight 19 Lost Squadron 75th Anniversary Tribute” Accurate Miniatures TBM-1C Avenger as FT-81

First off, I want to thank all of you who held off posting your articles so we could keep our Flight 19 builds together. That was very kind of you and considerate... Flight 19 ... The "Lost Squadron" was previously introduced [...]

Korean War "Devotion" , Battle of Chosin Reservoir, LT/JG Thomas Hudner and ENS Jessie Brown Medal of Honor Mission Dec. 4th, 1950

This is a build that I have wanted to do for many years now. It covers a story that some of you will recognize right away. Some of you may not. Please read along with me and I'll explain. Be warned, some of what I'm going to be telling [...]

Review: Upcoming kit reviews. Meng Dr-1 with MVR bust, and Tamiya P-38H Limited Edition kits

Several weeks ago I received these kits from Sprue Brothers. I was able to get my hands on these two thanks to my loving wife (for putting up with me) and an available balance on a credit card. I also want to thank Paul Nash, [...]

Empire of Japan Group Build. 1/48 Fine Molds Nakajima “Kikka” Jet

75 Years ago today this plane took it's very first flight. It took a very long time to get airborne, so several days later another flight was made... or at least attempted. They had installed RATO pods under the wings in an effort to [...]

Korea: The Forgotten War group build is now active.

Hello everyone. This is an open invitation to all who want to participate in our Korean War group build. This group build will follow the exact same dates as the actual conflict did. It will start on June 25th, 2020, and will end a [...]

Korea: The Forgotten War

Good evening everyone. This is a friendly reminder that our new upcoming group build will start in a little less than a month from now on June 25th. With Memorial Day recently observed here in the USA, there’s no better time than now [...]

Fine Molds 1/48 Mitsubishi Ka-14, the A5M ”Gull wing” Prototype

This is my first completion for our ever growing Empire of Japan Group Build. This is the Mitsubishi Ka-14, which eventually because the A5M "Claude". Apparently there were six different prototypes built. Each one was [...]