176 articles · 67.1K karma · 202 friends · active 1 week, 1 day 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).

“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 [...]

Survey: New kit release “wish list”

Now with the "virus" running rampant, it has caused many of us to stay at home. Some of us are working from home while others are following advice and trying to remain healthy. Then there are some who are at home because they [...]

New Group Build announcement, the Empire of Japan 1919-1946

Now that a lot of us are working from home, or have to stay home because of the virus, no time is better than the present to start something new. A few months ago I mentioned this idea for a group build. Here it is... and everyone is [...]

Imodeler at the Movies “Victory at Sea” TBM-1C Avenger flown by Lt. Robert Cosgrove 05 November, 1944

When David @dirtylittlefokker mentioned the "Imodeler at the Movies" group build, I was thinking about several different subjects that would fit. This particular plane is one that I have been wanting to build for many years [...]