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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).

“Year of the Cat” Group Build recap………………

I am pleased to announce the recap of our recent Group Build called the "Year of the Cat". The Chinese traditionally have calendar years named after animals, such as the rooster, monkey, dog, etc. There is not a "Year [...]

1/48 Tamiya FW-190 A4, as Flown by Leutnant Eberhard Von Burath, Adjutant 1 Gruppe / JG 1

Staying hot on the heels of these FW-190 postings, I'll add another one of my recent builds... lets keep it rolling! This model was built as part of a four plane build that I did for the recent "Kasserine Pass" GB that was the [...]

1/48 Tamiya FW-190 A8, “Otto Kittel” 2. JG 54, Black 1, Werk Number 690 282

Here's a model that I completed several months ago, during the Kasserine Pass Group Build, when I built a series of four different FW-190's. This model is painted as a "What if", since I didn't find any photos of the actual [...]

Kasserine Pass Group Build, Monogram 1/48 scale He-111-H, “S7 + ZA” Stab / St.G. III North Africa 1942

I would like to start off by stating the Kasserine Pass Group Build was very enjoyable for me. David A. Thomas, (the founder of this group), was there with guidance and words of encouragement throughout the building process. I wish to [...]

Kasserine Pass GB: 1/48 scale Tamiya FW-190A , Oblt. E. Rudorffer, CO 6 / JG2 Tunisia

Better late than never they say...who ever "they" are. Here it is finally. This is the Tamiya FW-190 A-3 kit, that I updated to make it look like a later A-4 version with a few simple modifications. These are all covered in [...]

“Kasserine Pass” Afrika Korps Tamiya 1/35 Panzer III L, 10th Panzer Division, Tunisia, February 1943

Here it is... I finally finished this one and have the time to post it. This one will be my 101st article here on Imodeler. Beware, there is one graphic photo in this article, that has a dead German soldier in it. He was presumably a [...]

Kit Review: 1/48 Tamiya 61117, Messerschmitt Bf-106 G6, Part 2 of 2

Here it is, hot on the heels of Part 1. This article has a special meaning for me, since it will be my 100th article posted here on iModeler. Many thanks go out to Martin and his extraordinary team. The first article dealt mainly with [...]

Kit review: 1/48 Tamiya Messerschmitt Bf-109 G6, Part 1 of 2

Once I saw that Tamiya was going to be releasing a new 1/48 scale kit of the Bf-109, I knew that when it arrived at the nearest Hobby Store I had to purchase it. This is a kit that I have been waiting for a while now. After opening the [...]

Battle of Kasserine Pass, M-4 Sherman “early” of the 1st Armored Division, Tunisia 1943

Finally, this one is done. I completed it last night. I want to start off by saying "Thank You" to David Thomas, for coming up with the idea, organizing it, and leading this Kasserine Pass Group Build from the Front... which [...]

Battle of Kasserine Pass GB, Amtech 1/48 scale P-40 L-5 CU, long tail version, “Lighthouse Louie” 325th Fighter Group “Checkertail Clan”, North Africa

Here is another one of the planes I built for the Kasserine Pass Group Build. Again I wish to thank David Thomas for starting and hosting the Kasserine Pass Group Build. His untiring efforts have helped this GB become the success it is. [...]