65 articles · 2.1K karma · 9 friends · active 4 days, 13 hours ago

Interested primarily in WW II aircraft carriers in 1/700 scale, but branching out lately into some 1/72 aircraft, starting with carrier planes but more recently RAF and Luftwaffe as well. And hoping to get somewhere on my backlog of Star Trek kits. A scratchbuilt launch umbilical tower for my 1/200 AMT Apollo/Saturn V is my white whale.

New Build Docks (6 & 7)

I get far more attention online for my build docks than my models - which is usually fair! Back in 1992 when I had some time on my hands after finishing law school and the bar exam and waiting to move back to Marshall to start my [...]

1/72 PzKpfw III Ausf. L.

This is my first tank build since high school - appropriate since attending TankFest last summer. It's a early 1943 Eastern Front version of a Panzer III - Revell 1/72 kit. The paint went on a little dark, and I tried to lighten down [...]

Butch O’Hare F4F-3 refit

In May of 2017 as part of my 75th anniversary of the Pacific War battles of 1942 I built a 1/72 Academy/Minicraft F4F of Butch O’Hare’s F4F from when he won the Medal of Honor for engaging nine Japanese bombers attacking his carrier, [...]

Curtiss P-40B Warhawk

This build is the Airfix kit representing 1st Lt. Kenneth W. Sprankle's P-40B, registration 41-13297, assigned to the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the 18th Pursuit Group based at Wheeler Field on Oahu. Although the kit appears to show the [...]

1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4

I enjoyed my recent build of an Airfix Gustav 109, so when I saw this Emil the other day with Battle of Britain markings I picked it up. Little did I know that unlike the Gustav, AO1008A was an Airfix "new tool" kit. Instead [...]

1/72 F4U-1A Corsair

This was a reprise of the Hasegawa Corsair kit that I built two weekends ago as a F4U-4 flying from Bunker Hill in February 1945 in overall Glossy Sea Blue. This build was an attempt to get a good tricolor scheme down, as well as try out [...]

1/72 F6F-5 Hellcat

My attempt to make headway on my stash of unbuilt kits settled on a second 1/72 Academy F6F this week. In 2021 I built this kit as Alex Vraciu's F6F-3 - (link). This time I would build the kit as a F6F-5 in overall Glossy Sea Blue. I [...]

1/72 Messerschmitt Bf109G-6

This little Airfix kit was a Christmas present, and the camouflage intrigued me enough to finish it, even though the kit is not a notable one. But it was well worth it for the lessons it taught me in the mottling effects I can do with an [...]

MARY NELL – Uncle Harold’s Checkertail P-51 D Mustang

When I was growing up, my Uncle Harold Taylor was a really big deal to the younger cousins. Not just because he'd been a fighter pilot in World War II and a POW, but because his P-51D Mustang - named for our mother's cousin our Aunt Mary [...]

Matchbox Replacements: 1/72 Curtiss SB2C-4E Helldiver & Vought F4U-1D Corsair

These two new completions - an AMT SB2C-4 Helldiver and a Hasegawa F4U-4 Corsair - will be significant upgrades from the Matchbox models they replace in the display cabinet. The AMT Helldiver kit is actually older than the Matchbox - it [...]