21 articles · 0.8K karma · 4 friends · active 2 weeks, 1 day ago

I am the father of 18-year-old triplets and a retired Geologist. My favorite subjects are Spitfires, Seafires, Allison-powered Mustangs, and Zippers (F-104s) but I have been known to tackle esoteric.subject (such as the P-66 and CW-21B) at times. I enjoy the sound of Packard Merlins from "Stallion 51" ( a P-51 school) and round motors from a variety of aircraft based at the Kissimmee Airport every day.

A Canadian Spitfire

Hi All! It is no secret that I like Spitfires. I am not an apologist, the Spitfire had a ridiculously short range and kept its inadequate armament of .303 caliber guns far too long. But it is a beautiful aircraft and the sound as it flies [...]

F-16 Group Build-Jersey Devils F-16

Hi All! I have several collections going with my built models. One of these is the NJ ANG, especially the 177th FIW out of the Atlantic City(AC) International Airport. Why the “Jersey Devils”? Whenever I would go to in AC, and stop by [...]

Dora Wings P-47B

Hi All! This is Dora Wings’ latest kit, the Republic P-47B. It is a high-end limited-run kit and should be treated as such. Here are a few suggestions for building the kit. Make sure you remove all excess plastic, etched brass, and paint [...]

French 4-Bladed P-39

For an aircraft with such a bad reputation, it was flown by several Air Forces. The VVS could not get enough of the Kobra, Over 4500 P-39s were supplied to the Soviets. Australia received a few and both the Free French and Italian [...]

An Italian P-39

Introduction Few aircraft have been wrongly saddled with a bad reputation as the Bell P-39 was. The USAAC hamstrung the airplane when it removed the turbocharger and clipped the wings. Then it sent poorly trained pilots to fight at [...]

Accurate's Yak-1a

Accurate Miniatures set new standards for model detailing and molding with the P-51, SBD, Avenger, Sturmovik, and B-25 series of kits. The Yak series ( Yak-1a, Yak-1a with Skis, and Yak-1b) continued the high standards set by the company. [...]

My Vanity Spitfire

The RAF allowed Squadron and Wing Leaders to use their initials as their code. Famous ones are JEJ, DB, and RST. As I always fancied myself as an Sqn. Leader in an Eagle Sqn, Why not have my vanity codes? The problem was the only aircraft [...]

ICM 1/48th Scale P-51B

Hi All! One may hazard a guess from the Mig-3 and Yak-9 I built from ICM, that all of their kits are, well (I'll be nice) not up to modern standards. That is not true. ICM's twin-stage Merlin Spitfire series was the best on the market [...]

ICM Yak-9T

Hi All! When ICM came onto the market 25 + years ago, there was some excitement. They were releasing a series of Yak fighters. No one had done the Yak series before. But the excitement soon turned to disappointment as the kits lacked [...]

ICM Mig-3

Hi All! Have you ever started a kit and soon wondered “What the hell” did I get myself into? That kit for me is the ICM 1/48th scale Mig-3. Rarely have I run across a kit that fit so badly, was over-engineered, and with the amount of [...]