A Cold Day With My Models

 It looked like a cold day and when I checked the weather it said mid-20s with gusts of wind.  I probably could handle the mid-20s, but gusts of wind, not so much.  So I decided to stay home.

Days like this give me a chance to show of some of my recent builds though.  I suppose that's a good thing.

I've seen people online who do a much better job with their models and I admire their patience but I'm happy with good enough for me.  I don't ever plan to enter any models in contests.  If I did, I would have to spend alot more time building them.  I don't think it's a case of my skills, it's more a case of my patience.  Anyway, a frontal shot of this P-40 Warhawk.  The kit is a 1/72 Airfix kit.  And these kits have improved greatly from the kits of my youth.  This one was actually a pleasure to build and didn't require much finagling. 

The plane itself has a pretty interesting story:

I would weather this one but the actual one only served about 9 months. She was issued serial number 41-13297 and delivered to the Army Air Force in June 1941. During October 1941, this particular aircraft made a wheels up landing and was repaired. This plane was undamaged on December 7, 1941. On January 24, 1942, 1st Lt. Kenneth Sprankle took off for a patrol mission over Oahu. This plane spun out and crashed, killing the pilot. The aircraft only had 56 flying hours.

It remained where it was until 1985 when the plane was salvaged. It was restored by the Planes of Fame group and was shipped to the United Kingdom. In December of 2013, it was bought by an anonymous sponsor for the Collings Foundation. In 2014, it experienced another accident but was repaired. It is currently at the American Heritage Museum in Massachusetts.

Next up is the famous P-51 Mustang.  This one was a 1/72 Academy Kit.  I think it was a fairly newer kit and was also pretty fun to build.  The decals were a bit of a challenge though.  As I lost the ones that would have had the plane's name.

A frontal shot.

This was one that I tried my hand at doing some weathering to the plane.  I used a dry brush to simulate the power from the guns firing and the smoke and oil from the engine.  

I think it looks pretty nice.

HMS Prince of Wales.  This is a 1/700 scale Tamiya kit.  I think it was an older kit but Tamiya kits have always been pretty good, so this wasn't too bad to build.

HMS Prince of Wales was one of the ships that was involved in the hunt of the Bismarck.  She went out with the Hood but had a fairly inexperienced crew.  She was able to land a couple blows on the Bismarck which lead to the Captain of the Bismarck deciding to head back to port.  The Prince of Wales was damaged later in the engagement.  After her repairs, should would be used to host the Atlantic Conference between Churchill and Roosevelt.

In October 1941, she was transferred to the Far East Fleet.  On December 10th, she would be sunk by the Japanese.

A Sopwith Camel.  This was a 1/72 Academy kit.  The only tough spot was putting on the wing struts.  I also had to look up pictures online because there weren't good painting instructions.

The Sopwith Camel first flew in December of 1916.  It would become the best known fighter of World War I.  By its retirement in 1920, over 5,000 were built.  

I will say it was a pretty cool looking plane.  

Good Bye to 2024 and Hello to 2025

 I was going to go out yesterday but the weather didn't seem like it wanted to cooperate with me.  I heard that it was going to snow.  It looked pretty cloudy, so I decided to just mess around at home.  So it turns out that the Kaye Barker would be the last ship of the year for me.

I was pretty busy at work for most of 2024 and that made it so I didn't really feel like doing anything on the weekend but I still had some good opportunities.  I was able to catch the Red Arrows in London, Ontario.  I caught the Blue Angels up at Traverse City.  I caught a few new ships.  But because of the first sentence, I wasn't as productive on my blog as I wanted to.

I am going to try to change that this year but we will see how things go.  It looks like it is going to be another busy year at work but I'm going to try to make time for my photography.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do though.  I really should do some research and find a more Michigan related topic for this year.

Anyway, I hope that 2024 was good for you and 2025 will be better.

Ending the Day With the Ever Lovely Kaye E. Barker

I ended up catching the Kaye E. Barker on her way to Dearborn as I was on Belle Isle.  I didn't think I would catch her on her return trip as it rained all day yesterday.  But as I said, she ended up spending the night in the Belle Isle anchorage last night.

She was the last ship of the day and I was happy to see her.

She is definitely one of my favorite ships right now.  She has lovely lines and she is one of the more distinctive looking.

The lighting was a little better for me, but for some reason my light meter wasn't reading it correctly.

I kind of like this angle.

The bow shot.

She makes the turn for the channel.  The lighting was much better for these shots.

Probably my favorite of the bunch.  I love this angle for ships.  It gives my favorite view which is the bow plus a hint of the size.

She was heading back to Marquette and that means she might be back this way on Wednesday.  If so, I hope that I can catch her on the return trip.

But I'm not sure if the weather is going to hold.

It will probably be cloudy at least.

She's passing the Bridge.

Again, I wish I didn't have the shadows here.

The almost beam shot.

Her pilot house.

I kind of like this shot.

But I like this shot better.

Catching the Dolphin

 As I was taking pictures of the Atlantic Huron, I heard the distinctive sound of a helicopter.

Of course, I turned around because it sounded like the Dolphin.  I like the looks of this helicopter.

Unfortunately, it was almost right above me.  I hope they were out training and not someone having a bad day.

Catching the Atlanic Huron

 Next up was the Atlantic Huron.

The Atlantic Huron has a special place in my heart.  She's on one of the first pictures I took where I thought I could do this thing.

I was happy to catch her because I don't catch her all that often.

She was heading up from Naticoke, I think.

She was heading to Duluth.

She was making the turn for the channel.

But I missed the bow shot.

She makes the turn for the channel.

The lighting was a little better here.

And I like this shot.

Framed by the Blue Water Bridge.

I would like this shot better without all the shadows.

She continues past the bridge.

Her pilothouse.

And again.

One more shot as she continues on her way to Duluth.

Catching Up With the James R. Barker

 After the Jackson, the next ship was the James R. Barker.

The Barker was coming up from Monroe.

I think she would have been delivering coal to the power plant there.  I'm not sure if she did the split load with St. Clair though.

She was heading up to Silver Bay, Minnesota.

I think she will end picking up taconite there.

The bow shot.

She makes the turn for the channel.

I like this shot.

She passes under the Blue Water Bridge.

Unfortunately, I was shooting towards the sun.

I love the look from the scrubbers.

Her pilot house.

She heads out to Lake Huron.

One more shot before catching the next ship.