Some of My Models

 I was going to go out boatwatching today.  There was a nice stream of ships coming upbound past Detroit.  Before I did that, I decided to work on my current model.  Next thing I knew, it was getting pretty late in the afternoon, so I ended up watching the rest of the Lions game and didn't go out.  But I decided I wanted to do some photography, so I brought my lightbox out.

Recently I've gotten back into building plastic models.  It's been a nice stress reliever (sort of).  I've been trying to get some different models.

I used to work with a person from Romania and he pointed me to a plane that was built by Romania.

I'm not sure if this was the pilot, but Romania had a pilot the shot down a plane from each of the major powers in the war.  Romania was sided with the Germans early in the war.  He was a pilot on the Eastern Front, so he shot down some Soviet planes.  As the Allies bombed Romania, he was called home, so he shot down some American planes (and maybe a British one).  In 1944, Romania switched to the Allies, so he shot down German planes.  His name was Constantin Cantacuzino.

The plane is an IAR-80.  This particular kit was made by a Ukrainian company.  It wasn't too bad but needed a little work.

The Spitfire is probably the most famous British fighter of the war.   This particular kit was an Airfix kit which is a British company.

This plane was actually a pleasure to build.

This plane is called a Shinden and was developed by the Japanese towards the end of World War II.  It was designed to go after American B-29s.  It got this model after seeing Godzilla Minus One and it played a key role in the movie.  I wont mention what it did because it would spoil the surprise.

The USS Reuben James, FFG-57.  This was a US frigate first launched in the 1980s.

It was mentioned in Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising and used in the movie version of Red October.

The USS Bailey.  This is my last name.

This is the USS Deyo, a Spruance class Destroyer.  My uncle served on this one.

The USS Michigan, an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine.  This started as a ballistic missile submarine.  After the cold war, her and three of her sisters were converted to guided missile submarines.  One of them, the USS Florida was actually used to launch cruise missiles in combat.

A Gato class submarine.  One of my favorite books was "Run Silent, Run Deep", it was set on one of these named the USS Trigger.

An M1 Abrams.  I used to play a game called Twilight 2000 and they had a vehicle guide.  In it were pictures of various vehicles in that war.  This was based on that idea.

Probably my favorite of my models so far.  This is 1/32nd scale F-4J Phantom.  This particular one was flown by Commander (at the time) Harley H. Hall.  On one of my trips to Washington D.C., I bought one of those MIA bracelets and it happened to be his.  I was going to get a die cast model of this plane, but they didn't make one.  I found a set of decals for it but they only game in 1/32nd scale, hence the model.

Anyway, the kit was built by Tamiya which is one of the better model makers out there and it was a pleasure to build.  It went together fairly easily but it is huge.

A PBY Catalina.

Another F-4.  This one was flown by Harley Hall earlier in the war before he was a Blue Angel.  This is from VF-154 "The Black Knights".

The first F-4 from another angle.  I was trying to make it look like I was at about the right height to be looking at it from the deck.

One more shot.  I can pretend this is the real pilot.

The F-4 Phantom

 This is an F-4 Phantom where I got aftermarket decals.

One of the times I was in Washington D.C., I stopped at the Vietnam memorial.  Near the memorial there was vendor that was selling POW/MIA bracelets.  They seemed to be random, so I picked a Navy person.  It turns out that I picked Commander Harley H. Hall.

Harley Hall was shot down over South Vietnam in 1972 just before the cease fire.  In fact, if he had done his mission a couple of hours later, it would have been during the cease fire and he probably wouldn't have been shot down.  A chute was confirmed by his radar intercept officer who was returned after the war.  Later it was determined, that Hall had died in Vietnam but there are still questions.

Prior to his assignment as Commander of VF-143, he served as the leader of the Blue Angels.  Before that, he was assigned to VF-154, the Black Knights on the USS Ranger.  This plane represents that unit but I'm not sure if it was the actual plane he was in.  I am currently working on a model of the plane he was shot down in.

Some of my Diecast Models in the Light Box

 One day I was saying to my mom that I was thinking about getting a light box.  I figured that it would make taking pictures of my models and figures much easier.  I didn't think she would actually get one for me, but she did.  It is pretty neat and it is pretty helpful I think.

I didn't really feel like going out to take pictures today even thought it was a nice day when it started.  As I was about to go out, it started to cloud over.  I checked the weather around Port Huron because that's where I wanted to go and I found it was raining there.  Since I wasn't feeling particularly motivated anyway, that pretty much settled it.

But I couldn't pass on taking pictures, so I decided to bring the light box out and mess around.

I think I need to get a bigger box.  But I do like this one but after I took my pictures, I discovered that I should have set it up with the lights to the top.  I can see where that would help to make the lighting a little more even.  

I had to start with the F-14 Tomcat since that is one of my favorites of all time.  This particular one is from VF-84 which was on the Nimitz for a time.

Next up was an A-7 Corsair II.  This is a plane that served through Vietnam and up until Desert Storm.

This particular one was from the Sidewinders.

After that was the A-6 Intruder.

This is the plane made famous by Flight of the Intruder.

Another favorite of mine is the A-10 Thunderbolt.

I'm going to have to work on the front shot a bit but this one wasn't too bad.

This particular one is stationed at Selfridge in Michigan.

An F-4 Phantom wearing the Vietnam War era paint.

This particular one was flown by Robin Olds.

I like the scheme but I like the Navy scheme better.

Another of my favorites is the F-16 Fighting Falcon.  This particular one is in the Wild Weasel configuration, which means it goes after enemy surface to air missile sites.

I like this tail art.

The other view.

A MiG-29 Fulcrum wearing Ukrainian colors.

Since the Russians brought pretty heavy air defenses, you don't hear too much about this.

But apparently, the US sent anti-radar missiles and that might help.

A Panavia Tornado.  This plane was a joint design between Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy.

It is now retired.

But it was pretty cool in the day.

A Harrier.

This particular one is wearing British colors.

It is retired by the British but still sees service in the US Marines.  In fact, I think the British sold some of their newer units to the Marines.

My last one is an A-4 Skyhawk.

This plane was designed by a person from Michigan.

This is a model of the plane that was flown by Senator John McCain as he was shot down.

Happy Halloween

This is a technique I learned a while ago.  I haven't played with it enough to get the timing down.  But basically it is a long exposure where I remove the subject after a period of time.

 The movement of the object is too slow for the camera to catch, but it does fill in the rest of the picture.

Anyway, for Halloween, I bring you the phantom Phantom.  Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to my Readers

Just wanted to do a quick post to say Happy Halloween to my readers.  Of course, I have to do it in my style.  You wont see any ghosts, goblins or witches on this page though.

 However, you will see a Phanton.  Well an F-4 Phantom II anyway.  And since I'm a Naval Aviation fan, you'll see the Navy's version. 

 Of course, just a normal Phantom picture is no fun, so I'll give you a ghostly Phantom.

And I'll leave you with a ghostly SLUF....or A-7 Corsair II.

Happy Halloween everyone.