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.

Greetings from Seattle and Happy Memorial Day

Well, I made it to Seattle.  The train arrived about 45 minutes early but I'm taking a little break before I head to somewhere around Seattle.  Since it's Memorial Day, I will post the picture I took around Everett.

This is the USS Ford which is an Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate.  She is like the DeWert which visited Detroit last year.  She was built in 1983 and is named after Gunners Mate Patrick O. Ford.  He was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions on a River Patrol Boat in Vietnam.  He was the after gunner on a PBR.   His boat was attacked by the Viet Cong, which killed his patrol leader and coxswain.  Despite being wounded, he continued to fire at theViet Cong from his station.  After which, he lead the other men in the patrol to safety.  As he returned to his boat, he was killed.  As I said, he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and had a ship named after him.

The Ford is attached to the Navy Station at Everett.

The USS De Wert Leaves Detroit

This is another ship that I wanted to catch and fortunately, I was able to do so.  I love ships but I love Navy ships more.  I am glad that the Navy decided to visit the Great Lakes again.  I hope that they continue doing these cruises.  There are not too many ways that us folks in the middle of the country can connect with our Navy.  So to the Navy and the folks that acted as hosts through this event, I say thank you.

 As I was watching the Niagara go further down river, I thought that I heard the De Wert on the radio.  So I turned to look upriver and sure enough, there she was getting pulled out of Nicholson dock.

 She inches out of the dock a little more.

 As she was all the way out of the dock, I tightened my lens in to get a better shot of her.

 And then I pulled it out to get a sense of place.  It has been 12 years since someone has been able to get this sort of shot.

 Another tightened shot.

 A slightly looser shot to get the Detroit skyline in the background.  This is the part of the skyline that I really like.

 And she starts to head down the Detroit River.

 She makes her final turns.

 And gave me the chance to have Detroit's more famous building in the background.

 A background with less clutter.

 And even less clutter.

 I kind of wish the Coast Guard hadn't snuck into this shot becasue I like the side shot.

 And she starts to head towards Buffalo.

 A more oblique angle of her.  You can see her helicopter bays.

 Slightly more so that you can see her stern.

And one last shot of her.  And so I bid farewell to the USS De Wert.  And one more time, I would like to thank her crew for being gracious hosts on my tour on Sunday.