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.  

Rainy Day Fun

I was going to go down to Detroit today.  There were a couple of ships that I was hoping to catch but unfortunately the weather did want to cooperate with me.  By the time it looked like one of them was going to pass, it was getting pretty late and it was already cloudy.    It was still raining when I thought about leaving and I didn't feel like dealing with that.  It was warmer today but not that warm.

I still wanted to do pictures today, so I brought out my light box and decided to take some pictures of a couple of my new models.

First up is the Fairey Swordfish.  This was a plane that served with the various forms of the Royal Air Force from 1934 to 1945.  In that time, almost 2400 were built and were also used by the Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Netherland Air Force.

This is the plane that participated in the battle of Taranto where an Italian battleship was sunk and two more were damaged.  That was the battle where the Japanese learned that they needed to modify their torpedoes for the Pearl Harbor attack.  More ships would have been sunk there but aerial torpedoes dive before they continue to their target.  Taranto was shallow enough that a number of these torpedoes were stuck.  The Japanese modified their torpedoes so they wouldn't dive as deep.

The Swordfish was also used in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck.  One of them was able to score a hit which damaged the rudder.  That enabled British battleships to finish her off.

It was a fairly maneuverable plane which helped its survivability but not fast enough.

Anyway, I got tired of seeing Bismarcks in my model forums, so I wanted to post the plane that hand a hand in her sinking.

The plane served throughout the war as the British were having problems with the plane that was to be her successor.  The last operational squadron was disbanded in May 1945 and the training squadron was disbanded a year later.

There are two in airworthy condition and both are in the United Kingdom.

This particular model was an Airfix kit and was a pain in the ass to put together.  It didn't turn out as nice as I wanted but not too bad, I guess.

Next up is a Hawker Hurricane.  There were almost 14,500 of these planes produced during the war.  It was deemed the workhorse of the war.

The Spitfire is probably more famous the Hurricane was probably more important.  It could be used as a fighter and an attack aircraft.  It was fairly easy to build and maintain.

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 Opening of the Lakes Can't Come Soon Enough

The Soo Locks open March 25th and the Welland Canal opens sooner than that.  There are a few ships that will make deliveries between ports that don't require the use of either of those canals.  That should be happening in a couple of weeks.  However, none of that can happen soon enough.

 I was able to get pictures of the barge over the weekend, but that doesn't seem like enough.  Fortunately, I have some models on my desk.  I can't really call the above boat a model though.  It was one of those stress things that someone gave me.  It's kind of cool.  Part of me wonders if it floats.  I'll call it the MV Squeezee Ball.

 And this is the paper model that I built of the Walter McCarthy.  I was able to get a model of the Roger Blough over the weekend.  I'll have to figure out a time to built that.

This is a ship I made out of balsa wood.  Since it's patterned after an American Steamship Vessel, I will call it the SS American Nondescript.

It seems pretty bad when I'm reduced to taking pictures of my ship models though.

More on Sturgeon Falls - The Fictional Town

So I got around to painting the buildings for my train set up.  For the most part I am happy with how they look but I think I might want to redo them.  They might be a little too big for the scale I am working in.  I think they will do for now but I definately want to redo them.

I got to thinking a little bit about my fictional town.  I figure it is somewhere in southwest Michigan and I thought up a story of an average Michigan town history for it.  So while I am showing pictures of the buildings, I will also explain its history.

 The first European settler to visit the Sturgeon Falls areas was a courier du bois (or fur trader) sometime in the mid 1700's.  He was following the river that was nearby but the rabids made it not too suitable for trapping.  The area was noted though.

 In 1835, a more or less permanent settlement was established when a lumber baron from Detroit discovered that it was a pretty good area for logging.  The river was used for both the saw mill and transportation to Lake Michigan.   The Michigan Central Railroad established a freighthouse and stopping point in Sturgeon Falls in 1850.  The first passenger depot was built in 1870 but it burnt down later that year and was replaced with the brick structure pictured above.  As the lumber industry hit it's peak in the 1880's, the Sturgeon Falls station was one of the busiest along the route.  As jobs from the lumber industry declined, so did the usage of the station.  For a while, the New York Central discontinued it's stop here but it was later picked up when Amtrak started service.  Now the station is visited daily by the Wolverine  (yes, I know those are distance cars but bear with me).

 A restaurant simply known as "Eat".  It was established as a drive in during the 1950's as the use of US-12 was at a peak.  It was a pretty popular stop for people driving from Detroit to Chicago as you would get here around lunch time.  The food was pretty good and pretty cheap.  As US-12 was replaced by I-94, the customer base dwindled but getting a long time Wolverine stop was a boon for the restaurant to the point where they added the unique track side service.

 Downtown Sturgeon Falls looks like a typical Midwestern Downtown.  These three buildings were built in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  At that time, the population of Sturgeon Falls hit its peak. 

 The Railway Arms was built by the Michigan Central Railroad in 1895.  At the time, it was one of the nicer hotels on the route as Sturgeon Falls was making a transition from being a lumber town to a farming/tourist town.  The transition to tourist town was successful as long as US-12 was the major highway but it died down after I-94 was built.   In 1981, the hotel closed down for a while but has since reopened as people have started to re-discover the classic highways.

 Senor Pepe's was started by Pepe Rodriguez in 1936 after he decided the migrant farming life wasn't for him.  His business was started in the back of an old Ford Truck.  He served good food and the people of Sturgeon Falls enjoyed his Mexican cuisine.  It is currently being run by his grandson and while the menu has changed a little to satisfy the American palette, it hasn't changed all that much from Pepe's day.

The Peking Moon is next door and it has a similar history but it was started a little later.

 Barron's Hardware has been in the area for almost as long as the town has.  When it started, it would provide tools for the lumber camp and it transitioned to the local farms.  It moved to this location when the building was built in 1900 and is fairly well stocked.  If you can't find a tool at Barron's, it hasn't been built.

 The gas station is also a remnant from the busier days of US-12.  At one time, it was a full service station but that ended with the death of its mechanic, Al.  It is still in business but is more like a convenience store.

 Norfolk-Southern introduced service to Sturgeon Falls with the sale of the Conrail tracks.  Freight trains rumble through here fairly regularly.

 This is a shot that I would not recommend for a real train.

 In fact, through some quirk, Sturgeon Falls is serviced by all of the major railroads.

 A kind of overall shot of my layout.

 Another shot that shows it a little better.  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with all those wires though.

And I leave you with one more shot.