I Saw Two Ships

Woodsy,

Here are two small ship models I recently found at a local flea market. I’m not into ships really, but since I never see model kits of any kind at tag sales or flea markets, I snapped them up.

I decided to build them both, in honor of my father, who loved all things involving the sea.

The Lindberg Tuna Seiner is from 1964, and the Pyro Flying Cloud is from 1966. Both were fun to build, but the Flying Cloud was difficult due to the many finicky masts. As you can see, I did not dare try any rigging!

Rob C

USA

Watch This!

Woodsy,

In keeping with your current “Watch” theme, here’s an old painting of mine.

Rob C

USA

Absolutely FABulous!

Woodsy,

Here is the JR21 FAB 1 friction toy, straight from 1966! Woodsy alerted me to this auction on eBay, and I wasn’t even going to bid, as I figured the price for this beauty would go sky-high.

But at the last minute, I placed a low bid on the item, just to participate, and was shocked when I discovered I had won this amazing Supermarionation icon!

Since I consider my winning of this toy a gift, I am going to gift it to a friend who is even more of a Thunderbirds nut than I am. So it will end up in the perfect home.

Here are some pix of this incredible vehicle, which looks to be in pristine shape. The Supermarionation Gods were certainly shining on me this time around!

Rob C

USA

Rob's Dad's Airliner Postcards

Woodsy,

For Fathers Day, I went through some of my dad’s papers, and came across a stack of postcards he sent me over the years from some of his business travels in the 1960s.

The most interesting group to me were about a dozen postcards showing the airliners he flew in, to various parts of the world.

I thought it would be fun to caption them with the airplane “make-and-model” and send them along. To me, it’s a good example of another “lost” world - world travel for business - although I’m sure it still happens to this day.

Rob C

USA

Rob's Convair XFY Pogo Model

Woodsy,

Here is the latest model off the work bench - the Convair XFY Pogo.

In an ongoing effort to solve the problem of long runways for aircraft take-off, Convair made a prototype of a Vertical Take-Off craft in 1954, the XFY Pogo, which was marginally successful, but the U.S. military decided to cancel the project.

Lindberg Models made a lovely 1/48 scale model of the Pogo in 1958, and Atlantis Models reissued this iconic kit in 2025.

A very “Sci-Fi” design, and fun to build. Gotta love those twin propellers!

Rob C

USA

Rob's Bendix Talos Model

Woodsy,

Here is my build of the Atlantis Models’ Bendix Talos, originally a Revell kit from 1959.

The Talos was a supersonic surface-to-air missile primarily used by the U.S. Navy, designed to carry high explosives and/or nuclear warheads.

The Talos could reach speeds of up to Mach 4, and was operational from 1958 to 1979.

Another “straight out of the box” project, as I might have built it as a teen!

Rob C

USA