bismarck

Trade just came in from Vintagedragcrazy ( Vince Nelson) Great guy to trade with!! fast shipper. I'd do trades with Vince any time!!

And what would you call her hand gesture? She was four fingers short of a friendly wave, don't you think? And if I see anyone driving with a cell phone to their ear while driving, which is illegal in the state of Ohio, YES, I will judge that person of negligence and indifference to her own safety, and to the safety of the people around her. she's free to turn herself into a greasy spot on any highway in the world, that her prerogative, but if I have my family in my car, and something happened to them because of that ladies negligence...... How would YOU react to that situation? Yes, I absolutely WILL judge. And so would a jury of her peers for negligent vehicular homicide if she were to cause a wreck causing fatalities

If anything did happen to the young lady, her first question, (if she made it out of the crash in one piece) would probably be "why didn't anyone warn me?!! why did this happen?!!"..... Clueless. The fact she had a phone glued to her head says a lot about being aware of what's going on around her means to her, even if it's her own safety and the safety of others at stake. You would at least think she would have felt the steering wheel pulling to that side....

Now THATS firepower!!!! Judging by the ships configuration, I'd say this picture was taken not too long after her refit and deployment off the coast of Lebanon after the Beirut bombings, circa '82,maybe '83? She has her starboard gig deployed somewhere, and she's just making steerage way( 4-5 knots). Just a nice relaxed drive by shooting!!! Gives the gun layers down in plotting all the time in the world to lay the guns on target. Man, I love those ships!!! Just looked up the photo , Time frame is right, but location is wrong. she's on gunnery trials off Puerto Rico.

Amen....

I think I had better steer the subject back to car and truck models before Casey and Harry remind me that there's a forum elsewhere for this sort of subject...

I know I've commented on this build once, but once just isn't enough. The color choices for the body and interior are spot on. And the wheel choice is unique, and its period correct!!! Once again, beautiful build sir!!!

Same here Vince. Need anything, just let me know.

:wub: Ahhh, my favorite battlewagon... USS Iowa, if I'm not mistaken. The Japanese nick named her "The Black Dragon" because she appeared to be a darker color when viewed from a (safe) distance, and she breathed fire and destruction where ever she went!! The first picture is too painful to look at. I prefer to remember her like she was in the bottom photo. Notice the white water out from the side of the hull, directly under the muzzle flash? That's muzzle blast from the main 16 inch guns!!! Makes me proud that ship was on OUR side!! Thanks for the pic Bill How are you feeling? Flu finally leaving you alone? Good to see you back!!

I remember seeing an article about one of our sub bases on the Atlantic coast, and Why it was built where it was built. In that particular spot, the river leading to the ocean is deep enough to allow a boomer(ballistic missile boat) to transit without running aground. and the continental shelf is closer to the coast. This allows the boat to quickly transit the river to the ocean, minimize surface running time, and get to the deeper water past the shelf so they can dive deep to avoid detection from Russian(and other) spy satalites. They time the departures and arrivals to avoid the "eye in the sky". I was an ARMY grunt for 4-1/2 years, but I have studied naval warfare for YEARS before that. Its like a chess game. Move, counter move. The new technology in that ship will be a game changer, to be sure!!

Yep. I like the old Battleships and cruisers. They may be obsolete, but to me they had more style. They were still weapons of war, but I think they had more heart and soul to them. I got to see the U.S.S Missouri up close one time when she was still in commission. I couldn't believe the sheer SIZE of that ship!!!

With the new weapons systems, its digital, where as the older stuff was analogue, newer stuff is faster, its just not as COOL!!!!

I know when we trained in the field with the tank units in Germany, we were told that the average life expectancy of a tank in battle, even the M-1A2, was about 30 seconds or less depending on how much ground and air support it has. That's pretty sobering. I'll not go into what the life expectancy of a grunt is. I was one!!

Even if it could fool radar. I think that thing would stick out like a sore thumb to an orbiting satalite. I'm just looking at it like a potential enemy would. Your searching for potential surface contacts at long range. sat information says you have potential bad guys in long x, lat. X, and to expect contact. You monitor any outgoing and incoming UHF or ULF radio or radar signatures in the search area that may give the target away. They watch for you just like you watch for them. They may use Ultra high freq. burst communications, but they STILL need to communicate, so they still give off some kind of electronic "footprint". I think true Stealth technology is really only possible in smaller ships for quick hit and run tactics. Shoot and scoot missions. Could you see this ship going toe to toe with one of the Russian guided missile cruisers? Reduced radar cross section or not, I think in a true 1 on 1 engagement, it would find itself in trouble pretty quickly.

I know the shape of the ship is designed to minimize the size of its radar signature, but if its sailing on the open ocean, and its being "painted" by enemy radar, Its going to be the only surface target with any radar echo at all in that particular search area. Unless it could mask itself against a land mass to hide(clutter) its radar echo, it would still be hard to hide.

I was just getting ready to ask that..

Put me down for the '78 Ford LTD II. That was our family car when I was a kid.

I had one of the earlier ones like that too. Used to race my brother in his escort. No contest, I smoked him every time!! One of the best cars I owned. beautiful build!!!

Same here. We just refer to it as "the mid Ohio valley crud" . Between all the smog, pollin, and dust, people with sensitive sinuses have a pretty tuff time.

Nice Build!! My Father in law had a red extended cab Ford Just like that one, minus the lightning performance package, of course.. Beautiful build JT!!

Just the way I like 'em !!!! Nice build.

Hope you feel better soon man. This is a pretty crummy time of year to be sick too. Been there. I prescribe a plastic kit ,and a good tv show. You'll feel better in no time!!

I've seen our local Con-Way 53 footers running those skirts for longer runs out west. Interesting question mike. I may dig into this one myself.

7 hours???!!! Man.... It takes me that long to get the kit unwrapped!! Beautiful work sir.

Welcome to our crazy house!!! Newport Ohio here.