Scott retired from the commercial nuclear industry with over thirty years of experience in Maintenance, Engineering, and Training. Prior to that he served on two aircraft carriers during his time in the U.S. Navy. He has been building models for over 50 years with his first kit being purchased with money from his grandparents for his sixth birthday. With a stash that consists of more aircraft than anything else, Scott still enjoys building a little bit of everything (including but not limited to tanks, cars, show cars, military vehicles (aside from tanks), ships, figures, real space, and some science fiction), which keeps his stash growing. Scott and his wife Fern reside in southwest lower Michigan, not far from South Bend, Indiana, and have three adult children and currently three grandchildren as well as a small dog and a large cat.
Scott Hollingshead
Reviews By Author
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Littoral Combat Ships LCS-2 & LCS-4 Aerials, Masts, and Gun BarrelPublished:
As a little something different, I am going to begin this review with a story relating to my introduction to the USS Independence LCS-2. Over Thanksgiving week in 2010, my family and I were traveling to Virginia Beach to spend the holiday with my in-laws (no jokes here, they really are great people). When we first arrived in the Hampton Roads area, we stopped at my favorite hobby shop in the country, at least of all the ones that I have been in. There on the end of an aisle was a brand new release from Trumpeter of the USS Independence (kit 04548), a new littoral combat ship with a trimaran hull. Although I am a former carrier sailor, I had to have this kit in my stash, as it was incredibly state of the art in its appearance. While talking to the owner of the store when I was checking… more |
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He 162A-2 Landing GearPublished:
First flown in December of 1944, the Heinkel He 162 Volksjager (people’s fighter) was known as the “ninety day wonder” as it went from an Air Ministry requirement to prototype in a mere three months. Like the other jet fighters of the day, it relied upon the BMW 003 turbojet engine, which was highly demanded as the Second World War drew to a close. The plane was 29 feet 8 inches in length, had a wingspan of 23 feet 7 inches, and stood 8 feet 6 inches tall. The A-2 variant carried a pair of 20mm MG 151 cannons with 120 rounds per gun. Depending on the source, between 238 and 320 of these aircraft were built. Something that I found unique is that the Volksjager, which is often referred to as the Salamander, was built under the code name “Sparrow”, which is what the Heinkel company called… more |
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F-5E Tiger II Gun BayPublished:
Being that this detail set is denoting the gun bay of an F-5E Tiger II, I will begin with a little history of the M39A2 cannon, which is represented in this set. This weapon was developed by the Springfield Armory in the late 1940’s, and was based upon the German Mauser MG 213. The design was a five-shot revolver firing 20mm by 102mm projectiles at a rate of 1500 rounds per minute at a velocity of 3300 feet per second. The M39A2 was first released in 1964, but the M39 guns themselves entered service in 1952, and were mounted within the F-86H, F-100, F-101A and C, as well as the F-5 variants. Ford and Pontiac are among the companies who manufactured the M39 cannons, and some 35,500 have been produced. The M39A2 itself weighs 178.5 pounds and is just over six feet in length. This… more |
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IJN Cruiser Submarine I-16, Pearl Harbor with Detail SetPublished:
The Imperial Japanese Navy Cruiser Submarine I-16 was constructed at Mitsubishi Shipbuilding in Kobe, and was then towed to Kure Navy Yard for completion, as well as commissioning in 1940. She was the lead boat for a class of five submarines that included the I-18, I-20, I-22, and I-24, which were Type C1 boats. The design of this class was based on the Junsen-type, and they were developed from the type KD6. These boats were designed to carry either the Ko-hoteki midget submarine or Kaiten suicide torpedo. I-16 and her sister boats each displaced 2595 tons surfaced and 3618 tons submerged, were 358 feet, 7 inches long, 29 feet, 10 inches at the beam, and had a draft of 17 feet, 7 inches. The boat could travel at a maximum speed 23.6 knots surfaced, with a range of 14,000… more |
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German WWI Machine Gun Parabellum LMG 14 (7.92mm) BarrelsPublished:
The Parabellum LMG 14 was introduced in 1914 by the German company Deutche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, and was based on their MG 08 gun. Rather than using a belt feed system, the LMG 14 utilized an enclosed drum magazine to hold the same 7.92 mm ammunition as its predecessor. Other modifications for the LMG 14 included a lighter casing and the use of air instead of water for cooling the barrel. The gun had a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, and was used mostly on bombers, scout planes, and zeppelins. There were attempts to synchronize this particular gun with the propeller on initial Fokker E.1 planes, but this was later abandoned due to issues with the reliability of the LMG 14. Not researching what I had requested to review for this particular item caught me… more |
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F-16/F-18 Seated Pilot FigurePublished:
I typically start my reviews with a brief history of the item that I am reviewing, but in this instance, the item represented is a pilot for either an F-16 or an F/A-18. What I will tell you is that the latest 1/48 scale figure offering by PJ Production from Belgium is a nicely designed figure wearing an HGU-55 helmet along with a standard flight suit, G-suit, and Nomex gloves. The figure comes with a single left arm and two different right arms, as the controls are different for the Falcon and Hornet (the Falcon has its control stick located on the right console where the Hornet is centered in front of the pilot). There are a mere five parts for this particular figure, consisting of the legs, torso, and head, and the aforementioned three arms. I appreciated the way that the… more |
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HMS Queen Elizabeth 1918Published:
Lead ship of the Queen Elizabeth-class of dreadnaught battleships, the HMS Queen Elizabeth was named after Elizabeth I of England, and would see service in and survive both of the World Wars. Launched on 16 October 1913 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, this ship was commissioned in 1915 and was not decommissioned until 1948, when she was scrapped. The ship as built had a displacement of 33,020 tons, a length of 640 feet 10 ½ inches, a beam of 90 feet 6 inches, and a draft of 30 feet 6 inches. Propelled by a total of twenty-four boilers (using oil instead of coal), her four turbines could move the ship at twenty-four knots as a top speed, or for 8600 nautical miles at 12.5 knots, or for 3900 nautical miles at 21 knots. Her main armament consisted of eight fifteen-inch guns, as well as sixteen… more |
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YB-49 Flying WingPublished:
Designed by Jack Northrop and built by his company, the YB-49 symbolized the culmination of his work with flying wing designs that began with the N-1M when he started his company in 1939. There were a total of three of these aircraft that actually took to the air, two YB-49s and a single YRB-49A. All were converted from XB-35 airframes, trading in the four Pratt and Whitney R-4360 engines and counter-rotating propellers for eight Allison J-35-A-15 jet engines on the YB-49, or in the case of the YRB-49A, six Allison J-35-A-19 jet engines. The aircraft was 172 feet across, 53 feet 1 inch in length, and stood 15 feet 3 inches tall. The wing area for the aircraft was 4000 square feet, which supported a maximum takeoff weight of 193,938 pounds (the maximum bomb load was 32,000 pounds… more |
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Le Rhone 110 Hp Rotary Engine Limited EditionPublished:
The rotary engine (the engine itself rotates while the crankshaft remains stationary) was first developed by Felix Millett as a five-cylinder engine that was mounted in a bicycle wheel, and was displayed at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris (his design having been patented in 1888). In 1889, Lawrence Hargrave designed a rotary engine intended for use in an aircraft, and in the United States, Stephen Balzer worked on rotary engines in the 1890s. Back in Europe, De Dion-Bouton developed a rotary engine in 1899, but this was never fitted to an aircraft, and in the United States, Adams-Farwell developed a rotary engine for use in automobiles in 1901. Gnome, a French company run by brothers Louis, Laurent and Augustin Seguin, developed the world's first production rotary engine, the… more |
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IJN MXY-7 Ohka Unpowered Trainer K1Published:
Based on a design by Ensign Mitsuo Ohta with the assistance of students of the Aeronautical Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (Cherry blossom) was first conceived. Over 850 of these rocket-powered, anti-shipping, kamikaze planes that were dropped by Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers were constructed during 1944 and 45. The idea was to glide in on the attack, and then the pilot would ignite three rocket engines on the final approach, delivering a 1200 kg (2646 pound) payload to the target. The aircraft had a limited range (twenty-three miles), and with delivery being via a heavily laden bomber, there are no recorded successful attacks by the Ohka during World War II (although there was a near miss with the battleship USS West Virginia on 1 April 1945).… more |