KevinR

I have always loved history and ships. Growing up, I read all the books on ships (fiction and non-fiction) I could find in the school library.

I am originally from the Texas Gulf Coast. I worked as a deckhand on the Tug Boat (Push Boat) MV Sabine Service out of Sabine Pass Texas 1988/9. It was an unusual boat in that it had a cargo deck on the bow. It was designed to service the oil drilling platforms in Lake Sabine. In the mid 1980s the bottom fell out of the oil business so the boat got by on doing odd jobs which led to some interesting experiences. One day while crossing Galveston Bay we passed a Coast Guard Tender. I noticed there was one guy working on the buoy and about five watching. I thought, I could be one of those people watching someone else work. So I joined the Navy in 1990 and that is how I ended up here in Hampton Roads. Served 5 years on a Spruance Class Destroyer. (By the way, it seemed like I was always the one working while everyone else watched.)

I have built many plastic ships over the year. I started on a solid wood hull model of the schooner Atlantic in 1988 but never completed it. I am in the process of completing the Atlantic now.

Over the years I have bought several wood kits, but never seemed to find the time to start.

Wood Models purchased but not started:

• Muscongo Bay lobster Smack by Midwest - purchased 1990

• Schooner Albatros by Mantua - purchased 1997 (Genoa Italy)

• Schooner Phantom by Model Shipways – purchased ?? (possibly a Christmas gift)

• Ace Racing Sloop by Dumas – purchased 2013

• USS Harriet Lane by Model Shipways – Christmas 2013

I have several plastic models waiting as well.

• CSS Alabama by Revell

• HMS Campbeltown by Revell

• Several other minor kits.