“Bayou Babies” . . . Barataria Preserve . . . photo by Larry Touhy, used with his permission
1952
Arrivals For the Week Ending October 30, 2026
November 4, 2026
Walker Bulldog
Frank Gerarve built this Tamiya 1/35 M41 Walker Bulldog. He painted it with Tamiya TS28 Olive Drab with a Vallejo rust wash, and used scraped (with an Xacto knife) black and white chalk for weathering.
Of the tank, Frank says:
“US Armed Forces from 1953 to 1969. Manufactured by Cadillac from 1951 to 1954. Never saw combat with the US Armed Forces but did see combat with other nations, including the ARVN Forces in Vietnam and was widely exported. Named after General Walton Walker who was killed in a jeep accident in 1950.
Classified as a light tank at 24 tons. Main armament is the M32A1 76 mm 60 caliber rifled cannon. Internal coaxial M1919A4 30 caliber machine gun. Roof mounted Browning 50 caliber machine gun.”
Frank took a page from the proto-lanced model railroaders, who create their own railroad lines, and created a history for this particular tank saying, “This tank was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division, 12th Armored Calvary, 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron. Transferred to the Louisiana National Guard 773rd tank battalion.”
October 28, 2026
Chinese Junk
By Jake Groby
Another piece of ‘JUNK’ saved from the mud of Katrina. This model lived in a plastic box for the past 20+ years. I picked up the kit back in ’89 I think from Toys-R-US in the Lake Forest Plaza.
The Instructions were toast, but all the parts survived the ages. Painting the sail bamboo reeds was a bit time consuming, but the weathering of the model and sails blended together nicely. The paint used was all Enamels from my Katrina Stash.
The Bamboo was painted using Floquil Water Base Spanish Yellow so the paint would not bleed into the Floquil enamel Boxcar Red. I replaced all the out of scale blocks with wooden blocks closer to the proper scale as well.
I learned several things about Chinese Ship Building, such as they never adopted belaying methods for securing lines nor did they tack the sails, like square rigged ship. Chinese junks tacked by steering the boat directly through the wind; the sail’s semi-rigid, battened structure automatically swung to the new side without the need for sailors to physically pull it across, adjust lines, or worry about dangerous, uncontrolled jibs.
Rosebud
Hub Hobby’s original building on Broad St in New Orleans has been demolished. Word of it being torn down spread like wildfire.
One of our customers, Jim Letten, was emailed by his friend Martin about the demolition of their childhood hang-out.
The subject line was: ROSEBUD
“Rosebud” was the dying word spoken by Orson Welles in the movie Citizen Kane: a reference to his childhood sled – the symbol of memories of youthful innocence.
Read it here