Hawkeye’s Squawkbox

You spend hours searching the internet to find reference materials for current or future modeling projects. Some even (old school) will visit their local public library to search…wait for it…BOOKS! In a blink of an eye the book will go the way of the LP record, Beta Video Tape and the 8 Track Tape.

Modeling resources are locally available in your local community. Just pay attention to the events put on by the various local government agencies and corporations. Just yesterday our community held a “National Night Out” safety event.

As part of the event there was to be an Army National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter on display. However, they canceled due to severe weather in the area. So the local Medivac EC-135C Helicopter supported the event by flying in at the last minute.

Normally, these assets are not normally accessible by the public except at special events like this or during open houses at the area hospitals. I just happened to notice the helicopter landing not far from my house so I went to investigate. I had totally been caught up in other things and had forgotten about the event. Fortunately the rotor noise got my attention.

Events such as these give you the chance to do walkarounds of equipment you’d normally not have access to. In fact, this event opened up a possible door for me to revisit this aircraft while it is undergoing its next maintenance inspection to take more detailed shots. Hopefully if the powers in charge permit, a ride too!

So, regardless of what you model, watch your community for events such as this. You may not build Fire Trucks, but there is someone out there who does but doesn’t have access to them. Here is your chance to be nice and help out a fellow modeler.

Now the next time ThedaStar flies overhead, I’ll have a greater appreciation for what it does and the crew onboard, after learning more about it.

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