Ralph A

Here are some of the tools he used. There are a great many more, but these will serve as representative examples.

Thank you for looking.

Here is a citation he received.

There is a War Production Pin to go along with it. I'll take a picture of it, and psot it, if anyone is interested. But this plaque tells it all.

I have come to understand that those involved in the development of the ordnance were allowed to take some of the prototypes, and also some of the tools with them, when the program was completed.

After the War, he helped develop the first heart pump.

My father-in-law, an experimental machinist, helped develop these. This prototype, which was in his posession, has a clear plastic nose-cone.

He died in 1978. I never met the gentleman.

Here is the interesting part:

Simple little thing.

Navy, and Air Force (I assume, from the respective motifs). Each is only about 20mm long.

Thanks for looking.

Is that correct? I've had these forever, and for some reason have labored under the impression that these are miniatures, for civilain-wear.

Army. What are the ranks?

Here is the "presentation" side. I am particulary pleased, with the "blast" effect.

Thank you for looking, gentlemen. I always enjoy showing these off, to the discerning.

Finally - here is my little "scratch-built" job. I challenged myself to use as few materials as possible. Paste, scrap plastic...

White "paint" is "Liquid Paper." Black came from a flair tip pen and burnt, blackened matchsticks. "Rust" is real rust - I gathered it from a bit of iron pipe, and mixed it with water - dabbed it on. Some bits of twig and wire.

The track came from scrap from another, larger-scale model, that I "ripped" down the middle.

That's about it, for materials.

Some details. Note how the track sags between the bogeys. Many modellers overlook this critical detail.

Panzer III. I built this one in 1981.

All the canvas is made from tobacco leaf - pilable, resilient, thin - but there's a secret to doing it right.

A close-up of the zimmerit "paste" treatment. It is drywall compound, smeared on and then "patterned" with a damp matchstick. This is my oldest model, ca. 1975.

Panther, in a larger scale than those shown above:

Assault gun. One of my faves:

All these, I did many years ago. Here is a little "matchbox" job:

If you can find any enamel here, I'll eat my hat:

None here.

These might have a little enamel in them. I'm not sure.

These are paste and tinfoil.

The rest of it is all plastic.

I think these are plastic... aren't they?

All I have is this:

I believe the seagull is indicative of a life-saving organisation.

Yup...  I'll second the hen's teeth comment.  Looking closely at the photos that I had tucked away on my hard drive, I realized that the example that I had found (and saved the pics from wherever) was the exact same medal that you've got.  The vaguely fingerprint-like pattern in the patina on the reverse gave it away.

--Chris

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You mean this one?

Isn't the merit medal reversed?

Hardware. Hinge is 7-barrel type. Thanks for looking.