A Part of My Life

This diorama has been months in building. The initial beginning was January when I first contacted individuals for data on the Regulus One. Not so much from the point of construction but from the research that has had to be done to ensure accuracy as much as possible. Almost all of it has been scratch built as the only things available as kits are the truck, the generator, the figures and some of the field equipment. Everything else has been built from photographs and information acquired from the Chance Vought Aircraft web site along with information from a DVD done by Nick Spark on the Regulus submarine program, a book written by David Stumpf called Regulus: The Forgotten Weapon, a few photographs from my Navy career and photographs provided by contacts on the web. This diorama depicts an actual launch situation during the summer of 1956 and the figures represent actual individuals on the launch team. I am showing it in two formats. The first is with the launch team preparing the missile for launch and the second is with the launcher elevated ready to go. You can’t imagine how much I enjoyed building part of my past. One of the launch team members in the diorama is I. The figures were a little difficult as I had a hard time finding something that would work. There are no Navy figures to be had in 1/35 or 1/32 scale that represents sailors during that period. So I took German WWII figures and US Air Force figures and modified them to become Navy people. That was enjoyable as I could put more into the diorama than just using off the shelf items. Of all the scratch building the launcher was a bear. I only had a couple of photographs and my fading memory to do it. At one time I used a couple of pharmacy pill bottles of the correct diameter of the model that I glued together to get the launcher at the proper width. All I can add now is what is there for me to do next? This has been something that I really enjoyed doing being able to remember what I did as a young man in the Navy. The team members are Chief Gunners Mate John Thompson, First Class Electrician William Damon, First Class Guided Missileman Joseph Young, Third Class Guided Missileman Daniel Drouillard and Third Class Guided Missileman Richard Saddlemire.



















Enjoy
Richard