Railway Museum

Once I finished reading the morning paper, MRS Bunkermeister and I visited the Railpark Train Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The museum is located in and around the former L&N Railroad terminal.  Louisville and Nashville Railroad that is.

The view from the cab for the engineer.

And the engineers set and throttle control.  They had a number of very nice exhibits inside the building and a small passenger train outside.  We got to take a tour of the train.

They also had this old caboose, sort of the office for freight trains.

They also have a hospital train car that they intend to restore.

They also have a train layout with windows that look out to the real trains on the tracks next to the museum.  Real working trains also pass by on another set of rails next to the trains on display.

The layout represents Bowling Green, Kentucky in the 1960's ish.  Sort of.

It's HO scale and all it needs are a couple hundred military vehicles and a few thousand troops and it would be perfect!

Aviation Museum

MRS Bunkermeister and I visited the Bowling Green, KY, Aviation Heritage Park recently.

Each aircraft is of a type that was used by a local Kentucky member of the US Armed Forces, like this UH-1B Huey helicopter from the Vietnam War.

This T33 is a training jet used by the USAF during the Cold War.

The F4 Phantom II used by the Air Force in Vietnam.  The color scheme is the southeast Asia camouflage.

US Navy Panther jet, GI Joe got a jet of this type, but I never had one.

F111 Aardvark bomber also in Vietnam War colors.  Local places often have museums about local events or local people.  These aircraft look like they could taxi out and fly away.  I am sure they are just hollow shells but they are kept in great looking condition.  They are close to breaking ground on a building to house more artifacts.

Dinosaur World

MRS Bunkermeister and I visited Kentucky Dinosaur World recently.

It's an outdoor park with lifesize replica of extinct animals.

Most of them are dinosaurs.

Many are very familiar to any school boy.

They are posed in the woods along a marked trail.

They are made of fiberglass.

They are often posed in family groups.

We spent three hours there, and purchased dinosaurs in the gift shop.

They also had a nice display of wholly mammoths.

I want to take my GI Joes and go back!

T-Rex

The LA County Museum of Natural History has a number of Tyrannosaurus skeleton fossils on display.

A group of Phersu Miniatures prehistoric people visiting the museum too.

These are 1/72nd scale resin figures.

They are Homo Sapiens and an earlier form of human.

They successfully fended off the T-Rex.

Museum

Turtle skeleton at the Smithsonian.

Egyptian mummy case.

Egyptian scroll.  Pretty colors and interesting pictures.

Ancient 28mm figure collection?

Mummy's tomb.  Great fodder for pulp or ancient games.

Museum Visit

MRS Bunkermeister and I visited Washington, D.C. in October.

This is a head from Easter Island, note the arms and hands.  I always try to visit museums when I travel because there are often wargame related things there.

T-Rex head.  Seeing one close up like this really impresses the size on me.

The Hope Diamond.  As impressive in size as the T-Rex teeth!

Main gallery with African elephant.

Museum

The inside of a weasel.

Another type of weasel.

I like getting photos of unusual vehicles, then if you find something in a model RR shop or toy store that is close you can use it for airfields and construction.

You don't get to see photos of many tactical road rollers or bulldozers but they were essential to move supplies and build airfields.

German Kubelwagen via Wayne Wanner, Master Modeller.

Museum

 Master Modeller Wayne Wanner knows one of the keys to excellent model building it great information.  One of the best ways to gather information is to visit museums.  Even small out of the way places may have a great museum, someones only one great vehicle is enough to provide you with information that can be useful.  This military museum is in Lexington, Nebraska.

Some vehicles, like this one are very rare.

Note the color difference between this photo and the previous one.

Sometimes the light in a museum can play havoc with photography.  Review your digital photos while you are still on site.

Sometimes vehicles in museums are not painted in the original colors, or may even have been civilian vehicles with civilian colors or civilian modifications.