Capital Area Modelers Society

A trip to the National Guard Armory in Grand Ledge on February 10 by Brian, Dick, Chris K, Mike O, John and Norm represented the culmination of a project almost a year in the making.

In April, 2025, Dick made contact with then-commander Capt. Stephen Ronan and suggested CAMS create a display for the facility. Capt. Ronan was very interested in the idea and invited Dick to tour. Dick took lots of photos, especially of the unit’s Black Hawk and Lakota helicopters, with the goal of having club members replicate those aircraft in scale.

Five members agreed to the challenge.

Wanting something that would honor the Guard members and their service and that they would be proud to display, each member took many months crafting their scale version of the current service helicopters.  Some of the adventures in building subjects for this display are recorded on our web page and Facebook pages.

By the time we were done, Capt. Alexander Bur was the commander. We arranged with him to come to the armory and present the models.  We brought three Black Hawks and two Lakotas in 1/72nd, 1/48th and 1/32 scales, as well as a Chinook in 1/48th scale.

We were met by Capt. Bur and several of his men, who all spent a lot of time asking us to describe our individual builds and asked many questions about the models and our club.  Capt. Bur presented Dick with a very thoughtful framed Certificate of Appreciation.  Then SFC Jeffrey Penfield gave a tour of a maintenance hanger, where we saw several Black Hawks and Lakotas undergoing service and major overhauls.

SFC Penfield serves as the unit historian and is interested in adding replicas of craft they have used in the past. All of us enthusiastically supported the idea of more projects for the armory.

It was a wonderful afternoon and a great opportunity to give back to the community and recognition to the Guard members’ service.  We were warmly received and the work of our members accepted with appreciation.  We look forward to such projects in the future.