After a night flight from Honolulu following the 2004 International Netsuke Society Convention,
I met my Los Angeles tour guide Richard Simon.

Following breakfast, he showed me interesting neighborhoods in the region.  I then had the pleasure of touring his studio
where he works, for his enjoyment, on building scale model replicas of ships from earlier centuries.  Other models
of trains and tiny sailing ships, tools and materials were also viewed.

The rest of the tour took us to downtown L.A. to the Los Angeles County Museum where we viewed the
  Raymond Bushell collection of netsuke currently on display.  What a great treat it was to see this collection with
someone else who works on a small scale with wood.

Breakfast with Richard, after my night flight from Honolulu.

Sign at the entrance to Richard's boatbuilding shop.

This ship is the Continental Navy frigate Confederacy, launched in 1778.  Scale is 3/16" (1/65th) scale.

Model Train Engines

The trains are logging engines, circa 1900, as might be found in Sierra Nevada logging operations.  They were
hand fabricated of brass in Japan and detailed and painted by Richard's friend, Jerry Spoelma, who specializes
in museum finishing.  They are 1/4" scale, and are both operating and fitted with sound (bells, whistles, etc.).

Very small scale!

La Renommee detail carved in boxwood.

Richard K. Simon is a partner in McDermott, Will & Emery's Los Angeles office where he heads the Firm's Southern California Trial Department.  He focuses his practice on commercial and governmental litigation and intellectual property matters, and is a nationally recognized authority on airport law.