HORSEHEADS N.Y. (WETM) – Wings of Eagles Discovery Center is restoring a gifted scale model of a World War II aircraft carrier.

Scott Malot a Volunteer at the Wings of Eagles has taken up the mantle to complete this endeavor.

Dave Harness a volunteer at Wings of Eagles said, “It’s very intricate and detailed work that Scott has to do. Scott Malot is a volunteer here and he’s in the process of restoring it hopefully in full functionality. He’s been working on it so far for two years. He expects one more year to bring it back to where he wants it.”

Not much is known about the year the aircraft carrier scale model was created, but it took Reginald Carnes seven years to complete.

Reginald Carnes was a sergeant in the armored division of the U.S. Army during World War II. According to the Discovery Center, he was passionate about naval aviation and soon took up scale modeling.

He built an operating 1/72nd scale model of the aircraft carrier U.S.S Hancock. He used blueprints from the actual ship. His attention to detail was astounding and added to the realism according to the Discovery Center.

There are over five thousand individual wooden planks on the deck. There are over three thousand hand-painted military figures, along with models of the support equipment that was used at that time.

Mr. Carnes also added a variety of lights wired all through the lower and main decks. He also created elevators, gun turrets, and radar antennas. The antennas were operational with the use of small electric motors.

Mr. Carnes also painstakingly built over nearly 60 model aircraft some with small electric motors that simulate the spinning props of an aircraft preparing for flight. He also built a panel to control all of the operating features inside the carrier.

According to the Discovery Center, Mr. Carnes finished the project at 79 years old and donated his handwork to the National Warplane Museum now the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center.