PORT CLINTON, Ohio — The Liberty Aviation Museum is proof that the smallest details tell the biggest stories.
Located at the Erie/Ottawa International Airport in Port Clinton, the museum houses several thousand exhibits and welcomes about 150,000 visitors every year.
This year, there’s a special attraction: sixteen dioramas purchased at auction just a few weeks ago. Dioramas are detailed models, in this case, models of war scenes, many inspired by photographs.
“If you see the photograph and then the diorama next to it, you’ll just be amazed at the detail put into these models," said Museum CEO Ed Patrick.
There are no kits or step-by-step instructions. These incredibly detailed models were crafted by hand, from scratch.
“The more you look at these models, the more you see… and you can look at them three times and you’ll see something different each viewing,” said the museum’s Director of Operations, Bob Fujita.
Ed and Bob made a seven-hour trip to Wisconsin to pick up the new exhibits in a truck and drove them back to Port Clinton.
“We were sweating bullets for seven hours, and then we’d see a pothole or something in front of us and we’d brace for impact,” Ed said.
But they all made it, and most are on display at the museum — displays they say were crafted by the best in the business. They take people back in time one exhibit, one detail, one memory at a time.
Ed tells News 5, “We’re a transportation museum that’s kind of morphed into a history museum as well.”
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