That’s why the Vietnam veteran and aviation enthusiast decided to build a 1:3 scale replica of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber back in 1999, according to Jalopnik.

The aircraft could carry 72,000-86,000 pounds of bombs, depending on aircraft configuration. To summarize, the B-36 Peacemaker was a beast.

But in 1999, he would take on his greatest challenge yet, spending 17 years and 40,000 man hours building a near-perfect replica of a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress in 1:3 scale.