Hello fellow ship modelers. I have returned to the hobby after a long journey. I began building models when I was very young, and very unskilled. When I was in elementary school, a cousin gave me a plastic kit of the USS Arizona. He didn't want it because it was missing the instructions, and these were the days when there was no internet to enable easy access to the company. Somehow I managed to put it together by looking at the photo on the box, and I really enjoyed it. It was ugly, and unpainted, but the process of building it was fun. We didn't have the means to enable me to seriously get into the hobby, but I never forgot the experience.
In junior high school I began working in the summers as an apprentice carpenter for my brother-in-law. Child labor concerns aside, I learned a great deal...how to measure in 1/16ths, safe use of power tools, etc. I also developed a real love of working with wood, even if it was just construction-grade pine and ply. This love for wood manifested one day in high school when I saw a wooden ship model at a hobby store, and used some of my meagre savings to buy it. I worked on it when time allowed, finally finishing it in the summer before I left home for college. It was a Cutty Sark, but I cannot recall the maker or scale. It was double planked, and I loved the look of the walnut hull and enjoyed the rigging process. The model is long gone now, and the work involved in paying for college (and having some fun here and there) didn't allow time to continue to pursue the hobby.
Fast forward through a 20-year career as a helicopter pilot in the US Army, and another 20-year career as a military historian, and I am now retired and returning to the hobby. I am assembling the tools and I have a few kits (Victory Models Vanguard, full frame Bluenose, etc.), and I am learning a lot from this forum. I am gradually beginning work on the Vanguard, which I will build as the Elephant, but a recent move has caused some delay. I hope to get back to it in earnest soon.
In the meantime, hello everyone. I am really grateful for the resources and community available on this forum.
MTC47
In junior high school I began working in the summers as an apprentice carpenter for my brother-in-law. Child labor concerns aside, I learned a great deal...how to measure in 1/16ths, safe use of power tools, etc. I also developed a real love of working with wood, even if it was just construction-grade pine and ply. This love for wood manifested one day in high school when I saw a wooden ship model at a hobby store, and used some of my meagre savings to buy it. I worked on it when time allowed, finally finishing it in the summer before I left home for college. It was a Cutty Sark, but I cannot recall the maker or scale. It was double planked, and I loved the look of the walnut hull and enjoyed the rigging process. The model is long gone now, and the work involved in paying for college (and having some fun here and there) didn't allow time to continue to pursue the hobby.
Fast forward through a 20-year career as a helicopter pilot in the US Army, and another 20-year career as a military historian, and I am now retired and returning to the hobby. I am assembling the tools and I have a few kits (Victory Models Vanguard, full frame Bluenose, etc.), and I am learning a lot from this forum. I am gradually beginning work on the Vanguard, which I will build as the Elephant, but a recent move has caused some delay. I hope to get back to it in earnest soon.
In the meantime, hello everyone. I am really grateful for the resources and community available on this forum.
MTC47
