Well actually, that is where I hail from but I am currently living very happily near the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, USA. Here is a little bit about me and why I got into model ship building.
Back in the early 80's I was serving with the British forces in Germany in the town of Hamelin. Because I had a bit of an artistic streak I was selected to go on a 2 week "work" visit to the museum in the town center to help repair an old diorama of the Battle of Langensalza from 1866 (Source, Wikipedia). It was a huge undertaking and I was under the supervision of the historical professor who was heading up the operation. He and I became good friends, even after the fortnight's work was over. His wife extended an invite to me to come and have dinner at their house. She was a museum curator and, when I entered the house, I felt like I was actually in a museum! They had been collecting artifacts for most of their adult lives and the house was pleasantly decorated with a wide selection of some very nice pieces. Victor, the professor, took me to the basement to show me his "man cave". It was there that I saw what finally inspired me, years later, to take up ship building. He was putting together a HUGE model of the Santa Maria (scratch build, which I knew nothing about at the time). It was a beautiful wooden piece and we spent time down there on numerous occasions over the next three years discussing his plans for the build. At that point he had the hull finished and was working on the decks.
After three years I was posted elsewhere in Germany and we sadly lost touch with each other. The memory of the peace and contentment he had in that basement stayed with me, most of the time subconsciously, over the years and I often found myself drawn to beautiful ship models and was always curious how they were built.
Now that I have time on my hands (retirement will do that for you), I am happy to say I too have a much smaller version of his "happy place" here in our home and look forward with a great deal of pleasure and excitement to many happy (and yes, perhaps sometimes frustrating) hours at my "shipyard" table.
Back in the early 80's I was serving with the British forces in Germany in the town of Hamelin. Because I had a bit of an artistic streak I was selected to go on a 2 week "work" visit to the museum in the town center to help repair an old diorama of the Battle of Langensalza from 1866 (Source, Wikipedia). It was a huge undertaking and I was under the supervision of the historical professor who was heading up the operation. He and I became good friends, even after the fortnight's work was over. His wife extended an invite to me to come and have dinner at their house. She was a museum curator and, when I entered the house, I felt like I was actually in a museum! They had been collecting artifacts for most of their adult lives and the house was pleasantly decorated with a wide selection of some very nice pieces. Victor, the professor, took me to the basement to show me his "man cave". It was there that I saw what finally inspired me, years later, to take up ship building. He was putting together a HUGE model of the Santa Maria (scratch build, which I knew nothing about at the time). It was a beautiful wooden piece and we spent time down there on numerous occasions over the next three years discussing his plans for the build. At that point he had the hull finished and was working on the decks.
After three years I was posted elsewhere in Germany and we sadly lost touch with each other. The memory of the peace and contentment he had in that basement stayed with me, most of the time subconsciously, over the years and I often found myself drawn to beautiful ship models and was always curious how they were built.
Now that I have time on my hands (retirement will do that for you), I am happy to say I too have a much smaller version of his "happy place" here in our home and look forward with a great deal of pleasure and excitement to many happy (and yes, perhaps sometimes frustrating) hours at my "shipyard" table.
