New South African member....

Howsit gents....

New member here (duh). I spent a vast mount of my teen years building models, but sadly my pursuit of flying has since put an end to that for the last 4 years. I have always been looking for an 'excuse' to get back into building, as it was something I enjoyed immensely... but couldnt find time (or place) for.

Eventually that 'excuse' came my way in the form of an unpexpected arrival. While at the African Aero and Defense arms/airshow... my friend and I happened to stumble upon 10 Italeri 1/48 Mirage F-1s. Now he and I are both rabid South African Air Force fans, and had collectively been looking for 1/48 F-1s for almost 10 years. (Although I stopped building, I never stopped looking for one). Between the two of us, we bought 6 kits... much to the disgust of everyone behind us in line. I then started looking around more actively at kits available at the shows.. and chanced upon a very well priced 1/48 Italeri MB326... or Impala (as they appeared in our SAAF). Bought that on the spot. Now I was on a role... having not bought a model kit for over 4 years... I had just purchased 3 jets.

Before I stopped building, I only ever used to build WW2 1/48 aircraft. Spits, Mustangs, 109s, Fw190s, Mossies, Beaufighters, and even a Tamiya Lanc. I had never really had an interest in building anything else, I guess.

So there I was with 4 new kits... 4 JETs none the less... after a 4 year break. (lol 4x4x4)

Now I just had to start building, so my friend and I set off for all the local model shops. The first one we walked into, happened to have an Italeri 1/48 Mirage 3E. Bought that.. as I have always had a soft spot for the Mirage 3s (and their service records with the SAAF). All on the way to my grand parents place where all my old stuff was stored. We got all my kit sorted (paints/brushes/airbrush/compressor) and then we started looking through my old models (some unifinished)... when I rediscovered my 1/48 Revell PBY-5 Cat. I had started it a very very very long time ago, but lost interest in it. My mate when insane and told how rare the kit is supposed to be these days. I pulled that box down and selected 2 Tamiya 1/48s (Thunderbolt and Corsair) that I was building when I had to stop.

 We then stopped at another model shop, and I found another kit that I had always been looking for... a 1/48 North American AT-6 (Harvard/Texan) from Heller. Once again, a type long operated by the SAAF. Upon purchasing this kit, I have been forced to stop as I cannot afford to drive a car and buy models anymore.. hehe. 

So thats me... um... might be a bit long winded and I apologize if it is but hey its the internets.

I've always been checking in here from time to time... and now that I'm going to start building again, I decided to join up and learn new things.. as there seems to be an incredible wealth of information here. Especially with regard to scratch building/airbrush effects. I'm hoping to pick up some valuable tips in both those areas as I would like to start super detailing my aircraft instead of just sticking with what comes in the box.

 So here is my '08 collection so far... not bad for 2 weeks worth of hunting after 4 years of nothing