Hello,
I'm a 46 yr old model builder and bookseller from New Bedford Mass. Growing up crawling around on the NB Whaling Museum's half-scale "Lagoda" whaler model, I was drawn to ships early on. In my pre-teens I built Revell's Constitution, Charles W. Morgan, and Golden Hind. Later I switched to cars and aircraft for a while, but in my late twenties came back to sailing ships when I bought my first wooden kit. Those first wooden kits didn't seem quite right, so I started modifying them, and eventually switched to building up from scratch. My most recent scratch build was a 3/16" scale model of the New Bedford whaler James Arnold. I also restore damaged old models and have repaired models for the whaling museum.
Recently I have become fascinated with the old plastic ship kits again, and have sought out Revell's Cutty Sark, Thermopylae, Pedro Nunes, (all the same kit, I know), and most recently, the Kearsarge. I also picked up a Lindberg Sea Witch unbuilt in a beat up box. These were all kits I wanted when I was a kid, but never could get. Some of these will be built, others not. I work on them as a diversion from the "big" scratch builds. Studying these old kits, I've been seeing them as with new eyes, and a new appreciation for the design and engineering of these impressive hobby kits. They seem to represent a long lost era in our culture.
I hope to post some pics here, but in the meantime, my work can be seen on my YouTube channel under the name "planbmodels"
Thanks,
Ken B.