I'd like to introduce myself. While I'm not an ardent fan of the Rolling Stones, this felt like a reasonable way of "breaking the ice", so to speak.
Professionally, I'm a licensed A&P mechanic, which simply means that I get to "play" with carry really giant scale model aircraft, the kind that carry one or more full scale (1:1) human beings. My nic, spaceshiprepairman, is the result of my desire to have eventually ended up working for NASA on the Shuttle, which, sadly, was never meant to be, but one can still dream, even impossible dreams, and no, I'm not about to start singing that.
Anyhoo, up to around 25 years ago, I was building models. But, career and family soon got in the way, and I had to "put it up on a shelf" until further notice.
Further notice came in the form of my blushing bride wife(we got married 17 Sept. of last year) gently and quietly encouraging me to get into a hobby or two. Seeing as I used to not only build scale plastics, but also design and build rc models(having a strange preference for scale flying wings,or as they are more properly termed, tail less aircraft)it seemed almost natural, or perhaps unnatural.
Working on the full-size birds gives me an interesting perspective. Almost immediately upon attending Spartan(yes, I'm one of those, a graduate of Spartan School of Aeronautics; there are a few of us around here and there, lurking in the odd corner,or oddest of corners), I came to realize that every lump, bump, and otherwise protrusion is on a flying machine for some purpose, not because "it looked good" to some engineer or pilot, so I endeavored to do the same on scale models, within reason.
Back then(the mid 80's), etched metal parts were things only the most expensive kits had, and forget resin parts like engines; you had to be satisfied with what came in the kit, or spend lots of time scratchbuilding. My how the times have changed.
I've already asked a couple questions in the aircraft section, so will close for now. Except, last night, I bought another kit. A 1/48 scale model of a Hughes 500D. The instructions were in Japanese. I'm not sure, but aren't there accessorry parts, etched brass or resin, for this kit. It was put out by Academy, and is my first helicopter kit since that 1/32 Husky that got lost by the way side over the years.