Hello Everybody

Now that is a great display and your dad's face says it all. Nice one.

Thanks Jim!  I appreciate the kind words.

And dad liked the display.  Mom says he chokes up whenever he looks at it.

I will take pictures of it in its new home when dad decides where he is going to put it.

Happy Holidays Everybody! 

Just finished going through the entire WIP. Outstanding work.  Let us know how the presentation goes, with pics. I'm sure your work will make him one happy man. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Jim 

Thanks Subfixer.

My dad’s display is completed in the nick of time.

To see more pictures of it, go to my WIP:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/157366.aspx

I haven’t been modeling that long, but it is kind of like knowledge.  The more you know, the more you don’t know.  Can there ever be a perfect model?  It would seem that the more you learn and the better you get at it the better your models become, but then you also become more judgmental (not meant in a bad way) about them.  I think that the thing that amazes me the most so far about modeling is that there are almost as many ways to do things as there are people doing them.  Gluing, priming (or not), painting, weathering (or not), etc.  That’s cool though, because it allows you to be creative and find the method that works best for you.

Happy modeling and CHEERS!!!

Been there and done that.  One day we realize that we have learned a lot of tricks while engaged in this hobby of ours. We also realize that we still have a lot to learn as we look at some of the great models posted on these Forums or on the tables at a contest. I can't count the number of times I have said to myself "I'll never be able to do what he does". I've been building for 67 of my 73 years and am still learning. I have improved a lot, but still have a long way to go.

Jim 

Thanks Jim!  I always appreciate tips.

I like the idea of using a tire iron for tightening rigging.  I assume that you are talking about the rigging on the Missouri, which was, other than the models dad and I worked on together, my first ship model, and it was the first time I ever tried rigging.  I heard that heat did the trick tightening them, and even saw a video of it.  I thought it was pretty cool so I thought I would try it, using the only heat source I had available at the time, a BIC lighter.  (I’ll bet you can see where this is going.)  It worked good, for a while, but I got too close once, and started a small fire and had to redo most of it.  Needless to say I was a bit more cautious the next time around. I have since bought a pencil type soldering iron and will definitely try it the next time I do rigging.

Welcome to the Forums Russ! Glad to have you aboard!

Try using a small pencil type soldering iron to tighten your rigging. I slowly pass the iron a couple of inches  below the rigging back and forth. It's worked for me for years.

Great builds and good photos too. Keep up the good work.

Jim 

Paraphrasing Rod Stewart...

"Every model tells a story don't it?"

Welcome to the forums,great work and some great stories shared

Thanks checkmate! I appreciate it.  I certainly hope to keep that personal touch in my modeling.  I’m not sure that I would keep modeling without it.  I like the physical parts of modeling but it’s the mental parts that I enjoy the most.  Working out problems is part of that, but as I am making the model planes, I envision dad a young officer flying his first plane, flying his first twin-engine, instructing I know not how many other budding pilots.  I can’t fathom the fear he must have felt flying missions in Vietnam, including routine missions over the infamous Ho Chi Minh trail.  When I did the Missouri/England diorama, I could imagine the spray in his face when he and the other members of the Naval Academy football team made the “UNREP”, and as I am (slowly) building the Wisconsin, I can see him watching the movies they watched in the hanger while riding out Hurricane Barbara and running football plays on the flight deck.  As I was making Greenling for Travis I reheard the stories he has told me of his experiences while serving on her and the mixed feelings he still has about the experience.  Those thoughts and the feelings that accompany them are perhaps the best part of modeling and why I enjoy it so much.

TomZ2 is perhaps correct.  I have dabbled with sketching and water color painting throughout my life and enjoy it for many of the same reasons that I enjoy modeling. I don’t know that I have a gift, and I am certainly not a genius, but I sure am having fun.

Thanks Guys!

oops

 It is possible that modelmakers, poets, painters, and writers are all member of same family of people whose gift it is by nature to take those things which we call commonplace and re-present them to us in such ways that our self-imposed limitations are expanded. Those people in whom this gift is especially pronounced, we call geniuses.

Keep that touch, though.  The human element brings so much more to a model.  A plane, ship or tank is just a piece of machinery, unless there's a human story to go along with it.

Again, great work!  Very appealing to the eye!

Thanks Guys!

I appreciate the comments.  I posted the WIP in the aircraft section.  I hope you enjoy it.

Checkmate... the fact that I can build models with the human interest shows that I haven't been building models very long. :o)

Welcome aboard. Those are some great builds, looking forward to seeing more.

Welcome Russ!  Great work you've done there!  Glad to have you on board!

Eagle90

Welcome to the Forum, Russ!  Outstanding model work.  No wonder your dad enjoys them.  Great to see projects with such a human interest attached to them.  Nice job!