Hi Folks,
I just joined the forum today so I'm hoping to have some good discussions and maybe later thrown in something useful myself ( can't imagine what but you never know).
I lived in Japan for 13 years and returned to Oz a couple of years ago. After I had been there for a while and the thrill of living there had worn off I looked for a handcraft to do in my aparto, especially during the thoroughly unpleasant humid summer season. I've always had an interest in WW2 and especially the aircraft so I decided to make models of WW2 aircraft. I researched scales and chose 1:48 for larger size and range available. I had an American work collegue who was a modeller and he took me to the local model shop and I bought a kit (Spitfire), some glue, paint and some basic tools.
I battled away with my first model and got it finished but consumed 2 identical kits to do it. I found I enjoyed the modelling experience however. The second model (P40) also consumed 2 kits to produce one finished model. After that I was able to produce one model consuming only the one kit.
I had caught the bug. My friend advised me that if I saw a kit that I wanted that I should buy it on the spot as I may not see it again. Fateful advice. Over the next 2 years we raided the hobby shops of Tokyo and I accumulated 350 kits. Also I bought every tool that I thought might be useful as well as a few the purpose of which was unclear to me because the labelling was in Kanji script.
Thinking ahead to when I would move back to Oz, the question arose "where will I model when I get back home". Couldn't think of an available space within the house so I decided to start from scratch. Next visit to Oz I made the spec & drawings to build a model studio. While I was away in Japan my good lady wife supervised a builder to construct a very nice 430 square foot building to be my model workshop. It is heated, air conditioned with lots of lights and the bench is a big "U" shape for easy access.
I eventually moved back to Oz bringing with me my kit stash as well as a lot of tools, equipment and supplies. All the equipment is Japanese so since we use 240 volts in Oz I needed to install a 100 volt supply to run it all.
I'm now retired and but have built only 17 models so far but with each one I try to improve my skills. Fine Scale Modeller has been a great help to me so far.
Cheers
Greg Triplett