Hello there,
It's my pleasure to be returning to Scale Modeling. I was last really active in the hobby in the UK between about 1990 and 1998. Had a lot of fun with it - never really got to a superb standard. Then I moved from the UK to the USA for work (been here ever since), and for various reasons put the hobby aside, after starting an English Electric Lightning (or at least painting the seat black).
Skip forward to last year - was in a bad accident that put me in hospital for a bit, and then had my mobility seriously reduced while recovering (an ongoing process). So what to do to stay sane? Well I dug out the modeling tools and that Lightning and made a start again.
That was fun, but left a lot to be desired. I surfed the forums, subscribed to FSM, and bought one of Aaron Skinners books (Scale Modeling Essentials) and then had another go. This time a Spitfire - something fun to build quickly.
I even tried a bit of weathering, which helped break up the monotony a bit. My pre shading didn't do what I wanted though.
So - onto the current build, a Tamiya Beaufighter in 1/48 - and bought another of Aarons books - this time his tutorial on airbrushing. I really like the step by step explanations in this book, and this time I have a little more going on with my shading.
So I am stoked - each model I make I try and implement some new technique or improvement to a technique, and I think it is having a positive effect.
I really enjoy FSM, love the quality tutorials and love looking thorugh other peoples inspirational builds. Looking forward to posting my stumbling attempts at improvements and learning more.
Cheers!
PS sorry for the long post.