FSM Final Details: What inspires you?

I always loved building models, as a kid mostly to play with, and as an adult mostly to look at and enjoy. But, one movie has always always inspired me, and that was Empire of the Sun.The scene when a young Christian Bale is watching a couple P-51's attack the prison he's being held is epic.

Without a doubt, two things. The show "Sky King" and my father. He died when I was nine, so all I had was a stick / paper model he had built. Dad was a air traffic controller. One of the first two hired in Louisville, KY. Many memories of visiting the control tower (when you could do that) at both Standiford Field (Louisville International, now) and Bowman Field. Worked in the summer for the FAA, too. ONe memory with my dad was him taking us flying. I've never forgotten that and it instilled in me the love of aviation and then models. Miss you, Pop.

Lyle Willis

'Geezer'

Louisville, KY

Building military models was my favorite subject, but watching the movie Sahara with Humphrey Bogart, inspired me to become a tank commander when I grew up. I spent over half of my life in the US Army and commanded several types of tanks, learning to operate different military vehicles. I enjoy building vehicles I've crewed.

My military model building made me interested in war movies which inspired my 28 year military career. My military service further fueled my model building as new vehicles were introduced and subsequently reproduced as kits. It also affected a couple of military models; the HMMWV I used during REFORGER 90 became the subject of the Revell M1038 Cargo w/canvas and photographs I took of my Abrams tank assisted Dragon with their M1A1AIM.

Model building had a direct influence on my entire life. I met my wife while training at the Armor School on Fort Knox, Kentucky. My children were born at various posts around the country. One of my sons is an Army veteran with two tours in Afghanistan and one of my daughters is an Army wife. Our home was chosen because of its proximity to Fort Knox.

Without model building, this kid from a small Vermont town would not have ended up married to a girl in Kentucky.

Robin Gronovius
Lieutenant Colonel
US Army, Retired
Elizabethtown, Kentucky 

Long time ago, "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason was highly inspirational for me - made me choose Vietnam era as my main modelling interest. Great Vietnam movies of the eighties added to that - Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now. New Times bring new inspirations though - Three years ago I came across a book called "Dusterman: Vietnam: Story of the Last Great Gunfighters" by Joseph Bellardo. It describes a tour in Vietnam, of a soldier that commanded a vehicle that was the last to leave the Khe Sanh Combat Base after it was abandoned by the US forces. I contacted the author (it's easy now with Internet 2.0!) and he helped me with the research every last detail of my model of his vehicle. That was my most satisfying build to date.

I agree with USMC6094, met "Pappy"Boyington once, told me go away you f#@/^€£ idiot, I was 15, never diminished my respect for marines or avaitors as a whole.Top Gun,  " helped " me become a sailor. As far as insperation goes allthings winged and large modern warships began long before those incidents but surely fed the fire. Today just about anything unique, ugly, or served a specific duty fire me up. I do have a large stash of SP's and towed cannon though, I like the idea of how lethal and manuverable if commanded right they are.

The History and Heritage of the organization I served most proudly with, the United States Marine Corps, BAAA BAAA Blacksheep even as bad as it was

The Hornblower book series inspired me to try sailing warships after doing mostly airplanes for several years.

Hi , Mark :

     I guess you could say all the old-timey movies .You know John Wayne and others in Battle for this country .Or Humphrey and Kate on a lone ,adventure filled voyage down (or is it up ? ) a river . This and " Buck Rogers " , " Victory at Sea " and Jules Verne's " 20,000,000 Leagues under the Sea "

      This is not intended to be final though .Remember all the books I've read over the years .Wishing I could get in a pool and play with all my sailing ships in " Pirate movies with Errol Flynn"  . Ah those were the days alright . I must Not forget Robert Mitchum and Kurt Jergens in the " Enemy Below " either!  

     Tanker - Builder

There are two movies that come to mind that have directly influenced my modeling, The Bridges at Toko-Ri and The Final Countdown. The flying sequences in both films are just outstanding and I can watch them over and over and never get tired of them. The aircraft in those movies ended up sitting on my model shelf as a direct result, the F-9F Panther and F-14 Tomcat. Although my father served in the USAAF and USAF during WWII and Korea I dreamed of a career as a US Navy Pilot, again a direct result of the impact of those two films. I never realized that dream in real life but can still keep it alive in model form.

(Post edited, realized today that there were two very strong film influences on my modeling)

Yep had hat/ vest/ gunbelt sets in black, white, and red! Boots too.

Guy came around the neighborhood with a pony and took pictures of us on it. If you ask nicely...

Hard question. I had a liking for movies that used scale model airplanes. A really good one is "Dr. Strangelove", got a 1/72 B-52 after that. If you look carefully you can see the shadow of the B-17 camera ship on the polar ice cap snow that was used to film the backgrounds for the model shots.

Useless Strangelove trivia- what's the nod to 12 OCH made in the later movie?