Dya'll remember this?
In our school, she was probably the youngest teacher I'd ever seen. Then I went to Catholic School and she must've been the oldest Nun there! Ah, but here's the punchline! They taught me to see! I mean really see, the beauty all around us. It may be a machine of war or peace, or just the world around us. Frinstance, didja know that if the sunlight strikes them just right, the teensy Hummingbird is an Explosion of colors?
I kept this knowledge close to the vest and drew Pictures of everything I could think of. In Public School the teacher wondered why I always drew Sailing ships and Boats. In catholic School Sister Christina always wondered why I drew Fighter Planes and Bombers in flight. In High School it was Buildings, Cars and Bridges! As a matter of fact when I got to spend time with the wife ashore while employed by Uncle Sam's Navy, I painted, Yup, Real time Oils and Acrylics. What did I paint? Reefs and all the Finny Folk that called them home.
Funny thing though. I never could draw or paint a face or fully formed Human character. Of any Kind, even cartoonish! It was always of Nature or Man-Made stuff.Then somewhere within all that I got into models. Boy, did that change the way I saw stuff! I was very flustered when my S.S. United States Model looked funny. Then after seeing a seven footer in a travel agency window, it dawned on me .Revells Rails looked like solid walls, painted silver(That's what the instructions told you to do), But then my creativity really kicked in and I started experimenting with materials to create what I saw.
Turned me into a durned scratch builder for a while. Enough that I entered the Fisher Body Craftsmens Guild contest My Daddy was so proud when I got that regional Scholarship! I mean c'mon a Chef's kid going to College? That is when I knew where My future was going. Creating or Fixing things in the world. Then the Service and I met my Nemesis. His name Electronics! He has beaten me down and spit me out. But, I will still create, whether in Kit form or Scratch-That's what a Modeler does, Right??