A touchy question

I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam....  The whole PC movement truly annoys me, and I make no excuses nor apologies for my race or ancestry.  I'm white, 48 as of 5 June (so if that's middle-aged I should live to 96?), more German than anything else, but some Englander thrown in for good measure.  My maternal grandfather and uncle were Luftwaffe officers in WWII, the uncle died in a 109 over Berlin.  My parents met when my father was with the Rhine River Patrol.  My modeling interests vary from 1/48 WWII aircraft (mostly USN, but the other guys too) to a couple armor pieces (WWII German) to StarWars and sci-fi 'what-ifs' to modern jets which are pretty well limited to F-14's from the squadrons I was in during my own Navy days at Miramar, VF124, 24 and 211.  My wife wants me to build OOB and quit worrying about superfluous details and not being able to make it 'just right' so I'll quit bitching and actually finish something--yea, that'll happen!  I got back into this hobby after twenty years because of a coworker showing me a copy of FSM.  At the time I thought everything in it was geared toward professional modelers for museum quality work, then after a few copies I realized we're mostly just average people.  So here I am as well.

As an aside, over on rec.models.scale we did a poll awhile back and with the hundred odd responses found that the average age was 39, most were living here in the US excepting a couple Britons, Aussies and one gentleman from France, almost exclusively white of european descent (no responders stated being black, there was one Native American, very few Hispanics or Asians), most had given up modeling in their early teens and gotten back into it well into adulthood.  For that particular forum most were predominantly interested in WWII aircraft and armor, with other genre as a deviation when they were bored or burned out.  It appeared that most had military backgrounds, either past or current.  Since this was based on only one online forum it would be interesting to see the results from all forums and/or all modeling magazines.  The hobby might not be in as bad a shape as it appears sometimes, but merely taking a shift in subject interest.  The shows certainly seem to have plenty of participants and visitors.

Let's see... I'm 43 years old, Half German and half English with a touch of French somewhere back there (that's because the region where the town of Zweibrucken is located changed hands between the German and French many times from the 1700s through the 1900s, so technically the French part of me is actually German, and coincidentally, my Dad was stationed there from 1979 to 1986).  I model mostly WWII subjects as I'm really into military history, especially in the 20th century.  My German grandfather or "Opa" fought in the German Army in both WWI and WWII.  My German Uncle fought in the German Army in WWII, both on the Russian Front and in Northern France against the Canadians and British.  The stories my Uncle used to tell us, especially regarding his personal accounts from his time with the 12th Panzer Division on the Eastern Front were fascinating!  I wish I had been older back then and had the means to record all his conversations.  He had a nasty scar in his calf from shrapnel from a Russian mortar.  I believe the war ended for him when he was captured by either Britians or Canadians). 

My mother still lives in Germany, has dual citizenship, and is married to the Ober-Burgermeister of Idar-Oberstein.  She was originally from a province called Silesia which was part of Germany but unfortunately was over-run by the Soviets.  They had a large farm/estate, but lost everything when they fled the from the Russians with nothing but the clothes on their backs... they lost everything.  Eventually they settled in Oppenheim Germany (where Patton's army crossed the Rhine).  My father's side originated in Minnesota and moved to Nevada when my Dad was very young, so I guess that makes me a Nevadan as well (and I've lived here for the past 20 years).  Before living in NV I lived in Germany for almost 8 years.  I went to a High School on Zweibrucken Air Base (my Dad was in the Army), went to college in Munich Germany (University of Maryland, Munich Campus) and I worked for the Department of Defense in Germany for a couple of years.

I'm sure on a subconscious level with my German Heritage and family as well as my Dad being in the military made me very interested in German tanks and aircraft, but I also build a lot of American Tanks.  I have 4 different flavors of Shermans, for example, with more on the way.   

 My turn, I guess. I have basically lived the life of a WASP, however in my heart I am more American Indian than anything, although my blood puts me closer to a third, Sioux and Cherokee. My wife is Mexican/Indian and my son's name is Quanah, named after the mixed blood Commanche War Chief Quanah Parker.
 I served as a Tanker in the U.S. Army and did some other non tanker type things in a small central American jungle one time.
 My main modeling interests are Vietnam era to present armor, but I have done some WWII armor and aircraft as well. Helicopters too.
 My first models as a child were WWII carriers, battleships etc. I plan on getting back into those as well.

                                                                                                                    -M60A3

Interesting post...

Mom's side 100% Italian, from the Abruzzi region of Italy.  My Great Grandfather served in the Italian Cavalry in Libya and my maternal Grandfather came over in 1916 at the begining of the WWI UBoat menace.

Father's side...well that is a bit more muddled.  My last name is Barauskas, Lithuanian.  However, my dad's great aunt from his mother's side was a Polish baroness.  Lost everything when the country was over run, by either Czarist Russians, Prussians or Germans.

There is also Russian (no surprise), and now for something completely different...French (!?!?!?) how the hell that happened is beyond me...best I can figure is the Barauskas' arrived here in the US by way of Boston (more irony in that they settled in New York and are all raging Yankees fans!) some time before1895.

I like the smaller scale, 1/72, WWII, between the wars and early jets.  I have a soft spot for WWII German armor and subs.

I guess my secret was out when I started using my "flags avatar" I tend to model various subjects and genres. (more on this later). I only stopped by for a quick visit...it's a really busy day. I still have to drain the spaghetti, repair a statue of the Virgin Mary, and then go whack the Percotti brothers

One thing we all have in common- an insane to desire to let tiny pieces of plastic both bring us joy and frustrate us as we spend our money and time to paint and glue them! LOL

jwb wrote:

One thing we all have in common- an insane to desire to let tiny pieces of plastic both bring us joy and frustrate us as we spend our money and time to paint and glue them! LOL

Ain't that the truth! :)

      Interesting thread and puts a cool light on modeling. I am relatively new to the board and just got back into modeling after the wife suggested I find a hobby. I'm soon to be 48, white, gun toting, God fearing, 22 years sober, conservative, Harley riding, Fox news watching, Un PC male who does what the wife says (mostly).

There is German, English, Irish on both sides of the family and on my mom's side I'm not sure how many greats are in there, but a great great great etc...grandfather is supposed to be Chief Elias Parker of the Seneca  Indian Nation.

When I was a kid I enjoyed building WW2 German and American aircraft along with funny cars and a few ships. Now that I'm getting back to the hobby I'm sticking with 1/25 Chevy/GM cars, a few Harley's any scale and later some WW2 aircraft and maybe a few sci-fi/space models.

The wife is a former woman Marine and I'm ex Navy, ex aerospace worker and a recovering ex K-Mart employee.

Like an old saying goes, "it doesn't matter what you ride as long as you're in the wind", it doesn't matter what your race is as long as you build...........

Robert

 

I'm Aryan, of a royal/noble descent.

I build primarily WWII subjects, in the 1/72 scale.  Main interests in ships, then armour and aircraft and diaromas.

Have not built a car or motorbike ... yet...

I've gathered from my geneology research that I'm a mutt with an Irish surname.

My earliest ancestors in this country were Protestants from the county Galway in Ireland. They arrived in two major waves, mid and late 1700's. Family members fought on both sides during the Revolutionary and Civil wars. In the early 1800's one group moved to North Carolina and another to the Yakima, Washington area. North Carolina, Texas, Washington, and California probably have half of all the people with by surname. Northern states, Gulf Coast, and desert southwest states have very few of us. I have a very uncommon surname and anyone else with it is probably related.

On a side note, my dads sister (my aunt) married a man with our uncommon surname!!! His branch of the family is probably one of three brothers that arrived in the mid 1700's and split off very early. My cousin likes to tell the story of when he signed up for the draft (early 60's). He filled out the form which ask for his mothers maiden name. The clerk insisted he stop being a wiseguy and use the correct name. The clerk finally called in the Sheriffs department and had him arrested until his parents finally showed up and set things straight.

 I'm (as you may guess from my forum screen name) of pure German desent. My family came here in 1733 to escape conflict on the german/french border, my family were of the german forces and had fought the french for years before they decided to sail to the Americas. Once they arrived here they built homes in eastern Pa. When the French and Indian War broke out their town was attacked by local indians and my grandfather 12 generations back started a militia to fight them off, and died in the fighting, but won the battle. My mothers Family is from Bavaria and came here in the 1840s, and also settled in Pa. My familys have fought in almost all American conflicts, my grandfather a few generations back on her side was one of the Pa Deutch soilders who told O.O. Howard "No bear, No war" during the Civil War. I'm very proud of my desent of German soldiers and the strong temper i get from my ancestors is why i'm called "crazy german". This has effected my modeling in that I mostly model German armor, and the weapons my ancestors fought with in American Wars. It also effects many other hobbies of mine, like re-enacting (Civil War/WWII...probably going to branch out into French And Indian War if i find a group)

My oldest (as in with whom I've been friends the longest recently traced my family tree. He was able to take my patrilinial ancestry all the way back to France in 1665 to one Pierre Richer who came over as part of or with the Salieres-Carrignan Regiment to fight the Iroquois.  Upon arrival, as with many men in Nouvelle France he took a dit name, LaFleche, relating to a town in the region of his origin in France and became known as Pierre Richer dit LaFleche. In the 1830's, one of his descendents moved to Massachusetts and dropped the Richer part of his name.

Interestingly, on my mother's mother's side, there were two English women taken captive in two separate raids, York, Maine (1692) and Deerfield, Masschusetts (1704) who opted to remain in Canada and took French husbands.

 This is a greeat "thread"(?) I'm lower middleage, lower middleclass, and a medioker modelbuilder,born in north Idaho traveled half way around the world twice and to 46 of the lower 48 states finally landing in Wash. german, irish,and scandinavian . Ilove german armor U.S. aircraft , and can't wait to get my hands on the new swedish mobile gun platform "archer".  red, yellow,black, or white are colors in my paint drawer,ya build models yer ok with me.  great discussion happy modelling.    P.S no offense taken and none intended by this response:)