Ever built a model as a gift of significance?

Woody

Member since
December 2002
From: Third rock from the sun.

Posted by Woody on Friday, September 19, 2003 6:57 PM

I have a fond memory of my Grandpa George seeing the Waco Glider I built him. He was one of those guys that didn't want to talk about his service in WWII. I wasn't sure how he would take it when I was asked to build the plane by another family member(heck I didn't even know he was a pilot and had flow P-51's and gliders during the war). His eyes at the moment I unveiled my gift told how much the little plane meant to him. When ever we dropped by the plane was always displayed in a prominent location in a cabinet or on the coffee table. I was even asked to repair it twice. He died several years later so I'm glad I took the chance and built it for him.

" I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way." --John Paul Jones

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 6:32 PM

I am building the Trumpeter F-105D for a good friend who flew it for over 100 missions in Viet-Nam with the 80th sqdn. I had previously built him the Monogram 1/48 one plus their F-4D which he flew after the sqdn transitioned to them.
When he came back from Viet-Nam, he was shunned as a "baby killer" or Yankee air pirate".Not to be deterred by draft-dodgers,he finished his DDS at USC. He now operates a highly successful dental practice here in So. Calif.
I told him about the project of the 1/32nd Thud. He was thrilled!
If any of us have modeling skills and know a vet, you couldn't give a better gift. Maybe check out your local Vets hospital.
Tony Ryan

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, September 15, 2003 6:36 PM

Ive built quite a few models for people, mostly on commission, but there are a few Ive built as gifts. The first, a coworker of mine was an M1 mechanic and was injured while working on a set of tracks. He was honorably discharged for that too. So, for his birthday, I built one for him and even made a figure to look like him. My current project is a B-36. My dad use to build these in Fort Worth and he worked on the very last one produced. He gave me the serial number plate off it a few months ago that he has had since the day it left the line( shhh, dont tell anyone) So, I decided, as a Christmas gift, I would build that exact plane, which is pictured in the B-36 in action, and mount it on a large frame along with the serial plate.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, September 15, 2003 10:56 AM

I built a M-109 Paladin for my Smoke ( platoon sergeant ) before he went to his next duty station in Italy
,he was a really cool Smoke! He never got to spend any real time on the heavy guns just the light pop guns they jump in with. I think he really liked it?

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, September 15, 2003 9:23 AM

I built a Lindberg 1966 Pontiac Bonneville for my father. It was his first car when he was a kid. I contructed an exact replica from a few old photos. I even took the time and money to have the original paint color mixed for the body.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, September 15, 2003 3:42 AM

nothing will put you in better graces with your local lawenforment people than to build one of thier units and give it to them to display in thier office.

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Tiger44

Member since
February 2003
From: Wisconsin

Posted by Tiger44 on Saturday, September 6, 2003 1:11 PM

A long time ago I built a P38 Lightning for my Dad. He was a P38 mechanic during the WW2. That model sat on a shelf in our family room for years. My Dads been gone for 10 years now. But the Lightning survives. It now sits on a shelf in my home. And I smile every time I look at it. My Dad was the greatest.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, September 6, 2003 12:43 PM

I'm a Catholic Priest near Washington DC. I like to to the old soldiers and airman's home. I talk to the veterans about their military experience. I ask what unit or squadron they were in and research that unit and then build a model of their plane or vehicle or a figure from their unit and give it as a gift to honor their service. I've been amazed at the reactions. Once I got it right and the man said I got his P-47 exactly as he remembers it. Model building can be a great ministry to men who deserve any honor we can give them.

Paul

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yardbird78

Member since
January 2003
From: 40 klicks east of the Gateway

Posted by yardbird78 on Saturday, September 6, 2003 12:30 PM

My daughter is an engineer with the Boeing Company in St Louis working on the black boxes for the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. She was recently transferred to the group working on the latest version of the Hornet, ie, the EA-18 Growler that is supposed to replace the Grumman EA-6B Prowler. I used an Italeri F/A-18F kit and converted it to EA-18 with AN/ALQ-199 jamming pods from the EA-6B kit and custom made wing tip jammers and other antennas. A one-of-a-kind model that has evoked many comments from her fellow engineers.

,,

The B-52 and me, we have grown old, gray and overweight together.

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plheure

Member since
September 2003
From: USA

Posted by plheure on Saturday, September 6, 2003 10:46 AM

Hi Guys:

I'm brand new to this forum, but I've been building for the past five years. I've learned a lot from reading FSM, my own club members comments and builds, and a lot of Internet site visiting.
Last year, I built a Revell/AG model of the Essex carrier as the USS Franklin for my uncle, who served as an electrician's mate on board. He enjoyed it very much. If you want to see it go to:

http://www.modelingmadness.com and look under build reviews. I'm currently building an Italeri Jeep for my father who served in Europe in WW II with the 84th Infantry Division (the Railsplitters).

Model on!

Pete Cool [8D]

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TANGO 1

Member since
December 2002
From: A secret workshop somewhere in England

Posted by TANGO 1 on Saturday, September 6, 2003 7:43 AM

I've been asked to build a spitfire Vb for my friends father in-law who served with 126Sqn in Malta during WWll. I felt quite flattered that they asked me and that they provided me the 1/48 Tamiya kit to do the job. Before now I've always built for myself, but this is for someone who served his country. I'm going to make sure this is the best kit I've ever done.

Regards, Darren. C.A.G. FAA/USNFAW GB

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, September 5, 2003 2:41 PM

I'm a M1A1 tanker in the national guard . So when my Tamk Commander retired, i built a m1 on a base for him as a gift from me and the crew .

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styrene

Member since
May 2003
From: The flat lands of the Southeast

Posted by styrene on Friday, September 5, 2003 9:32 AM

A fellow in our church choir flew B-25s with the USMC in the Pacific Theater in WWII. I built one for him, and he was as elated as a little boy getting a gift at Christmas!

I also built a Dale Earnhardt #3 Chevy for a real die-hard NASCAR fan who worked a couple doors down from my office. He took it to a race and got Dale to autograph it for him.

Gip Winecoff

1882: "God is dead"--F. Nietzsche

1900: "Nietzsche is dead"--God

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, September 5, 2003 9:25 AM

A great place to donate and put your models on display is a Legion. I had a friend years ago used to build ships, etc... and gave them to the local Legion where many Vets used to go to eat, drink, play pool, whatever. He said it was amazing (and rewarding to see) the smiles that his models put on the faces of the Veterans. They would tell him stories for hours and hours. They were really glad to see bits of their past that brought back many good memories.

James

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shermanfreak

Member since
January 2003

Posted by shermanfreak on Friday, September 5, 2003 8:44 AM

U-96 .... your picture of the "Dope Girls" brought back some memories.

You had me looking for my Mom in that pic, that's what she used to do during the war too.

Thank You

Happy Modelling and God Bless Robert

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U-96

Member since
February 2003
From: United Kingdom

Posted by U-96 on Friday, September 5, 2003 4:34 AM

Through my girlfriend's voluntary work I befriended a lady who worked for De Havilland during the war, where she was a "dope girl", primarily repairing the fabric sections of Hurricanes and Rapides.

As she had taken the time to talk to me about her work there (in great detail - she even remembers the gauges and length of linen required) and other anecdotes, I returned the favour by building a Hurricane model for her. She lives in assisted accomodation, so has had to sacrifice a lot of her personal mementos of those times.

It was only my fourth airplane model since getting into the hobby "for real", but I made the effort to get a decent base and plaque done at a local trophy shop, put some love into it, and marked it up as a plane from a squadron which did have repairs done at Witney.

It's probably my favorite model so far. Shame in a way that I gave it away, but she absolutely adores it Smile [:)]

On the bench: 1/35 Dragon Sturmpanzer Late Recent: Academy 1/48 Bf-109D (Nov 06) Academy 1/72 A-37 (Oct 06) Revell 1/72 Merkava III (Aug 06) Italeri 1/35 T-26 (Aug 06)

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Dwight Ta-ala

Member since
July 2003
From: Philippines

Posted by Dwight Ta-ala on Friday, September 5, 2003 12:06 AM

A friend of mine had a collection of about a hundred unbuilt kits. He has never started building any of them. He said he never had the time and the space but he always enjoy checking out the completed models that I have displayed at a shelf behind my chair. I always told him that he should build at least one to feel that sense of joy and pride but he wasn't able to until now. I gave him one of my completed F15c's as a gift. I know he liked it.

Somehow, it sparked the interest in him that he stared building one of his kits. I don't know if he has completed it but at least he started...

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 4, 2003 11:55 PM

I build a Corsair for my grandfather who was a crew chief in Guada Canal. I presented it to him on christmas last year and he just started to cry. It was amazing the memories it brought back and how it touched him. I was very proud.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 4, 2003 11:52 PM

This may not fit, i do models. I also do a lot of custom sewing. My best one was i did a flag for an auction. It was a standard TEXAS flag but i hand sewed the unit three unit that fought at a battle, along with the date and place of the battle. At the auction it was sold for $2,000.00. Funny i only had about $50.00 dollar invested.

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 4, 2003 11:44 PM

I did a kit of Vietnam Green Berets for a Friend who is a retired green beret. He display it on his desk for everyone to see.

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tigerman

Member since
March 2003
From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA

Posted by tigerman on Thursday, September 4, 2003 10:26 PM

For my stepson's 13th birthday, I built my last ship model: a 1/700 Japanese light cruiser. I did a pretty decent paint job and I put foil on the base and painted it using various shades. It turned out rather nice. At the time he was into my old ships and I thought he might want his own. It has since been destroyed due to owner mishandling. Angry [:(!]

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it"-R.E.Lee

Eric

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 4, 2003 9:42 PM

I'm currently pieceing together a 1965 Ford Thunderbird for a friend of mine. It was his 1st pride and joy-ride. I think I just might have to get a few parts through modelhaus.com tho. Nobody makes a 65 T-bird model anymore. I have heard that the molds were turned into the 66 Bird. i will win,I never give up. What great stories and a nice group of people in this fourm. Always entertaining when I check in here. Thanks for the happy times guys-n-gals.

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Keyworth

Member since
January 2003
From: NE Georgia

Posted by Keyworth on Thursday, September 4, 2003 9:22 PM

Nicely done, Robert.

"There's no problem that can't be solved with a suitable application of high explosives"

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shermanfreak

Member since
January 2003

Posted by shermanfreak on Thursday, September 4, 2003 7:22 PM

Finished this one a couple of months ago for a friend who crawled all over these as a youngster.

Happy Modelling and God Bless Robert

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lizardqing

Member since
July 2003
From: Dahlonega, Georgia

Posted by lizardqing on Thursday, September 4, 2003 6:59 PM

My grandfather was one of the founding drivers of NASCAR.I built a 40 Ford coupe painted with his scheme and was going to give it to him for his birthday a few years ago, sadly he passed away a week before and never got to see it.

Chris The Scale Firehouse The Lizard's Workshop

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Keyworth

Member since
January 2003
From: NE Georgia

Posted by Keyworth on Thursday, September 4, 2003 6:34 PM

I built a B-17G for my dentist's uncle. He had flown 28 missions with the 8th Air Force. His nephew provided the photos of the plane and crew, and I was able to replicate that scene in 1/48 scale. He passed away last year, and the family sent a really nice note to let me know how much he had appreciated the model.

"There's no problem that can't be solved with a suitable application of high explosives"

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Jeeves

Member since
February 2003
From: Saratoga Springs, NY

Posted by Jeeves on Thursday, September 4, 2003 2:32 PM

Hi DJ...

I have been posting about this as well this past summer. I built my first land vehicle last month-- a GMS 6X6 for my wife's uncle who was a Red Ball Express driver...if you do a search in armor I have a pic of it somewhere there.

Currently-- with the help of blackwoldscd and Thomas Myers for research and also scratchbuilding techniques, I will be building a P-51C for a Tuskegee Airman that lives in my town.

It would be great to be able to start a program that builds for vets...I tried asking around in my community about doing this and no one really seemed to bite on the idea....it's too bad we couldn't get something started here. We have builds for kids to get them started in the hobby....why not build for someone who served their country?? OK...I am climbing down off my soapbox now Wink [;)]

Mike

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gar26

Member since
July 2003
From: Canada

Posted by gar26 on Thursday, September 4, 2003 2:17 PM

Hey DJ I am building a CF 100 Canuck for my father. When he was in the Canadian Airforce he worked as an airframe tech and he always said that his favorite plane was the canuck. In the 50's when the canuck first came out it was classified as one of the best all weather fighters at the time. They use to call it the clunk also due to the fact that when the landing gear locked into place it made a clunking noise. I have built other kits for friends or relatives whether it be a war time memory or Dale Earnhardts nascar for a fan, I will always build for the
history of the kit.

gpebernat

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djrost_2000

Member since
February 2003
From: Where the coyote howl, NH

Posted by djrost_2000 on Thursday, September 4, 2003 12:00 PM

Thanks Demono. I was lucky enough to have a friend of the family with that kind of experience, and lucky to have the model kits come out that would allow me to build the proper vessels and plane.

DJ

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