My father used to build models, so I built models myself as a kid. It's amazing how times were different in the '80s, even though most of the trappings of modern life were already present all the way back then. I was an early adopter of technology, and I spent as much time fooling around with my father's computer as I did playing outside. Somehow it all changed when the web came onto the scene. It is an endless source of information interwoven with entertaining ways to fritter and waste time.
Right after getting married and starting a family rather young, I went through a kind of kid renaissance where I went back to all the things I used to do growing up, and did them with more money. I built a few static models, but mostly I got into model railroading with an eye toward prototypical accuracy. I'm still proud of some of the models I built then, like this high hood former SOU Norfolk Southern Geep, built on an Athearn chassis:
I don't even remember what prompted me to go out to the storage room and dig out my old railroad models, but I guess it's just that time again. I sized up the work I had done, reminded myself of what I used to do, and briefly contemplated building that layout I've had on hold for almost 20 years now. These old locomotives are rotten under the hood from sitting in unheated storage all those years, and I'm probably better off fitting the shells to new chassis that are modern and pre-wired for DCC. All in all, it's just too much right now, and I put everything back into storage for another 10 years.
That would have been the end of my renewed interest in modeling if I hadn't watched "Sons of Liberty" on History. That put me in a patriotic mood, and got me digging around in the early history of the US. I started thinking about building the USS Constitution again, and here I sit. My experience in model railroading taught me to see fine detail, and I enjoyed the challenge of taking a generic model and making it as realistic as I could, within the limits of my means and talent. I've never successfully built a tall ship that was done to a high standard, because the last time I did a ship was back in high school, in an airless bedroom with a bunch of Testors paints and low quality brushes. The last time I built the Connie, it was the 1/196 version, and I remember just totally faking out the rigging to make it sort of look like something.
I've taken inspiration from a couple of the builds on here, and I want to see what I can do with this thing. I purchased a current release of the Revell 1/96 kit, and as I write this, I'm in the early planning stages of my build. I figured I might as well document the whole thing here on this forum, so here goes!