Last night, on my way home from work, my wife asked me to stop off at a store called Once Upon a Child and pick up some things. As the nice young lady behind the counter was explaining that her order wasn't quite ready, I noticed the lights of Hobby Lobby through the window behind her. Somewhere in the middle of her apology I trailed off and all I heard was "10-15 more minutes, I'm so sorry." I assured her it was no trouble at all and that I'd be back shortly... Out the door, across the parking lot, past the checkout lines all the way to the back of the store, and there she was:
On the walk over I remember thinking "I hope they don't have a raptor" because I didn't want to be tempted. It's my fascination with this particular jet that led me to pick up modeling in the first place... I was heartbroken when I first learned that they only made the F-22 as a single seat aircraft and I'd never get to ride in one. The only example on public display is in Ohio so it'll be a while if ever before I can see one up close, so in searching for a way to connect with this plane I looked into model building and viola, here I am! I love most modern fighters, F-14, 15s, 16s, 18s, A-10s, and maybe even the new F-35 if they can ever get it doing what they hope it will (but that's a whole other convo). But nothing, and I mean nothing takes my breath away and gives me the chills in a good way like the F-22. It's deadly beauty reminds me of a gorgeous woman... sexy curves (yes there are curves on an f-22!) give it a figure that drives me wild. She's "smart" with her advanced electronics and sensor fusion. Like the hottest woman ever, that I know I'll never really get close to but I like to fantasize about what it would be like to be with her anyways. I think about the lucky man who has that privilege... oh how high maintenance she must be haha.
I mentioned in my OP that I'd ordered that very kit pictured as my first model. Thankfully minutes after a placed my order I stumbled on this forum and Patrick advised that I start with 1:48 and skill level 2. As you can see this is 1:72 and skill 3 so I promptly canceled the order and went out and got an A-10 as my first kit, with the intention of revisiting the f-22 once I got some experience under my belt. So as I'm standing there last night staring at the object of my desire my wife texts and asks how it went at the store she'd sent me to. I explained they weren't ready with her order so I was killing time at Hobby Lobby. Her immediate reaction was "Oh no, what are you buying now?" I replied with "nothing" and a smiley face. As much as I wanted that F-22 kit I know I'm not ready. The A-10 I'm building is a complete disaster. I don't have the tools or the experience yet, so I'm going to save that f-22 until I've built all the other modern fighters in 1:48 first. Hopefully by then I'll have the necessary skills, know-how and equipment to really do that right. Plus, what's the rush? I'm just getting started and I have years of this ahead of me, why not save this and have something to look forward to... to aspire to. I like the thought of having all my favorite jets still left to build. If I feverishly buy up everything right away I'll have exhausted all the models I'm most excited about building right away and then what? Sure there's countless other stuff to build but you see my point. Im so happy to have found this hobby and I want to savor the excitement. I'll get to that F-22 kit someday, but for now she's out of my league and I'm ok with that.