Oh Don !
You knew I would have to reply to this , Didn't You ?
Don , my interest in civilian planes goes all the way back to the forties ! I learned to love to fly at an early age .
Our Crop - Dusting Postman took me up more than once .Never knowing what he started . There was a fellow about our age manufacturing 1/24 models on paper of the more common high wing aircraft we all knew and came to love .
Sadly , he does so no longer .I have two left . A Taylorcraft and a Piper . Both Gorgeous . My interest in Tankers , Freighters and Early to late Liners and Excursion ships goes back to both , my childhood and my time in the U.S. Navy as well as many years in the Merchant service on these types .
Also in competition ( which I still do occassionally ) If you've lived and worked on a ship and the time has been good . Well , you build a model to remember those times and celebrate the very existance of that craft , and it's place in your life . But , rarely , even with an info sheet , does a judge Really know what he or she is looking at when it comes to a Victory or Extended T-2 left over from the War .
Even the Canadiana .( A small excursion ship that went from Buffalo , N.Y. to Crystal Beach , Ontario every summer , for instance ) is unknown to most . Truth is , the ship in " The Crossing " ( the Taiping ) was originally built for that kind of service here in the States !
They're so many . I still have my " Comet " 1948 Chrysler " Town and Country convertible kit . In it's original box . All original wooden blocks , wheels and the instructions and Decals to put on after you painted it ! I enjoy pulling it out and looking at it because I got it when Dad got the real one ! Those were good times indeed ! Tanker - Builder