Why did you come back ?

What a great story to share Pixilater. I applaud your recovery. Hopefully you will be an inspiration for others. What is it you like to model? What have you finished recently? Best of luck and please share your story with others.

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

I was into modelling as a kid, mostly 1:72 aircraft, but left in in my late teen years when I started working steadily and bouncing around the Arctic. My kids got me back into the hobby, they started building kits and later on RC aircraft. I picked up a couple of kits again only a few years ago and after about 25 years out of the hobby. My tastes changed a bit though ... I've always had a yen for models of smaller working ships which don't come in kits, so I taught (am teaching) myself to scratch build. Mostly from reading magazines on the subjects, trial and error, and lots of advice from other builders (this forum is great for that; I'm always on the learning curve.) Now I build whatever ships and some other subjects that for some reason or other attract me to them.

I still travel a lot on business but when home the hobby is most relaxing. I can leave work and other cares behind and concentrate for a few hours on the build, research, or whatever.

Best of luck to you Pix, slay the dragon one day at a time.
Regards,
Bruce

Thanks, tigerman & B. LeCren. I'd rather be soaking up knowledge & experience any day.
Bruce - you bit off quite the chunk of modelling ! I guess that ships of steel require nerves of steel !
tigerman - here's my latest build. I do only WW II aircraft in 1/48. I also do digital in-flight pics.
Good luck & welcome back, everyonehttp://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6895

QUOTE: I quit drinking ten years ago

Bravo Pixilator ... you're an inspiration to me ... I have 3 years under my belt (or is it not under my belt) without a drop.

I too had left the hobby for about five years. I just got tired of all the club squabbles and lost all desire to build. A non-modeller friend of mine kick started me back into the hobby by asking tons and tons of questions about it. And then this place here helped to hold that interest and really got me building again.

My story? Sure ... but first -

Pix, you're my new hero. It takes a boatload of willpower, guts and determination to do what you did. My hats off to you, my man!!!

I, too quit modeling when I was 16 and 1:1 cars, girls (etc.) took priority. About 1990 or so, I picked up a mag by the dreaded Kalmbach publishing company (can't remember if it was FSM or Scale Auto) and was amazed at the quality of the builds and the detail, and all the resin and photo-etch parts available. Sooo ... now I have more kits than I can ever build in a lifetime, a pile of detail stuff, more airbrushes than allowed by law, and a very understanding wife (built her from a kit).

Hey Hoser, wouldn't it be nice if we could airbrush our wives to look like those covergirls on magazines?

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

Tiger,

I don't think I have that much paint. But I love her to pieces, tho.

I stopped building after my Dad had passed away. He .bought me my first kit, showed me the ropes, and we shared a lot of enjoyment building together. Just didn't seem right to go on without him around. My wife got me refocused on building right after we got married. Bought me an Accurate Miniatures P-51C and the rest is history.

For me it's just a simple case of not having enough money in my college days to support the hobby.

I stopped for more than 10 years.

Pixilater,
I commend you on having the guts to share your story with us here. I'm sure it wasn't easy. May you thirst
only for models!

I can't tell you how I came back to modeling, because I'm fortunate enough to have never left. Some months are more productive than others; sometimes work will keep me from the plastic for two to three weeks at a time, but
it's always there waiting when I return. I find that very reassuring.

Key,

My father was a carpenter; I'm lucky if I can hit a nail twice in a row. I do a bit better with wrenches, welders (Pop taught me)., trying to get my own business going building Street Rods and such. Wish it was as easy as plastic ....

Pix, you are an inspiration!
Lot of amazing and emotional stories out there.

I never really left the hobby, but I would have to say I became much more serious about it after I came to Japan. Back in the States, I wasn't in a club, there were no contests or shows, no decent hobby shops in my hometown, none of my friends really modeled, and I didn't have Internet access. I did have my subscription to FSM, though, which kept me motivated and informed of the latest techiniques, products, etc.

Then I came to Japan, joined the local modeling club, entered shows, had easy access to a myriad of amazing hobby shops, finally got Internet access, PLUS I still have my subscrtiption to FSM, so my involvement in the hobby increased a million fold!

But I would have to say it was joining the club, seeing those guy's great works and being encouraged by them to do better that really inspired me to become more "serious" about modeling.

Still a long way to go, but man, I'm having fun!

Anybody else out there who "got back into it" after joining a club?

Pixilater, I went into the aircraft forum and discovered some of your various works and must say I'm impressed. Keep up the great work and good luck in all you do.

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

Thanks, tigerman. Have a drink on shermanfreak & me. If thats alright with you, shermanfreak. Congrats on your rejection of "Good Old John Barleycorn !"

I did alot of model building in my teen years but as I got older I found that partying was more fun so I continued on that line. But as I grew up partying was'nt as much fun and responsibility creeped in. Having a family I needed something to do from home and then remembered how fun modeling was so I came back and it seems to be more rewarding then I remember.

QUOTE: Originally posted by J-Hulk Anybody else out there who "got back into it" after joining a club?

I guess you could say that. I remember building models when I was very young but I never really 'got into it' and I didn't do any modelling through my teens. Once I left home, being the solitary-type of person that I am, I decided to give it a try again. Although I seemed to purchase models rather regularly, I never seemed to get much building done. Having a job where I traveled, a LOT, didn't help either. After getting married and a couple of kids I decided to break out some of the kits and really get serious. Having an extended leave from work allowed me to start attending the local club meetings, and the rest as they say.......is history.

I strongly encourage everyone out there who has not had the opportunity to get involved in a local club to give it a try. It will definitely keep you excited and active in the hobby even if you can't always be actually building.

Ray

Excellent stories by all....I left modeling before my teens as I just kind of lost interest in it....right before someone had bought me a B-17 kit and I looked at all the pieces and just thought "Why?"...so I never ended up building that one....

In college, I ended up in a band that took up a lot of time....started getting into WWII right after the D-Day 50th anniversary and then before you know it, I got an interest in those awesome planes. Started toodling around...but really gained momentum after my grandfather died and I found out only by reading his obituary that he had served with the Marines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa....decided then that I was going to learn as much as I could about the war before all those great men were gone...and I haven't looked back since. Now I am building models for them and loving modeling more than I ever have!

What a come back Pix!!! Bravo!!!
I to am back into modeling after 30 odd years off. Raising a family of 4 kids,divorce after I became disabled...blah,blah,blah. I've had 5 major surgerys since 1995. My last work was in 1993. I was an Executive Chef and all fine scale dinning resturants,clubs and hotels. I went through sitting and pouting and wondering"what the hell amI going to do now?" Well in 2001,after my second neck fusion,the aid that was helping me at my house took me the doctors the get a check up. Mind you this is only 2 weeks after surgery. This aid was driving not to nice for someone that just had any kind of surgery. I asked her to please be a little more careful on the way home. Well,she sat their POed all the way home,then when we got to the enterence to my complex,she turned into the driveway at 20mph and went over the speed bump with otu stopping. My head hit the roof of the car and come to find out she broke my neck again.
I need to do something with my brain(yeah right) and my hands. In my profession I had to be perfect or just as close to it as possible every minute. My body will not let me be that way 99% of the time. With the help of my girlfriend,she had the airbrush,and since I still can't drive,she erged me to do something that I could use my head and hands. Modeling was and is the ticket. I have build 2 computers,nice but when your done it is way to costly to just start building another one.
I'm have a great time either building or researching the next aircraft to build. Also,with all of my new friends here at FSM,well I keep busy and a little more happier doing what I loved so much as a kid.
Thanks to everyone at FSM and all the hobby stores in my aera that have helped me get back into something that I can try and be perfect at once again. Itis in my blood to do the very best at whatever I try.
Hope this is not to much crap,but it is all true and I left out a lot of other medical crap-o-la.

I took some time off from modeling when I got into college, mainly because my band, girlfriends, and drugs became more of a misguided priority in my life. After I joined the service, I cleaned up my act. My wife was gone a good deal of the time, and a friend got me interested again in Warhammer, which I had played when I was younger. After putting together countless tanks, guns, and troops, I offhandedly decided to try out the real stuff again, and was hooked. I still play alot of Warhammer, but spend more time on aircraft than anything.

demono69

Reading these posts, I realize I am truly in the company of extraordinary people. Thanks so much for sharing your stories. There is some genuine inspiration here that makes the frustration of an ill-fitting kit seem trivial. I applaud your honesty and courage. I think, in some small way, that we NEED to build kits. Turning a box of rattling plastic pieces into a thing of beauty is an accomplishment seldom realized in the "real" world. Thanks again for sharing !

Pixilater, congrats on your 10 yrs! I stopped modeling around the time I started driving and thought cars and girls were a great substitute. I had some clunkers so I got pretty handy with a wrench and then cars became my hobby. I did some racing(expensive) found a great woman who I am married to for the last 31 yrs and when the kids came the cars went. I went back to modeling till the days I wouldnt be left alone when they were toddlers. I started to learn a few musical instruments on my own and both my sons became musical also. I went back to modeling for a bit and they picked it up too . Then the days of driving all over for soccer and ice hockey started and the models went away again.
Now, both boys are married, I am a grandfather and peace has come over the land. The models and Tommy are both happy to be reunited.
Again Pixilater and Sherm congrats to both of you!

I got out of modeling in 1978, when I was about 16. It was a gradual thing. My interest in modeling began wavering when I got my first drum set and began whamming away to Led Zeppelin, Foghat, Black Sabbath and so forth. (I'm sure my parents wished I'd get back to modeling if only for some peace and quiet!) Then in 1978, I discovered a new hobby: collecting old telephone pole insulators. My model kits were immediately banished to the closet and my workbench became an insulator display. In 1979, my parents and I moved to Hawaii; beforehand, we had a yard sale and I sold all my model kits and didn't look back.

About 1995, years after I'd moved back to California, I saw a kit of a radio-control fishing boat at a yard sale and thought my friend in Hawaii might like to build it, so I bought it. After I got it home, I had an idea: On the days that my work would be rained out, I could build the model just for something to do. So I bought a few basic modeling tools and a couple of bottles of paint, set them aside and didn't touch them until the first rainy day of the winter. That first day, I said, "Gad, I've forgotten how much fun this is!"

To make a long story short, my modeling gradually shifted from something to do on a rainy day (not many of those in Los Angeles) to a full-time hobby by about 1998. The fishing boat went from something I would build out of the box to having numerous scratchbuilt parts made for it; some of them because of poor fit. (The boat, built as a static model still sits on display.) And I got a nice little backlog of kits; not the hundreds or thousands that many people have, but about a dozen. Now that I'm out of work, I found that working frequently on models helps keep me out of trouble. Today, I'm in Phoenix, house sitting for my parents and I even brought my current project so I can work on it here in Arizona. (The model hasn't melted yet!) I even bought some aftermarket parts at a model car show that was being held today just west of Phoenix.

Hey Pix:
Nerves of steel huh? What if the models are plastic and wood? Hee hee!
I forgot to mention that I have been enjoying your in-flight pictures as well ... When I get the corvette finished do you think you could put it in the ocean?
regards,
Bruce

Not a problem, Bruce. Do you have a particular ocean picture you would like to use ? (I live 100 mi. inland & I don't drive). If you have an ocean pic, just light your model from the same direction from which the sunlight comes. I've never done a bow wake before, but I have a couple of ideas that may work. You can send them to me at bi55ll@comcast.net
Talk to you later.

Congrats to Pix and Sherm on the sobriety.
Drinking cost me 2 jobs in the last 2 years so I also needed a hobby other than beer and came back to modeling after many years. I had a counselor for my alcohol will power problem but he told me it was it a BOTHER to drive 20 miles to see me. That was my last session. I still drink but it's getting less and less.

claymore - anyone that calls himself a councellor and behaves that way is a disgrace. It sounds like he was more concerned with his own problems, and unwilling to help others with theirs. Its tough, I know. At the end of my drinking, I had 3 jobs. I was manager of a package store (beer & wine), I was doing sound for a band, and I was the house soundman at a local nightclub. I lost all three jobs within 2 months. I checked myself into an inpatient program for 2 weeks. When I got out, the landlord told me that I no longer lived there. That's when I knew it was time to quit. When you find that its the thing that you most want to do, the psychological bond with the booze is broken. Its then a matter of physical attachment.
All I can say is, when the time is right, you will know. I applaud your determination to do it by yourself. (If I had the same experience that you did, I'd probably do the same). Hang in there, buddy. After a while, you realize that you're not missing anything by not drinking.
GOOD LUCK ! ! !

I believe that God will not tempt us with anything we can't resist and I walked away from weed and coke cold turkey. the differance is that the drugs were a part of my life for a few years, while I've been drinking for 21 (I'm 35). I may yet need AA and it's a comfort to know it's there. As I drink less my thoughts seem to turn more to religion, I probly should go back to church, it's only been 10 years.

claymore - do what you feel is right for you to do. I believe that everyone has the ability to overcome their own difficulties, and sometimes it requires being brutally honest with oneself. Your bravery in controlling your impulses has not gone unnoticed by me, my friend. Take care & do what you can, one obsticle at a time. Spirituality has been important for me also. I try to follow a Taoist belief (that's the one that was used in the old Kung Fu T.V. show), and it has helped me immensely. Good luck again !

QUOTE: Originally posted by claymore68 I believe that God will not tempt us with anything we can't resist and I walked away from weed and coke cold turkey.

Very true, but he also does not expect us to to do it all by ourselves. He is constantly watching and waiting to help us out - all we need to do is ask.

QUOTE: As I drink less my thoughts seem to turn more to religion, I probly should go back to church, it's only been 10 years.

Being part of a good church family is almost like therapy. There is nothing better than being part of a group of people that truly care about you, accept you for who you are, and are willing to help you out.

I have got to say, as well, that you guys are an inspiration. Your courage, will power, and determination are an example to us all. Fortunately, I have never been down that road but I do recognize certain 'addictive personality traits' within myself and I know that without God, a great wife (who was headed that way), and a wonderful family, that could very well be me as well. As the saying goes, "There but for the grace of God, go I".

Congratulations on your progress so far and may God grant you the strength to keep on keeping on.

Ray