I am not a numismatist nor a philatelist as is Toshi - at least according to what he's posted in his profile - but I do enjoy reading, hiking, photography and building plastic ship and aircraft models. The latter has become more of a challenge to me with my sometimes shakey hands and fingers and my less than optimal eyesight. That having been said I do hope to improve my skill set (as minimal as it may be) in building models.
I hesitate to start a WIP since my end results are never of the caliber that I see on FineScale but the act of opening up oneself to constructive criticism and helpful ideas along the way to completion of a build is one of which I know I should take advantage. So, my comprimise will be that I'll show some work when I'm not embarrassed to let it be seen but withold much of my build progress until I've reached a point where I feel I can safely complete my project. In the mix will be questions that I'll ask and decisions that I feel I need help in making by drawing on the generous and knowledgable brains of the modelers on this site.
I'm showing the sprues and AM material with which I'm starting as my first post - I have washed, rinsed and let dry the sprues. According to the instructions I should choose which aircraft to build at this point. I'm going to attempt the "A" aircraft - It's the one depicted on the box art. I was thinking about one wing folded and the other extended but I now think I'll just do it with both wings extended. I suppose - again, according to the instructions - I should now find and drill out all the necessary holes in the tail, fuselage, and wings.
I have bookmarked John Ratzenberger's build of the Tamiya kit here:
http://www.ipmsusa.org/reviews/Kits/Aircraft/tamiya_48_swfish2/tamiya_48_swfish2.htm
and noted his admonitions and observations. If any of you have something you feel might be of value to me in my build I'd appreciate your letting me know.
OK, enough of the hedging - Here are the sprues, etc. Don't expect another post from me for several weeks - the weather is improving and that means that I'll be outside practicing some of my other hobbies more often 
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Mike
