Fleet Air Arm Group Build

It takes all sorts I guess..................

I say, anyone seen a Corsair around here? 

TANGO 1 wrote:

Mike, you poor sod...........you should listen to your son, he sounds like a very clever chap indeed!

Woo Hoo, another Super Reds supporter. I love this forum LOL.

...Guy

Hello Lads,

this thread is real busy this weekend! Jason, Mike and John, thanks for sharing with us. 

John, best of luck with the house hunting and please pass on our best wishes to your nephew.

Frank, wow! Stellar paintjob fella!! 

No bench for me today, spending the day with my son Tom. We've just built a 1/20 medieval castle in the living room and having good fun with his knights and archers. We'll be out later taking the hound for a nice long walk in the countryside. Hope you all enjoy your weekend, I'll check in later on tonight.

Congrats on the 11,000 posts Frank.

Who am I?  My name is John I will be 40 in 2 months arghhh.  I have been married for 16+ years to Linda. We have the same birthday so I can never forget it.  We have 2 kids, my daughter is a freshman in high school who made the varsity swim team.  My son is 10 he is a techno geek.  He is in his last year of Cub Scouts and will be moving on to Boy Scouts next year.  I am the Asst. Cubmaster.

I have been working for the US Postal Service for 14 years as a mail carrier.  Was orginally born in England moved to Connecticut when I was 4 months old.  My father actually had the job before I was born but decided to stay until after.  My brother is 3 years younger then me and he was born here.

My family history is a bit strange.  My father is 100% English  my mother was 100% Syrian born and raised in the Sudan.  My parents met while my father was in the RAF stationed in the Sudan, my mother was a civilian interpreter for the RAF.  They were married for 47 years until my mothers death in 2001.

I have been modeling on and off since I was 8 years old.  Planes are my thing with maybe an occasional car in for good measure.

Daywalker wrote:

Oh boy... Now I've done it!  Ordered myself a Trumpeter 1/32 ME-262 to build here, if only I could find my workbench under the keyboard! LOL...

Frank-This explains 1000 post in a short amount of time!!!! Please disconnect your keyboard and place it on the floor. Look ....theres your Workbench....lol.

Bondo-I hope no one asked for a 16 inch shell to be fired. I guess thats the quick way to get the rum a'shore!!

WoooSMURFINhoooooooo....100 post!!!

Kannichiwa & Arigato-Jason

Yours is a beautiful family, Jason. I wish you the best... now roll the sarge of'n the taps o' that keg, grab a mug and be our guest in the wardroom. I'm making a batch of the finest- for the finest! And thank you for your service.

I keep the rum under lock and key!

Frank-Grats on 11000 post!!! It has taken me forever to almost reach 100 post. The Meatball is looking sweet.

It has been so much fun reading everyones Bio's. They differences in everyones life and so many commonalities. After reading the Bio's, I believe I need to amend mine.

I am 36 yrs old and was born and raised in East Texas. I am part city boy (Houston native) and part country. I was educated in the city but my best times where in the country. My cousins are pulp wooders/ timbers guys and as a kid I got to into the woods play around Skidders, chainsaws, & log trucks. It is a blast to ride a field pine to the ground...TIMBER!! I have helped build 5 homes for family, one was built over a 70 ft trailer & the trailer cut away and carried out the front door. During high school I was a shelf stocker, transmission mechanic and finally got bored and joined the Marines. I was able to parts of the US i had never been and flew to differents climes & places world wide. After the Corps I went to college and recieved my A&P licence. I went to work for the college as a lab assistant & was shortly promoted to a Powerplant Instructor. I was a teacher for 2yrs before someone looked at all the C-130 items I had on my desk and said I have a job for you!!! I have been fixing 130's and training Marines since.

I currently have a residence in North Carolina and About 4yrs ago I ran into my wife at the local Country Club(that sounds so much better than we picked each other at the country BAR!!)  I noticed this cute lil lady  watching me as I two stepped around the floor. Sometime during the night she got fed up of me not asking her to dance(I had a full dance card already) so she asked me to dance as I was buying a beer. the night went perfectly dancing, drinking and conversation. I asked her if she had a bf, was seeing anyone, or was at the club with anyone.....I was told no. Then she asked me my age and I told her to guess..she said 27-28...I said close enough. Well later after we started dating the truth came out on these two lines of questions. I was really 32 and she was seperated and getting a divorce, if ethier of these facts been known on that first night we would not have started dating. I proposed to here on here 21st birthday on the dance floor of the country club. My Job took us to San Diego, so we decided to get married in Las Vegas. Vegas was a blast !!!  My 2yr old son was born shortly after we returned to North Carolina.

I Left the wife stateside half-way through the pregnacy to go around the world to Okinawa Japan. After the boy could travel they where brought here to Okinawa.

As Far as models go ....My dad helped me with my first ones and then I started recieving 2 models a month through the mail as part of a birthday present. Most of these turned into Fire cracker & bottle rocket carriers. After I became a Jr in High school girls, cars & work took over all my time. I just recently picked the hobby back up. I thank you gentleman on these forums for putting out the information to build better models. I have learned alot about building and friendship on this forum.

Kannichiwa & Aigato-Jason

Keep these stories coming everyone!  Excellent stuff, and so much fun to learn about people.  Allright, who's next?

bondoman wrote:

Sher' me the scurvie lot'n i'll treat em ta the cat! Load the grape, point the carronades down th' gangway n' XO sir- permissun ta breach th' Rum stores. Been a good week'n here's ta the crew!

BY ALL MEANS CAPTAIN!!!  I think you are absolutely correct, it's the weekend and time to get this ship heading in the right direction!  Rum, please.   AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Mike- More pics, eh?  Sorry, none of the Corsair as I have not touched it in a while.  Have been busy working on a Zero though, here's where she is at...

Bondo, I really enjoyed reading your story on how the two of you met, and yours as well, Dave. I never ceases to amaze me how the powers that be work. Some very romantic stuff and I appreciate you guys sharing that.

...and, since you all asked so nicely here's mine on how two people 3000 miles apart made it work. We met of all places on a feedback discussion board on ebay in early 2004. We began emailing back and forth, later including pics before moving on to IM'ing, the phone calls (I found out how expensive it was to call Canada without a decent phone plan - my next bill was about $1200! - signed up for a much better plan and they pro-rated my account - talk about lucky!). We both knew a meeting was inevitable, and it happed over the Christmas holiday of '04, when I flew to BC for 9 days and my best holiday ever. Three months later she flew out to NY for a 3-week stay (Mar. '05) and that was when I proposed. I flew back to BC for a July wedding, and with my dad as my best man, tied the knot. We immediately then set about getting me to BC on a permanent basis, so we hired immigration attornies - we were going to do this once and do it right. It is quite the procedure, with tons of paperwork and questions. We had to provide all sorts of documentation to validate (prove) our relationship (emails, phone records, etc.), I had to undergo a thorough physical, get fingerprinted, submit them to the FBI and send in all documentation I recieved in return to the lawyers saying I had done so. There's more, but this post is already long enough!! I arrived in Canada as the papers were being finalized (Nov. '06), but still needed to have them signed by a border official to make it final. We did that by taking a day trip to Hyder, Alaska and crossing back into BC a few hours later, and here I've been ever since. 

TANGO 1 wrote:

Y'know, I often get it the neck from rivet counters  for running a group build that is home to "rum drinking and lunacy"

Mike, you poor sod...........you should listen to your son, he sounds like a very clever chap indeed!

Bondo, Guy, Sean and Dave-

Great bio's lads! Its great to get to know you a little better. Thanks for sharing with us.

Y'know, I often get it the neck from rivet counters  for running a group build that is home to "rum drinking and lunacy"

I tell you what though, they still read the posts and are never bored! Any of you chaps fancy a tot of rum?

This GB is so great because of the people here, thanks again for making this a wonderful place to hang out, laugh and build the occasional model.

Well Jason really started something here, it all makes for some very splendid reading.

Someone around here somewhere recently mentioned Il2 which is a very natty PC game, I went and got it thinking I'd have some fun but I've just spent all evening trying to take off and then crashing horribly, quite a steep learning curve me thinks!!

Anyway I'm Mike, 42 years old with a 10 year old son called Oliver, sadly I'm no longer with his Mum but I still see him all the time which I'm very glad about. I do have a partner called Dian, we met over Tequila slammers (ooohhh my head) at a friends party and we moved into our own house here about 2 years ago. All these house jobs keep me from modeling as much as I'd like to . I've been working for the same company for almost 20 years now, I'm a lab manager for a well known (in the UK) opticians, sometimes it drives me mad but in the current climate I'm lucky to have such job security.

Lots of interests including history, music, film and various sports. I've been finding out a little local history in the last year as I live only a couple of miles from the old RAF Hooton Park which was the home of No. 610 (County of Chester) Squadron, some of the buildings survive but its now closed to the public for safety reasons whilst most of the site is now a car plant. I dont read as much as I used to infact I have dozens of half finished books, even the ones I'm enjoying . I support Manchester United and Oliver supports Liverpool which is one of those BIG sporting rivalries.

Hey Frank and well done on the 11,000, I do think we've all been very patient and it is about time you rustled up a few more pics for us to admire.

Cheers everyone... 

Sean, thanks for sharing that.  Seems you mentioned collecting models a few times and buildig only once.  I guess that would explain the tomb then eh? 

Bill, I got a late start and by the time I graduated I was already married with children, couldn't buy into the work for 80 hours and get paid for 40 hours mentality with a family at home and my wife playing in the orchestra in the evenings.  Bounced around firms for awhile and never did become registered.  I now work for a nursery doing design builds and am much happier (though I am currently laid off for the season due to the broken hand )

As for meeting my wife there is a bit of a story to that, we knew each other casually through our church though she definitely walked in different circles than I did.  Classical muscian vs. Country Hick.  Turns out though that some loser was trying to ask her out to her University Grad and she  lied and told him she already had a date.  Now she had to find one.  I guess she had decided to ask me and asked for a ride home from some function that we both happened to be at but she was too chicken so she decided to call after I dropped her off and leave a message on my machine for me at my home.  See, in her mind, if I called her then it wasn't really her asking me out because I was the one that called.   Long story short she took too long to work up her courage and I walked in the door just as the phone rang.  She was so caught off guard and tongue tied that I just couldn't have said no even if I had wanted to (but I didn't ).  The rest is history.

Summit wrote:

My goodness, look at that 'stashe?  You look just like an old photo I saw somewhere...

Alrighty, Great and interesting bio's.. Bonndo Terrific story on how you met your Wife.. Classic Romance material

Myself I am 45, been married to the same lady (met her at a 7-11 store )for 19 years. We have two children - My Daughter whom is 18 and a senior in HS and a son who is 14 thats Played Varsity Baseball last season and lettered and is currently in the Boy Scouts. (plus I am also a Scoutmaster) Both really good kids.

Bondo it looks like my Daugter will be going to college at East Bay.. You might have to take over the job of chasing off the punks.. I will give you models

I have had two lines of work - Ranching and Heavy Equpment Mechanic. [Oh yeah I was also once worked as a Gunfighter for tourist entertainment]  When I was working as a mechanic the 12 hr days and travel time would make me a grumpy guy. So I would usually take a break in the Fall through late Spring and apply my skills as a buckaroo and clear my head ...  Had less taxes to pay that way also..

Models were scarce to the simple life I grew up to. But after In my twenties I would buy kits "to build for that day when I had time"  In mid twenties  built "Pro Stock" racecar models till the after market goods burned me out by making me to detailed oriented.. As I felt that expected of a build.. I blame Scale Modeler for pushing that... I quit modeling for several years but still picked up kits mostly aircraft and few armor. Since I was a young lad I had always wanted a ceiling decorated with aircraft..

I retired at 40 mainly due to several inuries that made it impossible to stand  12 + hrs a day.

My wife decided to go back to school and finish her Teaching degree at that time. (I think I made her crazy being home )

Always been a loner but have made more real good friends from this forum then through life.

 A Very Young Buckaroo - my Moustache back then was from Hot Coco !

When I was working (that was the baby shovel - should of seen the 5500)

And more recent times goofing off at the Ranch

I enjoy spending time with my Wife and kids, building models, collecting models, Light scale Mountaineering (Body does not cooperate much anymore) collecting models, Mtn Biking with the family, collecting models, chatting with my Forum friends and overlooking the River in my backyard and sometimes collecting a few more model kits.

 That is the Readers Digest condensed version.

 'm with Bondo RR spill the beans!  Can't be worse than playing hookie in China! Wagging tongues?  Well whatever trips yer trigger I guess? Dern er eyes CPT!

 Dee remembers me all the way bck from our sophomore English class! I was giving a speech on demonstrating the art of Model building ( tis true)  I never really liked forced assignments of the teacher so I went out with a bang and set off a shape charge I had rigged up inside the Ol Revell Missouri kit.  Made an impression on her I guess. Along with a big hole in the teachers desk!  Be branded a terrorist today probably and thrown in jail!

 Sign of the times!

I have it on good report that Sean is struggling with his bio.  But will come thru. Just a bit shy so he needs further encouragenment.

 Guy  I'm still analyzing yours.... 

ruddratt wrote:

Congrats Frank on the 11,000!!!   Aaron,  sorry for the confusion buddy. No NY gals for this guy. Jean was actually born and raised here in BC (how did we meet? - well, that's for another probably very long post ).

Come on RR, you're dyin' to tell us. I'll tell mine if you'll tell yours. mines kinda interesting. 

When I got out of Architecture school I went to work for SOM, think Boeing if you design airplanes. I was happy there and worked up to a respectable level over five years or so, working on big projects all over the world. The problem in hindsight was that I worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week, ate, drank, slept with and only new a very small group of like minded trolls. I did model armor at that point tho. I 1985 I was selected to be part of a team that was sent to China to explore markets and foster trade relationships in architectural expertise, and that firm is now dominant in Asia. We were there a month and I gave lectures on CAD was was in the way pre-Autodesk days and still was pretty much used through DOS commands on a keyboard, over a phone connection on off hours. But everyone knew it was coming. The trip was fantastic- lecture every morning, HUGE banquet lunch, and every afternoon a so-called factory tour. Now those last drove me nuts. They'd take us out to some hell hole where we watched people make (jade lamp bases, etc.) on ancient machinery in appaling conditions, then send us to the "gift shop" and pick us up 2 hours later. After a couple of these, I was sitting at dinner next to this lady who was a design partner I'd worked with a little but never known- private corner office vs. cubicle sort of dynamic. So we get to talking and she says, hey look I going to fake a cold and go see a mosque in this City tomorrow afternoon, but I'm not crazy about being a solo white woman wandering around a strange city. Care to come along.... boy did I. We started doing that every afternoo. We'd find guys to rent bikes from, tip to get us into places, and really exppanded our trip. I guess tongues were probably wagging, but I didn't notice. When we got back a month later, I went over to see her and never left.

It's funny because my immediate fear was that we'd get in trouble with the powers that be over fratenization etc. and I did end up leaving the company a couple of years later for other reasons. But at the time all manner of coworkers came to us and confided how they respected us, they lamented giving up their lives for a job, and supported us. Seems to have worked out. I always give one piece of advice to people who ask, which is meet someone through your interests, and you'll always have something to talk about.

Guy, didn't know what Shorinji Kempo was so I looked it up...  One sentence in particular stood out for me...

"It is a form of Kempo that tries to get its practitioners to move through life doing minimal damage whenever possible."

Sounds like good advice for a man who drives a big bus in the city!!! 

Congrats Frank on the 11,000!!!

Aaron,  sorry for the confusion buddy. No NY gals for this guy. Jean was actually born and raised here in BC (how did we meet? - well, that's for another probably very long post ).

FAA Christmas gift exchange update:

Bill

Darren

John E.

Guy

have recieved their gifts as of this day.  Please try and mail off your packages before the end of the month to make sure it arrives in time for Christmas.  As I told Guy, wait till Christmas Eve or Day to open your gifts.  Also post pictures of what you got on the GB.  If you have any questions or concerns PM me.

Thank you very much fellas!  So glad we are always able to find a reason to celebrate and have rum!   I shall try to type less and paint more, promise I will!  Got this FAA Corsair to finish before my new 1/32 Tamiya Spitfire Mk.IX arrives!

Guy- Thank you very much for that, it means a lot to me.  I have watched your skills improve considerably here in the last couple of years.  I remember a 1/32 G-10 that looked good, but you have seriously pushed the envelope in the past year or so.  Your Reggy builds are over the top good!  I am quite impressed.  Sorry to hear about your brother, I cannot even imagine losing mine, as we are very close indeed.

sfcmac wrote:

You know if Sean doesn't come clean I could always use my imagination!

After ur interpretation of my story, I have GOT to hear this!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm all ears er......... I mean eyes Aaron!!!!!! Spill what the Lord Mustachio fails to tell!!!

Hi all, Im sorry ive not been around lately. Did i miss much?

Frank, congrats on the 11,00 posts. Geez i thought i talked a lot LOL. Joking apart, your one of the guys on here, that i noticed, right from when i 1st joined. You, to me anyhoo, were one of the talents that i hoped someday to emmulate. Your work has definately gotten better, if a little longer to appear Keep gabbing, big boy.

My biog,

My interest in modelling started as soon as i got pocket money, i reckon. Me and my little bro used to walk up to the corner shop and buy something Airfix and cheap that we could build in an afternoon. The 1st kit i remember doing was a 1/72 Fw190. I so wish i still had it. I thought it was ace.

I built right through to about 12-13 and then it was all, Girls, mates, mucking about etc. (Nothings changed) and the models got sidelined. It was at about 13 i started Shorinji Kempo. Continuing this through to my early 20's.After school i became a mechaniac, and have worked on cars, trucks and boats to various degrees. I have a tendancy to get bored quickly and changed jobs like my pants (Once every 2-3 yrs) I flitted between other jobs out of mechanicing. I was a postman for a while and Prison officer too, at HMP Dorchester.

It was in 1999 that my life changed. I was one of 3 brothers. Im still one of 3 but now only one is still physically with me. Since then i find i enjoy my own company alot more. Modelling has helped a lot since then and i can while away many hours in my pit. Much to the Future ex-missus's annoyance LOL. Ive always been a lover of all things millitary and im a prolific reader. I always have some war biog or history on my bedside table. I seem to collect reference books and spend far too much time leafing through them than actually modelling.

Hopefully im moving house soon, so my appearance my be even more irratic. But where theres a will....

...Guy

"Master Chief Summit?"

"Sir, the CAG has ordered me to give you the truth juice...........he said I am to use whatever methods necessary to get you to talk Sir."

Summit wrote:

Daywalker=11,000 Post   Frank that is a Good Reason to celebrate and a good enough distraction for me not to do a bio.

Sean,

get your butt out here and spill the beans............................thats an order!!

Gentlemen,

please be upstanding for our X/O who has yet again hit another mighty forum milestone. Now he can't build a Corsair in a month, or a year , or a decade....................but he can type quicker than a SR-71 on full re-heat!! He one of the nicest chaps you'll ever meet and I am proud to have him here as our X/O.

CONGRATULATIONS FRANK!!

Crew! Charge you glasses! God bless the X/O !!

CHEERS!

Aaron, you are bloody funny!!

Gentlemen, let us salute our mate Richie and his incredible escape and evasion skills.