I originally got into plastic modeling with my older brother when I was about 8 years old (he was 15). I started out with a wide variety of models: cars, planes, and ships, but quickly developed a fascination with military history. My favorite topic soon became World War II military ships. My hobby kind of disappeared as I grew into a teenager, but I reconnected with this hobby back around the year 2000 briefly, when I picked up Revell's old kits for the USS Missouri and Arizona.
As I was starting up my own business, this once again got put on the back burner until around 2018 when my wife, an elementary art teacher, decided to get back into her art projects - mainly pottery and painting - and we dedicated a new room in our house as the "art room". This was all I needed to get back into the hobby seriously. What really accelerated my recoonect with this hobby was when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Suddenly I had to become anti-social and spend a lot more time home, so I got back into the hobby with zeal.
Over the last two years, I've completed several ship models and have been "fine tuning" my skills with each one. I've really settled on the 1/350 scale warships and I am amassing a big fleet of them. One of my "projects" I am working on now is to complete models of all the aircraft carriers present at the Battle of Midway - I have purchased or tracked down all the kits I need *except* for a 1/350 Soryu. I'm looking into the idea of "converting" the Hiryu kit, and might attempt to make this a project I will post on the FSM forum.
Another of my "multi-ship" 1/350 scale projects are what I am dubbing my "deadly rivals" series of ships; I am currently working on the Battle of the Denmark Strait, I have completed the HMS Hood and DKM Bismarck, with the HMS Prince of Wales and DKM Prinz Eugen in the queue.
Completed Models thus far (non-1/350 ships):
- Revell's 1/535 USS Missouri
- Revell's 1/426 USS Arizona
- Arii's Motorized 1/600 IJN Yamato
- Revell's 1/232 USS Olympia
My Completed 1/350 Fleet So Far (11/1/2021):
- Trumpeter USS Lexington
- Trumpeter HMS Hood
- Revell/Monogram DKM Bismarck
- Hobby Boss USS Arizona
- Revell SMS Dresden & Emden (WWI)
- Trumpeter USS The Sullivans
- Trumpeter HMS Queen Elizabeth
Current Project: Trumpeter 1/350 DKM Graf Zeppelin