Greeting fellow model making enthusiast, my name is Scott Abe, I'm originally from San Francisco, CA now living in Australia. I'm 40 years old and I recently took up my childhood hobby of plastic model making, particularly WWII militaria. I took a great interest to WWII airplanes and bombers because my grandfather was the captain of a B-17 and the lone survivor of his crew after being shot down over Germany in 1942. He spent the next 4 years in a German hospital and was released after the war had ended. To this day I still possess his flight jacket which is tattered and torn almost to shreds but you can still see the artwork on the back of a faded pin up beauty sitting on the clouds in full detail with the caption "Fools Paradise" Captain Robert E. Elin. It's a remarkable piece of history and I'm proud to be the protector of such a family heirloom. Anyhow, as a young boy, I always loved listening to my grandfather's stories about the war, his mates, his experiences and after time I started to develop an appreciation of the war machine in itself. The tanks, the vehicles, the soldiers, the planes...everything. Soon I would be reading history books on particular battles and the progression of WWII. By the time I was 15 years old I was full force into every book, doco, movie, etc etc I could get my hands regarding the war. This is when I started building plastic models. I was keen for many years, I developed a passable skill level but never to a point that I would be happy with, however I really enjoyed doing it. As I grew up and life became more complicated (Woman/School/Beer) I basically out grew my hobby and concentrated on my career in mechanical engineering.
Today, life has settled down a little more, I'm married, have a home, dog, no children and more spare time then I ever had in the past 25 years. This is why I've rekindled an old flame and started making model kits again! Boy o' boy, the hobby has progressed since my early days, it's like starting all over again, but I love it and I'm dedicated to perfection and details.
I look forward to connecting with everyone out there in the forums and I hope to learn from all.