I am Bill Moran, and I am just getting back into modelling after about a five year hiatus due to a job that left no time for a life. Prior to that, I had gotten back into modelling in 2001 after having stopped years early when I went into the military. I mostly did WWII 1/35 armor with regular breaks to do some 1/32 & 1/48 WWII aircraft. I was always hesitant to try my hand at rigging, so never did any biplanes. When I decided to get back into the hobby this time, I looked for something a little different, and the WNW kits caught my eye. These kits are wonderful.
My problem now is that I'm trying to super detail engines and do rigging while getting adjusted to my close-up eyesight going out on me. I've got a relatively cheap clone of an Optivisor plus an LED lamp with magnifying glass in it, but I'm still struggling to find the right distance from my eyes to hold things to see most clearly. I'm also having problems due to my hands shaking most of the time from an old neck injury, and on top of all the things aging throws at me, I also have to use a lot of CA glue. I absolutely hate CA. It never sticks in a timely manner when I have part in the right place, but it sticks immediately to my skin, tweezers, etc., or when the part is just a little off, plus the vapors give me a cough.
Even with all these problems, I'm now officially hooked on WWI aircraft. I have been using the first couple of models I've been working on as test beds for things such as detailing the engines and cockpits. I add spark plugs, wiring, and some extra plumbing to the Pfalz' engine, but I'm going to go ahead and hide the work behind cowlings. Soon, however, I think I'll be ready to display some models with cowlings off. The tutorials and forum on this site have helped me tremendously. I'm going to try to do the lozenge decals on this model from the kit material bolt-style decals, i.e., not cookie cutter. If anyone has any tips, please send them my way. Also, if anyone has any tips on how to get a good paint job with two long hair cats in the household, send them along too.
I've enjoyed reading through the forum postings, and look forward to communicating with you all over time. I will try to get setup to take some pictures of my work to post here for critiques, but right now my work area is a disaster area.
Thanks,
Bill Moran