Blame Duncan Grinnell-Milne...
SHORT VERSION: back into modeling after a few decades away, currently reading pilot memoirs obsessively and planning some 1/32 WWI builds.
LONG VERSION:I wouldn't expect anyone to read the long, rambling version, but if and when I post something odd or (hopefully) interesting, it's here for reference. In other words if and when you wonder what planet I'm from here's the map:
When I was a kid I was, like a lot of young modelers, obsessed with World War 2 aircraft. I picked up a copy of Wind in the Wires by Duncan Grinnell-Milne. This was followed quickly by more reading (notably, Ernst Udet's book) and a string of Revell 1/72 biplanes (no rigging), and a failed attempt at Rickenbacker's Spad XIII from the Revell 1/28 kit.
Flash forward a few decades...
I was teaching Art and Design at the time. In Bangkok, Thailand.
If you were in my class, you could pitch any sort of project you were interested in, and if you persuaded me it belongs in Art and Design, you'd get a green light, and that would be your classwork. Some students built radio control drift cars, others build Gundam (mobile suits, not giant robots I'm told). I also had young filmmakers, one of whom was obsessed with WWII.
In helping the students develop their skills, the itch to build miniature stuff started to need scratching again. And World War II crept into my reading list, especially the Battle of the Atlantic, the air and naval war in the Pacific, and CBI (I live in Thailand).
So a few months later I've got a stash of all 1/72 kits, including some intended for radio control (a Flower-class corvette and a Gato sub). At this point I was utterly dogmatic about sticking to 1/72 scale, as I hope to one day build a radio control destroyer (HMS Walker, Hesperus or Bulldog). However, I couldn't help notice the spectacular kits Wingnut Wings was making.
Then, I followed Amazon's recommendations down the rabbit hole...
and bought an old used copy of Wind in the Wires. A few hours after it arrived I stumbled onto this site and commenced lurking.
Now, a few months after Grinnell-Milne shooting me down a second time, I've got a spreadsheet of aces, their aircraft, and whether figures are available. 54mm figures.
So yeah, over the next few years I expect to bring more obsolete aircraft to Thailand than the RTAF...