forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
Modelers Lounge => How's it going? => Topic started by: IvotB on September 20, 2013, 09:22:04 PM
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My modelling work is a little bit low at the moment. Last week I had a vitrectomy as they found the week before a torn retina, which they lasered, but last week some 30 holes in my retina were discovered. Fine, in surgery they could close all holes, removed my normal eye fluid (which had all kinds of rubbish floating in it) and restored the macula (centre of the retina). And all this as a reaction to a cataract operation I had in may this year. The odd's to get this complication are 1 : 1000, so I guess I had a little bit of bad luck. My eye is now filled with gas under a slight pressure to let the retina subside and fixed to the eye again. The gas bubble gives the effect of looking through a glass filled with water and the water is moving around. So much for seeing any depth and that will make modelling difficult for the coming months. In the last days the gas is already diminishing in size, but my sight in that eye is still very foggy and unsharp. But the fact that I can see is a good sign.
I remember 3 years ago, when I had a cataract operation in my other eye, I asked the opthalmologist if I wasn't to young for cataract. Looking around his waiting room my guess was that the average age is above 75 for this type of work, but he reassured ;) me that it occurs on all ages.
Well, for the coming period I am not allowed to fly or drive a car. The first for avoiding a gas explosion ;D and the second probably for insurance and liability issues.
Hopefully in a few months I can see more depth and start detailling again.
regards,
Ivo
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I wish you a speedy recovery. Problems with sight is my biggest fear, I fought my way back from cutting off two fingers and a heart attack, not sure that I could cope with not seeing.
Good luck.
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All the best for a full recovery Ivo, I hope that you regain full use of your eye again and that you will be back modeling soon, and driving, and flying...........
Des.
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Ivo, very sorry to hear about your eye woes! I too wish you a speedy & full recovery and quick return to the bench as well as the activities.
Best,
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All the best for a quick recovery Ivo. I had a retinal detachment in 1988 and have been told that I now have a cataract, which is common following that surgery - I guess it works both ways!
Ian
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Good luck for a speedy recovery Ivo. I'm sure the forum will be thinking about you.
Best wishes
Nigel
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Sorry to hear about your eyes problem.
I hope you get better soon to be able to.. drive to make some flying after some modeling!
Cheers
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Ivo I wish you a speedy recovery. Hopefully all will be well soon.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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Get well soon, Ivo. I'll miss your excellent Dutch projects.
Cheers,
Bud
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Thank you all for your kind reactions. My sight is improving. There is still the annoying (sorry red baron ;) ), but diminishing gas bubble in my eye below, which doesnīt help in reading and so.
But friday evening I did some spray painting and masking. The masking was sometimes a bit of a guess, but was ok and yesterday I put some small decals on a model. Looks fine too.
regards,
Ivo
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A speedy recovery and glad to see youre already tinkering!!
Steve
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Ivo,
I missed this earlier and have also been away from home the past week. Sincere best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery, any update on your situation?
Cheers, and moral support :)
Lance
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Thanks guys,
Lance,
Well, still recovering. But so far so good. Two weeks after surgery I had a checkup and was cleared to drive again when the gas would be gone and then I was also allowed to fly. One day later I missed the smallest bubble so I started driving. So far so good. But my eye sight is still not really sharp and in the centre I donīt see anything at all yet because of the macula pucker (don't know the english word, but macula sounds latin and will be a general term). They removed that and because of that the centre of my retina (the macula) is now disturbed because of it. Predictions are that it might take between 3 months and 2 years for recovery (if it does). In the meantime I am trying to work around this problem with my modelling work.
2 weeks ago I recieved a short run kit (50 pieces) of the railway station Delft in the Netherlands in 1:87 in resin castings and styrene sheet. I couldn't leave it in the box, I had to try it. No parts are glued together yet:
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Ivotb/Station%20Delft/IMG_37631600x1200_zps383dddbb.jpg)
This doesn't give me any problem, but the painting will. The bricks are brick red, bit most details are sandstone. I am not going to mask it, but brushpaint it by hand.
So this is the brightside. And it is getting better every day :)
And I want to start building a WNW Pup or Bristol Fighter. I am also considering a partly scratchbuild Fokker A.1, using parts of the WNW E.II kit, but with a scratchbuild fuselage and wings.
regards,
Ivo
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Great to hear you are making a recovery Ivo, hopefully you will be back to 100% and back nto modeling again. That is a very impressive model of the station, and for it to be fully assembled without glue is even more impressive, I'm looking forward to seeing it painted.
Des.
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It sounds very positive Ivo. Have fun with the Station, looks like a great subject for some weathering, wear, and tear. Also have fun with the Pup or Brisfit, I've done both although the Bristol isn't completed yet. They are both very nice Kits.
All the Best, Cheers,
Lance :)
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Last week I had a checkup with my ophthalmologist. They want to measure everything, although I can't see much. The verdict was that my sight in my left eye is about 20%. No promises were made if it is going to improve or not. He gave me a 50% chance of improvement, within a year or so.
But on the bright side is the fact that I do see depth when using both eyes. And I am quite pleased with my hand painting and masking abilities. The main entrance downstairs is masked, the upper part is hand painted, both sides of the main entrance aren't finished but the basement of the tower and the left wall are masked again. It's quite a lot of work, but I am happy with the result.
The only thing I am noticing that whenever when I try to solder a model, somehow the tip of my soldering iron is missing the solder wire at first. It's a minor problem.
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Ivotb/Station%20Delft/IMG_38091600x1200_zps827e7d55.jpg)
regards,
Ivo
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Ivo, I fervently hope things improve with your eyesight. Your railway station
paint job is masterful. Whatever the problems, you are working through it
well. Keep at it, my friend. :)
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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Sorry to hear of your eye problems Ivo but I'm hoping that over time it will improve, the station is looking great.
Des.
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Actually if it helps Ivo? I'll wade in here as well, I lost the sight of my right eye when I was a young lad - it's still a live organ [thankfully] but I can only see murky light and dark through it - if someone were to walk past a window that kind of thing.
My left eye is terribly tired and failing, I have the spectre of diabetic retinopathy as a concern now too. But, as the last poster mentioned - you learn to accommodate.
It is frustrating that I can't spend as long at the bench as I used too - and I know that my build standards are less than they have been: But philosophically you have no less fun and you do learn to savour.
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Hi Ivo,
I'm so sorry for you that you have these eye-problems. But think of it that you are not the first and not the last one. So many others here on the forum have problems too and look what marvellous things they achieve. And what I see of your station this is the best example. So very much courage Ivo.
Kind regards
Patrick
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Ivo,
Wishing you a full and speedy recovery my old friend. Awesome work on the building.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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Hello Ivo
May I echo the sentiments of so many and wish you well for a recovery. Our thoughts will be with you.
Best wishes
Nigel
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I hope that you have a fast recovery.
No one could tell that you have an eye problema for the perfect job you made in the railway station.
Looks awesome.
Cheers
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Hello Ivo:
Sorry to read about your eye problems, hopefully over time it will improve. The Station is magnificent. What a neat structure and you are doing an outstanding job on it so far. I wish one could get something like in 1/32nd, like hangars or a command post.
It would also be neat if one of those could be made for the Old, long gone, Great Northern Depot in Minneapolis, or the extant one in Duluth.
Take good care and speedy recovery.
Best
Mark
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Thank you guys for all your encouragements and kind words. I'm still painting the railway station and it is steadily growing.
I think that for buildings in 1:32 it shouldn'be a big problem. A lot of my railway modelling friend are very active in making their own designs in autocad using for production CNC milled styrene, laser cut wood and 3D prints. The affordable 3D prints aren't really the quality one requires but the others are quite satisfactory.
The original railway station model was designed in autocad and then most walls are made with several layers of CNC milled styrene. This was used as a model for a mold into which resin casts have been made. It isn't cheap anyway. This kit was shortrun and for this kit I paid 350 euro's. In comparison about 7 WNW kits, before dutch customs and VAT is added.
regards,
Ivo
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Small update ;)
In the middle of november I got a laser treatment for secondary cataract to improve my vision a little bit. But in stead it got slightly darker in the eye in the following weeks. So I went to the hospital again and as always they take my complaints very serious. After an eye scan it was concluded that there is again some fluid in my retina. Now they are going to give me an injection with steroids inside the retina next week. I may be getting strong eye muscles then ;D
This eye surgeon however was a little bit more positive on my recovery then the one that operated my eye last september. Sooo, letīs just wait and see ;)
regards,
Ivo
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Hi Ivo,
I hope that your eyes will recover very fast. I know what it is to have eye-problems. I wish you a great recovery!
Kind regards
Patrick
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I wish you good luck with your procedure and hopefully it will correct the issue you are having with your eye.
Des.
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My best wishes for good results with the eye procedures, Ivo.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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I wish you the best possible success with the procedure and recovery, Ivo.
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Ivo,
Sincere best wishes for a successful Procedure and speedy recovery. You have a lot of really great folks thinking of and cheering for you!
Cheers,
Lance
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Good luck Ivo. You know that your many friends here on the forum will be thinking about you.
Best wishes
Nigel
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Good luck and fast recovery, Ivo. Ich hoffe es geht Dir bald besser! Lots of love from Bonn, Germany
Dirk
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Since the fall of 2013 there isn't much news. That is to say I still have the macula degeneration in my left eye, nicely in the middle. I can't read much with that eye, but I still have 3D vision for which I am very grateful.
I will show what I am capable of soon in my LVA Fokker D.III built, inspired by Bo, but in the meantime something else I have been working on sincs the summer of 2015 (just takes a lot of time)
It started with buying at an auction a half built brass kit of an NS 2100 steam engine, which was on my wish list for a long time. The originals were buillt between 1914 and 1920 and the first batch of 5 were delivered in 1914 built by Schwartzkopf in Berlin. WW1 was of course the cause for late delivery of further batches and some were built in stead by a dutch factory called Werkspoor.
But I recieved it in the following condition:
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Ivotb/NS%202100/IMG_5297%20800x600_zpsrs6g9ifd.jpg)
It was built almost straight with too much solder used and a lot of pipes connecting wrong pumps and valves etc, which meant that in the end I almost totally have taken it apart.
After that I could start to add additional detail. I am especially satisfied with an imitation of the valve gear in between the frame as it has cylinders and valves inside and not outside:
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Ivotb/NS%202100/IMG_6223%20800x600_zpsemlrjxxz.jpg)
Thanks to Des (he won't be aware of this) I could order nuts at RB motion from which I have been able to use a number of them in the valve gear, sand pipe connections and grease pipe connections, which have greatly improved the engine together with feeding the carpet monster.
The engine is now almost finished:
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Ivotb/NS%202100/IMG_6481%20800x600_zpshpjkdeam.jpg)
And an engineer is already leaning out, waiting for exciting things to happen:
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Ivotb/Lokpersoneel/IMG_6687%201024x768_zpsrfpd8thr.jpg)
The engineer needs some paint, but already it shows great similarity with myself as it is a 3D scan made from me for me during the last Ontraxs exhibition in the National Railway Museum in the Netherlands. So finally I can ride my own models :)
The scale of this engine is 1:87
Based on this it is my conclusion that my eye problems luckily don't interfere much with my modelling.
regards,
Ivo
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Sorry to hear you are still suffering with the eye problem but luckily it is not effecting your modeling which shows in the magnificent steam engine you completed, well done and a great touch having 'yourself' in the drivers compartment.
Des.
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The locomotive is an absolute beauty, Ivo. I wish the eye troubles were past you, but you
are obviously making the best of a not so good situation and your modeling is still first rate,
my friend.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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Beautiful re-build Ivo, it's come a long way from it's condition when you got it!
It's great that your modelling hasn't suffered however I sincerely hope you have a full recovery over time. In the interim I'll look forward to more of your work.
Cheers,
Lance
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Ivot, I'm sorry to hear about the continuing eye problems and wish you well.
Not my area of knowledge or expertise but the steam emgine looks beautiful.
Best wishes
Nigel
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Sorry to read about your eye problem - as one who has had to use glasses all of my life I know what good sight is worth. The engine is superb in every way - you have certainly not lost the ability to make an excellent model - especially as you have had to use solder and tiny parts.
If it is any consolation my brother suffers from Parkinson's syndrome and has done so for about 8 years, but he is currently building a model ship (about 1:80 scale) from wood and is making a first class job of it too. Disability need not be a hindrance to good modelling as both you and he demonstrate.
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Excellent work on the loco, Ivo!
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Let me reiterate what LM and others have said here: so sorry about the eye problems, and that locomotive is gorgeous.
Warren