forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
Getting to know one another => Your Introduction => Topic started by: davec on July 07, 2017, 09:00:04 PM
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I have been visiting the site for about a year, and though it was time to introduce myself. I appreciate the help from Richard and Lance regarding my Pfalz magneto question a few weeks ago. I started drafting this right after, then got caught in some work things and vacation; apologies for the delayed acknowledgement.
I returned to plastic models about 2 years ago after 25 years. I had built car models when my kids were small, but worked in a corner of the basement with the cats and laundry, and got pretty frustrated by the lint and cat hair in my paint. I switched to wooden ships, which I have really enjoyed. I’m currently working on a scratch built cross section of the sloop Echo, a British sixth rate from the 1780’s (https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/703-daves-echo-cross-section/). Each of my ships takes 5-6 years. I’ve learned some rudimentary metal work (photo etching, lathe, milling) and mill my own woods to scale dimensions. I use different colored woods (ebony, boxwood, swiss pear, holly) rather than paint- I like the way it looks, and it got around the cat hair and lint problem.
Around 7 years ago, we moved to Virginia, and I got a dedicated room for my workshop. My son graduated from college, moved out, and began building planes about two years ago. I started building plastic along with him. It was something I could share with him, and I liked building something that I could finish in 6 months. I know this is still really slow, but it is light speed compared to the ships. He stopped building when he started sharing an apartment, but I kept going. I started with a Tamiya 1/48 Brewster Buffalo and Accurate Miniatures SBD-3, then discovered the Wingnuts kits. My dad built stick and paper world war 1 airplanes when I was growing up. I built the Sopwith Pup (learning experience, many problems), Fokker EIII, and am working on the Pfalz D.XII now. I’ve enjoyed the quality of the kits, the research, learning new techniques (materials very different than 25 years ago – love the quality of the acrylics as well as the metal paints like Alclad). I also enjoy the rigging, which is part of my attraction for the ships. I particularly like the Wingnuts kits – the incredible detail lets me build mostly out of the box, which is a good break from the completely scratchbuilt ships. I had planned to avoid modification, but have started going a little down that road – I added wiring and valve springs on the Pfalz.
With both kids out of the house, I was able to split our garage and expand my workshop to 3 rooms. Now I can separate the big power tools, little power tools, and painting and assembly into separate rooms to keep the dust down and have enough space to have the two projects laid out at the same time. Insulation is covered, floor and walls painted, lots of lights, dehumidifier installed, and spray booth vented outside – essentially my dream space.
I’ve been amazed at the quality of the work here. It is a little intimidating, but I will post a log of the Pfalz after I get home as I’d appreciate people’s suggestions and advice. I have the engine and cockpit done, and just glued the fuselage halves together before leaving for vacation.
Many thanks!
Dave
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Hello Dave and welcome to the forum, so pleased that you have made yourself known and great to hear you are building WW1 aircraft models, I'm looking forward to seeing photos of your builds and please feel free to ask any question you wish, we have some really talented members here who are all willing to share their knowledge.
Des.
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Welcome, Dave. Sounds like you have a great work set-up - I'm envious!
I haven't been here long, but am already addicted. This i without doubt, the friendliest forum that I am a member of. I look forward to seeing some of your models.
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Hello Dave and welcome to the forum! I am keen on seeing pics of your Pfalz.
Borsos
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Welcome to the Forum Dave. I envy you your "set up" for modelling, it sounds like the perfect "dream space" as you've called it. As for modification or add-ons, even those magnificent Wingnut Wings Kits will beg for "just a few"! Welcome to WWI Aircraft Modelling as well, looking forward to your participation here.
Cheers,
Lance
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Welcome aboard, Dave! Your experience with model ship building should serve you well in building WWI models. I look forward to seeing your work. We do have a section of this forum, "Time to Relax", where we can post none WWI subjects, so feel free to post photos of your ship models. I'd love to see some of those.
Cheers,
Bud
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Welcome to the Forum. Having been looking in for a year I am sure you know you will get answers to any questions and find all of the Support you need! I am looking forward to seeing you post a build log!
RAGIII
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Many thanks to all of you for the warm welcome. I'm working on the build log - wrote the text, then realized I needed a third party service for the pictures. I've been reading the posts about the photobucket policy change and looking into smugmug and other alternatives. I should commit to one soon and get the build log started.
Best,
Dave
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Welcome to the forum, Dave.
I look forward to seeing some of your builds in the near future.
Cheers,
Bob ;)
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Welcome aboard Dave, I'm envious of that workspace!
Ian
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Ian and Bob,
Many thanks. I solved my photo posting problems and started a build log:
http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8744.0
I had a business travel disaster this week - never made it cross country and had to do the meeting by phone, but the transcontinental flight time turned into workshop time. I have a big project ending 8/14 and am hoping to do some more modelling after.
Dave
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Enjoy the forum!!
Steve
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Welcome Dave,
I just found this forum a few days ago and I am
amazed by the talent here. I know how it is to mill
your own wood for projects as I am scratch building a
D&RGW caboose in 1/20 scale as a gift for an
inlaw of mine, all board by board.
I got here by way of 1/32 scale
WW2 kits and caught the bug for WW1 kits after
seeing some amazing work on another site.
Happy modeling
Carl, Wa. St.