A little about me first, and I am sure most readers will use this page to help them get to sleep.  I am sitting here wondering how many have the same story.  My first airplane model was a 1/72 Bf 109, an E I think, that was put together in a day somewhere around 1969 or 1970.  No filling or sanding, brush painted with some "sponging" on the sides for mottling.  Can't recall if it ever got decals or not.  But I kept at it through most of high school.  My primary interest was WWII German aircraft. Then college happened in 1973 and not much time for model building.

In 80's I was in my RC period.  Carving holes in the sky on weekends and building at night.  Lots of fun during that period but the learning curve flattened.  A few 2 month builds followed by a 2 minute flight that ended up putting the plane back into kit form… except the parts didn't look the same as when they came out of the box... well you know the rest.

Then it came… 1986 and "TOPGUN".  For the next year or so I pounded out a dozen or so "fast movers" and I am sure many of you did the same thing.  Jan. '91 and Desert Storm and a couple more jets make it to the shelf.  My first daughter was born in '85 and she loved to sit with me while I would build and play with her HO scale farm animals we got at the hobby shop. With my 2nd daughter on the way in Jan '92, life took over and modeling went by the way side. And I wouldn't have had it any other way.

April '05 I went to MosquitoCon, bought several models and I am back again. At this stage in my life it looks like it may be for the long haul this time.

The years of building RC planes, and wood working as a side hobby, taught me patience.  When you are building something that will actually fly it is important to get the pieces to fit right or the plane may not fly quite right.  That patience has carried over now to my scale models.  Dry fitting again and again and trimming or sanding until the part fits properly.  Scale modeling is made up of many parts, no pun intended.  Deciding what to build, planning the build to have it go smoothly, researching your subject and construction with all of it parts too. All leading up to the finished product.  Without sounding too sappy, the hobby is as much a journey as it is the destination. Hmmm??...why do I fell like I should be sitting in the Lotus position all of a sudden??

The hobby now is vastly different now than my last time building models.  I think I used a couple of resin Aces II seats in a couple of jets and I had a set of PE rear view mirrors too.  After market stuff was mostly confined to decals.  The after market goodies available now is nothing short of amazing.  The level of detail that can be attained produces some beautiful scale models.  And I never thought that one of my most useful tools was my laptop off the side of my work area.  A seeming endless amount of references at your fingers tips.  I found a friend from the IPMS club I belonged to in Miami in the 70's just by Googling his name. Amazing!

This site is a place for me to share what I do and they way I do it.  I will never say this is the way it should be done.  If someone picks up an idea or a technique that will help them made a better model, then it will have served its purpose.  That's what it's all about, sharing.  I recently traded some emails with another Fine Scale Modeler forum member, a great place to learn and have some fun by the way, about techniques for making oil streaks and we both got better at it.  I am happy to hear your ideas as well.

So enough blabbering… enjoy the website.