About Me

I am originally from South Manchester in the UK but my home is now in a beautiful rural island location by the beach in North Wales.

 

The mid 1970's is where model making all began for me. I loved Lego as a child, so I suspect this was just a natural progression, only this time I got to cover myself in glue😁 The first kit I built was a 1/76 scale Matchbox Lysander purchased whilst on a beach holiday. I used to read regularly published comics like Warlord and Battle (remember Charlies War?) along with the handy pocket-sized Commando books on our lengthy family holiday journeys over to North Wales (UK)  I was always fascinated by the artwork. So, on one occasion the opportunity to build an aircraft that featured regularly in these comics must have been eagerly taken up.

After a short while I figured AFV's captured my interest far more than aircraft. I think it was a combination of them being easier to display; remember how completely useless the undercarriages were, so you had to use their clear plastic ‘Star Trek shaped’ display stands, and the fact my local shop stocked mainly Matchbox 1/76 tanks.  Amazingly I still have a few Airfix 1/32 figures and the bulk of a 1970’s 1/35 Tamiya Tiger I.

1/32 Airfix German Infantry figure

 

Early 1970's Tiger I

So, forward some 35 years to 2010 and a chance encounter browsing a scale model publication had my passion for modelling suddenly re-ignited. Whilst resting my weary feet on a family shopping spree I found myself in WH Smith (UK stationers) and whilst browsing the magazine section happened on a modelling magazine. 

Within a few weeks I had discovered a host of other publications and articles and hastily went about sourcing the ones that caught my eye.  I then realised that the fascination I had as a junior with all things WWII and especially anything German military. Some of the articles, features and photographs I browsed on online were incredible and I had to get engaged again. Isn't the Internet a wonderful thin?

Inspiration then came from many places including manufacturers catalogues, an Adam Wilder article, the Little Norway web forum, the Scratchmod website, and the Panzerwrecks series of publications amongst others. I was now itching to get started; but I had no models! I didn’t have a work space and I certainly didn’t have any tools, glues, paints or brushes. This was to be remedied immediately!

It didn’t take long to acquire the basics and with the help of a certain online bidding platform I had my first kit. It was the Tamiya King Tiger. The first thing I noticed was the lack of flash and how soft the plastic was. Even though this was a pretty ancient release the detail was far superior than anything I had attempted to build in the past. 

I soon became a member of a few modelling forums and watched and learned which manufacturers were held in best regard. The information we can all obtain on the net is vast and there is an abundance of great advice from organisations and individuals alike.  I was however a little alarmed that the majority of these forum's had a clique of outspoken individuals that constantly bemoaned, and unfairly criticised other members builds and new kit releases. It all seemed a little odd to me that they could get so worked up over a 'plastic toy!  

I was fascinated in individuals who were scratch building kits and those that had small business concerns, manufacturing kit upgrades and accessories. I liked the passion they had and the enthusiasm for researching particular vehicles and operational military unit locations in different conflicts.

I soon began researching kits before making purchases and found the Perth military modelling site invaluable. Although the site has not been updated for a long time I was glad to here that Terry Ashley has recently got back up and running again on FB. His reviews on the old site have great step by step build advice on many popular kits and a neat section showing all the upgrades and accessories available for any one vehicle. His site also offers advice on manufacturer errors, scale reproduction quirks and the relevant remedies available.

My first attempt at a soft skin. Tamiya's Steyr 1500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although I only re-started scale modelling in late 2010 I am still very much learning on the job.  Although my eyes need plenty of visual assistance and the old eye to hand co-ordination is not what it used to be, I believe with a great deal of patience and perseverance I hope to achieve at least a fraction of the results of some of the well published and talented AFV modelers.