If you clicked on "Models" thinking you'd find Sports Illustrated swimsuit models here, you're wrong. These pages are about plastic models.
I think I have too many hobbies but at least I’ll never be bored. One hobby I’ve had off and on since about age five is building plastic models. From photos and as near as I can recollect, my first model was either the Cutty Sark clipper ship or an Atlas rocket. I’m sure my Dad probably did most of the construction on both of those. I remember building models of cars, many airplanes, ships, a submarine, the Visible Man and a jet engine. I made models of all of the Universal Pictures famous monsters: the Wolfman, the Mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The largest plastic model I made was the U.S.S. Constitution when I was about 13. Unfortunately, models do not do well in moves so over the years of many moves, my approximately sixty models ended up in the garbage. Somehow, the U.S.S. Constitution is the only model to survive all those moves.
I don’t recall building any models from about 1971 until 1985 when I was given a wooden ship model kit of the U.S.S. Constitution as a birthday gift. I started that model but after completing a major part of the hull, I put it away and vowed to work on it after I retired. In 2018, after 33 years, I decided that I would most likely never finish the model for various reasons and decided to sell it on eBay. I was surprised to see several identical kits were listed and one sold for $417 after 26 bids. Since my kit was not "new in box", I asked for and received a lot less than that, but that's OK as I wanted someone who could finish it to have it.
The first plastic model I completed after my long break was the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Then I read the book “Skunk Works” around 1994 and I built the three “black project” aircraft the book was about: the U-2, SR-71 and the F-117A.
In 2000, I bought a 1/350 scale model of the U.S.S. Missouri. After looking it over, I decided I better leave it until after I retired also. Even after I retired, I put off building it for about 2 years until 2009. It was definitely my toughest model!
My latest models have mostly been WWII aircraft flown by several Allied and Axis countries. In 2022, we bought a new house with twice the square footage of our old house, so now I have a separate room for all my collections including models. It was quite a job moving all the models but I only broke parts off of three planes.
Below are links to photos and some info about my current collection of 48 models.
SPAD XIII C.1Here's the USS Constitution wood model kit started back in 1985. Hopefully, the person who bought it from me will be able to finish it.
USS Constitution