I don’t have much space to accomodate a newly built model. Over the past few years, I’ve been building a lot of models as gifts. My Dad’s best friend had quite an experience in WWII. I’m building ships and planes that relate to his experience.
He was a missionary kid in Africa during WWII, and he and his family were returning to the US aboard a freighter that was sunk by a U-boat in 1942. They survived on a raft along with about 18 seamen for 3 weeks, when they were spotted by a PBY and picked up by a British destroyer.
In the late 70’s he researched the whole thing, and was able to pinpoint the very U-boat that sunk him. In the early 80s he decided to contact the crew of the U-boat out of interest. He had no war animosities or vindictive motives. He went to one of the U-boats reunions and became quite friendly with some of the crew. The radioman came to the US some time later as a guest of my Dad’s friend, and the first thing he said to me in relation to being on a U-boat was “60 men, one toilet.”
The U-boat was the U-66 which was rammed and sunk by the U.S.S. Buckley, but over half the crew survived. I was lucky enough to find a kit for the Buckley which I built for him. The type IXc U-66 is next, then the PBY, and then the British Destroyer.
Incredible story, DJ. It would be an honor to me to be able to build for a gentleman like that. I’ve never done anything like that for that kind of situation, but I would like to someday.
Thanks Demono. I was lucky enough to have a friend of the family with that kind of experience, and lucky to have the model kits come out that would allow me to build the proper vessels and plane.
Hey DJ I am building a CF 100 Canuck for my father. When he was in the Canadian Airforce he worked as an airframe tech and he always said that his favorite plane was the canuck. In the 50’s when the canuck first came out it was classified as one of the best all weather fighters at the time. They use to call it the clunk also due to the fact that when the landing gear locked into place it made a clunking noise. I have built other kits for friends or relatives whether it be a war time memory or Dale Earnhardts nascar for a fan, I will always build for the
history of the kit.
I have been posting about this as well this past summer. I built my first land vehicle last month-- a GMS 6X6 for my wife’s uncle who was a Red Ball Express driver…if you do a search in armor I have a pic of it somewhere there.
Currently-- with the help of blackwoldscd and Thomas Myers for research and also scratchbuilding techniques, I will be building a P-51C for a Tuskegee Airman that lives in my town.
It would be great to be able to start a program that builds for vets…I tried asking around in my community about doing this and no one really seemed to bite on the idea…it’s too bad we couldn’t get something started here. We have builds for kids to get them started in the hobby…why not build for someone who served their country?? OK…I am climbing down off my soapbox now [;)]
I built a B-17G for my dentist’s uncle. He had flown 28 missions with the 8th Air Force. His nephew provided the photos of the plane and crew, and I was able to replicate that scene in 1/48 scale. He passed away last year, and the family sent a really nice note to let me know how much he had appreciated the model.
My grandfather was one of the founding drivers of NASCAR.I built a 40 Ford coupe painted with his scheme and was going to give it to him for his birthday a few years ago, sadly he passed away a week before and never got to see it.
I’m currently pieceing together a 1965 Ford Thunderbird for a friend of mine. It was his 1st pride and joy-ride. I think I just might have to get a few parts through modelhaus.com tho. Nobody makes a 65 T-bird model anymore. I have heard that the molds were turned into the 66 Bird. i will win,I never give up. What great stories and a nice group of people in this fourm. Always entertaining when I check in here. Thanks for the happy times guys-n-gals.
For my stepson’s 13th birthday, I built my last ship model: a 1/700 Japanese light cruiser. I did a pretty decent paint job and I put foil on the base and painted it using various shades. It turned out rather nice. At the time he was into my old ships and I thought he might want his own. It has since been destroyed due to owner mishandling. [:(!]
“It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it”-R.E.Lee
This may not fit, i do models. I also do a lot of custom sewing. My best one was i did a flag for an auction. It was a standard TEXAS flag but i hand sewed the unit three unit that fought at a battle, along with the date and place of the battle. At the auction it was sold for $2,000.00. Funny i only had about $50.00 dollar invested.
I build a Corsair for my grandfather who was a crew chief in Guada Canal. I presented it to him on christmas last year and he just started to cry. It was amazing the memories it brought back and how it touched him. I was very proud.
A friend of mine had a collection of about a hundred unbuilt kits. He has never started building any of them. He said he never had the time and the space but he always enjoy checking out the completed models that I have displayed at a shelf behind my chair. I always told him that he should build at least one to feel that sense of joy and pride but he wasn’t able to until now. I gave him one of my completed F15c’s as a gift. I know he liked it.
Somehow, it sparked the interest in him that he stared building one of his kits. I don’t know if he has completed it but at least he started…
Through my girlfriend’s voluntary work I befriended a lady who worked for De Havilland during the war, where she was a “dope girl”, primarily repairing the fabric sections of Hurricanes and Rapides.
As she had taken the time to talk to me about her work there (in great detail - she even remembers the gauges and length of linen required) and other anecdotes, I returned the favour by building a Hurricane model for her. She lives in assisted accomodation, so has had to sacrifice a lot of her personal mementos of those times.
It was only my fourth airplane model since getting into the hobby “for real”, but I made the effort to get a decent base and plaque done at a local trophy shop, put some love into it, and marked it up as a plane from a squadron which did have repairs done at Witney.
It’s probably my favorite model so far. Shame in a way that I gave it away, but she absolutely adores it [:)]
A great place to donate and put your models on display is a Legion. I had a friend years ago used to build ships, etc… and gave them to the local Legion where many Vets used to go to eat, drink, play pool, whatever. He said it was amazing (and rewarding to see) the smiles that his models put on the faces of the Veterans. They would tell him stories for hours and hours. They were really glad to see bits of their past that brought back many good memories.
A fellow in our church choir flew B-25s with the USMC in the Pacific Theater in WWII. I built one for him, and he was as elated as a little boy getting a gift at Christmas!
I also built a Dale Earnhardt #3 Chevy for a real die-hard NASCAR fan who worked a couple doors down from my office. He took it to a race and got Dale to autograph it for him.
