Hello to all! I’m glad to be here. I haven’t done any serious model crafting in some time. I was an avid modeler from my childhood into my 20’s when I was in the USAF as a B-52 gunner. Now that I’m the disabled type, my wife thought it would be nice to get back into something that I often mentioned and here I am! She fully supports me getting back into all this (I think it keeps me out of her hair!) and she went so far as getting me an air compressor and airbrush for Father’s Day. She also got me a cool F-22 Raptor model by Hasegawa in 1/48 scale that I’m currently in the decal stage. My birthday is this month and she just ordered me the Tamiya 1/32 scale P-51 which I can’t wait to get my hands on! She’s the best!
From what I have seen here and at other places, I have much to learn. I’m hearing all kinds of cool techniques for weathering, applying decals, using Future and also all the cool new paints they have out there. I just subscribed to FSM and am looking forward to my first issue in my mail. Till then, I have been gleaning what I can from all the cool videos in here and tips/techniques that have been shown me.
I look forward to hearing from any of you out there and eagerly wanting to learn the latest and greatest techniques out there.
Welcome Dean! Great bunch of folks here more than willing to help and share tips and tricks. So jump on in, ask as many questions as you’d like, and have fun! The main thing to remember is post pics of your builds!
I am also a return to hobby guy after a very long absence. I have found my efforts so far to be quite therapeutic. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy doing things with my hands. Sounds like you have a great wife!
Thank you very much for serving, by the way. Curious, did you ever find yourself at Grissom AFB in Indiana by any chance? I can’t recall if they handled B-52s down there or not.
Greg, thanks so much for the warm welcome! I never found myself at Grissom. My assignments were Carswell AFB, TX (1979-1985, B-52D and B-52H), Andersen AFB, Guam (1985-1988, B-52G doing Harpoon Testing and other cool stuff), Castle AFB, CA (1988-1991, Combat Crew Instructor) and got out in '92 due to my disabilities. I know Grissom at one time had the B-58 Hustler there, another awesome airframe and a cool model to build. I don’t think they ever had the B-52.
I have to agree with you about the fact that this hobby is very therapeutic! It sure does bring all the joy of being a kid back to life and it does make the aches and pains of getting through the day more enjoyable! Granted, I’m just in my mid fifties but my back and other places feel much older!
I much appreciated your warm welcome and look forward to some more correspondence!