Modeling memories

"EGMcCann" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

Eric,

So sorry for your loss. It reminds me of when my step dad died last year. He wasn't much of a kit builder but he bought many models for me as a kid and it was hard to let him go. That hole in your life where your father used to be will always be there, but stay focused on those happy memories. My thoughts are with you.

TF

My condolences...to you and your family.

My condolences to you and your family. My dad wasn't a model builder but he still was the one that got me started in the hobby. For that, and for many other things, he'll always be a part of me.

My father got me started building models.

During the 1950s and a bit into the 1960s he built old time cars, always from plastic kits from the likes of Gowland & Gowland, etc. We only moved once, but most of them were poorly packed, wrapped in kleenex in an open box.

Did you know that rats and mice can eat the paint and even some of the plastic from those old kits? I sold and traded most of them to people who needed the parts, the rest I donated to local modelers for the same purpose.

He branched off into all sorts of things from spaceships to trains. The one remaining model that have from my father is a wood train from (IIRC) Strombecker. It has a black and silver open cab engine, a freight car with barrels and a pair of stagecoach like cars. The metal axles and drive mechanism are a bit rusty, but the original paint is in good shape.

I started with anything and everything, went on to custom cars and ended up with everything 1/72. Before he passed away he would examine every model that I completed and offer hints.

Thanks, Dad.

Tom

My sincere condolences. This struck home for me 17 months ago, and from what you've written, we had pretty similar experiences with our respective dads. His influence probably has a lot to do with my almost total focus on WWII aircraft subjects and those from the middle '30s, since that's what he really appreciated. Five years ago, he started getting Skyways, an enthusiast magazine that focuses on aircraft of the '20s and '30s--after he read through it, he would flash the photos to me from across the room to see if I could ID the aircraft. Then he'd hand me the mag, saying they had too much clutter and he couldn't really keep it. Nonsense of course; he never got rid of most of the other clutter. He was still finding a way to share an interest.

Mark Schynert

Condolences to you and your family. We're going through similar times right now, not with one relative but three, one very close to me and the other two still close.

Many people over the years have asked me, being female, how I ever became interested in a "boy's" hobby, especially military models. The simple answer is MY dad. He was a naval signalman in WWII, and after the war until the day he died he worked for the railroad. So I guess you can say he was involved with two potential modeling subjects on a first-name basis.

I had shown an interest in cars, trucks, tanks, toy soldiers etc. rather than dolls early in life, to my mother's chagrin, but my dad was probably pleased about it deep down. He came home one night with a ship model tucked under his arm (I think it was a Lindberg model, possibly an LST?) and said we were going to build it. That grew into other more detailed ships and later on other kits. I've built a little bit of everything. I was reminded of this only this past Christmas, when I tried to repair yet again the little stable he and I made, out of a fruit crate (the base is the box end with the fruit label on it) a year or two before he died suddenly. I lost him when I was 12, but in those few short years he guided me down a path I'll never forget.

Thanks, Dad.

-- M. J. Rudy snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

NEW ADDRESS:

My prayers are with you.

I am trying to get my 82 yr old father to go back to work on a 1/ 32 Gullows {sic} PBY 5A he had started many years ago. I just found the complete fuseladge, and it is BIG. Gotta get him to git going on it again !!!! (PBY 4, and VS 44A were first A/C he ever worked on :) At least he is slowly but surely writing about his 45 1/2 years at American Airlines, and his numerious expirences meeting famous people, and working on great A/C

I'm sure a lot of us have parents who went though amazing expirences in the gloden age of aviation and WW II They are worth writing down and preserving !!

The first kit my dad bought me was the Strombecker F-80. I haunt the model shows looking for one and can't find it.

Art

Art:

Here is an outfit that you might find worth book marking and checking on every now and then. They wheel and deal in all kinds of old kits and I get real nostalgic just browsing their site. Stuff is a bit pricey at times but considering how rare it is anymore..

I tried to get my dad to sit and talk so that I could tape him but he always said he wasn't anyone special and didn't need to be recorded. His brushes with aviation were few and from a distance. The first airplane he ever saw was a Polish plane that landed in a plowed field near his town. All he remembered about it was that it was green. During WWII he was in an AA battalion. He did like to mention that their radar had trouble tracking the German jets.

Eric, I'm sad to hear of your father's passing. My condolences.

Bill Banaszak

I turn 50 tomorrow. I have not really thought much about this at all, and am not making a big deal about it at all, but this conversation brought something to mind.

Many of the people on this group are my age... my real father and grandfather, who raised me, are dead... I have many great memories and stories from my grandfather, but never met my real father. Just a note to all of you with fathers alive... spend that time, take that time, what you can, to let them know how much they have done for you. Take them fishing, to a ball game, or just sit and let them talk about their life... record what you can.

There are no second chances!!

Lance

I envy you and all those that have happy memories of their father's help and support. My father was not abusive, he just thought that model building of any kind was a waste of time and for lazy go for nothings, and he let me brother and me know about it constantly. Consequently, all my memories of modeling as a youth are blurred my by father's sarcastic rhetoric and innuendo regarding my masculinity and initiative.

Sorry for the damper, but not all Dads are friendly.

John