Why distress? Because I just know I'll be needing help so am getting the signal in early.
Greetings to all!
I'm a retired old codger returning to modelling after a break of fifty years: until the lure of cars, girls, higher education, work, career, marriage and other such delights distracted me I was an avid Airfix modeller in my tweens and teens: Hood, KGV, Enterprise, Baltimore stick out in my memory but there were others from Aurora and Revell (IIRC) as well as numerous aircraft from Storch to Sunderland. I concentrated on WW2 as that's when my father and most of my other known relatives served (and had their lives shaped by). I also had the privilege as a "yoof" of meeting Ted Briggs the Hood survivor so my links are significant. To me anyway.
Despite the usual handicaps of the elderly - fingers of butter, fists of ham, brains of mush, eyes of rheum, arms of ague, back of twinges etc. etc. - I've set myself a big project for the future so as to keep myself interested. As a widower without children I find I need a little extra to wake up to and I've renovated and decorated quite enough houses now. Even the car has received upgrades enough. So, having plumped on the scale of 1:350 which fits nicely in a living-room alcove for which I already have the shelves, I have ambitions to build 4 major battleships: Hood, Tirpitz, Yamato and Iowa. They'll eventually be displayed as waterline models actually at sea under acrylic. 1:200 called but the choice is too limited, the size to hard to accommodate and the supplier too inaccurate so needing too much remedial work.
I look forward to communicating with, and learning from, the gifted individuals whose magnificent efforts I've been reading about for the last few weeks while deciding what I'd like to try and do and then plucking up the courage to go public and join up. BTW I live commuting distance from Plymouth so would enjoy eventually meeting up with any likeminded souls in Devon & Cornwall who don't mind sharing their experiences and showing their constructions.
Best regards and a warm Ahoy Shipmates!
Leo
