motherhen

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Russ

G'day Ray, I recognise that view. In my mad younger days, many years ago, I have climbed to the top of the Third Sister, both from the valley floor via the West Wall and also across from Honeymoon Point on the First Sister using old hemp ropes (nylon rope not available to me at that time!). It's a wonder I'm alive to complete any models! I was also born in Katoomba. The Wasa was a kit I've had for a long time, but was afraid to tackle until I saw a WIP from Bengalensis on this forum back in 2018. Mine was very brittle and difficult to work with, but it was finished and now sits in a glass cabinet all by itself so there is no need to dust it! I had a model of the Flying Cloud clipper as a teenager, but it was out in the open on a shelf and gradually disintergrated through too much touching. Good luck getting back into Australia, and more luck leaving when you do! It looks like I have joined a bunch of friendly like minded souls, where I can waffle on about my models without (hopefully) boring anyone! Russ

Thanks for the welcome Jeff. I thought I must have been some lone eccentric nerd to still enjoy building models. It's good to see a great (harmless) hobby still surviving after all these years. The "Motherhen" tag originated as sarcasm by a friend of my brother's many years ago when we used to take our kids mountain bike riding in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. I was "motherhen" because I was always holding back and gathering the kids so we didn't lose any. Anyhow, it's stuck and I wear the badge with pride, I never lost any kids! I have other hobbies as well, which has come in handy in the last 2 years of Covid. I'm sure the hobbies have helped me to constructively pass the time stuck in lockdown without going stir crazy. I'll check out Flikr. I read in another post about "how to post pics" about the photo hosts. I'd not given it much thought up to now, I've only shared my photos to a couple of friends through emails up to now. The thumbnail in my profile is the stern of my Vasa, so far the only pic I've managed to get online! Russ

I've finally joined this site after viewing from afar for many years. I have had an interest in model building since I was a teenager, with large breaks, time-wise, due to other distractions. None of the models that I built as a teenager have survived the years, the oldest now dating back to the 1980's when I started building again to while away the hours in a fire station between jobs. I am now retired and get to tinker away a bit more often, albeit in spits and spurts. I have collecting kits since the '80's and now have more than I'll ever finish in my lifetime, but they do give me choice when I decide to build. I have built 1/25th scale cars, motorbikes, but mostly aircraft over the years. I did have a crack at Airfix's Vasa in 2018 guided by an article on your forum by Bengalensis from around 2013. Mine is different to a degree, but it's the only ship in my collection (built or otherwise) at this stage. I'm not sure what I'm doing as an interactive member on this site. I guess I'll figure it out as I go. In all the years I've been modelling, there have only been a handful of people that I've met that had any interest in modelling, so I build models just for my own pleasure. My skills aren't great and I enjoy the tips I see from your contributors. I'm not a rivet counter, but I like to make them as good as I can at the time. When I figure out how to post some pics, I'll put a few up if you're interested. Regards, Russ