I'm glad to be here. It's high time to get this first post done, so I can start working my way through those first ten and be taking part more fully. As a committed lurker on many forums, I find this participation rule a really unique thing. It really makes a lot of sense; I'm surprised more forums don't do a similar thing... but I think it's really interesting how often it causes me to think of it... and then think of the responsibility we all have to contribute meaningful posts, if a forum is going to be worthwhile in the first place. It kind of makes an interestingly automatic object lesson out of every encounter with the restriction...
Anyway, here we go. I first discovered paper models a few years ago when I was very broke, and having to take care of a few children-- they were my girlfriend's, and staying with us for two weeks. I didn't really go very far with it at that time, except to download as much of the various free offerings as I could find, and build one or two sort of silly or incidental things (the two I can remember are the "ceiling cat" model, and the entrance pillar to the haunted mansion one, which I think is still around today-- that fellow that did several for amusement park attractions? I can't recall his name). Anyway, about three years ago I got interested again, and built a WWI plane--- a fairly nice Fokker D VII. At the time I was playing Rise of Flight a bit, and was very fascinated to be able to hold in my hands a model of a plane I was flying in a virtual world. I drifted away that time because I honestly couldn't find the area of paper modeling that would keep me going, interest-wise... Aircraft (which was most of what I was seeing then) weren't quite it... cars didn't seem that compelling. I don't know--- I enjoyed doing it, but couldn't find my subject.
Just a little while ago, I had to help my stepdaughter build a model of the Globe Theater (they were up to Shakespeare in school-- did you ever notice that it's only regarding that one man they insist on you learning about where they plays were put on? Nobody ever made us study where Arthur Miller debuted The Scarlet Letter...)-- and doing that build with her really reminded me how much I enjoy the activity of building paper models itself. So many little tricks I had discovered last time I had been doing them (like quick-creasing over the blade of my scissors) came back to me while I was doing this theater... As soon as I was done with that, I went off looking and discovered the architectural models that Clever Models do for the model railroading crowd. Kind of ironic, because I'm not into model railroading myself... but those buildings really did it for me-- some of it was the detail they offer, and some just that nostalgic look they have going. Having built some of those, I saw that I really needed other things, cars and people and accessories, to "fill out" those models and give them life--- say, to set in a diorama or make a scene; not just have them sitting alone as a building.
So, that quest has really brought me fully into the paper modeling community... I see now how large it is; but on the other hand I see how many things are still missing. It's funny to me how many classic cars, for example, it doesn't seem have ever been modeled... I've purchased many models from different designers, seen how widely the quality varies, learned a lot from some of them, been vastly disappointed in some... I have started doing recolors, retextures, and sometime complete redesigns of models I have either found free or purchased, and very soon now I will be doing my own designs from the ground up. Classic cars and streetside accessories will be some of the first, so I can get these buildings really done, and set into a complete scene. I also have it in mind to do some buildings of my own, in Clever Models' fashion (and hopefully up to their level of quality!)-- such as an old drive-in hamburger stand in my parents hometown... it was opened in 1939 or so, and still exists today! But I intend to render it as my parents would remember it from the 50's or so.
I know this is a bit longer than a lot of introduction posts, but I figure if I'm going to do it at all, I might as well, you know, put in the relevant facts. Or, as I've heard it said, "If you're going to play, then play."
I look forward to getting to know you all a bit better, and some of you I have already enjoyed reading your words quite a bit...
Thank you for having me here.
Anyway, here we go. I first discovered paper models a few years ago when I was very broke, and having to take care of a few children-- they were my girlfriend's, and staying with us for two weeks. I didn't really go very far with it at that time, except to download as much of the various free offerings as I could find, and build one or two sort of silly or incidental things (the two I can remember are the "ceiling cat" model, and the entrance pillar to the haunted mansion one, which I think is still around today-- that fellow that did several for amusement park attractions? I can't recall his name). Anyway, about three years ago I got interested again, and built a WWI plane--- a fairly nice Fokker D VII. At the time I was playing Rise of Flight a bit, and was very fascinated to be able to hold in my hands a model of a plane I was flying in a virtual world. I drifted away that time because I honestly couldn't find the area of paper modeling that would keep me going, interest-wise... Aircraft (which was most of what I was seeing then) weren't quite it... cars didn't seem that compelling. I don't know--- I enjoyed doing it, but couldn't find my subject.
Just a little while ago, I had to help my stepdaughter build a model of the Globe Theater (they were up to Shakespeare in school-- did you ever notice that it's only regarding that one man they insist on you learning about where they plays were put on? Nobody ever made us study where Arthur Miller debuted The Scarlet Letter...)-- and doing that build with her really reminded me how much I enjoy the activity of building paper models itself. So many little tricks I had discovered last time I had been doing them (like quick-creasing over the blade of my scissors) came back to me while I was doing this theater... As soon as I was done with that, I went off looking and discovered the architectural models that Clever Models do for the model railroading crowd. Kind of ironic, because I'm not into model railroading myself... but those buildings really did it for me-- some of it was the detail they offer, and some just that nostalgic look they have going. Having built some of those, I saw that I really needed other things, cars and people and accessories, to "fill out" those models and give them life--- say, to set in a diorama or make a scene; not just have them sitting alone as a building.
So, that quest has really brought me fully into the paper modeling community... I see now how large it is; but on the other hand I see how many things are still missing. It's funny to me how many classic cars, for example, it doesn't seem have ever been modeled... I've purchased many models from different designers, seen how widely the quality varies, learned a lot from some of them, been vastly disappointed in some... I have started doing recolors, retextures, and sometime complete redesigns of models I have either found free or purchased, and very soon now I will be doing my own designs from the ground up. Classic cars and streetside accessories will be some of the first, so I can get these buildings really done, and set into a complete scene. I also have it in mind to do some buildings of my own, in Clever Models' fashion (and hopefully up to their level of quality!)-- such as an old drive-in hamburger stand in my parents hometown... it was opened in 1939 or so, and still exists today! But I intend to render it as my parents would remember it from the 50's or so.
I know this is a bit longer than a lot of introduction posts, but I figure if I'm going to do it at all, I might as well, you know, put in the relevant facts. Or, as I've heard it said, "If you're going to play, then play."
I look forward to getting to know you all a bit better, and some of you I have already enjoyed reading your words quite a bit...
Thank you for having me here.