Hello all,

I have been modeling on and off since I was 4 or 5 years old - so more than 30 years now!

(lord, how did that happen?!?)

I took off the standard teenage "I'm too cool for that now" years, but got back into it by my early 20s. In the last few years I have not done much as I have been busy working in South Africa and Germany, but now I am getting settled back in the States, and once again have access to all my kits and supplies that I've had in storage since 2002. yeay!

I am a broad spectrum military modeler sans ships, but concentrate on 1/48th and 1/35 scales. I dabble a small bit in sci-fi and spacecraft models too (a concession to my Ph.D in space physics). I love pre- and early-WWII subjects (as in just before and the first couple years), both flying and ground bound. I am also fond of early jets and x-planes. SPGs fascinate me for some reason, as do small tanks. But then again - almost anything can catch my fancy and make me build it under the right conditions.

I just moved to Boulder, Colorado (nice town, fantastic weather) from Berlin, Germany (awesome city, horrible weather!) to be with my lovely girlfriend, who just happens to be getting very interested in scale modeling herself - eat your heart out the rest of you!!! I was formerly a research scientist, but i am now taking some time off, putting some serious thought into a career change, and just relaxing with some new model kits for now.

I'll post some pictures of my work in the future after i retrieve my surviving build-ups from the hobby shop that has been kind enough to display and take care of them for me these last 3 years (insert shameless plug for Hobby Island in Houston, Texas - they are wonderful!)

Anyway, I hope to get a lot more familiar with many of you in the coming years!

-v-

Welcome, believe me you will find a lot of useful advice and good company here.

Welcome to the big "A" Vance, and welcome back to the states, but why choose another cold-weather city?!

Looking forward to seeing your work and to seeing you in the forums.

Hi Vance

A warm welcome to Armorama all the way from New Zealand.

Pleased to see you like a diverse variety of modelling areas.

I agree about Boulder, Colorado it is indeed a "nice town, fantastic weather". I got to spend sometime in that area visiting the world greatest beer company Coors in Golden for work.

I loved Boulder and the whole state of Colorado.

I also loved Coors beer and the Brewery.

I would love to work/live in Boulder as well. If I had the chance I would move there in a second.

I miss the place like hell.

I enjoy your knew home base.

Regards

Sean

sean, ken, & mark - thanks for the welcome!

Actually, Boulder is not nearly as cold as berlin. Berlin is always cold, but Boulder is only cold in bursts. plus they have plenty of sun here! that makes all the difference in the middle of winter!

...plus the little fact that the loveliest woman i have ever met lives in Boulder was a big factor in my decision. :-) She even goes to IPMS meeting with me!

New Zealand... outstanding place as well, or so i have heard. I have been meaning to visit there for quite a while now. I have a lot of cyber friends from new zealand due to the other web forum I am on (homeofpoi.com). NZers are the friendliest people too.

don't know about coors beer though - after living 2 years in Germany, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to handle american beer again!

A big Herzlichen Willkommen Dude! We're gonna have to get together. I'll be at Estes park in a few weeks doing some high altitude training, and probably going into Boulder to piss off the locals when I get the chance. (long story)
I lived in Berlin as well (Zehelndorf-Military, and Steglitz, Charlottenburg, and Wedding as a civilian) Additionally, I'm on an SPG kick myself, having done just about every resin one I can find. Maybe you can show me which shade of blue your research led you to for those Israeli aircraft.

LOL

excellent. drop me a line when you get to the area!

the majority of my modelling stuff is still in storage in texas, but i'll be going to pick up some of it soon - in fact i'll be out of town till about March 12th because of that - hope that doesn't mean I'll miss you as you ride by.

Berlin is an excellent city, no doubt. I lived near Zoologischer Garten Bahnhof - it was really convient for work since i had to commute to Potsdam via the regional exress trains. it wasn't the most exciting part of town, but still a great place to live (except for that damned ever present gray sky!)

Welcome and have a nice time!!!
Ciao from Italy
Fabio

Hello Vance

Welcome to Armorama



It'll be a cold day in h... before my wife will take an interest in modeling. :-)
You're a lucky man Vance.

Welcome aboard Vance. It's good to have an experienced modeler like yourself here to give advice to us not so experienced one.

Two years later...

well, after a short initial burst with Armorama, I had to drop out of modeling for a year and a half because of a nasty car wreck. I was left with a broken left hand, a screwed up right shoulder, and a pinched nerve in my neck that left my right thumb and forefinger numb.

I am more or less all healed now though. The shoulder and numbness were the last to go away. They both still bother me a little, but my worst days now are way better than my best ones were 6 months ago. I can do fine motor skills stuff without suffering unduly again, so I started dabbling in modeling again about 6 months ago (it was uncomfortable, but i needed it), and am getting fairly serious about it again now that it is relatively painless. I have yet to completely finish a model since that car wreck, but I have at least 6 or 7 on the verge, and I'll post pics of those as I finish them. I may even write a build review or two.

In the interim, I moved to Austin, Texas and bought a fair sized house, so now I have a whole room devoted to modeling, which is awesome. On top of that, I have a large garage i can easily use the airbrush in as well. And it is extremely nice to live in a warm climate again.

anyway, welcome back to me! It is good to be back.

-vance-

Welcome back Vance,
good to hear the recovery is going well.

Same here nice to see you made out okay.

Welcome back...rough story!
I was reading the post from the top and didn't realize the dates were so old! till I got to your latest posting.
Anyway, sounds like a bunch of stuff has gone on in the interim. Hope all is positive from here on out Looking forward to seeing some photos of your stuff! (still with the IPMS lady?) would like to have her work posted also.
Cheers,
Charles

Welcome to our wonderful site.

Feel free to ask questions whenever you feel the need. These sites are full of experts that will make a lot of effort to ensure your questions are answered correctly.

I highly reccomend checking out the ongoing campaigns. Participation in the campaigns has really helped my meager skills by forcing me to try things I would not have done otherwise.

Reading the forums will alow you to find many new techniques and procedures that will amaze your friends. Also, the kit reviews will probably help you when choosing kits. I almost always check for reviews before ploping down my hard earned retirement $$$s.

Again, Welcome. And happy modeling.

Well, not knowing where else to put it and being fairly ego-centric on this one:

Ich gratuliere mich zum 1000 Posts! (this being the 1000th)



what, it only took, like, almost 3 years...