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I would often sit and watch my dad build models in the 60s and this encouraged me to make the odd Airfix kit along with my younger brother. We would often to go to Woolworths on a Saturday morning with our pocket money and buy whatever model that looked the easiest to build. It was usually a military model of sorts so that we could with play with it with our Airfix soldiers. The models were usually built, ( usually to an appalling standard ) played with and broken within a few hours. We would often build more towards bonfire night and then sneak down behind the shed with a box of bangers and try to blow them up with mostly disappointing results.
I never really bothered much until the mid seventies when I got engaged to Sue, as we we saving hard towards our first home, we only used to go out on a Saturday and the rest of the time we spent at home. That’s when I tried model building again for a while just to pass the time, just making a few Tamiya motorcycle models and a few from Airfix - the last one would have been 1978. My standard at that time was pretty dismal if I remember correctly - I would bend and break parts off the sprue, no sanding or filling and sometimes not much painting - but at the time I thought they looked pretty cool (If only I had some photos).
I never touched another model again until December 2018 when, due to illness, I was off work for a considerable amount of time. I was so bored that I decided to buy a model of a motorcycle and within a few days I was hooked! I watched lots of videos on YouTube and soon realised that there is a whole world of scale modelling that I never knew existed. I soon realised that I preferred motorcycles and cars, in fact anything that has a real glossy shine. I have built the odd military model but my passion is definitely cars and motorcycles. I like to think that I am improving all the time and trying new techniques to achieve the the desired results, although I quite often make the same mistakes, but I am learning slowly.
I joined Earley Risers in January 2023 after meeting the club at SMW2022, which was my first ever model show. I could not believe the the sheer size and standards of the show. It completely blew my mind and made me all the more determined to achieve the same standard of model making, if possible. Having joined ERs I found that so many of the members are amazing model makers and are always willing to help and share tips and encouragement to help me to keep improving. I hope I have many more years of modelling to come and if only I had bought that motorcycle model a few years earlier!
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