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the anti-modelers

1/13/2019

Dem Brudders Encounter The Model Haters

Here's more content that appeared in the IPMS/USA Journal circa 2006. The IPMS (International Plastic Modellers' Society) started in the U.K. in 1963 and has been going strong worldwide ever since. There is probably a chapter near you.

When “Dem Brudders” were just youngsters, we had major problems with an anti-modeling mom. An interesting tension existed in our household. The more our mother hated models, the more Dick and I loved building them. Our mom was not the type of person that you would expect could dislike something as simple as a plastic model, but she did. In fact, she detested them!

The full reasons may never be known, but one can speculate. Mrs. Engar was a very outgoing “people” person, and perhaps she saw the solitary activity of model building as antisocial. She also had this old-fashioned notion that us boys should always be playing outside, regardless of the weather, and some sort of sport should be involved.

Our basement was a quiet, out-of-the-way place perfect for model building, but she had a thing against spending too much time down there. A comment we heard often was “Shouldn’t you go outside in the sunshine and play with a ball? Can’t you call up some of your friends and organize a game? Why don’t you go out and ride your bike around the block?” This debate always seemed to commence when we were in the middle of some activity where concentration was crucial like gluing a canopy or positioning a decal.

Now it should be pointed out that both Dick and I spent plenty of time playing sports etc. outside with our friends, but our mother was more tolerant of us burning out our brains watching after-school TV reruns than building models. She went to great lengths to dissuade us from modeling, but we persisted. My brother and I are eight years apart, not a small gap for two boys. Never mind that building models brought us closer together even though we had little else in common. He was in high school when I attended elementary, so we didn’t exactly run in the same social circles. The fact that we were spending time together modeling made no difference to our mother. Perhaps sibling bonding was a foreign concept to her since she was an only child. There are many worse things that we could have easily been into. Sometimes I wonder if she would have been any more upset had Dick and I been smoking pot together in his room instead of building models.

The only models received as gifts came from friends. I don’t think Santa Claus ever brought me a single model. One year though, I got a big 1/48 scale Apollo Moon Shot set made by Revell that included command, lunar, and service modules with escape tower and LEM housing. It was a spectacular kit way beyond my modeling abilities with lots of moving parts and scads of interior detail. Where did it come from? Dick gave it to me, of course. I could tell because he offered to build it for me before I even had all the wrapping paper off. He also just happened to have all the needed paint colors ready to go. Santa Claus brought me a new bike, a basketball, and a pair of sunglasses.

One year, Dick built a fully rigged Airfix Mayflower ship model. He justified the gratuitous time spent on it as “homework.” Actually, he did in fact plan on using the model for a big report on early American history in his junior high school class. When he took the model to school, it was stolen. You would expect a mother to be quite upset at the theft of such an item, but according to Dick, our mom just shrugged it off. In today’s “enlightened” world, some mothers would probably call the school board, their attorney, the news media, and a specialized grief counselor in response to such a crime being perpetuated upon their dear child. In today’s world, our mother probably would have just shrugged in the same fashion that she did so long ago. She disliked our models just that much! I normally wouldn’t characterize Dick as a slow learner, but a year later, he built Revell’s 1/196 scale Constitution ship kit for another report. It was the same deal, with the model carefully painted and rigged. Again, it was stolen. Our mom shrugged it off just like before, maybe adding some when-will-you-ever-learn comment which only added insult to the injury. I don’t think Dick took models to school for any reason after that. Dem Brudders still wonder what became of pilfered Old Ironsides. To our mom, it was one less model in the house.

I remember well the day that our mom had finally had enough of modeling. She put her foot down and told Dick he could no longer build models in the house. It was a long time ago, but I can still remember vividly the image of Dick—sitting at a card table building his Revell Queen Mary ocean liner kit in the middle of the back yard. She later relented when she saw that he persisted, and he was allowed to work back in his own room. A few years later when I was building several models with friends, though, she again made that same mandate to cease and desist all household modeling activity. I moved my work area to the dusty garage and spent one whole summer building models there. The scent of freshly applied Testors paint lingering with stale lawn mower exhaust and lawn clipping odors still lingers in my mind.

Models would break inexplicably on cleaning day. When we left home during the higher education years, several models mysteriously vanished. I didn’t save many models during that period, but one in particular still bothers me. AMT’s first version of the Star Trek movie Enterprise is a highly desirable collectible since AMT retooled the kit, meticulously adding inaccurate panel scribing and an awful, pebbly finish. For some reason, the secondary hull and warp engines from my first-issue smooth-surface model disappeared, probably donated to charity or the local landfill by our mother. I still have the primary saucer hull. If anyone out there picked up a secondary hull with warp engines a few decades ago at a thrift shop, I’d love to buy it back! Likewise, a 1/32 scale Hasegawa/Minicraft F-5 kit in its box fell missing without explanation. I know Dick is short a few items as well, most notably a complete Renwal Visible Head kit that would have greatly benefited him during his studies for his dentistry career.

It is no small irony that our mother is largely responsible for getting me started up modeling after a break of several years. Providing a pair of fairly large space models for a demonstration in one of her school class projects got me back into it, but that’s another story. Dick and I began attending our local model club together many years ago. Our mother didn’t seem to care that we were fostering family relationships spending time together, seeming instead to be somewhat irritated that we were both still participating in an “immature” activity.

Others in the family seemed to share our Mom’s disregard for modeling. One of our sisters learned how to really irritate Dick. She resided in a bedroom right above his, and she discovered that a strategically placed, heavy thump on the floor would dislodge some of the model planes hanging from Dick’s acoustical tile ceiling and they would come crashing down in pieces. I vividly recall hearing language certainly not fit to print here as Dick discovered the results of her hijinks. If her technique could somehow be scaled up to full size, it would make a powerful anti-aircraft defensive weapon. It sure was effective in 1/72 scale.

Dick and I made preparations for months to attend our first local contest in the late 1980’s. A beloved uncle passed away with timing perfectly in accordance with Murphy’s Law, and his funeral was hastily placed smack-dab over the contest. We didn’t even dare contemplate beseeching those in charge to change the date of the funeral or try to bow out gracefully to attend the contest instead. It may be hard to believe for a fully addicted modeler, but there are some things that just plain transcend model contests.

It wasn’t until we returned from our first trip to the IPMS Nationals a few years later that our mom finally acknowledged that our hobby may have some redeeming worth. Dick, his son Tom, and I, brought home a sheaf of awards giving us some recognition in a national competition, and my mother said she was proud of us, and thought that it was great that we could enjoy an activity together. It was a surprise to Dick and me to hear her speak of plastic modeling with anything but contempt. She passed away not long after. We still laugh about her aversion to our models, but we feel a lot better knowing that she had softened her disdain for our hobby prior to her death.

As expected, our spouses have had their own observations, some negative, about our modeling activities. Let’s just say that we’ll never receive a hero’s welcome after a triumphant return from a successful showing at any model contest. There’s probably enough to say about that in another post of Dem Brudders.

If you have someone in your household that dislikes your hobby, how can you deal with it? Well, we have no easy answers, but it might help to ask yourself if there may be a perception, realistic or otherwise, that you are spending too much time with the hobby. While preparing for a big contest a few years ago, I devised a good strategy to take the edge off our occasional household anti-modeling tension. By waking up a couple hours earlier than my wife, I was able to make great progress on my contest models. I had fresh energy, the house and the telephone were perfectly quiet, and the enjoyable activity invigorated me for the rest of the day. My wife didn’t care what I was doing while she was still asleep. The plan worked great until she saw how much I was benefiting and so she decided to get up early too.

If your spouse engages in some activity you detest, perhaps the both of you can find some common ground that will provide amnesty for a reasonable dedication to modeling. For example, let’s suppose your spouse spends what you may consider an inordinate amount of time on the phone with family members talking about their various comings and goings. Perhaps you could come to an agreement that your spouse could be more amicable about your modeling if you are more supportive when she gets so involved in extended family happenings. You could also tactfully remind her that your models never demand immediate attention by randomly interrupting your current activity with a ringing bell several times during a given evening. This is a perfectly theoretical scenario I’m mentioning, of course!

Well, that’s enough random mumblings. Keep those models coming, but don’t forget to be sensitive to the other loved ones in your life. Maybe Santa will bring you a model or two this year instead of another pair of sunglasses.

7 Comments

THE DAY I QUIT MODELING

1/5/2019

6 Comments

By Brudder Bill

This is content from another of our Dem Brudders articles that appeared in the IPMS/USA Journal a long time ago. It was published WAY before Moebius Models released their rebooted Moonbus kit from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Prior to this, the original Aurora Moonbus kit was a high-priced collectible kit. Keep reading and you'll know why I mention this.

It’s the Late 1970’s-ish and I’ve just started college. I also have a steady girlfriend, and am working over twenty hours a week. In my spare time, I build models. My time has become quite fully utilized, and something has got to go. My girlfriend (whom I later will marry) supports me in my work and school activities but shares no enthusiasm whatsoever for my model building. Neither does my mother who informs me that it’s high time I outgrow such a “childish activity.” The women in my life prevail and the modeling hobby gets the deep-six treatment. Revell and Monogram get the raw end of the deal. You can tell from their earnings the following year.

Have you ever wished that life had an "Undo" button?

All but a handful of my built models and unbuilt kits are packed up in boxes. My mother surprises me by stating that some of them might actually be enjoyed by someone else and they ought to be given to a younger acquaintance who seems “interested” in modeling. I take a couple large boxes of really good stuff to his house. He accepts them, but I don’t hear a thank-you, and I never hear what happens to them.

I briefly ponder what to do with the run-of-the-mill models, and call up one of my friends. This guy is in the same boat as me since we are the same age. He’s started school at the local university too and also has a girlfriend who occupies his limited spare time, but we set aside an afternoon for the disposition of a dozen or so built models of various types and sizes.

Ever since we were very young, my friend Pete had always been a great source for things like matches, fireworks, and gunpowder; items that were either non-existent or closely inventoried in my household. His older brothers are quite enthralled with firearms, and Pete seems to have available for his pleasure a virtually unlimited supply of gunpowder and a dizzying choice of weapon types ranging from homemade muzzle-loaders to some I shouldn’t mention here. His folks have attitudes about such devices that could only be described as somewhat relaxed compared to my own parents. After carefully considering our options, we decide to stick with the classics and so procure some .22 caliber rifles and an unmodified twelve-gauge shotgun. We reload a healthy assortment of shells with diverse combinations of powder and shot to observe their varying effects on the models. Some large bottle rockets had also been obtaining dust in his basement, so we secure those as well, and head for the hills.

I don’t need to go into great detail about how our afternoon Way Back When was actually spent, but you can probably well imagine at this point. At the time, the phrase “rare kit” was not a part of my vocabulary, and today, I regret my choice. Yes, we exercised sound judgment with the firearms. We carefully selected a safe spot in a remote area and practiced range safety and gun handling techniques that facilitated our general continued well being. On the other hand, however, the shaky duct-tape marriage of models and large bottle rockets represented a temporary but serious lapse of common sense, and we were probably fortunate to escape injury in spite of the dynamic results. What I regret most about that day, though, was the assumption I made that model building was an activity that needed to be abandoned. The concept of “hiatus” simply had not occurred to me.

On occasion, during my schooling years, I entertained memories of my old modeling days. They represented good times whether consisting of browsing the hobby shops or of building my acquisitions alone or with my brother or friends. More and more, I missed those days but never seriously considered returning to the hobby since I had “grown up.” A few years later when I had nearly completed my studies, my mother, a schoolteacher, inquired about my assistance with a presentation on space exploration for her fifth grade class. She thought it would be great if I had any spacecraft models to display.

Freddy Flameout's flames are out, but his model contest days are over. Dick's pal Alan contemplates his retirement from modeling in the mid-1960's.
Photo: Dick Engar

I was a bit vexed since she had been quite insistent years previously that I dispose of those offending spacecraft models that I then possessed. She surprised me by agreeing to pay for new ones, so I went to a hobby shop and bought Monogram’s 1/144 Saturn V moon rocket and 1/72 Space Shuttle orbiter kits for the noble cause of educating children. Amazingly, I was able to locate my old airbrush and compressor in my folks’ basement, and I dusted off the venerable project table and went to work. The models were built with relative haste and the presentation was given. The kids were quite enthralled by the large model of the Space Shuttle. The modular Saturn V model was a powerful visual aid, helping a group of kids born after the last moon landing to better understand the mechanics of how this miracle was performed. It was quite amazing to see their collective attention solidly riveted on this model and its inner workings. What impressed me the most, however, was the fact that I enjoyed building these models just as much as I did when I was a kid myself. I had to have more...

By the time my schooling was completed and I found myself with my first “real” job and some extra time, I had already begun to purchase a few new models. The earliest of these were obtained on clearance at a significant discount. They were newer kits that I had only been able to dream about when I was building models as a youth.

Kit collecting 101: Modelers possessing more maturity thank you for increasing the value of their rare, collectible kits

This, and other such subjects that had become available since I had left the hobby, made the lure of plastic modeling just too much to resist. I made a list of about a dozen aircraft subjects that would make a desirable, definitive and reasonable collection. My plans were to complete those, satisfy my modeling nostalgia fix, and perhaps move on to some other activity like photography or model trains. Yeah, right!

Since there was no suitable place to build models where I lived at the time, I would stop in at my folks’ house to work on my new kits since my airbrush resided there. My mother loved the visits and thus encouraged the activity—an irony, since she was the primary motivation for my abandonment of the hobby previously. A later move to a new house with an unfinished basement provided the means to more conveniently build and store models, and the “definitive collection” list grew to several hundred subjects over time. I’ve got it pretty good now. My mother, who hated model building with a passion, is responsible for my return to it. My dear, sweet wife has fortunately learned to put up with it.

Brudder Dick saved most of his models, unlike Brudder Bill, who was somewhat less disciplined. These classics from this 1966 photo taken by Dick are still around in his collection of built models.

My story is certainly not unique. It seems that most adults who profess to be model builders gave up the hobby for a period of time and then returned to it, amazed by the advances and new kits that appeared during their “time off.” I’m sure there are many thousands of people out there that haven’t yet returned to the hobby but might do so if properly reintroduced. Perhaps those of us who consider ourselves addicted modeling enthusiasts can get the word out that the hobby is alive and well. I don’t think we need to use aggressive recruiting techniques or a hard-sell approach. These tactics tend to turn people off, especially in our current age of Internet spam advertising and aggressive telemarketing. Something simple like displaying a built model or vintage kit box art on your desk at work will create a conversation piece that will certainly produce interest by coworkers in your modeling activities. Then, a simple invitation to a club meeting or even a stop at the local hobby shop on your mutual lunch break may spark an interest that can only help our hobby when another prodigal modeler returns to the fold. Many of them will put down serious bucks to replace models they destroyed as kids, sometimes paying hundreds of times the original cost. One crazy act often begets another. At least the sellers don’t mind.

As for my desire to keep modeling…well, I won’t be quitting any time soon. While my dear, sweet wife doesn’t enjoy the activity, she acknowledges that it helps me blow off steam from a demanding mad-scientist career. It also helps me to be more amicable about certain things she does with her time that could otherwise drive me nuts. Also, it seems that there’s always just one more new kit out there that I’ve just gotta have. When will I quit modeling again? The day I quit modeling will be the day they’re screaming for snowplows in Hell. Or they’ll be prying my last kit from my cold, dead fingers as the old firearms cliché goes. But not for a while, I hope.

6 Comments

Yes, we model

1/1/2019

2 Comments

Do You Model, Or Are You A Modeler?

This post by Bill Engar has content from an article originally published a long time ago in the IPMS/USA Journal. Dem Brudders heartily recommend participation in this fine organization. Sign up today! Tell them Dem Brudders sent you!

How do people react when you tell them you’re a modeler? I can’t totally figure out why some folks react the way they do, but this post will examine some of the standard reactions and attempt to explain them. We should point out to the Very, Very Nervous that we will be speaking some tongue-in-cheek language here. With that said…

YOU DO WHAT??!!

At a neighborhood function, a family friend who hadn’t seen my brother in many years asked me how he was doing. I explained, and in the course of the conversation, the fact that we had recently gone out-of-state to a model contest came up, and I told her that we were both modelers. All fine and good, right?

Well, another neighbor talked to this neighbor, and somehow, the mistaken notion was born that my brother and I were MALE MODELS, and people wanted to know if we modeled clothing for catalogs, department stores, or what? Now, if anybody asks, my brother and I BUILD MODEL AIRPLANES! You figure modelers out there may have to put forth extra efforts to help the uninitiated understand exactly what it is that you do.

SOME PEOPLE JUST DON'T GET SCALE MODELING

ISN'T THAT FOR KIDS?

ThIs subject is a good one for debate. Perhaps you could reply that ignorance is for kids, too, but that would be a rude thing to say about kids. Yes, kids build models (or at least most of them used to), and that’s where the majority of us started the hobby. Most people who smoke probably started doing it when they were teenagers, but nobody is suggesting that tobacco is for kids. Perhaps a comparison of the addictions of modeling and tobacco will be good fodder for a later “Dem Brudders” post, but the fact of the matter is that John Q. Public doesn’t realize just how mature the modeling hobby has become over the years.

How many people go into a museum and ask if a finely crafted and finished replica was built by a kid? How many kids buy those 1/350 battleship and aircraft carrier subjects? Do they fork out a couple hundred bucks-plus for the large-scale kits from Trumpeter? How about the legions of resin kits that price in the several-hundred dollar range? Hey, mom! Can I have a raise in my allowance?

WHY DO YOU HAVE ALL THOSE UNBUILT KITS?

We all get this one, and do I really need to explain? Even within our own community, some modelers who have a stash of kits deny that they’re collectors. Face it! If you have more than one kit that hasn’t been started, you’re a collector! We all have plans to build new projects. We all know that some kits are not going to sit on store shelves forever just waiting for the year that we’re ready to finally start them. How many of us put more time and effort into our models than we used to? It takes longer to finish them, and projects stack up! I enjoy my large collection of unbuilt kits. I've sold some over the years on eBay, and made a return on my investment that would make any stockbroker green with envy. My wife took notice, and I don’t even need to smuggle my new models into the house any more!

WHY DO YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE OF THE SAME KIT?

I have a close relative that just can’t seem to get over this one (it’s NOT my brother in case you are asking)! If I have more than one of the same model, that supposedly makes me some kind of compulsive freak or something. Of course, I don’t mind being called a compulsive freak. I do love to point out how two completely different models can be created from a pair of identical kits. My best example at present is a 1/144 scale U-2 aircraft model that closely resembles that flown by Gary Powers, and a “Ferrari Red” F-104 in the same scale. Most people are quite surprised to learn that both models started out as two identical Crown F-104 kits. The U-2 did require more work to produce a good model, but not much. Those of you who’ve tried to build the F-104 will know what I’m talking about.

AREN'T THEY JUST TOYS?

After fielding the previous questions, if you get this one, you’re really dealing with an enlightened individual! First of all, if anyone produces toys detailed to the same level and quality that most experienced modelers put into their projects, then where can I buy some at a toy-like price? The same logic could be used to question anyone who buys any work of art such as a painting or a sculpture. It’s not the real thing; therefore, it must be a toy, right? Even if we follow the instructions to the letter, use kit decals and recommended paints, the skill and craftsmanship we put into our models makes them works of art in one sense. The kit is merely our medium. Now, I hope I don’t reignite that whole “fine art” vs. “it’s only a hobby” thing, but I want to make my point clear that both art and hobbies entail talent, innate or developed. To be a good ambassador for the scale modeling hobby, perhaps it is best to tell the uninitiated that it has evolved over the last few decades into a pastime that anyone and everyone can enjoy.

I KNEW YOU BUILT MODELS SO I BOUGHT YOU THIS KIT AS A GIFT! I HOPE YOU LIKE IT...

How often have you received models as gifts? Now, I’m not talking about gifts from fellow modelers. I always like those. I’m talking about the models as gifts from the truly uninitiated. One of our biggest challenges as modelers can be feigning excitement over a kit received as a gift when it is nowhere near our subject matter of interest or preferred scale. Perhaps you could reciprocate by giving the well intentioned person a new piece of clothing with no thought to appropriate size, color, or style. For example, let’s suppose you have a passion for ship modeling and Grandma buys you a slot-car kit for Christmas. For her birthday, why not pick up a black leather item for her from one of those “apparel and accessories” shops in the shady part of town? Actually, in an instance like this when someone gives you something you consider a modeling oddity at best, maybe you ought to bite the bullet and build the kit anyway. Venturing outside your normal modeling routine may just turn out to be a refreshing diversion and your skills range might be broadened as well. And you could hint that a gift certificate to your favorite hobby shop might be a unique surprise next time.

WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS?

This is the question that the modelers feel like asking those less informed about our hobby. Perhaps one reason is that scale modeling has to compete with so many other activities for the attention—and revenue—of John Q. Public. The pastimes nowadays that get the most notice are the ones that screech the loudest. Take extreme sports for example. If you told someone that you are into mountain bike cliff diving, you’ll probably get fewer quizzical looks than if you tell them you build scale motorcycle models.

(Dem Brudders are actually a little flattered that somebody thought, even mistakenly, that we could somehow pass as male models)

Marketers and media tend to gravitate to more brash and sensational activities nowadays. They know that bright, flashy colors and lots of action are needed to snag channel surfers. Perhaps if we build models inside a live volcano or while skydiving, the media will pay attention and give the hobby some exposure beyond the “boys and their toys” stereotypes that we sometimes get saddled with.

The model kit companies seem to be hesitant to expend the revenue that would be necessary to advertise their wares on national TV and into mainstream culture. One notable exception is Bandai. This company has marketed their vast Gundam robot model line to a young audience with great success. Until the other companies can do the same thing, it’s up to us individual modelers to get the word out. And how do we do that? First, let your friends and family view your collection. Endure and answer any of the aforementioned questions in a positive, diplomatic manner. Invite them to your club contests and meetings. Let them know where your local hobby shop is and encourage them to stop in. Give a non-modeler one of your kits as a gift! And you know where to get those! Give them the model that keeps on giving!

In conclusion, get a kick out of your hobby—and the unique questions others ask about it!

2 Comments

dem brudders begin

1/1/2019

8 Comments

Our Odyssey: Life Before the I.P.M.S. By Bill Engar

Who taught you how to build models? Do you have a modeling buddy? I was lucky enough to have the best teacher and mentor ever—my older brother. Dick is eight years older than I am. When you’re a toddler, a brother that much bigger seems like a giant or some kind of god. You are totally at his mercy whether he feels the compulsion to use you as a punching bag or give you the time of day if he’s feeling particularly generous. My earliest memory of my big brother was all the cool stuff he had!

I bored easily with my indestructible toys from Playskool and Fisher Price that had safely rounded edges, non-toxic paint, and parts that couldn’t easily be swallowed. Dick’s room was full of irresistible gadgets with all kinds of jagged edges, hazardous chemicals, dangerous voltages, and legions of tiny parts just begging to be inhaled. I felt like a tomb raider when I had the opportunity to sneak into his room and rifle through his treasures!

IPMS guys in training. Dick and Bill circa mid-1960's

Those big Lionel trains with the three-rail tracks used to draw approximately enough electrical current to light a sizeable portion of the Las Vegas Strip. The Consumer Products Safety Commission must have had a heyday with them. I don’t specifically recall plugging the massive transformer from Dick’s set into the wall and shorting the terminals together, but I’m told that the resulting arc of electricity would have made Ben Franklin jealous.

Everyone else also seems to recollect that one of the first words I learned to say was “Shock.”

Later, Dick’s growing assortment of plastic models garnered the gun sights of my fleeting but determined attention span. My unauthorized, early hands-on encounters with modeling emphasized more unintentional disassembly than anything else, and the net result was a sturdy new doorknob on Dick’s room with an expensive lock that simply could not be picked. Perhaps my fascination with his modeling was also part of the inspiration behind Dick’s hanging of his aircraft models way out of my reach from the acoustical-tile ceiling. By the time I attained conscious thought, his collection contained dozens of mostly 1/72 scale aircraft from World War II to (then) modern 1960’s era. First-run subjects from Airfix, Revell, Monogram, Lindberg, Hawk, and Aurora plied the skies and jockeyed for diminishing airspace in his basement stratosphere.

I shared a bedroom upstairs with my sister who was a few years older than me. One weekend when I was about five years old, she invited some friends for a sleepover, which displaced me at bedtime. It made me excited but a little nervous when informed that I would be sleeping downstairs for the first time in the extra twin bed in Dick’s room.

Our basement was dark and scary! The old furnace made weird noises! There were hairy spiders and, I was certain, bigger monsters unseen that lurked in the shadows of the closets and under the beds. Only Super-Humans like Dick ever slept down there and lived to tell about it. I don’t remember specifically what I said, but Dick understood my anxiety. He thought for a moment, and then hopped on a chair underneath his brand-new Revell YF-12A Interceptor model. The kit of the then-cutting edge jet must have just been released, and was the pride of his fleet. He removed the radome and pointed to the radar dish underneath. He informed me that it was a death ray that would shoot any monsters dead that came into the room, and that it always helped him sleep a lot better since it worked so well.

His explanation was sufficient, for I slept soundly, knowing that a 1/72 scale Revell YF-12A model was keeping vigil, or that at least a big brother who was maybe a just a little less than a giant or a god would protect me from any evils real or imagined that night.

Once my young hands possessed skills beyond dismantling and dismemberment of plastic models, Dick began to teach me some basic modeling skills, and I was authorized for brief forays into the exciting styrene realm of hobby knives, glue and paint. He allowed me to glue a few parts on his own projects, and to dab on a little paint here and there. After a maiden flight to its location in formation with the legions of other models in Dick’s 1/72 scale sky, I would proudly point to the new model and say that I got to help build it!

Bill shows off a new (at the time) 1967 Charger from Dick’s fastback cars model collection. Look closely and you’ll see that Dick added spark plug wiring, carpet flocking, pearlcoat paint, and early Bare Metal Foil. He was quite the cutting edge modeler at that time.

It was a great day when I finally received a model of my own—a 1/48 scale plank-wing F-84. I think it was a Hawk kit. Dick helped me for a while until he became a little frustrated with my fumbling fingers, and then finished the model for me. Just a few of the other joint projects we worked on in subsequent years included a 1/25 scale 1969 Corvette, a Revell set of 1/72 WWII fighters, and Revell’s big 1/48 scale Apollo spacecraft.

Dick and Bill "fly" a pair of Revell 1/72 WWII fighters they built together circa early 1970's-ish. Notice the far-out decor in Dick's basement room!

Finally, I was able to put the skills Dick taught me to use on many solo projects after that. We both grew up, and continued to develop our skills concurrently. While he had taught me the basics originally, I later learned to putty seams and use an airbrush on my own and introduced him to these techniques. He took the news pretty well that “Molded in Color” is not necessarily a virtue. In the late 1980's, I discovered our local modeling club and was quite amazed to find that others in the area actually shared my passion for model building.

I dragged Dick to a meeting, and he has been a permanent club fixture ever since. He jumped right into competition, and gave me the encouragement I needed to take that sometimes intimidating first step into the competitive world of local model contests.

I had known about IPMS/USA for a long time, and hoped that some day I could feel that I was a good enough modeler to actually participate in the national contest, and maybe even win an award. About a month before the 1995 Nationals in Albuquerque, Dick asked me if I wanted to go with him! Agreeing to do so was another big leap of faith for me, so I quickly joined up and finished a couple models for that contest. Both of us were surprised and pleased to bring home some awards, and had an enjoyable road trip together in the process. Since then, we have made it a yearly tradition to visit the Nationals or a nearby regional contest, and have formed many new friendships with some great modelers around the country.

My reason for mentioning all this is that by ourselves, neither of us could have progressed to our present skill level and enjoyment of the hobby of scale modeling. It is said that scale modeling is a solitary activity, but that’s certainly not a requirement. Whether it’s a brother, sister, parent, or child, or a good friend—scale modeling is always better when experienced with somebody else who shares a love for the hobby.

Once in awhile as Dick and I travel around to various contests, people marvel that two brothers from the same family could be so infected with the scale modeling bug. I’ve never given it much thought, and we’re not unique by any means. Perhaps I might have had the same love for aviation and modeling without the influence of a brother with the same passions. I guess there’s no way to know for sure. One thing is certain—I am a better modeler because of my big brother. I am proud to say that when we compete together in the same category at model contests, I can beat him about half the time! Perhaps I don’t view him in quite the same terms as I did when I was a toddler. Maybe he is just a little less than a giant, or some kind of god. But not much less.