Hello everyone..
I just realized there's an Introductions section so I thought I'd put a few words in here.
I live in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. But I was born and raised in Montreal, and my story is probably typical - as a kid I spent many happy hours building plastic models. As I grew up and life intervened, the hobby fell by the wayside. I was also always disappointed by the available selection. The models I wanted were simply not manufactured by anyone.
In particular, I wanted to build a model of the Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, when I was about 14 or so. While surfing the net in my 40s, I discovered that the ESA and other groups had created paper models of some of their ships. I looked around and found Ton's version of Voyager at jleslie48.com, and I was hooked. I should add that my Finance Minister (aka "wife") likes this hobby of mine because it takes place at home, it keeps me out of trouble, and it's inexpensive....
I started with a simple model of New Horizons (the ship on its way to Pluto) as an experiment with different glues and techniques. Then I started Voyager, and it seems it's been going on forever. I'm not a paper purist and I decided to make the trusswork from plastic stock. The build was also interrupted by a major move. If I get brave enough I'll post some pictures of this build (that I can find, anyway). The ship is not finished and sometimes I despair it will ever be done.. but I keep at it.
I've been lurking on and off at this forum for two years before finally posting to ask about Jan Rükr's Sulaco model. Seeing the obvious expertise from many people here is inspiring - daunting, even. It's a joy to see build pics from those who are so good at what they do.
One last note - I've noticed at least one other person from Kingston in the forum. If you'd like to get together and swap stories over coffee, drop me a line.
I just realized there's an Introductions section so I thought I'd put a few words in here.
I live in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. But I was born and raised in Montreal, and my story is probably typical - as a kid I spent many happy hours building plastic models. As I grew up and life intervened, the hobby fell by the wayside. I was also always disappointed by the available selection. The models I wanted were simply not manufactured by anyone.
In particular, I wanted to build a model of the Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, when I was about 14 or so. While surfing the net in my 40s, I discovered that the ESA and other groups had created paper models of some of their ships. I looked around and found Ton's version of Voyager at jleslie48.com, and I was hooked. I should add that my Finance Minister (aka "wife") likes this hobby of mine because it takes place at home, it keeps me out of trouble, and it's inexpensive....
I started with a simple model of New Horizons (the ship on its way to Pluto) as an experiment with different glues and techniques. Then I started Voyager, and it seems it's been going on forever. I'm not a paper purist and I decided to make the trusswork from plastic stock. The build was also interrupted by a major move. If I get brave enough I'll post some pictures of this build (that I can find, anyway). The ship is not finished and sometimes I despair it will ever be done.. but I keep at it.
I've been lurking on and off at this forum for two years before finally posting to ask about Jan Rükr's Sulaco model. Seeing the obvious expertise from many people here is inspiring - daunting, even. It's a joy to see build pics from those who are so good at what they do.
One last note - I've noticed at least one other person from Kingston in the forum. If you'd like to get together and swap stories over coffee, drop me a line.
As for the voyager, Johnathan Leslie's site hosts two great voyager models, both of which are quite detailed.