SPA Modeler

The year was 1988. Cameron, my little home town, had a Winns department store that sold models. I hadn't built a scale model in many years and that one was destroyed by my daughter at age 2. I had become somewhat enamored with modern military jets. I thought that scale models would give me a good sense of their shapes and sizes. So, one fine day I walked into Winns and bought Monogram's 1/48 Republic A-10A. Soon, I purchased my Paasche Model H and a few bottles of paint. Next thing ya know, why, I'm building a Thunderbolt, or a "Warthog"! I tried to go slow and exact, avoiding all my past mistakes. I remember working on her at night and finally spraying the finish coats with the H and "canned air". I had no idea that decals needed a smooth, glossy surface, and wondered why mine "silvered" so much. There was soooo much to learn!

When I finished the model, I was proud. I thought it was certainly the best job I'd done on an aircraft model, and it sent me out to buy more. The second was Revell's 1/48 F-4E (which ironically, and inexplicably, ended up with what is still one of my best paint jobs! Go figure, eh?). I remember showing the Warthog off to friends who also seemed suitably impressed. Or, at least they said so. All was fine until I bought my first issue of Finescale Modeler. It was the January 1989 issue and it featured Bob Steinbrun's beautiful YP-80A conversion. I was just blown away and suddenly made aware of what great scale modeling looked like.

I recently posted my latest completion, the A6-E, and took it to the airport of course. Loading up, I started thinking of what else I could take out there. Then it hit me-take that old Monogram A-10 out and see how she looks out there. I thought it would make a nice "book-end" for my Intruder session. So, without further ado, here's my first scale model (as an adult builder). I'd like to think that I have made a little progress over the years.

From 1988, ol' number one:

























And just for grins, here's "ol' number two", the Revell F4-E:

That is amazing. Not the work, I expect that from you. It is amazing you still had them!

Nothing like seeing a good ol' weathered beaten A-10 at the airport. The F-4 looks equally as good. How I wished I still have my first kit as a kid. One of these days, I'm gonna have to unload my old kits (or what's left of them) from my younger years and post pics.

Star and bar is upside down....pffft...amateur!!!

Looks a heck of a lot better than my last Monogram A-10, which at the time, was my "game changer"!
Up to that point(this was during my 1st return to building), everything I built was one color, and that color would be whatever rattlecan I might have at the time. Typically, I had black, white, light and dark primer greys and the "camo" colors from Walmart...tan, green and greener.
That A-10 was my first multicolor model(that wasn't brush painted). I freehanded that paint job with rattlecans...it was so awesome!!! It wasn't until some years later, I was helping a coworker with a side job(painting a room), he used masking tape on all the trim...."Ah ha!...I can use this on my models...I'm a genius!!!". Youth is so wasted on the young

LyleW wrote:That is amazing. Not the work, I expect that from you. It is amazing you still had them!

Lyle, what we have here is, a big-time collector of all sorts of useless stuff from my past. Hell, I've got stuff from junior high still stashed somewhere. Now finding all of it, eh, there's the rub!

Thanks for the compliments brother!

Thanks Blacksheep! I know what you mean about the old kits. Some I remember vividly, and sometimes I'm just reminded that I had a certain kit when I was just a kid. I remember giving away a big cardboard full of toy soldiers and tanks, etc. Man, I had 'em from all sorts of eras, and from several countries. What great battles I staged! But, at about 15 or 16, I was certain that I was much too "grown" for such things and gave them to a much younger second-cousin.

Fermis, you got the amateur part dead on. I'm surprised that's the only one upside down (heh, heh, I just checked to be sure. ). I remember spraying away with that H, laying down each color with no regard really for how the edges looked, or anything else for that matter. In between letting the canned air warm back enough to spray. And, I convinced myself that I had done a good job. Oy, what I didn't know then!?!? Or now, for that matter...

Yup.... everything is relative! Your first build when you returned back to the fold has held up well over the years. Not bad at all... It's funny how much we learn along the way here. Some folks (not me) are just luckier to have a more rapid path to the same point...

Thanks Carlos! Everything is relative; that's so true. That's why I thought the A-10 looked so good I imagine. Compared to the tube-glue bombs I "built" as a kid, it was miles better.

'l like them! Both of them!

- Kari

Thanks Kari! They are pretty rough I guess, but each does have a certain charm. At the least, I can see "where I started" way back then. Thanks again!