Re: SPA Modeler Member Interviews.
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 1:06 am
Yeah!
Scale Plastic Aircraft Modeler
Member Interview
John Eaton
How did you get started?
I have always been fascinated with airplanes, as part of my interests in machinery and technology. I grew up in a family owned and operated farming and water well drilling business where there were plenty of opportunities to learn about machinery - the “learn to fix it or you’ll be doing that work with a shovel, son!” kind of opportunities. I was the kid in high school who knew both how to repair a series parallel switch and how a differential worked.
What was your first kit?
I started modeling plastic kits with the Revell box scale F-89, but I was already a veteran of tissue and balsa kits, one in particular a J-3 Cub with two left wings. The J-3 Cub refused to fly - so I ran around the yard with it until one day the wings folded up, which was a great disappointment.... I think our family dog was disappointed in that kit, too.
When I finished high school I found a night job that paid for private and commercial licenses. I went to A & P school in the daytime. I have always thought it strange that I could get a Commercial Pilot license at 17, but I could not get a Class A truck driving license until I was 18. (Didn’t matter to me since I had been driving a Mack LJT since I was 15.) It wasn’t smooth sailing getting a flying job, though, because I am color blind.
I graduated college with a degree in finance, working in the family business again until I got a job selling airplanes at a Beechcraft dealership. I received a waiver for my color vision which opened up charter flying. I flew for about 15 years full time, eventually getting an Air Transport rating. I bought and sold business jets and turboprops. I have been current in about 80 different airplanes, often in 7 or 8 at the same time. It was a satisfying and interesting career.
I think my flying time spanned one of the best eras of personal and business flying. Many times there simply wasn’t time to build any models, but I never lost interest.
Did you keep any early models?
All of the models I built before college are long gone, but I have a number of the ones I built in college. I wrote articles in R/C Scale Modeler and published plans that I sold. I traveled a lot, of course, and no town was left without at least one hobby shop plundered, which is how my collection of plastic models started growing.
What is your preferred scale?
I prefer 1/48 scale but I’m not tied to it, a B-52 in that scale is not in my future. I can’t explain why I have more than one 1/48 scale B-1 (unbuilt). I don’t really like 1/144 very much but it’s the only way to do a reasonable number of large aircraft so I do some of those.
I enjoy studying aviation history and technology. The stories of the pilots and crew are important, but we should not forget the people who designed, built, and maintained all these airplanes. There are interesting stories behind every one that made a mark, as well as behind the ones that were built in small numbers or never built at all. Another reason my collection is unreasonable is that there is no era or type that doesn’t catch my interest. The 30’s era French aircraft are underrepresented, but surely that is understandable, considering how esthetically challenged they were and are.
What are your favorite subjects?
I wish I would build more trucks and armor, and some cars. They are in the collection (it seems somewhat cold to call it a “stash”, as if it were something that might grow beneath your nose) but so far the winds of whim have not carried me far in that direction. My modeling skills would be better if I learned the techniques unique to those subjects. My displays would be more interesting if I knew more about diorama building.
What was your hardest kit built to date?
I wouldn’t want to label any one model as the hardest to build, or the one I like the most. Some are just average in both respects, and some that were easy to build resonate with me less. A model is hard for me to build if the subject is of great interest and the skills I need to build it are weak.
The Monogram B-36 and the Accurate Miniatures B-25 both were difficult in that respect. I needed to improve my ability to do natural metal paintwork on the B-36, and as an older kit the moldings in many areas like the wing engine cooling ducts needed improvement. The wing sits too high on the fuselage and it was a certain challenge to correct that and still end up with a model that is true and square. The size of the airplane meant I had to learn to work on specific areas without damaging work already done. However, I have many memories of the B-36 and that kept me going over the long time it took to finish it.
The B-25 was much less work but it seems about equal in terms of effort. It was built over the span of several years as was the B-36. Nothing was terribly wrong or hard to fix, but it was somehow an intense effort to get it where I wanted to be. The Williams Brothers C-46 was a great teacher, I repainted that model so many times I was sure it was never going to be anything more than a paint mule. In the end it worked out, and it seems fit that the old girl gets a spot in the display case. The fit was not good, the plastic was white, the engines were not useable, and it taught me how to rescribe. All buried under paint now and unimportant. Problem solving makes the hobby fun. Besides that, a fellow I flew with started his working career as copilot on a C-46. The fact that he hated the airplane doesn’t seem to bother me.
Do you have a “Grail kit?”
If I have a “Grail kit”, it is the Revell H-282 F-102A with the ground equipment. I have one in pristine condition, still with the cardboard dividers and packing paper in place. I paid way too much for it and probably should sell it so another person can enjoy it. I built one in 1957 when it was new and had no problems at all. It has always been a very memorable experience to me. I tried to put one together from a poor kit in recent times and the fit was abominable. Does the plastic shrink over time... or was I just more tolerant as a 10 year old?
Do you have a favorite kit maker?
The subject is more important than the kit maker to me, though I will avoid Trumpeter and Italeri if possible.
Favorite glue or glues?
Likewise, I have no favorite type of glue, each type has its place. If I had to give up some glues, the Tenax type, Tamya Extra Thin, and CA would be last to go. I buy the Tenax type from FlexiFile because I like the glass tube applicator. It would be hard to give up dental alginate, Perfect Plastic Putty, and Aves Epoxysculpt.
Do you have favorite paints you use?
I don’t like water based paints very much, those I have tried have been less successful for me that Model Master enamels and Tamiya Acrylics. I have been transitioning to Gunze and AK seems pretty good. I have to rely on premixed colors because of my color vision, or rather yours. They might look right to me even if they aren’t, or at least that’s what I fear.
Photography is another hobby and a lot of my subjects are models. I have a web site that has evolved over time and I post build logs and finished models there. My actual models age but the photos in digital form don’t.
I use a Pentax K-3II at the present time with a 16-85mm zoom which has a very close minimum focus distance. With 4 to 8 second exposures at f32-40 the depth of field permits even very large models to be in focus throughout and cockpit details can also be shot. I have a photo backdrop which installs quickly on my R/C building bench. All my shop lights are 5000 Kelvin fluorescents and the camera white balance is adjusted for that. Paul Boyer helped me with getting that part of it right, for which I thank him.
For me it is not so much what started me model building, it is more that model building started me.
Find more information on John and John’s work here:
http://www.goldeneramodel.com
