Minusta

I guess that like many here I built scale models as a boy. My subject matter was aircraft, mostly from Revell, though the first kit I ever put together was the USS Enterprise (USS Enterprise, CVA-65) that I assembled in a room where I could see her out the window when she was in port at the Alameda Naval Air Station. She was 15 miles away, but her tower was so unique there was no question about her identity. I did have a few other ships that I built, but I think the one I was ultimately most proud of was the racing yatch America.

As I grew older and my life become increasingly more complicated and busy, I drifted away from models and modeling. I'm fairly certain that my collection got caught up one of the purges that my parents undertook in the years after they became empty-nesters. No one seems to remember what happened to my completed projects, but they are most assuredly not in my possession nor in that of anyone I know.

Fast forward to today. I'm sitting in the same room where I sat and assembled that very first kit. Except I'm an adult, approaching retirement, my mother is no longer guiding me and helping with the instructions, instead she naps and resists asking for help even though she insists that she needs me to be around much of the time. The Enterprise was decommissioned in 2017 and is likely in mothballs somewhere. The Alameda Naval Air Station is derelict, but has been the sight of many TV shows including the ever popular Myth Busters. Even the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been renovated and changed.

But one thing remains. I'm endlessly fascinated with building models. My journey back to the hobby started with sleeplessness and Youtube. That resulted in purchasing paints, tools, a couple of kits and an excitement that I can't say I've felt in a very long time.

Today I seem to walking back through the kits I remember building as a kid, hoping to do them more justice as an adult than I did as a boy. The simple addition of an airbrush basically ensures that (though I'm not yet very good with it.)