Since a young boy I have been fascinated by the 'Age of Sail'.

I first went on the Vic when I was 9 and have been hooked ever since. So my first love really is warships. I have tried other forms of modelling, but you can never beat wood models for a 17/18/19th century warship (any ship really).

I also feel it's more craftsman like than plastic modelling which I find fiddly and I have never been able to paint them properly. Plus, I think wooden ships are without doubt the most stunning of all models when done right.

So basically, my main passion is undoubtedly wooden ships. I wouldn't mind doing a Mississippi paddle steamer next, but not sure which model to go for.

I only live 40 mins away from Portsmouth & have visited Vicky on numerous occasions & I have to agree that she is stunning & one of my favorites.

I also agree that a decent model from the age of sail does produce that WOW factor, but it is hard to stell a story with them, mainly due to pure size.

Painting & finishing does make or break a plastic model, but when they are done right & put in the right setting they can look just as good & do set the imagination going.

Thanks for commenting it's good to see how passionate people are for the hobby.

Many years ago, I was walking on Beverley Westwood, where Hull and District Flying Club have their Meets. I stopped to watch some of the models being launched.While I was standing there a chap pulled up and from the back of his car produced, to many oohs and aahs, a beautiful model of a Lancaster Bomber, complete with crew figures and every detail, it must have been something like 1/32 scale. I stayed to watch the maiden flight of this beauty, which literally went about 50 ft into the air, then plunged vertically down and smashed into many pieces. To absolute silence the poor chap produced a cardboard box from the back of his car picked up as many pieces as he could and drove away without a word.

My first model kit was a 1/72 Airfix spitfire that i painted blue, with the help of my dad who had bought it for me for my 7th Birthday. I have been building models ever since (35 years) My first passion was for war ships I guess because my grandfather was in the navy. I built lots of small scale war ships with a few others thrown in I remember doings a Chinese junk the QE2 and even a north Sea oil rig. In my teens I discovered the world of 1/35 tanks with my first job gave me money for model magazines and that opened my eyes to the world of after market upgrades and verlinden diorama products. I pretty much exclusively built AFVs and tanks in diorama form until my 30s. My passion for modelling also fuelled my interest in history and I took 4 years out of working to get a degree in 20th century Military history. Although i did occasionally stray from the world of military vehicles that is probably where I would have stayed until one day I spotted an advert on the TV for the DeAg Victory. My first wooden ship. I have always loved these big sailing ships in museums etc never thought about doing one myself and loved the idea of tacking something new. If you look at the start of my Victory build diary you will see I kicked of my build in the 'rivet counting' plastic mindset. I have learnt as i have progressed with victory that wooden ship building is not about accuracy as much as the challenge of construction, and I have defiantly caught a bug for it; and regained my passion for ships!!

With Victory came this forum, and just like buying model magazines in the late 1980s it has revolutionised my hobby. being able to talk, share and learn is fantastic. even if i can not get to my model desk every day I can get to the forum. since i joined in 2010 it has become huge - long may it grow! I have new friends and new skill because of this forum. I have sent detail packs for the Victory all over the world and lost count of how many i have sent (more going out tonight).

Like most model builders I have several models on the go at any one time and flit between them depending on my mood but I have decided going forward I will have two plastic and two wooden projects on the go. so When my Hood is done she will be replaced with Bismarck and when my tank is done he will be replaced with a Famo tank transporter i have had in a box with etch sets for 8 years!!! I have space for one more wood project and that will be the titanic life boat ( hope to subscribe to that soon - look out for a build diary

J

my first build was a mini cooper s monte rally i remember it as it still sits at my dads house i progressed to model motor cycles as i used to ride bikes as a teenager then came the f1 years loved formula one built all sorts of bikes minis and fi cars from plastic kits then one day at 17 years old i was asked to build a ship a plastic kit that sat in this mans house for years and never left the box he asked if i could try build it for him as it was his sons who passed he was an older man that was from an elderly home i took the challenge never ever built a ship but instantly was challenged by it and baffled at first but it progressed well got to rigging i remeber being over whelmed and it sat there for week after week he kept asking hows it going and i didnt let him know how it was beating me then one day it all came together i rigged it somehow he was amazed at what i had done and he took it home and i never saw it again i then went the career path and concentrated on work and life never built a model again till 2011 hit 40 years old and tha pasion was there to build another ship the cutty sark was first on list and i came to the same thing rigging arghhhhh still getting through it now im 43 built more f1 cars and saw this victory build and thought its time to see what i can do with this kit am loving it so far i love the ship and am learning every day about its history so my pasion is starting to grow again woodern ships a thing of beauty for me but i still love my cars guess its the challenge for me and its great to find it again after such a long time away between 17 and 40 years of age

Hi All
Like Jase I started at around 7 with my dad building a sopwith Camel in plastic and a small wooden model of the 'Half Penny Galleon' it was a rendition of the galleon on the old half penny. I then started to build my own plastic kits and also got into the realms of free flight gliders and power, heady days with my D.C Merlin, Kiel craft Matador and living for the smell of diesel fuel, I chased the thing all over Sutton park and climbed a few tree's to get it back. I also built loads of the small kiel Craft rubber types with the stringers that never really flew and also some Jetex ones.
I progressed onto R.C and built a crashed loads ,one of my favorit's was the 'Panic' an ugly bi-plane with a 10cc engine on the front with a tuned pipe but boy could it perform airobatics, at this time I lived for flying but still built the occasional plastic kit and wooden ship.
After several years I found I was going more scale and enjoying the build more than flying and then due to circumstance didn't model for around 10 years, funny thing was I still looked in every model shop I found over these years to see what was new/going on.
I got back into modelling about 3 years ago now, and then subscribed to the 'Yamato ' build, I have to say the forum has been a great help at times with other people's contributions/advice, long may she reign
regards
Andy

Thanks for all your input, it's great knowing where we all came from & how we have deviated & progressed.

I couldn't tell you what my first kit was, but I do remember making an airfield scene (diorama) when I was about 10. It was a crashed spitfire.

The base was painted cardboard & all the items were Airfix. I had the control tower, ambulance, fire engine etc & I remember holding parts of the spitfire over a candle to bend & blacken them. Wish I still had it now!

For a long time I wouldn't buy anything made by anyone but Airfix, I remember when my local model shop, Concorde Models, started selling Tamiya, Dragon etc & no matter how good they looked I always thought Airfix where better!

Oh, how my views have changed.

Wilfy

Airfix all the way for me too when i was a kid, had a ceiling full of them and dioramas too. I remember the 1/24 harrier that i ruined when i was 11, far too much detail for a kid really. I think it was the instruction layout that i got familiar with and never really got in to another brand, absolutley hated matchbox kits with the horrible two tone colour scheme!