O mne

Since I was a young boy I was and I still am fascinated with planes. I started to built models from the age of around 10 till about 15. The period I am talking about were the good old seventies with brandnames like Airfix, Heller and Matchbox. The last one was very good to get in my neighberhood and back then we had some small shops who besides selling all kinds of things, also had a small stock of model kits. So for me as a very young boy I was possible to take my bicycle a get me a new kit. The choice was not always great so sometimes I came back with a plane that not really was on my wishlist. My main choice were the planes of the Belgian Airforce which I saw almost fly daily over my head. But besides the modern jets from those days I also liked to built WW2 planes.
If I look back to that period I almost cannot understand how I made those planes as a youngster without the help of good materials and specially get good information, there was no internet ! My main source was to write to the Belgian Airforce and get as many posters as were available at that time. Some of there posters I still possess after 50 years. Mainly the kits were built straight out of the box but I started to experience with scratch numbers and letters from a special paper, I think the older modellers will also remember this technique. After all there were no computers and printers, all had to be done by hand, so was my painting of the model. But it was fun.
Sadly (I pitty the decision from then) I stopped making models as a teenager and switched to do sports till the age 55.
In 2016 I saw the light again for picking up the first hobby. And after making a first model, a giant B-17 at 1/48 scale, I decided to make mainly the Fouga Magister.
It was the plane that stole my heart as a young boy and The Red Devils made that feeling only stronger.
The restart of the hobby was not easy after 50 years, a lot of new things I had to discover, like what kind of paint is the best, which brand should I choose ? I quickly started to use aqua paints but after some time I bought me an airbrush and I found out that also here there were many kinds/brands of paints to choose for. Learning the right airbrush techniques was something that took time, but what a great tool it is, what a difference with the handbrushes from
my younger years !
After 5 years now I am still learning but I feel a lot of progress since the beginning in 2016. And that makes the hobby more fun if you can improve the skills. I hope I can do this wonderfull hobby for many years to come but I wished I had started much earlier, now I realize that I lost some good years of healthiness because if I learn something, that is you need good eyes and a stable hand.