......... I don't love ships. Now don't get me wrong, I like ships. I like trains and airplanes and race cars. I like skyscrapers and hydroelectric dams and other big man-made things. I like pianos (make my living working on them). I like to watch How It's Made. I even like it when my wife says something or other in the house is broken and needs to be fixed (although it's almost always something she's recently touched ;). I like a lot of things, but there is no passion here for boats.
My experience with real live boats is limited. I got behind the wheel of a few of my friends motor boats on the bay or the lake over the years, and of course went as fast as I (it) could. Once I attempted to sail a little two- person sailboat (10' maybe?) on a moderately windy day on one of Minnesota's 10K lakes. It took me less than 5 minutes to have the sail IN the water. I got kind of seasick on a ferry boat once too.
That's about it. Not much brine in me blood. Avast ye mateys, not I.
BUT, I DO love ship modeling.
I built a zillion plastic models when I was a kid, mostly cars, but also my share of planes, ships, tanks, birds (do they still make plastic bird models?), space stations and the like. At some point I left that all behind, but it stayed in my (brackish) blood. Somewhere in the back of my mind was a thought-- "someday, I'm gonna build a wooden ship model".
That thought stayed way back there for a lot of years through my (sometimes strange, but I'll spare you) journey through life. When I was about 30 years old I finally had a real job, and a bit of disposable income. "I'LL BUILD A WOODEN SHIP MODEL!"---- I bought a Radio Shack Color Computer instead- I had started a small business and realized the computer would be a useful
tool- so that became my
new hobby for several years. Boat to the back burner.
Then 12 years ago, my son (then about 10) expressed an interest in plastic models.
We bought each other a car
kit one Christmas, and worked on them together -bonding over the
paint and the
glue and the mess. We did some planes and tanks and all, but something was missing. In his mid teens he lost interest (I understand, been there!), but I was hopelessly addicted again.
So.............. I just ordered my fourth kit, the MS Glad Tidings Pinky Schooner, and CAN'T WAIT until it arrives.
I really love this hobby, for the challenge- for the measuring and the cutting and the wondering ("what the heck??") and the engineering and the nuance and having the right tool (or if not, making the almost-right tool work) and the ooh's and aah's from the family and friends "(you made that!? boy do you have a lot of patience") and all that (you know!).
And I'm glad that I found this forum. I am not much of a social networker, but I feel at home here. I greatly admire those of you who DO love ships, and have acquired vast knowledge and are willing to share that knowledge. Thank you all for that.
Anyone else out there like me?..... or should I hang my head in shame. I don't love ships. (But I like them a lot!).
- the musings of a ship modeler without a model ship to build, on a rainy Saturday afternoon
