A few months ago I got the opportunity to participate in a project lead by the NorthWest Scale Modelers to provide models to the Museum of Flight for their sight impaired program. This program has volunteer docents that give tours of the Museum's Collection to visually impaired individuals and it was thought that 1/72 scale examples of the collection would allow a hands on experience, wherein the individuals could hold and feel the shape of different aircraft. I thought it sounded like fun and would be a rare opportunity to use my modeling for some societal good, so I volunteered to build a Sabre 5 and MiG-21 for the project. Thinking about the requirements, I was inspired by the World War Two ID models and decided that my two aircraft would ape the simple black finish of those models. The focus was on shape, rather than detail, so they should have been simple easy builds with no cockpit or landing gear. Of course, I procrastinated and was working on them until the last minute. The Zvezda MiG-21 went together really well, but the Fujimi Sabre had quite a few fit issues. This past weekend, I finally spraying them with Tamiya NATO black, and yesterday I actually finished them. First finished models in years! Hopefully, they are on their way to Seattle by mail to be turned over to the Museum on Thursday night. The lessons of these builds are that I can find a way to stretch out even a simple project for months and that I may have finally found an audience that appreciates my rather indifferent modeling skills...the blind...
The Zvezda MiG-21PFM:
1 comment:
I don't know how you guys have the patience for this! It's admirable. My dad's into it too, hours fly by! Lol, he's a pilot so its more entertaining to him than it is to me!
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