Where is all began
I have been building models since I was about 10 years old. I think my first model was an old Monogram TBD. I hacked and slashed it together, and in the end it looked like an airplane so I was happy. After that I mostly built airplanes, but I had built an occasional Star Trek or Star Wars model. As I got older, I started getting more serious about building. I eventually got an air brush from my parents and acquired some better tools. Next was trying to make models that looked more real and not so toy-like. When the internet came along, I found all sorts of great info on model building. After reading lots of articles and seeing some amazing builds online, my skills quickly improved. I was able to make models that didn't come in a kit, and I learned how to use aftermarket add-on kits. Now, I can make some pretty cool models. At some point in there, I had a friend who had some server space, so I built a web page for fun.
My original site was just a 'for fun' site that almost nobody saw. It was about me and what I did, so there were only a few model pictures on it. Eventually, I decided to make it a modeling site and took out all the extra stuff. After several years, hat site has turned into something like this one. After over a decade of maintaining the old site, I got busy with life and I didn't have time to dedicate to keeping it up to date. I decided to shut it down in 2014 because I was going months between updates, and even longer between model builds.
However, I now have much more free time on my hands. I've still been building models, and I've gotten some nice ones done that I enjoyed sharing on Reddit in the r/SciFiModels and r/modelmakers subreddits. I also had made a home server for movies, our family pictures, and other small things. I thought, why not figure out how to host the website myself? This way, I can continue to showcase my models and help keep my computer skills up to speed. I'm also something of a computer geek, so this is a nice melding of two of my favorite hobbies.
Who is Erick?
But, who am I? Well, I was a pilot in the Air Force. I had always wanted to fly when I was a kid, and I managed to make my dream come true. I flew C-141s around the world for a couple years, and I had a lot of fun doing it. Then the C-141 went away and I went to Las Vegas to fly the MQ-1A Predator, the well known spy drone. Not as fun as going around the world, but interesting nonetheless.
I am now out of the Air Force and have moved on to civilian life. I thought I was going to end up outside airplanes for while, but life didn't turn out that way. I ended up getting a job as a test pilot for the Global Hawk UAV. It turns out that some people like the fact that I flew remote controlled planes, and offered to pay me a lot of money to do it. Who would have thought? (Well, apparently everyone I'm working with, so I guess a lot of people.) I got married and had kids since I moved to Las Vegas, so I wanted to do something that doesn't take me to all ends of the world without them. This job does exactly that. Also, my wife found her dream job where we now live as well. It's like it was meant to be. Gotta love it when a plan comes together.
My Workspace
My workspace has changed several times throughout my model building years. When I was in pilot training, I had a corner in a big room in the house I rented with some classmates. Then I was able to devote it to a room in my apartments over the years. After moving into our current house, it was in our 'hobby room.' My wife liked to scrapbook at the time, and we both computer games, so we made a hobby room in our house. There was one big table that wrapped around two walls, and the closet was full of hobby stuff. When our kids started to get a little older, we decided to move the hobby room to the den to give the kids some more individual space instead of the shared play area in the den. I didn't really have enough room to build when we moved rooms, so I took it all into the garage. It was something of a Man Cave though, with shelves to show my models, and my other tools right behind me. It got hot in summer, but I just shifted my building to the evenings to avoid that. After doing that for a while, we got a better setup in the den, and I was able to make a space that I can either work/play games on the computer, or build models. It's worked out great. I made a couple custom inserts to fit in my Ikea Alex desk drawers, and now I have all my model tools right next to me, safely tucked away from the cats. It doesn't take a lot of room to build models when you keep your tool organized, and you can see how I do that in my tips page. (When I finally add it, at least.)