How do you deal with physical challenges while modelling?

[Jim R]

Like Ron I consider myself very fortunate. At 70 I have no health issues to speak of. When I read of what some of you have to cope with and still produce such superb models I am honestly impressed and humbled.
Jim

[boatman]

WELL I have the shakes now an then an I have back trouble from a injury at work but thank good ness I have good days as well as bad so on the good days I get stuck in to modelin an I also have a magnifier, like dave
chris

[Guest]

Eye sight. I asked the optician to provide specs with more magnifiation than readers.

Makes lot of difference. i do not have to use a magnifier much at all.

Also have neck problem. I have made two platforms about 3" high
so that I have the ability to work at 3" higher & place the other platform
on top 6" higher.

Just made up of cheap white face shelving with a piece of timber at each end.

[boatman]

Eye sight. I asked the optician to provide specs with more magnifiation than readers.

Makes lot of difference. i do not have to use a magnifier much at all.

Also have neck problem. I have made two platforms about 3" high
so that I have the ability to work at 3" higher & place the other platform
on top 6" higher.

Just made up of cheap white face shelving with a piece of timber at each end.

HI Laurie now that's a very good idea on how to help your self very well done :thumb2: chris

[Tim Marlow]

I am extremely short sighted and have worn glasses, then contact lenses, since I was small. I therefore wore an optivisor improve close up vision as a necessity. Recently I developed rheumatoid arthritis which made my hands and wrists extremely stiff and painful first thing in the morning, which in turn made the contacts very difficult to fit. As a result I took the decision to stop wearing contacts and only wear varifocal glasses. A bonus to this is that without glasses my eyes have about a two point five magnification close up, so I work over the top of my glasses and no longer need the optivisor. This will cause no further deterioration in my eyesight according to my optician, so is a real plus. The RA is currently in abatement due to medication so it’s a win win really....
Apart from that I occasionally get back problems, but a good quality fully adjustable office chair minimises the impact of that.
Good lighting should be taken as a must at any age to reduce eye strain.

[Guest]

Now I enjoy build the old model kits of my childhood and maybe give them a slight face lift but far as the super detailing and intricate stuff no more ...

That's a really great attitude to have, Lee. There seems to be many modellers like you and I that started modelling in very younger times, had a pause while life's priorities got in the way, then resumed at the other end of the innings. Recently I came across of photo of myself taken circa 1959 along with three early completed Airfix kits - a Hawker Hart, a Dak and a Wellington. That caused me to try to remember what kits I actually built before I finished schooling. I found a website that lists many of the early Airfix stuff and noted 22 models that I have some memory of building.

Unfortunately, none survived when, after leaving home permanently to start an apprenticeship at 16 years of age, my mother junked all of my possessions that I had left behind for safe-keeping, including my plane models and an Australian XI tie given to me by Wally Grout. That was my first lesson in making assumptions. Mum's comment was that she thought everything left behind was no longer wanted. :disappointed:

[PaulTRose]

That caused me to try to remember what kits I actually built before I finished schooling. I found a website that lists many of the early Airfix stuff and noted 22 models that I have some memory of building.

i once did similar....made a list of stuff that i definatly remember doing way back then.....plan was to have another go at them for old times sake

plan was scuppered once i started looking for the kits and realised so many are now collectable so demand silly prices!!

[Dave Ward]

Murfie,
I feel for you - my mother did the same - in the course of 'tidying up' - all my photographs of my time in the Merchant Navy were discarded....................... couldn't feel any anger, as she was in the early stages of dementia............
Dave

[Guest]

... plan was scuppered once i started looking for the kits and realised so many are now collectable so demand silly prices!!

You're right about the silly prices. Crikey, some of those kits were rough by today's standards. With most, the only cockpit detail was a seat and a pilot figure. But there was no such thing as a split canopy and so little could be viewed through the canopies of the day that it didn't really matter. When I recall the kit quality, paints and tools of the times, one appreciates how much 70 years of change has improved our precious hobby.

[Guest]

As you can see from my avatar, had a detached retina, 3 ops later have sight, with a slight blurring in that eye, but no good for close up work . The biggest thing was depth of field at first, but Iike many on here at 72 I'm in no hurry.

As to my first models built as a young teenager, my mother threw them all away .:disappointed: Don't suppose they were anything special, but would have been nice to have now.

[Guest]

Try modelling while having an heart attack.

Try sitting on the commode having a fag while having a heart attack - pop quiz - what do you do first??? Happened to me 2001.

[Guest]

At 72 I use the Optivisor for my modelling, kept getting frustrated that things were not going as planned. Had a word with the optician and he came out with the Optivisor, that was years ago and still using the same one. Arthritis - got it in the fore fingers, and just developing in the left one. Have developed a slight intermitant shake in the left hand, SWMBO reackons it is to much...... But I put it down to driving. Other than the ptsd still in one piece and trying to be as annoying as possible.
Mike.

[Guest]

Try sitting on the commode having a fag while having a heart attack - pop quiz - what do you do first??? Happened to me 2001.

Well,one of the thoughts that came to me was that I was going to die on the bog.
What do I do first? ring the wife.

[rtfoe]

Imagine working up the skills through the years so that I can make something better than I used to when a little lad and to find the body tools slowly deteriorating is sad. So far eyesight and arthritis in the left middle finger and right thumb are my weaknesses but have adapted. Being aggressive in my youth with all manner of sport from water polo to badminton, basketball, football and favorite hockey, I've had some real bad knocks and playing on astro turf isn't good for the knees so sitting for long periods can be quite painful to get up from. I will do the occasional walk around the house every half hour...the eyes also get adjusted at the same time by staring into the garden.
I think I still am lucky than others and like Ron says thank whoever lets me wake up another day raring to get on with it.

Cheers,
Richard

[Del640]

I am not alone!

New to the forum and as keen as mustard to get back into modelling (40 yrs ago in the ATC) I was surprised enough to see how evolved modelling had become.... unfortunately I soon realised I wasn't that 15yr old Cadet anymore and my body had evolved.... considerably.

A bad motorcycle accident in 2010 has given me a heart issue and my spinal nerves mess me about whenever they feel like it, this results in a shake in the hands when I need stability, overcome this by gripping with the other hand which is fine until I need both hands.

Eyesight is gone, shortsighted but I found a nice cheap standalone magnifying glass with built in Led and a smaller aperture for even tinier parts.

I will simply accept I'm an old fart.