discussion How do you deal with physical challenges while modelling?

[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.

 

[Guest]

I felt my body started letting me down just at the time I re-started this modelling lark. Of course it was probably the modelling that highlighted the problems, not least of all deteriorating sight. I have anisometropia, which is where one eye is considerably worse than the other. That can only be corrected by glasses to a certain extent, the rest you have to put up with. My long vision glasses only work after about 1 metre, and my reading glasses are at a fixed focal length. I therefore have to work very close, without glasses, and the only time I properly see my work at a comfortable viewing distance is after it's been photographed and posted on the screen. Eye-strain and neck and headaches are the usual results of overworking.

I also have type 2 diabetes, which means that I have to remember to stop working and eat something at regular intervals, otherwise the vision gets worse and that hand shakes. I also have chronic depression and anxiety, which can lead to obsessional traits, hence the higher number of bin jobs than average.

Would also be interested to here if anyone else who has had Covid-19 is still having health issues. It's certainly knocked me for six. Apologies for the long post!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Peter
i still get the occasional bought of tiredness that could be due to Covid-19 after effects, but to be honest I’m not sure if that’s caused by Covid, mild depression, or my anti RA drug methotrexate? The other symptoms took about two months to completely clear but are gone now. I did find it aggrevated my hay fever and gave me an RA flare as it left, but that could have been because my immune system was overcompensating. After this length of time it may be worth you contacting a GP. Perhaps you are experiencing something unrelated and are putting it down to Covid?

 

[Guest]

Would also be interested to here if anyone else who has had Covid-19 is still having health issues. It's certainly knocked me for six. Apologies for the long post!

I've not had it myself, but the mother in law has still not returned to full health 8 weeks after she was bed ridden with it. No more flu like symptoms but as a previously very active lady she's just lost her mojo and feels tired all of the time.

 

[boatman]

I felt my body started letting me down just at the time I re-started this modelling lark. Of course it was probably the modelling that highlighted the problems, not least of all deteriorating sight. I have anisometropia, which is where one eye is considerably worse than the other. That can only be corrected by glasses to a certain extent, the rest you have to put up with. My long vision glasses only work after about 1 metre, and my reading glasses are at a fixed focal length. I therefore have to work very close, without glasses, and the only time I properly see my work at a comfortable viewing distance is after it's been photographed and posted on the screen. Eye-strain and neck and headaches are the usual results of overworking.

I also have type 2 diabetes, which means that I have to remember to stop working and eat something at regular intervals, otherwise the vision gets worse and that hand shakes. I also have chronic depression and anxiety, which can lead to obsessional traits, hence the higher number of bin jobs than average.

Would also be interested to here if anyone else who has had Covid-19 is still having health issues. It's certainly knocked me for six. Apologies for the long post!

HI Peter an we know like all the others who have had this covid 19 an been to hell an back so there is no need for Apologies for the long post! you an all the others who have got through it we say well done
chris an jen

 

[Guest]

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.

Mine was "Damn, there's only one sheet left on the roll..."

 

[Guest]

I feel embarrassed. My few problems are insignificant compared to those highlighted in this thread. Makes me feel very fortunate to be where I'm at.

 

[AlanG]

Nothing to feel embarrassed about Murfie. We all have our challenges. Some are worse than others. The main thing is that we are all here for the same reason and can give support and advice as and when it's asked for. Joys of being part of a community.

 

[spanner570]

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.

I would probably slip off the pan and end up lying on my back on the bathroom floor.

...and the very last words I would hear would be. " There, I told you, now you can see for yourself the ceiling needs painting!"

 

[Guest]

Of those if you , Peter and Tim who have had the virus, did you notice any loss of smell and taste before you became ill .?

 

[Guest]

John - I can't say I did, because I lost my sense of smell after a very bad cold in my twenties - has it's advantages when sharing a house with a teenage boy and a Jack Russell. Thinking about it, some foods did seem to taste odd at times though.