F-104 Archives - Everything I know about life I learned from model aeroplanes

October 28, 2021January 10, 2022

Adult life is complicated part 1: Life was a lot simpler as a child

We all discover at some point that adult life is complicated, and then it keeps getting more complicated, forever. Model aeroplanes hinted at the complexity of adult life even before I first heard Big Yellow Taxi. And if only I’d realised at the time, they had been showing me how much simpler my life was. But unfortunately this lesson only becomes clear in hindsight, once we run smack into the complications.

November 2, 2020January 10, 2022

Cousin Robert and the Starfighter

“Cousin Robert and the Starfighter” has nothing to do with Robert Calvert – or any other member of Hawkwind. Nothing so complicated, because life was simpler when I was a child. And it was about ten years too early.

Before I actually got into building Airfix kits myself, my older cousin Robert built one for me. An Airfix Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, or to be precise, a CF-104G in RCAF markings.

At the time, I didn’t appreciate this valuable lesson, which illustrated how simple and straightforward my life was. Then again, I was only 6 years old and hadn’t done much work on personal growth. So I just marvelled at the appearance of this miniature futuristic aeroplane. Which still looks quite futuristic today – retrofuturistic, perhaps.

November 7, 2019January 10, 2022

How did I get here? The journey to becoming an ex-modeller

“And you may ask yourself – how did I get here?” Words about a mid-life crisis, apparently, which may also explain how I ended up with so many 1/48 Ju188 kits in 2004. But that’s another story. This is about how I first got into model aeroplanes, some stuff inbetween, and how I got out.