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I would second that recommendation, especially with the availability of the practicum here at MSW by Chuck to follow.  They are a vast improvement over the kits instructions and there are several logs to review on it's construction on our site. 

I would second that recommendation, especially with the availability of the practicum here at MSW by Chuck to follow.  They are a vast improvement over the kits instructions and there are several logs to review on it's construction on our site. 

brave man 

Battle of laDrang Valley - November 1965
 
You're a 19 year old kid.
You are critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .
Its November 14, 1965 . LZ (landing zone) X-ray.
Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.
Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.
He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's
flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety. And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!
Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.
He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Army.

Remember that we had to compile this list aiming at the average modeller who may never have built in wood.
 
Some modellers will take to the hobby like a duck to water, whilst others may not. Then there is always the unknown factor about a newcomer being used to working in wood before they make their first ship. The list is like a line of best fit, and will generally apply, but may not have applied to you personally. It's simply a guide.
 
We will doubtless lose many to this hobby because their first project was too ambitious and they crashed and burned. It does happen, in every hobby. You generally still need to walk before you can run. Many newcomers will need something simple and not that 20yr HMS Victory project which could last 6 months and sap their enthusiasm.

I wonder how many people take advice like this, versus they have to touch the hot stove before they listen.  (ouch, that IS hot!!!)  I have spoken on this topic often, so it is close to my heart.  I usually see "Yeah, I hear you, but that doesn't apply to me."  Far be it from me to judge.  An old friend of mine built a fully rigged, quite detailed miniature of HMS VICTORY as his second model.  For some it DOESN't apply to them.  Most it does.
 
    I hope that those who disregard this and get the complicated model, only to 'touch the stove' don't get discouraged.  Instead, I hope they have the wisdom to set that project aside and get a simple starter kit to learn on.
 
OTHER WORDS OF WISDOM FOR NEWBIES:
1.  You can never have too many clamps.
2.  Alcohol is your friend.  It helps you unglue previously screwed up glued up parts so you can try again.  (Including ALL the planking from one model...just saying.) 
3.  Magnification and light are also your friends.
4.  If you get frustrated or tired, set it aside and come back to it later.
5.  READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it's expectations are the problem.  This site goes along way to dispelling them.  One sees a box or a model and thinks "no big deal" and buys the kit.  Upon opening the box.. "surprise!!!!" it's nothing but sticks, some lazer or stamped cut wood and string.  I found that out the hard way before there was an MSW.  I still would have bought my first kit (Billing's Vasa) but also some starter kits.  Also, the real value of MSW to someone starting out is the information here.  You can look over the builds, the reviews, etc. and get a pretty good idea of what you're getting yourself into.

Well said.

I remember that  scene from the Arnie  film  Predator  where there must be getting on  to ten of them in a Huey.
 
OC.

Lou  wonder if these  two  pics will  help  shot my me,  sorry about the quality  not my camera,    its one of the last airworthy flying  Huey NAM vets   gorgeous heli.
 
OC.

This is one build you cannot hijack Ken. I have tried to make it clear that this is not just a build log but a personal and hopefully communal journey into the past, and that any and all comments and stories are not only allowed by me but encouraged! If people get upset at having to weed through the stories to get to the build part then let them move on. If there is some kind of rule against running a build this way then let the powers that be either take it down or move it to where it is supposed to be.
 
I was hoping to attract others who are not vets to tell their stories as well. What were all of the other people doing when we were away? What was a major influence in their lives when they didn't have the sudden shock of having to mold themselves into something totally alien from what they had been for the prior 18 or more years and having to do it almost overnight in some cases? But so far it has only been a few of us bringing the past forward.
 
Besides, how can you hijack a build that has not really gotten off the ground yet?   

I went to an engineering school. In 69-70, I had a class with an antiwar activist type (he spent the first 5 minutes of every class talking about stuff he was doing in that area). I had to attend my Wednesday morning class in uniform, since it was our weekly ROTC drill session right after this class. The first few weeks with this guy were frosty. At mid-term, I had a C. How much he influenced that I don't know. Anyway, we did an all-nighter, at my fraternity house, gathering assorted problems for our notebooks. Engineering school = open book finals. Should be easy? Nope, took all 4 allotted hours to do the final, burning up my slide rule. I must have aced the final, because my final grade was an A.
 
I didn't get a welcome home from anyone outside my family until the mid 80s. A lot of misguided folks believed the propaganda being spewed in the 60-70s. Still a bit of a sore subject for me.
 
Anyway, enough hijacking Lou's build.

Thanks for the link Ken
 
I think that the return to the US for many of us was the final insult Ken and one that most of us will probably never completely get over. We are stronger people and did a better job than the stories told in the papers and movies. I won't get into it again from my view as I want my look back of 50 years to be as good a look as possible and not just the dark side. But again I think it is part of us all and will always be part of the whole and it is good that it is out here early and open for everyone reading this.
 
Yes 1001 is the company in question Mark. It appears that Denis also had poor service from them. Like you say, it must be the long lunches, short work weeks and large glasses of wine.
 
It's funny that your buddy from Nam made you his first stop  on his way home. My best buddy did the same to me! I was living in central California not all that far from the Oakland release center and he lived in LA. He stayed a week and we really lit up the town! One of the best times of my life.
 
Yes, my college years under the GI Bill were another experience. It was hard to sit back and listen to some of the garbage from the instructors having seen some of the world for ourselves and having learned to think for ourselves. In some classes it didn't matter all that much but my Poly Sci instructor and I went head to head more than once. I think she suspected where I had come from or where I had been. My Political Geography instructor was just the opposite. He enjoyed debate and discussion so I suppose it worked out most of the time. By that time I had grown my hair and learned how to avoid the military stuff so that was never much  of an issue for me. My problems came later in my last couple of years after I had entered law enforcement. I was still going to college and because of my other schedule it became known what I did for a living, so in some ways I became odd man out yet again.  

Lou,
Are you getting your parts from 1001Hobbies?   They do seem to be slow.  Maybe it's the long lunches with wine?  
 
Be careful with that link to Cybermodels.   For the CH-53 they show the same colors as for the E model and older which was desert colors.
 
Yes, coming home to the States.   I home for not quite a week, afraid to drive, etc.   My buddy from 'Nam stopped by on his way home.   So we go downtown and walking around, a bus backfired.   We both looked up rather sheepishly from the gutter to see cop grinning at us.  All he said was "you boys just got back from "Nam, right?" and helped us up.   Nice guy, he was a vet too.  I had more problems at the college I went to than anywhere else.  We vets ended up sticking together and if the entitled kids spit, we spit back.  

some of them did    terrible the way you boys were treated coming home.  

I thought that almost all of the VN era fixed wing pilots had their pick of jobs flying commercial aircraft back in the world?
 
I almost did the same thing believe it or not. The culture shock between one life and the other when I got out was a little less than 24 hours. One morning I was arming choppers and everything was green, brown, red, OD, and half the time smelled like mildew and feces, and the next morning I was feeling like a bug under a microscope walking down crowded streets with cement buildings and sidewalks where there were people of two sexes, all wearing all of these colors! VERY much of an emotional shock. Even after I got off of the bus and went home, the first few weeks were extremely odd. I contemplated going down to my local recruiting office more than once in the first  month and reenlisting. There can be parts of being in the military that can be very comfortable and secure emotionally.   

You beat me too it, Lou.   I'll be making my first post tonight.
Door gunner.. much needed skill.  It could have been if the traffic copters flew over bad parts of town.  
Ken is right about boredom and terror......

Lou, do you know the difference between a fighter pilot war story and a fairy tale? The fairy tale starts out "Once upon a time....". War stories start out "this is no s**t... ".  If you want war stories, I'll chime in where appropriate.  I'm sure there are other vets, from any number of countries, with stories. 
 
Military Aviation is hours of boredom, interspersed with minutes of stark terror,

Connections sealed: 


Yves

Javier, este es otro maravilloso barco modelo en miniatura que has construido. Eres un maestro artesano de estas hermosas embarcaciones y barcos pequeños. Me encantan las pequeñas embarcaciones de trabajo del Mediterráneo. Muchas gracias por continuar para mostrarnos su trabajo.
 
This is another wonderful, miniature model boat that you have built. You are a master craftsman of these beautiful, small boats and ships. I love the small, working boats of the Mediterranean. Thank you so much for contiuing to show us your work.

Wow, the difference is amazing. Definitely worth the effort.
 
Looking forward to seeing the finished model (although it'll need a really wide monitor to see it in it's full glory!)
 
All the best,
Richard.
 

A major milestone has been attained: front and rear spines have been connected to each other: 

It does not sag too much. Obviously, this brass piece of tube, helps tremendously. I can actually hold the ship from the propulsion block without much noticeable sagging. Of course, once the living quarters (Sphere) will be in place, it will be another story:


I am now going to start working on the frame, used to display the model, and will try to finish the front electrical connections, so that I can close the lid on the front section.
 
Yves
 

An interesting side story about my cousin Wallace...one time in the year+ while he was recovering in a field hospital in Italy, he watched from his hospital window while a crew of sea bees worked to build a runway. A flight of German bombers attacked the site as Wallace watched the sea bee workmen scramble from their equipment to reinforced shelter. After he had healed, the war had ended and everyone was home, he talked with his brother about his war experiences and told about the incident just described. Come to find out, one of the men he watched scramble to shelter was his very own brother. They had been at the same camp and never even found out until after the war had ended. 

Sorry for the loss Craig that era made some great Men and Women alike. Kevin