Sprue…what?

Welcome to spruemeistermodelwerkes.com!  I hope your time spent here will be a positive experience, and worth your time.  The content going forward will vary somewhat from time to time, but for the most part it will dwell on my main interests of collecting original historical aviation images and scale model building.  The Scale Model Gallery will contain most of the model content such as updates on current builds and final photos for completions.  Completions.  There’s my opening statement of optimism.

So who builds plastic models anymore?  Maybe it’s a dying art, maybe it’s alive and kicking.  As for me, I spent a good deal of time in my growing up years putting glue to parts and hoping for the best.  The measure of success was mostly dependent upon my imagination.  And there wasn’t an internet back then to tell me how bad my efforts were.  There was always another kit to build, another magazine with amazing photos of amazing models built by amazing modelers.  So I just never outgrew the hobby.  It took a couple of hiatuses along the way, but I never gave up and moved on.  Just like golf, the hobby always lured me back with the promise that, “I can do better next time.”  Golf didn’t take long to be exposed as a cruel lie (pun intended), and the model kit industry got better and better so why couldn’t I?  Well I didn’t exactly keep pace with the industry, but I did get better.  New tools, new skills, new ideas.  New vigor.  Not that much different from any other aspect of life.  There are a lot of hobbies out there offering instant gratification, but I still prefer to work at a project like scale modeling that requires a measure of dedication and investment of time.  Hand building something has rewards that are very personal.  And the personal touches that go into a model build give me the creative outlet I really enjoy.

Old Kodachrome color slides of old airplanes are another passion that I have developed.  There is a very real cool factor in taking a nearly 70 year old 35mm slide that hasn’t been published or even seen by anyone in years, and bringing it back to life.  Scanning and digitally restoring an image has many of the same rewards as model building.  Sometimes it’s a real challenge, but the end results are so worth it when a rare, obscure subject on film is found and can be shared with everyone again.  You will be able to see many of these old airplane images as this blog progresses. I may even show you a few really heartbreakingly sad examples that just couldn’t be saved.

Oh, the name.  In need of a spiffy screen name for some online hobby forums, my brain came up with Spruemeister.  Being of German heritage, I spun a Germanic sounding name full of irony.  I am not a master of the sprue.  I do OK, but maybe I’m better at the occasional sarcastic jab to keep it light and keep me humble.  Besides, Polystyrenemeister just didn’t sound right.

Rick L.