Re: ** New Members: Please Introduce Yourselves Here! **
Hello everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster.
If you care to lend an ear, here's my story.
I've been a Star Trek fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up with it. Everything about it struck a chord in my heartstrings and I've been hooked ever since. I began with Playmate toys and worked up to simple convention props. Oh how I loved playing with them. In the words of Kirk in Generations, "It was fun."
Life took some strange turns and my hobby/obsession shifted after the finale of Voyager and the conclusion of the TNG saga with Nemesis. It was simply disappointment, and Enterprise never did it for me. I still loved the series' and movies, watching and enjoying them maybe a little too frequently, but props weren't of interest any more. I still have all of my old 'toys' tucked away. Recently and very unexpectedly my fervor for props has jumpstarted into high gear and I've begun the incredibly exciting, and expensive, endeavor of collecting and hopefully, eventually, building props. I've been guilty of trolling ebay for kits, buying all kinds of things from Rod.com, and finding independent sellers making niche kits. I've amassed a pretty decent collection of memorabilia, prop kits, completed props & screen used items. However, I have yet to actually MAKE a prop which brings me here....and I'm excited to be here and pick the brain of some of the greats.
I'm thrilled to have already made some friends and good contacts in the prop world so I'm not starting from nothing, but that's as far as my prop building experience goes. I'm an engineer (of a lot of things) by trade and hobby, and am handy but not particularly artistic. I've never picked up an airbrush or done any detail painting, however I'm eager and willing to learn, yet prepared to fail. After spending some time reading the forums, instruction sheets, and recommendations from prop builders, I've spent some decent cash on literally every tool, setup, jot and tittle I can imagine for building props. A nice airbrush and matching compressor, spray booth, every dremel tool known to exist, pin vices and micro drills, picks, files, saws, glazes, CA's of all types, rattle cans of all the paint codes specified, the list goes on eldlessly. I'm prepped and ready to go all out.
I'm doing this just for me. I love collecting and displaying my rediscovered passion in my home. Even if no one else that sees it appreciates it like I do, it simply makes me happy.
I'm also doing what could best be described as consulting...and purchasing, for a model ship builder, so I've got that going for me too. He's building me a stunning Enterprise D, then eventually a 1/350 scale TOS, then E, then Voyager, and the to-do list goes on. All complete with amazing electronic goodies that he, a Star Trek electronics guru, and myself are working on. But I digress.
So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. This is a fantastic resource and I'm thrilled to be part of the community.
Rob
