Modeller Build Logs

Tamiya 1/35th Hetzer No 35285

Hello, my name is Mark Pieters. I live in Washington state, USA. This will be my first blog. One thing I ask of everyone viewing this blog is to feel completely free to comment (or email) openly with any concerns and/or questions. My thanks go to Paul A. Owen for sending me this kit and asking that I blog it here at Track-Link.

A bit about myself first in order to put things into perspective for those that choose to follow this blog and then I will commence with step one. I was a rather introverted youngster growing up in the early 1970's and my start into this hobby was when my father bought me an AMT Star Trek Enterprise model. To a wide eyed seven year old with zero skills it was a tough go but I managed to cobble it together. And I rather enjoyed it. I eventualy tried another AMT kit and I soon had the whole line of Star Trek models assembled. I was hooked. I wanted more. To this day, I still love going to the local hobby store and surveying the shelves for anything that catches my fancy, buying it, racing home, ripping off the celophane, and soaking in everything that lay within the confines of the box. I stopped modeling to go to university in 1984 and it wasn't until 2000 that I relized that I had a spare room in my new house and lots of extra time and that perhaps I should catch up on the 16 years of what I now call "my dark period". So many new companies had come along and so many new advancements had been made. It's been slow progress for me in these last 7 years of modeling as I had basicaly reverted to my old level of expertise, which was fairly basic as in the 1970's and 80's as there wasn't much for a young kid to learn: Snip, sand, glue (tube glue! ACK!). Now it's time to break the old habbit of building a kit and leaving it unpainted and naked. I have read several "how to" books that have been published by "the pro's" (recently purchased for intellectual absorbtion is Tom Cockle's Panzer IV book and Mig's FAQ book) and followed many logs here and elsewhere and have been in awe of the level of expertise displayed by so many of you. It's time for me to advance my skills and put all I've seen and read to use. Again, this is my first build log so bear with me, feel free to comment or point out flaws that you see and to give advice on areas you feel need improvement.

I'm rip roarin' ready to get myself to the next level beyond mt habitual simple construction and I hope you all enjoy the blog and follow along. Again, feel free to comment and critique if you are more skilled than I, and feel free to ask questions if you are new to the hobby. No matter what our respective skill levels and abilities are, I feel we can always learn from one another and I look forward to utilizing this blog so we can freely exchange ideas and information. Modeling is more than my hobby, it's my passion. I make no claims to being a professional modeler, but that doesn't mean I love to sit and create, and to dream and wonder and to read and learn. Thank you for visiting my blog!