Editor's Story: How iModeler Came to Be

First of all, I love modeling. It has been my favorite hobby for as long as I dare to remember.

My Internet adventure begun in 1996, when the web was still young, Trimaster 1/48 Fw 190s were considered the best kits on the planet, and nobody was even dreaming about digital cameras, smartphones or buying model supplies online.

This was when I started my first website for a local modeling club, IPMS Stockholm. These were the early days: Google and Amazon existed only as someone else's garage projects. About the only other modeling page on the web was that of another club far, far away: the IPMS Houston. It served as our initial inspiration, but we wanted to do more, soon finding ourselves posting articles, scanning photos, engaging other modelers to contribute.

Within a few years, the IPMS Stockholm had grown to become one of the most popular web communities of its kind. Other websites followed, some of them reaching and exceeding our success. Eventually, our publication had become too big and complex to be managed within a framework of a modeling club. After 12 years, we decided to go separate ways but I never stopped thinking about what I believed a digital hobby community of the future should be.

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