Scale modeling was a passion of my childhood. I grew up in the former USSR, the choice of model kits was small. And they were not in constant sale, that is, there was no such thing that I went to the store and bought it. I went to the store and checked, maybe they brought something. Basically sold, old kits from the English company Novo-Frog l, their molds were purchased in the USSR, without the names of the aircraft model, so as not to promote capitalism, and with terrible box art., Or Soviet production without box art at all. It was considered a special stroke of luck to "achieve " a set of Plasticart from DDR, East Germany. They were of the best quality with good decals, sometimes with paint and nice boxes. But all this did not prevent me from enjoying, sometimes dubiously, the process. There was no Internet and I had to learn from my own mistakes. Trying to paint the model with watercolor paint, there was no other, without degreasing the surface. Or draw the livery on paper and glue it on because there is no decal in the kit. There were no materials and tools, except for the most basical ones. The airbrush was something from another planet. Only brushes savvy and a lot of scratch building.

I returned to modeling after 30 years quite by accident. After the collapse of the USSR, my wife and I moved to Israel. 4 years ago, I decided to give my son a Tiger 1 tank model kit for his birthday, as he is passionate about the history of WW 2. It turned out that modeling is not the most popular hobby in Israel. With difficulty I found the right store and drove half the country (Israel is a small country) to buy a gift, there was no time to order online. My son tried to assemble, but he didn't like it... But I liked it. It turned out that in 30 years this industry has stepped far forward. Since then, I have been asking my son what he wants to receive as a gift. And for myself I found a new, actually forgotten, hobby. Unfortunately, I can only devote a few hours a week to it, so each project takes several months.

I love making dioramas. Because there is space for imagination. The model is placed in context. There is an opportunity to tell a story or show a scene