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- Nov 8, 2016
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Hello all,
It is with a saddened heart that I begin this post. The hospice team was in our home today to enroll my father in hospice care as he is nearing the end of his voyage. My brother and I live together in the same house as our father, and we have become his full-time care takers over the past year, as his health has progressively deteriorated as a result of a long list of terminal diagnoses: Heart Failure, Pulmonary Disease, end stage kidney failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and (to top it all off) Leukemia. It has been a difficult journey, for him especially, as his self-sufficiency has dwindled into dependence upon us to assist him with the most menial tasks. It has been an honor and privilege to be by his side and serve him, with an abundance of love, respect, and admiration for him in my heart.
Though he is still with us (today), it is my desire to preserve his memory and immortalize him in the pages of the BoB.
My father is now 88 years old. He served as an Air Force radioman during the Korean War, and went on to get college degrees in business and engineering at the University of Arizona. He retired from a long 30+ year career with JPL (NASA's unmanned space flight division) in the mid-90's. He always loved creating things with his hands. As children, he would build model rockets, airplanes, and gliders for us to launch and fly at the local park. He had a deep love for all things nautical and aeronautical. In the 1980's he began making ship models, initially out of wood kits. They were all plank on frame construction, deeply laborious, and beautiful to look at. They are still majestically displayed in a cabinet in our home. He joined the International Ship Modelers Association and would regularly attend monthly meetings with like-minded individuals that were truly experts in their craft. Shortly thereafter he met a Japanese man that inspired him to try his hand at crafting models out of an unusual medium - paper.
For the past 30+ years, my father has constructed elaborate models out of paper. He is one of a smattering of people worldwide that have devoted their life to this craft. To date, he has produced over 300+ models, primarily ships (both naval and merchant) and aircraft, along with a few other random pieces of interest to him. Our house has become a small museum in itself, with models occupying spaces throughout every corner of the house. Many of these models have thousands of hours invested into a single piece, taking him 12-18 months to build (for one model!). His work has been displayed at nautical museums and at International Ship Modelers conferences.
He was a great historian who loved to share his hobby with others, and was always eager to give a history lesson on each vessel to anyone with an interest. It gave him great joy and peace, and I believe that it kept his mind and hands sharp well into his eighties. Unfortunately, he produced his last model roughly one year ago at the age of 87.
As I know that many of our members are craftsmen themselves, I thought I would create this thread to share some photos of his work in hopes that some may find some degree of appreciation as I have found. I hope to continue to update it with more pieces as time permits, and hope that you find some joy in it. The detail is incredible, especially considering the medium. Its also important to note that the models have moving parts: gun turrets swivel side to side and the guns move up and down. The pictures surely won't do them justice, but its the best I can do.
Here are a few pictures to wet your whistles, and more will be added as the days pass:
HMCS Flower-Class Corvette (Canadian, WWII)
USS Arizona
Thanks for looking. I hope you have enjoyed the photos.
Wishing you all good health and sweet smokes.
Loren
It is with a saddened heart that I begin this post. The hospice team was in our home today to enroll my father in hospice care as he is nearing the end of his voyage. My brother and I live together in the same house as our father, and we have become his full-time care takers over the past year, as his health has progressively deteriorated as a result of a long list of terminal diagnoses: Heart Failure, Pulmonary Disease, end stage kidney failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and (to top it all off) Leukemia. It has been a difficult journey, for him especially, as his self-sufficiency has dwindled into dependence upon us to assist him with the most menial tasks. It has been an honor and privilege to be by his side and serve him, with an abundance of love, respect, and admiration for him in my heart.
Though he is still with us (today), it is my desire to preserve his memory and immortalize him in the pages of the BoB.
My father is now 88 years old. He served as an Air Force radioman during the Korean War, and went on to get college degrees in business and engineering at the University of Arizona. He retired from a long 30+ year career with JPL (NASA's unmanned space flight division) in the mid-90's. He always loved creating things with his hands. As children, he would build model rockets, airplanes, and gliders for us to launch and fly at the local park. He had a deep love for all things nautical and aeronautical. In the 1980's he began making ship models, initially out of wood kits. They were all plank on frame construction, deeply laborious, and beautiful to look at. They are still majestically displayed in a cabinet in our home. He joined the International Ship Modelers Association and would regularly attend monthly meetings with like-minded individuals that were truly experts in their craft. Shortly thereafter he met a Japanese man that inspired him to try his hand at crafting models out of an unusual medium - paper.
For the past 30+ years, my father has constructed elaborate models out of paper. He is one of a smattering of people worldwide that have devoted their life to this craft. To date, he has produced over 300+ models, primarily ships (both naval and merchant) and aircraft, along with a few other random pieces of interest to him. Our house has become a small museum in itself, with models occupying spaces throughout every corner of the house. Many of these models have thousands of hours invested into a single piece, taking him 12-18 months to build (for one model!). His work has been displayed at nautical museums and at International Ship Modelers conferences.
He was a great historian who loved to share his hobby with others, and was always eager to give a history lesson on each vessel to anyone with an interest. It gave him great joy and peace, and I believe that it kept his mind and hands sharp well into his eighties. Unfortunately, he produced his last model roughly one year ago at the age of 87.
As I know that many of our members are craftsmen themselves, I thought I would create this thread to share some photos of his work in hopes that some may find some degree of appreciation as I have found. I hope to continue to update it with more pieces as time permits, and hope that you find some joy in it. The detail is incredible, especially considering the medium. Its also important to note that the models have moving parts: gun turrets swivel side to side and the guns move up and down. The pictures surely won't do them justice, but its the best I can do.
Here are a few pictures to wet your whistles, and more will be added as the days pass:
HMCS Flower-Class Corvette (Canadian, WWII)
USS Arizona
Thanks for looking. I hope you have enjoyed the photos.
Wishing you all good health and sweet smokes.
Loren
