Not going to question why you came to this specific page but I guess you want to know about the Metal Model Master.
I’ve always been into doing models even at a young age I loved the old school plastic models that you glue, paint, weather, etc. I always loved doing aircraft most of all and brought a bit of calm to my life even while I was young I valued that.
Of course the next logical progression to building models was Lego. At 14 years old I would mow lawns and save up to buy all the space based Lego I could afford, anyone remember the magnet sets that were red? Those were my favorite. Of course my interests would always change as I grew older even started gathering the technic style of Lego but I didn’t frequently purchase sets as I had to be responsible with money. Just remember kids, adulting sucks.
When I was 20 years old during the snowboarding season of ’99 my whole life changed. During one of my down hill runs I hit an ice patch and watched my snowboard fly out from under me and realized I was now inverted with my legs in the air attached to my board and slammed my head on the ground. I made my way down the mountain and waited for my friends I had gone up the mountains with, and that evening, when I got home, I went to the E.R. and was diagnosed with a concussion.
Wasn’t too worried about that concussions happened and even the doctors said I made the right choice by not pushing myself to continue snowboarding. However, 8-9 months later I started to develop debilitating headache and multiple symptoms that prevented me from functioning as an person. I could barely get out of bed most days and had to stop working because my vision was blurred, I couldn’t keep my balance, and the headaches would start as soon as I stood up and I would black out.
After 6 months of multiple doctor visits and countless minutes in many, MANY MRI machines, I was diagnosed with Arnold Chiari Malformation. To put it simply, my brain was too big for my skull and started to push it’s way down my spinal chord.
Here’s a graphic that shows what a normal brain looks like versus a Chiari brain.
So because of this 6 months for discovery and 6 months recovery after surgery I was basically down for the count an entire year and as a results developed issues. The worst was a horrific tremor started building up in my hands that even fine motor skills were difficult, and I work with my hands everyday so life was frustrating.
Many years later I got married started having kids and doing my best to live normally when one day, I spotted a metal model of the Hubble Space Telescope. I’m a total geek for space and through high school I keep looking at APOD from NASA, so the Hubble Telescope model was a must have for me.
Granted because of my hands I didn’t build the model all that great snapped some pieces, but I had fun, and I kept getting more models. At the time it was occasional that I would do it but I noticed the more I went along with these models the more steady my hands would get. So I kept going, and now as I write this I’m almost 300 models in and my hands are rock solid. Here’s a few pictures of my 2 Hubble models. my first and another much later to see how I’ve improved.
And here I am today, writing a blog about these models, the fun I have the tips I can give because this hobby for me has truly been amazing and has helped my in ways I can’t truly explain and wanting to share it with others.
