ClareWentzel Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 I am Clarence “Clare†Wentzel and I too am a modelholic. I have been building plastic models for well over 50 years. I believe that the first kit I assembled was a Hawk F9F Panther. I was around 12 at the time. I first encountered Airfix kits when I was in College where I was studying Aeronautical Engineering and my room mate and I built up a small collection. I currently build mostly 1/72 scale aircraft, everything from WW I to modern jets. I joined IPMS first time in 1965 and was a member of a group in Detroit. At the time, we would get together to stuff envelopes with the IPMS/UK Journal and the IPMS/USA Newsletter. While I lived in Detroit, a hobby shop named Warbirds opened and showed us a whole wide world of modeling supplies. Warbirds didn’t last long but shortly thereafter, Jerry Campbell started the Squadron Shop. The shop on John R Road was conveniently on my path home so I regularly stopped to partake of the latest and greatest. I worked for General Motors for more than 38 years, traveled to many countries and lived in Brazil and Venezuela. I was a member of an IPMS group that started in Saõ Paulo Brazil and, found fellow modelers in Caracas Venezuela including one who shared a love for the vacuform models of Gordon Stevens. Following retirement, my wife, Marcy, and I moved to Kalamazoo where I am currently a member of the Kalamazoo Scale Modelers. Other hobbies include golf and gardening plus the computer. We have three children and three grandchildren. Our oldest grandchild is a pilot for Continental Express and we are very proud of her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 HI CLARE (typical therapy response)! Wow you're extremely well travelled! I too remember the Squadron shop in Detroit, though I only got to visit it once. It's the only place I ever saw one of the $500+ Hasagawa 1/8 Museum Biplanes (the Triplane) IN STOCK! My friend I got off at the WRONG exit trying to find the shop and had a few anxious moments til we could get back onto I-75 and head in the right direction.....For all of the "youngsters" who never got to go into an honest-to-god Squadron Shop, or the pleasure of living near one of the real classic neighborhood hobby shops of the old days; they don't now what they missed! Internet ordering may be convenient, but it's bland compared to going into a shop that carries almost everything and then waiting to get helped because the guys behind the counter were too busy building on models to ring ya out! Cheers! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClareWentzel Posted July 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 You got it right there Gil. Yes, the original days of the Squadron Shop were wonderful. Lots of new kits, lots of new decals, lots of new supplies, great books (I own the complete Dora Kurfurst books) etc. I had a cabinet in the garage that I would hide the kits in until I had a chance to bring them into the house and the dark reaches of my basement shop. Learned lots of things with all the moving. Books and magazines are HEAVY. The big moving boxes make great storage boxes after the move and there is NO sure fire way to safely move a collection of built up models. Just wrap them lightly in tissue paper. At least any part that breaks off will still be in the package. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Nardone Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 Learned lots of things with all the moving. Books and magazines are HEAVY. The big moving boxes make great storage boxes after the move and there is NO sure fire way to safely move a collection of built up models. Just wrap them lightly in tissue paper. At least any part that breaks off will still be in the package. :D Boy, that is true. A friend was moving from Ft. Lauderdale to Kentucky a while back (1997 or so), and he had this huge box in the U-Haul that he was filling with books. Fortunately, the box was in the U-Haul as he was filling it. He tried to move the half-full box, and it wouldn't budge. I took a red marker and wrote on the side of the box, "Not Even With A Crane!". When we had to move in 2000, I had the fortune of being able to use some past-their-prime gyroscope boxes. The only proper way to ship a gyro is to place the instrument in a well-padded box, then place that box into a larger box with foam elbows that suspend the inner box. Well, we had some not-up-to-par inner boxes and I used them for the books. Worked well--so well, that those same boxes were used for three more moves! I used to fret about built-ups--I went so far one time to place each model in a bag, inflate the bag, and then place it into a peanut-filled box. I still wound up with broken parts. The avionics industry came to the rescue again--most manufacturers shipped their tech manuals in boxes that were just big enough to hold one or two 1/48 scale WWII fighters. I plopped the models in, and they made the 800 mile trip to SC with no casualties. In fact, the only casualty I've had has been a lost nose gear door on a Hobbycraft Caribou, lost on that same 800-mile trip. Alas, most aerospace tech manuals are now only available as downloads--good for the shops (no huge library to worry about keeping current), but bad for modelers.... The Squadron Shop stories are great-I went to college with a kid from Wheaton, MD, and he knew about the Squadron Shops. By the time I got serious in the hobby, the shops were closing and all I had was the Mail Order line, which had just moved to Texas.... Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesWalden Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 We didn't have a Squadron Shop here in the Northwest, but the Squadron Shop Catalog was "THE" modeling magazine for quite awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bun E. Carlos Posted July 24, 2009 Report Share Posted July 24, 2009 Hi Clare!!!!!!!! You forgot to mention that your a GOOD LOOKING Young Man!!!!!! See you at the Show! Little Bun E, can't wait.......still trying to think up a good one for him :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nursemandie Posted July 25, 2009 Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 Clare is not only a member of Kalamazoo, he is the vice prez and contest chairman. I wish everyone could experience his hobby room. So glad to be a friend. Mandie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theemodelstarter Posted July 25, 2009 Report Share Posted July 25, 2009 Great to know you Clare. Looking forward to an opportunity to do it person some day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimHortman Posted July 26, 2009 Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 Thanks for the info Clare! Sounds like you've had a life of modeling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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