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Quick, Run while you can! -- Ken Liotta


Weedeater

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- Hello. My name is Kenneth Liotta (aka Ken, Kenny, and Weedeater). I…..am a modelholic. Some may say I am obsessive. I like to think that I am passionate about building, collecting, displaying, and sharing my love of the hobby with my fellow "Brothers of the Sprue." I am 46 years old now and started building plastic models when I was about 5 with my father. IIRC my first models were the Revell Boeing SST's (you know, the box with the two golden yellow futuristic airliners), Aurora 747, and the Airfix Hannover C.III. Currently live in Albuquerque, NM with my loving and understanding wife of 23 years. She gave into the force about 20 years ago, built a few dozen models and is still/currently recuperating.

- I have pretty much been building straight through since childhood. As a young teen, interests focused on building those cool Funny Cars of Prudhomme, McEwen, and Jungle. In High School, mom gave me a subscription to Military Modeler and Scale Modeler. Seeing the works of L. Meserve, G. Hodges, B. Gordon, M. Good, and J. Ross was a huge inspiration to build better. My focus had shifted to Armor models until a few years later when mom gave me a copy of "Flying Colors" and I discovered all of the cool and different paint schemes you could build airplanes in and my interests shifted again.

-About that time, I discovered that the publisher of MM and SM was based 4 miles from mom's house and (with mom's help...driving over to) I got my foot in the door and began writing for the two mags. Became Contributing Editor and Technical Editor a few years later and a few years before they bellied-up. Then Tamiya started up their 1/12 motorcycle series and I got seriously bitten by that bug and now Motorcycle models (all scales) have worked their way towards the top of the priority list. 40 plus years later, I have been building nearly every genre of plastic models and have waaaayyyy too many un-built models and not enough years to build them in! Sound familiar? So, my current interests float around:

1/12 Bikes

1/48 Single Engine Prop

All scale Helicopters

1/72, 1/48, and1/35 WWII Armor

1/700 Modern Subs

1/32 All Aircraft

Any scale Babe Figures

- Around the time of my shifting interest towards those Tamiya bikes, my real-world interests dipped into amateur roadracing. During my first year of learning to keep the rubber side DOWN, I had an occasional excursion off-track in the dirt or the weeds. One time as I returned to the pits, my buddies were all pointing at me and the bike laughing their butts off. I was Oh-so happy to discover that they were laughing at the wad of weeds stuck in my front wheel and fairing and was blessed with the nick-name "Weedeater!" (And I bet you thought it had something to do with the disposal of contraband, LOL). For 20 plus years I have worked in and around the Quality Assurance field in numerous industries. The high light was working on Space Shuttle Main Engine turbo-pumps at Rocketdyne, Calif and having the honor of worked on hardware that has entered space and returned successfully. Currently, I work for a National Lab where I continue to be honored by contributing to national security and defense.

- Back to modeling stuff. I joined my first model club, Orange County IPMS, in 1987 and became a regular attendee to Pasadena Modeling Society, La Habra IPMS, Space Park, Oxnard, etc., where I learned more cool techniques. The next big shift in modeling more seriously was when Brother Keith and I attended our first Nats in San Diego in 1989. Brought 7 entries and 4 of them placed with 2nd being the highest honor. I was hooked! While I had been an off and on member of Albuquerque Scale Modelers since 1981, I didn't really get fully involved with it until my wife and I actually moved out here in 1998. I have served the E-board in various capacities from Member-at-Large to President and have thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship. I am currently the club Contest Director. Over the past two decades, I have enjoyed serving as the Contest Coordinator for Pasadena's Valley-Con, ASM's 2003 Region X contest, and as the Head Judge at ASM's 2006 "Chile-Con" Region X Contest.

- I started participating in the IPMS/USA DF in 07 and in 08 and again in 09. Each time I would leave within a month because I got feed up with being bullied off the forum by a select few. This is the longest I have stayed because is seems that things have changed significantly and I look forward to many more months and years participating in the "New Look" of the forums. I already know the Society has a lot to offer plastic modelers as does this forum. I also believe that I have a lot to offer back and I look forward to sharing in both with all of yuz guyz here. Model on, Brothers of the Sprue.<br />

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JORDAN ROSS is DA MAN! Like you, he inspired me to build everything Otaki in the late 70's. I also loved the way he'd tackle an older kit like the Lindberg Goshawk; making it look as good as anything just released. I still want to meet the guy, if he ever attends an IPMS show. Glad to know ya better Ken!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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C'mon, tell us things about him he DOESN'T want us to know.....oh that's right...he could retaliate on ya! :smiley17:

GIL :smiley16:

- Yeah, his best shot would be the "(((HOT PLASTIC!!!)))" "(((HOT PLASTIC!!!)))" story. Problem is, the visual story is just as important as the verbal description. Maybe you can get him to enact a you-tube accounting of it, LOL.

- I'm just waiting for him to man-up and post his own Bio, :smiley2: . Of course, since we are SO competitive, he's probably re-reading and re-writing it several times to insure that one-upsmanship thing. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. :smiley4: Model on Brother! :smiley20: YeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! (Still a brotherly thing).

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JORDAN ROSS is DA MAN! Like you, he inspired me to build everything Otaki in the late 70's. I also loved the way he'd tackle an older kit like the Lindberg Goshawk; making it look as good as anything just released. I still want to meet the guy, if he ever attends an IPMS show.

 

Well, since he is a member of IPMS Phoenix/Craig Hewitt Chapter, I will see if I can convince him to come to next years Nationals (if he is not already planning on coming).

 

BTW, sorry for hijacking your thread, Ken.

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Thanks for the info Ken!

It's great to get to know some of our members better.

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