It occurs to me that I’ve not properly introduced myself. I’m Tim. I’m a Sagittarius. Lol. I’m kind of a smart aleck. I’m an engineer; sailor; happily un-married to the most beautiful woman in the world Dori. Together we have 6 kids. That keeps us pretty busy. They come first. This weekend we’re building a wind tunnel for a science fair project on why birds can fly. I LOVE FIBERGLASS. it’s my art. It started when I was a kid and my dad bought us a 16’ Hobie Cat. I started racing it and it wasn’t too long before we crashed a big hole in it when we got T-Boned by another boat. My Dad didn’t get angry... he said “well when you fix it you can use it again”. I miss Dad. He’s been gone 7 years now. Was a good man. He tought me honor and respect and hard work is what a man is. I studied Engineering at Michigan State University. Go Green! I was 5 years a weapons engineer for General Dynamics. Then 3 years a manufacturing engineer for Sunsation. Powerboats, a fiberglass boat company. I left there and founded Barnstormer Boats, a model making company in 2004. Over the next four years I built molds for a total of 50 models. The company was going very well and I got to the point where I was so busy that I needed help. I took on a pair of partners and things went horribly wrong from there... the only ship the doesn’t float... partnership. I caught my partners embezzlement and they cleaned out the bank account, took the computers destroyed data and I was forced to file bankruptcy. I was awarded my molds in the bankruptcy and my partners were ordered to refund customers. They did not. It was a sad thing to me. Like watching a child die. I put my molds in storage and took a job. I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and worked my way back up to financial health, always wanting to return to my love of model making. Fast forward to Christmas 2017. Dori gave me the 7th greatest gift I’ve ever received (1-6 being the kids). Permission. Permission to clean out the garage and build my model shop. Together we founded Modelshipsahoy.com and are building models together. It’s my sanity, my quiet place to hide out from the kids and make cool stuff. We make just bare hulls. I don’t do any of the hardware currently as our shop is very crowded and gets more so everyday. We mostly make powerboats, sailboats, some odd scale ships and airplanes. Currently about 30 models.... as I refurbish old molds and build new ones. In 1/144 warships we make Iowa Tirpitz Prinz Eugen Florida Brooklyn We are only a couple weeks away from finishing molds for : Baltimore Tromp John C Butler On the horizon are Surcouf Orion North Carolina Many other projects in Que but they take a back seat to kids and our very strong powerboats sales. I got dragged into this forum when some customers tagged me in here and I’m excited every day to learn and see the amazing things you do to these boats. I work really hard at making nice hulls. I can’t wait to see some of my hulls finished and in harms way.
Tim, Glad to have you as part of this wacky hobby, Go White, Looking forward to meeting you in person at one of the builds or battles this coming spring/summer. Welcome Aboard. Craig
