I was born into aviation many moons ago, and as the kid of an aviator I was brought up surrounded by all kinds of facets on aviation.

Watching MiG-21s flying low over our home (as a happy 8 year old role playing “Star Trek” on the roof of his home with a chimney stack doubling-up as Capt Kirk’s chair), was the best memory I have.

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I started sticking tiny bamboo-like barks onto a stick to make a MiG21 in 1982. That would essentially be my first model airplane.

As we moved to a metro city like Bombay around 1985 and Dad started flying overseas, kits were introduced to me in the form of an F111 and a MiG-21 in 1:144 scale. Later I received a birthday gift of two Revell Germany 1:48 kits: a Spitfire and a Bf109: incidentally they had a unique never-seen-since retractable gear mechanism, that was simple and very sturdy.

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In college I enrolled in the National Cadet Corps of my city and got introduced to balsa model building making a Su-7 and an F-14 among a few others.

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Then our family moved to the US where I started building models in earnest and built over 250 models mainly Luftwaffe, IJN/A, RAF, RN etc., mainly in 1:72 and WW2.

Some of the techniques I developed were basic weathering with sponges and chopped bristles on flat brushes but nothing fancy.   Then I started helping Griffin Models in the US to help refurbish some of his wood models which I was thrilled to do in my spare time and Brad Griffin kindly gave me some of the models that I had worked on.

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Fast forward a few years later into a steady job and a family, and I started really getting into things. This was when I met some true legends like Murli, Jagan, Polly sir, Vinu, and many others who brought us together in a small band of Indian Modellers ushering in a new era of Indian Subcontinent builds. This would not have been possible without Mick Burton’s exceptional Bright Spark decals, which are now rarer than “unobtanium”.

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Needless to say my main builds are still MiG-21s and IAF fighters. My father had, as both a Test and Fighter pilot, flown a myriad of types ranging from Sabres, Mystères and MiGs to Nomads, Antonovs, Superconnies,  Liberators, HAL Basants , Mils and Alouettes.    My goal was to build a line-up of his planes and, in that direction, I went and experienced the usual side tracks of “Oh how pretty an airplane” and there I go with that build. I currently have the usual obsessed-modeller’s esoteric stash of models which I doubt I would manage to build in this lifetime but it gives a warm feeling to look at and admire!

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I have gained a lot of knowledge from the Indian Scale Modellers’ group, who are extraordinarily welcoming and pleasant modellers, as well as possessing a treasure trove of knowledge. I would love to expand my knowledge and share what I can with a wider          community and am excited about being a part of Asian Air Arms Research Group. Since the first Newsletter I received, I’ve seen many eye-popping articles and builds. I look forward to giving advice to fellow members on Indian military aviation: if you’d like information on this topic, just complete the form below and I'll get back to you..