I have been building models on and off since I was 10 years old. The first kit I got was a model of Mr. Spock from Star Trek shooting his phaser at a 3-headed snake. Don't know what happened to that kit, has to be worth some money now!
My early interests were varied. I built sailing ships, warships, civilian ships. I built some 1/25 scale cars, spacecraft and 1/35 scale armor. Then one day I came upon a bagged Airfix Stug III at a local hobby shop, and from that day on I was hooked on Small Scale Armor and aircraft. My friends and I used to build the old Airfix kits and stage battles with the figures and tanks. For some reason I always wanted to be the Germans. Maybe because of how the Panzers looked?
I joined the U.S. Army right after finishing High School and for the next 10 years or so modeling was far from my mind. I soon gained a new interest though when I noticed all the available small scale armor kits by Airfix, Arii, ESCI, Hasegawa, Fujimi, and Nitto at a local hobby shop. I have been collecting and building ever since. And maybe (like many of you) I have too many kits to build in this lifetime (all of German stuff) in 1/76 and 1/72 scale plastic, resin and metal.
My workspace has varied over the years. Luckily in our new home we have a full basement (over here that means you can stand up in it!). Megan helped me insulate it and I have had lighting and electrical outlets put in. It will eventually be a 'finished' basement (drywalls, more lighting and more outlets) and when that project is done, I will bring in the 'mother of all hobby desks'. I found a nice -shaped office desk with overhead bins, plenty of table-top space, etc. But for now, here is what I use and photos of my stash and reference books: My Stuff
It is hard to find a group of modelers where I live that are interested in small scale armor. Most of the conventions close to me are for wargamers or larger scale armor types. At one of the local swap meets I went to, a guy was selling a stack of used Tankette magazines, I bought them all and got hooked! I wanted to join MAFVA after seeing the Tankette magazines for the first time, and the opportunity came up on our first visit to the UK at the 2008 TNT show in Folkestone. I met a bunch of great guys there, one of which was Spike. He gave me an application to MAFVA and now I am a proud member. I also met Ian Hanratty at the same show and we have stayed in touch ever since. My wife and I visited Bonnie Scotland in 2009 and we got a great tour from Ian of the Edinburgh castle and he and Lily warmly invited us for a visit in thier home. Megan and I had a great time!
I have had my own personal modeling websites in various forms since 2001. I started with a site called "AFV Miniatures" on Yahoo Groups (2001-2002). But when Yahoo Groups announced they were going to cancel the free service, I created a new site called "WW2 Military Miniatures" (2001-Present) and moved the content over. This is my personal website and is here mainly to show-off models I have built, conversions I have done, model builds (step-by-step) and to give some history behind the equipment and/or model itself.
And finally, I want to say that none of this would be possible without the support of the two beautiful women in my life: my wife Megan and daughter Anneliese.
Happy Modeling!
Tony "Panzer 1946" Ivey
