Forum 10th Anniversary Shout Outs! What Members Have Helped or Inspired You? (1 Viewer)

[mikemiller1955]

I to want to begin by thanking Pete & Shannon for this wonderful forum!! To me, this is "the hub" for all things hobby related. Like many others, I may not post a lot but I do check in every day and several times a day at that!

Life is all about relationships and the people you meet & befriend. I have made several good friends here on the forum. Some of the friendships I've made here have gone beyond the forum and have had an extraordinary impact on me and my family. This place isn't just about sharing the great hobby we all love but also about finding like-minded people and sharing our lives with one another.

My shout outs go to:

1) Randy (PolarBear)-- a dear friend who has become a part of my family

2) Andreas (Andanna)-- my faithful toy soldier show companion and awesome friend

3) Mike Miller (mikemiller1955)-- all round great guy and a joy to speak with over the phone--would love to meet in person one day!

4) George (Warrior)-- wonderful sense of humor and one of the best dealers in the hobby

5) Konrad (kogu) -- good to see you back here K! We are identical in our tastes for just about everything in this hobby.

6) Brad James (the Baron)-- another good man here on the forum with such a vast knowledge of our hobby. Love the fantastic work you do at putting on the Valley Forge show!!

7) Larry Allen -- a real nice guy who shares a love for the AWI

I hope I didn't leave anyone out. There are countless others here who I have communicated with over the years. Everyone is always so helpful in finding hard to get figures or to offer dio assistance/advice or to buy/sell things. Thanks especially to John (Leadman), Bob (UKReb) and to Al (lancer).

Finally, it's an awesome thing to be able to experience this hobby with the guys from the UK, from "down-under" and all the other countries represented here. To think that we here in the US can share a common bond with our fellow toy soldier enthusiasts in other parts of the world is to me mind-boggling! I love getting their persectives on history and having them share their country's view on events.

Thanks also to Brad (Jazzeum), Dave and Pat Wade for all their work as forum moderators (past & present).

Mark

Mark...

we met in Hackensack...
I definitely remember because...
I thought you were as nice a guy in person as you were on this forum...

 

[Artillery_crazy]

I second Carlos´words as mine...could not have written better ...especially the perception of being isolated..and finding connections.....:salute:::salute::Long Live the Forum...
Cheers
Luiz aka Artillery_Crazy

To the list of members that have influenced me since I accidentally joined the forum are: GICOP, the Waynes one on each side of Australia, Obee ( my mentor and master builder ),Villagehorse, mikemiller, Panzerace1944, Jazeumm, PolarBear, Interwars, Lurchio, Martin Tabony, 4thHussar, Mckenna77 ( just as crazy for Foreign Legion ), Trooper - the great man behind so many great creations) to name a few...and Carlos - Sentaapua.....were it not for the forum would not know him...

It has been almost 5 years since I discovered the forum. Although I haven`t been posting much lately, hardly does a single day go by without me checking on the forum! I can`t say how important joining it turned out to me and my collecting... it simply made me feel like what I think that a small rural community member who never travelled outside the fences of the farms around him must feel being instantly removed from his surroundings and see himself in the middle of New York City! That`s the impact the forum and its community had on my dimension of the TS world and industry, since I was a lost and absolutley lonley collector in the middle of Brazil buying all my stuff through the internet and on occasional trips to the US and Europe.

I had fun before, but the forum turbocharged my horizons and me made me feel part of something bigger, that there was much more out there, and most of all, people like me who love this hobby and share the same interests I have. So first I want to thank both you Shannon and Peter, whom I was so happy to meet in Chicago last September (I didn`t have a clue there was a Chicago Show, or any Show for that matter, before the fórum...LOL) for creating, and maintaining, this wonderful place!

Through the forum I met some extraordinary people, having the chance to get to know some of them in person and become friends, sharing knowledge and experience about this fantastic hobby! Help and inspiration? Well, I can mention Louis, Brad, Rob, NYsoldiers, the greatly missed Lawrence Lo, Frank, Guy, Duke, Robin, Mitch, Wayne, Artillerycrazy, PanzerAce1944, just to mention a few, and the list will go on and on... Hope to be here for not only the next 10, but for as many years the Lord will grant me, because I can assure you all that it is a great pleasure when I am able to log-in and immerse myself in this fabulous cyberworld of ours!

Thanks to all of you! You all contribute to make my collecting, and why not say my life, even more enjoyable! :salute:::wink2:

 

[wwiibuff]

Neat thread....

I'll mention a few here although there are many, many here that do awesome things with their collections.

Guy from Belgium, always love to see his dios and especially the ones about the Battle of the Bulge... one of my favorite areas to collect. He is a talented scratch builder of dio scenery.

I also over the years have very much enjoyed seeing Randy's (Polar Bear) neat simple vignettes. These wonderful small well photographed scenes have often inspired me to try and do likewise.

Robin (villiagehorse) for his immense collection and large dios. I tend to stick with smaller setups, but one day I'm going to tackle a huge setup like Robin.

Also, Michael Miller for his great buildings and tips on how to.


There are others too, but I'll have to leave it at that for now.

 

[Hazebrouck]

Well I’m not into K&C, Figarti, CS and the like. Nothing wrong with them, just that I can’t buy them as castings.

So speaking as a painter with an interest in older 54mm kits I have to say that I would be lost on some subjects without some help I have received from many forum members over the last couple of years.

In particular Obee, whose website lead me to this one.

Beating Retreat- a standard of painting to aim for.

Johnny Bach’s efforts over the past couple of years have always been inspiring. I like the way he approaches the hobby.

Brad (The Baron) is a font of knowledge as well. He likes the old Imrie Risleys, Staddens and New Hopes as well- I thought I was the only one who collected these.

The threads of Blaster and Mirof are always good reading- keeping the older figures alive!

Trooper- I might be correct in saying that he may be the only member who was in the industry in the 1970s/80s.

Brian from Yeomanry is also another worthy of mention.

And a few years ago I was contacted by Craig Pearce through the forum after I painted one of his figures. I had some correspondence with Craig about his figures, ways to paint them and model soldiers in general. I still have them somewhere. I wish he was still around.

Finally- thank you Treefrog!

Scott

 

[Old Bill]

My Shout outs are for:

Zulu Dawn - Bernie,
Obee - John,
Chalklands - Pete,
all of whom I have had the very great pleasure of meeting personally at various London Shows.

Major Duncan Heyward - James
Uncas - Adam
who (unwittingly I think,) provided the spark that flamed into my enthusiasm for converting figures. ( Thanks also for the very enjoyable and entertaining hours
hanging around the JJD UK stall meeting other JJD collectors.)

Finally, Fraxinus whose wonderful Fort construction thread gave me the inspiration to find my own long term ( Big!) project. (Which turned out to be Leuthen......... that one's still running....... !)

And of course thank you to Treefrog for making all this possible.

Cheers,

Roy

 

[sammy719]

Congrats to the forum on 10 great years!!!! it seemed just yesterday that Tim Tyler of troops of time was telling me of a toy soldier forum that talked a wide variety of all things toy soldiers!! in reality that was in 2007!! hard to believe that much time has gone by so quickly, no shout outs here, just glad that Treefrog has become a great source of my hobby and thank all those that created this forum and are involved in a daily basis...Sammy

 

[braddinpa]

For me I would say Dukes, Sammy's, Mike Miller, UkReb, Guy's, Frank's First Legion Dio's and many more who I am sure I forgot and will end up editing!

I see some very awesome dioramas! And Frank should be put on the First Legion Payroll. His Dioramas inspired me to buy some First Legion products!

Brad

 

[REVWARBUFF]

Mark...

we met in Hackensack...
I definitely remember because...
I thought you were as nice a guy in person as you were on this forum...

Hi Mike,

Yes, I know..........I remembered after I had posted and couldn't go back to edit my post :redface2::redface2:. Our meeting in Hackensack was too brief though. You have to attend the Valley Forge show one of these years. That will allow for more time together and it is more closer to home for me.

Mark