2024-06-02 21:58 My story

My Story

I’ll tell you the truth: I don’t know when this Story has begun, moreover nobody really does. I definitely know about my part, which started from the dream.

First of all, my parents dreamt of having a child. Then, my dad told me about his own dream from his younger years – the dream of building a model of a plane…

This photo was made in last Millennium. I am 10 years old. It is the final day of May, the last day of the school year in our country. In the evening of that very day my father brought me a gift that changed my life: a box with an airplane on the cover. It was a “Swordfish” - a model made under the license from FROG.

A torpedo fired from this plane (of course, 72 times larger and also at the end of May, just 58 years earlier) became the beginning of the end of the largest Nazi’s battleship “Bismarck“. But for me, it was just the very beginning. The first morning of the long summer holidays was delightful - sunny and smelled like model glue...

picture of model box taken here
https://www.scalemates.com/ru/kits/novo-78081-swordfish-mki-torpedo-plane--162465

The diorama that I hold in my hands is not at all the first one in my career. However, this work has taken several years and has been carried out in several countries. From the original idea, via research and development - through the hardship of implementation to the moment of truth: when you can present the finished work. There are exhibitions and competitions, defeats and victories, all ahead. However, right now in the photo all I’m thinking is that the work is completed. I'm just over 25 years old.

More about model Mowgli, Berlin 1945 - here

Touching history, literally. With your fingertips, even just for a moment, for a photo - I'm a little over 30 there. I still remember how it smells - a real metal predator! - the only Tiger1 tank in the world that remains on the move. I have visited different museums, large and small, in different countries, but The Tank Museum is still my one and only.

Offical site of The Tank Museum: https://tankmuseum.org/

This photo was taken at one of the modeling competitions - I’m 33 and I am installing a model for the exhibition. Completely absorbed in the process.

Remember my facial expression on the previous photo? Now you can see why it so - notice the size and the fact, that this mount is working (!) detail.

This is one of the three Grand Prixes that my works won at international modeling competitions, accompanying other awards, prizes, and diplomas. All these signs of recognition by the professional community are a kind of milestones. Symbols of reaching certain peaks. This is a moment of happiness, followed by a new project, a new road. A new competition - which does not even promise an obligatory victory. But now, at the very moment of the award...

Full story about Panzer Ghost model here

Talking about something most important. On this photo I am 37 years old for ten days already. And three weeks before that, the one who sniffles on my chest was born. Her elder (by a full minute!) brother is fast asleep in a crib close to me. Whereas, she needs someone of her own to be nearby. Meanwhile, dad, to the best of his ability, is working on his next project. And when now someone shows a targeted interest in my tools and paints, I return to this photo and am not surprised at all. And, yes, she has her own tank model. And, of course, it's pink.

This is the first work done in the UK. The photo captures the moment when the granddaughter of the WWII Spitfire pilot sees the diorama, which recreates one of her very few family photos: her grandad standing on the wing of his aircraft.

Yet another gift: for the anniversary of a wonderful person who loves the life and worships the nature. The work is called Tree of Life.

And this is me presenting my work at one of the largest modeling exhibitions in the UK - Scale Models World 2023 in Telford.
To date, within its UK period, the Storytooling studio has fully implemented 6 projects of various complexity - from a compact model of a SAS jeep and small busts to a large-size competitive diorama dedicated to the Great War. There are currently 6 more projects in the works: a bust, three more exhibition dioramas in various scales, and several gift models. 3 more works are being prepared for launch. Behind each of them there is a story that I really want to tell.
And I cannot count how many more dreams are still crowding in my mind.
I'm 45 now.
I keep toolling the Story.