My name is Al LaFleche, I’m 57 and president (they tell me for life) of Wings & Wheels Modelers, an IPMS chapter serving Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. I’ve been building as an adult since 1975 when my interest in the hobby was rekindled by finding an abandoned bag with two models in it, Helldiver and a AH-1 Cobra. The first model I remember was a P-39 my father built with me, possibly as early as 1954. There were others way back in that misty past including Tonto, a clear Disney based moon rocket, birds painted with paint pellet activated by some (likely highly toxic) solvent, a model of our 57 Ford Country Squire, and the SSN George Washington with full interior and launching Polaris missile.

 

     I grew up in Southbridge, a small Massachusetts town whose landscape was dominated by 19^th Century textile, cutlery and optical mills and massive white granite catholic church. An incomplete leg Grand Trunk Railroad left several bridge supports in town, one of which became my imaginary Alamo. In the early years, I recall a hobby shop in town, but by the time I first became interested in plastics, it had folded. My source then became local storefront establishments we called “spas.” These typically had a small grill, ice cream counter, magazine rack, candy counter and shelves of sundries. Among the various items would be Revell and Aurora kits, costing up to a dollar. Two other sources were the local McLellan Five and Dime and H.L. Green Stores. These were full service department stores that included toy departments. It was at one of these that I would discover Airfix, a superbly detailed Wellington with movable control surfaces and excellent rivet detail! As these stores failed, my hobby source was Ames, the ancestor of all the big box discount department chains.  This was a source for many AMT annual kits, including my first contest entry, a baby blue Chevy Impala onto which I glued more exhaust pipes than it had cylinders, including a pair that ran across the doors. It didn’t place.

 

     In those days I financed my budding addiction to plastic by running an errand business. I would collect small change to do light grocery shopping for a number of neighbors and a dime to go get coffees for the guys who worked in the package store across the street. (My neighborhood was not the best, with up to three bars within a hundred yards and a boarding house that may have been its own little red light district.)

 

     As college, a commuter school, where I studied history and education, and a part time job ate up more and more of my time, models became less and less important and the few surviving kits were put in storage from which they would not emerge unscathed.

 

     Shortly after graduating college in 1972, I was married and fortunately my wife would be very supportive of the hobby. Among the various jobs I held before settling into a career with the state’s Department of Mental Retardation was an assistant manager at a Kay Bee Toy (and in those days) Hobby shop at a local mall. This was during the halcyon days when Tamiya seemed to release a  new kit weekly and Monogram had contracted with Shep Paine to include his famous diorama brochures. I would get to open the boxes, examine the goodies and reseal it.

 

     In 1979, I entered a drop and go contest sponsored by Henry’s Hobby House in Worcester, Mass.  earned an honorable mention for a vignette of a German motorcycle rider who had dumped his bike in the mud next to field officer and splashed him. In retrospect, I have no idea why the officer would have been standing next to a mud puddle, but it seemed to be a good idea at the time!

 

     I entered my first serious contest the next year sponsoredby the Worcester County Sacel Modelers Association and won a third for a vignette using three Airfix 8^th Army multipose figures who had just buried a comrade. I joined the club the following year and found I wasn’t the only adult building models. My first attempt at a super-detailed model was an ESCI M4A1 Sherman to which I added some 100 bits and pieces. I built this in the spring of 1983 between long runs training for the Boston Marathon, which I completed as a bandit from the back of the pack. Among its accolades was a first in 1/72 armor at the 1984 Region 1 convention in Mansfield, Mass.

 

     In 1989, I was a charter member of a club that was basing itself in Northern Connecticut. We would meet in a cold drafty barn that normally hosted square dances and as a group had to pay $25 for the privilege. After several months we moved to a library study room. The president would call roll at each meeting and decided that members would not be allowed to enter the first contest we held. The event was a disaster. I offered leadership for the next event and we outstripped the ability of the barn to host us. I was elected president shortly after that and the founder decided he and his treasurer/girlfriend would  not accept that and took the money and the name. Several of us then founded Wings & Wheels in June of 1990 and I joined IPMS/USA shortly thereafter, partly to help get the club its charter.

 

     My interests have regularly shifted over the years, from World War I aircraft to interwar years aircraft to sports cars to modern armor to helicopters to figures. It has been with figures that I’ve had the most success earning a first in 54mm Modern Source Sci-fi at Phoenix in 2004, a best Andrea at an AMPS East in 2003, a Best Military Figure at Noreastcon 2004, silvers in Standard/Painter at MFCA and Long Island and multiple other awards at local and regional shows.

 

     I’m indebted to my mentors in the club who have guided me in developing my skills as a figure painter and to my wife who puts up with the stash and the gray army and to trips to shows. I also find my shifting interests lead me in new learning adventures, recently having spent a good deal of time studying 18^th and 19^th Century US History and the cultures of the first people.

 

     My wife, Judy, and I live happily in West Springfield with our cats and dogs and I’m looking forward to my retirement in a few years when I can really attack the stash!