LSP staff bios

In case you are interested, here is some info about our staff. 

Administrators

Chris Sherland

Age: Born on January 10, 1963

Nationality: USA

Residency: Texas

Marital Status: Married

Profession: Computer Game Producer

Modeling career: My Father gave me a 1/32 scale Revell F4U in 1969, I was 6. Needles to say it is "no longer with us" but it started something. Over the following decade I built many aircraft models, some ships, and a few cars, but my focus was always on military aircraft (I must have built the Revel 1/32 F4E and F4J 10 times, and the 1/72 F4E/B/and J 30 times...I had a Phantom problem). In High School however my mind turned to girls and I put down the mess that was my hobby for 20 odd years. Picking it up again 3-4 years ago I've found it to be the ulimate meditation for me. It calms my nerves and get's me out of the wife's hair. While I'd save a lot of room building smaller, 1/32 and above scale aircraft just demand to be noticed and I like that.

Name: Randolph Steven Bumgardner (Randy)

Age: Born on June 14, 1965

Nationality: USA

Residency: Richmond, California

Marital Status: Married with one son, and two step-daughters

Profession: Software Engineer

First Model: Can't remember... I started helping my Dad when I was four. Although, I'm sure it was a plane...

Last Model: Roden 1/48 Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter. First WWI aircraft, first rigging job, first acrylic paint (Polly Scale)... nice build. Although building everything from clear polystyrene was kind of odd...

Real Passions: Luftwaffe research and modelling. Ever since I can remember, I've had an interest, passion, obsession about German aircraft from about 1935 to 1945. Second to that, any other aircraft that was flying 1935-1945. Researching a subject usually consumes more time than actually building it. My penchant for buying/building plastic is rivaled only by my penchant for buying/reading books about them... and I think the book buying habit is winning. I can't find my floor...

Associate Editors

Daniel Anthony LoRusso (Dan)

Age: Kicking & screaming towards 50

Nationality: American (of Italian heritage)

Residency: United States of America

Marital Status: Married w/one child (15 year old son Adam)

Profession: Wildlife sculptor/illustrator

First Model: When I was seven, Aurora 1/48nd scale P-40 (remember the raised detail markings ?)

Last Model: Hasegawa 1/32 Spitfires, Fw 190Ds and Fw 190As, Revell Mosquito all in various stages of conversion and completion.

Real Passions: Strictly build 1/32 WW II aircraft. Tropical Marine aquariums and of course dinosaurs.

Rogério José Marczak (Rato)

Age: Born on February 9, 1968

Nationality: Brazilian (of Polish heritage)

Residency: Porto Alegre (southern Brazil)

Marital Status: Married. I have two little daughters.

Profession: Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil.

First Model: My first model was a Revell RC-121 Warning Star in 1/box scale. I got it as a Christmas gift from my parents when I was around 7. My mother (!!!) assembled the kit for  me during that Christmas morning. While she was preparing the breakfast, I decided to finish the model by my own, and I managed to break a stabilizer. Instead of using the glue, I decided to melt the edge of the broken part with fire from a match and attach it to the fuselage while still soft. It worked (my first tip)! Never forgot that moment...

Last Model: A accurized Heller F6F Hellcat on carrier deck diorama in 1/72, including a scratchbuild Clark CT-46 tow tractor. In 1/32, I´m slowly working on a Scratchbuilders P-40B conversion for the Revell kit. The project includes a fully scratchbuild cockpit, landing gears and lots of other details.

Real Passions: Corsairs. I love the aircraft and everything related to it, including a particular interest for the VF-17 squadron. As an engineer by profession, I also enjoy to study the engineering approach of WWII aircrafts: structural designs, hydraulic system, engine configurations and manufacturing process. I like to develop engineering applications using C++ language, and have a long suffering fondness for the S.E. Palmeiras soccer team. And of course, I´m an addict of 1/32 plastic models - props, only. I think this the perfect scale for scratchbuilding, with adequate room for a realistic paint finishing and weathering. The 1/24 is too big, and the 1/72 is my favorite scale for dioramas.

Jay Laverty(Jay)

Age: 34

Nationality: Canadian, although home is now East Anglia in the UK

Marital Status: Happily married to Roberta, with three wonderful shildren, John (6) Andy (4) April (2) and number 4 due in 5 months, in April 2006.

Profession: I write modelling articles that are published in English, German, French, and Greek. So far... I also run my own small business producing resin accessories in most scales, as well as what I think are the worlds greatest sanding tools.

First Model Built: Good question. It may very well have been a Monogram snap-tite P-40, but I cannot be sure.

Last Model Built: 1:35th Crusader AA mk.III.

Modelling Career: I started very young, and generally built anything that I could get my hands on. They were built as quickly as possible so they could be played with. I lost interest when I got to the age when women, beer, pot and being an idiot was the general rule of the day. I did no modelling for 15 years, and travelled the world for several of those years, eventually marrying an English girl and settling here. After I had been running my own pub for a year or so and my first born (John) was born, I decided I needed a new hobby aside from drinking, as my liver was beginning to pay the price, so I made a trip to Hannants in London and have never looked back. It was here that I met guys like Marcus Nicholls, Niel Ashby and Geoff Coughlin who were a great influence on my passion to write articles, as well as modelling in general, and the passion for modelling by all of the guys there ( Vince Blackburn, Hannants manager Garry Linsdell, and shop owner Carmel Zammit, to name but a few ) was truly inspirational, and I doubt very much I would have gotten into the hobby to the extent I have now if it weren't for all of their encouragement and inspiration. I have never seen a group of guys with so much skill and expertiese in one place as I have at Barnet model club.

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