KIT Checker - Model Reviews from Austria.
originalundmodell.de from Germany.
Helmut & Stefan Fraundorfer, two brothers native
to the upper Austrian Mühlviertel, have been committed
o the beautiful hobby of scale modeling for several
years now. The two of them are the owners of the
website www.kitchecker.de, a website dedicated to
reviews about anything and everything that has to do
with scale modeling. Of course they also present the
models they built themselves on the same website.
Pictorials about their visits to different scale model
shows, museums or other events like airshows, is also
something you can find on their website.
Stefan was born in 1969 has two grown up daugthers
and works as a customer consultant in a bank. The first
model he ever built was at the age of 11 and it was a
P-51 Mustang from Revell, assembled with regular craft
glue. Back then you could purchase these kits in the
local convenient store but there was no internet to
communicate with other model builders or to collect
information about the hobby. Both of these things are hard to imagine these days. Nevertheless he caught
the dreaded modeling virus right away, building that Mustang. After a couple of years, when raising
children and building a home were the priorities, he quickly got back into the hobby very seriously again.
His main area of interest is aircraft models, especially the colorful planes and jets of the different
aerobatic teams.
Helmut was born in 1979 and is almost 10 years younger to the day, than his brother Stefan. He is
married to a girl from Texas and is the father of two boys at the age of 9 and 6. He already shows them
the basics of scale modeling and is making sure that this beautiful hobby of ours isn’t going to die off.
After successfully graduating job school as a furniture maker, he now works as an IT technician for a big
Swedish furniture company. Until the fall of 2015 he will be busy with a big project – building his and his
family’s home. After that’s finished he will have his very own hobby room and he will have more time
again for his specialty - super detailing scale models. His fascination for scale modeling started with
visiting the scale model fair in Ried and hasn’t ceased since.
Have fun, and good luck with the Wings Wheels & Tracks contest, from the „brothers in scale“ Helmut and
Stefan.
Thomas Schneider, born 1969 in the lovely Franconia, is fascinated from
his earliest days on creating by everything noise and stink when flying
through the air. Going to school he sold homeworks and break bread to
finance his first airplane kits. He preferred to build kits of Matchbox, Revell
and AIRFIX in the cheap scale of 1:72 of course. These kits were starters
and you really could not yet speak of model construction. It simply was
gluing together a lot of unpainted parts.
After a relative long halt caused by his job training he restarted with a
Badger airbrush received as a gift. Slowly but steady the experience grew
simultaneously recycling most of his old models. He made his break
through via contacts to professional modellers which changed everything.
Now became obvious what still was to learn and what was possible in the
world of modelling. Exhibitions in this time especially “The German Model
Masters” in Nürnberg took care for the remaining.
Since 2009 visits to exhibitions and competitions at home and abroad are
regular.
Thomas Schneider wishes you all good luck and much more fun with your
great hobby.
Konrad Schmittlein
Konrad was born in 1954 in the lowlands of Bavaria and started building
i.e. gluing plastic parts together with everything what was handy to
replicate airplanes. As far as he can remember he only was interested in
airplanes of every kind. By the advice of the father of a friend he learned
to use plastic cement and the application of Humbrol enamels.
With 14 his father permitted to subscribe to the Airfix Magazine to improve
his English. This step opened a completely new world to Konrad and he
realized that modelling was not a boys game but a serious hobby.
The next major step came with the first airbrush and home-built
compressor in 1975. He became IPMS member and by visiting exhibitions
and airshows at home and abroad he finally became an author for several
modelling magazines.
After retirement and over 50 years of modelling and still having fun Mr.
Schneider persuaded him to contribute to his modelling-site “Original und
Modell”.
Konrad wishes you all getting the utmost fun out of your modelling
activities.
Please also note our other activities in scale modelling:
Online youth modelling competition on originalundmodell.de
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