Gonna be famous!

[Tonino]

Dear friends,
although my work is keeping me away from active modeling I'm not totally absent.
I had the great pleasure to be invited from San Marino national broadcasting service (San Marino RTV) to be testimonial in an episode of the TV show "Passioni: creatività, arte sogno" (Passions: creativity, art, dream) to talk about my beloved paper models.

If you would like to waste seven minutes of your life seeing my silly face while I try to explain myself I put here the link to the video.

https://www.sanmarinortv.sm/programm...477#video72477

The show was an huge success because many people stops me complimenting for an activity they never suspected before about me...

Unfortunately I can't edit the file because it's not free to modify so I couldn't provide subtitles to make you understand what I'm saying.
Anyway I wrote down the text for you, if you want to follow the video linking images to the things I say.

This is the transcription:

...

I’m Antonio Zani, I’m 57 years old, I live in Cailungo, San Marino, and my passion is model making.

We all was ever fascinated by miniature reproduction of the things that is part of our life. Just think to doll houses or model railroads, objects often charming adults more than childs.

Recently I discovered an all-new world that is card modeling. Basically it’s possible, starting from simple paper or cardboard, that you can print by yourself or buy in printed form, to build any kind of subject, scale models that have nothing to envy to traditional ones that anyone can easily remember, like classic sailing ship models.

It’s not only about bringing pieces together, but rather to tell a story.

LUNAR MODULE

This one won several prizes. I have to say it gave me a lot of gratifications. This one too comes from a story. It’s the lunar module of Apollo 13 mission. For those unfamiliar with the story this is the lunar module that never landed on the moon but acted as a lifeboat bringing back the astronauts to the Earth and saving them from an horrible death in the space.
You don’t need to have special tools to build paper models. In the simplest way a pair of scissors and a tube of glue are enough to start.

What if I see the children getting close? … I put myself in front to stop them!

THE WHITE AND BLUE TRAIN

I was member of the “Associazione Treno Bianco Azzurro” at the time of its foundation. We thought about producing and selling this model as a promotional gadget. This is the AB03, the electric locomotive that has been recently restored and now is on show at the entrance of the Montale tunnel, in the site where was the San Marino train station. This is the prototype of a model kit we was planning to realize to consent to anybody to build his own AB03 model. It’s a very detailed model with full interior, first class with velvet chairs, third class with wooden benches. The interesting thing about this model is that, while I was building it the real one was under restoration, so the two AB03 came to life simultaneously.

To build this model I worked about a year long. But has to be said I didn’t work at it continuously every day. You don’t have to be hasty if you want to be a good modeler.

SPACE SHUTTLE FLIGHT DECK

This is the flight deck of a Space Shuttle. It’s surely the most challenging project I dealt with, because this time I've choosen to design it totally by myself instead of taking a ready to build model. It might appears to be not very interesting if you see it closed, but if you open it you can see that the thing is pretty complex. Roberto Vittori, who was member of the crew during the mission I choose to represent, brought in space a crossbow from Sansepolcro, the town where he used to live. This was the first time, for what I know, that a crossbow was aboard the space station and shot some arrows to its target at zero G. This detail couldn't be missing in my model so I carefully reproduced it using, as a reference, the original drawings I obtained from the “mastro d’armi”, the master craftsman who actually realized it, that I was able to contact personally.
Usually my family, especially my wife, make me notice that, when I’m at work with my models, I tend to loose track of time. So from time to time I hear a voice screaming “Did you see the watch?” and I realize that hours have passed, while I was sure that I have been working only for few minutes. When you have fun the time really flies. Unfortunately this is my passion, what can I do?

[Vermin_King]

I'll have to try it again tonight on Chrome. Getting a bunch of messages that I need translations for, but this sounds really great.


And thank you for translating to English for us poor idiots who should have picked up another language in our younger years

[Tonino]

Originally Posted by Vermin_King

I'll have to try it again tonight on Chrome. Getting a bunch of messages that I need translations for, but this sounds really great.

I'm very sorry you are having trouble accessing the video. You are not the first who tells me. I'll check with the TV staff what's the matter with their website.

[JohnM]

I tried to watch it too ... with no luck ... but an accidental brush with the mouse over a control button revealed the problem ... (Javascript void). Like most of us nowadays, your browser has probably abandoned Javascript or is actively blocking it.

[Vermin_King]

That is more than likely the issue, Johnny

[whulsey]

Nice video, some really good models.

[sreinmann]

What a wonderful video! It was very well produced and you showed yourself as well as your fantastically well built models. I remember your work on the shuttle deck, which certainly doesn't seem that long ago. It is a pleasure to see shared in this format!

[SCEtoAUX]

That is a great video. I like those scenes where you have the ruler showing how small some of the parts are.
I wonder how many people in Italy who watched the broadcast caught the paper model bug.

[Philip]

A very nice video, Tonino. I didn't understand a word of what you said, but I didn't need to. Your manner, your enthusiasm and your good humour said it all. And those wonderful models helped a bit.

[Vermin_King]

Chrome did the trick, sir. Very well done