'm 30 years old (9/29/64), and I've been in the hobby for about 15 years, since about 1983 or so. I've had models since I was about 9 or so, but didn't think much about them until I read an article in Western Horseman one day when I was about 14 and found out that people actually showed model horses...I couldn't believe it! The article had a few addresses to write to, and that was all I needed to know! I became completely immersed in the hobby for about 3 years until I was about 18 or 19, when college hit; I basically dropped out for about 3 or 4 years while I went to school, got my first job, started dating, and learned a lot about life in general; little did I know that Western Horsemen would pull me back in again.

In 1988, I wandered into a bookstore one day and while looking at the magazines, I saw a few horse magazines, something I hadn't looked at for years. Flipping through a Western Horseman, I nearly fell over when I found in the back, page after page of classified ads for model horses! Throughout were pleas from beginners crying for help, and I stood there thinking how nice it would be if I could answer all of their questions at once. In a great rush, my interest in the hobby came flooding back into my life and that very day I went home to begin writing my book, The World of Model Horses. I finished the 200-page volume four months later, self-written, layed out, edited, and published! I went on to sell 900 copies to hobbiests in all 50 states, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, England, Germany, and Australia! It was so gratifying to have been able to help so many people learn about the hobby!

y experience as a customizer has really changed since I wrote that book back in 1988! Back then I was still hairing my models with "craft fur" and using "Plastic Wood" for filling holes! Although I'd begun using mohair, I'd never heard of the special silky hair available, called ramie, or the soon-to-be-hobby-standard Martin Carbone expoxy filler, and what in the world was a heat guns? I do just about everything differently than I did when I first entered the hobby!

These days I haven't found much time to customize, but I've been spending what time I do find learning to paint better, which is always gratifying. My newest piece which I have a photograph for is my Morgan, Armstrong's River of Promise. I'm finishing up an American Artist "Ruffian" right now, who's a flashy shaded red bay overo.

Everyone eventually asks me why I use "Armstrong's" in all of my models' names. Good question! The answer is simple once explained: my father owns a ranch in Northern California called Armstrong Ranch. The man it's named after, Colonel Armstrong, was responsible for saving a beautiful redwood grove nearby, appropriately named Armstrong Woods; it's one of the most beautiful places I know of! The house he lived in is on the ranch, and believe it or not, his ghost haunts the house! (I spent a summer in the house cleaning stalls at a Quarter Horse ranch next door, and one day I had an encounter with his spirit! The people who live in the house sometimes hear him walking up and down the stairs, opening and closing doors, and rocking chairs back and forth!) I think it's neat to have a model ranch name that's actually a real ranch!

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