ScaleAIR: About the Webmaster

Your Webmaster at the Workbench

About Me:

Hi Folks! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Steve Filak, Sr. I'm 36 years old, and live in Upstate New York, about an hour and a half north of New York City. Actually, I guess it's not really upstate, but anyone who lives in NYC will tell you that anything north of NYC is upstate! ;-)

I've been building models for pretty much my entire life. I built the first one in 1972, at age five, and it was either a Revell UH-1D in 1/32, or the old Monogram A-7 Corsair - history is a little fuzzy on this one. I was hooked as soon as I opened that first kit box, and the rest became history.

I've always gravitated toward aircraft modeling, probably because of the Huey that my dad and I built. That model had particular importance because my dad was a Huey door gunner during the Vietnam War, flying UH-1C gunships with the 336th AHC in Soc Trang. I was always very proud of my dad and his military service - growing up, he was pretty much a 'larger than life' figure, and I really admired everything he stood for.

Modeling has always been a part of my life, and for me, it's been an important one. With the exception of the usual hiatus taken during teenage years to discover cars and women, I've always been at the workbench, slapping together some kit or another, and have always found modeling to be a great form of stress relief. I think that in addition to stress relief, modeling has been an important influence in my life in that it tends to challenge me to improve with each successive project, as well as the effect that modeling has on small motor coordination, and analytical/reasoning skills. There's a lot more benefits to modeling than just having a nice finished project to sit on the shelf!

Career and Family:

Work: that ugly four-letter word! Anyway, as many of you know, I am a police officer, and have been one since January 2, 1989. I currently hold the rank of Sergeant, and have had the opportunity over my career to participate in a number of different facets of the profession. Prior to my promotion, I was a Field Training Officer, and also enjoyed that aspect of the job - it's very satisfying to be able to teach, and hopefully my next move will be that of an Academy Instructor.

I've been lucky enough to work with some really great guys over the last fourteen years, will probably do so well into the future. I've also been fortunate enough to be 'in the right place at the right time', and have rated a number of ribbons, such as the Exceptional Duty Medal (three multiples), The Meritorious Service Medal (three multiples), the Samaritan Award (five multiples - kind of like the Lifesaving Award), the Chief's Presentation Medal (four multiples), numerous unit citations, and I was selected as the Officer of the Year in 1996 and 1997. All in all, it's been a very satisfying career so far.

I'm grateful to be happily married to a very lovely lady who is also very tolerant of my hobby. We have three kids, a 13 year old and 5 year old sons, and a 3 year old daughter, with the 3 year old being a bigger handful than the two boys put together!. Actually, one of the benefits of working the night shift is that it enables me to spend a lot of time with my family, as opposed to the 3-11 shift. My other main hobby involves chasing a little white dimpled ball through the woods, but that's a story for another day.............

All in all, my life is pretty damn good, and aside from maybe setting aside a little more workbench time, I wouldn't change a single thing.

Back To Modeling:

In addition to building models, some of you may also know that I was one of the original 'Three Steves' that started the Aircraft Resource Center. Actually, I was the last of the Steves to sign on, with the original idea being a combination of Steve Stohr's walkaround site, combined with Steve Bamford's Instruction Sheet Library. ARC was a great ride, but unfortunately, due to some family health concerns and a change in work hours to the midnight shift, I had to leave it behind. It's a move that I regret sometimes, but I know now that I'd never have the time to invest in ARC now, especially considering the growth of the site over the last few years. I'm content now to run a small site, and actually have time to build something once in a while!

ScaleAIR was started as a kind of central repository for my model articles, and it just naturally seemed to gravitate toward the Jolly Rogers. They're certainly my favorite Navy squadron - to me, there's nothing prettier than a white skull and crossbones on a pair of black Tomcat tails! Although I might deviate from the norm from time to time, the main focus of this site is and always will be the Jolly Rogers.

I appreciate all of the support that you have all given me regarding this site since its inception, and I encourage you to contribute to the site as well. I hope to make ScaleAIR the premier 'Jolly Rogers' modeling site on the Internet, and with your help, I'm sure we can do just that!

Happy Modeling,

Steve Filak, Sr.
IPMS #42283

PS - For those of you who were wondering, there is a Steve Filak, Jr. He's five years old, and quite a handful! BTW, the Band-Aid doesn't cover a wound, it's more of a fashion statement with him:

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