A good man died on the morning of October 17. I never met him in person, I only know him thru this wonderful place called the Internet. One of my hobbies is model railroading, and Robin was a regular contributor to one of the forums I frequent. Robin made beautiful models. His models were even more amazing because his material of choice was what he called cereal-board, which was cardboard cut from empty cereal boxes. Yes, this man, armed with stuff we all throw in the trash along with snap-off knives, glue, and acrylic paint from the craft store, built models that were unmatched.
This isn't about his models though, this is about him. Robin didn't just post pictures of his completed models for everyone to marvel at, he posted step-by-step construction photos so we could all see his progression from an empty cereal box to a beautiful model. He took our good-natured teasing about the cereal company logos apparent in his models before he painted them. Whenever anyone commented on the quality of his work he encouraged them saying that if he could do it anyone could. He encouraged many of us, including me, to give it a try. This was his magic, not only in building models but in sharing his expertise with the rest of us and encouraging us.
I like to think that Robin is in a place where he has a large pile of cereal board, where he never runs out of glue or paint, and where the knife never slips and nicks his finger. I hope to meet him there someday, and I know he'll be as willing to teach me there as he was here.
My life, and that of many others, was vastly improved by this man I would never have even heard of were it not for a shared love of modelling and a place where people from all over the world could meet. The world will be a little worse now, there is one less artist, craftsman, teacher, and most importantly good man in it. Robin had a gift for teaching and inspiring. His criticism was always constructive, he freely offered advice to anyone who asked and just as willingly accepted advice from others.
I'll miss you Robin, thanks for everything.
3 comments:
Robin, I'm sorry you lost someone who was obviously important to you. He sounds like a prince of a guy.
Is his website still up? I'd love to see it.
Where are you in Bergen Co.? I grew up in Wyckoff, later moved to Midland Park, and lived in Franklin Lakes when I first got married. Graduate of Ramapo HS.
morningglory,
Robin is the man who died, I'm Mark. The forum where I met him is at www.the-gauge.com, there are a number of threads there with his models. His handle was Matthryo, if you look in the sub-folder called "the academy" there's a sub-sub folder called "Robin at his best".
I live in River Edge, near Paramus. I'm originally from NYC, met and married a Jersey Girl and crossed the river.
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