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This will be a
little bit different. Last year in 2005, my wife, Tomoko, and I suffered two
miscarriages, one in February, the other in November. They were to be the second
and third loss we had, the first being a blighted ouvum... the womb develops as
if there is a pregancy, but in actual fact, there is nothing there. Around the
11th / 12th week, it miscarriages.
The difference is
that on these occasions, the fetus did develop but, for whatever reason, could
not be sustained. We christened the first child Francis Lin and the second
Nikita Tomi, reflecting both the different nationalities/cultures of the parents
(western and oriental). We figured them both to be girls, but to be on the safe
side we figured either-sex names would be preferable. We buried Francis in the
town cemetary, along with some keepsakes form us and the family. Nikita was lost
very early in the pregancy and we were not able to keep the remains, so we had a
special ceremony of blessing over Francis' grave and had Nikitas name added to
it. As time passed and the pain eased, I kept thinking that there had to be
something that I could do specifically to honour my two children. And, as I make
models, the choice was apparent.
This article is the
result of my efforts. I chose Sabres because, well, there is nothing out there
that can beat the grace and elegance of this bird and I tend to imagine
that my girls would pocess such qualities, and that they would, indeed, be
flying free. First up is Francis Lin. For reasons I won't go into here, she, to
me, was definitly Japanese in manner and look. The decals were mainly provided
by a gentleman who has asked to remain anonymous and he did a fantastic job.
The national insignia came from an Italeri 1/48 Phantom kit. The writing on the
nose is Francis Lin's name in Japanese, kindly provided by my wife, then scanned
and emailed to this kind sir who made the decal for me. The cherry blossoms are
the national flower of Japan and a personal favourite of my wife. The paint
scheme is loosely based upon an F-15 scheme I saw awhile ago on this forum, but
not exactly the same. The tail code is the date we lost her on... 10th Feb,
2005.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The USAF Sabre is
Nikita Tomi. I see her more western in personality, a bit brash and cocky, self
sure, confident. The American Sabre markings seemed perfect. The same kind
gentleman who made the decals for Francis Lin made the relevant ones for Nikita,
namely her name, the shamrock, the sharks-mouth and the tail-codes. The
remainder came form the Academy kit and took some persuasion to sit down
properly. The shamrock is a nod to her Irish heritage. Her tail-code also
represents the date we lost her... 11th October, 2005.
I want to say a big
thank you to the kind sir who helped me by producing the decals I needed. He did
so out of the goodness of his heart and I will always be grateful for his
assistance. As I am and always will be for the support and companionship of
this forum and those who who run it and frequent it.
Go
raibh maith agat agus go ndeiri an bhothar leat.
May you all be in
Heaven an hour before the Devil knows you are dead!!
Liam
Click on
images below to see larger images
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