a model citizen

I'm still recovering from a physical problem and have reached a stage where I am able to be sitting more frequently.  For some time, I wasn't sitting at all--just lying down or standing.  Now, many days, I am sitting up to about twenty minutes at a time, several times a day.

It seems to me that I think better when sitting.  Well, maybe not better in general, but differently.  Different tasks seem to work better for me while sitting.  And now I can read in fifteen or twenty minute increments, which has been very nice.  I read a wonderful book called The House at Otowi Bridge: The Story of Edith Warner and Los Alamos by Peggy Pond Church.  I recommend it with gusto.

In addition to reading, I've been thinking about other pursuits I can do standing or while sitting for short periods.  Yesterday, I bought an old model kit of an airplane.  When I was a kid, my folks gave me a few models to build.  I especially enjoyed a robot one that I assembled and which subsequently broke because I played with it instead of leaving it on a shelf.  I'm glad I choose to play with the big, multi-jointed blue and grey robot.  Even after it broke into several pieces, I had great fun weaving it into the childhood mythologies I cooked up in my brain.  It seems a couple other robots were always on a quest to find the legendary robot that had been lost to the ages and lay hidden in pieces scattered across a world.

So, as I've been thinking of hobbies to try as I'm getting better, models came to mind.  I came across this kit and, although I'd like to try another robot, I think it will be fun to work on in short spurts.  Last night while reading through the instructions, I realized that some parts should be painted before assembling.  If I feel up to it, I'd like to get out and get some paint.  I'm going to look for some of that inexpensive craft paint and try to match colors with those suggested in the instructions.

The kit is a scale model of a 1973 jet manufactured for the French, West German, and Belgian air forces.  You have the option of building it as the French or the German version, which I think is pretty neat.  The photograph on the box is the French version.  The body of the plane differs only slightly; the colors are the big differences.

Anyway, I think it will be fun to give it a try.  Has anyone reading this ever put together a model before?  What was it, and did you enjoy the process?