Shigeru's Biography

Hello from Shigeru

Welcome to this website, "Shigeru's Aircraft Models".

My ardor for aircraft and aviation started in my childhood first with small rubber-powered flying aircraft models consisting thin strips of bamboo and paper, and then plastic model kits at their incunabula. In later years, I came to enjoy flying radio-controlled aircraft models too in my hobby time.

Besides enjoying oil painting on canvases, mountaineering, traveling, scuba diving, and listening classic music, and of course enjoying my business jobs too, I continued my aircraft modeling activities mainly with plastic model kits plus wood pieces and ultra fine photo-etched metal parts to create highly accurate scale models through historical investigations in many reference materials.

In January 1995, we had that terrible experience of Kobe Earthquake. I lost all of my completed scale aircraft models together with many pieces of furniture in that tremendous quake. Fortunately I myself, my wife and children were all safe. After months of what was called revival and reconstruction, I changed my modeling activities from plastic, wood and photo-etched parts to pc FS modeling. This hobby is really great. Completed models are stored safe on net, and can be shared with many people all over the globe. It's my pleasure in hobby time. The name of the game in my aircraft modeling is originality, creativity, imagination, and sense of humor, as many of you already know through my models.

Through my models I have uploaded to FlightSim.Com and other sites, and through the wonderful FS community networks, I have so far become acquainted with many good friends and nice people in many countries all over the world, which is another phase of my pleasure in this hobby.

In September 1997, one of my good friends, Dominique Auzeau in France, had the kindness to open "Shigeru's homepage", which continued open public until September 1999. I would like to express my thanks for his kind friendship here once again.

Incidentally, in November 1999, I had an honorable invitation to flightsimnetwork from Nels Anderson and Peter James at FlightSim.Com, and further Katy Pluta offered her sophisticated html work and lovely midi pieces for this site, and Mike Hambly presented me some of his excellent sound files for this new website "Shigeru's Aircraft Models". I wish to express my appreciations to their friendly cooperation here again. This website, hosted by FlightSim.Com, was opened public on December 22, 2000, and has so far enjoyed meeting many visitors and numerous friendly emails from all over the globe.

It is good and soothing to have hobby time, even if short, after and apart from hours of daily professional brainwork. I enjoy my FS modeling as a creative hobby where I take delight in expressing all aircraft images in my mind, and all phases of my personality into my creations. I hope you will enjoy my models and you will be as amused by them as I was in creating them.

Have a nice flight, all my friends all over the world.

Best regards,

Shigeru Tanaka

Akashi, Japan

                Developer's Award
               Aircraft Design Excellence
                           July 1999

                  Developer's Award
                  Aircraft Design Excellence
                             March 2003

                Developer's Award
               Aircraft Design Excellence
                        October 2003

                  Developer's Award
                  Aircraft Design Excellence
                              July 2004

Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.
--- John Steinbeck, East of Eden

                                                     And therefore never send to know
                                                        For Whom The FS Models Fly;
                                                                    They fly for thee.
               --- Parody of "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by John Donne, No Man is an Island

                                                        Who can say where the road goes
                                                          Where the day flows, only time
                                                                Who knows? Only time
                                        --- Only Time, lyrics by Roma Ryan, sung by Enya

MIDI sequence(s) from the Classical Archives, LLC - by permission.

Copyright notice : Aircraft model software data herein are all for my pleasure of creation and hopefully for enjoyment of many friends all over the globe. It is, however, to be remembered that these models have been created and painted originally by the author, therefore they are legally copyright reserved under the copyright laws applicable and concerned. So you may not re-distribute or re-upload them to other web sites, whether or not through modifying the contents thereof, nor use them in a commercial cd-rom collection or magazine articles or private homepage or other mass media, without the author's explicit written consent in advance. All the HTML files herein have been designed originally by Katy F. Pluta and updated by Shigeru Tanaka, and they are legally copyright reserved under the copyright laws applicable. Meanwhile, the sound files herein have been recorded by Mike Hambly, and are legally copyright reserved under the copyright laws applicable. Copyright 2007 Shigeru Tanaka. All Rights Reserved.