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…and left me wondering why they were trashing a GOOD movie!

38 inches long, about 14 inches high including the base.

Detailing is not as fine as on the Titanic model I bought in the same scale, several years ago, but it was also about 1/10th the cost!

Since you can't read the name plate in this image, it's RMS Queen Mary, the ship on which I first crossed to Canada (docking in New York) back in 1953. So nostalgia helps smooth over some of the lack in the actual modeling.

I'd actually expected it to come with a display case, like the Titanic, but I guess that was one of the places they cut costs! I'll have to look into buying one separately before the dust gets too thick on the lines!!

When my Dad died, almost two years ago, now, a bundle of his papers came into my possession, and included in these were the passports he and my mother had used over the years, all the way back to our first move to Canada. Checking the dates in those, I confirmed my memories, that we arrived in New York in early 1954, shortly before my fourth birthday.

I was reminded, tho, of something my mother and I found most amusing when we became Canadian citizens in 1964. We'd returned to England in 1955, our first adventure in Canada having been something of a disaster, but by 1958 my parents had decided to try again. My father went back first, in February of '58, and his passport was stamped "landed immigrant", just like the first time. When my mother and I followed a month later, however, for some reason we were welcomed as "returning residents". Which meant that as far as the Canadian government was concerned, our time out of the country didn't count, and we'd been entitled to citizenship about two years earlier than my Dad.

(Of course, when I became a Canadian citizen, in 1964, I had no idea that a quarter century later I would become an American citizen -- full fledged, no "dual".)

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Shiny black -- or even not so shiny black -- has been traditionally shown with blue highlight. Think of Superman's hair. Over the years, even before I entered the Biz professionally, I was frustrated by people who would ask "Why can't everybody tell Superman and Clark are the same, since they both have blue hair?" This despite Lois standing next to Superman, ALSO with "blue" hair.

When I created Northstar and Aurora I decided I would sidestep this problem. I wanted them to have shiny black hair, but instead of blue I asked for white highlights. I felt that would be more "realistic". Unfortunately, as soon as artists other than myself started drawing them, the blacks were dropped and their hair became "white". And I have even been told by some fans that I am wrong in insisting their hair is black!!