Testimonial

I am Omar Aziz Tipu and as far as I can remember into my early childhood, I was obsessed by aircrafts. I used to rush to the courtyard of our house, whenever, I heard the drone of an approaching aircraft. Bulk of my toys consisted of plastic and metal aero planes and helicopters. While in middle school, my class fellow, Shahzad Asif showed me a box containing parts to assemble an aircraft model. I was fascinated and immediately traded it with a couple of my most prized Matchbox dinkies. I assembled that kit with a tube of Finefix in about 30 minutes. The decals were dry transfers and a disaster to put on. Anyways, I was hooked for life to the hobby of Plastic Scale Modelling. This was in 1983.

There was no hobby shop selling plastic kits at that time in Lahore. I had to rely on my class fellow for the kits. In 1989 he informed me that a hobby shop has opened in Gulberg Centre at Liberty roundabout. I went there and was captivated by the collection of kits available. Mostly AirFix and Matchbox. Over the counter there was this soft spoken gentleman and he was extremely kind to answer all of my questions. This was my first introduction with Adeem Sb.

He would tell me, during my frequent visits, about the finer points of the hobby. What adhesive to use, what brush to use, how to apply decals. Adeem Sb. gave me some scale modelling magazines to improve my skills. Most importantly, in my school days, the meager pocket money was always insufficient to satisfy my passion for buying kits and paints. Adeem Sb. would give me credit on my purchases, which was usually settled on three occasions. Eid day, birthday and class promotion day!

I am proud, that I have been a founding member of the only two scale modelling associations in Pakistan. First one was SDMA in the early 90s and the current one is IPMS Pakistan. Having organized a number of exhibitions/competitions since, and Adeem Sb. has always graced the occasions with his presence and his wise advice. His son Moeed is the torch bearer now and definitely making his father proud.

“Never in the field of aero modelling, so much been owed by so many to a single gentleman.”

I am a restaurateur by profession and am still pursuing my love for plastic scale modelling.