Autobiography of

Richard Mataka Sr.

The Beginning

During the past 35 years my hobby has been my passion.  The Wargaming, Boardgaming, Military Miniature and Plastic Model industries (hobbies) have been something that I have had gained much pleasure from.  I remember as a 7 or 8 year old boy taking my marx toy soldiers, setting them up as enemy armies against one another and battling till the last man standing.  My ammunition in those days was marbles, as I would shoot them first at one army, then the other.  This was many, many years before I even heard of the book “Little Wars” by H.G. Wells. 

Around this same time, a friend of mine and his father were building a balsa wood airplane.  I remember trying to build an FW190, but not very successfully as the balsa wood wasn’t glued on too well and my mother complained loudly about the smell of the doping liquid used to cover the paper surrounding the balsa frame.  Then there was the painting step and this was a special paint that also had a strong odor. After this, I was sent outside the house to the porch for any more balsa plane building. I remember attempting to build a few balsa wood planes such as the P51, BF109, and F4U and each, while far from perfect, never flew or even had a gas engine installed.

Sometime during these early years, also between the ages of 7 and 8 I was also introduced to plastic models. I have many fond memories of building these models in my bedroom. Planes, tanks, ships, artillery, it didn’t matter what I built they were all works of art and I enjoyed the building them immensely.  Enamel gloss paints were thrown on with any old brush and these models were works of art in my adolescent mind.

I remember building an Aurora Aircraft Carrier in the early 60’s that had a working catapult (can’t remember the ships name), a large number of submarines, and many planes, especially the Century series. I remember building the Blue Angel planes, and was enamored with the Air Force Thunderbirds (which probably accounts for one of the reasons that I joined the USAF). Then there was the artillery. I spent many hours building whatever artillery gun I could get my hands on. Also there were the Lindberg ships, the LST’s, the destroyers, the tanks, many of which were motor driven. I remember melting the plastic under the gun turrets of tanks and ships with my wood burning iron from my wood burning kit so that they would turn and I could animate them.

Then the teen years set in and priorities change. Like all teens I discovered that there was more in life than balsa wood planes, plastic tanks, ships, and guns. I played more sports, hung out with my friends, had jobs, and began to be mesmerized by girls. These were the high school years that were full of rebellion and discovery. Of course this is the same for many modelers no matter where you live throughout the world.

Strategy Boardgaming

Then, while in the USAF, I played my first boardgame in 1972 while stationed Turkey. Almost immediately, I enjoyed the challenge of strategy and tactics inherent in these types of games. The first game I played was the "Introductory Game – Napoleon at Waterloo" that was published by Simulations Publications. After playing against a number of opponents (sometimes winning and sometimes losing) I ordered a Subscription to that wonderful magazine "Strategy and Tactics". From 1973 through 1975 I waited for my new issues of Strategy & Tactics to arrive so I could play the latest game.

Around 1975, I was performing an outside service call for the company I worked for at the time, and I passed a store in New York City by the name of “The Soldier Shop”.  I walked into this store and had an entirely new world opened to my young eyes.  Immediately, Mr. Peter Bloom (who I would later become friends with) took me on a detailed tour of his store and opened to me the world of Military Miniatures.  Almost immediately, I knew I found another passion as the gorgeous miniatures and uniforms in his store enthralled me.  It was soon after that, that I purchased my first miniatures from the Soldier Shop which were a few boxes of Roman 25mm figures.  Mr. Bloom assisted me in picking out the paints and brushes I needed to paint these miniatures and sent me off with my new purchases to enjoy my new found hobby.  Mr. Bloom was always friendly and helpful to me the hundreds of times that I visited his store in the coming years.  It was because of him that I also developed the passion for the Military Miniature hobby and saw it as a part of the Boardgaming, Wargaming, and Military Miniature industries. From this point forward, there was no turning back as I had found a hobby that would become a life’s passion.

Sometime in late 1974 I visited the offices of Simulations Publications and became more immersed into the hobby. I started to write articles and reviews, many of which I no longer have in my possession. I also began to speak with other game publishers and miniature manufacturers throughout the industry. I started to get a reputation as a legitimate product reviewer and began to receive review copies of new games or role playing fantasy products that were being released. This started me thinking and I began to look at the industry in a new perspective.

Press Release Syndicated Column

As I surveyed the landscape of the hobby in 1975 there was a tremendous number of new products being designed and only a handful of people who would take the time to review these products. It was around July of 1975 when I came up with the idea of a "syndicated column" that I would distribute to magazines across the U.S.. The idea behind the column was that I would create an excess of material and the magazine editors could pick and choose what they wanted to use from the material I sent them. When I called the publishers and editors of the magazines across the U.S., I found that there were 10 or 12 publications that were interested in picking up my column. Some of the magazines that used the material published in this syndicated column were Wargamers Digest, World War II Digest, The Dragon, Wargamers Newsletter, Military Modeling, Wargaming, The Strategic Review, The Space Gamer, Model Retailer, and Craft Model and Hobby Industry. The last two magazines were widely distributed and well respected trade publications. (Note: A trade publication was a magazine that was distributed to retail stores from which the retailers would purchase products for their store or stores.  These magazines were extremely influential in the success or failure of publishers and manufacturers because without retail sales it was difficult for them to succeed and expand.) For additional information on Trade Publications, please select “Trade Publications” from the above menu under Historical Documents or see below.

After making the agreement with the publishers regarding the column, I began contacting the miniature manufacturers and game publishers for their support. I was very pleased that almost every game publisher and military manufacturer in the industry supported my effort. There were typically 4 sections of the "Press Release Column" that were distributed to the magazines which were;

• Boardgame Reviews
• Miniature Rule Book Reviews
• Book Reviews
• Military Miniatures New Release Photographs

This was the very first syndicated column that I produced for the Wargaming, Boardgaming and Military Miniature hobby back in 1975.  As I mentioned previously, this column was distributed to approximately 10 to 12 publications throughout its history.

Trade Publications

First a little background information. You must remember that in these early years, the Boardgaming, Wargaming, and Collectors Military Miniatures was more of a "closet hobby" than a real hobby. It was not recognized by the "Hobby Industry Association" nor was it covered in any of the trade publications of the day. Also, while The Avalon Hill game company did have some retail exposure, most of the other game companies’ and military miniatures products were not available in retail stores.

Finally, during that time, nobody would admit that they played games of war or played with little toy soldiers. As I surveyed the landscape of the hobby in 1975 there was a tremendous number of new products being designed and only a handful of people who would take the time to review the new products.

As previously mentioned it was in July of 1975 when I came up with the idea of a "Syndicated Column" that I would distribute to magazines across the U.S.. The idea behind the column was that I would create an excess of material and the magazine editors could pick and choose what they wanted to use from the material I sent them.

Model Retailer

Model Retailer was the first Trade Publication that began to publish some of my Press Release Column material. This started around February 1976. This was the first time that Wargaming, Boardgaming, and the Military Miniatures industry cracked the veneer of the Hobby Industry. It wasn’t much, as the only items that Model Retailer was publishing were my photographs of New Products. You can see the issues of Model Retailer by selecting the Menu Item below Historical Documents or clicking here.

Craft, Model, and Hobby Industry

Then sometime in early 1977, Moe Gherman (click here to see In Memoriam) co-founder of the trade magazine Craft, Model, and Hobby Industry asked me to write a monthly column talking to retailers. I immediately jumped at this opportunity and my very first column in a Trade Publication was printed in June of 1977. In this, and subsequent editorial columns I attempted to teach retailers what this hobby was all about. I provided them with ideas on how to market the hobby to their customers, how to get the customers into the store, and how to get their customers involved in store activities. I suggested things like competitions of all types and meetings in the store where likeminded individuals could meet and exchange ideas.

I produced all the material for this section of the magazine every month. Frequently, I had to provide material for over 20 pages of the magazine, which was a tremendous amount of work. At the same time, I had a full time job in the electronics/computer industry. Every month I had to create a new editorial with fresh ideas, take pictures of new products, process the film (this was way before digital cameras), write short descriptions of those new products that would go under the photo in the magazine, select the products that would be placed on the pages of the magazine, and finally deliver all of this material to the magazine offices which were on 34^th Street in New York City. As you can imagine, this column for Craft, Model, and Hobby Industry was a full time job unto itself.

I wrote for the trade magazines for a total of 4 years and 2 months and produced the monthly column for Craft, Model & Hobby Industry for approximately 21 months . At the end of this time, I guess you could say I burned out. It was all up to me to produce the entire section of the magazine and keep after the military miniature manufacturers and game publishers to send new products. So, when I wasn’t writing, I was on the phone speaking with them. When I wasn’t on the phone speaking with them, I was writing. It was a vicious cycle that had to eventually take its toll.

Then everything always came down to deadline time and it was always the last few days of pressure to get it all done, to get the section of the magazine produced (there were many months when at deadline time I would not sleep for 2 or 3 days). Taking the pictures, writing the descriptions, making sure I had the latest products, being creative for a new editorial, performing these steps month in and month out and somewhere during all of this, the Wargaming, Boardgaming, and Military hobby became a multi-million dollar industry (remember this is 1970’s money) and the hobby was finally accepted by the Hobby Industry Association as a legitimate hobby.

During this time I met some incredible people. People such as Gary Gygax, Jim Dunnigan, Bill Murray, Stan Johanson, Tom Shaw, Frank Chadwick, Scot Bizar, Don Greenwood, Steve Jackson, Lou Zochhi (the magician) and Duke Siefried (the showman) to name only a few. I know I am missing many, many others, and not putting them down does not diminish my care for them, only that time has let them slip from my memory.

Do I regret the time I spent dedicated to this hobby? NO. Am I bitter? NO. Do I have regrets? No! Remember, the hobby had become a passion to me and I threw myself into that passion whole heartedly. I felt that I was instrumental in taking a closet hobby that had a small but dedicated following and grew it through my writing and persistence to a multi-million dollar industry. However, approximately 21 months of toiling under the pressures of producing a column for a magazine single handedly, and dealing with the artistic personalities of the manufacturers and game publishers finally took its toll and I walked away.

Fading into the Background

After this, I quietly faded into the background of the Boardgaming, Wargaming and Military Miniature hobby. I became more of a hobbyist than a writer. I didn’t push myself to write and only wrote about things I wanted. I reviewed games and enjoyed playing them which had been difficult to do under the previous schedule. During the next few years I published articles infrequently but still kept an eye on the industry. Then we were getting to the 1980’s and printing costs were increasing, price of games were increasing, fantasy gaming was growing by leaps and bounds and historical Boardgaming was slowly fading and companies that were mainstays in the Golden Age of Boardgaming in the next 12 years (1983 to 1995) began to disappear. New companies were appearing on the horizon and a new age had begun.

Computers

It was also around this time that I found computers and being an electronics guru of some sorts focused my energy on a new challenging industry, Microcomputers. I remember when the Altair 8800 was introduced in Popular Electronics. It was the very first personal computer and I could not read enough about this new technology. I read everything I could get my hands on. Around the same time I started to make some contacts in the electronic/computer industry. An area that was really lacking in the early days of the S-100 computer systems were good manuals. In those days, the engineers wrote the manuals and there were no such things as proof reading or technical writers.

In 1975 there was a computer company that manufactured a microprocessor training device that was in a kit form. I contacted that company and offered to rewrite their manual. The company jumped at the idea of having someone who was a published author (who was I to correct them). I took my time and built this microprocessor trainer kit, hand writing my notes and typing them on a typewriter to be sent back to the manufacturer. The manufacturer was ecstatic with the re-write and I got to keep the training device.

With this device I stated to teach myself microprocessors and how they work and machine language programming. It seemed that I also had a natural knack in understanding technology. However, learning about the internals of the microprocessor chip and the support chips was not an easy thing to grasp. I had to learn to think in mille and micro seconds and compute how long a program branch would execute. Slowly the light started to go on in my eyes and I began to understand computers, not know them, truly understand how they work and how they function and the interaction between all the support components.

In early 1976, I began to contact other manufacturers of boards for the S-100 computers and offered them a trade. I would re-write their assembly manuals to be readable instead of the technical jargon they were written in and in return they would send me the computer board at no cost. Now, you have to understand that in those days the computer boards were kits. This meant that I had to sit and solder 1000’s of connections on the board and if it didn’t work, it was my responsibility to fix it. Most companies I contacted jumped at the idea of having someone re-write their assembly manuals especially since I was already successful doing it once. They also knew that I would run compatibly testing between the boards in my possession and that was an excellent plus to have in their pockets for advertising that their product worked with boards x y and z of other companies. Slowly I began to build myself an S-100 computer from scratch that many people in the industry would have been very jealous of. I guess you could say looking back, I was an early innovator as a technical writer and used that skill to feed my technical geek-adiction.

Throughout 1977 I continued to work on the columns for Wargaming, Boardgaming and Military Miniatures but continued to feed my geek-adiction. I knew that there was an easier way to type my articles than by constantly using a typewriter. This was the beginning of the word processing phenomenon and companies were rushing to get products out the door. Here I was a published author with credentials, well known in the computer industry, requesting review copies of software to evaluate and to write reviews of. The software publishers jumped at the offer and I started to get software left and right. In late 1976, I had my system up and running solidly with a Z-80 4MHz processor 64K bit of memory, I/O ports for peripherals, a CRT Monitor, and a dot matrix printer. I had two Siemens 8 inch floppy drives and the system could run any software you threw at it.

During these early years I was in the inner circle of the technology industry. I beta tested Microsoft Basic, CP/M, and all types of hardware and software. I had many long conversations with people like Bill Gates, Bill Goudbout, Adam Osborne, Steve Jobs, The Woz, and Gary Kindle. These were all the pioneering individuals who went on to true success. Again, as I stated above, I know I am missing many, many others, and not putting them down does not diminish my care for them, only that time has let them slip from my memory.

Convergence

Then, sometime in early 1977 I began using the computer system that I designed which I described above to write my articles. While I may have made it sound simple to get all this hardware running, believe me that was far from the truth. (In those days if you were called a hacker, it was a good thing because you were able to hack the computer hardware.) There were a large number of incompatibilities between boards in those days and things were not plug and play (its was more like plug and pray). There was a lot of programming that had to be done just to get a prompt on the screen. It was hard tedious work that I enjoyed immensely and between the columns I was writing and concentrating on computers, and still having a full time job, I was always reading and learning or busy doing something. Then, one day it all came together. All the work and sweat I put into the computer paid off and it was up and running.

I typed my first editorial for Craft, Model, and Hobby Industry on it and I found the time necessary to complete a document with correction decreased by about 50%. Now I was a happy camper using technology (one passion) to help me write my Wargaming, Boardgaming, and Military Miniatures columns (my other passion). So as you imagine, it was a good thing I was a young man as I put in long hours writing, and learning, and working, and taking care of a wife. Yes I was married during all this insanity and this wonderful woman supported, encouraged and often helped where she could. However, this was “BC”, Before Children, so we had each other and while she couldn’t help with a lot of things, the items that she could with were an invaluable aid to getting things accomplished.

As I said above with the gaming industry, I just started to fade into the background. What began replacing the Boardgame, Wargame and Military Miniatures hobby was the love for technology. I replaced one passion for another in the 70’s and carried it through to the 1980’s and 1990’s. I continued to write in the gaming hobby but just not that prolifically. Articles were slower coming out but I was concentrating on quality. So there were still a few boardgame reviews and articles that I wrote which are still floating around or can be seen on this website.

Also in the early 1980’s I operated a home computer business called GSR. This company sold computer products, hardware and software. We purchased items from manufacturers wholesale, and sold them mail order retail. It was a successful business for about 5 years. I also designed a number of computer boards as a freelance designer for companies looking for specialty boards or memory boards that sold quite well.

The Input/Output Connection

During the fourth quarter of 1982 I was again contacted by Moe Gherman about producing a section of the magazine similar to what I had previously done for them. This section of the magazine would be called the Input/Output Connection. This new section would be devoted to that new hobby, Personal Computers. The trade publications were seeing tremendous amounts of money being invested into hardware and software companies while at the same time consumers began to spend their money on the purchase or the new-fangled hardware and software products. The magazine, now known as Hobby Merchandiser, needed someone to introduce them to this new technical world. Someone, who could teach them the new terminology and guide them in stocking the correct products to sell in there stores. Well, that chore rested on my shoulders and I began an agreed upon short stint creating a new section of the magazine and writing a monthly editorial. Sometime in the few years I was away from the magazine, they had changed their name from Craft, Model and Hobby Industry to a better known Hobby Merchandiser. This new section of the magazine with my editorial debuted in the January 1983 issue.

As before, I attempted to guide the retailers by informing them of what this industry was all about and how they could expand their store inventory and increase their profits by carrying Computer Products, especially games in their stores. As far as I could tell, the section was well received for the time I produced it and many hobby stores actually began to carry computer products mixed with there now traditional products. This was the infancy of computer gaming and retail stores were ahead of the curve in carrying the software product and supporting their customer base. I produced this section of the magazine for approximately 6 months and decided to move on.

This was also the time that I now had two small children and as all children do they need their parents’ attention. So, it was at this point that I again had to fade away into obscurity. However, that didn’t stop me from doing a little freelance writing here and there submitting reviews or articles to gaming and computer magazines.

Critics Corner – Atari ST X-press

Then, in 1986 the bug hit me again. I wanted to write another column but this time for a commercial magazine. At the time I was heavily involved with the Atari ST computer and was enjoying the flexibility and power of this new machine. As a consumer, I was reading all the magazines, books, and technical publications I could get my hands on so as to be intimately familiar with the technology used in the computer. It wasn’t good enough for me just to know how to operate the computer, I had to understand how it operated down to the bit level. This was the electronics engineer or geekness in me that I needed to understand the technology that I was going to be using. Then there was the operating system which was very unique in those days as it was a fully graphical operating system. This was way before windows and it was the first computer to have this type of graphical operating system besides the Macintosh. So, there was a whole new learning curve and many new things to learn which game me something new to look forward to.

In March of 1987 I began a new column in the consumer magazine devoted to the Atari ST computer known as ST X-Press. This column was quite a bit different than any previous columns that I wrote. Past columns and reviews were instructive, informative, or objective. Critics Corner was a subjective and opinionated column. I made the decision with this new column to break from my normal style of writing and to branch out and try something new, critiques and opinions. While I have been able to locate most of the issues that contained my columns, I think I am missing a few of them. The Atari ST was a fine computer and very advanced for its time. However, its demise, in my opinion, was mainly due to the manufacturer, Atari, announcing new products or computers and then never delivering or shipping them a considerable time later. As companies have learned since those early years, a consumer’s attention is limited and you have to capture your audience and sale immediately with an announcement of a new product because if you don’t, the consumer will soon lose interest and their loyalty will turn to the competition.

I wrote this column for 10 issues of the magazine which was a year of editorial content. While I received good comments from the readers, it is my opinion that some of the magazines advertisers did not appreciate the opinionated views that I expressed towards their companies. Hence I think it was in March of 1988 I was asked by editor not to write for the magazine any longer.

Amazing Amiga Articles

For the remainder of the 1980’s, into the 1990’s I concentrated on my career and family (more on that later). I again became a consumer and was looking at different computer products. During the mid to late 1980’s, Atari and Commodore were very active competitors. As the new decade dawned, I began to seriously look at the Amiga computer. The first version of the Amiga I purchase was the Amiga 500. I liked the technology and its extremely powerful Operating System software. It was one of the first computer Operating Systems that was truly multi-tasking. The graphics were above and beyond any other computer then available, and in many ways it was superior to the IBM PC. However, since the name Commodore was associated with the Amiga, it couldn’t break down the barriers and become a serious competitor in the business computing world. As we know, this was and has been the domain of the PC’s.

In 1991 and 1992 I wrote articles and reviews of Amiga computer products for the magazine Amazing Amiga. I wrote a number articles that were run as the magazines feature article. The features were on such items as Desk Top Publishing (DTP) and Telecommunications. I had articles in about 9 issues of Amazing Amiga over the course 19 months. Many months I had multiple reviews in a single issue. I may have had other articles printed, but these are the only copies that I have in my possession.

GSR Computers

Sometime in 1992, I started another computer company by the name of GSR. GSR started as a Desktop publishing business. We had a number of customers as we created menus, brochures, and certificates of all types. We had partnered with a local printer who printed the material we created for our customers.

Then in 1992 one of the companies that I wrote a review of their product asked if I would be interested in becoming their representative in the United States and perform their customer support. I agreed and in less than 12 months I went from only customer support to being their US Distributer. This company sold emulator hardware that would turn your Amiga computer into an IBM compatible computer. I acted as their sole US Distributer until Commodore stopped sales of the Amiga computer due to financial difficulties. Shortly thereafter GSR Computers ceased to exist as a viable entity as the only products I had in my inventory were aimed at the Amiga market.

Career in the 1980’s and 1990’s

As I mentioned above, I am going to talk a bit about my career in the electronics/computer/telecom/packet switching/internet world. Now that’s a mouthful as those were all the industries I have been fortunate enough to work in. But I won’t bore you with the mundane details of each job and what I did, but rather I will just give you the highlights.

In the late 1970’s into the early 1980’s I worked for a telecommunications conglomerate. While employed for this company I was responsible for interconnecting a large number of International countries to my companies Packet Switching Systems. It was during this time that I was first getting involved in networks and networking.

Then in the mid 1980’s I switched jobs and went to work for a major financial institution. While at this financial institution I assisted in the design of their private global packet switching network. I also successfully interconnected numerous different types of technologies to this global network so the institutions businesses could communicate efficiently.

Next from the mid 1980’s to earl 1990’s I worked for another financial institution. While employed here it was my responsibility to create an operations manual which was done with the assistance of 4 consultants. I also defined and created the worldwide security for their global packet switching network. Finally, as with the previous financial institution, I assisted in the design of their network and successfully interconnected numerous technologies.

Around 1993 I was bit by the Internet bug. I purchase one of those retail packages that was being sold at that time and navigate around the world using Unix commands. I was sending emails, downloading new and different software and exploring a new technology. Then a new technology called a World Wide Web browser. This technology opened up a whole new method of “surfing the net” and web pages began to appear. As with other technologies, I had to understand how this browser functioned and I learned that it was controlled by an HTML programming language. I began learning the HTML language and creating rudimentary websites.

At the end of 1993 or early 1994 I was contracted to design a website for a small business. I worked with the business and successfully created the website for their product. When I was done, they had a website with color photos of their sales line that was state of the art for that time period.

In the mid 1990’s I was working for a new company in the Telecom sector. They were phasing out my position and made me an offer to move into sales. Having never worked in a professional sales capacity I was unsure of what to do, but I accepted the position on a trial basis. Well the trial basis became permanent as I created a new product line for the company and turned sales of million and millions of dollars. I also convinced them to start a peering point for internet companies which they did. (Note: A peering point is where two internet companies will interconnect with each other, typically at no cost to either company if they are equal sizes.) This peering point went on to become one of the most successful peering points on the internet.

Finally, in the late 1990’s I was approached by an internet company who offered me a job. I told them as I was being interviewed that I would design a world class data center for them if I were hired. Next thing you know, I was offered the job and I had to back up what I promised. Initially I was worried that I couldn’t walk the walk. I was soon working with the architects and mechanical and electrical engineers defining the standards and laying out the design. Before I knew it, construction began and I was working with the unions to build my vision for my new company.

When it was finished, it was the most powerful data center on the east coast with dedicated backup generators and direct connectivity to Europe. This location also had dedicated fiber with interconnectivity down the east coast, across the states and over to Europe. I was fortunate enough to help my company design part of the internet backbone (I do not take full credit as it was a team effort, but many of the ideas were mine).

2000’ and Beyond – Back to the Hobby

Sometime in early 2005 I saw an advertisement for a Military Miniatures Collectors show. I decided to attend this show as a hobbyist. While I was walking around, I noticed that there was no one who was taking photographs, recording the dealer area and miniatures competition areas. When I saw this, I began thinking of all the events that I had attended in the past and wished I had photos of those events to reminisce. I started to think of past friends, miniatures that I had seen, events that I had attended, all the writing and photographs I had done, and I made the decision to create a website. On this website I would place an archive of all the articles that I had published through the years. I also wanted to begin to create a photo essay of events that I would attend. I also decided to write reviews of new products and to publish Press Releases from companies to let user who surf my site to get the latest news. Finally I included an Upcoming Events Calendar which I try to keep up to date to the best of my ability.

Conclusion

Through the years that I have been doing this, it has been a “labor of love”. For those of you who have become regulars to Mataka.org, you know that any commercial advertising has always been kept to a minimum. However, like much of the population in the US, I have fallen on difficult times. I am struggling to pay the bills and it’s getting more and more difficult to attend shows as they are an added expense.

To hopefully offset some of the expenses, I have placed advertising on the website. This advertising is not directly paid for by companies. I only receive payment if you purchase an item through my website. I have only made arrangements with reputable companies to sell their products. I try my best to only place items that would be of interest to the Wargamer, Boardgamer, Military Miniaturist or Plastic Model Builder. I also try to make sure that the prices of these items are extremely competitive and that if ordered through Mataka.org you feel like you have gotten the best price available. So I ask, if you enjoy the content, the photos, the reviews, please keep me in mind when you want to order anything from Amazon.com or eBay and click through Mataka.org to purchase your product.

Also, I want to mention that I have copies of the pictures available for sale. Anyone who is interested in purchasing a DVD of any of the shows I have attended please send us an email by selecting the “Contact Us” and we will email you’re the payment arrangements. The cost of a DVD with all the pictures of a single show is $19.95 which includes domestic shipping.

This short autobiography is being written at the end of 2011. 2012 is a new show season and we would like to attend all the shows that we attended in 2009 plus more. However, we cannot do that without your support. If you enjoy the pictures and reviews please order the DVD’s and order your books, games, models and miniatures through Mataka.org.

Finally, I just want to say that I have led a very fortunate life.  I have a hobby and a career that I truly enjoyed and a caring and supportive family.  In both my hobby and career I have been fortunate enough to be creative and make positive long lasting impacts in each of the respective industries for the last 35+ years.  Now, let’s roll the dice and see where we go to from here!