Richard Marmo: Freelance Writer & Professional Modelbuilder

There are many reasons that people end up an writers. Some do it strictly for the money, others as a hobby, still others for the notoriety or fame they think they can get out of it. More than a few look at writing as being glamorous, even though it really isn't. You probably have as many reasons for becoming a writer as there are writers.

In my case, I never planned to become a writer and never took any courses or classes to that end. It just happened, sorta like following the path of least resistance. As a result, I consider whatever writing and modelbuilding talent I might have to be a gift from God.

As such, I feel like I have a responsibility to use that talent instead of letting it wither on the vine. Whether or not I'm using that talent in the exact way God intended is another question and I don't have an answer for that. All I do is the best I know how. And, quite frankly, that's all any of us can do, no matter what kind of work we do.

Basically I'm a how-to writer with my primary focus being modelbuilding and most of that having to do with aircraft and science fiction. However, I've also written about home remodeling, woodworking, electronics, dollhouse miniatures, fine furniture kits, product reviews, airport management and aviation history.

The photo you see here is the cover of my second book. It was produced in an 8 1/2 x 11 format, containing 132 pages and some 325 color photos. It has somewhere close to 3,000 copies. The model on the cover is a 1/32 scale resin model of the Macchi-Castoldi M.C. 202 Folgore. Used by the Italians in WW-II, it is an absolutely beautiful aircraft that also makes for a very attractive scale model.

While I'm first and foremost an aircraft nut, science fiction is not a stretch. My third book is the one you see here. It contains everything from models of the proposed spacecraft that the U.S. would be using in space that were designed by Willie Ley to space vehicles featured in movies and tv series. The object of all of this effort is to help existing model-builders to improve their own skills and, hopefully, to inspire others to take up modelbuilding as a hobby.

Almost everything I've ever written, which includes some 600 - 800 or so articles and review columns (both in print publications and on the internet), three print books, three print-on-demand CD-ROMs (one on modelbuilding and two on aviation history)and three downloadable PDF documents (so far) has been under my own byline, with the exception of three or four ghost-written articles on bathroom remodeling for a website.

I've also written and performed some 65 - 75 commentaries for my church. Those subjects ranged all the way from humorous, thought-provoking and patriotic to inspirational.

How-to articles and books, along with just about anything you do involving aviation history, are of necessity heavily photo-illustrated. As a result, I have produced several thousand photos over the years in support of my writing. Basically, you can't do one without the other.

Virtually all of my photos have been taken with 35mm SLR (Single Lens Reflex) film cameras, primarily a Pentax K1000 and/or Pentax ME up until about four years ago. As a result of the digital revolution, I have converted to a Pentax K200D DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera.

When you Google my name ("Richard Marmo"), you get 26,600 hits, most of'em having to do with yours truly, which -if nothing else- tells you that I've been doing this for a while.