Any one eyed modelers?

[trgt]

If so, how do you do it?

[Panzerwomble]

only do 1/72 ? 

 

[rigor]

Pretty easily lost most of my vision in my left eye nothing really change as far as I can tell 

[BiggTim]

My dad lost an eye some 40 years ago in an industrial accident. He was an avid woodworker, bowhunter, fisherman, and mechanic, and kept doing all of those things. The only thing it really affected was depth perception, which he re-learned pretty quickly. He just had to take it slow and careful for a while until he got used to it. Why do you ask?

[trgt]

Eye surgeries in my right eye to correct a detached retina has left it with a distinct scarring that affects the sight, like looking at things through an oily haze. That and the eye is left permanently with a dilated pupil. I'm not totally blind by any means, but there is a noticeable lack of depth perception. So I was just wondering if I should put any more effort in persuing this hobby or face a different truth. It's good to know others are able to overcome the malady and so I'm ready to muster up my patience, which isn't much at best of times.

 

The 1/48th Wildcat I'm working on now is a real mess, airbrush is OK of course, it's just the brush work.

[BiggTim]

Yikes, that stinks! A good friend went through pretty much exactly the same situation (detached retina), and has much the same deficiencies left over as you do. He's a machinist, and has managed to adapt to it as well. I actually think the complete loss of sight in one eye was easier for dad to adapt to than the partial loss of my buddy, except for the fact that it was my dad's dominant eye. The doctor told my friend his retina detached from shooting a .50 cal Barrett too much! Shock waves, go figure.

 

That said, it can be done, but it will take a while, so don't give up! Maybe take a break from models for a bit and try lots of other things that require you to focus on small stuff up close: puzzles, games, drawing, coin collecting, even video games. Sounds silly, but stuff like pick-up-sticks, Jenga, etc. My dad also did all kinds of stuff like shooting .22s, pistols, clay pigeons, basketball, etc. Anything that made his brain have to figure out how to gauge depth without triangulating. Driving took a while, too.

 

If you keep modeling, you may have have to do what a lot of us half-blind old MFers do and stick to the big scales!! Good luck to you, stick around and let us know how it's going.

 

Tim

[trgt]

The doc said in my case it was a gene pool thing, luckily it affected my non-shooting eye and they were able to correct the situation in my other eye with laser surgery before it went south. Laser surgery is like staring into the sun while having a brain freeze. The doctor said the other eye and the brain will, or should, make up for the injury caused by surgery at some point. Puberty has nothing on growing old.

 

 Funny thing is, as i was going through the procedures I was buying models not even considering I'd have any sort of handicap. I don't like to ask doctors questions, or know what they're about to do to me. Just get on with it, besides what can I contribute to the conversation anyway, never went to medical school. So I'm happily buying these kits woefully ignorant of what the outcome will be. Now the kits, and the tools I also bought, have been gathering dust.

 

 I've been making caps for my percussion revolver, but you need not have a pretty outcome with that as what you want with a model. So, as you say, I keep that up and I should be all set to handle the tiny bits after awhile.

 

 Always good to talk to, or hear about, others who have been down a stretch of unfamiliar road.

[R Palimaka]

I had a torn and detached retina in my left eye about 12 years ago. Following several laser surgeries that basically spot-welded the retinal wall back in place, the back of my eye apparently looks like a quilt.  I have fairly good clear vision (despite being near-sighted to begin with) but because of the way it healed there is distortion too…straight lines are very slightly wonky, like looking through water. 
 

Your mind does adjust, although I find I can’t work as long, and magnifying visors help. Close up work takes effort but taking occasional breaks works well. Your permanently dilated pupil is unfortunate, that must be tiring. 
 

I’ve recently had cataract surgery in that eye to replace the lens which also corrected my distance vision. It’s now much more clear and bright. Still wonky straight lines though, but remarkable difference. 
 

All that to say it gets better with some adjustments, and patience. And yes, bigger scales are way easier!! 
 

Richard 

Edited November 11, 2022 by R Palimaka

[MikeMaben]

I've had retinopathy in both eyes at different times. Long story short, my left eye was corrected by

laser surgery, (yeah, like somebody tapping their finger on the back of my eye) but my right eye

was really messed up, burst capillaries and hours of laser surgery , they knocked me out for that one.

So now my left eye is relatively OK and my right eye has some macral damage (that's the part of your

eye that does the fine focussing) so I need corrective lenses for that.  Also had some floaters but they

break up and disappear over time (still have one). Maybe you could ask about lasering your retina back

(like Richard) and maybe corrective lenses (glasses) after that. Good luck

[Christa]

My left eye was damaged at age seven by a thrown stone. My optician, John Earnshaw, intervened to stop the injured eye being removed at Casualty (sop). John told me that forty one years later. My left eye healed and it works, albeit my binocular vision is impaired, so tracking on-coming, fast moving objects is unreliable. My depth perception is poor. I had difficulty seeing bowled cricket balls and I am wary of approaching traffic if my driving speed exceeds fifty miles per hour. I have been a relatively sedate biker for more than fifty years.

 

LSP is an antidote for my frustrations building small scale ship models and 1/72 aircraft models, but getting parts into the right place is still a challenge. I use lots of light, an illuminated magnifying lens and long, long tea breaks when things aren't going well.

 

Good luck with your future model building Target.

 

 

[trgt]

Well looks like I'm in good company, good to know it can be done. So like the tortoise, slow and steady builds the model.

 I do have lots of "bugs" flying by my head since all the procedures. But any other era of history and I could've expected to be blind in both eyes, the doctor said it was an asymmetric condition of rare quality. Came from grandad. Some inheritance.

[BiggTim]

So Target, I have to ask about your profile image. Were you a Marine? Bunch of good buddies, fellow volunteer firefighters who were Marines, you couldn't ask for a better crowd to have your back.

[Oldbaldguy]

Not a one-eyed modeler but I have a one-eyed cat.

[trgt]

 

2 hours ago, BiggTim said:

So Target, I have to ask about your profile image. Were you a Marine? Bunch of good buddies, fellow volunteer firefighters who were Marines, you couldn't ask for a better crowd to have your back.

 Yes siree, 3 years at Lejuenne (2ND Bat. 6TH Mar. 2ND Marine Division), which can lend itself to a whole other can of worms, and 7 in the CG. I really don't want to be eligible for any of the Lejuenne money, so far so good, though I never had any kids. But then, I was radiated in the CG while working on the boats radar. Be my luck the real trouble will start AFTER the time limit to file a claim.

 

 So OBG, can you sneak up on your cat?

[Oldbaldguy]

1 hour ago, Target said:

 

 

 So OBG, can you sneak up on your cat?

Not from behind.