i assembled and painted 23 model warships and 69 model aircraft, but my all time favorite was making my own kite for “kite fighting” with ground glass glued to the roll of string. i won all air battles, but my champion kite snapped to the ground on a strong wind gust and broke its hymen. i tried to repair it but it was never the same. the bamboo frame was slightly warped, and it would whistle and spin and never reach its previous height. the feeling of crossing strings while kites were flying and rubbing, tugging, and yanking with a jerk to cut off the other kites from their strings was fantastic and fulfilling. it was like orgasm. most sinkies didn’t know what they miss when kite-fighting disappeared from the scene around 1969.