On The Way! Who is Doug Chaltry?

About Me

First of all, my name is Doug Chaltry and I am the founder of On The Way!. I currently live in the state of Florida, in the US. Instead of telling you how old I am, and then having to revise this page every year, I'll simply tell you that I was born in 1966 and let you do the math. I am originally from Waukesha, Wisconsin, and I also lived in or around Orlando, Florida for seven years, Denver, Colorado for two, and then Fresno, California for three. Now I am back in Florida again (oh ... joy ...). A rolling stone ... blah blah blah. I am married to a wonderful Polish woman who recently immigrated to the US, and so far we don't have any children, though that may change some day...

The photo below is of me at a Polish tank museum in Poznan, Poland in 2007.

I have a degree in Wildlife Biology (from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point), and I have worked as a wildlife biologist for a variety of private firms and government agencies since 1991. I started in Florida as a consultant from 1990 to 1997, but moved to Colorado in late 1997. Surprisingly, I was unable to locate any wildlife work there, so I was forced to change my career path. I ended up in computer programming (boring mainframe stuff), which almost drove me insane. Anybody see the movie Office Space? Yeah, it was like that. Fortunately, that job was terminated, and I finally found a way back into my chosen profession. Too bad I had to move to do it; I really liked Colorado. I worked as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in the San Joaquin Valley of California for three years, but was not happy with Fresno. (As a very famous philosopher once said, "I didn't think is was physically possible for something to both blow and suck at the same time." Well, ok, that was Bart Simpson.) In late 2002, I found an opportunity to leave California, and I am now with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Florida, working on the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

As for hobbies, I tend to spend a lot of time on the computer, either working on my websites, playing games, or writing fiction. Other sedentary pastimes of mine are reading (science and nature, sci-fi, military fiction and history), wine tasting (drinking, actually), and the obvious modeling. When I get cabin fever, I like to hike and birdwatch, which shouldn't be surprising, considering my background. I also practice Korean, Philippine and Japanese martial arts, and if I ever get around to having my camera fixed (old Pentax MG - 35mm SLR), I am an avid shutterbug . I also recently returned to an old hobby of mine, playing drums, and I own an electronic drum set, a Yamaha DTExtreme IIe.

I am a huge Monty Python fan. Some of my other favorite films are Kelly's Heroes, The Seven Samurai, Best In Show, Ladyhawke, and of course, Peter Jackson's The Lord of The Rings trilogy. For those of you interested in seeing a REALLY cool movie, check out "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter .... and Spring".

I listen to many types of music, including New Age, Celtic, Classical and classic Rock. I am just beginning a budding interest in Blues. Some of my favorite musical groups/artists are The Alan Parson's Project, Rush, the Eagles, Antonio Vivaldi, Leahy, Kodo, Uttara Kuru, and Kitaro. I enjoy good food, especially international recipes; I like it hot and spicy. As my brother once said: "you aren't truly eating, unless your arms are sweating." I have a strong interest in the Samurai and the 13th Century Mongolian Empire.

Modeling

I modeled a lot as a kid, back in the 70's, primarily 1/72nd scale armor. I had a very large collection of ESCI and Hasegawa tanks, and one of my happiest times was having some of my tanks on display in the local hobby shop. Perhaps that was where I developed my model exhibitionism, as culminating in this website. I left the hobby for other interests in high school (role-playing games, fencing, etc.), and while in college, I threw away my entire tank collection, some unbuilt, under the belief that I would never build models again. Yeah, I know, I'm a putz.

In the mid-'90s, a coworker of mine got me interested in model building once again. I started with only modern jets in 1/144th scale, thinking that building only tiny models would limit the amount of money spent on the hobby. Yeah, right. I then gradually progressed into the larger scales too. Slowly I got pulled into WW II aircraft, and ultimately armor, and now I have come full circle, and am again hooked on 1/72nd scale armor modeling. I do, however, still have a very large collection of aircraft models, with which I like to dabble on occasion. My main modeling interests (aside from the obvious) are WW II Japanese and Italian aircraft in all scales. I also have about two dozen 1/35th armor kits, as well as a handful of ship models. If I go a long time between updates of my websites, it is likely because I am building in one of my other genres of modeling.

Web Site History

I set up On The Way! in 1999 as a place to show the few models that I had built, as well as present what I thought were complete and balanced kit reviews. In the early years, I was encouraged by several friends to expand the site considerably and some time around 2001 I started to accept viewer contributions in order to grow the site faster than I would be able to do on my own. Eventually the site became a victim of its own success as it began to consume far too much of my free time and I was unable to keep up with the fast pace of new kit releases. I eventually turned over management of the site to Simon Barnes and retired.

I have since rekindled my interest in modeling, and have focused my interest and energies on the US Sherman tank. I have begun a new website devoted to modeling this tank in 1/72nd scale and I hope you all will check it out. Now that On The Way! is being run by a committee of modelers, I will be involved with running the site, but only in a peripheral role. I feel that it is time to pass the reins to other, more capable people. However, I am very proud of what has become of this site, after almost 10 years, and I hope to see it continue to grow in the future.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the site.