Another hobby

Point 357

Point 357

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There seems to be folks here with many various backgrounds but at the same time I get the impression that more than 50% are right around my age (52 years). When I was a kid there wasn't nearly as much to waste time on as there is now.
I got into building model cars. It was something boys did back then, although more kids built airplanes.
After a military career and raising our son (much more as well) I have returned to the hobby, with a vengeance and have recieved some recognition on the east coast.

My point is, does anyone else here remember the days of small scale kits? Anyone else return to the hobby?
 
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Heck yeah. It was mostly aircraft for me, 1/72. Still have lots of the ones I built, although mostly packed up. And just stacks of unbuilt kits down in the basement.
 
If you're talking plastic kits I built hundreds as a kid. 1/24 scale mostly.

I still have a box of parts. Mostly engines like Flatheads, 427SOHC and Hemi's.

Come to think about it I still have a few kits around that need to be finished.
 
Many of the unbuilt kits from the 60s and 70s bring insane prices on todays collector market. There are several that I really want. Myself, I build 'em.
 
I stopped in a hobby store last month and was surprised at the reissue kits they had.

The 427SOHC I have is from the T-Rantula. You can still get that kit. I found one reissue pre-assembled in the box a few years ago but not quite the same as the kit. I have it somewhere and I should go back and get the kit just to have it too.

Like I really need more stuff.
 
Former dirt oval late model RC car racer and now a Amateur Radio operator established 2006 and Paintball player for about 5 years on and off but retired cause of my right knee (arthritis).
 
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Lucky the cops weren't searching for mine. I remember lots of glue fingerprints on top of the paint. I did better with the werewolf and Frankenstein models. :o
 
RonJ said:
Lucky the cops weren't searching for mine. I remember lots of glue fingerprints on top of the paint. I did better with the werewolf and Frankenstein models. :o
Click to expand...

Break out the green paint, I had the Hulk. Forgot all about that one. :D
 
I used to build lots of models. I did the monster models but mostly I liked the 1/24th scale car models. I'd get 3 or 4 at a time and combine them. I built a '32 Ford 5 window coupe that I had intended to enter in model contests. I even went as far as painting the dash details with a single hair brush. Took a couple of weeks to finish and it came out great.
One day I came home from school and my Mom told me she accidently dropped one of my models and it broke. Of course you know which one.
I then got into r/c trucks and built a first place modified electric hill climber. 10 cells, modified motor, electronic speed controller, silicone jacketed wires, oil filled shocks and lowered suspension. It wasn't just the only truck to top out, it roosted a groove. I used to get 10 packs of half shafts, they'd only last a couple of runs before snapping. Now it's sitting on a shelf with a cracked frame, broken shock mount and first place modified trophy.
 
I absolutely loved building model planes (especially WW-II planes) when I was a kid, and looked forward to getting back into the hobby as I aged (I'm 57 yrs. old now). Unfortunately, I have arthritis in my hands, and as a result, my manual dexterity is pretty much a joke. I have a few unbuilt model kits that I bought in anticipation of renewing my interest in my hobby that I can't bring myself to let go of yet. My plan is to donate the kits to some deserving kid - maybe some young service man or service woman recovering in one of the VA hospitals.

I envy your ability to still participate in a really great hobby.

Regards,

Dave
 
I built planes and cars in the early 60's. Back then kids could buy their own paint and glue.
 
It was a boy thing. I did model cars and some planes.
Built lots of Army Jeeps. Later in life I took full size real Jeeps, 1 M-38, 1 M-38 A1, 1 CJ3 and a brand new 1995 Cj 5 Renegade that a fellow wrecked to the frames and rebuilt them. I bought and drove my Dad's old J-10 Golden Eagle forever. I ran across a reissue J 10 model and will put it together after I'm retired.

Trains, Once after my job shoved me into an area without much to do I started finding lots of HO scale used trains, yard sales, flea markets etc. A big hardware store in KC MO was selling all the stuff they had been stocking for years at a buck a box for rolling stock and ten dollars for NIB engines. I correctly painted and made complete MKT, MOPAC, Kansas City Southern, Frisco, Cotton Belt freight cars with engines, got pretty good at paint and decals. I also made a complete WW2 passenger car set, a MOPAC Golden Eagle and a Texas route? Passenger car set. There were very few cars for these RR's at that time. I showed some to 2 different shops in KC, they asked if I would leave them on consignment. All sold so quick I was amazed. I bought a nice over and under 686 Beretta and found some places to Quail/Pheasant hunt the following year. One of the few hobbies that really paid off. P.S. My Mother in Law's father was an engineer on the Katy, I built an MKT Engine and caboose. I mounted it in a display case for her. She has it sitting with her expensive stuff and loves it.
 
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Cars, cars and more cars. 50's and early 60's. Did my own mods. Bringing different kits together as one car. Had my own little workshop in the attic that was my special place that no one else was allowed. Show and tell in the eighth grade was a gas. I brought six of my best customs and everybody forgot I was the class geek. Goes to show what a little airplane glue will do to the imagination. Twelve years old and stoned. Who knew? :):)
DW
 
I took most of my kits and a BB gun and well, enjoyed the 'new' hobby by destroying the old one.

I built mostly cars, some planes and war ships. Tried to get my son into it - age 12 now - but he has little interest in models that are not pre painted snap together 'instant gratification' ones.
 
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DWFAN said:
Cars, cars and more cars. 50's and early 60's. Did my own mods. Bringing different kits together as one car. Had my own little workshop in the attic that was my special place that no one else was allowed. Show and tell in the eighth grade was a gas. I brought six of my best customs and everybody forgot I was the class geek. Goes to show what a little airplane glue will do to the imagination. Twelve years old and stoned. Who knew? :):)
DW
Click to expand...

Dude, you and I must be some kinda brothers!
 
Aircraft models in the '40's and very early '50's--mostly balsa-framed, tissue-covered construction but also some--I can't recall the name of the company now--that were non-flying solid pine miniatures that came rough-cut and had to be sanded, glued together and painted. A few ship models when the early plastic kits came out.

I'd enjoy doing some model-building today, but there's no way. Like Double-O-Dave above, my hands are arthritic and clumsy.
 
I had 40 or 50 model cars back in the 60's all modified in one way or another. In 1965 I joined the Army and while I was gone my Mother gave them to a boy that had some sort of crippling disease but could still use his hands pretty well. I was glad they went to a good use.
 
Point 357 said:
There seems to be folks here with many various backgrounds but at the same time I get the impression that more than 50% are right around my age (52 years). When I was a kid there wasn't nearly as much to waste time on as there is now.
I got into building model cars. It was something boys did back then, although more kids built airplanes.
After a military career and raising our son (much more as well) I have returned to the hobby, with a vengeance and have recieved some recognition on the east coast.

My point is, does anyone else here remember the days of small scale kits? Anyone else return to the hobby?
Click to expand...

I went back to the hobby with a vengeance. I started with a few small scale things but quickly went to 1/8 scale. My favorite all time kit was The Big Deuce, a 32 Ford roadster that was first brought out in 1963. They reissued the kit in about 2006. Right after that, a bunch of us on a model car forum started building the huge kit and we formed our own separate forum dedicated to all kinds of large scale models. After a while, we got into scratchbuilding and then I got into making parts out of brass and aluminum. The detail got so intricate, I burned out completely and had to go to a different hobby. I just couldn't leave the superdetailing alone.

Here's a few pictures of the kind of work I used to do.
The first few pics are of a 1950s Olds engine. These are some progress shots. This is all scratchbuilt and not from a kit.



This is some of my aircraft work in 1/32 scale. this is a P51 D cockpit. It's about half from the kit and half scratchbuilt. The seat cushion and headrest are covered in real leather. All of the handles and toggle switches are scratchbuilt. I've got tons more pics.



That little tube under the seat is the pilot's relief tube. You tinkle in it.
 
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Roadtrash said:
I had 40 or 50 model cars back in the 60's all modified in one way or another. In 1965 I joined the Army and while I was gone my Mother gave them to a boy that had some sort of crippling disease but could still use his hands pretty well. I was glad they went to a good use.
Click to expand...


I donated the majority of my large collection of WW-II aircraft to a local elementary school when I went off to Basic. I brought them to the library and I remember how happy and excited the kids were to see them. It made me feel a little guilty that I didn't just give them all of my collection, and I vowed that once I came home on leave, I would bring them my remaining (favorite) models. When I returned home on my first leave, I carefully boxed up the rest of the models and returned to the school to donate them. As I was walking down the hall to the library, one of the teachers thanked me for my previous donation, and told me how much the boys had enjoyed "playing with the airplanes". Oh, oh, this can't be good. I asked how many planes were left and she said none, which was why they were glad I was making another donation. Turns out the boys had just destroyed the models I had previously donated. I turned around and donated the models to a near by retirement home instead. The director was delighted to have them to cheer up the place, and maybe bring back some memories for some of the residents. I figured if the old guys wanted to smash them up, at least they deserved the opportunity to do so.

Sigh, oh well, like the old saying goes: "No good deed goes unpunished".

Regards,

Dave
 
Never had the time, or the money for models, I was always outdoors. Would use my mother camera when I could get away with it, but there wasn't much money for film. As an adult, I returned to photography and it wasn't much of a problem. In this day and age, it never is. Subjects however are another story, as is my ability to get around. :)
 
Used to be in HO scale trains. And bought many kits and painted all of them by hand. I sold just about all of them after I got married to a buddy at work. Well he showed them to another buddy who made him an offer he couldn't refuse. He shows up at my job with the big box in his car and asks if I have any more. And I remember going back to my mom's place and getting what I still had left. And he took it all. So at least I had the pleasure of helping someone else in the hobby. The thing he couldn't get over was that each car or steam engine was all hand painted with no brush marks. couldn't do the same today. Frank
 
I used to build models when I could. I built armor, ships (my favorite) and the occasional airplane. Between the last couple of surgeries and a very curious 3 year year old the time to build them seems to not exist, but I have about 75 unbuilt kits in storage. I hope to someday finish my Sherman Firefly, my M50 Ontos, HMS Agincourt, and SMS Scharnhorst. I also have a Tiger I that I really want to get to. One of the last kits I did before I stopped was a total diorama I did of the destroyer USS Laffey.
 
Built hundreds, if not thousends of them plastic modells.
It took me years to get rid of the headacke from the glue :o

After i built them, i used to take them apart and custom build
something ells from all the parts.

Still got two motorcycles under glass, Harley's :D
 
When I lived in a larger home I built hundreds of models. 1/48th scale WWII aircraft and 1/24th scale cars were my favorites. Also had an HO scale layout. Built detailed and weathered a lot of locomotives and rolling stock.

I sold much of the HO equipment but I smashed over 100 models when I moved. The survivors are a B-25, 64 Impala, 77 Trans Am, 70 Boss 429 Mustang and two 1/32 scale Erlich metal kits a 32 Chevy Roadster and 28 Model A Ford.

There are about twenty model kits stashed away in my closet waiting for me to return to the hobby.
 
Yeah, man! The ten year old Paasche VL shot good after a five year hiatus and a good cleaning. Post Op convalescence is starting to be good to me.
 
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