Vintage Model Restoration Forum? .... maybe?

I like the idea.  With all the kits been bought on e-bay in semi-finished condition, it would be good to see how others unglue, unpaint  then rebuild.  WIP's would be very helpful.

Well...I'd second that :)

Blake

I'll third that!

Absolutely!  My first kit actually turned 30 last month.  Had it restored in '98.  Ill post it in these forums one of these days.

I too like the idea .

I have some "orphans" I adopted, uh-er, "just to save them from the landfill".   

Some need (boy do they need) a repaint, while another, needs "reconstructive" or would that be plastic surgery? 

The kinda fun part is trying to make it better, than the previous builder.

There by giving one (me) a sense of... "I'm better than they were naner naner naner." *

 *Note: that part isn't necessarily true but its my bench, an' I can pretend anything I want  .

Interesting idea, and I've certainly got several "candidates" for rebuilds in my collection.  Don't know if it would justify a separate forum, however.  I guess my preference would just to post in the appropriate subject forum.  Car techniques would be more applicable to car modeling in general, ship techniques to ships in general, etc.

Mark

Hi all,

Neat that this is sort of catching on.  Fixing up old models is a big part of this.

My thread which Bill is referring to is called 'Some Vintage Models I am Restoring' and is in the 'Autos' department.

It's a story about this whole lot of models I scored on ebay.  They were built in the 1960's I reckon, and when I opened the box I discovered some amazing aspects to the builds.

I refer to the builder as Unknown Builder, because I have no idea who the person is, he/she, old/young, I don't know.  But there were some amazing aspects to the builds which have stood the test of time. They have inspired me in my pursuit of the hobby.

Most of the builds in that thread, however were not properly glued together (sometimes modellers can do amazing things but totally lack basics).  So my 'job' was get them back to a complete state, while preserving the Unknown Builders great work, adding from my own bag of tricks what is needed to create a complete model.

So to me, it was like a time-capsule, and I was able to revive something from the past, from the 'heyday of model cars' if you will.  I've learned loads from the process so far, and this is still a work in progress.

This was a real lucky find tho.  Usually the case is more that I'll have my own adolescent-built glue-bombs to fix up.  Or someone elses, if I'm lucky.  With the price of and in fact relative scarcity of model kits today, I find that reworking old ones is a very good option.  A brand new take on an old butchered build is usually just some Easy-Off and a parts box away :)

Whether the subject merits it's own forum or not, I really don't know.  Restoration is certainly one interesting aspect of scale modelling, that's what I can say for sure.

Cheers and happy modelling,

Blake

It's definitely an interesting idea, wished I'd not blown-up, shot-up or burned-up all of my youth builds.  I would have loved to look at them now and maybe "enhance".  Having botched an Alclad paint job on a B-36, I can attest to the complete PIA stripping and repainting can entail.  

I know this is an old post, but there is a Retro and Nostalgia modeling forum that you should check out.

retroscalemodeling.lefora.com

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the heads up, had never heard of that forum and there are some great builds there!

-Blake