I'm 54 years old and have been into plastic modeling since about 1960. In the mid to late 60's I was big into WW2 planes, armor and ships. I entered and placed in local model contests. Things really slowed down after 1970 when I started college and a career. Since then I've been building off and on as my interest and time waxed and wanned. I've not built any model in about 8 years. My interests now are Sci-Fi, Real Space, and TV-Movie. I have a stash of about 150 models that I have acquired over the last 15 years. I bought these at local stores and off ebay with the idea that "someday" I would be building again. I'll be able to retire at the end of 2007 and I'm looking forward to being a kid again.
Some Reflections
My first kits were cars. I distinctly remember building the "1928 Gangbusters" car. I tried to paint it yellow and it looked absolutely awful. Another model I remember building was the cruise missile "Snark".
I used Testors and Pactra paints. Spray paint was out of the question. You could buy a model or two for what one little can of spray paint cost!!! Airbrush??? Whats an Airbrush!!!
Kits were mainly from Revell, Monogram, (the best two), Lindberg (required lots of extra work, thin plastic, pieces didnt fit well), Airfix (very rare), Hawk (not bad), and Aurora (the military kits I remember as being bulky and lacking detail.)
I remember seeing all of the classic Aurora monster, dinosaur, and figure(knights) kits. However, these were just to childish for us miltary builders!!!![Bow [bow]](/emoticons/icon_smile_bow.gif)
The main model sources were KMart, Skaggs(Albertsons), Woolworths, TG&Y, and drug stores. We had a hobby shop (and its actually still here!!!) but they didnt carry very many models and their prices were more that a .50 cent allowance would cover.