do you have a treasured model that......

Mine would be the F-15.  21 years in the Air Force and that was what I trained on and what I love.  Went to war with her, went around the world with her, and retired with her.  She will always be my girl!

Eagle90

Ah personal connections... I made one of the Italeri ITVs as one of the tracks that I crewed/drove/TC'd from my first line unit once upon a time. An old Army room mate made up a 113 as mine and gave it to me as a gift. I also have a M151, which I recently restored, done up as our 1st Sgts jeep from back then. I am slowly completing my collection of builds from that unit, or Task Forces I was part of back then. I still need to do several vehicles such as a fuel tanker, mortar track, CP track, recovery vehicle, wrecker, Deuce and a half, 5 ton...

Mine was a 79 Monte Carlo kit. I owned a silver '78 Monte Carlo but the '79 was the same car except the tail lights were different. I added the Landau top from the "80 Monte Carlo kit. Since mine was silver, I painted it  a metallic black with silver grey landau top the way I wanted my real car to look like if I had restored it then. I still have that kit to this day on my desk.

I have several models that have some special meaning to me. The first is a kit I bought on eBay that was the very first model kit my dad ever built for me. It is an old retooled Aurora fire truck model that was made into a beach going hot dog vendor called "The Wurst". It was molded in red and included a pair of 1960s era hippy beach goers.

The second kit is the very first tank model I built myself. It is the old Aurora MBT70 main battle tank. I rebuilt it around 15-20 years ago with a parts kit I got on eBay in the 1990s for $5. I was amazed it survived from the mid 70s to the mid 90s when I got it from my room at my parents; house. Lots of little bits had broken off and been vacuumed up in the two decades, hence the need for a second kit to replace missing pieces.

The third kit is a model of my very first new car, a 1984 VW Rabbit. I've had it since 1984 (when I bought my Rabbit), but the kit is of an earlier body, 1978 though.

Monogram's EA-6B Prowler, it has hi vis markings for the first squadron I was in ( VAQ-131) may never build it and probably opt for the Kinetic release. Double ugly Q- bird but damn what job it done.

I did up Academy's KV-109 as a CH-113 for my dad for Father's Day last year.  I put a build log on the Helicopter forum.

I would love to have a model of my first car, a 1960 Cadillac convertible, but I have never been able to find one.

I still have my first model. That is important to me because of who gave it to me.

I have a special affection for Skyhawks. Even the versions I didn't serve with, I seem to want to keep the old models  forever. My first two Skyhawk models were Airfix kits of the A4D-1. One lives on in my case as the first USMC Skyhawk unit.

I have a large collection of 1/72 scale Yellow Gear, and some figures that would work with them. I plan to put them around the aircraft shelves, with the figures painted up as different people I remember from my old days, one of Anne, my Brother and Uncles, etc.

For some reason, I can't get rid of my first attempt at a 1/72 FJ-2 Fury, even though it didn't turn out very well compared to most "online model photo builds." I don't know why I keep it, lol. I have a Revell F-4 kit converted into the 6th F4H-1 (before they were F4H-1Fs),,,,,,again, it has its warts, but, it is like an old friend.

cool thread, looking forward to reading more answers

Rex

The old Esci 1/9 BMW and sidecar bike that my late brother bought for me back in the early 1970's hold a special part in my display case. He bought that for me at Orange Blossom Hobbies in Miami.  I have to spruce it up a bit since built over 40 years ago. Some parts have come loose or completely off due to several moves.

Indeed I do. A couple that are rather special to me. And it seems only appropriate to discuss the most meaningful one on Father's Day.

The first is the Monogram/Pro Modeler 1/48 PBY-1A Catalina. My father flew these while a flight instructor at Pensacola NAS during WWII. Although he also flew the Corsair, Hellcat and PV 1 Ventura, he had a special fondness for the Catalina.

The second is the Academy 1/48 Sikorsky MH-53 Sea Dragon which my older brother flew while Commander of HM 14, mine interdiction squadron.

I have yet to build either one of these as I wanted to get my skills sharpened up after returning to the hobby 6 yrs ago.

Hey :

I lub dem yiggles too ! Best looking plane in our older inventory ! Ask me , I've built seven of REVELL'S 1/32 scale girl ! And I am a retired Mariner type at that !

   Tanker - Builder

Hi:

     I guess in answer to that I would have to say my three models of the DornierX Flying Boat  .I built one in wood for a shop class when nine  . I built another years later when I found a plastic one and just recently did another wood one .

  The first wood one survived a tornado intact . A neighbor found it in her rosebushes - two props missing !

Two out of twelve ain't bad!

I have a series of five Southern Pacific common standard railroad stations all just slightly different.

Scratch built at 1/160 and painted using colors blended from actual chips.

Long packed away but it was a very special project as I did a lot of research.

Sopwith Camel and the Lancaster. My grandfather-in-law was flying them in WW1 and 2. As far as personal connections go, nobody makes kits of merchant marine ships or navy ships of the kind I sailed on. Maybe by special requests...

I have a lot of model which I treasure but the one I see daily is an F-106 which I modified to a F-106B. Several years ago I did a training mission with the Massachusetts Air National Guard in a F-106B. We were part of a 12 airplane mission. Our wingman was so close I had to ask him to back off so i could get a photo of him. Our mission was to intercept another fighter flying under the radar and trying to get into airspace over. Mass. The flight ended with us touching down on the runway then pulling 9 Gs straight up. It was a three hour flight which i will never forget. And yes we did cracked the sound barrier.

There's a Tamiya Steyr 1500A/01 sitting on my workbench right now that's very special to me. It was the last kit my brother bought before he passed away, He never got the chance to build it so I'm building it for him.

This is my Chevy S10 truck that carried me to so many memorable Hare Scramble offroad races in the early 2000s with my Suzuki RMX250 in the back, Some of the funnest years of my life. I built an exact replica of it.

My Dad built me Johnny Rutherford's 1974 McLaren Indy Offenhauser when I was just a kid. Of course, it didn't survive into my adulthood. I rebuilt it from the same kit that I got off ebay several years ago. I still remember Dad mixing the unique paint color for it and saying "That looks pretty good, doesn't it?" It's a special memory for sure.

Love the rust on both cars (real and model)

Now ;

   that's a downright fine pickup model .I like that you didn't scrimp on the dirt ! The thing looks real !

Thanks, guys,. I appreciate the luv!

Interestingly, I sold this article to Finescale Modeler years ago, but it hasn't been printed yet. Maybe they'll run it as a memorial article after I"m gone, lol.

That pickup was my ride through some of the best years of my life. :)

Nice Mclaren!  

I have a Buick Riviera my Dad and I built.  Also a T34 my Mom bought me after I was in the hospital from a car crash.  A panther given to me by my uncle.  I'm pretty attached to anything that's been given to me as a gift or has memories of family/friends.

I get attached to stuff fairly easy.  I still have never sold my first vehicle!

I guess for me,it would be my bell x1  it's a fairly simple build but I thought it turned  out great,and I was fairly young at the time. Anyway,sort of convinced me to continue with the hobby. Also convinced me to  visit air and space in D C to see the real thing