Why do You Really Build Models? Please excuse the Gaps and Twists in Timelines.

Well, I'm a bit late to this topic, but I'll chime in my with story.

I'm 53, born in '67, and built my first model by '70-'71 (with help from Dad).  During my early years, I can think of a couple of reasons why I built.  First, those old Monogram kits with the working features were fun and easy to put together and yielded hours upon hours of great play time.  In those days it was just a process to open that box up, get the Duco cement tube and start building; no painting until I was roughly 8-10.  Second, there were some things in my life that were entirely beyond my control (parents divorced when I was 7 and I relocated with my Mom to my grandparents' home town), so modeling gave me some focus while I went about a difficult transition to a town where I knew no one outside of family (and where I would never count more than 5 or so people as good, life-long friends).

Up until some time in '77, I only built WWII subjects (mostly aircraft) and a few monster / dinosaur kits by Aurora.  Then a couple of things happened that changed my focus:  a movie came out that I had no interest in seeing - Star Wars.  My Dad ultimately convinced me to go see it about a month after it came out; when we got home, I immediately grabbed all the loose cardboard and tape I could find in our house and set out to build a fleet of X-Wings and TIE Fighters.  Soon enough MPC would release their iconic kits, of which I built all of them, some repeatedly.  The other thing that happened was a new-found interest in baseball.

Baseball coincided with the move to my grandparents' town, and as I went through this new interest in sports and all through junior high, my interest in modeling waned.  I still built an occasional kit - I remember building the Black Hole and Star Trek The Motion Picture kits that came out with those movies, and I built that ALIEN figure from the movie that scared the ever living cr** out of me, Alien.  As for aircraft, I did many of the Monogram jets that came out, but I knew that I had changed when Monogram released their massive B-36 with that glorious box art, and I opted not to ask for it for my birthday (much to my Dad's surprise, as those big bomber kits had always been gifts at the birthday or under the Christmas tree).

High school and college years, I built maybe 5 kits. Maybe.  Then I built a couple more right after college graduation when the Persian Gulf War erupted - and that was that. I was done with modeling.  But you know, it's easy to say "that's it, I'm done", and I even went several years.  Strangely, though, I kept having some truly wierd dreams during this time frame, dreams where I'd be in some kind of warehouse store, and there would be an entire row stacked floor to ceiling with models.  And not just your regular 1/48 offerings; no, some of these would be in a scale so big the box was never going to fit in the cart.  But, these were just dreams; I never acted on them - until I did.

I found myself shopping at a K-Mart for toiletries, stuff like that, when I ventured down the toy aisles to find a good selection of kits.  By this time, I was well into my software engineering career, was not married as yet, and had been working on a novel about WWII (never finished, at least not as yet), so when I saw the Revell 1/32 Beaufighter that I had (a) never built and (b) never even knew such a kit existed, well, that was the spark.  I loaded up my basket with about 5 new kits that day, as well as a meager list of supplies, and off I went.

That happened in '95. I've been building ever since.  I've continued to build all these years for some of the same reasons as I've already cited.  It's fun.  It keeps my brain focused.  And a new one, geared for my wife - it keeps me out of the bars or off the golf course (I stink at that game, but still); she always knows where I am.

Honestly, the older I get, the less I have any idea why. 

Lots of diffrent little reasons but ny wife summed it up just the other day. She asked what was my calling in life (what makes me happy and I'm good at)? I said I don't know but I do know I'm not doing it. She said "I was always happy and thrived when I was building houses". I thought about it and concluded she was right. I always loved building things, but alas that aspect of construction is a younger man's career. She said "your outlet now is modeling". I thought about it and again she's right. I love building things and it also allows me to engage my brain with history and research. It's also an outlet for my artistic side.

Frankly speaking, life itself is scratch-built. Assembled from mostly unassociated pieces/parts in the hopes that it will someday be at least fairly complete when the day of our demise comes. Assembling models, out of the box, bashed to hell, or scratch-built like life, permits me to be creative without the ultimate worry of my own timely or untimely passing.

There, is that deep enough?

fox

Simply, I like doing it and always will till I take the stash up to the "Great Workbench In The Sky".

One of the items on my Future Project list is a hearse with a U-Haul trailer behind, full of model boxes.  Maybe I'll need a train of half a dozen trailers - haven't figured that part out yet.

Rick

Simply, I like doing it and always will till I take the stash up to the "Great Workbench In The Sky". Hopefully  but if not .

Jim 

Stay Safe.

EdGrune

Chicks dig it

Must be true.  When the first wife left, she took some of my built models with her.

And over the past 34 years, the current wife has been accumulating some of my models on her desk.  (There's another one coming to her for this Christmas, but don't tell her)

Rick

EdGrune

Chicks dig it

There's the comment of the week.

Why do I build?  Good question.  It has been something that is part of me.  I have also been as big on models as I have on the entertainment Star Trek, J.R.R. Tolkien, and things of that nature.  I am not into traditional activities, sports (I am bored with them), mechecal, woodworking, anything electronical.  I do like handling small parts and airbrushing and hand painting.   I love reading, History and Sci-Fi fantasy.  

My life was very (I guess) normal.  Mom and Dad, regular home life, school and for me, college .  Advance degrees in Anthropology, Geology.  No military.  I kept on modeling because it was something fun to do.  I did get married had a daughter who loves medical work and also very artistic, ( she has won few modelling awards with her Dinosaur models).  

I did join IPMS  45 years ago when I was 25.  Loved it!  I'm still in it.  I go to contests, judge, give classes on building models and I have won a few awards.  I have traveled a little in the U.S., some Mexico and Europe.  But my life has been mostly about plastic models.  And mostly Word War II tanks and aircraft.  I have largely every tracked and wheeled subject made, a lot of the prop planes and a few jets.  Why do I build?  I realy don't know.   

crown r n7

For me its therapy. I've building all kinds of models over many years. The brands of paints come and go.The different cements, tube to super thin types. i can go on and on. The only constant is the smell when you open the box its like getting a test in elementary school printed on a mimegraph machine and every one in the class would smell the test paper yes... I still fell good building models.

 

Aw yes that smell. Naptha is what it is i believe or partly is. Every now and i still get a whiff of that smell from time to time.  Turning out blue/purple printed papers with a hand crank. Good stuff right there.

For me its therapy. I've building all kinds of models over many years. The brands of paints come and go.The different cements, tube to super thin types. i can go on and on. The only constant is the smell when you open the box its like getting a test in elementary school printed on a mimegraph machine and every one in the class would smell the test paper yes... I still fell good building models.

Ed has the best response.  Wish I thought of that.  Thanks for the laugh.

Chicks dig it

I enjoy learning about history and the process of the build sequence.  I really like opening a new box and examining the instructions and figuring out the best way for me to get it together.  Modeling has so many various techniques and the most fun part is expermenting what works best for me.  I always felt comfortable being alone and this is a hobby I can do by myself.  

I would watch dad build models so I'm sure that's how it started.  I always loved race cars and fighter planes so no surprise that's what I build.

For lots of reasons and they've changed over time.

I was a lonely little boy and usually had one friend at a time. We would build models after homework.

I was a lonely guy in High School with a lot of manual dexterity so I worked on cars and built models. Played a little piano. 

Architecture school is pretty self-explanatory.

Later it kept me out of bars.

Now I model when the subject is featured in something I'm reading.

Bill

Funny how our lives change over time, and for some of us modeling sticks with us.  First off thanks for your service. 

I am 57. Born in 63. Built my 1st model in 72, it was tom daniels fire iron. My grandma on moms side passed at the age of 50 in 72, i was 9. My always said she has never seen any body closer than us 2. Heck i cried for 3 days. We were poor. Or very close to it. For therapy DRs told parents to find something to keep me occupied. On a trip to the local superx store( superx was like walgreens or cvs.) I found the model. Built it. Then i think my 2nd one was a little battleship. I built quit a bit in the 70s. 81 after graduation went in the army. Built a few while in service. Wife, kids, work, and life came about. This last time i jumped back in with both feet and then some. I have built a few with my kids. Son passed in 2019 from cancer. He played warhammer 40k and built some models. I was lucky to be off from work on dissability. One of our last days out we drove up to a new hobby shop, mostly warhammer. He picked out a model, we got started, barely.  So for me " why i really build models" is more like a therapy. But i do like trying to improve my skills. This past year i have bought way more kits and parts than i ever have. Now just need to find the time to build.