What got you into modeling...?

My uncle Jim built a Strohmobile truck model when I was 6 and allowed me to help.  That was the start.  I've been building on/off through child hood, teen years, took a break when high-school, girls, college, and real life set in, now I'm married with two kids and have been back in to it for three years and loving it. 

b4 girls it was models

during girls  it was models cause i could not get girls

found 1 girl married her  stayed with models

When I was six years old ( 1953/1954 ), my mom bought me this book on WW2 airplanes. Instead of pictures, there was a page of stamps in the back, each stamp being a picture of a WW2 airplane, about 2" square. I had to tear out each stamp and paste in on the appropriate page. I had several of those books - cars, animals, plants, etc. They were pretty good learning tools. That book with those neat stamps got me absolutely hooked on WW2 airplanes. About a month later my dad bought me an Aurora 1/48th Me-109 and helped me build it. Next, it was the Aurora Spitfire, that an uncle helped me with. Then it was the Zero, P-40, FW-190, etc. The model building was and still is just one part of my love of WW2 airplanes. And here I am all these years later still building 1/48th models of WW2 airplanes.

Jim

Like others, I think it was seeing the old Aurora "Seaview" and the original AMT
starship Enterprise kits. Suddenly those vehicles were no longer just inside the TV, I could acutually build (or try to build!) them. I just finished the Polar Lights Seaview a few months ago, and it brought back a lot of memories. . .

I grew up near a general aviation airport in Spokane, WA and had light-civils and business planes flying over my head from before I could walk or talk! So I guess a fascination with airplanes isn't too surprising. That soon led to airshows with the folks, and by the time I was 8 or so, dad was bringing home models for me. He helped me with the first couple and then I was on my own (to learn such things as PATIENCE the hard way!! ).

Also near my house were two railroad lines - one the mainline between Seattle and Chicago - so perhaps a fascination with trains was also somewhat pre-destined! Not long after the model airplanes came in, the model railroading started. The techniques and disciplines learned in each hobby helped the other.

As I grew and progressed through school I found a real love for history, which has fed the fires. I kept up with both hobbies through college... granted, they slowed down quite a bit but when i would come home for semester breaks or for the summer, I would work on a few kits or on my model railroad. As I've moved out on my own, time and space constraints (and frequent moving) have made me more of an armchair model railroader. I still read the magazines and slowly build a collection with the intent of returning to the hobby when conditions are nicer. However, I've stayed very much more active in scale modelling - no need for a layout, just shelf-space for displaying completed works and storing kits waiting to be started!!

Incidentally, my dad who started me in the hobbies did a little of both in his youth too. He was over in my part of the state last week and we visited a couple hobby shops, and I'm getting the feeling he might be re-entering at least one of the hobbies as retirement age approaches for him! Lord knows he'll need to find something or he'll drive mom batty....

My mother had terminal cancer and was often unable to get up. Because of this my Grandparents watched us quite a bit. Riders Hobby shop was a block from my grandparents house in Flint, MI. Once I found the shop and got a look at the magic in their display case , it was all over. With Grandpa in tow the clerks showed us what to buy and gave some pointers. Model building was there for me at a tough time and I have loved it ever since.

My Psychaiatrist-------SHRINK------------ said i neede a hobby to makethe voices go away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHHEHE






Actually I'm not really sure, but there are not toomany things in life I'm good at, But modelling i'm pretty good at...................

It realaxes me, gets me away from everyday life for a few hours a day, and helps me clear my mind. It's almost like a spiritual experience!!!! Isn't thatwhat a hobby is supposed to do????? and supposed to be???????

As long as we have fun, and we still lovetodo it!!!!!!!!

Dont you agree????

Ron

I would have to say it was a cousin of mine who first got me into modeling. At a very young age I was enthralled seeing the aircraft models he had built and hung from the ceiling in his bedroom. This was in the early 50s so we're talking about models from the stone ages of modeling. Jack is 16 years older than I and at that time was attending Colorado University and wasn't around that often to provide me with much guidance, but I pestered my mother into allowing me to buy kits from the local 5 and dimes and make a mess on the dining room table. I was also subjected to severe cases of hay fever during the spring and summer. Living in S.E. Colorado this meant I was quite often confined to the house and not having any sibilings, I was on my own a good percentage of the time. The selection of models at the local Ben Franklins and Duckwalls was pretty slim, but I spent nearly every nickel of my allowance on models, mainly aircraft. Puberty set in and my attention was concentrated on the fairer sex there for a spell, but I got re-involved with modeling during a stint with the Navy in the late 60s while in California. I had a cousin who was 10 years younger than I and we used to sit in his basement working on models when I would be visiting while on leave. I was hooked again and continued building models even after I joined the State Dept and lived overseas. I've built up models from Bangladesh to Cuba over a 30 year career! No, I didn't find much in the way of a hobby industry in either those two places, but had my entire work bench and supplies shipped for my 2-3 year tours. I made up models for Naval and Air attaches at a number of Embassies overseas and even built up the USS Constitution for the Army Attache in San Salvador. We had a bit of rivalry going and I commented one day that he needed a bit of USN in his office. The following year, at the Armed Forces Day celebration I presented the Colonel with the Constitution. His comment was it really was nice, but hadn't I left off the tracks?! Now that I'm retired, modeling gives me something to do to avoid going completely bonkers. The cousin who first got me into modeling and I still built models for one another even after 40 years.
Dick McC

LIke others have mentioned, I just wasn't satisfied with the accuracy of toys!! I grew up on military bases, so I knew what the aircaraft I loved looked like.
Mom and Dad suffered through many a kit until I took over at around age 7 or so. Mom was the much better modeler.

Well, it was my brother who got me into the hobby. He was gonna toss out his brushes and paint and I told him I would use them. Now after he has went to a few contests with me, I may have gotten him building again.....

As a child, the pastor in our church was also a pilot with his own plane. At least once a month he would take me up for a tour of the greater Cincinatti area. What a thrill. After that I was hooked on Airplanes of all sorts. I worked hard in school because I wanted more than anything to be an Air Force pilot. Well I didn't make it to the USAF Academy, so I enlisted. Anything to get close to Airplanes. While in the Air Force I began modeling current air craft, but soon began recognizing the vast history of the Air Force and became a real history buff. Now it's pretty much WWII birds. As long as I love airplanes I see no burn out in sight.

Outgrew Lego? Is that even possible?? :)

Seriously, the kids have to compete with me for theirs, though they usually win (what with them both being under 4 and all).

As for what started me, well, it's all my dad's fault. He was (and still is) an avid modeler and got me hooked way back when with a Snaptite kit. I took some time away for college, getting married, and the like, but have fallen back in love with the hobby.

Well, I seem to be the only one to take this route. I always liked to build things, so right off the bat, my parents bought me LEGO. Lego is all well and good, but theres not much of a challenge to it. One time in a store I stumbled upon the modle section. The box art of a HIND hellicopter was too much to resist, so I caved and bought it instead. Modelng and Lego shared my money, until I outgrew lego, so now I model.

I have always liked ships & the sea,railroads & Cars but my real interest was naval history so I leaned toward warships & then model railroading . skills from all of these differnt subjects cross over to each other. As a boy my first kit was a Revell USS Missouri. lately Ive been going back & correcting the mistakes made on these models & rehabing them. Ive been modeling off & on for almost 50 years now & still larn something new each time I check out various message boards pertaing to these subjects

WHen I was about 8 or 9 I wanted an Aurora Seaview submarine. MY mother told me it wasn't a toy, it was a model. I still wanted it and she bought AND built if for me. I still remember how much she hated doing that.

I began to realize that models were a lot cooler looking than their toy counter parts I began building models because I though they were better looking than toys of the same subject (I still remember doing dive-bomb 'attacks' with my Monogram Helldiver - folding wings a swing-out trapeze bomb release!). It wasn't until my teen years that started painting models and building them for display only.

I remember seeing 1/72 scale Airfix and Frog airplane models in clear plastic bags with a 3 view color scheme on the back and I so much wanted to build one. We lived on base in Germany and I used to save my allowance (50 cents a week) to purchase these gems along with humbrol paints. I was in second grade and became hooked and have never stopped.

hi all, two of my uncles , one was a master model maker in the old sence , everything was built of wood or metal , he made case display model ships for the yards in which they were built, many are still on display long after his death in local musem, second was my other uncle in the merchant navy , he would bring early models back from his trips , first was skeleton dinosaur of brontosaurus , i was aged nine , most times the box got damp and i ended up with plastic bag and if lucky the instructions , sometimes even they were thrown away , cheers ian

I returned to modeling as a direct result of playing Combat Flight Simulator. It's a terrific game (esp CFS 2!), but there was nothing to show for one's virtual aerial victories. So I turned to building models - great fun!

Have you all ever taken one of those Briggs-Meyers (sp) tests? It profiles how and what you're brain is wired for. I've always built stuff since I was a kid. These tests confirmed that I was wired to build stuff. I do wood working, modeling, gardening. I hate tearing stuff apart unless it is for the purpose of rebuilding it. At work I love to build and it tears me apart to downsize. I'm guessing a lot of you out there are the same way. It's in your blood. I'm glad I was put together that way.
Dave

For me, my father had a big influence on me. He used to sit down and build them in the living room until we finally moved into our house. He had pretty wide interests but mainly built planes.... That was 30 years ago and now my son builds models too...

My older brothers built cars. I had fun with those models playing demolition derby which in turn would end up as a butt beating at the hands of my brothers. When I was old enough I started airplanes, which I was already pretty obsessed with. The rest is history...

Pat

I work for an Airline already 35 years. But 12 to 15 years ago I thought what to do after retirement. Than I found Finescale Modeler magazine with a article how to make cabin windows. And another copy with on top a beautifull picture from a bare metal aircraft made by late Les Sundt. Than I decided to start making models, although my oldest brother made in his youth flying models I still enjoy every minute working on it.

Just like Iluv3ggs, it came from my Dad. I suppose I was looking for ways to do more things with him.

For me it was off my dad...He had a cuboard full of models he had built, everytime i went to visit him i would look at them, and ponder what sort they were.

He used to even help me build some, i remember building a tank with him, he told me how to mark out the pattern. I can't remember the tank, but i do know that i trashed it a few weeks later...(was quite young)

Also being a military enthusiast has sort of made me even more addicted to the hobby....i bore everyone when i take ages at the hobby store to pick out just ONE kit...

Cya

In 1992, I found the love of my life. And I had to make a chioce: cigarettes or her.
You can guess what I took. But I had to find something that would keep my mind off the smokes. I refound modeling. I did it as a kid, but now I had transportation and a full time job, so I had cash to spend, and lots of hobby shops I've never visited before. And I've been hooked ever sinse.
And by the way in 1998, I married her.

When I was youger, I saw a model at the store of the Enterprise frpm Star Trek, and from there built cars, planes chppers,ships,whatever caught my eye. I got back into the hobby in the summer of 1992, after seeing the June issue if Scale Auto Enthuisiast. I,ve been hooked ever since. In fact, it's almost a obsession.

At first it was because I saw a model my friend built, and I just thought it looked awsome. I have always been an artistic person, so I thought it would be fun to try. Just as much I wanted to pick up a hobby. It quickly moved from a hobby to a love after the first car. To echo Rowdymon it is because I know ill never be able to have the things that I build. So this is as close as I will probably ever get. So many more reasons branch off of that though. Its relaxing, its a way to get my mind off of other things. And the feeling that I get when I realize that its finished. Although it digs a nice hole out of my pocket, its all worth it when its shining in all glory in its case around my home.