Model building and THE WIFE

Hello fellow builders ...

I too love my wife ... very much ! She is very tolerant of my plastic model kit addiction ... sometimes even ... I kid you not ... encouraging me to stop by the hobby shop and see what is "new"!

This thread reminds me of the bumper sticker I once saw on a truck ... it read:

"My wife told me that she would move out if I bought one more model kit ... gosh I am sure going to miss her!"

Just kidding ladies ... My wife often tells me that I just never quite grew up ... and that that is part of my charm. Isn't that sweet? I for one am proud that I have never quite "grownup", and I hope I never do!

FreedomEagle1953 you are one lucky man... One of my other hobbies is collecting military firearms and several of my friends also do this. Once a friend's wife was speaking to me about all these guns... "What is it with men and guns... You have a closet full now, but you go out to a gun show and come home with another one..." It was actually my friend (her husband) who had just added to his collection... I replied, "What is it with women and shoes... You only have two feet..." It's been a running joke with us ever since.

Regards,

Pat

I got lucky I guess. When I met my wife I had to make an ultimatum, Smoking or her. I needed something to keep my mind off it, so I tried models as an adult.
A kit here a kit there. Anytime I felt like I needed a cigarette, I went and worked on a model. I've said it in other threads and I'm very proud of it, I haven't had a smoke in 11 years. But over the years I've gotten addicted to models and realized I've spent more on models that I did cigarettes. But hey, my wife says I have something to show for it. My basement's filled with unbuilt kits, my showcase is full. It's not little piles of ashes and butts everywhere, and if i'm going to get cancer it will be from MEK and the Futere that I shoot from my airbrush.

For the love of my life, You may drive me crazy, but you saved me.
Thank you and may my love last forever.
Bernie the K.

I "think" my modeling addiction is acceptable to the Mrs. because she knows exactly where I am. She doesn't like it when the lacquer thinner fumes creep into the furnace supply air. Otherwise, she's quite accepting of my return to boyhood. Wait till she discovers how large a C-130 is!!

First of all, Bernie, KUDOS on the smoking thing! That's great! I never got started because at the young age when kids seem to want to start smoking, I was more interested in spending what little money I had on airplane kits.

I can see the potential of this being a humorous thread! Years ago, I remember an IPMS/USA magizine article on "How To Sneak Another Kit Into The House"
Does anyone have to "sneak" 'em in?????

My wifw is also quite tolerant of my addiction/obsession, and also asks,why onother kit? But she is supportive, and always shows interest when I bring up my new "baby" to show off. At least she knows where I am in the morning!! I also am a lucky man.
Lee

Regarding "sneaking" them in, I've lately timed my placing of orders so that they will then arrive on days when I get home (and to the mailbox) first. Not that my unbuilt collection is that bad (less than a dozen...what the heck is wrong with me!?!?!), but it's also about 10 more than she realizes it is!

Ad for the actual hobby, she's pretty tolerant of it, because she knows where I am, what I'm doing, and what I'm looking up when I'm online...nose art...ahhh, the nose art dear, I want to get it just right for this kit I'm working on!

For years my wife would only let me have one kit at a time. She couldn't understand my obsession with them. But after showing her a couple of FSM Editorials and some of these subjects and post she has eased up on me.

Now I have 4 kits in progress and 4 waiting for me to start. And she doesn't seem to mind anymore when I spend 8-10 hours (I only get 1 day a week to work on them because of my work schedule) at a time on them.

What a funny topic this is. Any married man can relate to this subject. My wife had trouble understanding the kit collections, starting models when I hadn't finished others, the usual issues. I asked my wife if she had not noticed my large collection of models before we got married. That didn't work to well. I jokingly told her it was better than going to the local gentlemans clubs with the guys from work. That was a real big mistake. Finally I gave her time and understanding. I would pick and choose my model times wisely. That was a winner. Now she encourages me to build and even go to the hobby shop! It has taken years of hard work to reach this agreement. It's kind of like peace talks. Very delicate and requires tact and dipolomacy.

Darren

I can relate to Badbird 356's experience - when I'd walk in with a new kit, I'd sometimes get "How much did THAT cost?"

Well, one day she came in with a Longaberger basket ("It's just a little one")
that cost $44. That's when I said, "That's more than any model I've ever bought."
There's been no comments since that day! And a few months ago I brought home a "First Place" winner in the ships category of the local model show. I think now she figures I'm doing something right.

I saw a quote on one of my compter boards that could be slightly modified to apply here. It went like this: Please send my order in plain brown wrapping. I want my wife to think I'm ordering porn and not more computer parts (substitute models). I just howled when I read that.

hi my freind is very lucky so his wife thinks , when returning from a model show at least one kit has a raffle ticket on it , he tells her won in the raffle, same story every time and it still works or does it , is she dead panning him . I tried it once and it worked but for every show , no way , the truth is out there , cheers ian

Indeed this is an entertaining series of messages and experiences...! I don't think anyone outside the hobby can realy understand why 150 to 200 unbuilt kits is not yet enough. I tried the ultimate trick in getting my wife into the hobby, but it did not work as well as I had hoped. Still, she's pretty good at tolerating the hobby and the expenses. She says she'll eventually complete that first model she started (the Psycho house). Life will be real good then!
Because I sell a large part of my 'production', she can see that additional money is coming in to pay for the holidays, clothes and stuff for the kids. I'm still greeted with a sarcastic tone of voice when the latest e-Bay purchase comes in though, since as a rule, a kit is for pleasure (meaning expense), a scratch is for business (meaning income)! For a while, involving the kids in modeling allowed any purchase, but sadly, my two teenagers have shifted interest to other less worthy causes, and I await with impatience their return to model-world...

My wife has simply given up on me...although I must admit that since I've started thinning my collection of nearly 2500 kits down to under 500, she's become alot more understanding.

I have anything 'new' shipped to my office, from there it ends up in the trunk, then moved into the garage workshop area where it is placed at the bottom of the pile...

She's seen the checks from the commissioned models I've done, so I pretty much get left to myself, except for the usual 'You really should spend time with your daughter' or 'you've been down here (in the workshop) since last Friday'

Jeff Herne
Modelwarships.com

Jeff,

Get your daughter in to modeling! That way you can kill two birds with one stone. And your wife can't complain as much.

I've brought my 9 year old son in to the inner circle.

Darren

She's already there! Take a gander...

http://www.njipms.org/Briefs/2002-12/02-12-01.jpg

She's only 4, so it's a little tough to justify the new Trumpeter Essex kit because my daughter wants it...

Best I can hope for is the occasional Snap-Tite kit.

Best,

Jeff Herne
Modelwarships.com

not only the wife....
actually little nephews are the worst. they wreck havoc to the collection and everyone but you consider it as sweet.....You can;t shoot them, tie them upside down over the stove, skin them etc....only shut up and watch smiling.

It's great to read all this stories, it gives me a few new ideas on how to convince my wife on buying new models. But I have to accept that she is great, she accepts that I love to build models and respects it... in fact part of my wedding present was a beatiful 1/24 UH-1 gunship (that I still haven't got started on) and to this day she doesn't mind to buy paints and things like that when she's out shopping for me.... so I must say that I'm a very lucky guy

WOW - big time topic for all us MARRIED TYPES!! - barely could scan all above...but agree with IT ALL - We could argue..Hey it was GUNS...then Cameras...but..HELL babe..they were expensive....VERY $$...
And..HECK..do we hang out in BARS..esp..HOOOOTOORS??!! HUH> do we...or go to strip JOINTS.....NAH....we'de rather be down in the shop..building the next one or two..or threee..and like most of you said..YA KNOW WHERE I AM..and I ain't sniffing..glue!!!...
SO - we can argue with them endlessly..becuase we love em...and...
I THINK we are the BEST@!...we provide...(in my case)...and...
fooly around only with plastic and glues...and paints..ComE ON HONE..give me a break..
OR

here is the FINAL arguement...echoing myself..and FSM!...
AS long as I have a model to build I 'll NEVER DIE...!!
so HONe..ya want me to DIE or what???

As for the Longaberger baskets...they are way overpriced, I know because I used to work there and make them. Model building is much more fun and turn out to be better products . O.K., anyway, my wife doesn't give me any grief about my model buying...they are cheaper than my guns and my Jeep. She even buys me models when I ask for them around my birthday and Christmas. I got very lucky when I found my wife. She let me buy a new airbrush this past weekend!

Jerry

Monteverdi,

Thanks for that interesting feedback. As far as the "sniffing glue" subject, You may want to check the caps on all your bottles. I suspect there may be some fumes in your workshop. Just kidding!

Darren

My wife just asks me to check in from time to time to make sure I haven't "died in the saddle" while woriking on a kit. My shop is in the basement, and she told me once that she always knew when I was working on something by the hum of the spray booth and compressor and the whine of my Dremel tool. Gotta love 'em. Besides, her hobby is cooking and collecting cooking gadgets and cookbooks. We jockey for storage space now. She oohs and aahs at my latest hobby accomplishment, and I get to eat hers for dinner!

My wife is of the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" camp-- she realized that I like to do modeling to unwind after work and she figured if she wanted to talk to me more, she should just start modeling as well ;) Her first attempt kicked the crap out of my first attempt.....I had done a 109 model (which after having do many since- looks like crap to me now)-- and she took on the P-26 Peashooter. Not only was her paint-job practically flawless-- she even stretched sprue for the riggin wires and it looks excellent. She attributed her painting to the fact that women have an advantage over us with always having to paint their nails ;)

She started a P-36 Hawk and had to stop when she got pregnant-- too many fumes ;) But she is anxious to start back up on it.....

Plus-- buying her a new model gave me an excuse to get one for myself LOL

I'd have to say I'm very lucky with my wife as well, she is a collector her self (Dragons), so we both collect beyond our means, she only complains about the smell, so I'm building myself a studio (dawg house) out in the back yard, now I can blast the classical at 1 in the morning .

Remember monteverdi, a man never gets the last word in an arguemnet, he gets the first word in the next arguement!

Madd Dawg

Originally posted by djmodels1999 Indeed this is an entertaining series of messages and experiences...! I don't think anyone outside the hobby can realy understand why 150 to 200 unbuilt kits is not yet enough. HOW MANY!!! i was thinking my twenty unbuilts (and one in the post) was perhaps exessive Reply Edit Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 14, 2003 1:26 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by Jeff_Herne My wife has simply given up on me...although I must admit that since I've started thinning my collection of nearly 2500 kits down to under 500, she's become alot more understanding. Jeff Herne Modelwarships.com 2500!!!!!!! thats a shop mate! Reply Edit Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 14, 2003 4:21 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by heylonghair I saw a quote on one of my compter boards that could be slightly modified to apply here. It went like this: Please send my order in plain brown wrapping. I want my wife to think I'm ordering porn and not more computer parts (substitute models). I just howled when I read that. Yeah, but porn does not rattle when shaken. Always a dead give away with my 'ex' wife. Reply Edit Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 14, 2003 4:31 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by almonkey QUOTE: Originally posted by Jeff_Herne My wife has simply given up on me...although I must admit that since I've started thinning my collection of nearly 2500 kits down to under 500, she's become alot more understanding. Jeff Herne Modelwarships.com 2500!!!!!!! thats a shop mate! 2500 is nothing - I have a three car garage that I can hardly walk into for the model kits, plus my hobby room (10'x13') has selves with reference books and the 'ready' supply of kits to build. This is not including what is on the workbench. At last count there were over 5k worth. Reply Edit JChurch Member since January 2003 Posted by JChurch on Saturday, March 15, 2003 5:24 PM QUOTE: Yeah, but porn does not rattle when shaken. Yeah with porn the rattling comes after Madd Dawg Your not going to leave it like that are you? Reply 12 JOIN OUR COMMUNITY! Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account. Login Register SEARCH FORUMS FREE NEWSLETTER SIGN UP By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy. FORUMS PRODUCT REVIEWS READER GALLERY HOW TO VIDEOS SHOP ABOUT US FREE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER SIGN UP By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy. More great sites from Kalmbach Media Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy