From what I've read in FSM, a good portion of us built models when we were kids, stopped for a number of years, then rediscovered the hobby. How long was your hiatus? What made you stop building? What got you back in the hobby?
I built my first model in 1972 (see post under "What was your first model?"). For about five years, modeling was my favorite activity; after a hard day at school, it was nice to sit down with the glue, the paint and the hobby knife as model plane after model car took shape on my workbench. My favorite subject was competition cars, especially dragsters, but I also built a lot of planes and the occasional helicopter or ship.
In 1977, I got a drum set and of course, bashing on that as loud as I could to Black Sabbath and Foghat cut into my modeling time. (Of course, my parents wished I'd do more building if only for some peace and quiet!
![Smile [:)]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile.gif)
) Then in 1978, a new hobby, collecting telephone pole insulators, completely wiped out my modeling; within a few months, the model kits that were the basis of my existence were banished to a closet and the workbench was converted to an insulator shelf.
In 1979, my parents and I moved to Hawaii. Before the big move, I sold all my unbuilt kits, the tools and the paint at our yard sale and completely abandoned modeling.
Ironically, it was at a yard sale in 1994 (by then, I'd long since moved back to California) that I found an RC fishing boat and bought it originally for a friend who still lived in Hawaii. But then, I thought, "This would be a good way to kill a rainy day." (I had a job at a plant nursery and sometimes the boss would tell me to stay home when it rained.) And it was! As the months went by, I gradually began modeling more often and even discovered scratchbuilding new parts. (I decided to build the boat as a static model.) In 1996, I built Testor's Area 51 UFO and a diorama and gave it to my girlfriend's mother for Christmas. Still, I didn't think I was serious about modeling until about 1998, when I figured out a way to have a hobby bench permanently set up in my one-bedroom apartment that I finally decided, "Yes, I'm back in the hobby for good."
Let's hear your story!