Causal effects

I am in a similar mindset as you on most of your points. My father had a Military and Civil Aviation background, so I am sure that many of my own interests started there. I personally do not see myself as creative, but I do get inspired by work that I see here online or at clubs in person and I will grab alittle of this and a little of that to incorporate into my own projects.

Regarding kit reviews- lets just say that they are very subjective. As to never seeing a bad review? Well, many of the mainstreem reviewers receive their kits for no cost from the manufacturers. If they give a negative review, I am sure that the flow would dry up real fast. And of course we also have he various backgrounds of reviewers. Somebody who cut their modeling teeth in the dark ages of the 70s and before will likely have a more forgiving outlook than somebody who is raised in the age of CAD moldings.

Some very good points there. In some ways I'm the opposite of what you describe, and if not the exact opposite at least at great variance. I do play music, and while I display an artistic nature I'm limited by lethargy which stems from depression. I'm retired, so I have plenty of time, but when I'm not actively playing with someone I tend to not practice, which makes me see others better than I am and rather than work at it I stop altogether and feel sorry for myself.

I love history, contribute to a '100 Years' thread on a website that leaves me doing a couple of hours' research every day. I play an air war game that uses models to represent three-dimensional air combat. For a long time now I've only built models for the game, though I do put a lot of effort into them and most of them look pretty good. In line with what I said before about lethargy, I had a stint two years ago in which I built four models in as many weeks. Last year I spent four months on one model which should have taken three weeks tops. What took so long was the number of days I spent telling myself I should get started again.

We all bring different desires to our hobbies, and we all get different things out of them.

As for manufacturers that should be avoided, I don't think so. I once heard someone talk about kits that were so easy, "You dump glue and paint into the box, shake it, and the finished model falls out." On the other hand I built a very nice kit that made a beautiful model, except that the struts were wrong, the ailerons were wrong, and other things I now forget were wrong. It took a lot more work than it should have, but basically once the problems were sorted it was a very nice little kit.

So while I caution about some kits, I would never say that everything somebody makes is bad. But that's just me.

Templar - 

First, wonderful article. I am totally new to this hobby...but I believe we all come from the same background as far as having the "History Bug". I have always been a curious type individual having to know the facts and how it occured. 

You mentioned being lead down a path of micro discovery....That's we do in this hobby...always wanting to be totally accurate in the build, description and knowledge.

I caught myself laughing when you were stating the long line of items from perfect modeling to photography, tools and techniques. Again, the beauty of this beast we call modeling.

Again, great read and thank you for posting.

I was strongly influenced by mt Father and his time in the Air Corps and WWII.  More influenced than I realized when I started building models at 5.  I had listened to a couple stories my Mother told me about what he did while in the Air Corps before and during WWII, Like the fact my middle name came from his flight instructor, a direct decendant of General Lee.  Although I did'nt understand some of these things at the time and, only found out some others that he told me about just before he died a couple years ago, he was oriud when I joined the Air Force when I got drafted in 1970.

My modeling at first covered anything at first but setteled down to military aircraft and armor from WWII.  Later it spread to my experiences in the Air Force to include Vietnam area aircraft and vehicles used by the Security Police.  This includes almost any standard vehicle in the inventory plus armored personnel carriers and armored cars.

Like him I collected patches and took pictures of aircraft I encountered for reference for a future project.

Hmm, Interesting :

 Can you say Chester Nimitz ? He gave a talk at my High school and I was hooked . Sure like most I had a plethora of Victory at Sea Kits at home , all built of course . Then the " Silent Service " Man , they got me .Washed out of subs because of a nosebleed at the wrong time . Oh Well , Didn't stop me from gathering History .Where ?

     Well , at different bases and ships libraries . Got to know the players and wanting models .The rest is old history . I have too many books , too many ships ( unbuilt ) and little time . Can you say Destroyers ? " Again .Too little time , way to much information .

     So I digress , The Hobby is great and still keeps the old warhorse's mind sharp !   T.B.