What brought you back into modeling?

I couldn't afford the resin MG Models 1/12 Ferrrai 330P4 for $600 and I wanted to build it as sculpture, so I got a Fujimi 1/24 330P4 instead and there I was again after 35+ years, modeling again. Oops.

Well, I don't really know even though I recently got the itch again...

My family and I just recently moved back home, while unpacking some of our stuff I ran across a box full of modeling supplies, some of which I hadn't seen in a really long time. The paints were for the most part trash, but there were tools and other various things in there that were still usable. So I put it where I would have easy access to it again...Fast forward a few weeks...

Wife and I went to Books A Million and I was looking through the various magazines and ran across Fine Scale Modeller, I decided to go ahead and pick it up to look through it. Well I then learned about the website through the magazine, where I found the forums. I came over here and lurked reading various posts, looking at some of the work rolling out in absolute amazement. I decided to sign up for a magazine subscription and register here on the forums, that was only a few days ago.

My wife thought it would be a good thing for me to get back into as I went through some medical procedures in the last 2 years that at this time prohibit me from enjoying some of my more active hobbies. I think she'll learn to regret that latter though. LOL

I now have a "room" all to myself just for my hobby that needs some serious work before turning into what I want it to be, as matter of fact I've been thinking about asking for ideas and suggestion from the fellow forum members here...

Well that's my little story, I've yet to get started on a kit yet, but I've been accumulating some needed tools and supplies while wandering the Hobby Shop aisles considering my kit purchase options...

I built jet models when I was a kid, then turned to cars, and built them off and on for quite some time. Occasionally I would get an urge to build and go buy a kit, but for some reason a while back I decided it was time to try planes again. I bought the Hasegawa 1/48 F-14A Sundowners bird. That thing is huge! I Had only built 1/72 kits when I was a kid cause they were cheap and my Mom and Dad would buy them for me at walmart, Needless to say, I was quite impressed with the 1/48 scale, and I have a good selection of planes, cars, and a couple motorcycles now... I feel sorry for my fiance

A lack of money.  When I got out of the service,  I had a couple of weeks and limited funds before I started my job.  For something to do, I bought the 1/32 Revell Wildcat.  With limited supplies and no airbrush, I brush painted the light gray and left the topside the plastic color.  The picture I took of the finished kit looks nasty today.

I got back into the hobby as a form of R & R.  I have been on again/off again in the hobby for 30 + years.  My latest entry, about a year and a half ago, stemmed from running a business of my own for the past 9 years and trying to start a second one with a partner… which did not go well.  Staying focused on the hobby can be very relaxing.  I started to build again to keep my mind from racing in a hundred directions at once. 

23 years of alcoholism and the desire to become sober ,is the shortest answer

i built many kits as a teen and then discovered i had the ability to play the guitar,after several years in a road band i was in quite a mess,i met someone who sat and talked to me so that i could see what others see(i had no idea),within 2 years i was no longer playing in clubs and on 2-11-2005 i stopped cold turkey,the cigarettes are due to be stopped anytime now,and the person i met that helped me see what i couldn't is due to become my wife this year.....

My story is a bit like yours Yann. Shortly after moving into our new house I had the idea to decorate a spare room but needed a theme.

I spotted a shiny Spartan helmet in a store window and decided that I would do the room in an Ancient Warrior theme. Surprisingly the better half seemed to think it was a pretty cool idea.

I  went to the LHS looking for a model of a trireme or similar old ship to be the centrepiece as the helmet was way too expensive.

Once I was in the store I browsed for ages, looking at all the aircraft and tank kits and remembering how I built these as a kid and how fascinated  I was about WWII fighters.
After this I started checking out modelling websites and saw that this hobby was way beyond what I did as a kid.

That room is now my hobby room, a complete mess, never decorated, all mine.....

I've always loved aviation/military equipment and hands-on hobbies, and built models avidly up to my mid-20s when job/family/moves curtailed my building.  I never meant to stop, it sort of just happened.  I even kept my kit stash from 20 years ago, though they're in storage now.  After I moved to Germany last year, I began to think about taking up the hobby again, especially something indoors during the long German winter nights.   My oldest daughter is a big Star Wars fan, and she bought a snap-together Jedi fighter that we completed together.  I enjoyed it so much and it brought back so many memories, I decided to take the plunge back in.  Bought a new airbrush and compressor, and started a new kit stash with a couple of Tamiya 1/48th scale tanks I found on clearance sale for 50% off, the first of which I am within a couple of days completing.  Added several kits at Christmas, too.  I've found much of the old skills have returned, but lots of new techniques are out there that I'm in the midst of trying for the first time (used Future for the first time today!)

Congratulations on cleaning up your act Lone.  Nothing beats the help of a good wife either.

 

I never really wanted to quit modeling but my housing accomadations from the time I moved out of my parents house to the time I got married never really lent themselves to a good bench.  After I married I started doing a little work on the kitchen table. After about two years of marriage we bought a house and I was able to set up dedicated area in the basement and have since built a fully enclosed hobby room.  I think mostly I just needed a hobby.  Some medical stuff that was going on at the time robbed me of some of my other hobbies, and I'd wanted to get into it agian anyhow.  I don't do a heck of a lot, but hey, it's a hobby.

Months after reminiscing abouts my childhood model making, wifey bought me a couple of cheap aircraft kits as Christmas stocking fillers. Of course you have to then buy the adhesive, the paints, the brushes, filler, paint solvents, etc. Then comes the magazines, the books, the internet and Ebay. Then when my efforts didn't match my memories, airbrush, then compressor. This is not the end of the list, but you get the drift. The beauty of it all is that I can blame it on the wife for getting me started again!

But I am attracted to WW2 aircraft like no other inanimate object. If I have a layoff from modelling for a few months or so, I only have to see on TV a Spitfire, Messerschmitt, Thunderbird etc and I am drawn back in again. I now have enough kits at my build rate to see me going until I'm well into my eighties. The only consulation is that my eyesight will probably be so poor by then I won't fuss so much!

I have a couple of reasons.

First, I remembered those long lost days when I used to sit up til the wee hours of the morning building and loving every minute of it. My friends and I made many fine memories modeling and I longed for that fun. The desire never went totally away through those nearly eight years.

Second, It's good therapy. It's a positive focus for me and helps me relax and get away from the world for a few hours at a time. I need that and that's about all I care to say about it.

 

Like most, I started when I was a kid, building all sorts of 1/76 things. Didn't really have a clue then. Gave it away when puberty found me & I found girls. Moved out of home into too many units where a lack of space & house mates aren't condusive to picking up where I left off. Eventually settled into a house which has SPACE so I got back into it about 7 or 8 years ago, when I started taking an interest in the WRC. At the same time I saw a review somewhere for Tamiya's just released Impreza WRC '98 Monte, so I had to have it. That led me to then add F1's to the collection. My sister joined the Army recently, so that sparked a military interest. Now there are countless planes & tanks to build.

lone, my hat's off to you I've been there, done that. It's been almost 12yrs. since I gave up drinking like a fish!!(think I have 1 or two beers a year now)  I got back into modeling after 20+ yr run-a-muk after I began researching my family history. I learned of my uncle who was killed in Vietnam flyin' the RA-5C Vigilante. Through my research I rekindled the fire I once had for aircraft as my uncle was a Naval Aviator, and a Naval Test Pilot on the A-6 /EA-6A airframes in 63-65.
  My first model was the Hasegawa 1/72  KA3B Skywarrior which he'd flown the A3D-2 with VAH-5 (1959-61) I've waited a long time for the RA-5C to be released so I found myself buying testors SNJ-5 Texan, and another model for practice, etc etc. Next thing I know, I've got 30-35  kitsseveral in various stages of production. With the discovery of PE & Resin detail sets... I've become a Plasti-holic & suffer from AMS

I sort of stumbled back into it.

I started reading FSM every time we would go to Barnes and Noble, and after a while I started buying them. When my birthday rolled around in February, I bought a kit. My wife wanted to encourage me in taking up a hobby, since am under a ton of stress at work.

So she bought me a tackle box, and filled it with supplies. She's really been supportive. She's encouraging me to build.

The payoff has been great. I'm more relaxed, I sleep better- and I've even lost weight.

Yup, Modeling is a great form of relaxation, Hand-eye coordination as well. fiddlin' with dem timy parts makes ya tired & yeah,  keeping the mind & hands busy will lift that heavy weight off one's shoulders too

Old story: modeling as a kid, become teen, party and chase skirts, get married, have kids, kids get older, things slow down.

Actually in addition to that, it's really been FSM and the forum that inspired me. I mean with all the great builds and knowledge, it's been like a giant kick in the "A". Unfortunately, I used to spend more time in the forums and less on the bench. However, at the same time, I don't want to rush a job just so I can post it. I rather it take longer to meet my satisfactions.

I never left the hobby. I started as a kid with the Aurora, Lindberg, Revell and Monogram kits. Always kept building, even through high school in between football and wrestling seasons. I continued but at a much lessor rate through college. I found Tamiya kits around this time and joined the Army around the same time they started producing the M1 Abrams, M151A2 Jeep, M2 and M3 Bradley, the same gear I was getting to use in real life.

I was still basically building out-of-box Tamiya and Italeri kits into the late 80s until I was stationed in Germany and Verlinden products were plentiful. It was around 1990 that I began to seriously build, making conversions, using aftermarket items, sheet styrene, kitbashing.

I had a few interruptions due to deployments to combat zones, but never stopped the hobby. I find it to be a great way to relax.

Hot August afternoons when I wanted to stay cool by the air condition but didn't want to just sit around doing nothing. I stopped by a hobby shop and bought an F-4, a couple of bottles of paint and some glue. That was almost three years ago and I've been at it ever since. Love the hobby and all it has to offer but I think the best thing is that it keeps me occupied ( "An idle hand is the work of the Devil" ) and for the most part relaxed barring a few kits that I won't name.

Hud

hud wrote:

( "An idle hand is the work of the Devil" )

and this would be the biggest reason i chose to build models as a "tool" in maintaining my sobriety

lone wrote:

hud wrote:  ( "An idle hand is the work of the Devil" ) and this would be the biggest reason i chose to build models as a "tool" in maintaining my sobriety

I hear ya we just lose our marbles in the process yet, keep our sobriety Now where'd  I put that glue?

Replace sobriety with sanity and you have my primary reason for jumping back in.

-dave

Dave23 wrote:

Replace sobriety with sanity and you have my primary reason for jumping back in. -dave

I see by your post count you're new here... to our world Please clarify what you mean by this Dave, I am puzzled

Hippy-Ed wrote:

Dave23 wrote: Replace sobriety with sanity and you have my primary reason for jumping back in. -dave I see by your post count you're new here... to our world Please clarify what you mean by this Dave, I am puzzled

I think he meant in your previous quote.

"I hear ya we just lose our marbles in the process yet, keep our sobriety (or sanity) Now where'd  I put that glue?"

That's how I feel! Building helps keep my sanity! Even as I lose my marbles (or glue..... did that myself Hippy-Ed..... it was sitting literally under my nose.)

Welcome Dave23!

JWB is correct, sorry for the confusion. The quote function wasn't working exactly right for me.

-dave

I was always a big WWII plane goober when I was young. My dad had some Time-Life books (1970's) of war planes that I loved to look at. Most of the time, I drew planes and did a few models. I just put them together, never painted or detailed them.

26 years later.... I had sole custody of my three kids for 3 years and that changed at the end of 2003. It was a very devistating loss to me. After some adjustment, I had some extra time on my hands. So, one day I decided I'd really like to start modeling again. I informed my wife of my venture and suggested modeling gift ideas for X-mas (this was in December 2004).

And now..... I'm really enjoying it mixed in with a wee bit of frustration from time to time.

Dave23 wrote:

JWB is correct, sorry for the confusion. The quote function wasn't working exactly right for me. -dave

LoL... Thanks for the clarification JWB. Dave, it's the glue.... hehehe

I gave up the hobby after a couple years and took two off.  Then I went to a hobby shop with friends one day and one of them picked a USS Arizona for me.  That's when I started seriously building, doing the painting and whatnot.  That was almost 9 years ago next month, boy how time flies....

lone wrote:

hud wrote:  ( "An idle hand is the work of the Devil" ) and this would be the biggest reason i chose to build models as a "tool" in maintaining my sobriety

I hear ya' lone. Good for you. I've kicked a couple of habits myself in the last couple of years and I'll spare you of the details. I won't say that there's not a cold beverage sitting close by on occasion but it could be a lot worse. More power to you, I admire your commitment.

Hud

"Band of Brothers". since it came out on HBO i've been modeling eversince. before that it modeling was just a so so hobby.