New to modeling

Firstly, Welcome to the forums, Michael! It's always nice to meet new blood! Living far from a hobby shop is a bit of a pain, but then again, there's on-line purchasing! Fighters, eh? Though i prefer building bigger multi-engined stuff, the advice i can give you applies as well: Build what jumps out at you and grabs your attention! I occasionally build kits because i know i'm going to have a fun time building it.

A kit's price doesn't really matter... I was once given a spectacular 1/32 YF-22 as a christmas gift... and i mucked it up... then i go to the local IPMS contest and see a model that i know is relatively inexpensive and it takes first place for it's category (BTW, allan, who built that Dragonfly anyway?)... So, what's your favorite fighter?

Agreed...Build what you like...the way you like it....
All what matters is to have fun and escape from the daily "miseries" of life....

Welcome to FSM and the forums.

I started by getting a kit that intersted me. You learn by building, so go ahead and give it a shot. You'll only get better with experience. Having fun is the most important part of the hobby anyway.

Great to have you in the hobby.
I can't disagree with anything that has been said so far. If you build what YOU want. You'll be much happier.
The main thing is to have fun!!

Randie

Michael John hi
...and welcome from this side of the pond!!

the guys here are real friendly and SOOOO helpful with pretty much anything you'll need to know
as regards what you should start with well, the 2 makes you cannot go wrong with at all are tamiya and hasegawa; ofcourse other companies mak some excellent kits, but i think in terms of a beginner's build, look for those; i'm tryong to get my girlfriend to take up the hobby and i've got her a hasegawa 1/48 p-51 (guys feel free to point MC in another direction if you feel that's appropriate).
anyway, hope all goes well, and NEVER shy away from asking what is seemingly the most stupid question: remember we've all been there before!!
regards,
nick
ps check out the armour forum...feel the power of the dark side!!

What era do you want to build? WW1, WW2, Korea, Nam, comtemporary? Monogram kits are inexpensive and a fun place to start. From there you may graduate to Tamiya or Hasegawa. I have no good model shop near me either but the mail order shop is only as far away as your mail box. Squadron.com and Greatmodels.com are two of my favorites. Welcome!

Build what makes you happy. Welcome to the forum !

QUOTE: Originally posted by nmayhew ps check out the armour forum...feel the power of the dark side!!

Oh yes.. Feeeeel the power!

Seriously.. Maybe an inexpensive armour kit (Italeri does plenty) is a nice way to start. They're inexpensive, slightly larger at 1:35th scale and are a lot more forgiving with their rougher lines than the more refined edges of aircraft. They're also great to go to town on with practicing your weathering.

I agree with Swanny. Monogram kits are a great place to start. They are less expensive than Hasegawa or Tamiya, and give you a chance to develop your building skills. It is true that Hasegawa & Tamiya kits are very easy to build, but if that's ALL you build, you don't learn how to solve problems. And if you don't learn how to solve problems, you limit yourself to only the kits they produce. Its probably not a good idea to learn how to fill seams on a $30 to $40 kit, when you can learn the skills with a $10 kit.
Both Squadron & Great Models Webstore are excellent sources for kits.

welcome! i'm a relative noob too, so feel free to ignore me (), but i have to agree with the other folks above - build want you want.

it sounds crazy, but that's about it. this hobby, above all other things, should be fun, relaxing, enjoyable.

to start with I would be controversial and say avoid the expensive stuff like Tamiya and Hasegawa unless you get it in a sale. It is worth the money, but you might want to get some practice in first before attacking something costly. I own a few, and I've put them to one side until I feel ready to attack them

Academy has some great new 1/72 models out, very crisp lines, and very inexpensive. Italeri might be more of a challenge because their tooling isn't as precise, but they offer very cheap armour and aircraft in some unusual models. Revell (Euro and US) have lots of good stuff, and Airfix, while showing it's age, is great for some older stuff, especially 1950s/60s UK planes that few others make.

The crux is, you want to paint things, buy the precise more expensive stuff like Tamiya; if you are interested in scratchbuilding, filling, sanding and customising and making the best of what you have, take pot luck with anything else from the shelf

Thanks for your response. Found a Spitfire Mk II by Revell, looks easy to put together but a challange for the paint. Thanks again.

No problem! Just remember that if you have any questions during the build, just ask. Maybe you can post a pic here in the forums for us to see when it's done!

I still remember my first model, a Revell F-5 Tiger in 1/72.

As a forteenyearold, I did not have much patience and clamped it together in a few hours, then poured some colors over it, smeared the canopy, tried to clean it with polish remover and touched the whole jet everywhere before the paint was dry.

Didn´t win any contest with that baby, but hey - it was fun!