Where's the magic in building models?

The magic in model building for me has always been in constructing the cockpit. That's where the man and the machine came together and made history. That's where the magic was for the pilots.

I always try to make the cockpits look 'lived-in' by including some personal touch. I sometimes attach a miniature 'girlfriend photograph' to the dash or stuff a rumpled map into the map case or next to the seat (you would never see a neatly folded map in a combat environment). Combat pilots were not usually neat-freaks, so I try to reflect some human impact in each of my models.

The magic for me is when I was at the Lowary AFB Heritage Museum in Denver after I donated my first collection to them and a group of WWII vets came through and was amased with the detail and accurases of the planes they flew or crewed on, and when they found out it was the guy giving the tour that built the collection, then they asked where did I get the Information to make them so real like I told them I got most of the Information from my Dad & this mag and their war stories that was the insparation,
Don't you love that tickly feeling down your spine when someone gives you work a complament? You'd be lying if you said you didn't
Ugly Butt Deadly Effective Hawgs
Cuda

As far as I'm concerned, Tango1 said it all earlier on.

hi guys,
the best part of it for me is showing my girlfiend my latest project, explaining everything about it to her - right down to the last bolt or rivet - and watching her look at me as if i'm an alien who's just landed from out of space!!!!
only kidding she's great really!
isn't what we do, JUST FANTASTIC!!??
nick

Another part of the magic for me (aside from the strafing runs on my wife. :D ) is watching all the pieces slowly come together into a whole model.

I, too, like the history. Right now I'm working on an F-4J Phantom, and I'm going to do it in the markings of the crew that got the only all-Marine air-to-air kill in Vietnam. I got the decals from Fox One, and they include the story of that mission with the instruction sheet. Pretty neat stuff!

Regards,

-Drew

For some of us the magic is acutally FINISHING one!

Gday folks

For me the magic is when a Non Modelling Person (NMP) looks at my latest addition, & the conversation goes something like this:

NMP: Where'd you buy that from ?
Me: I didn't buy it, I made it.
NMP: No really, where'd you buy it ?
Me: I made it.
NMP: Oh yeah? So who painted it like that ?
Me: I did. It started in grey pieces in a box, all the same colour, I put it together, painted it....
NMP: Oh. So you didn't buy it like that. Where can I buy one like that ?...

etc...

I'm a heavy equipment operator in the USAF. I always support the mission but I am never the "Tip of the Sword". For me modelling the aircraft that I repair runways for lets me live my dream of being an Air Force pilot.

wroper

Ditto.
I enjoy the research, the history, and the finished product of my latest "masterpiece". Plus I also have to 'take it up' for a few banks and rolls!
Indeed, the research and material does make one think of the men who flew these machines, and the stories they share.
I was fascinated by them as a kid, and now admire and appreciate them as an adult(?).

Steve-
minutes to buy, hours to build-

For me, as with nwilliams, the magic is having access to some sort of three dimensional representation of something you would otherwise likely not get near too.

Additionally, I like to hypothesize a lot on the "what if" factor. I'll build a feature onto an aircraft or modify the aircraft in such a way as the manufacturer never presented it. If you do it well and someone asks you about that navalized Gloster Javelin or Luftwaffe F-8 Crusader on your shelf and you can string some serious questions out of them about the subjects before you let on the truth of your "what ifs" to them, its a great feeling to think you had them believing for a while that they were looking at a model of a real variant that never was.

Bringing into existence what never was, but could have been and making it plausible has some tremendous magic to it.

My long term goal is to model the F-111K, which was to be the British F-111 variant but was cancelled. I've been making drawings in sketch books for a while of all that could have gone into it, when an F-111 kit I like comes around, I'll snap it up and get started.

All the above and I can never help thinking about the acutal pilots who flew whatever a/c I'm working on at the moment. What did they go through and the actual combat they were in, did they come home or not. That is the personal history that goes with the machine and I love reading their stories and thinking how am I gonna find decals for that plane or match the color or whatever. It keeps me going.

Bob

The magic for me is experimenting. Trying different techniques that may seem a little odd. Playing around with the airbrush with different settings and paint ratios.etc

For me the magic is in having a small piece of history in my house. I love being able to have a small 3D representation of what I may never see, or be able to see in real life. My favorite time of buiding a model is when you know you are only an hour or two away from being able to put your creation in the display case. I build rather slowly, usually I complete a model a month, but I build 4-5 at once so a model takes me 4-5 months to complete, and the task can at times get arduous. Seeing the same box on my workbench for almost half a year can wear out the soul. So the knowledge I am almost done is a tremendous feeling.

Don't forget the funny looks from girlfriends/wives when they are the target of that strafing run...

Hi all.
The magic of modelling for me is the reward of looking at my latest model and saying to myself "I did that."
I get lots of enjoyment of researching, building and finishing my kits, but standing back and admiring the completed model is the best part for me.

If you're making a military plane with guns, and you don't take a few strafing runs with it, or mimic a roll or chandelle...... then ya ain't got it in ya!

All the best

Pete

Yeah, me too. 'Course, I usually wind up cussin out the ground crew for gluing my canopy shut and coating my plane with floor polish. What were those morons thinking?!

-fish

At the moment, I am fascinated by the history. Looking into the color schemes and the markings open up the whole door of learning the history behind that particular plane. I find my library growing tremendously with airwar related literature. I absolutely love doing this and find a ton of satisfaction in it.

Lufbery,

I agree with you on that. That way I can imagine that I am the pilot in the cockpit of the plane that I am running around the room with and making airplane and machine gun noises on my strafing runs of the cat!

Jerry