What Are Your Modeling Interests?

Real G

...and sci-fi with emphasis on Japanese robots.  

 

Do you know any good mecha series that I could look into? I have this recurring fantasy that I'm going to buy Industria Meckanika's Wachtel, but so far it hasn't happened 

I enjoy building ships of all sizes and purpose. There's something oddly satisfying, knowing this craft weighs tons, yet it will float. It's like a magic trick of some sort.

It's kind of ironic that watercraft is what I enjoy building most, because I have a fear of 'big water'. As long as I can see land, I'm ok. Once we lose sight of land, I panic. I'm a poor swimmer, so if the vessel sinks, and I can see land, I'll still drown, but at least I know I'm swimming in the right direction.

But I digress...

As far as what I don't enjoy building, I'd have to say aircraft. It's not really that I don't like building them, it's just their size can be a problem for me.

My first love is ships, and the bigger the better.

During the past couple of years I've (mostly) been putting my hobby time into 1/200 WW2 era battleships. My current project is a 1/200 Nelson:

I also am a big fan of 1/72 WW2 submarines and to a lessor extent, 1/350 subjects.

Next on my list are 1/24 autos, mostly 4x4s and muscle cars.

I also like figures of fantasy and anime subjects (no, NOT the naughty ones! ) but I just don't have the skill and talent to paint them well so far.

When I was a teenager I was really into Star Trek models, 1/48 aircraft (especially American bombers) and 1/35 military but I haven't done one of those in over 20 years.

As for stuff I'm not interested in... I doubt I'd ever build a racecar of any kind or classic monster movie figures. I don't think I'll be doing any aircraft, armor or scif-fi anytime in the near future either, though I enjoy looking at other modeler's works for just about any subject!

tankerbuilder

Hi !

 I think Don Stauffer is the conmensurate modeler , I espied him with my " Ghost Drone " building a model of himself  , building a model ! LOL.LOL. No Really , Don , Like myself has opened his repetoirre a whole bunch . I now still prefer ships of the postwar era and any ship there isn't a model of in the civilian world .

 I have branched out into very old train engines ( the Trevithick and Rocket ) and a model of a very old Oscillating cylinder , paddle wheel , ship steam engine.

     The reason for the Civilian genre . I have worked on many so I could say " Been there done that and what I built IS correct mr. Judge !"

 

Ah yes, those Minicraft early locos!  Have built the Trevithick, and am looking for a good affordable Rocket.

Yes, I also build a lot of civilian stuff- ships and planes.  I like to build what I see around me, and I don't get on military bases much anymore, so I like to build what I see on local pea patch airports.  That was also my introduction to airplanes.  My dad flew from those pea patch fields, and while I did see a lot of war surplus planes - in fact, Dad bought a surplus Taylorcraft liason plane- most of what was around were Pipers, Cessnas, and Beechs.

My interests are mostly US Navy subjects, CVs, CVN, and ship based aircraft and helos from the beginning of NAVAIR to present.  I include USMC a/c as well.  I've built square-rigged ship models (not for a very long time though) and an occasional DDG and CG.

Outside of the USN I've built US manned spacecraft and a starship Enterprise a time or two.

I've tried cars, but with so much flat, weathered-painted subjects, I find doing a "flawless gloss finish" a real challenge.

While I appreciate the particular skills involved, building AFVs just doesn't hold much interest for me.  I guess I'm just too navy for those.

Haze gray and underway!

Moff

 

 

Real G

...and sci-fi with emphasis on Japanese robots.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you know any good mecha series that I could look into? I have this recurring fantasy that I'm going to buy Industria Meckanika's Wachtel, but so far it hasn't happened 

 

Moff, if you like steam punk mecha, Maschinen Krieger ZbV3000 is for you. Hasegawa and Wave make plastic kits, and there are other garage kit outfits that do resin stuff.

Hasegawa and Wave also do plastic Macross kits which bridge aircraft and sci-fi model genres in detail.

And then there is the million ton gorilla in the room - Bandai has an overwhelming selection of Gundam mobile suits, ships, and vehicles.

Have a look at Hobbylink Japan for the above. HTH

Thanks! 

UPDATE: I'm checking it right now, and this is amazing! Just an update to my interests, I'm adding mecha!

I very rarely stray from 1/25th & 1/24th scale. My likes in order are:

Construction equipment

Agricultural equipment

dioramas

Trucks

Cars

other models in theses scales

I dislike things that need camo paint jobs

Carl

I'm a dabbler, I'll build just about anything that catches my attention.

In particular I really like the colorful aircraft of the 1920s and 30s.

I like pioneering aircraft, so favor WW1 as well as jets and helicopters of the 1950s.

I prefer to build aircraft in 1/72 but will make the occassional exception.

Also build fire apparatus, the occassional police vehicle and a variety of trucks mostly in 1/24-25. I have little interest in actual auto racing, but I do kind of like race cars and in particular have a thing for models of rally cars.

Try to stay in the 'Nam era and just after, prefer Phantoms in either 1/48 or 1/32, mostly the latter since I'm all thumbs.  Going to do a couple of Gatos as SS238 in dios with Mush's famous quote on a brass plate.  One for me and one for our local vet's home (1/144 and 1/350).  Thats where most of my 'Nam models will end up since they are starting to get those vets in now.

Will stray into semi's and some other vehicles once in awhile, will probably get a Merit CV-6 Enterprise to do this next spring.

1/48 & 1/72 Luftwaffe.  I'm a sucker for the oldies.

Primarily WWII US and UK armor and softskins in braille scale. PT Boats, but not done anything in that yet.

A few odds and ends, like the Airfix 1/32 Omnibus I'll start soon.

No dislikes, just no interest in anything else.

One general dislike, links to pics in forum threads, that don't work and all one sees is a silly pic of a kitten. But thats a different topic :)

Jim

Machines only.

Wings, wheels, tracks, rotors, impulse engines, whatever. I like em all.

Not a fan of modelling living (or once living) things.  Too many horror movies start out with things like that on a shelf.  An then, suddenly, there's one less of those things on a shelf.

Brrr.

CN Spots

Machines only.

Wings, wheels, tracks, rotors, impulse engines, whatever. I like em all.

 

Not a fan of modelling living (or once living) things.  Too many horror movies start out with things like that on a shelf.  An then, suddenly, there's one less of those things on a shelf.

 

Brrr.

 

That is funny, I've started on a kit of "the Alien" (from the movie Alien) and I had a similar thought (that would be creepy to see an empty spot where the model was). I saw that movie 36 years ago and it still gives me the willies. 

I guess my interests are pretty diverse, too.

When I finish anything, I build mostly military subjects:  Airplanes in 1/48 and 1/72, though I have some 1/32s in the stash; ships, mostly USN, in 1/700, and various navies, in 1/1200; not much armor, this time around, though I built more of it when I was a kid, mostly Monogram's 1/32 series, reading Shep's excellent and inspiring "Tips on Building Dioramas".

But I also build sci-fi, specifically, Maschinen Krieger.  A buddy got me hooked on them, and now a sub-stash of the main stash contains about 30 MaK kits.

And I have a collection of resin anime girl kits, in 1/8 or 1/6 scale.

But I also cast and paint toy soldiers, mostly 54mm, and mostly Seven Years War or Imperial German Army.  In fact, it was through toy soldiers that I made the journey, after giving up building models when I graduated from high school, back to scale modeling about 10 years later.

I have also built one car, in that time, and have another one in the stash.  I'm not that much of a car fan, whether in kit form or in 1:1, but I also believe that a good modeler should be able to build a kit of any subject, whether he likes it or not, and I got those cars through our club raffle.  And they were fun, and I do have immense respect for the guys who achieve a showroom finish, or who are masters of the junkyard style of finish.   I can look at any build, and appreciate the work the modeler did.  None of this, "car guys vs armor guys vs airplane guys, etc, etc" for me.  We're all part of the same hobby.

  My main interests are:   WWII planes (mainly mustangs and 109s)

                                      A new interest in helicopters (5 kits so far)

                                      A new interest in artillery (dont know where to start-so many kits)

                                      40k  ( marines and ad mech )

                                      Warmachine ( steampunk mayhem on the tabletop )

                                      Following WIPs of any modeling genre

Generally speaking I build either what catches my eye or stuff that has stuck in my mind from my youth. For example, after reading a book on WWII and seeing the well known picture of her crew abandoning ship, I'd always wanted to build a USS Lexington CV-2 so I was very happy when Trumpeter came out with their 1:350 kit. 

Others would include the F-4, F-106, F-14, F-15, F-16, and B-52, all favorite aircraft of mine. 

Stuff that's caught my eye; the ProModeler 1/48 F-86D because of the quality of the kit. A Tamiya T-Rex(cuz the Triceratops needs company!) Collectaire F-108 Rapier cuz it looked cool and only 500 made. (My biggest mistake so far).

AFV's are limited to a Tamiya M-1A1, a couple AFV HMTT's and a fuel truck to be done in 80's european camouflage. Not into WWII armor.

Ships: 1:350 scale except for a few icons(1:96 Cutty Sark). Got the usual Tamiya stash of battleships and Enterprise. Building up the Trumpeter stock. Interests: Battleships, specific aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, destroyers. Would love to see a 1:350 scale pre war California BB and a post war injection molded USS Salem. Again, the cool factor rules.

Automotive: 18 wheelers and any car that catches my eye. Only a dozen in the stash and not likely to increase. 

Space: ZZZZZZZZZZ. 

Sci-fi: Limited to original BSG(one kit) and the Polar lights movie Enterprise. Have a Republic star destroyer from the Clone wars movie but it's probably gonna donate to a kitbash project. 

I used to build aircraft strictly in 1:48 (except for the B-52 and B-36 of course) but now I'm moving towards 1:72 for the space savings and because I don't have to detail so much. 

I'm all about aircraft. A 50/50 mix between planes and heli's. I'm a Vietnam war buff so a lot of my kits may consist of vehicles of that era, however I like ww2 aircraft as well. Since living in Hawaii as a kid I took a liking to Gunpla's as well and will build one occasionally. They are sci fi robots from a popular anime which also has a anime based on building the plastic models!

Straycat1911

Space: ZZZZZZZZZZ.

Lol, I know what you mean. 

mitsdude

Anything scifi/horror. spaceships, figures, vehicles. Especially 50's era. Real space. Especially the "space race" era. TV/movie cars. Got into this a bit late and I'm really paying the price in a few cases. Also cars I owed or wanted to own. Mainly from 1950ish to 1970ish. I also own all the major WW2 bombers. Haven't built any except a B-24 in honor of my uncle Not at all into armor. Whats strange is when I was a kid I was big into planes and armor. Not at all into cars or figures. Just a little into space and scifi. Pretty much the opposite of now!

 

KillinMeSmalls

I'm all about aircraft. A 50/50 mix between planes and heli's. I'm a Vietnam war buff so a lot of my kits may consist of vehicles of that era, however I like ww2 aircraft as well. Since living in Hawaii as a kid I took a liking to Gunpla's as well and will build one occasionally. They are sci fi robots from a popular anime which also has a anime based on building the plastic models!

 

About Gunpla kits, I also really like mecha! Have you heard of Industria Mechanika before? https://industriamechanika.com/shop/ Again though, it's one of those things I haven't got around to buying. 

Anything form WWII. I do have a soft spot for the aircraft, but armor is nice also. I also found I like to put togethr figures from the erra.

I also like to tackle the old ships on occasion. I built the Cutty Sark when I was in high school and caught the bug.

I really dont build cars, hotrods and such, it just never interested me.

I started back into this hobby full swing around 4 years ago building WWII aircraft. I was having a total blast and built 5 aircraft in three years when all of a sudden I decided to take on  an automotive restoration project on a 30 year old Monogram 1970 Challenger T/A I had in my display. It didn't start out a total restoration as I was only gonna use the one month window I had before the next aircraft build to "touch it up a little". Whatever! The "touch up" turned into a full blown restoration that took me over 4 months to complete. I had such a good time with that one that I decided to do another one. Two restorations and one full build later I'm now having a difficult time switching back to aircraft. Maybe one day I'll get another aircraft back on the bench...........

Moff

 

Straycat1911

Space: ZZZZZZZZZZ.

 

 

Lol, I know what you mean. 

 

I actually agree with you. Real Space has lost its excitement. The days of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were some very exciting times. You would have to have been there to know what I mean.

Today its pretty much "Not" Real Space because there isn't  a space program of any significance going on.

mitsdude

 

Moff

 

Straycat1911

Space: ZZZZZZZZZZ.

 

 

Lol, I know what you mean. 

 

 

 

 

I actually agree with you. Real Space has lost its excitement. The days of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were some very exciting times. You would have to have been there to know what I mean.

Today its pretty much "Not" Real Space because there isn't  a space program of any significance going on.

 

mustang1989

 

 

mitsdude

 

Moff

 

Straycat1911

Space: ZZZZZZZZZZ.

 

 

Lol, I know what you mean. 

 

 

 

 

I actually agree with you. Real Space has lost its excitement. The days of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were some very exciting times. You would have to have been there to know what I mean.

Today its pretty much "Not" Real Space because there isn't  a space program of any significance going on.

 

 

 

 

Man you'd think that fact would make it all that much more of a sought after historical interest.

 

 

Excellent topic and even more interesting reading about everyones passions when it comes to the hobby. For myself, I guess it's really all over the board:

• AFV's: Always 1/35th. Doesn't really matter what era its from as long as the vehicle is attractive to my eye. Any nationality really.
• Aircraft: Just about any and all. I don't really do civil aircraft though. Mostly all in 48th with a few forays into 32nd or 72nd but not many. Any era or nationality.
• Ships: Pretty much wide open here. Have stuff from 700th scale up to 72nd. Would love to give sailing ships a try at some point but fear I could never do one the justice that I would like.

What I haven't built in forever are vehicles and space stuff. It's not that I don't like them they just don't really pique my interests. Used to build NASCAR kits but I don't think they make them anymore. If I were to build a car, I think it would most likely be a NASCAR vehicle. Seems there is a lot of detail that could be added with the roll cages, engines, suspension and such. 

At some point I must force myself to learn how to paint 35th scale figures and try my hand an dios/vignettes.