why do you model what you model ?

Good question. I really like modeling WWII airplanes, for many of the same reasons everyone else has mentioned. But above all, the men who flew them, on both sides, we still very much in control of things. Not to take away anything from the pilots out there putting thier lives on the line today.....but back then you couldn't kill a plane from miles away. You actually had to get in there and duke it out.

And, anytime I spend a good deal of money on a kit or tool, I remember what a friend told me: some people can spend more than that at a bar in one night! At least we are at home with our families, and don't wake up with a headache. Well, most of the time. Modeling can still give headaches, that's for sure.

I model what I model for a few reasons. I build helicopters since i used to be an avionics mechanic in the Army. I build tanks since I work on the same base that has one of the best tank collections in the US (Aberdeen Proving Ground's Ordnance Museum). Then most of all I build aircraft since I am a licensed Airframe and Powerplant mechanic and aircraft has always been my passion, especially WW2 german aircraft.

I model 1/72nd scale modern jets basically due to economics. but more specifically, I have always been facinated by modern aircraft and advances in new technologies in air combat. I like to believe that I'm helping to prserve an important era of aviation history.

For me it is:

- Seeing "Twelve o' Clock High" in 1949 and "Victory at Sea" in 1952 (my age shows)

- A love of history

- Doing research on the ships/aircraft design and operations that I model, to get a feel of what it was like to be there

- Learning the craft of model building, a "hands-on" hobby if there ever was one

Chris

I build mostly 1/48th WW2 aircraft (primarilay fighters) because:

1. Been a WW2 airplane buff since 7 years old (49 years)
2. WW2 fighter pilots were my boyhood heroes.
3. First models built were 1/48th Aurora "Famous Fighters", of which most were WW2 birds.

Do build other things once in a while. I sometimes dabble in 1960's road racing cars - Cobras, Ford GT-40's, Chaparrals, etc., as I was a big time road-racing fan in the 1960's.

Jim

For me it was also my father. He was a WW 2 vet and a pilot, so I grew up with Dad building models and I just started doing it. I still have a Hurricane that he and I built together when I was probably 8 or so.........
I enjoy the stress relief of sitting down at the model table and building a model of something that I am interested in, whether it is a Catalina Flying Boat or a 757-200 with some aftermarket goodies.
I think that everyone finds their own reason, sanity saver, or fun angle, and that is what makes this hobby so enjoyable.

like others i model to honor. pearl harbor and the events that surround her are very dear to me. to think a daring, couragous plan was branded cowardly and sneaky because the ambassador could not type. maybe in some small way i can show respect to both sides by building a replica of aircraft, ships, or dioramas. this and a love of history are the reasons i model. ww2 is also a large topic for me my grandfather was wounded on iwo when he switched places with a buddy next to a tank (the buddy was killed) i also had many relatives fighting in europe ( both for the allies and the axis). they have long since past but maybe i can show them honor and respect by building the things which surrounded them.

so much for my soft side.

Well, I like to take things apart. So, I use modeling to keep everything together!

Actually I have no idea. I like so many subjects so it is hard to pin down. I used to like ships and I built every Battleship I could find. I've built a couple of tanks until I found out about the treads... ;)

Maybe I like building planes and helicopters because Selfridge AFB would would fly a little bit of everything over our area.

I live in a place called Gosport. As a kid if I went to the waterfront I would be looking across Portsmouth Harbour at the ships of the Royal Navy. A similar distance in the other direction was the naval air station at Lee on Solent and it was aircraft that really drew my attention. Looking at aircraft carriers and naval aircraft through my childhood it's not surprising that I model Royal Navy aircraft. The idea of catapult launch and arrested landing is just so extreme sports! I took a close look at the Westland Wyvern at the fleet air arm museum and saw that the catapult hook ups were attatched to the engine mounts and realised that catapult launch was just hurling the engine overboard!
If I look out over the harbour today, the ships are nearly all gone, the airfield is derelict. Swansong for a declining power?
(I am really much more cheerful than than this).

I love history. So, I have a lot of books about history. History is another hobby too! I particularly like WWII. I was in the Airforce. BTW, I don't like the modern A/C!! I know that's weird, but I've seen them all: The F-15, F-16, F-4, A-10, and more. I've never seen the P-47, the Bf109, or any of Japan's A/C either.

I like to know about all the Aces. The USA and yes, Germany too. The pilots are the knights in the sky. This is probably weird too, but I want to know all the ins and outs for the A/C. I want to know what colors a Bf109, or the George really was, or whatever...That was history. Sorry - I'm rambling.

I go with Akuma on this, except for the whole afraid to fly thing...

I love painting up aircraft in fanciful colors, because, in honesty, grey on grey gets boring as heck, but I don't like WWII, and thus don't model those planes. However, a Tornado in Southeast Asia camo really excites me!

I got into 1/144th scale SOLELY for the reason of it being the scale my Gundams were in!(now if only they'd make 1/144th scale pilots and cockpits...)
Since then, 1/144th has become my scale of choice because I can build ALOT of aircraft, for a VERY small price, in a short amount of time, and they still make very nice models!

I have a TON of US aircraft on my shelf, waiting for build, but I've gone on a recent Soviet bent. Anyone know why the Mig-31 and A-90 Orljonok are so bloody sexy? I don't know why either, it's just a fact of life!

Oh, yeah, and my dad being a B/N for VA-115; and Top Gun, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battletech were also very big influences on me!

The fascination with aircraft for me goes back to when I was 8 or 9 years old. You go to that first airshow and bang you're hooked. I will build almost anything with wings but the era that I have been building lately is WWII. The camoflage for the Germans and Brits and then the gaudy colors and Nose art for the Americans. I might never build ajet again, NAH. Remember every kit we build is a piece of the past or future enjoy it. It is just a hobby not a life sentence ------------Well then again JOHN

Well, I agree with everyone here.....while it hasn't even been a year for me yet, I started this hobby to make models of every different type of aircraft I've ever worked on.....which is well over 110 different types.....YIKES!!!!!

However, while searching for the kits I needed, I found some very intriguing kits out there to distract me.....ie the Trumpeter A-10, or the Tamiya Enzo Ferrari!!!! WOW!! Talk about impressive....the only thing I knew of models were basic Revell or Monogram kits. I subscribed to FSM about three months before I even picked up a paintbrush, just to research everything.

Ever since I've been intrigued with the difference in genres, and haven't been able to keep my sights on just one. Working on airplanes all day everyday, gets you a little bit worn out.....sometimes I don't wish to come home and put together an airplane after doing so all day, which leads me to pick-up a car kit. But the rich history of Aircraft, and Armor, and cars is one of the most exciting things about modeling for me......I may never be able to build a perfect model like Swanny, but no one can beat my imagination!!!

Not sure really why I build what I build but I think my dad may have had some influence on why I like planes. He used to work for Douglas (McDonnell Douglas) in Tulsa and worked there up until the plant closed. He was lucky to able to pull early retirement, others weren't so lucky.

Anyway, amost every year (sometimes every other year) they would have an open house where family members could come out and see just what went on there. Well, not everything. My dad was in the computer department but he had access to most places and I got to see a lot of neat stuff growing up. They would sometimes have an air show (usually did), and they also brought in some various historic planes, and some current planes too (at the time). Some you could even get inside of, walk through (C-130s, C-5s), and climb all over. Some were strictly off limits. Just depended on the type of plane or who owned it, I think. Can't really remember. It's been so long that I can't remember the particulars, just the neat stuff.

That's probably why I like building planes the most. I've been in and around quite a few growing up. Sometimes when I get a kit of a plane I've actually been in I can say "I've been in one of those. Never flown in one but I've been in it." I've also built ships and some tanks too but that was a very long time ago (Might be building a tank again soon). Not sure why on those but I come from a family with a lot of military background, so maybe that's it.

I love history.
I love anything small.
And I love getting my hands dirty.
Modeling is perfect.
Plus it is in theory relaxing. I say thing after having spent last night with a sheet of acrylic that is driving me nuts.

Well.....

I build models for a lot of reasons really. In no particular order....
It allows me to express my small artistic side (hey it sounded good)
I enjoy history....hence my NickName I chose....History to me has always been fascinating and while I cant give/repeat/remember everything I learn or read or watch I enjoy it.
I enjoy having things that I can build but cant own, I dont think the state department and Uncle Sam is to crazy about me owning an F-14 even if I had the money to buy one (which I dont!)
The list really does go on..........

I build all sorts of things. I have yet to do any Scifi stuff, though I have a few kits.
I havent built a ship yet....still waiting on a particular kit.
I build all types of AC except maybe commercial, just havent bothered yet.
I build auto's
I've even built a few tanks

When I was younger(read a kid, yeah I know to some of you old fart's Im still a kid) it allowed me to learn about various things I was building. What certain parts were on a car's engine and why they were there. What the difference was in some AC variations. ETC.....

Plus I just enjoy it. I dont build nearly as much as I would like to...and Im often away from the bench more than I should be, but when I do build I enjoy it....even though it frustrates the heck out of me at times. I still keep at it. I can plop down at the bench and tune out everything else......I can focus solely on my project and what it must have been like to fly/drive/own or whatever the 1:1 thing Im building. Thats what I like most. That's where the "kid" part of me comes out....and I enjoy it.

I model world war II era aircraft because to me nothing compares to the sacrifices and patriotism that the men and women that built,flew and died in those warbirds faced. I model to honer the planes and the history that they stand for. some of my aircraft are depicted as just finished,no markings,to partially built, to famous and revered.Some are bland to the eye,some are done in as delivered by the WASP's livery and some are proudly wearing unit markings and colors.I model them as a way of showing my respect and thanks to those that gave so much,for some reason or other I have no Axis air craft only Allied air power.......perhaps I am biased ,but I like to model the "arsenal of Democracy" thank you Colleen

I model what I model because I usually like the subjet...

Take a fighter jet for example, I love how they look, and they're fun to build too (I'm afraid to fly, though... Which sucks, I'd love to go in one, someday...)

Gundam, and most mecha: I just love giant robots... (Although they always seem to be treated as childs toys *shrugs* Ah well, I love it anyway )

Anything else: If I like it, I'll build it, no questions asked

Although, in think in the end, I just model because it's fun, and painting something up in your own scheme is fun, too (I rarely paint anything in the right colors, I swear.... )

So that I can go into another world and reality. I get to walk a quartereck of a 19th ship of war, reef the topsail of the clippership, overhaul a R3800 that powers the mighty Corsair, survive a mission in a B-17 over Germany, or just plain be a kid again.

I am also partial to aircraft carriers. Dad was on the Lexington (CVA 16) so of coarse there is model of her and all the airwings btween 1955 and 1959. I was on the Ranger (CVA 61) and again, have a model to show people and tell the same crazy stories my father always told.

I build anything with an interesting story behind. Sometimes a cool noseart or name can be enough.
Otherwise I build (or when I get back to building again, very soon) birds that were flown by pilots with like Anderson, Peterson, Johnson. Or have parents or grandparents that left Sweden for US o A like Richard Ira Bong, "Swede" Vejtasa etc.
Sometimes a cool noseart or name can be enough.
The Bong family live not far away from where I stayed in Sweden.
I'm also mad about anything that has to do with USS Yorktown CV-5 and 10.
Feel the same for USS Coral Sea CV-43, my dad had a cousin that served on her and another carrier during the Korean War, don't know which one though. USS Coral Sea was after the war.
Have a wee soft spot for carriers CV-31, 34, 38 and 59-64 too though.

My dad has been an aviation nut most of his life...it started as a kid, and culminated in the air force where he worked in a C&G sqdn. on Matador missiles (in Korea). He also had the hand in hand love of modeling the planes he loved, he modeled alot and even belonged to the Eddie Rickenbacker chapter of the IPMS. Then he had kids, that put an end to modeling. As a kid I remember my older brother and I getting into a display case on his dresser and getting a P-40 and a F-5 in canadian markings out. We took out the models and played with them till they broke...but we left the first place ribbons in there...great kids huh. Although he didn't model anymore, he did share his love of aviation with us. We went to every airshow at Dayton Ohio, and here in columbus at Rickenbacker Air Base. When I was in 7th and 8th grade I went through the usual build'm quick and play with'm till they're in pieces faze. Then I stopped modeling. Then came high school and my own wife. Then last Feb. something happend, my dad called and he had seen in fine scale modeler ( we both still read it) that the IPMS chapter was having their model show (we had missed it for years), We went to the show last year, and I started buying kits again, but I was always "too busy to build them". Then he called me a couple of weeks ago and said..."Hey the model show is Feb. 21st, lets both build something and enter it." That's all I've been waiting for.
So I guess you could say my dad is responsible for my love of aviation, and I've always loved modeling because what better way to learn about a/c other than building your own collection of them. Thanks dad!!

Sorry if that went long and no one wants to read it...

I've been drawn to aircraft and armor for numerous reasons. Perhaps the greatest influence was growing up on the plains and the wide open skies could become a personal air show. We would often lay in lawn chairs with a pair of binoculars watching the parade of aircraft enroute to some far off destination. I too grew up during the Vietnam War and I can recall seeing military cargo planes often. Not to mention SAC often flew low level B-52 radar bombing runs over the county and F4s screaming over at low levels on recce flights.

In regards to history as a dying subject, I would have to disagree. What appears to be a lack of interest in the schools is in reality, the inability of others in teaching history. The key is to intertain as well as to teach. weave it as story, the eat it out of your hands. If you don't believe me, check the sales of Stephen Ambrose works. Strip away the accusations, the man knew how to weave a story and teach the public a little bit about their past.

Best Wishes
Steve

Ha! That's an easy one... so I keep my hands off of my WIFE once in a while! I mean, she's a good sport, God bless her. But she needs a break every so often!

Did I just say THAT out loud?

Model building is a stress breaker (Hmmm maybe not). Have built ship, armor, figures and aircraft kits in various scales over the years but no car/truck kits models. I use to build just 48th scale planes but now, somewhere along the line, I have collected a fair size collection of 1/72 and 1/32 aircraft models just waiting to be build.

I build scale aircraft models because of my fascination with military aircrafts( WWII, Vietnam-era, present day). I can't afford to own the real planes so the next best choice is the model.

I want to fly Wolrd War II fighters,fly in intestellar star ships and pilot huge humanoid robotic fighting vehicles -but I can't. Scale Modeling brings me closer to that. Also, my interest in WWII fighters broadened my intereset in WWII as a whole and the more I learn the more I want to model from it. Instead of just the basic American P-38, -47 and 51s I know collect Yaks and Macchis and I've just started collecting a few WWII armor kits

I model what ever I feel like at the time. Mostly it is modern fighters because I am an engineer and I always enjoy the latest and greatest technology has to offer. Sometimes it is just because the airplane looks good, other times it is just for historical significance. I try to keep things varied when I can, so sometimes I build an armor diorama because you can tell a story or I build something I hope to one day have, like the Porche 911GT3... still have a long way before making that dream come true.

QUOTE: Originally posted by shrikes i saw Topgun ... one too many times...

Well, i've got the same "hit" from the greatest jet fighter movie of all times (for me, that is!!!), and i've seen it so many times, that i got all the lines from the first 15 min. and last 30 memorized, in English, even living in Portugal!!!

That movie really catched my eye, and my passion for the F-14 was love at first sight!

I therefore started to collect everything related to aircraft and figthers, starting with book, images, and after, kits.
My really first one was an Academy's 1/100 F-14 Tomcat!

There after it was that Apache movie, really good, with Nicolas Cage, i think, and i also fell in love with the little chopper...
But my heart always was with that F-14, and the more i learned, the more i liked the Navy aircrafts....
Soon i realised i couldn't build all them, even at a decent 1/72 scale, so i've decided to narrow things up, and come up with this mad task of creating a single aircraft type that were aboard USS Enterprise since 1961...

So, that's from where comes my "crazyness" for the USS Enterprise...

But you might ask, why not another carrier???

Well, the big E was the first carrier to have a squadron of F-14 onboard, see.... and we come up again to Maverick!!!!!!

"Let's turn and burn"

Because I'm too sexy for everything else... Oh... [:0] You meant the plastic/resin models!

I build US WWII planes because of the marvel in technological advancement during those years. I mean, they were still flying P-26 Peashooters out of Pearl (yes I know the P-40s were around and other more advance aircraft) and by the final years they were flying P59 Airacomets, actual jets!