My own experience with the Great Hiatus
Sept 6, 2023 4:13:20 GMT -5
406 Silverado, deafpanzer, and 7 more like this
Post by kyledehart5 on Sept 6, 2023 4:13:20 GMT -5
This is inspired by the post by Joe Rix. He asked if I still had the model that really got me back into modeling. I'll post the story with a couple of old builds. Bear with me and please forgive the atrocious early builds, but I have learned a ton, and also put a bit more care into builds these days. And this will be a lengthy story.
So I grew up building models, using chore money to buy snap tite kits at Wal Mart. 4H is where I transitioned into glue kits. Strictly automotive and strictly with supplies purchased from Wal mart. We had no local hobby shop, and I had no idea about the Japanese manufacturers of top notch kits, so it was all Monogram, Revell, AMT/Ertl. Just whatever Wal Mart had on the shelves. Continued building all the way through high school, although once I got my license I slowed down to about 1 build per year. I got my 10 years of 4H service, graduated high school, went to college briefly and then also entered the workforce full time. Lots of other things to grab my interest at this point so the model building came to an end. I got better jobs, grew up a little bit, got married and bought a house. I never even really gave model building a second thought.
Around 2017, roughly 10 years after I stopped building, I was looking through some things at the house I grew up in. Found all my old paints, supplies, brushes. Everything. Of course my mother never got rid of the stuff, so there it was. I packed it all up and took it back to my house. Found myself at Hobby Lobby with the wife looking for house decorations and I decided I'd wander through the model section. Lo and behold it was 40% off week. So, I purchased a Revell P-47 and a Revell Ford F-350. I'd never built an airplane before, but loved WW2 aircraft especially, and the F-350 just caught my eye. Big dually truck, looked like fun.
So first up I broke out my ancient paints, which thankfully included some military colors and I got into the P-47. I had no idea what I was doing, had no spray paints or airbrush. Just built it on my coffee table at home, in my living room. Brush painted the whole thing. Didn't have any putty to make it look good, tried to handpaint the canopy frames with no masking tape. It is not a good build. I keep it in the back of a dark shelf to remind me of where I started. You guys will be the first to ever see it.
More importantly than the subpar results, was how much I enjoyed it. So when I was out of town for work I found a hobby shop that also had some second hand kits. Among them a Tamiya Ferrari F2001. I was amazed. Didn't know F1 kits were a thing, never heard of Tamiya, just was generally very oblivious to the rest of the hobby. This was around the time I discovered the online community and started learning just how out of touch I was. Got some Tamiya spray paints while I was there to use on my F-350 build. Still using the old Testors foil tube of glue I decided I'd try to do a much better job on the F-350 than I had on the P-47. I also attempted my first ever 2-tone paint job, just a simple blue and cream scheme. And really, I succeeded in my goal until the very end. And just like I was a kid again I managed to spill glue on the windows. Talk about a buzz kill. The tube had continued pushing glue out after I had squished some out to use with a toothpick and I didn't notice it right away. I also had some issues not getting the masking burnished down. But other than those two issues this was a much smoother build for me. And I had even more fun. So, even though the Tamiya kit intimidated me a little bit, due to all the tiny little parts and great detail, I felt I wanted to try it. Here is the F-350 warts and all. Also kept in the back of a dark cabinet to remind me of those dark days.
At this point I decided I needed to get better tools and supplies. So I got some Tamiya nippers, some Tamiya Extra Thin Cement, some Mark Fit strong as I had a lot of decal work ahead of me and an assortment of Tamiya acrylic paints called out in the instructions of my Ferrari. By this time, I had also created sort of a mobile work bench on our dining room table. Easier than the coffee table and more out of the wife's way. Fortunately she's always been very supportive. I tentatively got into the Tamiya kit...and immediately fell in love. The engineering, the fit, the instructions. All so much better than what I had grown up building. I loved it so much I went and ordered a second Tamiya F1 kit. This is when I really and truly re-committed to the hobby. The Honda RA272 with that beautiful little V-12. And while I still had some issues, mostly due to my being impatient. The Ferrari gave me no issues itself. I have packed all of these builds around with me since, and since I built the Ferrari I have built more and more kits every year. I also realized that I need at least 2-3 builds going at any one time, because I'm not good at waiting when I need to wait. I can't imagine stopping again. The Ferrari was a huge step up for me as a builder, but the Honda came out even nicer. I keep these builds all in the same cabinet so I can look back at my early progression at any time. Now, these days, perhaps not every build is better than the last but I try to always keep learning. Here is the Ferrari.
Finally, I end with the Honda. Sorry for the novel, (at least it has pictures too
) but I enjoyed Joe's story and wanted to share my own. If you made it this far then thank you for looking.
So I grew up building models, using chore money to buy snap tite kits at Wal Mart. 4H is where I transitioned into glue kits. Strictly automotive and strictly with supplies purchased from Wal mart. We had no local hobby shop, and I had no idea about the Japanese manufacturers of top notch kits, so it was all Monogram, Revell, AMT/Ertl. Just whatever Wal Mart had on the shelves. Continued building all the way through high school, although once I got my license I slowed down to about 1 build per year. I got my 10 years of 4H service, graduated high school, went to college briefly and then also entered the workforce full time. Lots of other things to grab my interest at this point so the model building came to an end. I got better jobs, grew up a little bit, got married and bought a house. I never even really gave model building a second thought.
Around 2017, roughly 10 years after I stopped building, I was looking through some things at the house I grew up in. Found all my old paints, supplies, brushes. Everything. Of course my mother never got rid of the stuff, so there it was. I packed it all up and took it back to my house. Found myself at Hobby Lobby with the wife looking for house decorations and I decided I'd wander through the model section. Lo and behold it was 40% off week. So, I purchased a Revell P-47 and a Revell Ford F-350. I'd never built an airplane before, but loved WW2 aircraft especially, and the F-350 just caught my eye. Big dually truck, looked like fun.
So first up I broke out my ancient paints, which thankfully included some military colors and I got into the P-47. I had no idea what I was doing, had no spray paints or airbrush. Just built it on my coffee table at home, in my living room. Brush painted the whole thing. Didn't have any putty to make it look good, tried to handpaint the canopy frames with no masking tape. It is not a good build. I keep it in the back of a dark shelf to remind me of where I started. You guys will be the first to ever see it.
More importantly than the subpar results, was how much I enjoyed it. So when I was out of town for work I found a hobby shop that also had some second hand kits. Among them a Tamiya Ferrari F2001. I was amazed. Didn't know F1 kits were a thing, never heard of Tamiya, just was generally very oblivious to the rest of the hobby. This was around the time I discovered the online community and started learning just how out of touch I was. Got some Tamiya spray paints while I was there to use on my F-350 build. Still using the old Testors foil tube of glue I decided I'd try to do a much better job on the F-350 than I had on the P-47. I also attempted my first ever 2-tone paint job, just a simple blue and cream scheme. And really, I succeeded in my goal until the very end. And just like I was a kid again I managed to spill glue on the windows. Talk about a buzz kill. The tube had continued pushing glue out after I had squished some out to use with a toothpick and I didn't notice it right away. I also had some issues not getting the masking burnished down. But other than those two issues this was a much smoother build for me. And I had even more fun. So, even though the Tamiya kit intimidated me a little bit, due to all the tiny little parts and great detail, I felt I wanted to try it. Here is the F-350 warts and all. Also kept in the back of a dark cabinet to remind me of those dark days.
At this point I decided I needed to get better tools and supplies. So I got some Tamiya nippers, some Tamiya Extra Thin Cement, some Mark Fit strong as I had a lot of decal work ahead of me and an assortment of Tamiya acrylic paints called out in the instructions of my Ferrari. By this time, I had also created sort of a mobile work bench on our dining room table. Easier than the coffee table and more out of the wife's way. Fortunately she's always been very supportive. I tentatively got into the Tamiya kit...and immediately fell in love. The engineering, the fit, the instructions. All so much better than what I had grown up building. I loved it so much I went and ordered a second Tamiya F1 kit. This is when I really and truly re-committed to the hobby. The Honda RA272 with that beautiful little V-12. And while I still had some issues, mostly due to my being impatient. The Ferrari gave me no issues itself. I have packed all of these builds around with me since, and since I built the Ferrari I have built more and more kits every year. I also realized that I need at least 2-3 builds going at any one time, because I'm not good at waiting when I need to wait. I can't imagine stopping again. The Ferrari was a huge step up for me as a builder, but the Honda came out even nicer. I keep these builds all in the same cabinet so I can look back at my early progression at any time. Now, these days, perhaps not every build is better than the last but I try to always keep learning. Here is the Ferrari.
Finally, I end with the Honda. Sorry for the novel, (at least it has pictures too
) but I enjoyed Joe's story and wanted to share my own. If you made it this far then thank you for looking.
Loved your 'buzz kill' comment!
