Exspensive starting up

[JTalmage]

Yep, getting back in is rough for sure. I got back in to it about 2012... and when I got out of it back when I was a teen, bottles of testors paint were still under a buck... not any more. So when I sorted thru my supplies, I ended up needing over $50 in testors bottles! Then all the new fangled tools that make my life easier that I discovered along the way. Needless to say, my building supplies no longer fit in a portable shoebox! Then I discovered Tamiya spray cans.... now I have a milk crate full of em!

And not to mention my stash going from a mere 60 models, to over 200... whoops. 

Edited June 6, 2016 by JTalmage

[Harry P.]

Don't buy sheet styrene at a hobby shop. Those plastic "Beware of Dog" or "No Trespassing" signs are made of sheet styrene. All you have to do is get some thinner and wipe off the graphics. Here's a 9x12 sheet at Walmart for 67¢!

http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=beware of dog sign

Another example:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Hillman-Group-8-in-x-12-in-Plastic-Auto-For-Sale-Sign-839932/100199870

[Art Anderson]

Don't buy sheet styrene at a hobby shop. Those plastic "Beware of Dog" or "No Trespassing" signs are made of sheet styrene. All you have to do is get some thinner and wipe off the graphics. Here's a 9x12 sheet at Walmart for 67¢!

http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=beware of dog sign

Another example:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Hillman-Group-8-in-x-12-in-Plastic-Auto-For-Sale-Sign-839932/100199870

With a caviat, of course!   Those styrene signs are rather thick--often far thicker than many modelers want, or need.   That's where the likes of Evergreen really step up to the plate.

Art

[Harry P.]

With a caviat, of course!   Those styrene signs are rather thick--often far thicker than many modelers want, or need.   That's where the likes of Evergreen really step up to the plate.

Art

True, you can't pick thickness. You get what you get. But just as a stockpile of styrene sheet, you really can't go wrong for a buck or so.

[Art Anderson]

True, you can't pick thickness. You get what you get. But just as a stockpile of styrene sheet, you really can't go wrong for a buck or so.

True of course.  Back about 1980, when a group of local (West Lafayette)  TV Studio engineers and cameramen were pitching the idea of becoming one of the fledgling ESPN traveling television teams, I used exactly those signs to scratch build a mobile semitrailer based remote broadcasting trailer for them, in 1/25 scale.  I found the stuff to be perfect, at about .080" (two scale inches in 1/25) for the job.  (Oh, and they were successful--did contract broadcasting for ESPN for about 15 years or so)

Art

[plastic-mechanic]

so how expensive is it to quit? over time, someone has thou$and$ inve$ted in tools, kits, sundries, and maybe aftermarket parts. then decides "i'd rather take up birdwatching; gonna sell off all this modeling stuff and get some really good binoculars."

we've all seen the posts in which Jon Q. Gluebomber boasts picking up a shopping cart of kits for $2.00 at the local yard sale.

[Lownslow]

i found it cheaper to go RC

[Xingu]

i found it cheaper to go RC

I had a lot of money tied up in 1/8 scale on-road RC gas cars. Was a lot of fun though.

Once you build up a small stash of kits and get some paint and supplies, model building can keep you busy for years. Initial cost is high, but long term it isn't so bad.