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Leaving the Hobby!


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Okay…the Forum monitors may object to this, but I hope they don’t. In the end some of the members may benefit from this post.

I’ve always considered what we do as modelers a form of art. We don’t just open the box and build someone else’s work. No…we apply our own touch to it. Colors, wheel and tire choices, engine detailing, scratch building, kit bashing, etc, etc. so in effect we are artists. We create something that we like, and in most cases, several others as well. So our creations, albeit molded by someone else, when finished are a piece of art.

I take a look back at some 62yrs of building things. Everything from doll house furniture (some 45yrs ago), model trains (I have some rolling stock and locomotives running on layouts all over the country), a few railroad structures (again…not in my possession), and model cars (a couple of those not in my possession either). A model car passion that goes back to around 1964! Did I build a lot of them…no, but the ones that I did build, in my mind are pretty good. Never entered a contest until twelve years ago, at the age of 56, and took a first in the Street Rod category. That was a shocker as my little ’32 chopped Ford was up against some 30 other nicely done builds. There was some pretty stiff competition. In my mind, at the moment, was the comment, “what exactly was the criteria for judging?” Winning a contest was never my intention. Entering a model and having to stay there all day was. It was an excuse to stay bent over digging through parts bins at the dealers table looking for something that I could use down the road on a future build.

So why am I leaving this genre of art?

My Granddaughters! You see I spent around 150 hours through the months of Oct. through, Dec., right up until Christmas Eve building three “Book Nooks”. One  for each of my Granddaughters, and they were not “right out of the box”. Upon leaving our house Christmas night my oldest Granddaughter says to her Mom, “That Book Nook is so cool. For my birthday I want “Pa” to do something bigger”. That statement has led to her wanting to finish up a 1:12 scale Victorian era farmhouse themed doll house. Of which I spent countless hours, 16 years ago, studying countless photos of this type of home from the late 19th century. I finished the exterior, but the interior is untouched. So the oldest has agreed to work on it with me (oh good…more research). To placate her sisters I am going to build a room box of their choice. The middle one has picked a “library/study” and the youngest a “bedroom”. As I don’t rush into anything, I figure that the completion of all three of these endeavors will take upwards of three years, maybe longer.

That brings me to this. Now that you have spent several minutes (of which you won’t get back) reading the above.

In an effort to finance the above projects, beginning this evening, I will begin listing my kit collection on…you guessed it…”Ebay”. There are approximately two dozen kits that will be put into groups of two, three, or four depending and a couple of Modelhaus kits that will be sold separately. Surprisingly I don’t have the patience to do them all one at a time. (My Ebay sellers name is:   narowrails   )

Now here is where you as a member of this Forum can benefit. As I have collected many, and I mean many parts (I make a 1:1 auto swap meet look like a yard sale) I will send out a goody bag of parts if one of you wins one of the auctions. I will ship it with your kits. Everything from tires (some Modelhaus wide whites), wheels, motors, resin parts, side view mirrors, you name it. I have to guess that I, like the rest of you, consider ourselves as the “Rock Auto” of model car parts. You can never have enough!

Let me know if you are with the forum at the close of the auction.

I will be holding onto a few kits that I will hopefully be able to get back to. None of them spectacular but ones that I want to complete.

In closing I hope that this post remains open and that some of you will bid on the auctions.

Remember…you’re an artist!

Thanks for reading, and please do not contact me to try and purchase directly. I respect this Forum and its’ rules.

Mark Cassidy – aka: Grumpa

PS: I have posted a few photos of models that I have posted on this Forum that some of you may remember, and maybe even left a comment or two!

'32 Ford Completed 021.jpg

'59 IMPALA - BADJUJU 024.jpg

Copy of Dennis's '64 Chevelle 12-23-12 004.jpg

'64 Mustang 11-29-14 G 003.jpg

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2 hours ago, gbdolfans said:

When I put in your sellers id, I get some railroad items.

Is that you?

Yup...that's me. I'm just now getting to posting the kits. I will post a few more probably tomorrow, and again over the week-end.

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Bob, not really leaving the hobby, but taking the skills that I've learned over the last 62 years and applying them in a different direction. I have a Revell '53 or '54 Bel Aire that I built back around '70 or '71 (that really needs to be restored), and I look at that and see my modeling youth. If I remember correctly. I pulled the motor from the MPC Couger kit and placed it into the engine bay of the Chevy. Used my Mother's sewing thread for plug wires glued on with that "good-ol" Testers glue. Everything hand painted with a brush, body included. At that time I was thrilled with it. Now there is an idea for a new "thread". Have members post photos of their first builds along with a current photo to show how far they've come. Now I'm not saying that I am a master, cuz I'm not. There are people out thers such as, Chuck Doan, Jason Jenson, the late Augie Hiscano (who helped me immensely when I was into model trains...and he was a model car guy), Bill Robertson, and I can go on and on. All of these folks are masters at what they do, or did. So many of the skills that I have learned have come from other areas of modeling and have been beneficial in the building of model cars. So when I say that we are artists...we are. We take what we've learned from others and apply it to what we are currently doing. The garage for example took some eight months to complete. I wouldn't have been abel to do that if it weren't for scratch building structures for the model train hobby. There are something like 128 pieces of twenty thousanths brass wire, soaked in "Blacken it", poked into the exterior clapboard of the garage to resemble nails. Now I'll apply what I've learned to this miniature house and room boxes. So again...not leaving the hobby...just moving to a different art form. 

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You've got some beautiful work there!  And I get it - I've done the same in the past.  Sold a few (or many) kits to either focus on something else or to finance some other project.   

But, in my experience at least, I find that often I try to replace the kits that I sold with the same or a similar kit down the road!  I keep coming back to my favorite hobby - even after numerous home improvement projects, tinkering on the old car, etc., etc.  I do wish my kiddo would take up the hobby, but so far she's not too interested.   Maybe one day.

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34 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

You've got some beautiful work there!  And I get it - I've done the same in the past.  Sold a few (or many) kits to either focus on something else or to finance some other project.   

But, in my experience at least, I find that often I try to replace the kits that I sold with the same or a similar kit down the road!  I keep coming back to my favorite hobby - even after numerous home improvement projects, tinkering on the old car, etc., etc.  I do wish my kiddo would take up the hobby, but so far she's not too interested.   Maybe one day.

Thanks for the compliment Jonathan.

We're neighbors...I live over in Kernersville. Good luck with getting the "Kiddo" interested. When each of my Granddaughters turned five I worked along side of them and built a model car. Albeit they were snap kits...we had some fun, but nowadays...too many other "electronic" distractions. Although the girls are taking an active role in what they want as to flooring, colors, furniture, etc. I don't think that they will appreciate what goes into something like this until they are a bit older (so maybe there is your "one day"). From sitting down and looking at some of the things that I have built. They have come to realize that I do nothing "toy-like", and if I thought the model car world was expensive ( I remember when AMT models went up to around $2.98 and I had a fit!). The costs in the miniature world can be a bit overwhelming. It's a lot more expensive from when I was dabbling in it 45 years ago!

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On 8/1/2023 at 1:57 PM, Grumpa said:

Thanks for the compliment Jonathan.

We're neighbors...I live over in Kernersville. Good luck with getting the "Kiddo" interested. When each of my Granddaughters turned five I worked along side of them and built a model car. Albeit they were snap kits...we had some fun, but nowadays...too many other "electronic" distractions. Although the girls are taking an active role in what they want as to flooring, colors, furniture, etc. I don't think that they will appreciate what goes into something like this until they are a bit older (so maybe there is your "one day"). From sitting down and looking at some of the things that I have built. They have come to realize that I do nothing "toy-like", and if I thought the model car world was expensive ( I remember when AMT models went up to around $2.98 and I had a fit!). The costs in the miniature world can be a bit overwhelming. It's a lot more expensive from when I was dabbling in it 45 years ago!

I know Kernersville!  I have family in the (greater) area.  A friend of mine from my college days was from Kernersville.   And yes - it's hard to compete against the gadgets ....

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Many have lived to regret getting rid of all their kits , paints and tools.

Enjoy your grandchildren, as I have over the years.

But best just store your stuff somewhere for that day when they go on to do their own thing until the opportunity comes back. It will eventually!

Edited by Bugatti Fan
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