The upside of the hobby- What part or parts do you enjoy the most?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Most of my life has been spent building or modifying or repairing things for other people. Though it's been rewarding creatively and monetarily, there's nothing for me as satisfying as building something entirely to my own vision, without having to accommodate customer goals and influences.

And though I've owned a lot of interesting cars, I've rarely built anything for myself exactly the way I wanted.

Building cars in non-work time takes huge motivation, shop space, and money, and I usually lacked at least one of those at any given time.

Car modeling lets me build things I would have liked to do for myself under different circumstances, and to have scale replicas of some of the real cars I'd like to own if I'd made better life and financial decisions, or things I would have enjoyed building (and possibly racing) had I lived in other eras.

Model cars have also been a way to experiment visually, and to some extent work out packaging and engineering, for the small number of full-scale projects I'll be able to get to (maybe) in the time I have remaining.

Like these.

And I particularly enjoy building replicas of cars that really appeal to me, but that there are no models made of...like this.

I also love rebuilding stuff most people would throw out, like these...

And finally, I occasionally like to do radical what-if? customs.

 

DIESELPUNK AND JAG C-X75 INSPIRED TWIN-TURBINE ELECTRIC HYBRID:

Edited April 27 by Ace-Garageguy

[Radretireddad]

Any worthwhile accomplishment in life involves a willingness to embark on a slow, patient, time consuming journey to get good at whatever one’s chosen goal is. I tried learning to play the guitar a couple of years ago and dropped it because I was frustrated from not enjoying the journey. I wasn’t enjoying the process of daily practice and attempting to learn music theory left me cold. Building up my collection, OTOH is something I enjoy immensely. I’ve enjoyed staying after all the experimenting and practice required to perfect my airbrush technique. I enjoy all the time I spend correcting kit flaws and errors. I enjoy scratch building things like engine mounts and wheel adapters. The kits I’ve completed since I returned to the hobby chronicle this journey of gradual improvement and all the kits I’ve accumulated over time are going to look way better than if I had completed them when I first bought them. The only thing that would make the hobby more enjoyable, is if I could coach youngsters to embark on and enjoy the same journey.

[rattle can man]

I can build whatever I want, however I want to.