what did you do with your modeling experience

[flatheadgary]

i have been reading post about the hobby, its future, what got you into modeling and such. i was wondering what you started building when you were a kid if it made you pick a career in the same type of field. myself i went all around it. started builing airplanes, got to teen years went to building model cars, got out of school went into aerospace, built 1-1 cars as hobby and built models off and on after. what about your direction?

[RodBurNeR]

I have been building 25 years off and on, but very strongly over the last 10 years. I have taken my hobby to everyone's computer. I started a model car club called Drastic Plastics on yahoo groups. It started out as a yahoo "group" , but now it's more of a central zone for members to pass email back and forth. I do everything in my power everyday to make it more interesting and to help others by sharing what i know and learn from others.

Check my links to see what work has been done. We keep getting bigger and better all the time! Thanks for asking.

www.thedpmcc.com

[Steven Zimmerman]

I started building when I was 10 or 11,and it led to a custom painting career for many many years.........Steven Zimmerman aka the'Z'man

[flatheadgary]

see now that is what i was talking about. this is what the youth of today don't have. you don't learn the same thing with video games as building models. i have never understood the interest in video games myself. what is the satisfaction in winning? what do you win? at least with models you get to see your accomplishments. i know with video games you do get great hand and eye coordination but it sure doesn't give you patience or the same kind of satisfaction. at least i don't think so. thanks for replying.

[Chris guthro]

i am 14, i do enjoy myslef a good racing game, i got lots of video games, but i be having more fun building a model car or drawing some cars, i just think its way more fun

[SpreadAxle]

Trucks have been my main interest since I was a toddler. I lived near the Hunt's Point terminal Market at that time, and the constant parade of trucks captured my interest. I'm a truck driver and I've been doing it my whole adult life. 95% of my builds have been trucks. Due to the difficulty finding truck kits, I didn't start there.

My first build was a Monogram(I think) P 51D Mustang. Aviation was always my other interest. After the P51 came a Monogram 1/24 Mustang Cobra, and some commercial aircraft. A 727 and a DC 9. A Yenko '69 camaro was mixed in there. Now if I build a car, it's because I have a car carrier needing a load.

I finally discovered where they hide the truck kits, and since July 1991 it's been trucks only ever since. There weren't many too choose from, until I discovered the Revell AG and Testors/Italeri kits. When I found out about AMT's MANY, MANY discontinued truck kits, I searched, and snatched up as many as I could over the years. I remember cleaning out one hobby shop that had quite a few.

As my career started, my time at the workbench decreased. I've been in and out since 1997, when my last build was finished. I have seen numerous articles on how to take your models with you when travelling. A couple of years ago I tried it. It made those layovers enjoyable. I left the kits at home for about 4 years, but I'm back to taking them with me. I accidentally discovered truckmodeler.com, and it's that website that brought me back to my beloved hobby. That's how I found out about this forum, which has made things more enjoyable. I can't imagine stepping away from the workbench ever again. I forgot how much fun this is.

Well, that's my longwinded post for the day. I loved reading the other stories on this post. Cool topic.

[SpreadAxle]

  George said:

I guess you could say that model car building gave me the know how when I got to the age to start driving and working on my own car when break downs occurred.

It's done the same for me George. I learned a lot between building models and taking both automitve and diesel technican courses. These 3 things combined are why I tend to do most of my own work, incuding the custom stuff. I just wish my present truck's engine was part of my past learning experience, but it was only being introduced into the market when I started, and this truck is my first experience with it.

[SpreadAxle]

  flatheadgary said:

see now that is what i was talking about. this is what the youth of today don't have. you don't learn the same thing with video games as building models. i have never understood the interest in video games myself. what is the satisfaction in winning? what do you win? at least with models you get to see your accomplishments. i know with video games you do get great hand and eye coordination but it sure doesn't give you patience or the same kind of satisfaction. at least i don't think so.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on this one. I'm still pretty young myself, 29, but was raised with the old values. I know not all kids are, but I notice a lot more kids than ever before have just gotten lazy. I think they would consider a model kit to be too much work. I was proud to see that my 12 yr old stepson took an interest, and I credit all of you with part of that. I showed him some of the builds here and on truckmodeler.com, and he took interest. I bought 2 kits for him. He built one of them. That made me proud. It was a snap kit. He would like my help and the other, which requires glue and paint, but at least I got him started.

[RodBurNeR]

  Bluesman Mark said:

As I am a fairly avid gamer, (racing/driving games mostly), I have to disagree a bit. You can learn patience from gaming, & perservering as well. Ask those that work to master a level of a game. BTW, I'm not into games as much as modeling, & I'm 45 years old, so I'm not the "typical" age for a gamer. :wink: 8)

i agree , i am 33 in June this year and i play games but i consider modeling much more important. i basically wake up and go to bed nothing by models. i do however play games such as drag racing, MAFIA and Grand Theft Auto. all three games are on my computer and all three have cars LOL.... go figure. i play them to pass time , but not very often. i have not beaten a game since Nintendo first came out in what? 1987?

[KT EASTMAN]

As a person who has always loved cars from a very early age( I am 34) I started out collecting Hot Wheels and evolved into car models. Dont get me wrong, I did build a few planes back in the day. Cars became quite the obsession and as I grew up cars were a hobby until I was 18 when I went into the automotive field. It has its good points and bad as well just like almost any job. So I guess this is the path I have chosen and it feels natural for a guy who lives,breaths,and eats CARS!!! KT

[SpreadAxle]

[Modelmartin]

I guess I am a pretty sad case! Model cars sort of affected my career choice since my career has been producing and selling resin model cars except for a 10 year hiatus spent as a machinist. :cry: I am pretty much unemployable now so it worked out well!

[SpreadAxle]

I think it's cool you got into the resin field. I sometimes wish I could do the same.