Is it too late?

[Hedgehog]

Hi everyone. I wanna share something that's been bugging me since last week when I messed my second paint job in a row. Being my second proyect as well I begun wondering if it isn't too late to get in the hobbie. I'm 26 years and didn't know of the hobbie until recently. Since I found this forum I've seen incredible proyects and you guys have talent but a also noticed that most of you begun in your childhood years. Now I'm thinking if it's possible to get to the level of you builder

[Casey]

Hi everyone. I wanna share something that's been bugging me since last week when I messed my second paint job in a row. Being my second proyect as well I begun wondering if it isn't too late to get in the hobby.

There is no such thing as "too late". Age and experience don't matter, as anyone can jump in (or back in) at anytime. Seeing other people's work and being inspired by it is a clear sign you should keep building.

And if we each listed how many paint jobs we each messed up, it would be a LONG topic. We all screw them up, but hopefully we learn how to do it better the next time, and eventually we have success.

[martinfan5]

Nope, its never to late, like you said, you just got into the hobby, dont give up just yet, it takes time to reach the level that some of the ones on here are at. Put it this way, I am 31, I started playing with models when I was I want to say around 10, dont really remember the age, but its not tell the last few years that I can build a kit that does turn out like a glue or paint bomb.

I am always messing up paint jobs, thats why we keep stuff on hand to strip paint , I would suggest, get some spare bodys , and some cheap paint, and practice, practice, practice painting on them.

Edited July 13, 2012 by martinfan5

[Harry P.]

It's never too late to get into the hobby.

[rmvw guy]

Honestly you never know when it's going to be too late, I keep thinking I've still got time and I'm 62. Follow your dream!

[Junkman]

I have the opposite problem. It's way too late for me to get out of the hobby. Lifetime addict, so to say.

[jw78z28]

• never to late to start building kits or any hobby. I've been building for 20 + or - a year or two and still screw up paint jobs and other things. you just learn to hide them better. last month I was building the motor for the new 300c and ended up drilling the spark plug wire holes and ended up drilling the wrong end of them, I checked 3 times before I started.
  

[crazyjim]

I've been building since 1958 and continue to learn This forum is a great place to learn new things and see lots of eye candy.

[mikemodeler]

Wilbert,

I started building models at age 8 and continued until I was about 17, when hormones and the curves of a woman replaced those of plastic cars. Over the ensuing 10 years or so I would check out models at stores but didn't really get back into it until I was 30. It was at lunch one day with a fellow "gear head" that we stumbled into a hobby shop and found the recently released AMT '62 Bel Air kit and I was back in the hobby ( as a side note, I started that kit and have yet to finish it!). Since then, I have bought and sold and traded probably 400 models and still try to build them when time allows. Now that I am 48, I find myself still buying kits and detailing items and occasionally I finish one!

I mess up all the time and not just paint jobs. When I mess up, I think about what went wrong and it usually comes back to preparation or impatience! Yep, I said it, I get in a hurry and make mistakes! Either I don't check the fit or prep work on a kit or force something.

My advise to you is to take your time, plan each build and not try to make a show winner on your first build, very few can pull that off! If you haven't picked up Donn Yost's DVDs, then that should be your first step in getting better paint jobs! Donn has broken down what some of us think is a complicated process and makes it easy to get a great paint job.

Hang in there, some of us are destined to be great painters and win awards, others just love creating 1/25 scale versions of their dreams and having fun, which is what this hobby is all about!

[slusher]

As my old boss said ' you will learn something everyday until you die'. The way they change paint we all still have to work harder to achieve a paint job and its easier to mess one up no matter how long you build. lts never to late and each day gives us a chance to start over.....Slusher

[jbwelda]

never too late and like everyone else has chimed in, paint is probably going to be your biggest most longest lasting obstacle. it really is magic mixed with luck and some days you got it and some days you dont. and thats for pretty much great painters, us mere mortals have to learn to live with less or plan on redoing them more than once in a while if we remain picky about it. and you also learn your environment and local weather conditions can really be a factor you cant do anything about other than wait for better conditions. course, you being in LA youre pretty lucky on that score but plenty of us have a lot worse to deal with and moisture in the air will be sure to ruin a paint job, not to mention winds blowing dust around etc. we in cali have it good.

[phil-east]

i'm 31 and i only started building last november, i've gotten so much better in that time (mainly thanks to the people on this forum) It's really noticable when looking back over my builds. I just kept at it and learned gradually, I think trying 1 or 2 new skills on each build worked best for me, I tried far too hard to do too much on one of my early builds and it ended up looking worse than my very first ! I am still mainly focusing on making my builds clean and my paint even.

I have recently stepped up with painting but still have a long way to go to get to the level of some of the guys on here, but for me thats part of the fun.

Just stick with it and don't expect perfection for now. look at every mistake as a lesson learned and view each build as a slight progression.

as for painting I find gradually building up light coats and lots of sanding to be the best method. Practice on some other stuff to help your technique too, I paint allsorts from Broken playstation controllers to plastic tubs/boxes !

[cobraman]

Ya, sorry but it is too late. Just kidding ! As others have said it is never too late. Get yourself a simple kit. some paint, some glue, and a few tools and go for it ! As for getting to the level of the people here I would say that depends on you but I would not worry about that. There are many. many, many guys here that can out build me with a hand tired behind their back but still I build. the guys here are great at giving you encouragement. I myself just try and build my next kit better than my last. if your not as good as others here who cares ? Build them and let us see them. The great guys here will help you anyway they can. They can steer you to the best kits and help with what tools you need as well as tips and hints. It is a great hobby. Now....... Go get a kit ! Good luck.

[jcbigpaw]

It's never too late. I've been in and out of this hobby since I was a kid but most of what I would call skill has only come in the last few years. And I just completely screwed up my most recent paint job after several beautiful ones in a row. And what makes it worse is that I used all the same primer and paint as the last one. Stuff happens. Hang in there.

[sjordan2]

"Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Arthur Rimbaud, Orson Welles and Bob Dylan all revolutionized their artistic disciplines before they turned 30. They were archetypal young geniuses. But Paul Cézanne, Mark Twain, William Butler Yeats, Alfred Hitchcock and Irving Berlin made equally important contributions to the same art forms, and they all produced their greatest work at 50 or older."

And Alexander the Great conquered the known world at 25. But maybe you can build some good models for a while.

Edited July 13, 2012 by sjordan2

[Harry P.]

Don't forget Grandma Moses. She didn't start painting until she was in her 60s or 70s!

[The70judgeman]

It's never too late to get into the hobby. And messing up is just part of the process. I've been building for about thirty years and wouldn't you know it, just the other day...epic paint fail. So, it doesn't matter how long you've been building. Strip it and carry on.

[Psychographic]

You've got one over a lot of us geezers, 26 year old eyes. that right there puts you way ahead of a lot of us. You probably can see these little parts clearly and for that, I envy you!

Go for it!

[Guest Johnny]

I know a guy that started building model semi trucks after he retired off the road at the young age of 70!

I've tried to get him to post pictures of his work but he doesn't want to go on line.

Heck, he doesn't even have a computer!

[cobraman]

Lots of truth in what David just said. I may have to soon switch to larger scale model kits ! : )

[Draggon]

Some O' the new guys are better than the old farts. I think we ( uh, me ) are used to the old school ways, that arent up to todays standards.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I quit building when I was about 15, took it up again a while back after 40 years, and recently got to the point I don't gag when I look at my work. it's never EVER too late so long as you're above ground.

I've found that the close work has actually forced my vision to improve during the last few years too.

[Art Anderson]

It's never too late (or for that matter, almost never too early!) to take up this or any other hobby or craft. Some of us here have been building model cars for decades (I just turned 68, started building model cars 60 years ago at the age of 8). Some others, like an old (now in his early 80's) friend of mine from Northwestern IN, didn't get into scale model building until their 50's, even 60's, and quickly learned to create awesome masterpieces. But no matter whether one is a Gerald Wingrove or just somebody who loves puttering around with a plastic kit--it's all good, it's all fun, and the cameraderie' in this hobby just doesn't let newbies fall by the wayside without a bit of a struggle, in my experience.

So, have at it!

Art Anderson

[sjordan2]

When is it too late to take up something new? If you're in your 50s and want to be an Olympic competitor, or run a triathlon, maybe. But...come on. I think this question has an innate failure mode in the attitude. I'm having a hard time understanding why it was asked.

Edited July 14, 2012 by sjordan2

[Hedgehog]

Thank you really guys your words give me a lot of encouragement now that I'm reading and thinking. Really, from the bottom of my heart everyone "thank you" I think the experiences and conversations we all share on this forum makes better and even when we don't know each other in person, we all are friends