Ways you have purposefully destroyed your models,.....

[Speedfreak]

When I was a kid (9-12) after a model had set on my dresser for a couple of months, sometimes , I would get this uncontrollable urge to destroy it. I would get my BB gun and take them out and set them on the top of the slide on our swing set and target practice would commence. Other times I would use fire crackers. And a couple of times I poured glue all over them and set them on fire. Man I had some fun doing this. (This thread was inspired by another thread that is currently running, but, I thought I would get straight to the point.)

Edited November 20, 2013 by Speedfreak

[Ramfins59]

Yep, been there, done that.... but I only did that with the tanks and halftracks that I built, never with my cars. I also once floated a PT boat out onto a huge, deep puddle and blew it up with firecrackers.

[lordairgtar]

I think when I was young, there might have been some rough play involved with them and they got wrecked unintentionally. I know when I was 20, I was living in a Christian Commune and a guy gave me a truck model kit when I was hitch hiking around the country. One of the so called "holy bretheren super spirits" had told me that hobbies and things like that took away time from Bible Study and were basically idol worship, and I believed him, and broke up the unbuilt kit and threw it away. Later on when i was working in California for a different Christian ministry, the Director of the place said I needed a hobby. I told him about my experience before and he pretty much told me that person was not too bright and said God gave us time to rest and follow our recreational pursuits. He hunted and hiked wilderness trails all over and another guy in that same ministry had dirt bikes for his family and took us all up into the mountains to ride. I learned something that day...always question things people tell you to believe.

[ToyLvr]

When I was a kid (9-12) after a model had set on my dresser for a couple of months, sometimes , I would get this uncontrollable urge to destroy it. I would get my BB gun and take them out and set them on the top of the slide on our swing set and target practice would commence. Other times I would use fire crackers. And a couple of times I poured glue all over them and set them on fire. Man I had some fun doing this. (This thread was inspired by another thread that is currently running, but, I thought I would get straight to the point.)

Gene -

I did all the above when I was a kid, except I used gas instead of glue (it was cheap back then). Another method I remember...my bedroom was on the 2nd floor of my family home. I would get a model "revved-up" and roll it off the top of the stairs, sending it crashing to the floor at the bottom of the staircase. This was my way of simulating the car going over the edge of a cliff. Of course, I only built models that were screw-bottom chassis with metal axles back then. You know what? They were so sturdy back then that quite often they would survive the plunge fairly well, and I could gather up the pieces, glue them back together, and do it all over again!

All of this would make my poor Dad so angry whenever he caught me doing any of this! He was raised during the "Great Depression", and seldom had any toys, much less any that he could afford to intentionally destroy.

Once again, I wish I had all of them back again!!!

[W-409]

I might be strange, since I have never destroyed any of my models...

But my dad told me that when he was a kid, he had one ship model that he built, and on a summer cottage he put it on water and put some fire crackers in. The ship sunk in the water and when he lifted it up, there was a little hole in the bottom where the water went in. I can't remember what he did for it after that, though.

[slusher]

When l was a kit l played with a few of my not so best and they got broke from play. l never thought about fire crackers and blowing them up. l wish l had a couple now just to keep...

[forthlin]

In 2007 our house went into foreclosure because of major cuts to my hours at work. I was so upset I took almost everyone of my 100+ models I had built, busted them up & threw them in the trash. My Wife wasn't to happy with me since She was sure everything would work out for us & I'd regret it. She was right. My hours went back up & we didn't lose the house & I sure do regret tossing all those models.

[cobraman]

When I was just a wee lad I did pretty much the same things. BB guns, pellet guns, fire crakers, M80"s, fire. I had a shelf in my room for my models and when I made my dad mad at me ( he got mad a lot ) he would come in my room and grab a model or two and smash them on the floor. I would rebuild them if I could. Soon I realized I needed to keep the worst ones up front where he would always grab them. The next day he would feel bad and take me out and buy me a new kit. : )

[Steven Zimmerman]

Never did it. Too expensive when I was a kid; Dad was a minister, and we pretty much existed on the 'generosity' of the parish, ( whole 'nother long story), And as I grew older, that stuck with me.

[disabled modeler]

I never destroyed a model ether but I have taken damaged ones and restored them or made junk yard vehicles from them if too far gone to restore....otherwise I just use them for parts.

[ZTony8]

My buddy and I used to play "Demo Derby" with them and would smash them head on into each other,often while watching the demo derbies on television.I now cringe when I think of the models that got broken.But I never doused them with flammables or put explosives in them.

Edited November 20, 2013 by ZTony8

[Austin T]

Never intentionally but me and a friend were throwing a baseball around in my room and I accidentally hit a mustang and decimated it almost instantly.

[Tom Geiger]

My life was a bit different. I was an American military dependent living in Europe so American kits were very scarce and not available locally. So I had to order mine from Auto World and wait forever for delivery. So models were valuable to me.

My built models would usually be sacrificed for parts for my next great idea. The parts would get used, reused, broken taking them apart and eventually be worn out and wind up in my parts box.

Military models were easier to get, the PX got those if any models at all. And we'd buy MiniTanks locally and blow those up as part of our war games!

[Foxer]

I had a Chris Craft I had built when I was around 10 that I brought to my cousin's pond to try sailing it. It did float pretty well when the air raid sirens went off and it got bombarded .. by rock bombs. Other armor models went under the flames because of the awesome black smoke they let off.

The destruction I most regret was when I went off to college and threw out all but about a half dozen car models to leave room in my parents small house. I figured I'd never go back to hacking plastic. When graduated and cleaned my last things from the house the last of my favorites and contest winners got trashed.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I don't think I ever INTENTIONALLY destroyed anything. Never had the urge to ruin stuff...never at all...and always felt bad when I did screw something up.

[Erik Smith]

BB guns. Fire. Smoke bombs. Firecrackers. The usual suspects.

[Harry P.]

Fire.

[rmvw guy]

The second 1:25 scale I built, an AMT '32 Ford survived several head.on demolition derbies with a buddy of mine and his '32, being rebuilt many times. Later I used lighter fluid on some and once gasoline filled the interior of a station wagon and actually blew up. Scared me a little. I discovered holding the models close to a light bulb to soften the plastic and make dents somewhere along the line. I think I destroyed the value of most of them just by building them.

[Scale-Master]

Never had the desire as a kid, although I knew some kids that would build firecrackers into ship models then blow them up in the pool.

But... there was this one Charlie's Angels van that we had laying around... It was unpainted and not worth trying to unbuild and save as we had several of them in kit form.

I took it out to the back road and placed it about two feet in front of the rear tire of my Camaro. Got a good brake stand going and ran it over. The biggest piece of pink left was not even an inch long. I don't think even an M80 would have pulverized it as well. And I still remember how good that felt for some reason.

[Tom Geiger]

Yes! Testors tube cement and charcoal lighter fluid.

sad to say that spectacular flare up of lighting Testors glue is the choice fuel of drug users today to heat up a spoon. Sad.

[Deathgoblin]

I only destroyed the ones that were screwed up somehow. Firecrackers, M80's, BB gun and/or .22 rifle. Ones that were badly painted, missing parts, etc. Of course, when I tried to "outgrow" model cars later on I left all of my cars behind. So I have no idea what happened to them. Probably some rare kits now....

[pharoah]

I only intentionally destoyed one. It was a 40 Ford sedan, brush painted silver,so it was no big loss anyway.

My parents didn't let me have firecrakers,and they wouldn't have liked me burning anything,so i had to be a little more creative.

We lived on a side street that had cars parked on our side,but not on the other side. Sometimes it was a fairly busy street too.

I got down in front of a parked car with my little silver glue bomb and waited.I think there were a couple of buddies with me-not really sure anymore,but I don't think I was alone.

You know how those early AMT kits roll. I waited until a car was coming and just when it was within a few feet,I gave it a push - crunch! We laughed and picked up the pieces before another car came by. I'm really surprised the driver didn't stop and yell at me.

And it was a good thing my mom didn't see me. Good times...

[Tom Geiger]

Pharoah jolted my memory with the street scene! Back when I was 13 we had a model builders club at school. "Clubs" was actually a class period once a week. This was in the US Army dependent school system in Germany and yes, model car kits were tough to get. We had a contest and I brought in a drag car I built from remains of several models onto the Thames Panel. Only the body of the Thames was broken and all I had was the part of it behind the doors. I broke it off and then cut the roof to match. So picture this thing with an engine exposed, dashboard and seat area exposed with a covered van back. Must've been horrible, but I thought it was great.

Well, I didn't win anything in our little contest so I was carrying it home on the school bus. Our busses were big old rear engine Army busses. Some kid on the bus was taunting me about my model and not winning. I got so mad that I placed the model on the ground, right in front of the duel rear wheels. When the bus took off, it totally flattened the model. Not a part to salvage.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Tom Geiger

[Speedfreak]

I LOVE IT!

Harry, I actually thought of this thread a couple of months ago but was not sure how it would be recieved, KAAAAAABANG!

Then when I saw your first post in the ' How have you melted yours' thread and I knew it was go time.

The street I grew up on intersected with a really busy street, we lived right on the corner of this intersection. So, my cousin (one of my main partners in crime) and I took one of my cars down to this manhole cover that was right on the corner and covered the model with glue, light it up, then ran back upstairs to my bedroom window and looked out. It started out slowly, but , just kept getting higher, and, higher! This was at night! That thing was blazing 3-4ft high in the night sky! We were giddy with laughter. Luckily my parents who had company/relatives over never saw it because this thing burned for like 15-20 minutes! We went out the next morning and cleaned up the evidence.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Speedfreak

[KingSix]

12 Gauge & home made explosives.. I had an interesting childhood .. I'm lucky to have all my fingers, toes and eyes..