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

[Harry P.]

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.

Ah, yes, childhood...

Actually your story reminds me of a related, uh, "activity" we used to do. The garage of the house we lived in when I was a kid was brick... so was the garage next door, with a very narrow walkway between them. We would stick a match into a crack in the mortar somewhere on the wall of one of the garages, light that match, and then spray paint or hairspray at the lit match.

Ooooh, what a cool flamethrower!!!

[Zarana-X]

Some of my snap together trucks rolled pretty good, so I actually used them as toys. Eventually axles would break and re-break till there was no fxing them.

One day as an early teen, and discovering The Road Warrior. I converted my Captain Hook wrecker into an instrument of destruction. I made a big plow on the front made from the sleeper cab from a 1/18 Kenworth. I demolished alot of my lesser glue bombs that day.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Zarana-X

[pharoah]

Man, it's a good thing our parents were not around during all this mayhem.

Does anyone have a story about 1/8th models? I heard somewhere about a kid (natutally) pulling one behind his bike until it was in pieces. Never did that,those things were $10 back then! That would have bought a lot of other models and paint and candy and soda and....

[Speedfreak]

I never had any 1/8 stuff back then. Probably a good thing.

[KingSix]

I took one of my brothers ship models ( Old Ironsides I think ) down to the river that was in our back yard.. then put the content of about 3 shotgun shells worth of black powder in it, wrapped in a baggie with duct tape, put it in the water and lit the fuse. It only got about 10 ft downstream before it went off.. it was LOUD and there wasn't much of the ship left and I was pretty sure I was going to jail. When I got back to the house my mother was out front talking to our next door neighbor . They both thought someone was shooting a gun.. sucess !!! I wasn't even a suspect .. it was a lllooonnnggg time before me an my buddy messed with that stuff again. Funny thing is, he's a cop now in the town we grew up in ..LOL

[tbill]

haha, wow, amazing how similar the stories are. I too have been there/done that with fire, fuel, firecrackers, demo-derby and all sorts of other mayhem. as usual, if we knew then, what we know now...

[Speedfreak]

Dan, from the moment you said: " then put the content of about 3 shotgun shells worth of black powder in it, wrapped in a baggie with duct tape" I was laughing my A.. off! What a great story, I too know the feeling of " success! Ah yes, one of the best feelings of boyhood indeed. Hmmmmm,.......... I'm still laughing when I read, " I wasn't even a suspect" Whoooooo! What a great story man!

[mrknowetall]

M-80's! When I was a kid, I stuffed an M-80 into the window of a built '49 Ford coupe (I had to flatten the M-80 somewhat). Then I carefully placed it in a metal trash can (remember those?), lit the extended fuse, put the lid on the can and stepped way back. When the firecracker went off, it blew the lid off the can.

That '49 Ford was obliterated!

[Abell82]

I've only intentionally destroyed one model, a 1965 Chevelle wagon. It died a good death though.. At least so I am made to believe...

You see I placed 3 rocket engines in the rear, of said plastic receptacle set it in the street, and lit the fuses. This was an AMT/MPC model, so it had 2 metal axles, and seemed to roll fairly well. To help aid in its rolling abilities, the wheels from an IMSA Corvette or possibly Firebird replaced the kit wheels. These where much wider, and should have helped in the weight and rolling areas. Unfortunately, due to a miscalculation on my part the engines didn't ignite at the same time. The little plastic car veered left, as the first engine ignited, (the engine that was furthest to the passenger side.) it then shot, side ways into the middle of the street, where it hit a small rock. A pebble really. It flipped over onto the roof after colliding with the pebble. Then the other engine ignited. This second engine caused the Chevelle to spin around on the roof for a few seconds, until the third and final engine ignited. When the third engine burst to life, it stopped spinning, and the force from the three engines was enough to push the flaming pile of styrene across the street (because by this time the first rocket engine had set the tailgate, and rear bumper aflame, it was on it's roof after all! ) and slowly very slowly, almost agonizingly slowly, to the curb, on the opposite side of the street. Depositing little flaming piles of fiery goo as it traveled to its final destination. Where the three engines were allowed to burn in their entirety. The acrid black smoke of melting styrene and eerie orange/yellow glow from the flames consuming the plastic body piercing the darkness of the evening... until...What's that?! The scream of a woman! I can't repeat what was heard but possibly there was some shouting probably there may have been even an obscenity and a name...( my name! ) It was my mother and she was not just angry but rather LIVID! Possibly a threat about me getting my behind inside that house RIGHT NOW AND SHE MEANT RIGHT NOW!! Something about knowing better, and waiting until a father got home. Then there was a sting on the seat of my pants, then another. Then I was ushered inside the house very quickly. I didn't get to see the final moments of that ill fated Chevelle, but I was made to clean up the hard plastic blob the next morning. True story.

[ToyLvr]

One thing I know for sure, if they ever decide to form a new "Dirty Dozen" team for a new mission, I know where to find a bunch of misfits who like to play with explosives and fire! ;-)

[KingSix]

Dan, from the moment you said: " then put the content of about 3 shotgun shells worth of black powder in it, wrapped in a baggie with duct tape" I was laughing my A.. off! What a great story, I too know the feeling of " success! Ah yes, one of the best feelings of boyhood indeed. Hmmmmm,.......... I'm still laughing when I read, " I wasn't even a suspect" Whoooooo! What a great story man!

I can't take full credit for the idea, I had 3 much older brothers.. they put a LOT of ideas in my head .. then left me alone to try them ...

[kingiguana]

Firecrackers, BB Guns, Burning with gas/lighter fluid, hammers, "demo derbys" Using the automatic garage door as a crusher, or using the tumble cycle on the dryer.

[mrknowetall]

One thing I know for sure, if they ever decide to form a new "Dirty Dozen" team for a new mission, I know where to find a bunch of misfits who like to play with explosives and fire! ;-)

Yep! Hooligans for sure!

[Speedfreak]

Hooligans, inglorious hooligans.

Jason, what a great story! How old were you?

" I can't take full credit for the idea, I had 3 much older brothers.. they put a LOT of ideas in my head .. then left me alone to try them ...

Ah yes, the 'receptacle' of ideas.

Firecrackers, BB Guns, Burning with gas/lighter fluid, hammers, "demo derbys" Using the automatic garage door as a crusher, or using the tumble cycle on the dryer.

Joe, Those are some creative ideas. I like the garage door thing.

I had two older cousins that I ran with. They were also much larger than I was. We did the flame thrower thing Harry talked about 'inside' the house on at least one occasion. That progressed into tying a rag soaked in some kind of fuel onto a large stick, lighting it, and , then stooting a large can of hairspray into it. Talk about flame thrower!

I digress, back to the models!

Maybe there should be a demolition segment added to some model car shows, graded for 'creative methods of destruction. Just a passing thought.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Speedfreak

[Zarana-X]

I was probably 14 when i did the Road Warrior stunt.

My brother was the mad bomber with the explosives and rocket engines. Several of my models mysteriously dissapeared. I one found the remains of two of my 1/48 scale tanks in the field next to out house. I had a Chevy stepside truck and helicopter dissapear without a trace.

The sickest thing I ever saw him do was put a gopher into a model rocket. Instead of wadding and parachute, he packed it with powder from some fireworks.You wouldn't want to be a varmint or bird with him around. He was always shooting animals with his pellet gun, too. Once a flock of crows attacked him.

[The70judgeman]

BB/pellet guns, smash up derby's, out the 2nd story window, sunk model ships in a lake, fire crackers....the list goes on. Even made a "rocket car" with the smallest model rocket engine. Obviously, that didn't last. All that time for the build-up and "engineering" to hold the rocket engine for a few seconds of fun....and done.

[pharoah]

I was probably 14 when i did the Road Warrior stunt.

Once a flock of crows attacked him.

A little Karma maybe?

Edited November 23, 2013 by pharoah

[Speedfreak]

I was probably 14 when i did the Road Warrior stunt.

My brother was the mad bomber with the explosives and rocket engines. Several of my models mysteriously dissapeared. I one found the remains of two of my 1/48 scale tanks in the field next to out house. I had a Chevy stepside truck and helicopter dissapear without a trace.

The sickest thing I ever saw him do was put a gopher into a model rocket. Instead of wadding and parachute, he packed it with powder from some fireworks.You wouldn't want to be a varmint or bird with him around. He was always shooting animals with his pellet gun, too. Once a flock of crows attacked him.

Crows are incredibly smart birds, true.

[oldcarfan]

I never destroyed my cars by blowing them up or anything. Mine always got built and put on a shelf until I got bored. Then they got taken apart and built in a different way time after time until there wasn't much left.

[KingSix]

Crows are incredibly smart birds, true.

I see what you did there

[Speedfreak]

Good eye

[Sixties Sam]

^{I burned a few with the interiors filled with gasoline. They made lots of smoke and burned for a long time! I rolled a couple off our porch roof onto the concrete walk below. Pieces flew everywhere!}

^Sam

[JM485]

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.

A church with dirtbikes? Where do I sign up!

[lordairgtar]

A church with dirtbikes? Where do I sign up!

Unfortunately, that ministry is long gone, the Director/Pastor retired to Arizona and the place was closed with the buildings sold off to another non profit that helped abused women.