Model Building Stereotypes

[Ace-Garageguy]

...but being a kid in todays world is much different, every body judges each other and bullies are everywhere. It's just part of being a kid in today's world.

That much HASN'T changed since I was your age in the early 1960s.

Building models was more common, but the sports-players were at the top of the pile, and everyone else was second-string. There were cliques and bullies and other kids made fun of anything that their particular peer group made fun of.

The lesson: ignore idiots.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Dragfreak]

That much HASN'T changed since I was your age in the early 1960s.

Building models was more common, but the sports-players were at the top of the pile, and everyone else was second-string. There were cliques and bullies and other kids made fun of anything that their particular peer group made fun of.

The lesson: ignore idiots.

I play sports (run track and play football) but that seems to be all that kids these days care about, active sports. Beside the FFA kids I know, nobody is into cars in my grade (10th). Outside school, all kids care about are sports, games, or minor things like riding bikes or skateboards. Nobody is into mechanical things anymore, sure if I wasn't into drag racing or cars in general, I doubt I would have started building models. I believe that's what's wrong with kids these days, we have nobody interested in the trades Edited July 26, 2014 by Dragfreak

[CJ1971]

I play sports (run track and play football) but that seems to be all that kids these days care about, active sports. Beside the FFA kids I know, nobody is into cars in my grade (10th). Outside school, all kids care about are sports, games, or minor things like riding bikes or skateboards. Nobody is into mechanical things anymore, sure if I wasn't into drag racing or cars in general, I doubt I would have started building models. I believe that's what's wrong with kids these days, we have nobody interested in the trades

Just an idea for ya mate... Try this...

Does your school have a football team, or do you all follow the State team? I'm not familiar with the American School system/NFL stuff ? that's why I ask? Anyway... Why don't you build a theme model, any car you like, in the school/State footy team colours, with emblems/logos etc. Get it displayed somewhere in the school/classroom where most of the students will see it... Then sit back & wait for the reactions from your fellow students/teachers... ? You might even wind up getting asked to build models... For $$ ??

Cheers Cliff

[MustangGuy23]

I play sports (run track and play football) but that seems to be all that kids these days care about, active sports. Beside the FFA kids I know, nobody is into cars in my grade (10th). Outside school, all kids care about are sports, games, or minor things like riding bikes or skateboards. Nobody is into mechanical things anymore, sure if I wasn't into drag racing or cars in general, I doubt I would have started building models. I believe that's what's wrong with kids these days, we have nobody interested in the trades

I know exactly what you mean. Almost no one I went to high school had an interest in cars and if they did, their favorite car was a Bugatti or Lambo. Unrealistic stuff that they are familiar with because of the rap scene. We had a car show at my school to and their was a student class. There were 4 student cars at the last show at a high school of 800.

[unclescott58]

That much HASN'T changed since I was your age in the early 1960s.

Building models was more common, but the sports-players were at the top of the pile, and everyone else was second-string. There were cliques and bullies and other kids made fun of anything that their particular peer group made fun of.

The lesson: ignore idiots.

I second this. I work in schools. Most things have not changed that much since I went through high school in the mid-70's. Technology has changed. But, kids and teens, good, bad, or ugly, are still pretty much the same. Most are still decent and polite. But there were cliques, trouble makers, and bullies now and back in my day too. Back then, like now, you were looked at as a nerd if you weren't outstanding at sports, academics, or social situations. You know what? That's the way it's been for a long time. As we get older, most people grow up. Some do not. But, the farther I get away from my own high school years, the better it is. And in my present job, I try to help kids get though school, and hopefully know they are OK no matter what their interests are. Cool or not. And even if I may be interested in it or not.

By the way, I have a cute story I need to share. A couple of years ago I was working at my old high school. Some kids wanted to see a picture of me in an old yearbook. So we went to the library (or media center as they now call it) and found an old yearbook. I open to my picture and show the kids. One young lady looks at it and says, "That's not you." I said, "Of course it is. She said, "No, it's not." I said, "Look here is name and everything." She still insisted that could not be me. Finally I asked her why she thought that it was not me? She pointed to the picture and said, "That guy is hot!" I still don't know if I should take that as compliment or an insult? And why didn't the girls forty years ago see it that way?

Scott

[unclescott58]

By the way. I'm still a nerd. Here I am on a Saturday night blogging on a model car web site.

Scott

[DynoMight]

I only know of one other person who builds in my grade (10th now) and he's my friend. The only reason he builds is because he likes cars and he's also into scale trains. His neighbor gave him two kits. AMT 68 shelby mustang (the red one) and also AMT re-issue of the corvette gasser (the green one) for free because he was moving and didn't build anymore. I don't know anyone else that builds models, besides my brother and his friend, but I think he gave up. My brother and dad and I still build, I build the most now because school is out and I have nothing to do, so I build models.

I build models because it seems fun to me (at least most of the time, sometimes when I'm 'stuck' on a project, I let it sit and I don't touch it, but that hasn't happened lately) I also build models because when you're done and you did a good job, it is something tangible you can hold and look at, appreciate the time and effort that went into it. One time I had my friend over and I showed him my models and he said, why do you still have toy cars? I told him I built these and he didn't understand it. I think that some people understand it and have the urge to build models, but some people just don't have it in them. Not all people can sit at a desk for hours on end, painting and gluing little pieces together.. We live in a generation of "I want the candy bar now! I don't want to go to the store, I want it now!" and model building isn't instant, you have to work for the finished project, you can't have it now. And that bothers some people.

[tbill]

this thread brought back a memory of high school actually. me and two other kids were into models, somehow we talked the librarian into letting us put built models in a display case that was built into the wall to 'advertise' the library, which was in a main hallway of the school. we all had different versions of the 'swamp monster' monster truck. as I remember it back then, once other kids saw what we built, they were digging it. I think we had the display for a month.

[Custom Mike]

Michael, I discovered while I was in the USAF that most of my peers looked down upon my model building, until a couple discovered that I could build an exact replica of their A-10 (Crew Chiefs LOVE their planes!), that's when I became the coolest guy in the dorm! I charged each Crew Chief $50 and they bought the kit,so I made some money and dragged a couple of guys into the hobby. Once they walked into the hobby shop, they started buying kits for themselves. It doesn't matter that I didn't drink like a fish, I did what I wanted and didn't sweat what they thought of me. I ended up never getting arrested, while most of the ones who thought there was something wrong with my building did, so who looks better now?

Know and follow your own head, your own likes and dislikes, your own mind, your own taste in everything, even your own ethics and moral code., and you will be that rarest of all things these days...an individual.

Bill nailed it, I always went away from the herd no matter what. Not only did I build models while I was in the USAF, but I was a BMX Racer until I got the SC State Championship in 1987, then I went into BMX Freestyle and pulled down a National #2 in 1988 and a National #3 in 1990. I was asked by quite a few people while riding a 20-inch bike in Myrtle Beach, SC why I didn't have a car. That's when the fun began for me...I'd whip out my keys and ask them which car they wanted to see, the 1972 Charger, 1971 340 Road Runner, or the 1980 Mercury Capri RS 5.0...they'd shut up pretty quick. Be yourself and forget those who try to make you more like them, you'll be happier and healthier than them in the long run!

Yeah I shouldn't really care about what people think, but being a kid in todays world is much different, every body judges each other and bullies are everywhere. It's just part of being a kid in today's world.

Jason, it was no different when all of us were your age, things like that never change, trust me. The herd mentality is always the strongest when you're young, be yourself no matter what. If people can't accept the fact that you don't follow the crowd, they're the ones who lose out on a good friend, not you. A strong sense of self will serve you better in the long run than chasing the latest fad!

Edited July 27, 2014 by Custom Mike

[wayne swayze]

For me, model building has been a way to have the types of real cars I'd own, if I were rich. And I've always had the space for lots of models, whereas, what would I do about parking a bunch of real cars? Building models has allowed me to learn about things that I never thought about too much otherwise. Things like mechanics, art ( colour, form etc.), and thinking things through to achieve a finished car. That's why scratch building appeals to me. It's good for the brain to figure stuff out, without an instruction book. And ultimately, all these thoughts may just delay the dreaded alzheimers, just being creative. Sure would be nice to bring some kits to "the home" LOL.

[cobraman]

By the way. I'm still a nerd. Here I am on a Saturday night blogging on a model car web site.

Scott

Oh no ! Here I am on a Saturday night reading it !!! Who's the bigger nerd ??? : )

[philo426]

Live long and prosper,Dudes!

[charlie8575]

That much HASN'T changed since I was your age in the early 1960s.

Building models was more common, but the sports-players were at the top of the pile, and everyone else was second-string. There were cliques and bullies and other kids made fun of anything that their particular peer group made fun of.

The lesson: ignore idiots.

Bill- one of the wisest, more erudite people I've ever had the pleasure of encountering- even if only by this board, has once again said what needs to be said, especially the last sentence. When I was a kid, the athletes were the top-shelf as well for popularity, although when I went to high school, most of them were also respectful of the abilities, interests and talents of others, unlike a disturbingly large number of lunks that now seem to populate high school sports. There are exceptions, of course, as there were then, too, but the tide isn't turning for the better, from my observations.

That said, a lot of our athletes were also talented otherwise- many being very good musicians, artists, and possessing good stage-craft ability. Today, it seems that too many kids are too encouraged to stay over-focused, and they loose all their vision of the world around them. And, as I remember, one or two would occasionally build a model car or plane.

I second this. I work in schools. Most things have not changed that much since I went through high school in the mid-70's. Technology has changed. But, kids and teens, good, bad, or ugly, are still pretty much the same. Most are still decent and polite. But there were cliques, trouble makers, and bullies now and back in my day too. Back then, like now, you were looked at as a nerd if you weren't outstanding at sports, academics, or social situations. You know what? That's the way it's been for a long time. As we get older, most people grow up. Some do not. But, the farther I get away from my own high school years, the better it is. And in my present job, I try to help kids get though school, and hopefully know they are OK no matter what their interests are. Cool or not. And even if I may be interested in it or not.

By the way, I have a cute story I need to share. A couple of years ago I was working at my old high school. Some kids wanted to see a picture of me in an old yearbook. So we went to the library (or media center as they now call it) and found an old yearbook. I open to my picture and show the kids. One young lady looks at it and says, "That's not you." I said, "Of course it is. She said, "No, it's not." I said, "Look here is name and everything." She still insisted that could not be me. Finally I asked her why she thought that it was not me? She pointed to the picture and said, "That guy is hot!" I still don't know if I should take that as compliment or an insult? And why didn't the girls forty years ago see it that way?

Scott

Scott also has a lot of very good points- go back a few comments to my class reunion. I'll openly admit that as good a class as we had, we had a few...."failures to launch," to put it nicely, and I was dreading what would happen if they showed up. While most of them didn't, and one that did was still sitting on the launch pad twenty years later, a couple of the people who I wasn't so sure about had grown up and actually became human. Give it time, Jason. Sometimes that's all that can be done.

And Scott, don't worry too much. Twenty years later, the girls still run from me.

Charlie Larkin

[MustangGuy23]

So I actually told one of my friends tonight about my modeling hobby. Turns out she used to build model airplanes with her stepdad! She knows how much skill it takes and appreciates it. She said she missed it so I asked her to build one with me. She said she just might!

Edited July 27, 2014 by MustangGuy23

[Speedfreak]

Michael, that sounds promising

[Tom Geiger]

Some things never change...

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L.
Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277
(1953)."

Sometime around 450 BC

[Ace-Garageguy]

Excellent.

[Tom Geiger]

I don't think kids are much different than they were when I was in high school (I graduated in 1976). There were the cliches and all the teen age angst and drama. Back then though we didn't have worries of terrorists and such, our schools (at least in the suburbs) didn't have metal detectors or armed police officers. We would go to another high school and just walk in and walk around unchallenged.

At the same time laws are tougher today. I'd imagine there is less bullying, which was rampant and unsupervised in my day. I remember kids that quit school to get away from agressors. And fights and assaults were common, and never involved law enforcement. Kids just got detentions, maybe got suspended for beating the tar out of each other. So there were always fights, and beatings of those who were bullied. Today, that wouldn't be tollerated. My nephew is a high school senior and some kid beat him up over a girl. That kid is going to court with assault charges.

In high school I was focussed on my interests and wasn't really into the learning thing. At the time I saw no purpose for some of the teachings and was pretty bored with it all. I don't believe I was all that into models, that was more a junior high thing for me. I still was into cars big time and was at DMV within hours of my eligibility for my drivers permit. My big things back then were my creative writing and my stamp collection. I was into the stamp thing as feverously as I'm into the model car thing now. I had a very specialized collection that I still add to today of a specific stamp that was sold between 1903-08 and competed with adults at stamp shows, getting my display up to silver status on a national level. I even skipped my junior prom to go to a stamp show. That worked out because I got my first and only best in show that weekend! I wrote a monthly column in a stamp magazine, and a weekly stamp column in a local paper. I never hid this from classmates, and never took any grief over it. I think they thought I was doing this adult thing.

If you asked me back then, I would have felt I was a nerd, but I got along and didn't get picked on all that much. Probably because I had been on a wrestling team in junior high and when I got attacked by a bully in the hall in my freshman year, I just took him down and held him on the ground immobile until a teacher broke it up. I didn't think I was particularly smart because my grades weren't tops, pretty much due to my disinterest.

Dash forward to being an adult. When I joined FaceBook there was a group for my class, and within hours I got contacted to join it. Suddenly I was in contact with people I hadn't thought of in 30 years. A funny thing happens over time. The cliches and group bourdaries disapear. We had several impromptu face to face reunions, and everyone got along and was happy to see you. I am friends with people that I wasn't friends with in high school. As one person posted on that board, "I now have more friends from high school than I had in high school!" And that sums it up. People grew up.

A funny thing is that your own perception of your self back then may have been completely different that how others saw you. Case in point... I was very shy with girls in high school and there was one group of cute girls who hung together that I was into. But of course I never approached them for dates, but there were two girls I always wished I could date. Fast forward 35 years and I'm at a class reunion. It came up what they thought of me in high school... "We would've dated you. We thought you were super smart, aloof and wouldn't be interested in silly girls like us." What!! I find this out NOW!

And today I'm friends with three of those girls, bantering on FaceBook daily!

Edited July 27, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[Agent G]

I began building at age seven thanks to my mother and father. In the nearly 50 years since, the only time I have stopped is when I was on active duty. The proliferation of new kits, paints, aftermarket supplies and most of all the internet has kept me enthusied during my life. Knowing there are folks like me out there and that we can see and share our work on a screen is a huge asset to me and the hobby.

Stereo type?

I'm right there with y'a'll.

G

[lordairgtar]

My advice is to do what you like. However, from experience, no one cares about your work as much as you. Friends will come over and handle them eithout asking as if they are a toy. I recommend sending your finished work home to your parental units for safekeeping. I had several models destroyed by thoughtless roommates and their idiot guests.

That is a great case for saying "yes, I build model cars...and I also collect guns"

[Dragfreak]

That is a great case for saying "yes, I build model cars...and I also collect guns"

Thats a brilliant idea

[DrGlueblob]

Since I build all alone in a room in my house, few people know what my hobby is. The folks I do socialize with all build too.

[crowe-t]

Hey! I'm a Trekkie and a model car builder!

Scott

Me too!

[sjordan2]

I think one of the oldest stereotypes is one that's always been treated with warmth and respect --

The retired Grandpa who builds detailed sailing ship models, or ships in a bottle, or big airplanes, or is pictured modeling with a grandchild. As for cars...not yet.

Edited August 2, 2014 by sjordan2

[D. Battista]

I have gone through the same stigma from others before too......

#1...build for yourself it only has to make you the builder happy.

#2...never let anyone keep you from what you love to do.

#3...modeling is how the real car manufacturers come up with the new body styles of real cars/trucks.

#4...its not just for kids but all ages...build because you love to.

Well said ....!