How Old Were You When You Built Your First Model

[locoengr]

It was '69 or '70. My mom helped me with a '68 Camaro. I too was imediately hooked. I built cars and semi's up to the time I passed my drivers test when I was 15 y/o. Then it was jobs, sports, girls and school occasionaly got in the way. Then last summer something drew me back at 48 y/o. I just wish i had more time to build but with family....well, time is precious. But the changes to the hobby are nothing short of amazing and my time I do get at my build desk sure is relaxing!

Bruce in Fargo

[oldcars]

I was eight years old. It was a Mig 15 kit that had just come out. Second kit was a F-86 Sabre. Did not know much about glue and neither one of the kits would stand up on the struts and wheels.

[kelson]

I was 19 back in 88 ,bought mpc's 69'camaro convertible brush painted it , like the instructions said to do, turned out horrible! glue prints everywhere ! it 's now hidden in a box never to see the light of day again.

[James W]

I was eight.

Now for the rest of the story.

Dad and two older brothers had models. I played with them while they were at school.

Not Dad, brothers.

Dad built an Aurora or Lindberg small scale hot rod with me. A few months later he said 'It's time we got you a model.' Down to Sprous Reitz for to pick out a model. Revell 55 Chevy.

I painted the body and seats blue. Built it stock 'cause that's what Dad said I should do. I built the 150 version 'cause I wasn't a good enough glue-er to build a BelAir.

But the wheels could steer.

I still have the body, broken and 8 or 9 layers of paint. When you can't afford a new model you rebuild the ones you've got.

[Clay]

Wow most of you guys are old

[CaseyG83]

I was five in 89, my grandpa bought me a snap-tite p-40 warhawk at wally world. I remember it was in some sort of paper bag not a box. I think i still have it somewhere. my first car was about 10 years ago a amt 65 gto built it as a copy of my grandpa's 1:1

[george 53]

Six, goin on seven ,my big brother got me a Revell 56 chrysler new yorker. the kind where you had to glue the body sides to the trunk,roof,hood . came out much like you'd expect. a few years ago it was re- released sooo i tried it again.not all that much better, nice to know somethings never change! George53. Oh, it was in 1959, 40some years later im still about the same. does practice make perfect? i sure am hopin so cause im still practicein.

[Tom Kren]

I would have to say aroung 10 remember getting my first model at the grocery store it was a race car of some sort then in middle school really got into it cause they have a model building class and a show every year then BMX came and forgot about them then girls and then started back after seeing my first model magazine and from then just been building!

[OneTrickPony]

Hello Everyone!

I've been lurking around here for a couple of months without much to add to the conversations but I thought I would chime in here.

Now Im not bragging on my age but my first model was a Wells Fargo stage coach complete with horses!

I think I was either 6 or 7. It was in the early '60s. That got me interested and I've built mostly cars on and off ever since.

[FactoryStock54]

Well, I may be dating myself with this, but I understand that "dating yourself" is good for the prostate;

I was 8, it was 1966. The first car model I remember doing was an MPC 1/32 Aston Martin DB-5 which was 75 cents at the local drugstore! Quickly returned to buy up as many of the MPC (Airfix) cars as I could afford as well as 60-cent kits from the Pyro 1/32 Table Top Classics series, then some of the old AMT and JoHan 1/25 kits (which were "pricey" at $2.25!)

[Olle F]

I can't remember exactly, but I was probably about 6 years old (which would be 1966). I started out building those little Airfix cars you could buy in bags back then, and I also built several WWII airplanes and battleships before I finally decided that 1:25 cars were my thing. Most of these early models fell victim to my BB gun later on. I thought it was very cool to re-enact Bonnie and Clyde's demise or see Tirpitz sink in the pond, but now I wish that I still had those first models I built.

[Robert81]

I just love reading these stories, everybody has. Just wonderful. It really give you an idea of what drives some of us.

Well I started with Snaps in the mid-80s, the first was a Kenworth cabover. I think I was 5 or 6.

In 89 (I was 8) the Keaton Batman movie came out and I loved it. I still have the original VHS. So one day my dad brought home the 1/25 scale AMT Bat-mobile. It was a curbside, but a great experience with my father.

My first solo glue kits were an AMT 57 Belair Sport Coupe and a Revell 79 Camaro, Both built at the same time, no paint, in about 20 minutes. This was in early 91. I had gotten both kits for Christmas, when I got back home from travelling to see my grandparents, I "stole" my fathers testors tube glue and went to town.

I still have the Bat-mobile but it has been missing the gun cover for years. I have always love the automobile. But have tried my hand at some aircraft, I had a Bell X1, I got at a flea market for $2.00 and a SR-71. And some Sci-fi stuff too, I build a few Star Trek ships, and a Star Wars X-wing (my first dry-brush weathering).

I have been active in this hobby for all those years, I still find time to build even with 2 kids and an erratic work schedule.

My father has since left the hobby, but will not give up his collection (that old bastardy ). I am doing my part to keep the hobby alive. I have gotten my children snap kits when every I find them.

[John Goschke]

I'm glad to see that not all of us are geezers like me who started building in the '50s or early '60s!

The first car model I remember building was an AMT '61 Pontiac Bonneville convertible my Grandmother bought for me at the G.C.Murphy 5 & 10 in New Castle, Pa, when I was about eight. She set up the card table for me to build on and I used a paring knife from the kitchen to cut the parts off the sprues, and a tube of Aurora cement to assemble it. Skipped the engine 'cuz it was just too complicated. But did use the up-top and fender skirts. Brush-painted it with un-stirred Testors metallic blue for a spectacularly disappointing finish!

[Helipilot16]

I built my first model at the age of 11 in 1953. It was a Highway Pioneers Model T which I modified to look a little bit like a roadster I saw in Hot Rod Magazine. By 1960 I was building some pretty sophisticated models. I won my first show with a channeled full fender 32 Ford 5 window.

Edited February 5, 2008 by Helipilot16

[Harry P.]

Well, I may be dating myself with this, but I understand that "dating yourself" is good for the prostate;

Didn't your mom ever tell you that "dating yourself" can lead to insanity???

BTW...you're the second person to take my avatar and use it as your own. Can you find something different and let me have mine back? Since it's my illustration I figure I have the rights to use it!

[Jeff Mitchell]

It was 1972, my brother and I both got 5 bucks a week for doing chores and the family would hop in the 1969 Ford Country Squire wagon and go to the local Venture store. This was when you could still buy TWO kits and have pocket change left over from that fiver. I remember the first kit was a MPC 1972 Impala. Molded in metallic blue and I can't remember if it was built as a custom(raised), stock or lowrider! I do know my buddy that I have known all my life that was one year younger than me bought the same kit last year and it wasn't nearly as cheap as mine....

Wow..some of youse guys are young....!

[58 Impala]

It was winter 1964-65. I was 7 years old. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my dad, he was showing me how to put models together and letting me help as best I could. We were buiding them to display in my room. If I remember correctly the kits were large scale Aurora kits (1920's Olds, Stutz Bearcat,Model T, and a couple others). They were curbside kits, but they were really nice from what I recall. Then my dad,myself,and my younger brother put together all the Tom Daniel's cars- Tarantula, Red Baron, Uncertain T, Pie Wagon,etc. I still to this day love those kits, they were simple but were fun to build. From then on I was hooked. When ever I had some money for a kit I would go to the local Rexall drugstore and buy some kind of car model.

Edited February 9, 2008 by 58 Impala

[sk8freak123]

i was 3 years old and i built a 34 panel truck box stock with some kind of crank mechanism on the fron when cranked it would actually sound like it was running this was in 1994 with my dad best build ever and then 3 weeks later i was playing with it and played derby with it a 69 charger that was painted to scale by my dad and that was the end of those 2 models

[Luc Janssens]

I had to be 7 or 8 at the time, I remember as it was yesterday, it was in the early morn and dad wasn't home, thus we (my little brothers and I) took some models two cars and a plane, and started glueing...lots and lots of it (not the tube glue, the liquid one) I don't know who the manufacturer of the cars was, only remember that they like 1/32 scale early or mid '60s race cars which were very simple in construction; four plastic wheels on an plastic axle and they were kept in place on the underside of the body by the front and rear clip, don't think there was a windshield.

Anyway by the time my mom got out of bed, the living room smelled so much, she made us open all the doors and windows to get fresh air back in.....

Times were so simple then, now they would probably sue the manufacturer of the glue as well as the kits, for whatever...

[evilone]

to tell you the truth it was a year ago this march

ppl say that iv been building longer than i have due to the detail of my work but i just tell them that im a perfectionest

[VW Dave]

I was about 6 or 7 when I built my first model.....that was around 1977, to help pin an age group on me.

[evilone]

36 or 37

[Joe Nunes]

I was about 10 years old (1960) when I built my first model. Was a rubber band flying aircraft that I flew in a park, a stick and tissue type. When I was 12 my grandfather took me with him to the IGA grocery store in Harbor Springs, MI. The store carried plastic models and he let me pick out one to build. Was an AMT '62 Comet. WOW!! Built it on the kitchen table with my Grandpa and brush painted it with Blue enamal paint. I'm sure it was a glue bomb because I remember using every single extra piece in the kit that could be stuck on that model. ....but, Oh how I loved that first car I built.

[Tony T]

I was about 3 (1965/6)...Built the Mustang and Maverick from the Palmer line...next was an AMT '53 Ford Pick up, that I built with my Dad. Been building ever since, other than when the kids were little.

[wdcav]

When I was too young, my dad built the models for me. Then around 7 or 8 I started assemblying my own ships and planes. Never painted anything at that age, but built a whole bunch of things to beat on, blast with bb guns, and blow apart with firecrackers. Good times.